The sound of loud shouting rang out in the backyard of the county government office. Shi Wanbao, who was drinking to relieve his sorrow, was startled and turned around to look, suddenly out of his mind.
"Shi Wanbao!"
"Shi Wanbao!!"
"Shi...wan...bao!!!"
Although he just called his name and repeated it over and over again, the resentment in his tone chilled Shi Wanbao's heart. He did not expect such a plot.
Just two hours ago, I was still planning to ask the Turkic nobleman to go back and make a recharge, but now the Huaiyang kid comes here with the sword raised...
"choke!"
There was a faint sound of the sharp blade being unsheathed, and the old-looking Shi Wanbao ran away!
However, the next moment, the sword flashed and a broken palm rose into the sky.
The shrill screams echoed in the backyard. Li Shan, who had just arrived, stepped forward boredly, put his hands in his sleeves, and looked at the half of his palm that fell at his feet.
It’s not good to use anything to stop the knife, you have to use your hands...
Gritting his teeth, Li Daoxuan tilted the long knife in his hand slightly downward, and a few drops of blood condensed on the tip of the knife and slowly dripped.
After knowing that Shi Wanbao was in Guantao City, Li Daoxuan surprisingly remained calm and collected, and only asked Liu Jun a few innocuous questions.
However, after entering the city, Li Daoxuan did not greet everyone, take a shower or change clothes, or even eat a sip of food or drink a sip of water. Instead, he led Xue Zhong and Liu Jun straight to the backyard of the county government office.
In this regard, Li Shan, who was chasing all the way, only sighed that this guy was so interesting!
He couldn't kill Shi Wanbao. It was a bit taboo. After all, he was a prince of the country, and he had no official position. He was always easy to be criticized and feared by others if he suppressed his superiors.
But as a descendant of the clan, a prince, and the military commander of Hebei Province, Li Daoxuan, who had just been framed by Shi Wanbao and almost died, could naturally do it.
Not only do you dare to kill, you can kill, but you also have reasons to kill.
Yu Gong and Shi Wanbao ordered the army to stand firm and annihilated the entire 30,000 elite Tang army. The main force of the Tang army in Hebei was wiped out in one battle, and Jizhou, Xingzhou, Beizhou and Luozhou were lost one after another.
Such a defeat is enough to remove him from his title and dismissal from office.
In private, Shi Wanbao forced Li Daoxuan to be captured alive. If it weren't for Li Shan, Li Daoxuan would have been completely defeated.
When he thought of how he fought desperately in the formation and the entire army of five thousand elite cavalry was wiped out, while Shi Wanbao led an army of tens of thousands and watched with cold eyes, Li Daoxuan was filled with hatred and wished he could cut Shi Wanbao into pieces with a thousand swords.
Of course, there is another reason.
Shi Wanbao was a direct descendant of the East Palace and was highly trusted by the saint. This was proved by the fact that his brother Shi Wansui had an old relationship with the saint and was granted the title of Duke of the Former Kingdom.
Shi Wanbao's ancestral home was in Yuanzhou, and those who took their ancestral place as their title were common in previous dynasties, but extremely rare in the early Tang Dynasty.
For example, in the Sui Dynasty, Pei Shiju was given the title of Duke of Wenxi County, but after joining the Tang Dynasty, he was given the title of Duke of Anyi County.
Shi Wanbao was granted the title of Duke of the Former Kingdom. Such treatment was rare in the imperial court.
Li Daoxuan learned from Liu Jun that it was Li Shan who entered the county government office and snatched Yu Gushe back from Shi Wanbao's hands.
In other words, Shi Wanbao and Li Shan had formed a deadly feud... and even if Shi Wanbao was dismissed from office due to the defeat of Xiabo, he would probably rely on the East Palace in the future, and the saint's faith would rise again.
Similar things happened in the early Tang Dynasty. For example, Liu Wenjing was defeated by Xue Ju and was dismissed from office by the saint, but she soon recovered.
Even for Li Shan, Li Daoxuan was determined to kill Shi Wanbao today.
This is also the reason why Li Shan praised Li Daoxuan in his heart for being interesting.
Shi Wanbao was still screaming miserably on the ground. His left palm was cut off diagonally from the tiger's mouth, and a large amount of blood quickly dyed the ground purple-black.
Li Dao
"The sage's edict, I have the sage's edict!" Shi Wanbao suddenly shouted, repeating this sentence over and over again.
Xue Zhong sneered and said: "The sage ordered you, Shi Wanbao, to fall into the siege of Huaiyang King and failed to save him. The sage ordered you, Shi Wanbao, to lose all 30,000 troops?!"
Li Shan couldn't help but burst into laughter. This sentence was almost exactly the same as what he said more than two hours ago.
"With the edict of the saint in hand, you will not escape death today!"
Li Daoxuan's clothes are shabby, his hair is messy, and there are dirt stains on his face. He looks haggard, but the veins in his hands holding the handle of the knife are exposed.
Li Shan said in an understatement: "This dynasty followed the Sui Dynasty. The imperial edict was taken by the Zhongshu, reviewed and refuted by the subordinates, and acted upon by the minister. Which prime minister is in charge of the province now?"
"There are two ministers from the province, led by Jiang Guogong." Xue Zhong said softly.
"Dong Jiang Guo?" Li Shan said with a smile: "But Chen Zicong, the younger brother of the former master Chen?"
"yes."
"Chief Xue, I am a villager in the countryside and don't know the nobles in the court. How is Jiang Guo's character?"
Xue Zhong raised his voice and said: "The Duke of Jiang State is a man of eloquence, a man of impartiality, and often speaks generously."
This is to put it mildly, Chen Shuda has a fiery temperament, but in the East Palace, there is no preference among the Qin kings.
Li Shan had a harmless look on his face. He took a few steps forward and looked at Shi Wanbao with a smile, "It turns out that Duke Yuan is just pretending to be an emperor."
Li Daoxuan and Xue Zhong's eyes lit up, while Shi Wanbao was stunned and seemed to have forgotten about the still bleeding residual palm, and his whole body was trembling slightly.
The sage's edict that has not been reviewed by the high-ranking officials under the sect can indeed be counted in theory... The sage's edict that Shi Wanbao mentioned must not have been reviewed by the sect's ministers.
In other words, even if it is true that Li Yuan issued an edict, and that all the advancement and stopping of the army was entrusted to Shi Wanbao...then this edict was definitely not stated on the surface.
Li Daoxuan only vaguely guessed it, but Xue Zhong and Li Shan saw it clearly... The former is the nephew of Li Shimin's confidant Xue Shou, and the latter is a time traveler who has seen the answer.
Two months ago, Li Shimin recommended Li Daoxuan, King of Huaiyang, as the commander-in-chief of the march in Hebei Province, and the sage appointed Shi Wanbao, a direct descendant of the East Palace, as his deputy.
Perhaps neither the saint nor Dong Gong wanted to see the Qin Prince's lineage make new achievements, or perhaps after making peace with the Turks and ending the war, Dong Gong had the intention of personally conquering.
In short, it is very likely that Li Jiancheng, the prince of the East Palace, privately requested this edict from the saint, which prevented Shi Wanbao from being suppressed by Li Daoxuan, the king of Huaiyang, on the battlefield in Hebei.
Otherwise, Li Shimin, who was the Minister of Secretariat, would never be ignorant of the situation and would never fail to inform Li Daoxuan, and Li Daoxuan would never be assured of leading his elite cavalry into the battle, leaving Shi Wanbao in charge of the army.
In other words, Shi Wanbao could use the sage's hand edict to restrain the army from advancing at the critical moment when the two armies were confronting each other.
Shi Wanbao could also take out this sage's edict to confirm that his actions were justified after Li Daoxuan was defeated and died, but he turned the tide.
Unfortunately, Li Daoxuan was defeated, and Shi Wanbao's tens of thousands of troops were defeated by the Turks without any suspense, and the entire army of 30,000 elite troops was wiped out.
Under such circumstances, even if the sage issued an edict... Li Yuan might not be willing to acknowledge this account.
Therefore, when Li Shancai blurted out his words, he must have been lying.
This crime can hide the secrets of the Battle of Xiabo, at least on the surface... It just requires the sacrifice of Shi Wanbao.
In the battle of Xiabo, almost all of Hebei was lost. If Liu Heitai regained Luozhou, the whole city of Chang'an would be shocked.
Could it be that the saint, Dong Gong, would stand up and tell everyone...Shi Wanbao was carrying the edict of the saint, so he stopped moving forward, causing King Huaiyang to be trapped in a tight siege, annihilating the entire 30,000 Tang army, causing Luozhou to fall, and Hebei to fall?
The bright sword light flashed past, and the thin and short body fell to the ground weakly, and the big head was already flying up.
Li Dao
Li Shan and Xue Zhong behind him looked at each other. Although Li Daoxuan relieved his anger, he would still be secretly hated by the East Palace, and might even be looked down upon by the saint... But at the same time, he was also firmly tied to Prince Qin's Mansion.
on a boat,
Outside the county government office, Tian Liuan said with a wry smile: "Mr. Ling was right. Li Langjun went out of the city in person. Sure enough, he had other plans."
"You were worried about him before and offended Shi Wanbao..." Ling Bo chuckled, "He has already been prepared."
"The King of Huaiyang followed His Highness the King of Qin to sweep the Central Plains and made many meritorious deeds. It is indeed a meritorious service for Li Langjun to survive this time." Tian Liuan said with a smile: "I thought I was lucky to be able to return to the city today, but I didn't expect that Li Langjun could be exchanged for the King of Huaiyang.
Chief Xue and dozens of generals."
Hearing the word "sweeping the Central Plains"... Ling Jing snorted. At the battle of Hulao Pass that day, he saw with his own eyes that Li Daoxuan came out of the formation and raised the flag behind the army, causing the defeat of more than 100,000 troops.
Ma Zhou, the only one who knew everything from beginning to end, stood aside, mentally calculating Li Shan's every move after he appeared from the Turkic Qingqi today.
Almost every step is a surprise.
Before the war, he killed Shi Wanbao's personal guards, and without hesitation entered the county government office and snatched Yugu She from Shi Wanbao's hands.
He personally went into battle to exchange for the King of Huaiyang from the Turkic army, and then the King of Huaiyang went straight to the county government office. He had already drawn his sword in his hand before he even entered the door...
Decisions are made immediately, but they are also logical and interlocking. They look like luck, but are actually rigorous.
If he wasn't sure, how could Li Shan go to negotiate when he was besieged by the Turkic army, and go around a lot to confirm the terms of the hostage exchange with Ashina Sher.
At that time, Li Shan probably guessed Yu Gushe's identity through Ashina Sheer's attitude. At the same time, he also knew that Shi Wanbao was already in Guantao City.
If he hadn't been so sure, how could Li Shan have ordered Su Dingfang to rush into the county government office without hesitation, snatch Yu Gushe back, and humiliate Shi Wanbao like that?
At that time, Li Shan had confirmed that there was a great chance to rescue King Huaiyang, and Li Shan also confirmed that Li Daoxuan was full of hatred for Shi Wanbao.
So, what’s next?
Ma Zhou was guessing when the door had opened and Li Daoxuan had empty hands and an abnormal blush on his face.
Li Shan came next, and he said in a casual tone: "I also asked Manager Tian to report to the capital urgently that the former Duke Shi Wanbao had forged the sage's edict, so that he was defeated in a big way. He was so ashamed that he committed suicide in shame.
"
This kind of nonsense... Even ghosts don't believe it.
There was silence at the gate of the county government office.
Ma Zhou twitched the corner of his mouth, okay, Li Shan gave him a perfect excuse for Li Daoxuan to kill Shi Wanbao.
An excuse that is difficult for everyone, including everyone in Chang'an City, to argue with.
It's really a no-brainer.
Ma Zhou couldn't help but think, what Li Shan said to Ashina Sheer more than an hour ago... could they have any effect?