Man Tang Huacai

Chapter 400 Transfer
Xue Bai was quite curious about how Yang Guozhong knew that Zhang Bian leaked secrets to An Lushan. When he asked, Yang Guozhong's power level was revealed.

"That day I went to the palace to report to the emperor. After seeing me, the saint summoned Zhang Bian."

"so what?"

"What's the reason? I'm the prime minister. What's the matter with the saint that I can't solve, so I need to summon other ministers?!" Yang Guozhong was very excited.

Seeing his jealous look, Xue Bai couldn't help but think that people in the past said that Li Linfu was jealous, but now Yang Guozhong is no different from him. Is it really due to his personality? not necessarily.

Yang Guozhong used to be generous, but he held more than thirty positions, and Li Longji only consulted him for everything, and gradually developed the habit of being exclusive.

"and then?"

"That idiot Yang Guanghui dared to report groundless news to me, which made me lose ground in front of the saint. I was worried that the saint was dissatisfied with me and wanted to replace Zhang Bian as prime minister, so I sent someone to bribe his servants. Later I learned that, Fu Chulin met him secretly before going to Fan Yang."

As he said that, Yang Guozhong frowned. In fact, this matter had been reported to the police a long time ago, but he didn't pay attention to it at the time. He didn't react until the results came out now. He actually regretted not discussing it with Xue Bai earlier.

"Today Fu Chulin reported that An Lushan is willing to return to pay homage to the prime minister. I thought about it, this should never be done. It must be Zhang Bian who revealed something to Fu Chulin."

Wang Rao pulled off the scarf wrapped around his face and looked up at the magnificent city gate in front of him with mixed emotions. He didn't like the city of Chang'an as much as others because he felt that Chang'an was too complicated and full of turbulent and treacherous court struggles. He likes Longyou, where you can see the horizon at a glance, simple and clean.

Feeling that Zhang Bian and An Lushan were increasingly threatening his position, he could no longer trust Xue Bai.

"Is it easy to get evidence for this kind of thing?"

Xue Bai entered the study room holding a candle. The light of the fire dispelled the darkness and illuminated the messy documents and maps on the desk. There were more documents packed in boxes on the floor. There are various contents on it, including the resumes of various generals in the border towns of the Tang Dynasty, battle reports of various towns over the years, and maps, mostly of Hedong, Fanyang and other places.

"Who?"

The first time he left Yang Zhai, he went back to find Du Jin.

"It's too expensive to live in Chang'an. It's better for us brothers to separate our families. We lived with my grandfather in Mobei and Longyou since we were young, and we are not obsessed with living in Chang'an."

"Okay, I need to know the route An Lushan takes to go south this time."

This is a very difficult thing. Yan Yan and Qing Lan are still sleeping on the left and right, and their bodies are all warm. He is reluctant to leave that warmth.

"It can be there in two days."

The crowing chicken was actually not raised by Xue Zhai, but by Princess Hezheng's Mansion next door. The chicken's voice was so loud that it seemed like it could wake up half the people in Xuanyangfang.

He waved his hand vigorously with the authority of a prime minister to stop Xue Bai from speaking, and said: "No need to say any more, I asked you to come to discuss with you how to deal with Zhang Bian."

Xue Bai pondered: "What did Zhang Bian reveal that would make An Lushan come? Unless...he guarantees that he can be released back to Fanyang."

Amidst the ice and snow, a group of people braved the biting wind and entered Chang'an City.

……

"Is there any evidence that Zhang Bian revealed secrets to Fu Chulin?"

Wang Nan put on the three sticks of incense, turned around and saw some luggage and items placed in the side yard, and asked, "What are these?"

Xue Bai casually guided Yang Guozhong to shift his focus from Zhang Bian to Fu Chulin, but he was no longer interested in this kind of court dispute. When things got to this point, he could feel the crisis coming from Fan Yang more and more, and how could he care about Yang Guozhong's safety?

Wang Nannan and Li Sheng were both sighing after hearing this. They didn't expect that the death of a famous general who once made a name for himself in the four towns would be so careless.

"How about I take brother to meet someone?" Wang Yunxiu said.

They then turned to Wang Zhongsi's house. When they arrived at the gate of the square, they looked up and saw the three words "Yanshoufang" hanging on the plaque above. Wang Ruwan couldn't help but think that living in Yanshoufang could not really extend Wang Zhongsi's life.

"Are you still coaxing me?" Yang Guozhong no longer believed Xue Bai.

Just as they were about to say goodbye and go out, the sound of rapid horse hooves sounded outside the door. A tall woman wearing a mantle dismounted from her horse and braved the wind and snow to rush to them. It was Wang Yunxiu who crossed her arms and saluted Wang Nanlan: "Brother. "

Wang Yunxiu also grew up in the army, and she had a good relationship with Wang Ruolan. Since they were from the same clan, they always referred to each other as brother and sister. On the other hand, although Li Sheng was also promoted by Wang Zhongsi and praised as "the enemy of ten thousand people", Wang Yunxiu was already married at that time, so they were not that familiar with each other.

Nowadays, several of Wang Zhongsi's sons live in the king's house. During the period of mourning, they all had no official positions and were all taciturn. The spiritual tablet was placed on the table in the lobby, but there was nothing else around it, making it look deserted.

"General, the Golden Gate has arrived!"

"You originally insisted that Zahu would not come, but now he is here. You also said that he will definitely go back. When he steals my position, are you going to say that he will resign soon?"

"it is good."

Call Yang Guozhong not smart, he keenly grasped the ins and outs behind the matter; but if you call him smart, by now, he has lost the initiative and allowed An Lushan to express his loyalty first.

"My condolences." Wang Nan sighed, "You shouldn't have come here, so we're leaving now."

~~
On the seventh day of November, it snowed heavily in Guanzhong. Farm work among the people had stopped, and there were fewer business travelers on the road.

Xue Bai shook his head and said: "That's not how things look. You have to look at his core interests. His core interests are in Fan Yang, so he will never leave Fan Yang. This is inevitable. As for the rest, it is nothing more than a means to confuse the saint. "

"Then do you know what my core interests are?" Yang Guozhong asked back, asking and answering himself: "I will definitely not lose the power to rule the world. This is inevitable."

The next day, before dawn, Xue Bai heard the crowing of cocks in the courtyard, rubbed his eyes, and got up from the couch.

"We plan to sell this house and move elsewhere."

Li Sheng was puzzled and asked: "Why? After all, this is Wang Jieshuai's home."

"Then get the evidence that Fu Chulin accepted bribes. It shouldn't be difficult to get."

But today's meeting still gave him a very important clue.

He didn't believe that An Lushan really dared to leave Fan Yang, then this was the only possibility.

Li Sheng wanted to lead him to Longyou to enter the Memorial Hall, but Wang Nannan refused and said, "Let's go to Wang Jieshuai's home to pay homage first."

"Have Lao Liang and the others arrived?"

The reason why these materials were collected was because Xue Bai was a member of the Zhongshu family and took advantage of his position to copy the backup copies kept by the Zhongshu family. Of course, some are taken from elsewhere.

Hearing the noise, a servant knocked on the door and walked into the study. It was Xue Bai who came and made a few gestures in sign language, which meant "There is a lot of paper in the room, so please be careful about the candlelight."

This is a mute slave, and he is exactly the same mute slave who was in charge of the record library in Li Linfu's house.

No one knows when Xue Bai recruited such a person and how much of Li Linfu's inheritance he inherited.

Xue Bai then blew out the candle and gestured twice with sign language to show that he understood. He sat down in the darkness and rubbed his tired eyes that were still sore and swollen after a good sleep.

The mute slave brought a plate of food and retreated silently.

It was daybreak after breakfast. Xue Bai opened the window, and the cold wind blew in the snowflakes. It was so cold that people couldn't help but shrink their necks. However, he did not close the window again, but began to think and organize the information, trying to weave a network that could contain the Anshi Rebellion. The various generals that the Tang Army now has can become the threads that weave this web.

He sat like this for a long time. At noon, Qinglan came in to deliver the meal and said, "Mr. Lang, the wife of the Wang family has come to ask for an audience. She said she has brought someone you want to see."

"Which lady from the Wang family?"

"Oh, Yuan Zai's wife, the Yuan family's wife." Qing Lan responded stupidly.

"I'll meet them in the hall."

"Mr. Lang, eat first."

Xue Bai had heard about Wang Ruolan for a long time, but this was the first time he saw him today. He was very impressed as soon as they met, and felt that Wang Ruolan's toughness did not disappoint him.

On the contrary, Wang Rao was a little disappointed when he met Xue Bai, because he felt that Xue Bai was too young and handsome, which was different from what he expected. But he did not despise Xue Bai because of this, but held the ceremony very solemnly.

"I've met Xue Lang."

"General, don't be too polite."

Xue Bai hurriedly stepped forward and held Wang Nanlan's elbows to help him up, but it turned out that it was like he was being held up by an iron frame and could not be lifted at all. He had no choice but to let Wang Nanlan salute.

Li Sheng on the side is actually very familiar with Xue Bai. The two are about the same age and get along like friends. At this time, Li Sheng saw that it was rare for the king to do this, so he followed suit and bowed.

Afterwards, they sat down and talked.

"General Wang was hastily transferred to Hedong, but for the time being, he is not worthy of the high position of general. The only one is the Yunzhong Army Envoy." Xue Bai said, "But what I can guarantee is that in the future, there will be an opportunity to make contributions in Hedong. More than Longyou. We should all know that the internal situation in Tubo has been very chaotic in the past two years. There will probably be a stalemate with the Tang Dynasty for several years. As for Hedong... you know why An Lushan had to get rid of Wang Jieshuai. And then quickly.”

Wang Ruan was a very smart man and asked immediately: "Xue Lang, what do you mean, An Lushan wants to rebel?"

"It seems that the whole world knows it?"

With this consensus, subsequent conversations will go more smoothly. Wang Nanwan originally wanted to explore the details of Li Heng's deposedness after the fireworks ceremony, but his focus was completely led by Xue Bai. The content of the discussion was what was the significance of various cities and passes in the east of the river if An Lushan was going to rebel.

At the end, Xue Bai asked: "I have proposed that Li Guangbi be appointed as the deputy envoy of Hedong Jiedu. Will he return to Chang'an with the general?"

This kind of thing is like playing chess. He wanted to replace An Lushan with one or two of Gao Xianzhi, Guo Ziyi, and Li Guangbi, but he couldn't do it at the moment, so he had to look at Hedong first. He originally wanted to try to transfer Guo Ziyi to Hedong Jiedushi, but now that Guo Ziyi was attacking Absi in the north, he considered Li Guangbi.

Compared with Wang Rao, Li Guangbi's seniority and official position were much higher. As early as the fifth year of Tianbao, Wang Zhongsi said, "The one who will get my soldiers in the future will be Guangbi." And Li Guangbi is now the deputy envoy of Jiedu, so he is Flat tone.

Wang Rao was a little surprised and said: "Deputy Commander Li has been transferred to Shuofang as Deputy Envoy of Jiedu." "When did it happen?"

Xue Bai was surprised. He had clearly reached a consensus with Yang Guozhong at that time, but now it had changed. Moreover, he, a member of Zhongshushe, had not heard about such a big transfer of generals.

Wang Nan said: "On the day before I left Longyou and returned to Beijing, Deputy Commander Li received the transfer order and set off for Zhongshou surrender city."

Xue Bai did not show any surprise. He nodded and said, "General Wang, please rest for a few days before heading to Hedong when you are ready."

~~
Seeing Wang Jinlan, Xue Bai made a special trip to Zhongshu's door, but did not see the imperial edict regarding the appointment of Li Guangbi as Shuofang's military governor.

He couldn't help but wonder, thinking that Yang Guozhong had gone back on his word, or that someone had accidentally written "Hedong" as "Shuofang". With this kind of doubt, he arrived at Chen Xilie's apartment and pushed the door straight in.

The official building is in the shape of "work" and is separated by screens. Walking around the screen, I saw Chen Xilie leaning there and sleeping soundly, his heavy breathing blowing the beard on his lips.

However, Xue Bai noticed that there was an official document on the desk, and the ink was still wet. He speculated that Chen Xilie was clearly dealing with the official document just now. He must have seen him coming, so he quickly pretended to be slacking off on political affairs.

What kind of strange psychology is this? It was time to lose control and want to fight for power with Yang Guozhong. He also regarded Xue Bai as a member of Yang Guozhong's family, so he also planned to paralyze Xue Bai.

Of course, it is also possible that he was just pretending to be asleep and was too lazy to talk to Xue Bai.

"Left Prime Minister?"

"Left Prime Minister?"

Xue Bai called twice in succession, but Chen Xilie didn't open his eyes. Knowing that he couldn't wake up a person who was pretending to sleep, he reached out and flipped through the pile of documents piled on Chen Xilie's desk.

"Huh?" Chen Xilie woke up immediately and said, "What is Mr. Xue doing?"

"I heard that An Sishun transferred Li Guangbi to the position of deputy envoy of Shuofang Jiedu, but there was never any news about it in Zhongshu's province. I suspect that An Sishun faked the imperial edict and transferred people without authorization."

The last sentence surprised Chen Xilie, and he quickly stopped and said: "Don't talk nonsense."

"Is there an imperial edict?" Xue Bai asked.

Chen Xilie began to pretend to be confused again, rubbed his old eyes, deliberately thought for a while before remembering, and murmured: "I remember that there is a copy of the imperial edict, where is it. I remembered it, Xue Lang, please take it and file it."

Xue Bai took it and saw that the time for making the imperial edict was more than a month ago, which was when he suggested to Yang Guozhong to support a group of officials. In other words, it is possible that when he was about to transfer Li Guangbi to Hedong, someone quickly transferred him to An Sishun in order to urgently stop this.

"Is this what the right minister means?"

"I don't know either." Chen Xilie stroked his beard and said, "It must be the saint's intention. An Sishun has always admired Li Guangbi and asked him to be transferred to Shuofang not once or twice."

"I see."

From this small matter, Xue Bai could already feel that, as Yang Guozhong was worried, a force was indeed forming in the DPRK that wanted to compete for the power of the prime minister. Zhang Bian and Chen Xilie seemed to be taking advantage of the dispute between Yang Guozhong and An Lushan to take action.

But he is still not interested in these power struggles. At this juncture, Zhang Bian and Chen Xilie are not worthy of his attention.

~~
Zhongshou surrendered to the city.

The weather was extremely cold and there was heavy snow. Most of the Tang troops stationed here stayed in the barracks, talking around the campfire.

A galloping horse arrived and hurried to An Sishun and said, "Commander, Li Guangbi is here."

"I'll go greet you."

An Sishun did not hesitate, got up and left the warm spring-like commander's mansion, and rushed outside the camp gate. As expected, he saw a group of brave cavalry coming, running through the wind and snow with turbulent momentum, and rushed to Zhongshoujiang City.

The first man, a man in his forties, has high eyebrows and deep eyes, a straight nose, a thick beard on his face, and a deep and resolute expression. He is Li Guangbi.

He has a calm and capable demeanor, and a bookish air in his military temperament. He looks like a completely Confucian general, but he is actually a Khitan. He was a native of Liucheng, Yingzhou, and his family was a Khitan noble. His grandfather, Li Kailuo, was a Khitan chief who surrendered to the Tang Dynasty during the Wu Zhou Dynasty.

"I've met Jieshuai."

"I feel relieved now that you are here."

An Sishun is nearly sixty years old. He has a completely different personality and appearance from An Lushan. He is neither fat nor thin. He is strong and tall, has a serious face, and is full of righteousness. While he was very strict in managing the army, he also loved caring for his soldiers, so he won the military's morale.

Earlier, the imperial court asked him to step down as the governor of Hexi Province, but many chiefs in Hexi Province made trouble and refused to let him go. Although there were criticisms in the court, saying that he was taking advantage of the military's morale to show his self-respect, it can also be seen that he had a good reputation in the military.

He personally stepped forward, put his hand on Li Guangbi's back, and led him into the house. This was a very close gesture.

As he walked, he said: "Li Xianzhong... now it's time to call 'Abusi' back. Abusi surrendered to Geluolu. The saint was annoyed by his betrayal. He ordered us to put down Geluolu's rebellion and capture Abusi. Now Guo Ziyi led the troops north. Before he left, he told me that he looked forward to fighting alongside you."

"This is also an honor for me." Li Guangbi had also heard about Guo Ziyi's name for a long time, and he was also excited about it.

"Okay!" An Sishun was overjoyed, "I have strong generals like you under my command, so why worry about Ge Luolu's injustice?"

"I heard that Gao Xianzhi's defeat in Talas was also related to the defection of the Geluolu people before the battle." Li Guangbi said, "Geluolu has always followed Huihe's lead. Perhaps Huihe also wanted to test the truth of our Tang Dynasty."

"So we must fight this battle well."

While they were talking, they had arrived at An Sishun's mansion. When they arrived in the lobby, they suddenly felt warm.

Li Guangbi originally wanted to continue asking about Shuofang's military affairs, but An Sishun shook his head and stopped answering. Instead, he asked about an irrelevant topic.

"I heard that your wife was born in the Wang family of Taiyuan and died of illness a few years ago?"

"Yes." Li Guangbi's eyes dimmed slightly.

An Sishun nodded, sighed and said, "A man cannot live without a family. When a man is away fighting, he should have a woman at home to take good care of him."

Li Guangbi didn't know what he meant by saying this suddenly, and was surprised.

"You and I are both barbarians, and we don't need mother-in-law or mother-in-law to do things." An Sishun said, "I have a daughter who is just right for you. Call her out for you to see... Go and call Jiuniang out."

Soon, a tall and plump Sogdian woman was led into the hall. She was in her twenties, neither beautiful nor ugly, with an ordinary look. She was wearing a Hu robe. She looked at Li Guangbi with bold eyes and was very satisfied that she was about to marry a heroic husband.

Li Guangbi, the hero of the first generation, lowered his head under her gaze and avoided it.

He cupped his hands and said, "Thank you very much for your love, An Jieshuai, but I have a very close relationship with my late wife. After she passed away, I had already vowed never to marry again. Please forgive me for letting you down, Jieshuai."

Generally speaking, that's where it ends.

An Sishun loved talents and expressed his attitude of wanting to get married, but Li Guangbi refused and passed away with a laugh. Although they are superiors and subordinates to each other, marriage cannot be forced.

However, An Sishun was still persuading, and kept talking about how wonderful his daughter was. He also said that since they were all from barbarian origins, they would be able to get used to getting along with each other after they got married.

Li Guangbi gradually felt offended. Although his father and ancestors were Khitan people, they had long admired Han culture and learned poetry and etiquette, so they took the initiative to surrender to the Tang Dynasty during the Wu Zhou Dynasty. As for him, he was both civilized and military, strictly abided by etiquette, and regarded himself as a man of the Tang Dynasty. However, An Sishun repeatedly called him a "Hu man" and forced him to marry the daughter of Hu Feng.

"Jie Shuai."

Finally, Li Guangbi said in a solemn tone: "Please don't try to persuade me any more, I have no intention of continuing the relationship!"

An Sishun had an eager face. The smile on his face froze when he heard this. A fierce look flashed in his eyes, but he still didn't give up and said, "Let's think about it again."

The two had some unpleasant quarrels over this private matter, and Li Guangbi felt that An Sishun's upright and loyal image of serving the country had collapsed in his heart.

In the following days, he, the new deputy envoy of Shuofang Jiedu, did not take office as smoothly as expected. He was unable to gain access to military power. He even had difficulty passing through the camp and was stopped under various excuses.

He was eagerly transferred, but was ignored and even monitored.

Regarding this situation, Li Guangbi's favorite general Hao Tingyu said with emotion: "An Sishun is trying to force the general to submit. The general might as well just marry his daughter. You won't suffer anyway."

"Not at a disadvantage?" Li Guangbi frowned slightly and asked, "Why do you think he insists on marrying me?"

Hao Tingyu said matter-of-factly: "Of course I admire the general! I admire him so much."

"Do you remember what he mentioned repeatedly?" Li Guangbi murmured: "He said, 'Everyone is a barbarian', and he was very concerned about my Khitan origin."

"General, I stopped being a Khitan decades ago."

Hao Tingyu didn't think much about it at first, just wondering why Li Guangbi was thinking so much about this kind of thing, until after a while, he thought of something Ge Shuhan once said, and reacted suddenly.

"General, are you suspecting that An Sishun has other motives for wooing you?"

Li Guangbi shook his head and said, "An Sishun has always been loyal and loyal, so you shouldn't suspect him of having ulterior motives."

Even so, he was already a little unsure.

Hao Tingyu was anxious and said: "In my opinion, if you don't agree, it will be dangerous to stay in Shuofang."

"Don't be frightened or cheat, or speak evil words, and I will not be in danger."

Hao Tingyu was already anxious and asked: "Has the general forgotten how he advised Wang Jieshuai back then? Hardness is easy to break, but softness lasts forever. An Sishun's intentions are unpredictable, and there is no guarantee that the general will contradict him like this. He will not turn against you."

Li Guangbi asked: "What do you want me to do, do you want me to marry his daughter?"

"General, have you forgotten that you gave Wang Jieshuai an idea back then? He didn't use it, but you can use it now." Hao Tingyu said, "Pretend to be sick to protect yourself."

(End of this chapter)