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

Chapter 317: Capture Xiao Yan and Give it to the Empress

The conversation between Xiao Yan and the empress was very long. Lunch was prepared by the father and daughter and sent to the back. The two of them didn't care about etiquette and squeezed together at the slightly small stone table to eat.

Only then did the empress have the leisure to introduce the father and daughter to Xiao Yan. She said that the father and daughter's wife and mother were the empress's painters when she was a child. The two had a close personal relationship. Later, the empress helped to arrange the marriage of the female painter. This man, who was over 50 years old, was an officer in the Fengxiang Army at that time. He was highly appreciated by the empress, so she arranged a marriage between him and the female painter.

The two had a very good relationship after they got married. Unfortunately, the female painter contracted an epidemic after giving birth to a daughter. Even though the empress personally treated her, the disease was only delayed for half a year.

After the man lost his wife, he was lost and had no intention of pursuing a career, so he submitted his resignation to the empress, intending to travel around the world with his daughter. However, the empress thought that the girl, who was ten years younger than her, could not withstand the chaos of the world, so she persuaded the father and daughter to stay in Fengxiang for a while, and gave them this piece of land half-hidden in the mountain as a reward. After that, the father and daughter settled down here, and politely declined the money rewarded by the empress, and made a living by raising fish here for nearly ten years, until the daughter found a son-in-law, and their life was truly stable.

The empress would visit here from time to time over the years. This father and daughter were the two people she trusted most besides Huanyinfang, so she left a message for Xiao Yan to wait here.

The father and daughter did not know Xiao Yan's true identity. Their friendship with the empress was because of the female painter, and it was more like that of relatives who visited from time to time. There was not even too much interest involved.

Xiao Yan was quite concerned about this pure man who retired from the Fengxiang Army, but considering that the other party probably didn't want to get involved in the trivial matters of the martial arts world, he didn't say much. He just took out a small token and gave it to the two of them, saying that if they wanted to continue traveling around the world in the future, they could bring their son-in-law to Anle Pavilion in Bian Jing to find him with this token. Xiao Yan didn't have much power, so it wouldn't be a big problem to let the secret agents from various places take care of him.

The empress did not think too much about Xiao Yan's poaching behavior. Instead, she admired Xiao Yan's kindness in doing so.

The father and daughter did not stay too long. Except for delivering meals and clearing the tableware, no one disturbed them without permission. Gong Yangzuo and his companions would not break in without reason. They were just on guard outside. After all, they did not need to know the details of what Xiao Yan discussed with the empress. They just needed to listen to Xiao Yan's arrangements.

Another hour passed in the afternoon, and the empress could no longer stay any longer. If she delayed too long, Fanyintian in Huanyinfang might not be able to hold on alone. So she picked up her veil and bowed gently to Xiao Yan.

"The love you have given me will never be forgotten by Qiguo."

Xiao Yan smiled. It was not like he was helping Qi country for no reason. However, the empress was indeed a heroine who did things as a man in a female body. She was open-minded and manly. She was not shy about what she had agreed with Xiao Yan.

The empress certainly understood Xiao Yan's desire for profit, but a gentleman judges actions rather than intentions. Xiao Yan has truly risked his life and shown enough sincerity, so what if Qi is given to him?

After the empress left, Xiao Yan and Gong Yang Zuo and the other two did not stay here. After saying goodbye to the father and daughter, the four of them went in two directions. Xiao Yan and Gong Yang Zuo each took one person with them. Xiao Yan went straight into Fengxiang, while Gong Yang Zuo and the other two galloped day and night, heading east towards Chang'an.

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Fengxiang, Prince Qi’s Palace.

After Li Maozhen regained control of Fengxiang, he moved into the Prince Qi's Mansion and rarely went to Huanyinfang unless it was necessary. Of course, he had always kept a close watch on Huanyinfang. Over the past six months, he had promoted many people and established another organization called the Prince Qi's Guard.

A group of veterans from the Qi country were naturally very excited about this.

King Qi finally came to his senses. In the past few years, he would hang out with the women in Huanyinfang whenever he had nothing to do. He would not be seen for ten days or half a month. Although state affairs were not affected, it always seemed that he was obsessed with women and neglected state affairs.

Today, King Qi is working hard to govern the country. There has been almost no woman around him for most of the past six months. He only shows up with Saint Ji Fanyin occasionally. Apart from that, he travels between the palace and the military camp. He often even stays in the military camp for ten days or half a month to share the joys and sorrows with the soldiers.

This was something that King Qi had seldom done in the past ten years. Although King Qi had never treated his soldiers badly, and had set an example in all battles, big or small, and killed countless enemies, it was difficult for him to live and work with his soldiers in peacetime.

It is hard not to think that King Qi has changed his nature.

Li Maozhen was very arrogant, which was related to the fact that he was granted the surname Li and was conferred the title of King of Qi as a soldier. There were few princes in the world who truly started from scratch like him, and Zhu Wen was one of them. Others, such as Li Keyong, did not mention their backgrounds, but their fathers had already had deep roots in the army in their early years. Therefore, people like Li Maozhen and Zhu Wen fought their way to the top with their own hands, and of course they had the capital to be arrogant.

He convened a military meeting today, and several major military governors of Qi State sent representatives to attend the meeting.

In the second year of Jingfu (893), Li Maozhen established his regime in Fengxiang and was conferred the title of King of Qi by Emperor Zhaozong. At that time, he governed four towns and fifteen prefectures. After Li Maozhen's continuous expansion, he successively annexed Tianxiong, Zhangyi, Ganyi, Wuding, Xingyuan, Jingnan, Baoda, Baosai, Yisheng, Kuangguo, and Longjian towns. At its peak, Qi State governed four roads, fifteen towns and more than forty prefectures.

Later, when Li Maozhen was at his peak, he was tricked by Yuan Tiangang into going to the Twelve Caves. The power of Qi State began to shrink. The three towns of Wuding, Xingyuan and Longjian were taken by Shu State, and Ganyi and Kuang State were conquered by Daliang.

Nowadays, except Fengxiang, there are only six towns left in Qi State. The military governors of several towns are in charge of different troops. Among them, Baoda and Baosai are stationed in the north to guard against Dingnan and Jin State. They have strong military forces. Li Maozhen is currently hesitating whether to transfer the two towns to Fengxiang in the south.

The Tianxiong Army had to guard against the Kingdom of Shu and could not move, so Li Maozhen only had the Zhangyi, Jingnan, and Yisheng armies plus the Fengxiang headquarters to mobilize.

This time, Yuan Tiangang sent a letter stating that Jin's actions would be big. Li Maozhen naturally did not want to resort to small-scale actions. If Jin swallowed up Hebei in one gulp while Qi was still struggling in Guanzhong, this was something Li Maozhen did not want to see.

Qi and Jin were not good neighbors. If they did not have a common enemy, Li Keyong might have wanted to take over Longyou first. Now Qi could barely be compared with Jin. If Jin took over Hebei, Qi would probably have to be a little brother if it did not have much power to expand in the future.

"What's there to hesitate about?"

There was a mocking voice from below. Li Maozhen looked at it expressionlessly. It was the fake Li sitting on the right side of the study with his arms crossed. There was a hint of sneer on his lips: "A great opportunity is right in front of you. If you waste another ten days or half a month, I'm afraid you won't be able to keep up with the offensive of Jin State. What's the point of talking about taking over Guanzhong? If you take one of the two armies of Baoda and Baosai, you can expand the results of the war. It's impossible for the two towns to dare to offend Qi State when they are full and bored?"

After Li Maozhen transferred hundreds of people from various armies to form the Qi Wang Guard, the deputy commander was the fake Li. He had a group of bad people under him and recruited some more people. He managed the Qi Wang Guard very well and it has shown some prestige in the past few months.

The fake Li had been traveling around the world with Yuan Tiangang since he was a child and had a lot of experience. Yuan Tiangang had instilled in him a great deal of knowledge and he was able to make his own accurate judgments about things, so he guessed Li Maozhen's dilemma at a glance.

Moreover, the fake Li Tian has great capital, and has no interest in beauty and money. He only wants to gain power. In the past six months, he has learned a lot about commanding troops from Li Maozhen. He thinks that his knowledge has increased a lot. With Yuan Tiangang as his backer, how can he be polite to Li Maozhen? If this Qi Wang takes over, the fake Li will probably not leave any of the Baoda and Baosai armies, and will withdraw all of them to attack Guanzhong. Even if Dingnan and Dingnan invade, what will happen? At most, he will give some territory to Dingnan and Dingnan. These Dangxiang people are not very promising. Once Guanzhong is taken, it will be easy to deal with them.

Even if many people from Qi State might be looted and massacred by the two towns of Dingnan during this period, the fake Li didn't care at all. Before the great cause, what were a few cheap lives worth?
Li Maozhen just can't see the situation clearly!

Li Maozhen looked coldly at the fake Li's sneering expression, still with an indifferent expression. He paced with his hands behind his back. Before the military meeting, he had decided to let the three armies of Zhangyi, Jingnan and Yisheng gather in Fengxiang in the name of military performance, but he concealed it to some extent to prevent the news from leaking to Zhu Liang.

His hesitation about Baoda and Baosai armies was not only because he wanted to guard against Dingnan and Dingnan towns. In fact, he was more on guard against Li Keyong in his heart. He did not have much trust in the bad commander Yuan Tiangang. He even thought about whether he should cover up his tracks and turn around to attack the State of Jin. Hedong was much richer than Longyou, and if Li Keyong was allowed to engage in aggressive military campaigns for so many years, he could still compete with Zhu Liang.

Of course, Li Maozhen was just thinking about this. If it were fourteen years ago, he would have done so very likely. At that time, he had a great personal grudge with Li Keyong, and Qi State was also at its peak. But now Qi State is weak, and if it does not form an alliance with Jin State, it would be difficult to resist Zhu Liang alone.

After hearing what the fake Li said, he was naturally a little moved. He founded Qi State, and his obsession with Qi State far exceeded that of the empress, but he wanted Qi State to unify the world, while the empress wanted to protect the military and civilians of Qi State.

Li Maozhen tapped the table with his fingers. The fake Li was getting annoyed waiting downstairs. He paced back and forth in boredom and said, "You have the Marshal to help you plan. What are you afraid of? He's the Bad Marshal! The Bad Marshal! Don't forget that the solution to the Longquan treasure is still in your hands. How could the Marshal want to harm you?"

There is a reason why the fake Li is so warlike. Yuan Tiangang had already promised him that the day when the Longquan treasure is opened will be the day when Qi country will belong to him.

The fake Li's admiration for Yuan Tiangang was immense. He had always wanted to prove to the general that he was more suitable to be a descendant of the Li Tang dynasty than that kid Li Xingyun. Naturally, he tried his best to make a career in Qi country.

But no matter how obsessed the fake Li was, he knew that his current ability was not as good as Li Maozhen's. Li Maozhen treated him coldly, but he had long regarded Li Maozhen as his vanguard in opening up the territory of Qi State. How could he not let Li Maozhen make more progress?
Conquering Guanzhong is what the fake Li wants to do, so he keeps using Yuan Tiangang to push Li Maozhen.

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Li Maozhen's mind moved, and he was touched by the words of the fake Li.

He traveled far to the Twelve Caves to practice witchcraft. He was the only one in the world who knew how to open the Raojiang Holy Gu. It was impossible for Li Maozhen not to notice that Yuan Tiangang was taking advantage of him, but in his opinion, he was just using Yuan Tiangang to his advantage.

Yuan Tiangang had promised him that the Bad People would find the location of the Holy Gu, and then he would open it, and then Li Maozhen could take 50% of the Longquan treasure. As for whether to take 50% at that time, Li Maozhen was confident that if he was given a few years, even Yuan Tiangang would not be able to stop Qiguo from occupying the entire Longquan treasure.

Li Maozhen holds the secret method. If Yuan Tiangang wants to ensure that this 14-year cooperation will not fail, how can he tear up the agreement midway? Yuan Tiangang will not benefit from letting Qi State weaken and Jin State grow stronger.

Thinking of this, Li Maozhen finally narrowed his eyes and sent someone to Fuzhou immediately to summon Li Yanbo, the governor of Baoda Army, to lead his troops to Fengxiang for military exercises immediately. He also sent a letter to Hu Jingzhang, the governor of Baosai Army, ordering him to stay in Yanzhou to ensure the safety of the north.

Seeing that Li Maozhen had finally made up his mind to launch a large-scale military campaign against Guanzhong, the fake Li was very satisfied. He then sat down and said slowly, "If the Prince of Qi leads the army in person and Fengxiang is not left behind, then the empress..."

Li Maozhen glanced at him coldly and said indifferently: "You want to stay in Fengxiang?"

The fake Li Ha smiled, shrugged, and spread his hands: "How can I be qualified? Not to mention whether I can convince the people without King Qi at my age, I am afraid I can't control King Qi's sister."

"Then stop talking nonsense!"

Li Maozhen said coldly and walked away. If Yuan Tiangang had not told him that he wanted to make use of this kid's identity as Li Tang, Li Maozhen would have slapped the fake Li to death instead of watching him being an eyesore and getting in his way.

Li Maozhen really had no fear of Yuan Tiangang.

The fake Li laughed in the back and said, "My idea is, why doesn't the King of Qi lead the Empress to fight in person? Then Fengxiang won't be in chaos anymore?"

Li Maozhen frowned. It was not like he had not thought about taking the empress with him to control her, but he also felt that this would completely break their relationship and make it irreparable.

Li Maozhen felt guilty towards the empress and did not want to control her freedom for a few years or even decades. The fourteen years since he left Qi State were equivalent to depriving the empress of her freedom for fourteen years.

Moreover, he was well aware of the empress's abilities. How could he not hope that the two brothers and sisters could lead Qi together to unify the world and establish a dynasty?
Fake Li had been trying to figure out Yuan Tiangang's thoughts since he was young, and could guess Li Maozhen's concerns to some extent, so he said nonchalantly: "The relationship between the empress and your brother is strained, isn't it because of that fellow Xiao Yan?"

"My intelligence shows that this guy is on his way back to Bianliang. It is possible that the King of Qi will fight him in Guanzhong in the future. If the Queen sees with her own eyes that the King of Qi defeated Xiao Yan in one fell swoop, I am afraid she will give up this idea."

Both the fake Li and Li Maozhen knew Xiao Yan's true identity, but they were confused as to why the empress insisted on supporting Xiao Yan. Previously, the fake Li had suggested directly revealing Xiao Yan's identity so that he could not survive in Zhu Liang.

But for some reason Yuan Tiangang did not allow it, and even forbade the fake Li to mention it again, so the fake Li did not dare to have this idea again.

Neither of them had actually met Xiao Yan, but according to the intelligence, Xiao Yan was very good at deceiving women's minds. The fake Li could only be the owner of Huanyinfang, who was famous for her beauty in the world, and was fooled by Xiao Yan.

Li Maozhen glanced at the fake Li. This guy was an eyesore, but sometimes his little tricks seemed to be more obvious to a bystander, which made Li Maozhen, the person in charge, figure out the key points at once.

Doesn't the empress regard Xiao Yan as a heroic leader?

Oh, just wait until he defeats Xiao Yan. The only heroic leader in this world is him, Li Maozhen!
Li Maozhen rode his horse to Huanyinfang to talk to the empress about this matter, with a cold expression on his face.

If the empress really has some interest in Xiao Yan, what's wrong with sparing his life and capturing him and bringing him back to the empress as a concubine?
So what about Prince Li Tang?
It’s best not to let him meet in Guanzhong. If so, capture him in one battle!
Li Maozhen remembers the humiliation that day clearly!
(End of this chapter)