Chapter 39 Parting ways: where are you going?

In the early morning of June 15th, the midsummer sun rose as usual, and Xuanzong, who had been sleepless all night, dragged his almost collapsed body and boarded the westbound carriage. Li Longji at this moment is like a skin that has been emptied.He clearly felt that his soul had already followed Yang Yuhuan to another world.No one knows what that world is like.Li Longji just hopes that there will be no more wars and killings, no more conspiracy and death, where the flowers of love will never wither, and where "Neon Clothes and Feather Dresses" will never end... Of course, although Li Longji was full of yearning for such an illusory world, he was still full of nostalgia for the turbulent world in front of him.

This kind of mentality is very contradictory and tangled. But Li Longji had no choice. After all, he is still the emperor, there are still many things in this world worthy of his nostalgia, and there are still many things that need to be borne by him.Therefore, he can only drag this skin that has lost his soul, and continue to embark on the desolate road of exile, and continue to go to the unknown and unpredictable distance. This morning, when Xuanzong's Luanjia had just walked out of the gate of the post station, the team suddenly stopped.Because the officers and soldiers of the imperial army did not want to leave again.

To be precise, they didn't want to go southwest.The officers and soldiers said that Jiannan was Yang Guozhong's territory, and the generals there were all Yang Guozhong's best friends. Now that they killed Yang Guozhong, wouldn't it be self-defeating to go to Jiannan? So, they decided not to go. But, where else can we go if we don’t go to Jiannan? The officers and soldiers talked about it in a hurry.Some said to go to Hexi or Longyou; Xuanzong was dumbfounded. It is said that when a scholar meets a soldier, there is no reason to explain it, and it is true.Facing this group of guys with simple minds and well-developed limbs, Xuanzong was completely speechless.In his opinion, except for Shu, none of the places mentioned above is safe. As for killing back to Chang'an, it is almost nonsense!

But Xuanzong thought so in his heart, but he didn't dare to say a word.Because everything that happened yesterday is still in the present, so he can only frown, shut his mouth, and protest with silence. Just when things were at an impasse, Wei Er, who had just been appointed by Xuanzong as Yushi Zhongcheng and Zhidun envoy, spoke.He said: "If you want to return to the capital, you must have enough troops to resist the rebels. Right now we don't have this strength at all. Why don't we go to Fufeng (now Fengxiang County, Shaanxi) for the time being, and then slowly discuss where to go next."

This is a compromise solution to temporarily resolve the impasse.Because Fufeng is a north-south hub, it can go north from here to He, Long, and Shuofang, and it can also enter Shu from here.Xuanzong asked everyone about the plan, and the officers and soldiers had no opinion, so the team set off immediately. However, Xuanzong and his entourage had not gone far before they had to stop again. Because the road ahead was blocked by a group of ordinary people. Xuanzong had no choice but to get out of the chariot, change to a horse, and come to the front of the team.The people blocking the way immediately rushed forward and said, "The palace in Chang'an is your Majesty's residence; the mausoleums of past dynasties are your Majesty's ancestral tomb. Where can your Majesty go if you abandon your residence and ancestral tomb?"

Xuanzong held the rein in his hand and sat silent for a long time on the horse.In the end, he still didn't know what to say to the elders, so he had to let the prince Li Heng stay to appease them, and he quickly patted the horse and left.Xuanzong at this time certainly would not have imagined that from this moment on, Prince Li Heng would part ways with him. With the separation of their father and son, the glorious era belonging to Xuanzong will end sadly, and a new page of Tang Dynasty history will also quietly open. Seeing the emperor leaving in the dust, the local elders immediately entangled the prince again, saying: "Since the emperor refuses to stay, I am willing to lead my children to follow your highness, crusade against the rebels, and recover Chang'an. In the Central Plains, who will be the master for the people?"

Crown Prince Li Heng showed embarrassment and remained silent.At this time, thousands of young and strong farmers with sickles and hoes came from nearby villages and towns, surrounded him and his followers, and refused to let them leave. After thinking for a long time, Li Heng found a reason and said: "The emperor has gone through many dangers, how can I leave him with peace of mind? Besides, I haven't said goodbye to the emperor face to face. In the end, whether to go or stay, I still have to listen to the emperor's will." " As soon as Li Heng finished speaking, tears fell down, and then he wanted to slap his horse and leave while wiping away his tears.

Of course, he couldn't get away. Because three more people blocked his way. They are Guangping Wang Li Chu (the eldest son of Li Heng), Jianning Wang Li Tan (Li Heng's third son) and eunuch Li Fuguo. The three held Li Heng's horse's head tightly, and said: "Nihu invaded the palace, and the world fell apart. If you don't rely on people's hearts, how can you restore the country! If Your Highness follows the emperor into Shu today, the rebels will burn the plank road and cut off the land of Shu and the land of Shu." The traffic in Guanzhong, in this way, is tantamount to handing over the Central Plains to the thieves. Once the hearts of the people are separated, it will be difficult to reunite, and it will be impossible to go back at that time! The current solution is to gather the frontier guards in the northwest, and then Recall Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi from Hebei, join forces in the Eastern Expedition, crusade against the rebels, conquer the second capital, pacify the world, turn the crisis into peace for the ancestral temple of the country, and then restore the palace to welcome the emperor back. "

Seeing this situation, Li Heng had no choice but to nod in agreement, and then asked Guangping Wang Li Chu to report to Xuanzong.After Xuanzong led the team for a while, he stopped and waited for the prince.But after waiting left and right, he finally got the news that the prince was going to part ways with him. Xuanzong shook his head and smiled wryly, chanting two words incessantly: God's will, God's will, God's will... Afterwards, Xuanzong allocated 2,000 troops from the escorting forbidden army to follow the prince, and told the officers and men: "The prince is benevolent and filial, enough to take over the country. You should assist him well." Then he ordered someone to tell the prince: "You Do your best and don't miss me. I have always treated those barbarian generals in the northwest well, and I believe I will serve you." Finally, Xuanzong sent someone to convey his intention to pass on the throne to Li Heng.

Hearing this, Li Heng hurriedly sent someone to report back, saying that he would never accept the order to pass on the throne. Of course, this is just a gesture. Just one month later, under the persuasion of his followers, Li Heng "followed Mawei's order" and ascended the throne in Lingwu. Basically, it can be said that if there was no scene of "hiding by the elders" in Mawei Station, there would be no subsequent Lingwu accession to the throne. Because of this, later generations generally believe that "The Elders Shelter" is actually a play directed by Li Heng, with the purpose of breaking away from Xuanzong in order to find opportunities to stand on his own.There are even many scholars who believe that the "Mawei Station Change" was also planned by Li Heng.Because from the "Mawei change" to "the elders' shelter", and then to "Lingwu's accession to the throne", there is a very clear causal chain running through it.That is to say, the internal motivation is that Li Heng wants to seize the power of the emperor from Xuanzong.

So, is this the truth? To say that Li Heng was the mastermind behind the "Mawei Change" is logically valid, but the evidence is not sufficient.Looking at the relevant historical materials involving this incident, there is no reliable evidence to support this.Therefore, we believe that Li Heng was not the mastermind of the incident, he just knew about it in advance and adopted a tacit attitude towards Chen Xuanli's actions.In this sense, Li Heng can only be regarded as an accomplice at best, not the mastermind. As for the scene of "hiding the elders", it was most likely planned by Li Heng.There are three reasons for this: First of all, in the year when Xuanzong was lucky to Shu, Li Heng was already forty-six years old, and he had been in charge of the East Palace for eighteen years. For such an old prince, the greatest wish in life was of course to ascend the throne.However, if he followed Xuanzong into exile in Bashu, his accession to the throne would inevitably be postponed indefinitely.Therefore, Li Heng must find a way to get away from Xuanzong. Secondly, Jiannan is Yang Guozhong's territory, and the conflict between Li Heng and Yang Guozhong is well known to the government and the public. Although Yang Guozhong is dead now, Li Heng will still worry about his fate after entering Shu, like most soldiers of the Imperial Army.Even if Yang Guozhong's former subordinates didn't make things difficult for him, they were dependent on others after all, and they couldn't let go of everything they did.If so, let alone when it will be his turn to be emperor, even the inherent authority of the prince will be greatly reduced.Therefore, Li Heng would not follow Xuanzong into Shu anyway. In the end, Xuanzong established the imperial court in exile in Bashu. Of course, he could block the rebels' attack by virtue of the dangers of the Shu road, and obtain temporary peace, but everything has advantages and disadvantages.Just like what the people who persuaded them to stay said, if Xuanzong and his sons all hid in Bashu, it would be tantamount to giving up the great rivers and mountains of the Central Plains to Anlu Mountain.In other words, once Li Tang’s imperial court in exile retreats to the southwestern corner, the anti-insurgency forces of the Quartet are very likely to fall into a situation where there is no leader and each fights independently, and the so-called "recovering the two capitals and rejuvenating the community" can only be empty talk .In this regard, it is impossible for Li Heng not to worry about it.Therefore, even if personal political interests are not considered, but only from the perspective of the safety of the country, Li Heng must part ways with Xuanzong and establish his own family. According to the "Old Tang Book·Li Fuguo Biography", after the change of Mawei, "the Prince Fuguo offered advice, please divide the soldiers under Xuanzong's command, and go north to Shuofang in order to revive it." It can be seen from this that, no matter from a logical analysis, Still judging from historical data, Li Heng and Xuanzong's parting ways in Mawei was premeditated and planned, not by accident. Since it is imperative for Li Heng and Xuanzong to break up, the next question is - in what way and what excuse will he split up? There are two high-voltage lines here that are absolutely untouchable: first, they must not arouse Xuanzong's displeasure and suspicion; So what is the right way to do it? The best way is to let the "public opinion" speak. How to show public opinion? Of course, the common people must be invited out.Therefore, Li Heng, his sons Li Chu, Li Tan and his confidant eunuch Li Fuguo carefully designed the scene of "hiding the elders".With this scene, it is enough to show that Li Heng broke up with Xuanzong in a passive and helpless situation; and only in this way can it be shown that Li Heng has upheld God's will and complied with the people's will, thus occupying the moral high ground and paving the way for future "unauthorized actions" Ascend the throne and establish a separate court" to lay the necessary foundation for public opinion. After breaking up with the prince, Xuanzong continued westward and arrived at Qishan (now Qishan County, Shaanxi) on June 17.Before he could catch his breath, he heard that the vanguard of the rebel army was approaching. Xuanzong didn't dare to stay, and fled to Fufeng again. After arriving in Fufeng, an unavoidable problem was placed in front of everyone again. Where should we go? Not only did the officers and soldiers of the imperial army not want to go to Jiannan, but they all had their own little calculations and became more and more tired of escorting them. For a while, all kinds of complaints and strange words were flying in the sky, even cursing the emperor.Chen Xuanli tried his best to appease the resentment of the soldiers, but at this time, his authority had been greatly reduced, and the soldiers hardly listened to him. Seeing that another Mawei Incident was about to break out, Xuanzong was very worried, but there was nothing he could do. Fortunately, a few days later, more than 100,000 bolts of colored silk as a tribute arrived in Fufeng from Jiannan.Xuanzong seemed to have grasped a life-saving straw, and immediately ordered people to display all the colorful silks under the city tower, and then gathered the officers and soldiers of the imperial army, and delivered a touching speech to them. Xuanzong said: "I have been old and confused these days, and I used inhumane people, which led to rebellion and was forced to go into exile here. I know that you left Chang'an with me in a hurry and had to say goodbye to your parents and wives. You have trekked here all the way, physically and mentally. I am so exhausted, I am really ashamed of you. The road from here to Sichuan is still far away, and the counties and counties there are too small to support so many horses. Now I allow you to go home separately. Sun and the eunuchs continue to travel west, and I believe that I can go there too. Today, I will bid farewell to you here. Please share these colored silks as a burden on the road. When you return to Chang'an, you will see your parents and your hometown Elders, please convey my greetings to them. From now on, everyone cherish each other!" After these words, Xuanzong burst into tears. There is no doubt that this is a tragic card that is enough to touch people's hearts.Although this card does not lack the meaning of playing hard to get, we must not doubt Li Longji's sincerity at the moment.After all, these days, Li Longji, like everyone else, has experienced too many life and death, and all the proud and false masks have been peeled off one by one by the cruel reality.So at this moment, rather than saying that Li Longji was speaking to the soldiers as an emperor, it would be better to say that this is an old man who has gone through vicissitudes of life and is confessing to people. Therefore, in this confession of true feelings, we can hardly see the stereotypes and empty words often used by an emperor, but we can really touch the heart of an old man.In other words, we heard people's words and felt something warm. No matter when, people always like warm things, and always hate empty political preaching. Therefore, the soldiers were moved on the spot. When Xuanzong was weeping on the top of the city tower, the soldiers downstairs also shed tears.They shouted in unison: "Regardless of life or death, the ministers are determined to follow His Majesty, and never dare to have second thoughts!" Xuanzong was silent for a long time, and finally said only four words: "Go and stay to listen to Qing." (Volume 218) From this day on, all the complaints and weird words disappeared automatically, and no one cursed the emperor anymore, and no one clamored to return to Chang'an.Of course, to be able to achieve such a good soothing effect, the more than 100,000 bolts of colored silk must have played a big role.But one thing must be emphasized—even though he was already a down and out emperor who was panicked like a bereaved dog, Tang Xuanzong Li Longji's personality charm should not be underestimated, and his political appeal should not be underestimated. After successfully directing the scene of "Secret by the Elders", although Li Heng escaped from Xuanzong as he wished and gained unprecedented freedom, at the same time, he also felt an unprecedented loss. Because the problem he faced was also - where should he go? In the vast world, where is a safe place to live?Where is your own "Land of Prosperity"? As the sun sets and the twilight merges, black clouds roll over the Mawei Station, and the dense weeds around the station are swaying in the wild wind, making annoying rattling noises. Li Chu, the king of Guangping, looked at his solemn and silent father, then at the silent crowd, coughed a few times, and was the first to break the silence: "It's getting late, you can't stay here for long, everyone What plan?" Everyone raised their eyes and glanced at Li Chu, and then at the prince, but they didn't have any ideas in their hearts. Jianning Wang Li Tan quickly scanned the crowd with a sharp gaze, and seeing no one said anything, he said loudly: "Your Highness used to lead Shuofang Jiedushi, and the local civil and military officials came to Beijing every year. I met two times, and I can remember some people's names. Today, the tribes in Hexi and Longyou (referring to Ge Shuhan's corps in Tongguan) have basically been defeated and surrendered. The bandit camp, so it is difficult to guarantee that they will not have disagreements. In contrast, Shuofang is the closest to this place, and has a strong army. Right now, the rebels have just occupied Chang'an and are busy looting and looting. We have no time to expand the territory for the time being. We should use this time Hurry to Shuofang, use this as a base, and then slowly plan for the great cause of revival." In fact, Li Chu, Li Tan and the eunuch Li Fuguo had already discussed where to go, and the purpose of this question and answer at this moment was just to convince everyone. When everyone heard the words, they all praised him as good.As for Crown Prince Li Heng, even though he didn't think that Shuofang would be safe, under the current circumstances, this could only be his only choice.Afterwards, the prince assembled the team and ordered to march northwest. At night, just as the prince and his party reached the bank of the Weishui River, they suddenly encountered a group of remnants retreating from Tongguan.Because the night was dark and it was impossible to distinguish, both sides regarded each other as the Yan army, so they fought.After a fierce battle, more than half of the two sides were killed or injured. Finally, after a closer look, they realized that the flood had rushed into the Dragon King Temple, and their own people beat their own people.Li Heng gathered the remnants on both sides together, found a section of the river with a shallow water level along the river, and rode across on horseback.The officers and soldiers without mounts couldn't make it through, so they had to return to the south bank in tears, watching the prince and his party quickly disappear into the night. Li Heng led his people across the Wei River and went north via Fengtian (now Qianxian County, Shaanxi).Worried about the pursuit of the Yan army, the prince and his party ran desperately, galloping for more than three hundred miles a day and night.When they arrived in Xinping (now Binxian County, Shaanxi Province), more than half of the soldiers and equipment had been lost, and the remaining troops were only a few hundred people.After entering Xinping, when Li Heng heard that the local prefect Xue Yu had already abandoned the city before him, he was furious and immediately ordered people to pursue him, and he was forced to catch Xue Yu back with a knife.On the same day, Li Heng entered Anding (now Jingchuan County, Gansu Province), and the local prefect Xu Teng also abandoned the city and fled. Li Heng arrested and killed him as usual. After killing two prefects in a row, Li Heng himself was a little confused. Could it be that Li Tang's heart is so broken, and there is no way to clean it up? Could it be that the empire is approaching the brink of collapse step by step like this, and it can no longer be saved? In the days to come, in Li Heng's not too long remaining life, he will exhaust all his strength and painstaking efforts in his life to find the answers to these two questions.