The evening drums of the Danfeng Gate of the Daming Palace rang, and the next moment the drums of all the bell and drum towers in Chang'an City rang, and the sound was low and rapid, vibrating for dozens of miles.
The sky gradually darkened, and at the second watch, Twelve Niang woke up the sleeping children and put them into brown linen clothes worn by poor people. She also changed into a woman from a small household. The only one following them was Du Jiuniang, a maid.
Daorou is in charge of Mrs. Chen.
Cao Anding had already set up a carriage in the backyard. After they boarded the carriage, he personally carried the paper lantern, and the coachman pulled the horse behind him to Zhuque Street.
Tang law allows officials of third rank and above to open gates on the walls of the square, so they do not need to alert the Wuhou in the square. The only trouble is the soldiers patrolling the streets.
At this moment, Zhuque Street was quiet and deserted. Cao Anding was walking quickly with a lantern in front. Only the sound of carriage wheels could be heard. Not far ahead, there was a night funeral procession. They were all wearing white linen clothes and looked very charming.
.When we arrived at the next intersection, a group of street patrol soldiers came towards us. The sound of their armors clanging as they walked was very clear.
Cao Anding couldn't help but hold his breath, and he didn't know whether Li Chongyun was reliable in his work. The leading officer saw the word "Xiliang" written on the paper lantern in his hand, and immediately led the soldiers to turn around, as if they had not seen this
car.
He breathed a long sigh of relief and continued to lead the carriage forward, arriving at the gate of Anyi Square.
This Anyi Square is the most remote one in Chang'an City. There are large areas of cultivated fields and barren hills in the square, as well as the Yizhuang where corpses are parked. Michagan has been waiting at the gate of the square for a long time. Cao Anding said in a low voice: "Fang Zhenghe
I have bribed Marquis Wu, please come with me."
They led the carriage into a remote house in the square, picked up Twelve Niangs and the others from the carriage, loaded the stand-ins into the carriage, and returned along the original route. Cao Anding ran again in fear.
He took the substitutes to the palace and placed them in the inner courtyard. He also took out all the money in the palace and gave them as rewards to his close servants. Since his wife had been living in seclusion a while ago, only a few of his trusted servants could
In contact with them, other servants rarely see the Madam. This mansion has been vacant for many years, and the servants in the mansion have long been accustomed to living without their masters. Now they continue to manage everything in the mansion step by step.
After dawn, Cao Anding came to Anyi Square to organize Twelve Niangs and others to leave the city. In order to avoid attracting attention, he bought two dilapidated ox-drawn pallet carts and took Twelve Niangs and others out of Shuide Gate respectively.
At this time, Mingde Gate has a large flow of people, with bustling caravans coming in and out, and the soldiers at the city gate will not pay special attention to a few civilians leaving the city.
After leaving Chang'an and marching eastward to twenty miles away, they met two caravans near an abandoned post station. These people were the personal guards left by Li Siye to escort them.
Nowadays, Guanzhong has been greatly damaged by the war, and there are rogue bandits fifty miles away from the capital, especially in the mountains of the Qinling Mountains close to Tongguan. They encountered two groups of thieves along the way. Fortunately, everyone in the caravan played by soldiers carried weapons and fought with the mountains.
The bandits fought fiercely, but finally had no escape.
But after the team left Tongguan, they encountered Lingbao again and the local officials in Shaanxi County arrested him. Cao Anding had no choice but to bribe the officials with pain and blood. After a long journey of wandering, he finally arrived in Luoyang City.
After entering Luoyang, they could not go directly to Li Siye, so Cao Anding first bought two houses in a remote city and settled them there, and Cao Anding took care of everything else.
…
When the Twelve Niangs arrived in Luoyang, Yu Chaoen Zhengtong led the military envoys to attack Weizhou in Huaizhou. In the early stage, Guo Ziyi led Shuofang's army as the vanguard to pretend to attack Weizhou City, inducing An Qingxu to send a large army to help. Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi cooperated tacitly.
The reinforcements were defeated in one fell swoop and most of the rebel forces were wiped out.
The Tang army advanced with great success, advancing all the way to the foot of Ye City, and surrounded An Qingxu and other rebels in the city. It seemed that victory was within reach. However, in the process, Yu Chaoen believed that the previous victory had nothing to do with him, and when it came to the most critical task of capturing the rebel lair,
The battle must not be allowed to involve others.
He used the power in his hands to issue orders to the armies to attack the city from all sides, and never discussed with the military governors under his command. He led his Hexi army to sit in the rear and only sent artillery battalions to bombard the city head.
However, the Hexi Army Artillery Battalion has lost contact with Zhao Zhengyi in Qingliangguan, Lanzhou since it left Tongguan. The artillery battalion lost one shell every time. In order to preserve its strength, Yu Chaoen stopped shelling the city head, but
He ordered the remaining military envoys of the Tang Army to attack the city one after another, and the two sides were at a stalemate.
In the early stages of the campaign, many problems of the Tang army were exposed. One factor was that eunuchs who did not understand military affairs were in charge of the army. Another factor was that the Tang army's military governors were not coordinated with each other and had their own selfish motives. Previously, when Li Siye was there, Anbei was defeated.
The three armies in Tinghexi cooperate with each other in tacit cooperation. Now the three armies are commanded by different people, which also exposes problems in this regard.
…
The only important officials in the rear of Luoyang were Cui Yuan who stayed in the Eastern Capital, Yin Suzhen of Henan, and Li Siye who was temporarily serving as Luoyang's water transport envoy. Even Li Kui, who only had the title of Jiedu envoy, was ordered to supervise the transportation of grain and grass at the front.
.
After Li Siye arrived in Luoyang, he actually started the river work to clear out the mud for a while. When Cao Anding came to see him, he was wrapping his trousers and riding a water tanker on the empty river bed to extract mud.
When he heard that Cao Anding had brought his family to the city, he was so happy that he ran over, held the other person's hand and said excitedly: "Anding, you are really my benefactor."
Cao Anding hurriedly knelt down and crossed his hands and said, "My lord, you are serious. You and I had the kindness to meet each other in the past. How could Anding not repay my lord with all his heart and mind?"
"Get up quickly and take me to see Twelve Mothers and the others."
They returned to Luoyang City and came to Xingjiaofang where Twelve Niangs and others were temporarily staying. When they met, they held hands and saw each other with tears in their eyes. His daughter Li Chongle and his son Zuo Guo also came to their father in tears. Li Siye wiped them one by one.
Tears fell from their faces, what could be more joyful than a family reunion.
"Now only the eldest son Chongyun is far away in Chang'an, and the third son Chongbao is still in the Anxi army under Xiangzhou City. Didn't the lady inform Chongyun to leave as soon as possible?"
"He refuses to leave just yet. I really don't know what this kid is thinking?"
Li Siye sighed and said with a smile: "It doesn't matter. The rich man Michagan will stay in Chang'an City for me. When the time comes, I will write to him asking him to take Chongyun away."
He squatted in front of his son Li Zuoguo again, held his thin shoulders and said: "The name Zuoguo is not pleasant, so we won't call it you anymore. I will change it for you. Well, the Han people value single names, so why not just call it Zuoguo?"
Li Xu means the rising sun."
Li Xu asked in confusion: "My grandfather named his three brothers and sister with the word "Chong", why not add the word "Chong" to his son as well?"
He lowered his voice and said, "No need to add it. Maybe it will save them from changing the name in the future."
Li Twelve Niang had a look of shock on her face, her trembling lips were tightly closed and she hesitated to speak.
Li Siye had long noticed that Du Jiuniang was not in this room, so he asked at this moment: "There seems to be one person missing."
The lady asked with a sour smile: "You said you don't covet beauty, why are you still thinking about her?"
"I am looking for an opportunity to let her regain her freedom, but the time must be chosen appropriately. There must be no intention of harming others and no intention of guarding against others."
Li Twelve Niang pursed her lips and smiled: "Leave this matter to me."