Li Yuanji mounted his horse and rushed towards Xianyangyuan in the dusk as the setting sun set.
Xianyangyuan is also called Wulingyuan. The Wuling in "Wuling Youngsters Fight for Their Heads" refers to Wulingyuan. It is located at Xianyang Ancient Ferry, which is more than 20 miles northwest of Xianyang Bridge.
When Li Yuanji rushed to the agreed place, he saw Ma Sanbao leading a group of guys who looked like horse bandits looking around outside a huge mound. There were many stone statues around the mound, all of them were famous figures throughout the ages.
.
Because the tomb surrounded by Ma Sanbao and others is not someone else's tomb, but the Maoling of Liu Che, the emperor of the ages.
When Maoling was in the Eastern and Western Han Dynasties, it was naturally a key target of protection, but in the Tang Dynasty, it was just that.
The surrounding people did not occupy Maoling's land for farming, nor did they deliberately protect Maoling.
Therefore, the open space around Maoling has long been a place where many Jiaoliang disciples play polo and children play.
Occasionally, some people who respected Liu Che, the emperor of the ages, would bring some wine and meat to pay homage, but nothing else.
Li Yuanji looked at the shade of grass on Liu Che's grave in the afterglow of dusk, and felt filled with emotion.
In the past, Liu Che was also a man who was powerful, famous all over the world, and dominated the world. Now he is dead and lying in a pile of dirt. That's it. I don't see any difference between the grass on his grave and the grass on other people's graves.
If I have to say one thing that is different, it is that the grass on his grave is not as tall as the grass on other people's graves.
There was nothing we could do about it. After all, the soil on his grave was all treated soil, so it would be very difficult for grass to grow.
Unlike others, it has not undergone any treatment. Not only is there no problem with grass growing, but also trees growing.
"Your Highness?!"
Ma Sanbao is not young but has sharp eyes.
Li Yuanji had dressed himself up as a person whose appearance was completely unrecognizable, but Ma Sanbao still saw who he was at a glance, and immediately came up with a group of his subordinates.
When Li Yuanji saw Ma Sanbao, he frowned and said, "Why are you here? It seems I didn't let you come, right?"
Ma Sanbao was wearing rags and carrying a big knife, like a horse bandit, and said cheerfully: "Aren't you afraid that you won't be able to control these people under my command?"
Before Li Yuanji could speak, Ma Sanbao said cheerfully: "Although I don't know what your highness is going to do, I know what your highness is going to do and I definitely don't want to be discovered, so I asked my subordinates to change their clothes specially."
dress up."
At this point, Ma Sanbao turned around and shouted angrily at the people under his command, "What are you doing standing still? Call someone quickly!"
A group of guys who looked like horse bandits all wanted to bow and salute.
Li Yuanji raised his hand decisively and said: "No need, so as not to cause unnecessary complications."
After saying this, he looked at Ma Sanbao and said: "I think it's not that you couldn't guess what I was going to do, but that you guessed it, so that's why you did it. Looking at your attire, it doesn't look like it's the first time you've done this.
Is it okay?"
Ma Sanbao smiled and said nothing.
He is not a serious person. From birth to now, he has only been a serious person for a few years when Chai raised horses. The rest of his life he was not serious.
Either he is acting as a rebel, or he is helping the rebels as a lobbyist.
After the founding of the Tang Dynasty, although he was cleansed, he was still not a serious person.
Although he was appointed as the prince's disciple, he didn't listen to the prince at all, and he didn't even listen to his old master. He only listened to Li Xiuning and only helped Li Xiuning do things that were inconvenient for Li Xiuning.
So he has done this kind of thing like pretending to be a horse thief, although not many times, but he has done it more than a dozen times, and he is quite proficient.
"Since you guessed what I was going to do and made preparations in advance to save me the trouble, I won't drive you back. Call your people and leave as soon as possible."
Li Yuanji didn't talk too much nonsense to Ma Sanbao. Since Ma Sanbao followed and guessed what he was going to do, let Ma Sanbao follow.
As Ma Sanbao himself said, as long as he is around, the people under his command will be more obedient.
"Pack your things, let's go!"
After Ma Sanbao heard the order, he waved the sword in his hand and summoned his subordinates as if he were a mountain king summoning his minions to rob homes and houses.
A group of guys dressed like horse bandits were shouting and shouting, and it looked like that.
"What we are going to do this time should not be publicized, so after leaving here, we have to take a small road and not make any noise."
After Ma Sanbao called the people to him, Li Yuanji gave some instructions and then left Wulingyuan at the earliest opportunity.
Ma Sanbao took his men with him and followed closely behind.
After running all the way out of Xianyang, we started walking on a small road. The small road was not easy to walk, but Li Yuanji and his party did not delay their trip.
After traveling from Shiping to Xinping all the way out of Gyeonggi Province and arriving at Qingzhou in Ganzhou, Ma Sanbao had time to ask, "Your Highness, you have a way of saying that the son of a rich man cannot sit down in court. You leave this kind of matter to your subordinates."
Just do it, why do you have to go there yourself?"
Ma Sanbao didn't understand why Li Yuanji didn't leave such dirty work to his subordinates, but had to do it himself.
In his opinion, Li Yuanji was killing a chicken with a bull's-eye, and it was even worse than that.
Li Yuanji glanced at Ma Sanbao, took a sip of water from his water bladder, and said nothing.
If there was someone under him who could use it, he wouldn't go there himself.
Although he has many more people under his command, the only one he truly trusts and can help him with the dirty work is Yu Wenbao.
Yu Wenbao is now guarding the critical pass of Hangu Pass and cannot leave at all.
Once he leaves, Yu Wenbao's position will be immediately replaced, and it will be impossible to go back.
So when Yu Wenbao couldn't use it, he had no choice but to go into battle himself.
Besides, this matter was done on a temporary basis and he didn't have time to plan and arrange it, and left it to others to do. He didn't feel at ease, so he could only make a trip by himself.
"Your Highness, the people you are chasing have caught up with them, and they have now settled in Fangquyi."
While Li Yuanji and Ma Sanbao were talking, a scout who went to find out the news hurried back to report.
"Have you caught up? That's good."
Li Yuanji said with a smile.
Ma Sanbao wanted to ask more questions, but Li Yuanji didn't give him a chance to speak. He waved his hand and said, "Map!"
With a look of regret on his face, Ma Sanbao took out a crude map from his horse, unfolded it, and presented it to Li Yuanji.
Li Yuanji quickly searched for Fangquyi on the map, then looked along Fangquyi in the direction of Xiaoguan, pointed to a place on the map and said: "Twenty miles away from Fangquyi, there is a gentle slope, which is just suitable for cavalry to dive.
.We will rush here tonight, take a rest, and wait for them to take the initiative to deliver it to our door."
When things came to a head, Ma Sanbao didn't know whether what Li Yuanji did was right or wrong, so he couldn't help but said: "Your Highness, do we really want to do this?"
Li Yuanji glanced at Ma Sanbao and said nothing, but just put away the map as he was doing.
Seeing this, Ma Sanbao hurriedly said: "If we attack the Turkic envoys and cause heavy casualties, the Turks will definitely not give up. When the time comes, Jieli will definitely lead a heavy army to fight against the Tang Dynasty."
There was one thing that Ma Sanbao did not say, that is, Li Yuanji's move was tantamount to actively provoking a war and bringing trouble to the Tang Dynasty.
This is not in the interests of Datang.
It's not that the Tang Dynasty doesn't have the strength to fight the Turks, but it's that it's not suitable to fight the Turks.
Because Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin are now on the same page, the Tang Dynasty is not stable internally. If there is a war with the Turks, and if anyone between Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin ignores the overall situation, the Tang Dynasty will most likely fall into chaos again.
So Ma Sanbao didn't understand why Li Yuanji did this.
This is of no benefit to Li Yuanji, and it is all disadvantages to Datang.
"Let's just fight. Can we, the Tang Dynasty, be afraid of the Turks?"
Li Yuanji said calmly.
Seeing Li Yuanji speak, Ma Sanbao hurriedly said: "But His Highness the Crown Prince and His Highness the King of Qin are now on the same level. If the Turks go south at this time, and either His Highness the Crown Prince or His Highness the King of Qin does something stupid, the Tang Dynasty will be destroyed."
ah."
Li Yuanji glanced at Ma Sanbao and said, "Have you forgotten that the Tang Dynasty still has many commanders who are good at conquering and fighting, as well as my third sister, and me?"
Ma Sanbao hesitated to speak, and Li Yuanji followed closely: "Don't say that my eldest brother and my second brother did stupid things. Even if they beat Chang'an City to pieces, we can still stop the Turks when they come."
Historically, when Li Shimin ascended the throne, the Turks invaded the south in a large scale. Li Shimin failed to stop him. He was forced by the Turks to sign the Weishui Alliance and gave the Turks a large amount of gold and silver, which almost emptied Li Yuan's accumulated wealth.
Li Shimin had just ascended the throne at that time, and his foundation was not yet stable, and the old ministers left by Li Yuan and Li Jiancheng had not yet returned.
Li Shimin had the strength to fight the Turks, but Li Shimin could not fight.
Because once he mobilized a large number of soldiers, horses and generals to fight against the Turks, it would be easy for Li Yuan and Li Jiancheng's old officials to confiscate their homes, so he could only make the Turks retreat by signing a treaty and giving the Turks a large amount of money.
[A book-chasing app recommended to me by an old book friend I have known for ten years, Yeguo Reading! It is so easy to use. I rely on this app to read and listen to books while driving and before going to bed. You can download it here
But that was in history, and it was completely different from the current situation.
The throne of the Tang Dynasty has not yet changed, so it is not the best time for the Turks to send troops.
As long as the Turkic Jieli Khan was not too stupid, he would not have missed the good opportunity that would come later and headed south in advance for just a few envoys.
After all, the Tang Dynasty now is different from the Tang Dynasty before.
Now the Tang Dynasty has completely completed its unification and wiped out all the rebels in the region. It can mobilize more money and food, as well as more soldiers and horses.
Now if the Turks invade the Tang Dynasty again, they will pay a huge price if they are not completely sure.
Jie Li could not spend a huge price and waste his troops on such a meaningless war.
He would definitely choose to be patient and wait until the throne of the Tang Dynasty was replaced before delivering a fatal blow to the Tang Dynasty.
Therefore, by killing a few Turkic envoys, Jieli would at best send some small tribes or troops from Liang Shidu to disturb the borders of the Tang Dynasty and give the Tang Dynasty an attitude of "I need an explanation."
This level of invasion is enough for Li Xiuning, Li Shiji and others to handle.
"Your Highness..."
Ma Sanbao felt that Li Yuanji was a bit too much. If Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin really fought against each other, launched a coup, and destroyed the city of Chang'an, then the whole Tang Dynasty would be in chaos, and it would be impossible to stop the Turks.
Violate.
So I would like to give Li Yuanji a few words of advice.
But Li Yuanji didn't wait for him to finish his words and said: "We are already here, do you think it is useful to say this?"
Ma Sanbao stared at Li Yuanji blankly, not knowing what to say.
After a long time, he smiled bitterly and said nothing more.
Anyway, the country belongs to the Li family. What the people of the Li family do is all the Li family's own business and has nothing to do with him.
He is a loyal minister to Li Xiuning alone, not to everyone in the Li family.
Therefore, he only needs to protect Li Xiuning, and does not need to care about the life or death of other members of the Li family.
"Get to Baiyangping before sunset and let's go."
Li Yuanji ignored Ma Sanbao. After putting away the map, he gave instructions and the group quietly crossed Fangquyi and rushed to Baiyangping.
