Chapter 282 You Have No Choice but to Die Here
Li Ye issued six orders in a row commanding that Li Keyong comes to Qing Prefecture and make a progress report. Li Keyong however had not moved. He had been evading by various excuses such as ill-health and busy military affairs.
On the same day, Li Ye was furious and publicly denounced Li Keyong for disregarding the imperial court. He was in possession of an army and defied orders from the central government. He was suspected of starting a rebellion. Li Ye decided to dispatch troops, at the same time, Li Ye resented to Li Yan. He accused Li Keyong of all kinds of crimes in the past, including the old score of him following Li Guochang and the Zhen Wu Army messing up the North.
Everyone in the imperial court was angry. At the great meeting, Wang Duo angrily rebuked that Li Keyong will repeat his Guochang’s rebellion ways. Those words led to the indignation of the officials, and they repeatedly offered advice to Li Yan to start an expedition. Li Yan waved his hand and checked off on the memorial of Li Ye sending troops to Hedong.
Soon after, there were several military insurrections by soldiers from the Weibo Army. And rumors of demons scourging were circulating. Li Yan immediately ordered Li Ye, who successfully settled the scourge of demons in the territory, to help Weibo Commissioner “solve the problem”.
In mid-spring season, Li Ye sent 100,000 troops to the west shore of the Yellow River. And the military force was directly pointed at the Weibo Army.
Pinglu’s movement was closely watched by all different parties. With the expedition of Pinglu Army, all parties responded accordingly.
At this point all the troops had been consolidated and Li Ye held the power of all the forces in his hands. This was the first time the Pinglu Army traveled out of the country after Li Ye pacified the Huang Chao Uprising and was appointed the Chief Imperial Secretary. Moreover, they were facing the same force, the Hedong Army, who had risen from the ranks during the Huang Chao Uprising. This version of the army was an equally extraordinary force compared to that of the Huang Chao Uprising. It could be said that this kind of action would affect the whole world, like using a single hair to move the whole body.
The intelligent ones had somewhat worked the attitude of the imperial court towards the powerful vassal states from Li Ye’s actions. And they had figured the trend of the world in the future.
In Bianzhou, Zhu Wen summoned his trusted subordinate senior generals and advisers. They were having intensive deliberations for determining the countermeasures against the Pinglu army’s movements.
Bianzhou was governed by the Xuanwu Army, and the commissioner was Zhu Wen, who had been given the name, Zhu Quanzhong. Between Xuanwu and Pinglu was separated by the Tianping commissioner, and not far from the Weibo Army and Zhaoyi. It was located in the left wing of Pinglu.
Zhu Zhen’s seat was next to the seat of honor. He said directly, “Commander, you now hold total control over Xuanwu. It’s time to expand our power and take the neighboring states. We couldn’t do it before because of the presence of Prince An, now he’s gone to war with Hedong, which is a difficult task, so he’ll be tangled for a while. Time is ripe for Xuanwu to come out into the word. Plus the vassal states are weak, if we expand our territory and hold the Central Plains firm in our grip, we’ll take over the world.
Zhu Wen touched his chin and was speechless, apparently he was thinking.
Minister Pang Shigu had always been reticent, but at the moment he also offered his advice, “I think Prince An is very powerful with a lot of pull, we can’t offend him. Instead of taking advantage of the opportunity to attack the surrounding vassal states, it is better to send troops to the north and back up Prince An. Li Keyong of Hedong, he is at odds with the chief commander, and his force formidable. Now there is an opportunity to take him out naturally, we can’t let it go. This time, we can use echoing Prince An as cover to attack the city. When we’re done, Prince An will be blessed by the commander in chief and he will certainly not forget about us. As a result, the power of the military commander will have expanded. And we don’t need to worry about Prince An’s dissatisfaction.”
Zhu Wen was still indulged and did not express any opinions.
His beef with Li Keyong was stemmed from a past event. After the Huang Chao Uprising, Li Keyong’s troops passed through Bianzhou when they returned. Zhu Wen warmly welcomed him. Unexpectedly in the banquet, Li Keyong’s attitude was very haughty and did not give Zhu Wen the due respect. This angered Zhu Wen. Since he joined the army, he was not afraid of anything. Apart from Li Ye, no one had ever disrespected him. He immediately ordered his men to attack Li Keyong.
Of course, Li Keyong got away in the end.
The opinions of the ministry would soon be divided into two factions, supporting Zhu Zhen and Pang Shigu, and each of them made sense.
In the end, it was getting late and Zhu Wen still couldn’t make up his mind. He only said that they would discuss it again the next day. Then he got up and went to the backyard to meet his wife.
His wife, Zhang Hui, usually had a good grasp on things and Zhu Wen respected her opinion. Zhu Wen grew up from the Rebellion Army. It was inevitable that he was aggressive and often acted violently. The military would not dare stop him. Only Zhang Hui could make Zhu Wen restrain himself.
“I think that General Pang’s words makes sense.”
As Zhang Hui took Zhu Wen’s coat, she listened to Zhu Wen’s talk about what was being discussed today, she expressed her opinion, “Prince An has strong pull and has become a pillar of the country. In my humble opinion, he has the ambition to take the world, and he has the ability. If you take advantage of this time to take more territory and plunder the land, once the Prince An can returns in triumph, he will definitely attack you.”
“If you can help Prince An, you will be able to befriend him... Plus, you and Prince An have an existing relationship. If we send soldiers to the north and occupy Sanjin, we can overlook the Central Plains. And if the Prince An takes it, Xuanwu will be under his control. And if you can share a part of it, then you can stand up against the Prince An. In this way, no matter which way the wind blows, you always have room to manoeuvre. If there is chaos, and feudal princes fight for hegemony, you will not suffer losses. In contrast, if there’s peace and Prince An sits firm and the Tang Empire thrives, you will have a great future with Prince An.”
Zhu Wen agreed with her sincerely.
...
Caizhou, which was ruled by the Zhongwu commissioner Zhou Ji, the Inspector General, Qin Zongquan, summoned his advisers to discuss major events.
“I’ve long suffered suppression from Zhou Ji, who had Prince An’s support. Now Prince An is out for expedition, he no longer has the time worry about Zhongwu. It’s time for me to make some noise!”
Qin Zongquan’s eyes glowed as he looked at his advisers, “Now the world is in chaos, people with lofty ideals all want to accomplish something. I think I am not lesser than anyone. Why should I endure that mediocre fool, Zhou Ji to order me around? This time, I intend to raise an army to attacked Xuzhou, kill Zhou Ji, and become the owner of Zhongwu, what say you?”
“The Inspector General is right!”
“A wise decision, Inspector General!”
Only a middle-aged confucian scholar with long beard made a discordant voice, “This is not appropriate.”
“What is wrong?”
“The Inspector General intends to achieve great things, how dare you talk nonsense?”
The middle-aged confucian scholar sighed and looked at Qin Zongquan, he added slowly, “Well, I mean the Inspector General may try to become the commissioner. As for Zhou Ji, you can only exile him, but not kill him. Zhou Ji and Prince An are comrades. If the Inspector General kills him, it will inevitably anger Prince An!”
Qin Zongquan thought for a moment and added, “You’re right! We’ll do it your way!”
......
In Fengxiang Manor.
Having taken up the post of commissioner of Fengxiang, Song Wentong was officially named Li Maozhen.
After receiving the news that Li Ye had sent troops to Hedong, Li Maozhen also quickly summoned his advisers to discuss matters at political office.
His trusted subordinate adviser, Wang Buqi added, “In the current Tang Empire, the Regal Guards are terribly fatigued without any fighting power. They could not compare with the Vassal State Army, which had experienced the battle of Huang Chao. And the Majesty has indifferent to political affairs as usual. Since the Majesty’s return from Chengdu, the whole dynasty has been relying on Prince An. But Prince An is not the majesty after all, can he really reverse the world power on his own?”
Li Maozhen looked at Wang Buqi and asked, “What exactly are you insinuating?”
Wang Buqi replied as a matter-of-factly, “The Prince An is in Shandong after all, regardless of whether he will attack Li Keyong, the military commander should expand your power. The Fengxiang Army are experienced and toughened from the Huang Chao Uprising wars. We have countless elites. Now with all the sides of Guanzhong, the only vassal state that can compete with the military commander is Wang Zhongrong of Hezhong. With this opportunity, the military commander should advance and attack the county! Once the opportunity is ripe, Changan will be close at hand!”
Li Maozhen was impressed, but his tone didn’t reveal his excitement, “We are court officials, how can we talk about taking Chang’an.” Then he switched the conversation to some other subject, “But all sides of Fengxiang are surrounded by many counties. Due to the fact that the Vassal State Army is tyrannical and haughty, people are suffering. We should shoulder the imperial court’s burdens.”
“Brilliant, commander!”
......
Li Ye led the army to the bank of the Yellow River. They set up a large battalion, built several pontoons, and the army prepared to cross the river. Weibo Army was on the west side of the Yellow River and Pinglu was on the east side. A key link to entering the Weibo Army was to cross the river smoothly.
On this day, Li Ye was discussing business with the generals in the tent, then the Tianping commissioner’s messenger had arrived.
The Tianping commissioner’s land was adjacent to Pinglu. Between Pinglu and Xuanwu was also the left wing of Hedong, where Pinglu army was going to battle.
In order to protect the safety of the army’s flank, Li Ye must ensure that the Taiping army did not start anything...
The former Taiping army’s commissioner, Xue Neng, was killed by Huang Chao’s Rebellion Army. Just because of that incident, Li Ye went out to battle with Pinglu.
Li Ye ordered the various generals to retreat and asked the messengers of the Tianping commissioner to come in the tent.
He was a forty-year-old brawny man with a beard. He was seven feet tall and looked like a hulking military man. After entering the tent, he raised his head slightly and only slightly held his fists when he saluted. His attitude was very haughty. “Xue Kuang at your service Prince An.”
After saying that, Xue Kuang looked up and stared at the top of the tent. Full of cockiness, he was waiting for Li Ye to speak.
Li Ye wants the Tianping army to lay low. Thus it could be said that he had a favor to ask. Though the messenger’s cockiness was unexpected, it was also reasonable. After the imperial court survived the Huang Chao Uprising, it had totally lost the prestige. No vassal states feared the imperial court. And The Prince An, Li Ye, was not respected by everyone.
Li Ye didn’t care. He smiled and asked, “What did General Xue say?”
Xue Neng was loyal to the country and died in the war. His son Xue Wei had inherited the position of commissioner. Therefore, the Xue family had a powerful force in Tianping Army. It could be said that their foundation was stable and outsiders had no chance of taking them on.
Xue Kuang snorted, “The military commander said that the Pinglu Army wants to march into Hedong. But that has nothing to do with the Tianping Army!”
Li Ye slightly marveled at this remark, he put down his brush and looked at Xue Kuang, “It has nothing to do with you?”
This time Xue Kuang snorted heavily, not only was he not afraid of Li Ye, he did not intend to talk to Li Ye properly at all. He replied with his nose in the air, “The military commander said that Tianping army lacks provisions and funds. If Prince An is willing to give something to the army, the Tianping Army is willing to fight on the battlefield. At the same time, we can also defend the city!”
Li Ye acknowledged with an ‘oh’.
Xue Kuang’s words were very clear. If they wanted the Tianping Army to lay low, Pinglu army had to bribe them. Otherwise, the Tianping Army intended on fighting on the battlefield. But it was uncertain which side they would help and what mess they would create.
It seemed that the reason why Xue Kuang’s attitude so haughty was to set up this request.
“In that case...” Li Ye touched his chin, thinking for a moment, and glanced at Xue Kuang. “Then there’s nothing left but for you to die here.”
Xue Kuang was shocked, He almost suspected that he had heard wrong. He finally turned to look at Li Ye, “Prince An, you...”
His words couldn’t be finished.
Because was already kneeling on the ground.
Li Ye did not need to move when facing a Qi-refining warlock. He could just rely on his cultivation to make him bow his head.
Xue Kuang got down on his hands, his complexion was like pig liver. Sweat beads rolled down like raindrops and even his nails clenched into the soil. Having heard the cracking of his bones, his eyes were full of panic and despair.
He did not expect Li Ye would still be so harsh even when he had a favor to ask.
But he only held on for one breath, perhaps half a breath before his whole body blasted and broke into a spread of meat among the blood.
Li Ye told ordered his personal guard outside the tent, “Come and clean up.”
When his personal guard entered the tent and saw the minced meet on the ground, his expression was calm as usual. He didn’t even squint his brows.
“You Daniao.” Li Ye called softly.
A streak of black air floated into the tent, and the Son of God appeared beside Li Ye. He smiled bitterly and his first sentence was, “I think I need to change my name.”
Li Ye did not pay attention to this question at all, “Go to Yunzhou and bring the commissioner of Tianping, Xue Wei to me. I will give you, um, two hours.”
“I don’t need four hours, it is not far away, and two hour is enough.” The Son of God did not say anything but disappeared from the big tent after accepting the order.
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