As the setting sun sets, the An Lushan mansion in Qinrenfang is brightly lit. A group of tooth soldiers hold the door banner to clear the way, followed by a horse-drawn carriage parked in front of the mansion gate.
The steward quickly ran out of the side door and shouted: "Alang is back!"
Counselors Yan Zhuang and Gao Shang came to greet him personally, and the family stewards stood on both sides of the courtyard gate. The coachman jumped down from the shaft and helped An Lushan down from the carriage.
Yan Zhuang, Gao Shang bowed towards An Lushan and crossed his hands: "Lord."
Fatty An cautiously turned his head and looked around. When he saw no one in the darkness, he raised his palm and said, "Let's talk after we go into the inner hall."
A group of maids led the way with lamps. An Lushan led the two of them to the back hall of the mansion. The maids lit several oil lamps in the hall, then stepped back and closed the door of the back hall.
An Lushan was lying on the large bed with his body tilted back and his belly bulging. Even the hard wood of the bed could hardly bear his weight and creaked. He burped comfortably, waved his hands and said, "You two
Everyone, please take a seat."
"Thank you, Lord."
The two of them each sat on the sheep felt on the left and right sides of Anlu Mountain. They observed the words and expressions solemnly. They crossed their hands and asked Anlu Mountain: "I am looking at the Lord's complexion, and there is a dryness in it. It seems that he is having a dispute with someone."
An Lushan held his stomach and chuckled: "Don't mention it, it's just a disagreement with the Yang family's kid, it's not a big deal."
A little sadness appeared on Yan Zhuang's face. An Lushan looked at his expression and asked in surprise: "What? What's wrong?"
"My lord, my lord should not have any quarrel with Yang Zhao right now."
An Lushan glanced at him displeased and said in a low voice: "Yang Zhao has no talent. If Yang Guifei was not favored by the emperor, how could he be the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty?"
Since he is an incompetent person, he should be self-aware. How dare he show off his authority in front of someone? How can I be governed by him?"
Yan Zhuang crossed his hands and persuaded: "My Lord, I also know that Yang Zhao is a despicable and incompetent person, but after all, he sits in the middle of the court and replaces His Majesty's mouthpiece. Now Li Siye in the northwest feudal town is gradually becoming more powerful. My Lord may not know that Li Siye entered the government a month ago.
For his merits in court, he was granted the title of Prince of Xiliang County by Your Majesty, and was granted the title of Shangzhu Kingdom. The reason why he was able to receive such a generous reward from Your Majesty was to make Li Siye the head of the northwest vassal town, with Ge Shuhan and An Sishun as the horns of each other, and with me.
The armies are holding each other hostage. If my lord hates this Yang Zhao and makes him collude with Li Siye, so that the northwest border town will receive help from the DPRK, it will be particularly disadvantageous for us."
An Lushan may have received a lot of praise from the emperor, but his mentality was already too conceited. He said with a smile: "Li Siye has no reason to be afraid. He has only been a Jiedushi for a few years and his foundation is still shallow. Hexi under his rule is relatively strong.
But the total strength of the two towns in Beiting, Anshan is only 40,000. How can it be compared with my army of 200,000?"
"Lord, you must be on guard." Yan Zhuang said earnestly: "When Li Siye entered the court, he took advantage of the victory in the campaign against Dabolu and North India to ask Your Majesty to have the Ministry of War recruit 20,000 troops in the Central Plains to fill the rivers and India.
garrison.
Gao Shang also stood up at this time and said to An Lushan, "Three days ago, Liu Luogu of Jinzouyuan came to inform me that he had prepared a large amount of money to bribe the Ordnance Supervisor of Beidu and smuggled infantry armor from his hands.
But he didn't expect that someone would get there first, bribe the supervisor with a large amount of money, and give the thirty armors originally given to us. He has already found out clearly that this person is Cao Anding, a member of the Hexi Jinzou Academy sent by Li Siye. "
"What?" An Lushan was shocked, and his body suddenly sat up from the backrest. The pressure generated at this moment made the bed under his butt no longer able to bear it, and it collapsed into a pile of waste wood with a crash.
The two counselors hurried forward and spent a lot of effort to help the fat man up and let him sit on the sheep felt next to the bed.
An Lushan patted the dust on his buttocks and said, "He first tricked the saint into acquiescing in his recruitment of troops and horses, and then secretly purchased armor in the capital. What is his intention? Does he want to dominate the world?"
Yan Zhuang took the opportunity and said: "That's why I said that my lord must be on guard. Now there seems to be a rift between Yang Guozhong and Li Siye. But if my lord hates Yang Guozhong and makes Yang and Li close again, my lord's situation will be very different."
It’s even more disadvantageous.”
An Lushan nodded in approval: "Well, what you two said makes sense. Tomorrow I will bring gifts to Yang's house to apologize." Then he punched the sheep's felt hard with his fist: "It's just... a certain sight
The hateful expression on Yang Zhao's face made me very angry."
"My lord, please don't disturb me. Yang is just a mediocre kid. My lord can only lure and exploit him. After he overthrows Li Siye in the future, there will be nothing to fear from this person."
Fatty An lowered his head and thought, and said angrily: "Li Siye's faction should privately purchase armor in the capital. This is a serious crime with ulterior motives. You two military advisors, can you see if you can secretly collect evidence so that I can take the opportunity to accuse him in front of His Majesty?"
."
Yan Zhuang shook his head and said: "I don't recommend this, lord, because we are doing the same thing. Besides, Li Siye has always had a good reputation in the court, and he has secretly bribed a large number of officials, making it difficult to detect. This will make us also
Being implicated, it would be better for us to start from other places."
An Lushan raised his eyebrows and asked: "This won't work, and that won't work either. Does the military advisor have any other methods?"
Yan Zhuang simply stopped pretending and confessed to An Lushan: "This time Liu Luogu and his lord consigned a large amount of money from Fan Yang, but he still fell behind in front of the wealthy Cao Anding. Our three towns in Heshuo have always been rich, but they are still stretched.
The North Court of Anxi, where Li Siye is based, is a poor and remote place. Although Hexi is rich, he has not been serving as Jiedushi for a long time, and he has the burden of 70,000 soldiers and horses. Where do they get so much money? In my humble opinion, they should
In three moves, we must first make amends with Yang Guozhong, and then use Yang Guozhong's power in the court to cooperate overtly and covertly to investigate the whereabouts of Cao Anding's money. Yang Guozhong has always been short-sighted, and when the time comes, there is no need for us to add fuel to the fire. Yang Guozhong will naturally complain in front of His Majesty.
"
Gao Shang also came closer, crossed his hands and said with a smile: "When Li Siye loses power in front of Your Majesty, as long as his three towns are lifted, our strong enemy will be eliminated, and the northwest vassal town will not be in trouble. Once the northwest vassal town weakens, Yang Guozhong
There will be no backup, and the initiative is in our hands, and we can just deal with him in the end."
"Okay! Okay!" An Lushan laughed excitedly: "The two military advisors are really Xiao He and Zhang Liang! In this way, we only need to wait for the opportunity. When the old emperor dies and the crown prince's position is not stable,
I will form an army with you and go south! Take this territory of thousands of miles into your hands."
As the night got darker, the eerie laughter of three people erupted from the inner hall of An Lushan's mansion. Under the moonlight, there were also laughter among the lights of thousands of houses. These laughter floated into the air, matching the laughter coming from the roofs of row upon row of houses.
The pyrotechnic gases mix with each other, like bright and blurry lights on the ground, and they can no longer be distinguished from each other.