Chapter 332: An Lushan ran away

"Brother! I'm here." A middle-aged man outside the mansion was waving hard to Gao Shang. The dusk was dark and he couldn't see his face. But from his voice, Gao Shang heard that he was his own brother Gao Yun, so he walked up quickly. Gao Shang was a Jinshi in the Kaiyuan period and could not wait for the official position. He followed the most common path at that time, devoted himself to the warlords and powerful men as his aides, and used his keen eyes to recognize people. He ignored the ridicule of others and resolutely surrendered to An Lushan, who had not made a fortune at that time. With An Lushan's progress step by step, he also slowly moved towards his glory in his life.

"Brother Yun, why are you here?" In the darkness, there was still a man standing next to his younger brother, carrying his luggage. He must be his servant's family. Gao Shang didn't pay attention for a while. His younger brother was farming in Shangzhou and had little contact with each other. How could he have time to come today? And he came to Chang'an instead of Youzhou. Gao Shang was really puzzled.

"I heard that my elder brother has been promoted, I'll come to congratulate you!" His younger brother said, while looking at An Lushan's magnificent mansion, and sighed repeatedly: "This house is more courageous than the state yamen, so it's better to be an official!"

"What did you say?" Gao Shang was stunned. Seeing that the person next to him had a smile on his face, not like a servant, he couldn't help but point to him and asked, "Is this?"

"Isn't he the Mr. Jia who was sent by my elder brother to pick me up?"

"What!" Gao Shang was shocked. He suddenly realized that there was a fraud among them. He roared "Come here!" and ran away, but it was too late. The smile of the person next to him had become extremely strange and ferocious. He raised his hand and shot a cold light from his sleeve with a "swoosh!" and penetrated into Gao Shang's back of his head. Then he ran several steps, jumped off the steps, and when the soldiers at the door reacted, he had disappeared into the vast twilight.

When An Lushan and his son arrived, there were only two cold corpses on the ground, and An Lushan couldn't speak for a long time. One was his most trusted aide, and the other was an assassin who claimed to be his younger brother. The soldier at the door insisted that this person was an accomplice.

"Father, what should I do?" The sudden change made An Qingzong panic. The more he thought about it, he became more and more scared. Finally, he turned around and shouted: "Brothers, we will all get on the horse, let's rush out."

"Bastard!" An Lushan slapped his son hard and shouted angrily: "Get back! No one is allowed to move without my order."

The soldiers were so scared that they hurriedly pushed An Qingzong into the door. At this time, An Lushan slowly walked to Gao Shang's body, looked at him again, sighed, and ordered his left and right, "Please carry him away and have a good burial."

He returned to the room and forced himself to calm down first. Now he had no time to investigate the noble cause of death. Only leaving Chang'an safely is the top priority. Now there is still one hour before the city gate is closed. Should he leave or not? An Lushan looked at the direction of Xingqing Palace from afar. The sudden change made him full of worries. Can he leave tomorrow?

‘Forget it! Forget it! I am already in the calculations of others. If I don’t leave, I will inevitably change. A real man should break it, and then break it.

Thinking of this, An Lushan turned around and walked to the table and wrote a letter to Li Longji, saying that the Khitan was in chaos and the death and injury of the Hebei military and civilians were killed and injured. He was worried about the country and had to rush back overnight. He had no time to resign from the emperor and came to apologize again next time.

After writing, he ordered Anqingzong to send it to Li Longji after dawn, and he rushed towards the city gate under the escort of a thousand iron guards. They had just left, and on the roof opposite An Lushan Mansion, a black shadow quickly stood up, jumped gently, and ran towards Xingqing Palace.

It is a coincidence that An Lushan and his party just arrived at Mingde Gate and happened to meet the You Jinwu General Gao Xianzhi returning from Taiyuan, the northern capital, and Gao Xianzhi has been transferred back to Chang'an for more than a year. His mood has changed from the initial anger and despair to dullness. He has adapted to his current life. Although the You Jinwu General has a high status, he is a free job. Gao Xianzhi is also at ease and lives a peaceful life with his family. Gradually, the glory and ambition of the past are all worn out in the family trivial matters day after day.

He was ordered to go to Taiyuan to train troops a few months ago, and it was not until the third day of the first lunar month that he returned to Beijing. At night, a large group of cavalry crowded at the city gate, and the soldiers guarding the gate refused to let them go.

Gao Xianzhi immediately stepped forward and sternly said, "What's the noise?"

The gatekeeper knew Gao Xianzhi and hurriedly stepped forward to report: "Report to General Gao Da, An Lushan's entourage was about to leave Beijing, but they did not have a repatriation order from the Ministry of War, so their subordinates dared not let them out of the city."

At this time, An Lushan's personal lieutenant stepped forward and glared at the lieutenant and said, "My commander went to Xianyang in the afternoon. He just sent someone to say that his place was not safe, so we have to rush to guard. This is our duty, what other tokens are needed for the Ministry of War?"

"I was not on duty in the afternoon, I don't know." The slick lieutenant followed the situation and pushed the decision to Gao Xianzhi. "Since General Gao is here, we will follow the general's orders!"

"this......."

Gao Xianzhi suddenly found that he had been on the pirate ship. If he was not sure, he would offend An Lushan. If he was sure, he was afraid that someone would impeach him and ignore the laws, which really made him difficult to deal with. Many things are often so wrong. If Gao Xianzhi had been in Chang'an, he would have heard of the rumors of An Lushan's rebellion and would not take this risk. He did not know the striking relationship. He just pondered for a moment and said, "Since An Shuai is in Xianyang, he really needs someone to guard him. This time the situation is special, so let them go!"

"General Gao Da has an order, and he can be released!"

As soon as the gatekeeper finished speaking, more than a thousand cavalry rush out, and iron hooves hit the ground, sounding like thunder, and lightning passed by Gao Xianzhi. Suddenly, Gao Xianzhi found a person hidden among the dozen soldiers. This man covered his face with a black scarf, but his body was extremely fat. It was An Lushan's sign. Just as Gao Xianzhi was stunned, the dozen people had already rushed over.

"No, that person should be An Lushan." Gao Xianzhi suddenly realized that he was not going to pick up people. It was clearly An Lushan who left Beijing and left Beijing, but he did so strangely, and there was no order from the Ministry of War. Gao Xianzhi suddenly became suspicious.

After thinking for a long time, he ran towards Xingqing Palace and made a mistake by letting An Lushan leave without authorization, but hiding or not reporting this is a mistake. Generally speaking, if he makes a mistake, most leaders will not take it seriously. The next time he corrects it, but hiding or not reporting it will be completely different. This is a question of attitude, so deceiving the emperor has always been a serious crime, and this has been the reason since ancient times.

Gao Xianzhi was walking back and forth in front of Xingqing Palace. The news had already spread. If Li Longji ordered him to chase An Lushan back, what should he do? When he was uneasy, the eunuch who reported the news hurriedly walked out with a brocade box in his hand. Gao Xianzhi hurriedly stepped forward and asked, "Brother-in-law! What does the emperor say?"

The eunuch glanced at him and said in a lengthening voice: "The emperor said that General Gao has worked hard and cannot be reunited with his family during the Chinese New Year."

He handed him the brocade box in his hand and said, "These are some treasures that the emperor has given you, so that the general can go home early to rest."

Gao Xianzhi was stunned and his nervous mood immediately relaxed. He thanked the eunuch, then Jinhe turned around and left. The eunuch bared his teeth and rubbed his hands for a long time before looking at his back and said angrily: "I don't even understand the minimum of being a human being, no wonder I was dismissed."

Let’s talk about An Lushan rushing out of the city gate and following the noble plan, he first rushed east for several miles, then turned around and galloped westward towards Fengxiang (Today’s Baoji). At this point, An Lushan’s rebellion wheel could not be stopped in the end.

It was already deep in the night. Li Qing sat in the study and explained the Book of Songs to his daughter, while his wife Zhao Lianer sat aside and was silent. Her husband had originally planned to be at home for a month, but after only a few days, the emperor ordered him to drive him back to Anxi. She was indignant but helpless.

This time when Li Qing returned to Anxi, Lian'er decided to let Li Jingyan go with him to take care of his daily life. Although Li Qing didn't say that, Lian'er already knew that he had a woman in Anxi, and the source was a letter, a letter with a very humble tone. She was a nobleman from the Western Regions. She was not going to break up with her husband about this matter.

The guarding the border in the Western Regions is lonely and long. If there is no woman by a man, it will be extremely cruel to them. The kind-hearted curtain finally forgives her husband and endures the matter in his heart. As long as he still remembers this family, remembers himself and his children, it is enough.

Under the light, my daughter's little head was tightly nestled in her father's arms. I remembered the hardships she was born, and I remembered that she always wrapped her favorite fried fish in paper every time she had dinner. She said she wanted to leave it for her father. Tears gradually poured onto the eyes of the curtain. My daughter would not see her father for a long time. I wonder what the scene would be like when their father and daughter met again.

At this time, the butler's voice came from the door, "Master, Mr. Shao is here, saying that there is something urgent to come to you."

"Xiaoyue, it's time for you to go to bed." Lian'er stepped forward and pulled Li Tingyue's wrist, forced a smile and looked at Li Qing, lowered his head to his daughter and said, "Be good to Xiaoyue, Daddy has something to do, let's go first!"

Li Tingyue said to her father unwillingly: "Then you must come and see me before dad goes to bed."

"Yes, Dad will definitely come to see you before going to bed." Li Qing put one hand on his wife's thin shoulders and stroked his daughter's head with the other hand. He said firmly to them: "At most two years, our whole family will be together forever and never be separated."

The blind'er's eyes turned red, he nodded to her husband and took his daughter there.

After a moment, Shao Tianxing, who was nervous, hurried into Li Qing's study and bowed. Before Li Qing could ask him, he immediately said: "Report to the lord, the matter has been done, and we have eliminated Gao Shang."

"Good job!" Li Qing was very excited. Eliminating Gao Shang was to remove An Lushan's most powerful arm, which made him unable to make a correct judgment on many major events. He took two steps and saw that Shao Tianxing's expression was still nervous, he couldn't help but ask in surprise: "Is there anything else going on?"

"Not long after Gao Shang died, some of us discovered that more than a thousand personal soldiers of An Lushan had left Mingde Gate. I suspect that An Lushan ran away."

"It must be An Lushan who ran away!" Li Qingyi frowned, "How could the city gate let them go? Do they have the order from the Ministry of War?"

Shao Tianxing shook his head and said, "I don't know the details, but I heard that Gao Xianzhi let them go."

"I understand, you go first!"

Li Qing sent Shao Tianxing out, but he leaned his head on the chair and closed his eyes without saying a word. An Lushan left, and Li Longji did not take any measures to control his personal freedom. This shows that Li Longji wanted him to leave, but he still planned to slowly plot against An Lushan and did not want to force him to rebel.

Li Qing sighed. Li Longji's ambiguous attitude made him slightly disappointed. It seemed that the possibility of him forcing An Lushan to rebel was no longer there.

"It's time for me to go back and prepare for the battle."

Looking at the ceiling, Li Qing murmured to himself: "Okay, then let history follow the original trajectory!"

The next day, the news that An Lushan left Chang'an did not cause any fluctuations. However, Li Linfu's death sensationalized the government and the people. Li Longji expressed deep sorrow and specially took a day off to express his condolences. After the officials in the imperial city finished their discussion, they began to return home, but the officials of the Ministry of Revenue did not leave alone. It was not that they did not want to go back home to express their condolences, but their old boss, former Minister of the Ministry of Revenue Li Qing, asked them to complete the immigration plan within two days.

Five days after the New Year, the Guanzhong Plain is still immersed in the atmosphere of celebration. The sun is shining on people warmly, making people unable to feel energetic. It is no wonder that the New Year of the eleventh year of Tianbao will be over after the Lantern Festival.

A group of horse riders were racing on the vast and fertile Guanzhong Plain. The spring was chilly, but the branches on the treetops had begun to turn green, the river surface was melting, and a few ducks were playing in the water, and the breath of spring came to their faces.

"General, Gaoling County is ahead." Cui Huan, the new Minister of Revenue, pointed to the distance, and Li Qing's thug curtain blocked the flat sunlight, and a city was vaguely visible from miles away.

Gaoling County is located in the north of Chang'an. It is densely populated and is also the most fertile land in Guanzhong. Many farms of the nobles and nobles in the capital are distributed in the county. It is the New Year, and there is no one in the fields. The white mist in the morning covers thinly on the land. A native dog runs on the ridge of the field, and from time to time startle groups of foraging birds from the fields and fly to another place.

Li Qing and Cui Huan came to Gaoling County for immigration purposes. The first batch of nearly 3,000 immigrants will be extracted from Huazhou, Yongzhou, and Gaoling County, Xinfeng County, Wugong County, and other areas with the most serious land annexation. The resettlement is Yezhicheng, on the banks of Rehai Lake south of Saiye. It is a very fertile land with abundant sunshine and abundant water sources.

Li Qing was going to return to Anxi tomorrow. Li Longji gave him a 74,000 staff according to the standards of the Longyou Jiedushi, but this was just a quota. He had to find a way to solve the money, grain, and military resources himself. There were also resettlements of immigrants and building cities. These all required money. Even in Anxi, even if he had money, he would not be able to buy the required materials.

It took nearly a hundred years to develop the western United States a thousand years later, and it took him at least ten years to see a little. This is a huge and long project, and it must not be done in a slump. Fortunately, Wang Changling has been operating in Shazhou for many years and has laid a good foundation. He has accumulated good experience in both officials and development experience, which can help him avoid bad detours.

Thinking that the group entered the county town, the county magistrate had already heard the news, so he hurriedly led the county magistrate, county magistrate, chief clerk and a group of county officials to greet him. After entering the county government, Li Qing stopped them from organizing entertainment and said to the county magistrate: "The court has drawn 500 landless tenants in Gaoling County. The list was copied to you the day before yesterday. I wonder what you are going to do?"

The county magistrate looked embarrassed and glanced at Lord Bo, and said reluctantly to Li Qing: "The lower official has been preparing for the Shangyuan Lantern Festival these days. I have left this matter to Lord Bo to handle. The Jiedushi can ask him directly."

The chief clerk of Gaoling County is about 30 years old, with his surname as Zhang, and he is a Jinshi in the ninth year of Tianbao. He has a pretty face and is just right in his words and actions. He seems very capable. When he saw his superior throwing this hot errand to himself, he smiled bitterly, but he is already the lowest-level official and no one can give him any more, so he had to bite the bullet and say, "There is nothing wrong with the officials under that list and the county's household registration book one by one, but it's just...."

"Just what?" Li Qing heard a little smell and asked him relentlessly.

Zhang Zhuan looked at the county magistrate timidly and asked him whether he should say anything. However, the county magistrate bowed and smiled at everyone, "Go and say hello to the kitchen. Don't have lunch too luxuriously, you can talk slowly." After that, he slapped his butt and ran away without caring about the bitterness of the master.

"Tell me! I really offended someone, so I asked the Ministry of Personnel to transfer you to the Western Regions and let you be the county magistrate." Seeing that he did not make excuses, Li Qing couldn't help but feel a little affection for him.

Zhang Zhuan wiped the cold sweat from his head and whispered to Li Qing and Cui Huan: "Most of these five hundred households are from Shanghe Township. They are all tenants in my account, but in fact they have become slaves."

At this time, Choi Huan suddenly asked, "Is the slaves in their master's hands exceeded the upper limit of the slave storage order?"

Zhang Zhubu nodded silently and sighed, "If this happens, I can't move them westward."

"It's true that things are not as simple as I thought."

Cui Huan turned around and explained to Li Qing: "When I was the governor of Suzhou, I knew that some powerful people did not dare to exceed the limit of slavery issued by the imperial court, so I adopted the method of not reporting to the government. In fact, the tenant farmers were taken as slaves. This is a common method of flexibility. Usually, the government turned a blind eye and did not dare to offend these powerful people."

"Who is their master?"

Zhang Zhubu's face was extremely painful. He did not dare to look at Li Qing's eyes, lowered his eyelids, and said softly like a mosquito, "It's King Qing!"

"King Qing!" Cui Huan cried out in dismay. Everyone in the court knew that although King Qing had not entered the Eastern Palace, judging from the various public ceremonies in the past few days, he was actually doing the prince's affairs. He was the emperor's eldest son. If he was mentioned as the crown prince, no one would object, but why did this matter involve him again?

The situation was very serious, and Cui Huan dared not investigate again. He couldn't help but nervously said to Li Qing: "General, why not go back first or go to Wugong County to have a look."
Chapter completed!