A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Starting from the Village Chief

Chapter 399 Killing Du Yan

Luoyang under the night sky

Everywhere were victorious Tang soldiers singing and dancing.
Li Yi sat in the Luoyang palace attending a victory celebration banquet, while the singing outside the palace grew louder and more synchronized.

“This is the Qin King’s Battle Song,” Du Ruhui told Li Yi. “During the previous Battle of Hedong, the Qin King stationed his troops at Baibi and repeatedly defeated Song Jingang. The soldiers then used the Lanling King’s Battle Song as a new melody to praise and celebrate their victory, and called it the Qin King’s Battle Song.”

"This is both a hymn of praise and a battle song, stirring and powerful, its spirit soaring like a leopard swallowing ten thousand miles!" Li Yi praised repeatedly, listening to the tens of thousands of people singing in unison on the battlefield of Luoyang, where the battle had just ended, right there in the Luoyang Palace.
That flavor was incomparable to any courtly music and dance.

"Having received the decree from the emperor, we march together to punish the rebellious minister. We sing songs of victory, and together we celebrate this peaceful era!"

At this moment, Li Shimin, sitting at the head of the table, held a wine cup and listened to the chorus of music outside. Inside the hall, Qin Shubao and Cheng Yaojin also stood up and began to sing.

They started dancing while singing.

It's quite funny to see these burly generals dancing.

More and more people joined in, singing and dancing energetically. It might seem a little comical when only one or two people were dancing, but when a group of burly men with waists of seven or eight feet were dancing together…

Those are war songs and war dances.

The momentum is amazing.

Li Shimin couldn't help but sing and dance along, and Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui even pulled Li Yi up to join in.

It wasn't as lavish as court music and dance.

But what's important is that emotion; even that ugly boy, Prince Qi Yuanji, was jumping around with abandon.

At this point, everyone is a victor. There is no distinction between Guanzhong Prefecture troops, the Emperor's original imperial guards, Henan surrendered troops, Yizhou troops, Shannan troops, and Hedong troops. No one will care whether you were a bandit or a local tyrant or an official soldier.

Everyone is a winner.
This is the moment of reckoning for the victors.

The Qin King's Battle Dance, performed by tens of thousands of people, lasted for almost half an hour before finally ending.

Next, of course, comes drinking and eating meat.

Li Shimin was particularly excited today. He doesn't usually drink much, but he held Li Yi's hand and insisted on drinking several cups.

"Chu Luo has repeatedly been an enemy of our Great Tang. This time, I am determined to take over Daibei, Mayi, and Dingxiang in one fell swoop. If I have the chance, I will let him experience the taste of a dragon rising from the ashes and send him straight to the heavens!"

Having captured Luoyang and now possessing the mysterious weapon of gunpowder, Li Shimin has shed his previous anxiety and become extremely confident.

"Last time we defeated Liu Wuzhou but stopped at Taiyuan, which I deeply regretted. This time I will take the opportunity to avenge that humiliation!"

Li Yi hadn't drunk much of his drink; he was still quite sober and waiting for news.

Li Shimin's somewhat drunken boastful words were, in his heart, unlikely. Judging from the emperor's usual style, even if Chuluo launched a full-scale invasion, he would have no choice but to fight.

But the emperor will certainly be fighting a limited defensive counterattack.
Although Wang Shichong has been defeated, there are still various forces in Hebei, such as Dou Jiande, Xiao Xian, Lin Shihong, Du Fuwei, Li Zitong, Shen Faxing in Jiangling, and Feng Ang and Ning Changzhen in Lingnan.

"Wu Yi, you deserve the greatest credit for this eastern expedition, which swept through Henan and captured Luoyang. Without you, this war would have lasted at least another six months. Just the city of Luoyang alone would probably have taken at least six months to besiege." Li Shimin held Li Yi's hand. "You are truly an auspicious omen for the Tang Dynasty."

Not far away, Prince Qi, Li Yuanji, watched this scene with cold eyes.

At this lively victory celebration banquet, no one paid any attention to him, despite his status as the deputy commander of the eastern expedition, the Prince of Qi, the Chamberlain, and the Minister of the Xiangzhou Circuit.

Li Yi, who was also a Chamberlain and Deputy Commander, was surrounded by a group of people, and the Prince of Qin held his hand the whole time. This man was clearly the Junior Tutor to the Crown Prince and the Left Guard Commander of the Crown Prince, yet the officials of the Eastern Palace were so close to the Prince of Qin.

I must remind my elder brother, the Crown Prince, to be careful of this Li Yi.

Cao Guogong Li Shiji approached Li Shimin with a wine cup in hand.
With red eyes and a hint of alcohol on his breath, he pleaded with Li Shimin: "I am sworn brothers with Shan Xiongxin, and we have vowed to live and die together. Now he is a surrendered general, awaiting the court's decision."

"Your Majesty, Shan Xiongxin is exceptionally brave and skilled. The court is currently in dire need of capable men. I am willing to offer all my official rank and titles to redeem Shan Xiongxin, begging Your Majesty to give him another chance to reform and serve the court."

"His Majesty is about to launch a northern expedition against the Turks. We can allow Shan Xiongxin to atone for his sins through meritorious service!"

Li Shiji spoke with tears in his eyes.

Li Shimin, reeking of alcohol, frowned upon hearing the name Shan Xiongxin.

He pulled Li Shiji up and said, "Duke Cao, Shan Xiongxin chased after me twice on the battlefield. Once was when I went to Zheng's camp to scout in Cijian. Shan Xiongxin rode his horse and brandished his spear, chasing me relentlessly. If it weren't for Jingde coming to my rescue naked on horseback, and Qiu Xinggong giving up his horse, I would have lost my life."

Later, in the battle of Qingcheng Palace, I led my elite cavalry into the enemy's formation, but my personal cavalry was separated from me. Shan Xiongxin came to chase me again, and my beloved cavalry, Saluzi, died at his hands.

I have long ago sworn that if I take Luoyang, I will kill Shan Xiongxin!

Li Shiji pleaded repeatedly, but Li Shimin refused.

"After we capture Luoyang, there are several people I must kill. Besides Shan Xiongxin, there is also Zhu Can. This traitor surrendered and then rebelled again, and even dared to cook the imperial pacification envoy alive. He must be killed!"

"Xue Deyin, the Vice Minister of the Imperial Secretariat under Wang Shichong, was in charge of drafting official documents for Wang Shichong. Anyone who drafted a document that was disrespectful or defiant was to be executed." Xue Deyin came from the Xue clan of Hedong and was known as one of the Three Phoenixes of Hedong along with Xue Yuanjing and Xue Shou. Xue Deyin's cousin, Xue Shou, was at this time the Chief Clerk of the Prince of Qin's Palace and the Director of the Ministry of Finance of the Shaanxi East Circuit, and was also in charge of drafting official documents for Li Shimin.

The Xue family, including the three outstanding writers, were all exceptionally talented. Xue Shou's father was Xue Daoheng, a literary master of the Sui Dynasty, and his sister was a concubine of Emperor Li Yuan.

However, Li Shimin still wanted to kill Xue Deyin because Li Yuan had said he wanted to kill him long ago. Xue Deyin wrote a proclamation for Wang Shichong, in which he cursed Li Yuan quite a bit, and the curses were particularly harsh. The proclamation was also particularly well written, comparable to Zu Junyan's famous proclamation on behalf of Li Mi, which cursed Yang Guang.

Anyway, Li Yuan held a grudge, regardless of whether he was his concubine's cousin or not, he put him on the blacklist early on.

Besides Xue Deyin, Li Shimin also wanted to kill Cui Hongdan because he was responsible for making cannons and crossbows for Wang Shichong's Zheng army. The heavy cannons and powerful crossbows he made caused more than 13,000 casualties in Li Shimin's previous attack on Luoyang.

He must kill Cui Hongdan to give an explanation to the more than 10,000 wounded and killed soldiers.

Li Yi felt that the decision to kill Cui Hongdan was a bit far-fetched. On the contrary, Cui Hongdan was a talented person in making weapons, but Li Shimin was determined to kill him.

Shan Xiongxin, Xue Deyin, Zhu Can, Cui Hongdan, and Wang Deren.

Wang Deren was originally from Ji County. At the end of the Sui Dynasty, he gathered tens of thousands of people and occupied Linlu Mountain, causing trouble for several prefectures. Later, he submitted to Li Mi.

Li Mi sent Fang Yanzao to pacify Hebei and persuade Dou Jiande to surrender, but he was killed by Wang Deren on his return journey. It's unclear what possessed Wang Deren, but he actually ambushed and killed Li Mi's trusted confidant, supposedly to seize a shipment of valuables carried by Fang Yanzao.

When the plot was exposed, Li Mi sent Xu Shiji to attack. Wang Deren was defeated and had no choice but to surrender to the Tang Dynasty. He was appointed as the prefect of Ye County by the Tang Dynasty. Later, the county was changed to a prefecture. The Tang Dynasty appointed Lü Min as the prefect of Xiang Prefecture and Wang Deren as the prefect of Yan Prefecture.

Dissatisfied, Wang Deren lured Yuwen Mingda, the Tang Dynasty's pacification envoy to Shandong, into Linlu Mountain and killed him, then defected to Wang Shichong.

Li Tang had long ago blacklisted him and included him in the list of those to be killed, as he was one of the most heinous members of the Shichong faction.

Li Shimin has already ordered that these five men be taken to the banks of the Luoyang River and beheaded before the expedition tomorrow, so that their blood can be used to sacrifice to the army flag before the expedition.

Li Shiji wanted to plead for Shan Xiongxin, even offering his own official rank in exchange, but Li Shimin refused. He had a personal grudge against Shan Xiongxin, having nearly lost his life twice at Shan Xiongxin's hands; all five of his prized horses perished in those battles.

Even now, I'm still terrified; there's no way I'd let Shan Xiongxin go.

Li Yi discovered an interesting phenomenon.

At today's victory banquet, many generals from Wagang were present, such as Li Shiji, Huo Yu, Qin Shubao, Luo Shixin, Cheng Yaojin, Niu Jinda, Wu Heita, Li Junxian, Tian Liuan, Chang He, and even Zhang Liang, Huang Junhan, Jia Runfu, and others.
But apart from Li Shiji standing up to plead for Shan Xiongxin,

Qin Shubao, who was always honest and kind, didn't say a word.

"I'd rather learn from the Oath of the Peach Garden than the Incense Burner of Wagang"—that saying carries significant weight. However, Li Yi had also had considerable contact with Qin Qiong and Li Shiji of Wagang, and knew that Wagang was originally just a makeshift organization.

Although they had a large number of people and great power, there were also many factions and cliques.

Li Shiji, Shan Xiongxin, Zhai Rang, and Bing Yuanzhen were the founding members, and Guo Xiaoke and Huang Junhan also belonged to this faction.

Qin Qiong, Luo Shixin, Pei Xingyan, Pei Shiji, and Jia Runfu belonged to the government army's surrender faction.

Wang Bodang, Wang Yao, Han Zujun, Yan Du, and Cai Gan were all part of Li Mi's group.

As for Wang Junkuo, Liu Heita, Huo Yu, Li Wenxiang, and others, although they had also attached themselves to Li Mi, they were all local military leaders.

When Li Mi killed Zhai Rang, Shan Xiongxin and others were actually disloyal to Li Mi. This is why, when Li Mi fought against Wang Shichong and the situation turned unfavorable, Shan Xiongxin surrendered to Wang Shichong without hesitation.

Now Shan Xiongxin is going to be killed.

Qin Qiong and Luo Shixin were unwilling to speak out. Firstly, Luo Shixin had defected to the enemy before Li Mi was completely defeated, and even remained inactive on the battlefield, while Qin Shubao and others were seriously wounded in battle, and everyone harbored resentment. Later, although Qin Qiong and others were also forced to surrender to Wang Shichong, Shan Xiongxin did not join them when they surrendered to Tang on the battlefield during the Battle of Guzhou.

It would be a lie to say we weren't familiar with each other, but it's true that we had no real affection for each other.

Yuwen Shiji hurried over,

"Your Majesty, Wang Shichong has been killed, as have his brother Wang Shiyun, his eldest son Xuanying, and his second son Xuanshu."

Li Shimin frowned. "What's going on?"

"The Crown Prince's Qianniu Dugu Xiude led his clansmen and brothers, falsely claiming to be the Prince of Qin's disciples, and entered the place where Wang Shichong and his son were imprisoned, killing all four of them."

"Dugu Xiude has some nerve," Li Shimin roared. Falsely claiming to be the Prince of Qin? Now that this has happened, everyone will only think that it was truly Li Shimin who ordered the killing.

"Furthermore, after killing Wang Shichong and the other three, they went on to kill Du Yan, claiming it was to avenge their blood feud."

Hearing this from the side, Du Ruhui immediately stepped forward and asked anxiously, "How is Du Yan?"

"He was also killed, along with his second son, Du Jingtong."

Upon hearing this news, Li Yi, standing to the side, remained expressionless, raised his glass, and downed the wine he had barely touched all night in one gulp!

(End of this chapter)