Chapter 325 Schemes
At the Commissioner’s Government Office, Li Keyong looked at the letter in his hand silently for a long time, and his expression was capricious. The civil officials, advisers and trusted subordinates who were sitting on both sides looked at Li Keyong on the main seat nervously, they were afraid to breathe.
Li Cunxiao, for whom Li Keyong had great expectations, had seventy thousand troops and assumed at Yizhou City. He had a private correspondence with Li Ye even when the war was so intense!
In Li Ye’s letter, a large part of the content was persuading him to surrender. His words were extremely cordial and enthusiastic, full of admiration for Li Cunxiao, and the rich conditions of commitment made the onlookers envious!
Not only that, Li Siben, whom Li Keyong arranged in Yizhou to help Li Cunxiao, was actually monitoring him and reporting his actions back to Li Keyong. The Imperial Army had been attacking the city for many days, but they didn’t launch an attack to breach the city and just kept persuading the defense to surrender!
Although the response of the garrison soldiers was far from enthusiastic, it was something that they must prepare for. After all, the opponent was the Imperial Army, representing the imperial court, and had just won a fight. If someone jumped out and started a rebellion, the matter would become very serious!
Yizhou... was not as stable as it looked!
Two fortresses were situated south of Taiyuan, but Fenzhou had already been lost. If Yizhou also fell, then Taiyuan would be completely exposed to the Imperial Army. Li Ye would then be able to use hundreds of thousands of troops and surround Taiyuan City!
Just when the advisors and generals were immersed in concern, Li Keyong suddenly laughed loudly from the main seat.
The crowd looked up and saw that Li Keyong was wearing a big smile. He said, “This is one of Li Ye’s schemes. He wants me to doubt Li Cunxiao so he can get what he wants. Does he think he can pull the wool over my eye with these small tricks? It would be a big laugh stock if he thought that he could drive a wedge between my ministers and me.”
Then, Li Keyong stood up and Spiritual Qi Flames erupted from his hand, he then burned the letter in public.
“Pass my order down to Li Cunxiao and tell him to keep defending the city and not to rush into battle. As long as Yizhou does not fall, he will earn the highest merit of this battle. When I take back Fenzhou, I will personally lead the army to support Yizhou!” Ordered Li Keyong as he looked at the crowd with his hands clasped behind his back.
He showed unreserved trust in Li Cunxiao.
The people in the hall were all shocked and got up to salute, “Wise decision your highness!”
After everyone was dispersed, Li Keyong sat back. The expression of excitement and conviction just now was gradually replaced by concern and worry.
No monarch would fully trust his subjects.
After all, who was truly trustworthy?
At present, Li Cunxiao was a senior general of Militarism, while Li Keyong himself was just a general of Militarism.
...
Fang Qingzhen was one of Li Keyong’s three most trusted and valued advisers. He was a man of nearly fifty years of age. He had been the trusted subordinate strategist of Li Guochang previously. It had almost been 20 years since he worked for Li Guochang and his son. He was on of Li Guochang’s oldest advisers.
After coming out of the commissioner Mansion. He got in the iconic simple carriage. After almost an hour of travelling, Fang Qingzhen returned to his own mansion. It was actually inappropriate to say that it was a mansion, because it was only a three-entry courtyard.
A three-entry courtyard was something that ordinary wealthy people would complain of being too narrow to live in. But this was the only house of Fang Qingzhen. Everyone in Hedong knew that Fang Qingzhen was selfless, diligent and simple. He worried about the country and people. He was a noble and upright man, a model official. Although he was in a high position, he was kind to everyone and unassuming, he was almost perfect.
Returning to his home of only three servants, Fang Qingzhen knew that his old friends had come to visit and been waiting in the hall.
This friend was an old confucian scholar who was even more pedantic than him. He was only an eight-rank junior official with a straight temper that often offended people. He had the same temper of Fang Qingzhen, so they were was friends that had a lot in common.
Furthermore, they met each other during their study tour, and it had been a friendship of already 30 years. But the friend was not as fortunate as Fang Qingzhen, who caught Li Guochang’s eye early. This old confucian scholar named Xu Maoda often went to the Fang Qingzhen’s mansion with just a pair of fresh, fatty fish.
The two quickly set up the dinner table in the side hall and began to talk and drink. A few rounds of drinks later, their conversation topic had turned to current events, the battle in Yizhou.
“The Prince An has been attacking Yizhou for more than a month. I heard that Li Cunxiao has kept up frequently correspondence with the Prince An, and Prince An is constantly persuading the defenders to surrender. Yizhou is already in a turbulent state, and people are worried.” Xu Maoda was tasting the fish soup and asking with interest.
Fang Qingzhen nodded. “The Prince An has a strong interest in Li Cunxiao, which is a well-known fact. However, this is also normal. Li Cunxiao had reached the realm of senior general of Militarism, anyone will persuade him to surrender.”
Xu Maoda raised his glass, and they drank merrily. He smacked his lips and said, “The smell of Jiannan Shaochun is mellow and strong, unlike other wines...” But then again, are you sure that Li Cunxiao won’t surrender”
Fang Qingzhen pondered. “Li Cunxiao is a loyal one, how can he easily surrender?”
Xu Maoda shook his head, and it was apparent he had no confidence in people’s loyalty, “That’s hard to say. If some ordinary person persuades him to surrender, Li Cunxiao might not surrender, but now, it is the Prince An himself! Prince An isn’t just anyone!”
Fang Qingzhen was silent, and he was clearly affected by Xu Maoda’s words. The Prince An was not only powerful and respected, he also represented the imperial court.
Xu Maoda continued to add while he was eating, “The battle of Yizhou was very weird from the beginning. The Prince An has an army of three hundred thousand and attacked with the winning momentum of Qinzhou. He never fiercely attacked the city, but gave up the siege and started abnormally digging trenches to surround the city! Prince An has chosen a time-consuming strategy which was also inconsistent with his usual style of battle. From his conquest of Huang Chao to the stabilization of Weibo Army, it was all lightning fast. Since when has he been so conservative?”
Fang Qingzhen pondered. “After all, Li Cunxiao has been a senior general of Militarism, and the soldiers under Prince An’s command are invincible. It might be dangerous and inappropriate if just attacked the city head-on.”
Xu Maoda drank a glass of wine by himself, his eyes lit up as he looked at Fang Qingzhen, and added in a deep voice, “Under the Prince An’s command, Liu Dazheng and Shangguan Qingcheng are of the highest realm. But they stand no chance against Li Cunxiao even if they join hands. Thus, it is true that no one can match up against Li Cunxiao. But there is another person, you have either forgotten intentionally or unintentionally!”
“Who?” asked Fang Qingzhen in a shocked tone, but immediately he responded, “You mean?”
Xu Maoda looked solemnly and replied, “Yes, the Prince An himself!”
“It’s...” Fang Qingzhen opened his mouth open, he wanted to say something but stopped several times. “Prince An also has cultivated the military strategy? How is this possible?”
Xu Maoda asked, “Why is it impossible? The Prince An can quickly pacify the Huang Chao Uprising, and be famous all over the world, just relying victory in battlefield one after another! How can it not be possible that he has cultivated the military strategy? When Old Prince An was alive, his cultivation of Kung Fu and Literature were second to none, he hardly has a losing record under his name. And when the new Prince An inherited the task of protecting the kingdom, people all say that he was born at the heights of the dynasty and he was talented both physically and mentally, learned both in theory and in practice! Thus cultivating the way of military warrior of Militarism and win on the battlefield to bring order in times of chaos was appropriate.”
Those words had made Fang Qingzhen become silent again. He was silent for longer this time, because he felt too much shock in his heart.
Li Ye had become a military warrior of Militarism? I was not aware! But who dared to doubt the rumors and say it was completely impossible?
“The Prince An has been on expedition for many years, it is only reasonable for him to cultivate the tao of military warrior of Militarism. The only thing worthy of attention is how high his realm is now. Because the Prince An has not commanded troops for long after all, at least compared to the Lord Longxi. Theoretically, he could not have reached the realm of senior general of Militarism.”
Xu Maoda continued, “But for the Prince An, it is not an obstacle at all. He began Qi-refining one day and became a real Spiritual Master Realm in less than ten years! If it were anyone else, it would be impossible to achieve the realm of senior general of Militarism in the same frame of time. But since it is the Prince An, then everything is possible!”
Fang Qingzhen put down his chopsticks, feeling that his throat was dry. He looked at Xu Maoda and asked hard, “If this is true, then how do you explain the battle of Yizhou?”
Fang Qingzhen was a wise man. Of all his friends and relatives, he only admired Xu Maoda’s knowledge and insight. And many times he was ashamed that he was no way near Xu’s level. In the past 20 years, he was also inspired by him when he offered advice to Li Guochang and Li Keyong, and the results were more than satisfactory.
Xu Maoda added, “The Prince An ceased fire on Yizhou to avoid bloody battles and fight at entrance between the two armies. He used the method of surrounding the city to lock Li Cunxiao in to persuade him! When the Prince An decided to attack Yizhou, his intention was not to just take the city but also conquer Li Cunxiao, a senior general of Militarism, during the process!”
Fang Qingzhen saw the light as if he was awakening from a dream!
Anyone with aspirations would want to bring a senior general like Li Cunxiao on his side, and Li Ye was no different.
It was no wonder that, from the very beginning, Li Ye had not hesitated to take risks and condescended to Yizhou City, inviting Li Cunxiao to meet outside the city. He was not angry when he was rejected at all. He even took out the wine and congratulated Li Cunxiao for his promotion to the senior general. His willingness to lower his stature was to try and recruit Li Cunxiao.
In order to persuade Li Cunxiao, the conditions given by Li Ye were full of sincerity. If he came over, he would have the ranking of commissioner right away, and was promised promotion afterwards, he was even promised to be granted a title of Prince of the different surname! If this came out of the mouth of anyone else, he would expose himself to ridicule, but Li Ye’s words were just like Li Yan’s words, perhaps even more effective than Li Yan’s words!
“Prince An had persuaded the Yizhou defenders to surrender, launched traitorous action in ordinary soldiers. All of this was precisely to give Li Cunxiao an out for joining Li Ye’s side!” Xu Maoda added slowly, “With the Prince An’s prestige and status today, the fact that he did all of this for Li Cunxiao, how could Li Cunxiao not bed moved? Soldiers die for those who understand them!”
Fang Qingzhen nodded solemnly.
They talked for a long time and kept talking late into the night.
In the end, Fang Qingzhen was fully convinced that Li Cunxiao was likely to surrender.
He was restless, and immediately set out to see Li Keyong overnight, to persuade him to transfer Li Cunxiao back to Taiyuan City!
After Fang Qingzhen took off, Xu Maoda didn’t stop. He soon left Fang mansion, returned home in an ox cart and entered his own yard.
He got out of the ox cart and someone was waiting anxiously by the cart.
It was a young man barely thirty years of age.
“Father, how about it, did you convince Fang Qingzhen?” The young man greeted immediately as soon as Xu Maoda got out of the cart.
Looking at his incompetent son, Xu Maoda felt complicated, and was about to get angry instinctively. But before his anger could build any momentum, it turned into a long sigh and disappeared.
If it weren’t for his own useless son, how could he promise that person. He even used drinking and talking as an excuse to persuade Fang Qingzhen to believe that Li Cunxiao would definitely turn to Li Ye and lead the other party to offer advice to Li Keyong.
“There’s no need to feel guilt, Sir. What you are doing now is for the benefit of the family and the country. After this, not only will your son make an exception to have the qualifications to become an official, you will also be awarded title and property.”
A cold voice suddenly sounded beside Xu Maoda. A gorgeous woman in a purple robe emerged from the dark tree shadow.
Seeing her, Xu Maoda couldn’t help shivering.
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