Chapter 237 The Busy Traveling Emperor
Chencang.
The busy traveling emperor was drifting from place to place, so he wouldn’t feel much better than ordinary people. But now, Li Yan was in a good mood because he was going back to Chang’an, the capital, and the capital was controlled by Li Ye. Prince An’s memorial showed that he was ready to welcome him back to the capital. Not only was the Imperial Palace cleaned up, but there were also 100,000 Pinglu soldiers to keep him safe.
Li Yan got up very early today because he didn’t sleep well at all last night. From Chengdu to Chencang, the journey was tiring. But it was dispelled by the joy of returning to Chang’an. Li Yan was so excited that he was awake all night. Fengxiang was adjacent to Chang’an. If he arrived at Fengxiang, could Chang’an be far behind?
There was no doubt that it was not far at all. Arriving at Fengxiang was no different from arriving at Chang’an.
The sun rose from the eaves. Holding a wine cup in his hand, Li Yan looked at the sun at the gate of the hall, and he also looked at the place where he was going to return. Unconsciously, a smile crept up on him, as bright as morning glows. And he could not stop smiling.
“Brother Ye has recaptured Chang’an... I knew that Brother Ye would definitely recapture Chang’an. Brother Ye has never let me down. Except for Brother Ye, who else in the world could do such things as defeating the rebels, killing Huang Chao, and recapturing the capital? Compared with Brother Ye, Zhu Quanzhong and Li Keyong are both useless!”
When Li Yan finished his cup of wine, the eunuch at his side quickly bent forward to fill it for him. While the other side was pouring the wine, Li Yan couldn’t help sharing his joy and the joy of the Tang Empire with him.
“Come, you drink with me!” Li Yan smiled and said to the eunuch, who was pouring the wine. He waved his hand and called for another wine cup.
“I don’t dare to do that.” The eunuch was terrified.
Li Yan laughed and put the wine cup in the eunuch’s hand. “How dare you not accept my reward? Come and drink with me!”
The eunuch trembled and held the wine cup tightly with both hands. Seeing Li Yan drink up the wine, he quickly drank it up.
“Good! You are all my good officials. When I return to the capital, I will definitely reward you handsomely and I won’t treat you unfairly!” Li Yan was in a good mood.
“Thank you, Your Majesty!” Getting the unexpected reward, the eunuch bowed immediately.
Li Yan looked at the sun above the eaves, bathing in the morning sun, but he felt a little melancholic. “More than three years have passed. Brother Ye, you and I haven’t seen each other for nearly four years. How time flies. In those days, you and I had fun in Chang’an. We lingered the brothels, drinking wine, and singing poems with the singsong girls and the popular queens. How unrestrained and romantic we were! But now, it hasn’t happened in years. Sometimes, I really want to go back to those easy and comfortable days. We didn’t need to worry about the country and lived a free and happy life, even better than the immortal.”
Li Yan was recalling the past, as if he could see the past scenes of drinking wine happily and singing freely. He gradually smiled warmly.
At this moment, a eunuch came in a hurry and reported to Li Yan urgently, “Your Majesty, Shangguan Qingcheng from the Pinglu Army requests to meet you.”
“Shangguan Qingcheng?” Li Yan was stunned for a while. Then, he looked confused. “The chief of the trusted guards in Brother Ye’s mansion. Why did she come to Chencang? Did Brother Ye send her to escort me back? Brother Ye is very thoughtful. Quick! Call her in!”
A moment later, a general in silver armor and white robes followed a eunuch through the door and soon came before Li Yan.
“I’m Shangguan Qingcheng from the Pinglu Army, Your Majesty!” Shangguan Qingcheng bowed and cupped her fists.
“General Shangguan, you don’t have to be so courteous. Why are you here? Where is Prince An?” Li Yan was overjoyed.
“Prince An will arrive soon. He asked me to come to meet you first. Your Majesty, a large number of monks of Buddhism in the Kong Kim Realm appears in Fengxiang. Their intention is unknown. And there are some abnormal movements in the Fengxiang Army. I came here to protect you!” Shangguan Qingcheng took out a memorial. “This is a letter from Prince An himself!”
Li Yan was stunned for a while. He looked puzzled and confused. He took the memorial and was about to read it. At this moment, Tian Lingzi came in a hurry with an anxious look. When he came before Li Yan, he hurried to report, “Your Majesty, something bad has happened. The Fengxiang Army is out in force, blocking the front and rear roads!”
“The Fengxiang Army?” Li Yan looked up in bewilderment at Tian Lingzi. “What is Li Changyan going to do?”
“I’m afraid that he intends to hijack Your Majesty’s carriage!”
“What?” Li Yan was stunned and immediately became angry. “How dare he?!”
Tian Lingzi said urgently and anxiously, “Your Majesty, you will know what he intends to do as long as you summon him to meet you. If he dares to come, then the Fengxiang Army is not going to hijack Your Majesty. But if he doesn’t dare to come, it means that he isn’t loyal!”
Li Yan gnashed his teeth. “Summon him!”
Tian Lingzi answered with folded hands, “Yes. Summon the Fengxiang commissioner, Li Changyan to meet His Majesty!”
After the eunuch, who passed the order, left, Li Yan was silent for a while, and he was in a bad mood. When he saw Shangguan Qingcheng, he suddenly remembered Li Ye’s memorial, so he opened it and read it quickly.
When he read it, he was frightened because Li Ye wrote clearly in the memorial that he suspected that Li Changyan was colluding with Buddhism and having bad intentions. He suggested that Li Yan let the Wolf-tooth Troop protect him when Shangguan Qingcheng arrived and stopped the journey till he came.
If Li Changyan attacked the Regal Guards, Li Yan should not panic or retreat to Sichuan, and he must wait for Li Ye to come. In the memorial, Li Ye also told Li Yan that Liu Dazheng was coming, leading 30,000 Pinglu elites.
Liu Dazheng and Shangguan Qingcheng were dispatched one after another. The infantry and the cavalry composed of 30,000 soldiers were a little slower than 3,000 Wolf-tooth troops, but they would not delay for too long. Li Ye asked Li Yan to stay calm.
After reading Li Ye’s letter, Li Yan was astonished and his face paled. Even though Li Yan wasn’t a wise emperor, he wasn’t stupid. He was just unwilling to take care of the country and he just enjoyed having fun. Li Yan knew exactly what kind of temperament Li Ye had.
Now that Li Ye said those words, then Li Changyan’s rebellion was almost inevitable. Moreover, combining with Tian Lingzi’s report, he could imagine what the current situation was now.
As expected, the eunuch, who passed the order, came back to report to Li Yan, “Li Changyan said that he got a cold accidentally and was bedridden, so he couldn’t come to meet Your Majesty. He also said...”
Li Yan was short of breath. “What else did he say?!”
The eunuch was trembling with fear. “Li Changyan also said that Your majesty must be tired all the way back from Chengdu. He invited Your Majesty to have a rest in the Fengxiang Office, and he would do his best to serve Your Majesty.”
At this point, the situation was clear. Li Yan was trembling with anger. “What if I don’t go?”
The eunuch felt uneasy. “Li Changyan said that the Fengxiang Army would escort Your Majesty to go.”
Li Yan was so angry that he kicked the eunuch. He roared angrily, “How dare he?! How dare he want to hijack me and rebel like Huang Chao, that b*stard?! How dare he?! Isn’t he afraid that Prince An will lead the troops to kill his Fengxiang Army and all his relatives?!”
Li Yan was furious. He roared angrily for a long time in the same place, and then, he threw all the wine cups and wine pots that the eunuch behind him held in his hands. Finally, he calmed down.
Huang Chao attacked Guanzhong beyond everyone’s expectation. Li Yan was forced to go west to Chengdu. All the way, he was anxious and tired. When he finally arrived at Chengdu, he hoped every day that Huang Chao would be brought down and that he would return to the capital.
Now, Huang Chao was finally dead, and Chang’an was recaptured by Li Ye, so Li Ye was overjoyed. This time, he went back to Chang’an with joy all the way, and he was ready to enjoy his life in Chang’an, but he didn’t expect that he would encounter the matter of Li Changyan’s rebellion in Fengxiang.
Li Yan wasn’t stupid, so he knew that the world was in chaos. But he was driven by Huang Chao’s rebels previously, and now, he was hijacked by a commissioner, so Li Yan was angry, even though he could not protect himself. He could not endure it anymore, so he immediately ordered Tian Lingzi, “Li Changyan dares to be a traitor, so I will let him die. Order the Regal Guards to attack the Fengxiang Army!”
Tian Lingzi’s expression changed greatly. It didn’t work. Although the Regal Guards had 100,000 soldiers, the Fengxiang Army had more soldiers than the Regal Guards. Moreover, the Fengxiang soldiers were all elites with experience of fierce fights. All of them were as valiant as tigers.
Except for more than 10,000 soldiers who had fighting abilities, the rest of the Regal Guards were recruits. They hadn’t been trained well, to say nothing of fighting on the battlefield. How could they fight against the Fengxiang Army? Sending them to attack the Fengxiang Army was like sending them to die.
Tian Lingzi hurriedly tried to persuade Li Yan not to be angry. After a long time of persuasion, Li Yan finally calmed down.
In the end, Li Yan issued a decree to order all various troops to come to Fengxiang to exterminate Li Changyan and escort him back to the capital.
The people, who passed the decree, took action quickly. But under the blockade of the Fengxiang Army, it was unknown whether those people, who passed the decree, were able to go out of Chencang or not.
Li Changyan naturally wasn’t bedridden. At this moment, he was in the Fengxiang Army, with Li Maozhen, Wang Jian, and the others beside him.
Soon, a cavalryman rushed over and reported to Li Changyan, “Military commander, all the soldiers are standing by, and they can take action at any time.”
The action the cavalryman referred to was to hijack Li Yan to Fengxiang. Li Yan had 100,000 Regal Guards on his side, so he wouldn’t give in obediently because of Li Changyan’s words. This battle was inevitable.
Li Changyan was on horseback, and he looked arrogant. He nodded as he heard those words. All that had to be said had been said to the soldiers, so he didn’t need to mobilize them at this time. He directly ordered, “Welcome His Majesty to Fengxiang!”
All the generals took the order and rushed to the positions of their own troops separately. Li Maozhen and Wang Jian looked at each other and left at the same time. The distance of their direct troops was very close, so they went together.
In the half way, Li Maozhen said coldly to Wang Jian, “Are we really going to be traitors?”
Wang Jian said emotionlessly, “This is the general trend. What can I do?”
Li Maozhen no longer spoke.
Wang Jian suddenly smiled and said, “Now that the Wolf-tooth Troop has come, then Prince An will arrive soon.”
Li Maozhen’s eyes brightened, and then, he blinked his eyes several times. Finally, he said nothing but nodded slightly. He separated from Wang Jian and went to his own place.
About an hour later, the Fengxiang Army launched a siege to the Regal Guards.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺