Qing Lan looked up for a long time, feeling very happy.
But as she thought about it, she felt inexplicably worried, and asked in a low voice: "Mr. Lang, if you take a concubine...will it affect your marriage?"
"Will it affect it?"
Xue Bai also had some doubts about this.
The two of them were in a daze looking at the decorations in the house, when they suddenly heard movement in the yard, but it was Mingzhu who came in a hurry.
When Qing Lan saw that this was Mrs. Guo Guo's personal maid, she became anxious, worried that Mrs. Guo Guo was here to stop Xue Bai from taking her as his concubine.
It's true that she doesn't know much, but she won't be fooled by Xue Bai's "sworn sister" lies. She has already guessed their relationship.
"Xue Lang, something happened."
Mingzhu spoke hastily, and whispered in Xue Bai's ear: "Today, Zahu went to Xingqing Palace to play tricks again, which made the saint very happy. He also proposed to worship the imperial concubine as his adoptive mother, and to recognize you as his uncle.
Already."
"Um?"
Xue Bai paused for a moment and asked, "What is the attitude of the saint?"
"The saint was very amused and wanted to invite everyone from the Yang family to come to the palace to recognize their relatives." Mingzhu whispered: "Ms. Yao is worried that she won't be able to stop him this time."
"I understand, you go back and tell Yuyao, just act according to the situation."
Mingzhu retreated happily, while Xue Bai frowned and thought deeply.
What he was thinking about was not just An Lushan's recognition of his mother. He murmured in a low voice: "Hedong Jiedu Envoy."
Sure enough, not long after, someone from the palace summoned him and asked him to go to Xingqing Palace for a banquet.
Xue Bai agreed and said, "May I ask if my uncle has entered the palace?"
The chamberlain naturally knew that he was asking about Yang Zheng, so he replied that his uncle was in the palace.
Xue Bai frowned slightly and asked a few more questions. He learned that Yang Zhao had not entered the palace yet and did not change his clothes. He rushed straight to Xingqing Palace to wait for Yang Zhao.
"A'Bai has arrived?" Yang Zhao saw Xue Bai from a distance and drove his horse forward. He came closer and lowered his voice and said, "Zha Hu still refuses to give up and wants to recognize his mother. It's so shameless."
"Brother, do you know why Zahu is like this?"
"Why?"
"Recognizing one's mother is not the goal, promotion is."
Yang Zhao couldn't help but feel annoyed and said: "I have made an agreement with Wang Xian that I will not let Zahu get the title of imperial censor."
"Zahu not only wants the imperial censor, but also the governor of Hedong." Xue Bai whispered, "Yesterday evening, Wang Zhongsi came to see me and expressed his intention to switch to his elder brother..."
Yang Zhao raised his eyebrows upon hearing this.
He is also the core of the Yang Party. If the Yang Party can get Wang Zhongsi's support, its power will definitely increase greatly.
Xue Bai continued: "Wang Zhongsi did not dare to ask for the four towns. He only hoped that the eldest brother would help keep the post of Hedong Jiedu envoy. Brother, I thought, how much benefit would there be from the salt tax, military pay, prisoners of war... in this way?"
"Is it settled?"
"No, An Lushan acted faster." Xue Bai said: "Brother, let's see, he recognized his adoptive mother today, and he will definitely take the lead tomorrow and seize the post of Hedong Jiedushi."
"How will we deal with the salt then?"
"How can it still be done in time?"
It was not convenient to talk much at this time, so Yang Zhao looked sulky and said, "Look, I came to the imperial court and stopped this bastard."
~~
Yanshoufang, Wangzhai.
"The saint hasn't summoned grandpa yet?"
Wang Yunxiu asked worriedly, and Wang Zhongsi nodded.
In the name of compassion, the saint summoned his adopted son who had just captured Shibao City but ignored him. He only summoned An Lushan who was more in line with the holy will every day.
This move seemed to be out of suspicion, but Wang Yunxiu had heard Yuan Zai say that this was actually an opportunity given to Wang Zhongsi by the saint.
"Grandpa, can you just write a letter to express your stance?"
"Go down."
Wang Zhongsi seemed to be waiting for someone, and he shouted down his daughter who was chattering away.
Looking outside the hall, after waiting for a long time, he finally saw a maid hurriedly coming to the hall. Wan Fu said: "My second mother ordered me to deliver the message. Your Highness agreed to submit the results of Pei Mian's case to the Third Division. Everything has been done."
Now, general, you don’t have to worry anymore.”
"If this is the case, I am also at fault. Why does no one come to ask questions?"
"This servant doesn't know anything about it. I only heard His Highness tell Er Niang, 'I will never involve my sworn brother'."
"What did Chang Yuan say?"
"Mr. Li is waiting for summons in the palace. He doesn't know about this yet..."
Compared with asking the saint for forgiveness together with Li Heng, this kind of "no involvement" made Wang Zhongsi feel a little uneasy.
The next moment, a figure wearing a light green official robe appeared in the courtyard, and Yuan Zai hurried over.
"My father-in-law and son-in-law heard the news that An Lushan is in Xingqing Palace and wants to worship the imperial concubine as his adoptive mother."
When Wang Zhongsi heard this, he frowned and looked at Yuan Zai.
Yuan Zai knew that no matter what he said, Wang Zhongsi would still think that he had ulterior motives, so he simply confessed his position of siding with Yang Dang, which made him appear more sincere and calm.
"My son-in-law might as well tell his father-in-law one more thing. Before An Lushan entered the palace today, he paid a visit to his uncle and gave him a generous gift. He hoped that his uncle would support him as the governor of Hedong and said that he would be grateful in the future.
Acknowledging his mother this time is a step for him to express his sincerity."
"It's too urgent, I'm still serving as the Jiedushi of the Four Towns!"
Wang Zhongsi shouted loudly and with great power.
Yuan Zai bowed deeply and stepped aside without further persuasion.
Wang Yunxiu heard the commotion and rushed to the hall again, pulled Yuan Zai over and spoke softly.
Yuan Zai shook his head helplessly, clapped his wife's hand and said, "It's useless to talk more. Let me make my own decision."
While talking, Wang Zhongsi strode out.
"Grandpa?"
"Don't even follow me!"
~~
The horse's hooves kicked up the snow on the ground.
"Hush!"
Wang Zhongsi got off his horse and broke into Shaoyang Courtyard again.
The guard standing on the steps wearing armor and holding a halberd wanted to stop him, but he pushed him away.
"Get out of the way, I want to see the prince."
Amidst the commotion, Li Jingzhong came from the other end of the corridor again. When he saw Wang Zhongsi, he quickly stepped forward to persuade him.
"General Wang? Why are you here again? Although His Highness is ill and the general is concerned, but..."
Before he finished speaking, Wang Zhongsi lifted him up.
"this……"
"Snapped!"
There was a crisp sound, and Li Jingzhong's neck clicked, and his head was whipped to the side. A slight movement caused a sharp pain.
His eyes were filled with tears from the pain. He tilted his head and looked at Wang Zhongsi, shocked and said: "General, why did you hit me? Old slave..."
After opening his mouth three times and failing to finish a sentence, Wang Zhongsi abandoned him and broke into Li Heng's house.
"Sworn brother..."
"Since Your Highness told me that Xue Bai killed the person, why did he use Pei Dunfu's dead generals to close the case?" Wang Zhongsi asked.
Li Heng was stunned.
Wang Zhongsi said: "I have been to Dali Temple, and His Highness is still ill, but the case has been found to the bottom?"
"Ahem, cough...forget it. This case is over. Don't implicate others and cause turmoil in the court."
"Is Your Highness confused about being a saint? Or is Your Highness confused? You don't understand that the simpler the case is settled, the more suspicious the saint will be?"
Li Heng asked, "Is this suspicion my fault?"
"Your Highness is always wrong to some extent." Wang Zhongsi said: "I am also wrong. Just admit it when you are wrong. What's the big deal?"
"What's the big deal? Because he didn't give me a chance to admit my mistake!"
"Chang Yuan has told you, right?" Wang Zhongsi suddenly supported Li Heng and said, "I can also tell His Highness one last time. You and I refuse to admit our mistakes, and the saint's anger will not go away... You all understand the truth, but you know, brother
Are you willing to let An Lushan prevent you from ascending the throne by force?!"
"He dares?!"
"No one is sure whether he dares or not."
Wang Zhongsi was calm after all, and lowered his voice again, saying: "But at this moment he is planning to appoint the governor of Hedong. It is obvious that letting this person serve as the three towns concurrently will benefit His Highness? What benefit will it benefit the country?"
"What can I do? The saint doesn't listen to me. He has been advised again and again by his golden and wise words. He just loves those treacherous people who follow his will. He regards that bastard as being dearer than any of his sons, a hundred times dearer than me!"
Li Heng said and got angry instead.
He became angry, broke away from Wang Zhongsi's hand holding him, raised his hand and asked: "You come to ask me, what did I do wrong? I just settled the Pei Mian case at the minimum price..."
"Don't act stupid."
Wang Zhongsi did not use the respectful attitude towards the prince, and his tone became serious, saying: "I have told you since you were a child that I am a rough man and will not beat around the bush with you. You and I both know what this matter is. If you don't admit your mistake, it is your fault."
It doesn’t matter if I, the Jiedushi of the Four Towns, are lost, An Lushan..."
"After all that, my sworn brother, you are still reluctant to give up the military power of Jiedushi?!" Li Heng said: "I haven't done enough to protect you with this military power?!"
Wang Zhongsi was stunned.
Li Heng sat up, becoming more and more excited, and said: "In the case of Wei Jian, I would rather give up the Wei family and Huangfu Weiming, and leave Hexi and Longyou in your hands. That's because in my eyes, my wife
My brother-in-law and my beloved general are not as important as you, my sworn brother!"
"Your Highness..."
"In the past two years, I have been involved in major cases. I could have confessed my mistakes to the saint a long time ago. Why not? Because I know that as soon as I admit my mistakes, he will take the opportunity to take away your job. Now you feel that I have not done enough to protect you.
Military power?!"
"Your Highness has tried his best. I can see that. Now I just have a better solution with Mr. Li."
"Your method is to make me the laughing stock of the world and a prince in name only?"
"At least, Your Highness will have a chance..."
"Opportunity? Wang Zhongsi, the opportunity you are talking about is to wait until the day I ascend the throne, without any prestige or authority, so that the northwest vassal town can become its own country?!"
The room suddenly became quiet.
Wang Zhongsi pursed his lips and wanted to speak, but he didn't know how to speak, so he could only stare blankly into Li Heng's eyes.
After a long time, he said: "Your Highness, these are... heart-breaking words..."
Li Heng cried loudly, walked down from the couch, shook his head and said: "I'm afraid, sworn brother! The saints are afraid of me. Since the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, I have no power at all that a prince of a country should have. Look at the East Palace...
…Have I ever been to the East Palace? Have I ever seen my subordinates?”
"Your Highness, I understand."
"Since the founding of the country, the prime minister has never been appointed. This is the first thing a wise king should understand! But you see, Suo Douji has been the prime minister for more than ten years. A powerful prime minister wants to control even the border towns, but a prince wants to control everything.
No, nothing... There is only this last bit left, the last bit of sustenance for the world, and you still want to kill it? What do I have left? You tell me."
Wang Zhongsi's eyes were red, he lowered his head in shame and said: "If Your Highness is willing to believe me, I will never let Ge Nu humiliate Your Highness."
"Of course I believe in you brother."
"Then why does Your Highness dare not offend Li Jingzhong but protect me as the Jiedushi of a town?"
"You..." Li Heng was furious and shouted: "Because you were deceived by those traitors. They will never keep their promises and will only kill you and me!"
"Your Highness may have misunderstood?" Wang Zhongsi said: "Yang Zhuang has no intention of abolishing the crown prince. Although Yuan Zai is working hard, he is my son-in-law after all, so why would he want to harm the Wang family? As for Xue Bai..."
"That's Xue Pingzhao, the son of Xue Xiu. His sinister purpose is..."
"If he were Xue Xiu's son, he wouldn't let Ge Nu and Zahu succeed, right? Your Highness, although I'm not smart, I can at least see a little bit clearly. Whether you protect me or not, it doesn't make much difference to Xue Bai. He is favored by the Holy Spirit.
, even Ge Nu doesn’t want to offend him, he could have become uncle and nephew with Zahu, laughing and playing, but why bother to wade into this muddy water?”
"Then why do you think he needs to?!"
"He wanted to prevent Zahu from working part-time in Sanzhen out of public motives..."
"Huh?" Li Heng thought it was ridiculous. He turned around, pointed at Wang Zhongsi's nose, and sneered: "You said Xue Bai has a public heart? You are my sworn brother, and I said he had an affair with my wife.
Have you checked it out?!"
"Your Highness, I am only talking about the border town. Can't I see such simple pros and cons?"
"That's enough! After all, you are just willing to put me to death for the sake of military power, aren't you?!"
"I……"
Wang Zhongsi wanted to say something more, but in the end he was speechless.
What to say?
In the final analysis, it turned out that Li Heng no longer believed him.
If he had to choose between "the sworn brother holds the military power of a town" and "the sworn brother holds the trust of the world", Li Heng wanted to hold his destiny in his own hands.
It is understandable that, on the one hand, this sworn brother cannot be trusted since he dares to force his sworn brother to commit suicide. On the other hand, with the trust of the world, other Jiedu envoys will naturally join the East Palace in the future.
After understanding this truth, Wang Zhongsi crossed his hands and bowed deeply.
"So, I hope everything goes as Your Highness wishes. After I lift the military power of the four towns, the Saint can also let go of his suspicion of Your Highness."
"Sworn brother..."
Li Heng still wanted to comfort him, but Wang Zhongsi had already turned around and left.
He wanted to catch up, but thinking of his adopted brother's last words, he hesitated and finally stopped.
It could be heard that Wang Zhongsi was disheartened and no longer wanted to win over the governor of Hedong... In this way, these important officials in the East Palace did not want to push him, the prince, to take the blame, so they ended up dismissing the governor of the four towns.
From then on, the East Palace suffered a complete defeat, leaving only a little bit of the prince's reputation.
There is nothing we can do about it. We have been struggling year after year, but in the end we can only lie dormant in defeat, resting on our laurels, waiting for the future.
"Brother, I am incompetent and cannot protect you..."
Thinking about the more than thirty years since they met, Li Heng also felt heartbroken.
~~
Wang Zhongsi led the horse out of the East Palace, looked up at the light snow in the sky, and felt relaxed for a moment.
Everything was over, and the huge stone weighing on his heart was lifted. From now on, he would no longer care about the wars on the border of the Tang Dynasty, the future of the soldiers, and he no longer had to worry about the future of the Tang Dynasty.
From now on, he just wants to live a comfortable life... This is a thought he has never had since his grandfather died in the war when he was nine years old, and he is very happy.
The next moment, I felt empty and at a loss.
It was almost evening, and the sound of dusk drums could be heard in the distance. Crowds of people coming out of Xingqing Palace rushed through the long street to the east, making it very lively.
"General!"
Suddenly someone shouted, Wang Zhongsi turned around and saw that it was Tian Shengong, a general under his command.
He nodded lightly, but saw Tian Shengong waving to the east, and not long after, Xue Bai rode over.
"General Wang, what a coincidence?"
"What a coincidence?"
Wang Zhongsi asked back, vaguely feeling that Xue Bai no longer had the same attitude towards him that it had nothing to do with him.
"Would you like a drink?" Xue Bai asked, "I'm in a bad mood today."
Wang Zhongsi was about to refuse, but he nodded inexplicably and said, "That's fine, let's drink all night."
…
The wine was drunk in a private room in the backyard of Fengwei Building.
Wang Zhongsi sat down and drank a swig first, then asked: "I heard that Zahu wants to recognize the concubine as his mother today, has Xue Lang stopped him?"
"No." Xue Bai said: "No one can stop the saint's will."
"Pity."
"It seems that General Wang failed to persuade the prince to bow his head and eliminate the saint's wariness towards the crown prince of a country."
"Yeah, I can't persuade him." Wang Zhongsi sighed: "He has his own reasons."
Xue Bai stopped ridiculing Li Heng or provoking him. He took a sip of wine and sighed: "It's very frustrating. I feel like I can't change anything."
Wang Zhongsi laughed at himself and picked up another bottle of wine.
He felt that the wine at Fengweilou was good, stronger than those elsewhere, and he could drink it.
"General, do you believe in destiny?" Xue Bai only took a sip, but he became a little crazy. He raised his fingers to the sky and said, "I have magic skills. I told Li Changyuan that Anlu Mountain will rebel."
"What magical magic? In the third year of Tianbao, I attacked the Turks in the north. Seeing that Anlu Mountain was raising the bandits, I told him several times that he had extraordinary ambitions."
"Why did the general think I did this? To defeat the prime minister, the prince? I am just a white man, what good can I do? I just want to stop this fat man. But I can't stop him. Today I saw my beard dancing, not dancing.
He would not stop conquering the Central Plains, and he would hear his words of "grandma" and "uncle", as if he was calling him king and me..."
"Xue Lang is drunk?"
"Really? I'm a light drinker."
"Half glass?"
Wang Zhongsi turned to look at Xue Bai and suddenly squinted his eyes, as if he saw a trace of sincerity in the young man's eyes.
He was rare and solemn and said: "Even if An Lushan has different intentions, he won't be able to make any big waves."
"Perhaps, after all, the saint's prestige is incomparable." Xue Bai nodded in agreement, and finally said: "However, the East Palace has been cut too much, and it is hard to say what will happen in the future."
"You're really drunk."
Wang Zhongsi stopped with a stern face, but there was a hint of gloom in his eyes.
His mood became worse and worse, and the relief he felt after being relieved of his burden was gone.
Xue Bai waved his hand and said: "Let's not talk about state affairs. I'm still young. It's not too late to deal with these things after I pass the imperial examination."
"But I am old."
The two of them had been drinking for a long time. Wang Zhongsi became more and more sober as he drank. When he turned around, he saw Xue Bai holding the wine glass but not drinking. He was thinking about something in a daze.
He wanted to talk about something but didn't want to talk about state affairs, so he said: "Xue Lang once promised that if I won the battle, he would give me a poem."
"It's okay if you don't give it away."
"Why?"
Xue Bai said seriously: "General Wang is weak and values personal friendship over justice. He is not worthy of it."
Wang Zhongsi turned to look, and Xue Bai also turned to look at him and added.
"I really think you don't deserve it."
"Haha, how can I match it?"
"Today Hu'er recognizes his mother. Even if he can't stay east of the river for a while, as long as he gives up his post as General Wang, everything will be smooth sailing for him from now on. I, a small person, can't change it. But if there is any change, it can only happen in General Wang's thoughts."
"in a moment?"
"That's right." Xue Bai suddenly drank all the wine in the glass. This time he was really drunk. He raised his voice and said, "General, one thought of life and one thought of death. In one thought, the world may be very different."
His face turned red, looking completely different from usual, and he patted Wang Zhongsi on the shoulder quite boldly.
"Whether you are worthy of this poem or not depends on this thought..."
I have read everyone’s feedback on the plot, don’t worry. This plot is originally the last stage of Li Linfu’s fight against the prince, and it is a decisive battle between the two forces. Therefore, there is a lot of foreshadowing in these chapters, and the characters’ positions need to be sorted out first.
I didn’t see any conflicts in the plot. I was just following the characters to understand their thoughts. Naturally I would get annoyed and it would be fine later. After this paragraph, the plot of the Right Opposition’s confrontation with the East Palace ends, and the timeline just begins with the imperial examination~~ I have arranged everything
Okay~~ I have written 10,000 words so far today. Please give me your monthly vote~~
