Chapter 255 Everyone Has His Own Requirement
Tian Lingzi knew clearly that in Li Yan’s heart, his weight was inferior to Li Ye’s, even though Li Ye had been away from Chang’an for three years.
In the past three years, Tian Lingzi had been trying his best to win Li Yan’s favor in various ways, hoping that Li Yan would be estranged from Li Ye. But things went contrary to his wishes. Although Li Ye was far away from Li Yan, Tian Lingzi found that Li Yan had deeper affection toward Li Ye.
Li Yan always nagged. When he was happy, he said that it was a pity that Brother Ye was not here to share his joy. When he was unhappy, he said that it was a pity that Brother Ye was not there, otherwise, he would not be so unhappy. When he was drunk, he said that he wished to have fun with Brother Ye in the brothel at such a long night. When he was sober, he said that he wished to hunt with Brother Ye in the hunting ground taking dogs and eagles on such a clear day.
Later, Tian Lingzi understood that although Li Ye was away from Chang’an, his influence lingered everywhere, like a ghost.
One day, when Li Yan was drunk, he told Tian Lingzi about his frivolous young days. At that time, he was having fun with Brother Ye in the marketplace, but he didn’t think it special. Now, when he looked back, he realized that it was the most unrestrained and romantic time of his life.
Every time when Tian Lingzi heard these words, he had an impulse to wake Li Yan up by head-butting. “You’re an emperor. An emperor should be merciless and cold-blooded. Do you know you are an emperor?”
When these things happened more often later, Tian Lingzi helplessly found that Li Yan, indeed, didn’t know he was an emperor. This guy only knew how to have fun all day long, like a child who hadn’t grown up yet. Otherwise, he wouldn’t neglect the political affairs and let the power transfer to Tian Lingzi and the other powerful ministers so that they were in charge of the imperial court. Li Yan really had no consciousness of being an emperor.
Maybe, only this guy would value friendship so much. It was written in one of those poems about Li Bai that the emperor asked him to board a ship, but he refused, because he called himself the immortal of wine. Li Bai, that guy, was not fit for an official position, so he became a poet admired by the world. Li Yan was also not fit for an emperor, so he was a good brother.
Sometimes, Tian Lingzi would get angry when he thought about it. If Li Yan hadn’t helped Li Ye and hadn’t provided the Pinglu Army with countless ordnance, supplies, and food at will, the factories in Pinglu couldn’t have produced so many arms that 100,000 new troops could be armed from head to toe within the past three years, and in Pinglu, that small place, the soldiers couldn’t have had meat to eat every day and been trained to be as fierce as tigers.
Even though Li Ye was very competent, it was unlikely.
Tian Lingzi hated Li Ye very much. His hatred stemmed from jealousy.
Sometimes, Tian Lingzi really wanted to ask Li Yan, “Why can’t you forget Li Ye, even though I, as a eunuch, have been working very hard and give you whatever you want, trying my best to please you and make you happy? What benefits did Li Ye give you? Am I not a person? Do you discriminate against eunuchs?”
“You slight me but honor Li Ye. How can you be an emperor like this? You are clearly not fair. As an emperor, you own the whole world, so you should treat everyone equally, but you take special care of Li Ye. What do you make the world think of you? How can they be willing to work for you?”
The more he thought, the more helpless he was. Finally, Tian Lingzi could only sigh. As an emperor, Li Yan was ruining his family’s reputation, and he could piss Taizong and Xuanzong off. But as a brother, he was great. But Li Yan didn’t take Tian Lingzi as his brother.
Tian Lingzi couldn’t help but think that since ancient times, the emperors and generals, who had accomplished great achievements, were all merciless. Did they have friends? No. Not only the emperors and generals, but also the heroes in the marketplace, who had accomplished great achievements, were the same. Many people could share hardships, but not joys. In front of interests, friendship was just like a cloud. Sharing joys was more difficult than sharing hardships.
It was needless to say that businessmen placed importance on profits and were treacherous and ruthless. As for others, most of the scholars were faithless, but most of the ordinary people were faithful. It wasn’t the scholars were bad, but once they had high status and great interests, there was no room for friendship. The people, who gained great interests, might have allies, but they were just allies.
Between the interest and friendship, when the interest was small, it might be beneficial to friendship. At this time, people might be mutually beneficial or be friends in need. When the interest was big, people would fall apart and their attitudes would change.
Since ancient times, loyalty and filial piety couldn’t exist at the same time, but not just loyalty and filial piety.
At this moment, when he heard what Li Yan had said, Tian Lingzi gnashed his teeth secretly. Prince An got the great achievement of pacifying Huang Chao, and Li Yan trusted and helped him unreasonably. When they returned to Chang’an, he didn’t know what would happen.
“Your Majesty, I request to fight! The Pinglu Army and the Wolf-tooth Troop will guard Your Majesty to the death!” Shangguan Qingcheng asked for Li Yan’s permission, stepping forward with cupped fists. It was not the first time she requested to fight.
Li Yan blinked and hesitated. “It’s not that I don’t trust you, but the rebels have great force. If you have any accidents, how can I explain it to Brother Ye?”
Li Yan knew clearly that in the whole Prince An’s Manor, Li Ye favored Shangguan Qingcheng the most. In Li Yan’s view, if Shangguan Qingcheng wasn’t a military general, Li Ye would have married her. This time, Li Ye sent Shangguan Qingcheng to come because of the fighting ability and speed of the Wolf-tooth Troop. Of course, Li Yan was grateful, but he didn’t want Li Ye to have any regrets because of this.
Shangguan Qingcheng’s father died on the battlefield when he followed Li Xian to fight. If not for the last minute, Li Yan was reluctant to let Shangguan Qingcheng take the risk.
“If I cannot keep Your Majesty safe and sound, I cannot explain it to His Highness! Before I left, His Highness told me that I needed to have the determination to die on this trip. To keep Your Majesty safe and sound, I and 3,000 Wolf-tooth soldiers are willing to die!” Shangguan Qingcheng said solemnly, “Your Majesty, please give the order!”
Hearing this, Li Yan’s hands couldn’t help trembling slightly. He took a deep breath, but he still couldn’t control his mood. At that moment, he felt that his throat was as hard as a rock.
He silently said in his heart, “Brother Ye, you don’t need to do this. This is your most favorite general. How were you willing to give her such a military order?”
Li Yan slowly opened his eyes. His eyes were red, and he looked murderous. Gritting his teeth, he said, “Okay! General Shangguan, you go to fight. If the Wolf-tooth Troop is defeated, I will let 100,000 Regal Guards die with you!”
“Thank you, Your Majesty!” Shangguan Qingcheng left with cupped fists. Soon, she led the Wolf-tooth Troop to rush out of the formation and intercept the most fierce troops of the Fengxiang Army.
Tian Lingzi opened his mouth, speechless. He didn’t expect that Li Yan would be so ruthless that he wanted the Regal Guards to die with the Wolf-tooth Troop. However, although Li Yan neglected political affairs, his words counted, especially now.
Tian Lingzi was sweating on his back, and he felt great pressure.
If the Wolf-tooth Troop was defeated, the Regal Guards would have to die even without Li Yan’s order, to say nothing of Li Yan wanting 100,000 Regal Guards to die with the Wolf-tooth Troop. At least, after Li Changyan hijacked Li Yan, the Regal Guards would definitely be taken charge by him and Tian Lingzi would no longer be the Lieutenant of the Regal Guards.
With this in mind, Tian Lingzi suddenly turned around and ordered the general behind him with a ferocious expression, “Pass down my order to the whole army. If the Wolf-tooth Troop has any accidents, all of the generals whose positions are above the commander have to commit suicide in front of the formation!”
“Yes!” The general responded seriously. He quickly turned around and transmitted the order.
After the Wolf-tooth Troop rushed out of the formation and intercepted the most fierce troops of the Fengxiang Army, the Regal Guards, whose formation was unstable and about to fall, became in high spirits.
And when Tian Lingzi’s military order was passed down, all the soldiers led by the generals whose positions were above the commander started a desperate fight.
In this way, although they couldn’t save the situation, they didn’t retreat so quickly at least. Originally, the troops could only hold out for another two hours and they would flee, throwing away their armor, but now, they seemed to be able to hold out for a little longer.
The Wolf-tooth Troop was fighting Li Maozhen’s army. Before long, they destroyed Li Maozhen’s front formation, so Li Maozhen’s army had to retreat step by step.
In the formation, Li Maozhen was watching this scene with a complicated expression.
There were many expressions in his eyes, but no anger or hatred. While the Wolf-tooth Troop was advancing bravely, Li Maozhen didn’t dispatch his troops to fight back, but instead, he flew to Wang Jian’s formation and dragged Wang Jian out of the fight into his formation.
“Song Wentong, what are you doing? I’m fighting in high spirits!” Wang Jian opened his eyes wide.
Li Maozhen said coldly, “If we go on, the Regal Guards will be defeated.”
After Wang Jian sat down on the ground, the surrounding soldiers covered them with big shields, keeping the sky and the arrows away. “What should we do? There is no news about Prince An. Even if we don’t want to go all out, we can’t do it too obviously because Li Changyan is watching us. If Prince An didn’t break through the siege and the monks...”
“It’s impossible!” Before Wang Jian could finish speaking, Li Maozhen interrupted him sharply. Moreover, his white face turned cold, and he stared at Wang Jian with a murderous look.
Wang Jian spread his hands. “Just now, I saw the Wolf-tooth Troop fighting your formation. The other side has destroyed your front formation in such a short time. Then, how can you explain it to Li Changyan?”
Li Maozhen sneered. “I’m afraid of nothing. After the Wolf-tooth Troop defeats my army, they will fight your formation. After all, your army has rushed to the front line.”
Wang Jian was speechless, like a dumb person tasting bitter herbs. He stood stunned for a while. Finally, he hit the shield and said, “Is your plan reliable? What if we don’t wait for Prince An and directly turn around to kill Li Changyan? He doesn’t have many troops there right now. As long as we kill Li Changyan, we are the meritorious officials. It’s possible for one of us to become the Fengxiang commissioner later.”
Li Maozhen sneered. “Li Changyan’s trusted troops are behind him, and they don’t move at all. I don’t know whether we can win or not, but if the Fengxiang is in chaos, the Wolf-tooth Troop will take the advantage to charge forward with the Regal Guards. How can the Fengxiang Army fight them? At that time, the Fengxiang Army will have countless casualties. It’s possible for Tian Lingzi, that sinister guy, to directly eliminate the Fengxiang Army. Then, you and I can do nothing. Instead of getting promoted, we will be beheaded.”
Wang Jian was stunned for a while. “Will Tian Lingzi be so ruthless?”
Li Maozhen coldly said, “Tian Lingzi has done nothing in the settlement of the Huang Chao Uprising, so he has no military exploits. When the imperial court rewards the meritorious officials after the event, his position will be at stake. Why should he be soft-hearted when he has a chance to get military exploits at present?”
Wang Jian thought Li Maozhen was right, so he couldn’t help but sigh with a bitter look on his face. “Why is it so hard to get promoted in this world?”
Li Maozhen said, “So we have to wait for Prince An to come. Only when Prince An is here will Tian Lingzi not dare to make any reckless moves and our military exploits be guaranteed.”
Feeling distressed, Wang Jian said, “But Prince An... Buddhism has dispatch many masters to intercept him. I feel my scalp getting numb when thinking about it. Can Prince An still come to Chencang?”
Li Maozhen looked solemn and said firmly, “I trust him.”
Wang Jian said powerlessly, “Why do you trust him so much?”
Li Maozhen said, “Intuition.”
Wang Jian sniffed. “Only women will rely on their intuitions.”
“Wang Jian!” Li Maozhen’s flawless white face immediately became gloomy. Gnashing his teeth, he was going to hit Wang Jian.
Stepping backward, Wang Jian apologized repeatedly to calm down Li Maozhen’s anger. Then, he sighed. “If Prince An doesn’t come, we’ll both be in trouble...”
At this time, countless soldiers in all directions suddenly broke out waves of exclamation.
Wang Jian and Li Maozhen looked at each other and saw each other’s strong expectations. “Has Prince An arrived?!”
Asking the soldiers in armor to take away the big shields, they directly jumped up from the formation. Then, they saw several rainbows coming from the east. Their head in black robes appeared, holding a long sword and his clothes fluttering. Who else but Li Ye?
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