In October of the twelfth year of Bao, the Tang army after more than ten days of fierce attack on Luoyang, Cai Xide, who guarded the western section of the city wall, suddenly surrendered, the Tang army attacked Luoyang from the west gate, and the rebel generals saw that the general trend had gone, and surrendered to the Tang army, and An Qingxu broke through from the east gate under the desperate protection of 20,000 tiger guards, and went to Xiangzhou.

Li Qing saw that his army was tired, so he ordered to stop the pursuit, led the army into the city to settle the people, the people of Luoyang helped the old and the young to welcome, the whole city jubilated, Li Qing ordered in addition to Cai Xide, take down An Lushan a group of puppet officials, together with the surrendered Li Guiren, An Shouzhong, Niu Jieting, Zhang Tongru and other rebel generals all beheaded the good and lowly in the city, and took his subordinates to enrich the Anxi army, and the rest of the old and weak were released back to the township.

Li Qing also ordered Chen Xilie, Zhang Yan and other former court officials who surrendered to the rebels to be released back to Beijing, ten days later, the imperial court decree arrived, praised the great merits of the officers and soldiers, and crowned Li Qing as Shang Shuling, Tai Lieutenant, Hussar General, Guo Yi as Tai Shaofu, Shang Shu's right servant, Li Guangbi as the governor of Youzhou, Shangshu's left servant, and the rest of the officers and soldiers who participated in the war were rewarded.

Li Qing immediately ordered the general Li Siye to lead 50,000 troops to defend Luoyang, and he returned to Chang'an with his own army, and Guo Yi also led the Hedong army back to Beijing to meet the new emperor.

At dusk on this day, the army was about to arrive in Chang'an, and Guo Yi, who had been puzzled, finally couldn't help but ask: "Xiangguo, Cai Xide surrendered and was Feng Yunlu general, but Li Guiren and others also raised troops and surrendered, but they were beheaded by the general, why didn't Xiangguo spare their lives, and used them to throw bricks and lead Hebei Shi Siming and others to surrender?" ”

He sighed regretfully, and said to Li Qing: "If Xiangguo doesn't kill them." Instead of appointing them as high-ranking officials, Natian Chenghei, Zhang Zhongzhi and others will have no intention of fighting to the death when they see the court's lenienness, once we break An Qingxu again, they will see that the general trend has gone, and they will inevitably look at the wind and surrender, but Xiangguo killed Li Guichen and them. Disbanding his subordinates, wouldn't this force Tian Chenghei and them to fight to the death? ”

Li Qing's face sank, and he said categorically: "If you kill Cai Xide, this will happen, if you are too tolerant, whether they resist or not." In the end, they were all promoted to reward the feudal officials, so that they would be arrogant, fight to the death first, and finally surrender to the court as a last resort, anyway, they are also feudal officials, how can there be such a good thing in the world, not only that. If they will have their own armies in the future. If I don't accept the dispatch of the imperial court, and finally form a separatist trend, wouldn't the people of the world want to point at my backbone and scold me to death! So it's good that they're willing to emulate Cai Xide, but if they want to bargain with me, I'm sorry! I, Li Qing, don't eat this set, it will take a little trouble at most, but I must not leave future troubles! ”

With that, he urged the horse. Galloping away from the front army. Guo Yi saw that Li Qing was resolute. He had no choice but to laugh bitterly. The idea was abandoned.

In a short time, the majestic Chang'an City was already visible in the distance, and under a round of sunset, the continuous city wall was dyed golden red, shining brightly, and the excitement was advancing backwards like waves in the army layer by layer.

At this time, a horse galloped to report, "Report to the general, the emperor led a hundred officials to greet the general outside the Mingde Gate!" ”

Li Qing nodded lightly, and then ordered: "The army stops, camp on the spot to rest, and then return to the barracks tomorrow." ”

At the sound of an order, more than 200,000 troops began to camp in an orderly manner, and white tents rose from the ground, stretching for miles as far as the eye could see.

Li Qing personally led five thousand elite horsemen, and Guo Yi galloped towards the direction of Mingde Gate, and saw a large group of officials guarding the Yulin Army from afar, there were hundreds of people, the first one, dressed in a red yellow dragon robe, with a crown on his head, it was Li Yu today, and the hundred officials were lined up in two columns, standing solemnly behind him.

Five thousand iron horsemen were like thunder, stirring up dust all over the sky, overwhelming the sky, Li Yu and the hundred officials were shocked and discolored, their legs trembled, about five hundred steps away from the city gate, Li Qing lightly stopped, and the five thousand iron horsemen stopped brushing together, and suddenly there was silence, only to see the dust slowly falling, as if the heaven and earth were also nailed at this moment.

Li Qing turned over and dismounted, strode towards Li Yu, Guo Yi followed closely behind, only a few hundred steps away, where Li Qing passed, it was like an invisible giant hand sweeping, and the Yulin army dismounted and knelt on the ground, "See the general!

Only then did Guo Yi understand the reason why Li Qing held great power, the army! He controlled all the troops in Chang'an, even including the Yulin army that guarded the emperor, and because of this, the emperor was like a puppet and powerless.

Without waiting for him to think about it, they had already walked to the side of Emperor Li Yu, Li Qing smiled slightly, knelt down on one knee for Li Yu, and gave him a military salute, "Li Qing see Your Majesty!" ”

As Li Qing knelt down, the five thousand cavalry behind him turned over and knelt down together, their movements were neat, clean and neat, "See Your Majesty the Emperor, long live Your Majesty the Emperor!" Hooray! ”

Li Yu saw Li Qing kneeling down for himself, and a nervous heart finally fell, he knew that this was Li Qing who gave himself face in front of Guo Yi and the hundred officials, and he was very relieved, he hurriedly helped Li Qing up, and complained to him: "I told Xiangguo a long time ago, I don't have to kneel when I see me, why did Xiangguo forget it?" ”

Li Qing smiled and whispered to him: "You have to give Your Majesty a little face in front of outsiders!" ”

The word 'outsider', but Li Yu felt very uncomfortable when he heard it, he smiled reluctantly, and looked at Guo Yi, Guo Yi saw that the emperor looked at him, he hurriedly knelt down on his knees, kowtowed three times in a row, and said extremely reverently: "Old minister Guo Yi, see His Majesty the Emperor!" Long live Your Majesty! Hooray! ”

Li Yu looked at his gray hair and sincere eyes, couldn't help but sour, hurriedly stepped forward to help him up, patted him on the shoulder and said: "Hard old general, although it is the first time I have seen you, I feel very cordial, and I will see you in the future, and you will be allowed not to kneel." ”

Guo Yi clenched his fists and said sincerely: "Thank you for your grace, but the minister thinks that the courtesy of the monarch and the minister cannot be abolished, and he should kneel!" ”

Li Yu sighed again, he couldn't help but look at Li Qing secretly, but Li Qing didn't seem to see or hear anything.

He swept his gaze, and his gaze fell on Zhang Yi's body, only to see him holding his head high, his eyes slightly slanted at himself, and there was still a trace of disdain on the corners of his mouth.

Li Qing sneered. He turned back to Li Yu and said loudly: "Your Majesty, when the minister attacked Luoyang this time, he found that someone in the DPRK had been secretly colluding with An Lushan, and repeatedly leaked the information of my Datang Land to the rebels, so that the rebels knew everything about our army, and the soldiers suffered heavy losses during the siege of the city, and Your Majesty said how to deal with this person?" ”

Li Yu was stunned. He didn't know what Li Qing meant, so he couldn't help but ask his teacher

Looking over, I saw that he was also suspicious, his eyes flickered, and Li Yu only said, "If there is really such a thing." Punish severely! ”

Li Qing nodded lightly, "Your Majesty's words are enough!" He pointed at Zhang Yi and shouted, "Come on, arrest this person for me!" ”

As soon as the words fell, he immediately rushed to the five or one Yulin Army, dragged Zhang Yi out like a wolf and a tiger, and pushed him to the ground. Put your feet on your back. Tie him up behind his back.

Zhang Yi was so frightened that he didn't react until he had a sharp pain in his arm, and shouted hoarsely: "Your Majesty! The minister is wronged! The minister did not fornicate with An Lushan. ”

Li Yu was also taken aback, and hurriedly said to Li Qing: "Prime Minister, Zhang Shilang is an important minister of the court, how could he fornicate with An Lushan, Xiangguo must be mistaken!" ”

"Minister?" Li Qing sneered. "Ge Shuhan and Chen Xilie were once the left ministers of the Tang Dynasty! Didn't they come down the same? What does this have to do with important ministers! He took out two letters from his bosom. Handed it to Li Yudao: "This is the evidence." One was a letter written by the pseudo-prime minister to Zhang Yi, ordering him to use a counterplot to transfer me back to Chang'an. The messenger happened to be intercepted by my scouts; The other is a letter he wrote to An Lushan, thinking that Hebei is an official, in black and white, is there still a fake? ”

Li Yu took it and looked at it, one was a solemn letter, and there was his seal on it, the content was just as Li Qing said, asking him to act against the other, and the other letter was indeed Zhang Yidi's letter, but the time of payment was the seventh year of Tianbao, "This. Zhang Yi's letter was even more far-fetched, but Li Yu couldn't say that Li Qing was framed, he hesitated and said: "Xiangguo, only two letters, and the timing is not appropriate." Is there some lack of evidence for this? ”

"Then what evidence does Your Majesty want, human witnesses?" Li Qing waved his hand from afar, and several cavalrymen brought up one person, but it was the original left minister Chen Xilie, who saw that he had become languished now, his hair and beard were dry and yellow, and there was no blood on his face, he 'pounced' and fell to the ground, trembling all over, his face was ashamed, and he couldn't say a word.

Li Yu glanced at him with extreme disgust, and asked coldly: "Chen Xilie, do you dare to say that Zhang Yi and Zhang Shilang fornicated with An Lushan?" ”

Chen Xilie was shocked, he glanced at Li Qing timidly, and saw that he was holding his hands behind his back and looking into the distance, but his eyes were indifferent, and there was no expression on his face. ”

After a long time, Chen Xilie said in a low voice: "Is Zhang Yi colluding with An Lushan, or is it the line of the criminal ministers, and An Lushan also wrote a few letters to him afterwards, promising to make him the secretary of the ministry!" ”

Speaking of this, Chen Xilie's voice suddenly became louder, and he pointed at Zhang Yi and said: "You still think that the secretary is too small, and you want to be a servant, this is what An Lushan told me personally, you can't deny it!" ”

Zhang Yi was almost crazy, Chen Xilie said it with a nose and eyes, which made people have to believe it, but in fact, when did he ask him to take the lead, "Your Majesty, the minister is wronged!" This is all perjury that Li Qing asked him to make in advance, and he was framed as a minister, and the minister did not write any letters! ”

"I framed you?" Li Qing sneered, "You can't help but think too highly of yourself!" What am I framing you for? ”

He turned back to Li Yu and said: "The minister is a step late, An Qingxu has already burned most of the books, so he did not find Zhang Yi to ask for the official letter, but the minister believes that An Lushan's reply to Zhang Yidi must still be in his mansion, and His Majesty will send someone to search for it." ”

"This-" Li Yu was puzzled, he also knew that since Li Qing dared to say this, there must be a basis, but if he didn't let people go, it would seem that he was shielding Zhang Yi, and Li Yu was really in a dilemma.

At this moment, Li Mi stepped forward and said: "Your Majesty, the minister agrees with Li Xiangguo's method and sends someone to search Zhang Yi's mansion. ”

Li Yu has already understood in his heart that this must be Li Qing's deliberate set-up, that is, to put Zhang Yi to death, he must have heard some rumors, even if Li Yu can protect Zhang Yi from death, but with Li Qing's current power, Zhang Yi still can't escape his palm, but it will weaken Li Yu's prestige, which will affect his own plans, it is better to give up the handsome, let Li Qing kill Zhang Yi with justice, in order to block the mouth of the world.

He continued: "Your Majesty, for the sake of fairness, the minister suggested that Xiangguo send someone to cooperate with Jing Zhaoyin to search Zhang Yi's mansion together. ”

Li Qing glanced at him deeply, the two of them looked at each other, and a sneer flashed tacitly, Li Qing also bowed and said: "The stakes are very high, the minister doesn't want to wronged the minister, but he doesn't want to spare the person who collaborated with the enemy, the minister agrees with Li Zhan's method, please ask Your Majesty for permission!" ”

Li Yu looked at Li Yu, then at Li Qing, and had to nod, which was regarded as agreeing to the request of the two.

Li Qing immediately turned around and gave Li Fei Yuanli a look, and immediately turned around and left.

Seeing that a triumphant welcome ceremony finally evolved into this result, the courtiers exchanged heads and ears, and the discussion continued, but Pei Kuan, Fifth Qi, Wei Jiansu and other important ministers all understood in their hearts that the root cause was that Zhang Yi had entered the palace too often in the past few months, which caused Li Qingdi's suspicion, and he was attacked when he came back.

As for the results, they don't need to ask them, of course Zhang Yidi has those letters in his family, but the letters are in the arms of the person sent by Li Qing to search.

Sure enough, in less than half an hour, Jingzhao Yin Cui Guangyuan hurried over, he held a few letters in his hand, and handed them to Li Yu with both hands: "Your Majesty, the minister did find these letters in Zhang Shilang's study, please take a look at them." ”

Li Yu took it and opened it one by one, all of which were the secret decrees of An Lushan, with the treasure seal of An Lushan on them, and most of the time was collected in March and April, and he was allowed to be the secretary of the ministry.

Li Yu sighed, what else is there to say? The evidence is conclusive, even the gods can't save him, Li Yu handed the letter to Li Qingdao: "I am a little unwell, I will return to the palace first, and Xiangguo can take full authority to deal with this matter." ”

After speaking, he didn't look at Zhang Yi anymore, and drove back to the palace, until Li Yu walked away, Li Qing then turned around and looked at Zhang Yi, who was gagged and screaming, his eyes showed a cold smile, he waved his hand lightly, and said lightly: "Treason and collaboration with the enemy, the crime is unforgivable, Zhang Yi and the three of them will be beheaded on Vermilion Bird Street to show the public, and the rest of the good and lowly people will be exiled to Anxi as slaves!" ”