Chapter 327: An Lushan’s timing

The New Year is usually the day for court officials to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new. They ended their grudges in the old year and ushered in new cooperation to make the career smooth in the year. However, An Lushan took the opposite path. On the first day of the New Year, he beat Yang Guozhong's third son and sent people to restaurants and teahouses in Chang'an to make a big splash, fearing that the Chinese people would not know, and the people in the market were interested in scandals and anecdotes. For a while, there were rumors about An Yang's grudges in Chang'an City. Some said that An Lushan was stupid and out of reach, and he was a reckless man. Some said that Yang Guozhong was killed in a military disaster and was beaten by two major warlords one after another. There were many different opinions.

Judging from the appearance, almost no one likes An Lushan. He has a short limbs, a big pumpkin-like head on his plump body, and a pair of tiny squint eyes on his wide face. However, men cannot look at their appearance. In history, this warlord almost overthrew the most powerful Tang Dynasty. This is by no means accidental.

Some people say that An Lushan is good at engaging in the camp, and he made Li Longji and Yang Guifei happy and obedient, so he became bigger step by step. But this is only one aspect. An Lushan’s real success is that he is good at employed people. Whether it is Shi Siming, Cui Youqian, Cai Xide, Tian Qianzhen, Tian Chengsi, Li Guiren, Sun Xiaozhe, etc., these are all famous Hebei generals with great military achievements. They started from the bottom of the world and were recognized by An Lushan’s wise eyes, and were able to show their talents.

Secondly, he had two confidant advisers Yan Zhuang and Gao Shang. Yan Zhuang was good at handling politics. With his allocation, he guaranteed the huge military and horse food and grass expenses in Hebei and the preparation of sufficient strategic materials. Gao Shang was good at seeking power. It was his strategy that made An Lushan escape the worry of the rotation of the border generals again and again, and climbed to the high position again and again.

This time, letting An Lushan beat Yang Xiao and widely publicize it is a noble strategy. At this moment, in An Lushan's study, the thin middle-aged scholar was explaining his intention in detail to An Lushan.

"Can you know why Li Longji used Yang Guozhong as prime minister?"

"Why?" An Lushan blurted out. This was also his always confused. He had dealt with Yang Guozhong several times. This person was mediocre, unvirtuous, ignorant, and to put it bluntly, he was just a fool. Such a person actually became the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty. Is there really no one available in the heavenly dynasty? Of course, the answer is not. Those ministers and ministers who came from prefectures and counties are not smart and capable. Isn't An Lushan much better than Yang Guozhong?

Now that Gao Shang said this, it must have a deep meaning. An Lushan pondered for a moment and said, "I thought this was not just a nepotism, sir, I think it's right?"

"Yes, I can see this step and have a very unique vision."

Gao Shang slowly walked to the window and gently twisted the beard of the goat and sighed: "After a hundred years of establishment of the Tang Dynasty, the Li Dynasty has been troubled by two major chronic diseases. One is that the power of the aristocratic families is too great. Hedong and Shandong have taken turns to control the government. If their disciples and officials are included, the world has already accounted for seven parts; the other is that the prime minister is too strong. From the beginning of the Tang Dynasty to the present, the king and prime minister have used their own power and have clear barriers. However, from what Li Longji did in the late Kaiyuan period, it can be seen that he has been breaking these two stubborn diseases and using Li Linfu as prime minister is to expand the power of the monarch. In fact, he has also succeeded. The crown prince did not establish himself for three years, and no one dared to directly advise him, so now he must protect this achievement."

Speaking of this, Gao Shang turned around and looked at An Lushan, his eyes flashing with anticipation. He had almost said it through, leaving the last thin layer of window paper for An Lushan to pierce.

"The king's power, a family!" An Lushan murmured to himself. Suddenly, he realized on his face that Yang Guozhong was the purpose. After thinking about it carefully, he couldn't help but sigh for Li Longji's plan to kill two birds with one stone. He was indeed brilliant, but he didn't understand Gao Shang's true intention to let him beat Yang Xiao and widely publicize it. With a puzzled expression, An Lushan looked at Gao Shang again.

Gao Shang has been with An Lushan for more than ten years, and the two of them have already had a tacit understanding. An Lushan suddenly realized it, and then he was puzzled. Gao Shang knew what he was thinking, so he smiled and said, "The art of emperors is to check and balance power. Li Longji's move can be said to be the pinnacle. Logically, Yang Guozhong has risen, and there should be another strong minister in the court to fight him. But I have not seen any signs of Yang Guozhong's opponent appearing, so I changed my thinking, will Yang Guozhong monopoly take over the power in the court? This is actually that he, Li Longji, monopoly, but Yang Guozhong's opponent is a must. Since he is not in the court, he should be outside the court. Li Longji will probably cultivate a person who can check and balance Yang Guozhong in the local area. Although this person is not necessarily you, you must find a way to make this person yours."

"So you let me get into evil with Yang Guozhong and let Li Longji focus on me?" An Lushan's eyes began to lit up. This was indeed an extremely clever move.

"This is my original intention."

Gao Shang glanced at him, but his eyes seemed a little worried, "But I am worried that someone would compete with the envoy for this position, because this person had already taken action first."

An Lushan was shocked, "Are you talking about Li Qing?" Then he shook his head repeatedly, "No! It's impossible, he is too young and too far from Chang'an, it's impossible for him, and only Ge Shuhan can compete with me."

"Although he is young, he has a good qualification." Gao Shang sighed softly when he saw An Lushan despising Li Qing, and said, "Eunuch, have you forgotten? You once said that this person was not successful. Once he succeeded, he would definitely be your strong enemy. Geshu Han was just a brave man. How could he compare with the envoy's powerful talents?"

"this......"

Although An Lushan said that Li Qing was his strong rival, it refers to the future. Now he only positioned Li Qing as a general like Shi Siming and Cai Xide, and is not qualified to compare with him. However, he always obeyed Gao Shang's words, and Gao Shang's admiration for Li Qing made him hesitate.

At this moment, a personal soldier whispered outside the door: "Liu Piano General Liu has an urgent matter to see the commander."

An Lushan was stunned, and Gao Shang immediately said, "It's Yan Gaoqing's business."

An Lushan frowned and said unhappily: "What? Is this matter not resolved yet?"

"Maybe Liu Pian General has already made a fuss."

"Useless thing!" An Lushan snorted coldly, "Call him in!"

After a moment, Liu Luogu hurried into An Lushan's study. At this moment, he was extremely nervous. He was not very concerned about Li Huqin's attack on saving Yan Gaoqing. Li Lin was a timid person. As long as he had a little threat, he would hand over Yan Gaoqing, but the matter was beyond Liu Luogu's expectations. For some reason, Li Huqin actually sent Yan Gaoqing and his son to Li Qing's mansion. He suddenly remembered that Li Huqin's sister, Princess Pingyang, just married Li Qing?

Beads of sweat as big as soybeans flowed down Liu Luogu's neck. He half-kneeled and saluted, bowed his head and apologized, "I am incompetent, I'll come and ask for death!"

"It means you didn't find their father and son?" An Lushan said coldly.

"I found it, but I was stolen again. I have fewer people in my subordinates and I can't beat them."

Liu Luogu has been operating in the capital for many years and has always been the spokesperson of An Lushan. Everyone knows it, but he dares to interfere, which shows that this person does not take him seriously at all. An Lushan is extremely angry. At this time, Gao Shang next to him waved his hand to him, which makes him restrain his anger. After staring at Liu Luogu for a long time, An Lushan said gloomyly: "Who is so bold that he dares to oppose me An Lushan?"

"Report to the Grand Marshal, Yan Gaoqing and his son are now in Li Qing's mansion."

"Li Qing?" An Lushan and Gao Shang looked at each other, and could not hide the shock in their eyes. Just as they were talking about him, things came.

Gao Shang's thoughts turned rapidly. If Li Qing exposed this matter to Li Longji, even if An Lushan could make it happen, it would affect his immediate strategy. Thinking of this, Gao Shang immediately made a decision: "Eunuch, this matter is not small. Why not accompany me to Li Qing's mansion to explore his tone."

An Lushan nodded slowly, "Well! We'll leave now without further ado."

．

Liu Luogu was right. Li Huqin did change his mind temporarily and sent Yan Gaoqing and his son to Li Qing's mansion. Although he was wandering in the capital and did not do his job properly all day, he was not vague about such major issues. He knew that with his father and brother's timidity and cowardice, they did not dare to take such things on themselves. At most, they secretly sent Yan Gaoqing and his son away, and then denied to An Lushan that they had seen Yan Gaoqing and his son.

From this, he thought of Li Qing. Apart from the factors that Li Qing was his brother-in-law and his former boss, Li Qing was also the one who Li Huqiu admired the most. He had a legendary experience from a small businessman who actually became the arch-captain of Anxi, the champion general, and had a legendary experience. This was unique among their peers. With respect, he wanted to follow him. He happened to take this opportunity to get close to him and find a job under his account.

At this moment, Li Qingzheng sat in the study and looked through the accounts books he had just received. He was an expert in this field. He only looked a few pages and saw the clues that the entry was obviously greater than the outflow. Moreover, the inventory of some old accounts can be traced back to the early years of Tianbao, which is completely different from the reports he saw when he was the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue. He was unable to make ends meet every year and ate food every year.

However, this was also as expected by him. If An Lushan had not been prepared for many years, how could he raise an army to rebel?

After roughly looking through it, Li Qing closed the account book and smiled at Yan Gaoqing who was sitting opposite him and was silent and said, "Yan Shenjun is concerned about the country of the Tang Dynasty. He risked his life to bring out evidence that An Lushan wanted to rebel. It is admirable and respectable. Since someone threatened Yan Shenjun's life, he might as well live in my mansion. I wish he, ten An Lushan, dare not enter the mansion to arrest people."

"Come!" A personal soldier then walked in quickly and bowed to the order.

"Go and make a yard, and then send someone to bring Yan Shenjun's family here, and call more brothers to guard them, so that there will be no mistakes!"

"Yes!" The personal soldiers saluted and turned around and left in a hurry.

At this time, Yan Gaoqing finally stopped silent. He stood up and bowed to Li Qing deeply, with a look of emotion in his eyes, and slowly said: "Since the general introduced the new salt law, I have always had prejudice against the general. Now it seems that I am biased by the general because of my prejudice."

Li Qing also sighed and said with a wry smile: "There are so many people in the world who have prejudice against me. It's no wonder. It was originally a strategy to benefit the country, but now it has become a method to harm the people. It can be seen that any law still depends on people. I set the upper limit of one dou and eighty ci in the salt law back then. I never thought that I had reached five hundred ci in one dou, and I didn't expect that even tea was sold in one dou. Alas! I wonder how many people in the world are pointing at my back and scolding."

Speaking of this, Li Qing waved his hand and said repeatedly: "I won't mention it anymore! I won't mention it anymore!" He turned the topic back to the account book, "Since Yan Shenjun believes that An Lushan is going to rebel, you can infer how long it will take for An Lushan to prepare well at the current progress."

Yan Gaoqing pondered for a moment and said decisively: "If it is about food, grass and weapons, he is well prepared and can raise an army at any time, but if it is based on his strategy, I think it will take at least three years."

Li Qing was very interested. Didn’t An Lushan’s rebellion go back three years later in history? He personally filled Yan Gaoqing’s teacup and encouraged him: “Please continue to speak Yan Senjun, Li Qingxi listened attentively!”

"The key is Hedong!" Yan Gaoqing sneered: "An Lushan has been Fan Yang and the governor of Pinglu for more than ten years. There has been no water in the place, like a wall of iron. But he has only taken over Hedong for more than a year, and Wang Zhongsi's influence is still there. He must replace the middle and higher-level generals there, but he cannot make the court suspicious. Therefore, he can only switch slowly every year and make the place belong to him. It is impossible to do this in less than two or three years. Moreover, he took tens of thousands of scattered soldiers from Li Xianzhong two months ago. It will take time to turn these soldiers into his private army, so I said that three years is the least estimate."

"So that's it! I understand."

Li Qing looked at Yan Gaoqing silently. He analyzed it thoroughly, allowing Li Qing to remember some historical fragments. In history, An Lushan's rebellion was not smooth at the beginning, and the problem was in Hedong. His control of Hedong was too short, and local resistance in various counties in Hedong was fierce. Yan Gaoqing was the most famous one. Their resistance won time for the imperial court to mobilize troops and also made An Lushan unstable. The Tang Dynasty had already gained the upper hand, but unfortunately Li Longji was encouraged by Yang Guozhong and took out a stupid move, which eventually led to failure.

He couldn't help but think about it, 'This man is desperate, when will he not recruit him now?'

Thinking of this, Li Qing suddenly stood up and bowed to Yan Gaoqing, and said sincerely: "Since Mr. Yan has abandoned his post, he is willing to be an aide by me. I don't know much about An Lushan and just need Mr. Yan to give me some advice."

Yan Gaoqing hurriedly got up and returned the favor. He had been hitting walls everywhere these days, and no one dared to get involved in this matter. Today, Li Qing took it happily, making him feel unhappy. Besides, he really had nowhere to go, so it would be better to follow him. Yan Gaoqing immediately nodded and agreed, "As long as the general can stop An Lushan's rebellion, I am willing to do whatever he wants!"

However, if he knew that Li Qing's original intention was to force An Lushan to rebel earlier, he would probably not be so straightforward if he agreed.

After Yan Gaoqing stepped down, Li Qing carefully looked through the account book again. The records, seals and seals on the account book were all very complete, and it could be considered as ironclad evidence. It could be handed over to Li Linfu as evidence to impeach An Lushan to rebel.

At this time, it was already afternoon, and Li Qing remembered that he had not eaten lunch yet. He quickly packed the account book and prepared to go back to the inner house for dinner. At this time, the butler ran to report with a panic: "Master, An Lushan is asking for a meeting outside the door."

Seeing that his face was panicked and he acted very unrestrained, Li Qing couldn't help but scold him and said, "So what about An Lushan! Have you never seen an official who is older than him?"

"Master, it's not this, it's a soldier! There are thousands of soldiers who have surrounded our gates."

"Hmph! I want to threaten me." Li Qing sneered. Did An Lushan forget that he was his fellow travelers? He would still use his trick.

"Go! Let me tell An Lushan that if his soldiers do not withdraw, I will regard him as a rebellion. Then, don't blame me for being ruthless!"

After a quarter of an hour, the housekeeper came to report again. An Lushan's personal guards were gone. Only An Lushan and a middle-aged scholar stood outside, waiting for the meeting. Only then did Li Qing put on a coat and go out to welcome the guests.

"Master An, I haven't seen each other for several years. The Master An looks as beautiful as yesterday, which is really enviable." Li Qing strode out of the mansion. He bowed to An Lushan and smiled, "Are you afraid that I won't let the Master enter the mansion, so I brought hundreds of soldiers to the door to grab the door?"

When An Lushan saw Li Qing from afar, he bowed and apologized: "General, don't blame me. My enemies are everywhere, so there will be some soldiers guarding me, not targeting your mansion."

"I'm just kidding, but I didn't expect the coach to take it seriously."

Li Qing walked up to him, bowed solemnly again, glanced at Gao Shang and asked, "It seems that this gentleman has seen him, I forgive Li Qing for being forgetful..."

An Lushan hurriedly pulled Gao Shang over and introduced: "This is my chief aide, Mr. Gao Shang Gao is also!"

"Haha! It turns out it's Mr. Gao, I remembered it." Li Qing bowed to Gao Shang apologetically, then smiled and made a gesture of invitation, and said, "Stand at the door and speak, aren't your legs sore? Come! Please come in."

"Haha! Please, General!"
Chapter completed!