The Bad Guys: Everyone, let’s revive the Tang Dynasty together!

Chapter 302 Closing the Net (Part )

After reading the letter sent back from Shiwandashan, Li Maozhen was shocked and angry for some reason. In just a moment, he subconsciously crushed the letter with only a few dozen words on it into debris, leaving no crumbs.

Fanyintian was secretly surprised. Li Maozhen had returned to Fengxiang for nearly half a year, but he had never lost his composure like this. He always looked cold and ruthless in front of others. Even when he disagreed with the empress, he was only slightly disappointed.

It can be said that Li Maozhen is the real King Qi who never shows his emotions. Most of the time, others cannot detect his thoughts through his expression.

But when Fanyintian was observing quietly just now, he saw that Li Maozhen's face suddenly changed into several emotions within a short moment.

Astonishment, anger, disgust, vigilance, murderous intent...

This made Fanyintian even more curious about what was written on the letter, but there was a wax seal on the envelope with the words "Personally written by King Qi" written on it, and no one had the chance to open it privately.

While he was thinking, Li Maozhen, who was behind the case, suddenly stood up, and the coldness on his body could hardly be concealed.

Fan Yintian lowered his head hastily, then smiled in surprise and said, "I wonder what that kid surnamed Xiao wrote in the letter that made King Qi so angry... Could it be that this kid thought that he had some power in Liang State and dared to say something rude to the empress?"

From her tone, it was obvious that she thought this letter was written by Xiao Yan to the empress.

Li Maozhen's eyes were filled with murderous intent, and without thinking, he planned to let Fan Yintian immediately execute the thirty-six detained bad people. But after hearing these words, he suddenly narrowed his eyes and hesitated a little.

After seeing the letter just now, Li Maozhen's first thought was of course that Xiao Yan was so shameless. He already knew Xiao Yan's identity as the crown prince of Li Tang. In Li Maozhen's eyes, Li Tang had long been reduced to a pile of dry bones. If it weren't for these bad guys walking in the dark, no one would have remembered this dynasty that had been buried under the soil.

But the tricky thing is that Xiao Yan seems to have some say in Liang State.

Li Maozhen was called out from the Twelve Caves by Yuan Tiangang at that time. Naturally, he had already found out everything about Xiao Yan, the villain who wanted to seize the country with nothing.

Xiao Yan's power in Liang State was not high. Li Maozhen had been a prince, so he could naturally detect from some clues that Xiao Yan's status in the Liang State court was very subtle. Xiao Yan had many political enemies, and he was a surrendered person from Li Tang. However, he had only been in the Liang State officialdom for more than two years, so his foundation was not stable, and there were too many people with higher status than him.

But there was nothing to be done about it. Xiao Yan actually helped Zhu Wen conquer Hebei and shocked the northern desert. Even the warlike Li Cunxu suffered a great loss at his hands.

The whole world knew that Xiao Yan was knowledgeable about military affairs and good at making plans. After Li Maozhen returned to the Central Plains, he also simulated the battle in Hebei for a long time. He had to admit that Xiao Yan was indeed courageous and adventurous, and was very brave in military affairs.

Therefore, Zhu Wen and other Liang Kingdom officials would inevitably pay some attention to Xiao Yan in foreign wars. Moreover, Liang Kingdom had always wanted to attack Qi Kingdom, so it was not easy for Xiao Yan to instigate Zhu Wen to start a war against Qi Kingdom.

In this way, Xiao Yan's threat is no longer outrageous.

This guy can really attract the Liang army!

Li Maozhen was certainly not afraid of Zhu Wen, but at this moment, he did not want to have major friction with the State of Liang.

He had already decided to send troops to Dingnan and Shuofang in the spring of this year, and he also invited Li Keyong to join the army. The action was almost imminent. If the Liang army attacked, it would not be difficult to reach Fengxiang City with several routes. At that time, everything would be over. Even if Qi State forced the Liang army to withdraw, it would take several years to recover.

So when he thought about this, Li Maozhen immediately calmed down.

Killing only thirty-six bad guys would only vent his anger, and would not be of much use. On the contrary, if Xiao Yan really lost his mind and launched a war against Qi State for these men, Li Maozhen would think that it would be a loss.

But no matter how he thought about it, when he returned to the letter, Li Maozhen was still furious.

He hurriedly returned to Fengxiang from Twelve Caves in order to guard against the possibility that the empress would really lose her mind and give the foundation of Qi Kingdom to Xiao Yan for nothing. During the past six months, he had been hiding his identity and creating a situation where the empress and Xiao Yan had unilaterally broken up, just in order to have the opportunity to catch Xiao Yan off guard in the future.

Unexpectedly, Xiao Yan actually knew that he was no longer in Twelve Caves!

Li Maozhen had a cold face. After he stood up from behind the desk, he suddenly became silent. His expression changed several times, and finally he looked up and glanced at Fanyintian.

"How are the bad guys in custody doing?"

Fanyintian was surprised for a moment, and then hurriedly said: "According to King Qi's order, these people were detained in the dungeon of Huanyinfang. But we can't get any new information from these people. Whether it is torture or other methods, what they revealed is what we already knew..."

Li Maozhen frowned and said in a deep voice: "Choose half of the people and let them go."

"Release him?" Fan Yintian was obviously at a loss, but seeing Li Maozhen's somewhat gloomy face, he did not dare to ask more questions and just took the order and left.

Li Maozhen stayed alone in the room, pacing back and forth for a long time with a gloomy face, before he finally called for Liu Zhijun, the general who surrendered to Qi State as the Prince of Dapeng of Liang State last year.

Li Maozhen discussed with him, asked him about the national strength of Liang State and his opinion of Xiao Yan. In the end, he decided on the strategy of sending troops to Dingnan and Shuofang towns as early as possible.

…………

After the messenger outside the attic left, the empress still planned to keep calm and continue painting, but with the brush in her hand, she had no intention of putting pen to paper.

For some reason, she felt a little uneasy. Various thoughts flashed through her mind, making it inexplicably difficult for her to remain calm.

Thinking that the letter might be from Xiao Yan to her, she really couldn't calm down.

Ever since she parted with Xiao Yan in Bian Jing, she had not communicated with him again. After her brother Li Maozhen came back, he put her under house arrest, and she even lost the right to send letters to Miao Chengtian who stayed in Bian Jing.

If the empress wants to save herself, she must turn against her brother, and she needs to find a suitable time.

Li Maozhen told her on New Year's Eve that he planned to use military force against Dingnan and Shuofang. Although the empress did not support it, she also knew that this was the best time for her.

Because ever since Li Maozhen came back, he used some unknown means to seal up all of the empress's skills. If Li Maozhen was in Fengxiang, she would have no chance of making a comeback, and she couldn't even leave Huanyinfang.

If Li Maozhen wanted to use troops against Dingnan and the other two towns, he would have to lead the army himself. At that time, the empress would try her best to stay in Fengxiang and then seize power again. Although this would inevitably cause unrest in Qi State, it would be much better than using military force under Li Maozhen.

The empress has ruled Qi for more than ten years. No one knows Qi's internal situation better than her. It is more than enough for her to protect the land in Longyou. But it is wishful thinking for her to compete with Liang, not to mention that she will have to seek help from Jin in the process.

Under such circumstances, if Qi State continued to engage in war and make enemies everywhere, let alone advance into Guanzhong, it would probably be taken advantage of by one of Liang or Jin sooner or later. It would be hard to say whether Qi State could be protected by then!
Therefore, the empress not only had to seize this unique opportunity, but also had to continue to maintain her friendship with Xiao Yan. If Qi State really experienced turmoil, only the latter could have the opportunity to prevent Qi State from being ravaged by the Liang Army. Xiao Yan's letter became a variable. The empress could not guess what information was in the letter, but from the information she knew, Xiao Yan did not know that the current King of Qi was not her.

Moreover, Huanyinfang has basically completely broken off with Anle Pavilion. Even if Xiao Yan can get her explanation, what is the point if the cooperation with Huanyinfang is no longer there?
Without the external force of Xiao Yan, it would be difficult for the empress to have the confidence to launch a coup to seize power. Because even if she succeeded, after such a great turmoil in Qi State, it would be very easy for foreign enemies to take advantage of the situation. So with this in mind, should she give up this opportunity?
For a moment, the empress finally put down her paintbrush and was unable to paint anymore.

At this time, she urgently needed to know Xiao Yan's attitude.

An hour had passed and the messenger had not returned yet, so the empress walked to the window, looked at the flying snow outside, and couldn't help but frown.

At this point, the empress no longer had the identity of Queen Qi, but she only wore men's clothes. In the past, when she was in Huanyinfang, she would still wear that bright red palace dress.

But even so, the empress's tall figure, brightly colored hair and skin are still very beautiful. Not only is there a faint fragrance from her floating in the air, but her gorgeous appearance is still charming and moving even with her frown on her face.

The empress is not unaware of her beauty. On the contrary, it is precisely because she knows it that she appears in men's clothing outside Huanyinfang.

As she looked at the snow falling from the sky, she suddenly thought, if she met Xiao Yan in the future as a girl, what would his reaction be?
Although the empress found this idea a little strange, she couldn't stop thinking about it.

She recalled what happened a year ago. When she first met Xiao Yan, he was already a famous general who shook the world. But before that, even if the empress heard the stories of people like Miao Chengtian, she only regarded this man as a young man with some talents.

She even thought about using the beauty trap to bring Xiao Yan under her command at that time, but after getting along with him, she gradually understood that although Xiao Yan looked young and had fair skin and was handsome, which made him look easy to be despised, he was actually an extremely calm and heroic man!

Some middle-aged people may not be as calm as Xiao Yan, nor have his shrewdness and courage.

Before leaving Bianjing, the empress had advised Xiao Yan to leave Liang State, so that she could give him more power in Longyou. However, Xiao Yan remained silent and planned to stay in Liang State to continue to accumulate strength and prestige step by step. The empress now thought that only by doing so could she have a chance.

However, in just three years, Xiao Yan has achieved his current status and can even influence the situation of Qi State. The empress suddenly looked back and found that Xiao Yan was really powerful.

Three years ago, Xiao Yan was just a young man who had to walk a tightrope between several forces. Apart from the general trend, Xiao Yan made almost no mistakes in every step, and his adventures were successful. When the empress received the letter from Caozhou in Fengxiang three years ago, who could have thought that this young man would have such courage?

What's more, he is the Crown Prince of the Tang Dynasty, the heir apparent appointed by the late emperor.

The empress believed that she was not wrong. Xiao Yan was obviously the mountain that could withstand the storms in the turbulent world.

What's wrong with entrusting Qiguo to him?
The empress paced back and forth, suddenly turned around, walked to the table, took down a scroll that she had carefully collected, and slowly opened it, revealing the painting "Yanzhou Li Jiu Sending Off King Qi".

There are only back views of both people, and because the painting was done in a hurry, the brushwork is not even delicate, making it look very freehand.

But the characters in it were surprisingly vivid, as if the scene had just happened yesterday. But when the empress recalled carefully, she could only remember Xiao Yan's temperament, expression, and movements, and his face was a little blurry.

She frowned and suddenly remembered that she should meet Xiao Yan.

Would this make the situation better?
The empress thought quietly for a while, and her thoughts became clearer. If she met Xiao Yan in person, she could show her sincerity and demonstrate the fact that Huanyinfang could continue to cooperate with Anle Pavilion.

But how to meet with him without alerting Li Maozhen before seizing power was a troublesome matter.

And the empress suddenly thought, if they really met at that time, wouldn't she have to show herself as a girl?

Thinking of this, the empress subconsciously bit her red lips with her pearly teeth, because she inexplicably felt that it was a very embarrassing thing to let Xiao Yan know her identity as a woman.

There is no reason, it's just that people can't help feeling embarrassed.

The empress remembered Xiao Yan's comments about her in Rouge Review, as well as the inexplicable look Xiao Yan gave her when they first met. She frowned and then frowned.

She discovered that Xiao Yan seemed to have a great interest in the image of "Empress".

But she didn't think much about it, because at this time, there was finally a knock on the door.

"Your Majesty, that letter has been destroyed by King Qi. King Qi also ordered the release of half of the imprisoned bad people. According to my guess, this letter does not seem to be written to you..."

"No?" The empress closed her eyes, glanced at the scroll on the table, was silent for a moment, and asked: "Do you have any way to contact him?"

"Him?" The person outside the door was a little confused.

The empress suddenly realized that she had been thinking about Xiao Yan for too long, to the point where it affected her mind, and she subconsciously used the term "he". After realizing what was happening, she pretended to be casual and said, "It's Xiao Yan."

"I'm afraid it will be difficult." The person outside the door didn't think much about it and whispered, "King Qi keeps a close watch on these things. Many of the previous sisters have been replaced. He has reused a group of people and seems to want to re-establish an organization independent of Huanyinfang..."

The empress was silent for a moment, then said, "Think of a way. If you can get in touch with him, please ask Xiao Yan to return to the Central Plains around the beginning of spring. I have important matters concerning the Qi Kingdom that I want to discuss with him in person."

The person outside the door was also silent for a long time before he said "OK" and then quietly left.

Some snowflakes floated into the window with the wind. The empress caught some with her fingertips and stared at them for a long time. Only when the snowflakes melted did she sigh softly.

She didn't know if what she was doing was right.

But Li Maozhen was obviously trying to disintegrate her abilities, first with her martial arts, then with Huanyinfang. Without the latter, she would never have a chance to save Qiguo.

She looked at the vast land outside the window, narrowed her eyes, and suddenly thought of something she had not finished thinking about just now, that is, Xiao Yan's comments on the "Empress" and so on.

If the "Empress" were to give herself to Xiao Yan, would he help Qiguo at all costs?

The empress's cheeks felt hot, and then she frowned and put the idea behind her.

But in an instant, her snow-white neck like jade suddenly turned red.

(End of this chapter)