Pang Fei asked Qin Mubai what he wanted to know, and Qin Mubai asked right out of the gate -
"Is there any definite news about King Wu?"
"No." Pang Fei shook his head in embarrassment. His answer made Qin Mubai a little disappointed.
Qin Mubai frowned and said, "Did King Wu really get assassinated?"
Pang Fei replied: "After hearing about this incident, I immediately sent my confidants to secretly go to the place where the incident occurred in Jingzhou to investigate. As a result, the Jingzhou government sealed the news very tightly. I only found out that the imperial court sent Chu Suiliang to come and marry him. Investigate this case. In addition, there is a survivor in King Wu’s party, and that is Prince Wu’s commandant, Yin Yang!”
"Yin Yang?" Qin Mubai was a little surprised by this news. He said, "I am very familiar with him. At first, I worked with Yuwen Hongtai, his friend, in Prince Wu's Mansion. It was considered a friendship between brothers. That’s right. Where is he now?”
"I don't know." Pang Fei shook his head, "Maybe he is still staying in Jingzhou, or he may have returned to Chang'an with Chu Suiliang. The people I sent tried their best to inquire in Jingzhou, but it was difficult to find out any valuable information. , let alone contact with Yin Yang’s few people who know the case.”
Qin Mubai touched his chin and fell into deep thought. After a long time, he said, "Has Chang'an sent anyone?"
"I've been there, but I haven't come back yet." Pang Fei looked embarrassed and lowered his voice a little, "After the case of King Wu, security has been stepped up on all the passages from the western part of the country to the inside of the country, and passers-by are being scrutinized closely. In particular, it is very difficult for all the officials and generals under the control of the Lanzhou Governor's Office to go inside the customs, and they have to be interrogated at all levels, just like prisoners under supervision. Therefore, I guess that the people I sent to Chang'an to inquire about the information will not come back so soon."
"What do they mean?" Qin Mubai couldn't help but feel a little annoyed, "Are they treating my Guanxi Army and the Governor's Office of Lanzhou as thieves?"
Pang Fei sighed and said: "There is one more thing that if I tell my mentor, my mentor will definitely be even more angry..."
"explain!"
"I have several colleagues who were born together in Baiqi, and I also know my mentor. They served in the Longzhou, Jingzhou, and Qizhou military mansions in the Western Xinjiang area. We often exchange letters and have a very good friendship." Pang Fei said , "Shortly after the case of King Wu, someone among them told me in a secret message that the imperial court had issued an order to summon soldiers from most of the military mansions in Guanzhong to go to Chang'an to strengthen the garrison. In addition... Mingzeng sentry posts were secretly deployed in Western Xinjiang. Increased interrogation is vaguely intended to prevent our Kansai Army!"
Hearing Pang Fei's words, Qin Mubai felt a chill in his heart.
However, Pang Fei also said that all this is just "vague" and not enough to prove. Qin Mubai had always been calm and did not break out. He just said calmly: "It is necessary to be on guard against others. We people are not afraid of the shadow, let them go! - However, since the court has made such a reaction, I am even more worried I feel that the current situation of King Wu is not optimistic. Either he has been assassinated, but the court has tightly sealed the news and kept it secret; or, there is a big problem in the court itself, and it made such an emergency response to prevent unrest in Kyoto! "
"Unrest in Kyoto?" Pang Fei blinked in thought and said, "Actually, the rumors stop with the wise. As long as the emperor is the backbone of the court, there will be no chaos. Also, even if something unexpected happened to King Wu, As long as we find out the truth, catch the culprit, give an explanation to everyone in the world, and provide comfort to all parties, there won't be any big trouble. Although we don't have exact news about Chang'an yet, we can see that the area from Western Xinjiang to Guan Nei is so turbulent, and everyone is at war. , I have an ominous premonition..."
"Do you think something happened to the emperor?" Qin Mubai's eyes flashed with light.
"That's what it is!" Pang Fei whispered in surprise, "Unless something happened to His Majesty the Emperor and the court lost its owner, it would be so tense and chaotic!"
Qin Mubai twisted his eyebrows, and the expression on his face became more serious. He nodded and said solemnly: "If this is really the case... then my country in Datang will really be in chaos!"
Seeing Qin Mubai's face like this, Pang Fei took a deep breath! ——Looking at his situation, he is not just preparing to respond to these actions of the court, but also making some emergency self-rescue "reactions"!
"As you said, no matter whether King Wu is alive or dead, or how rumors spread, as long as His Majesty the Emperor is still presiding over the court, there will be no danger and everything will be fine." Qin Mubai said seriously, "But if His Majesty the Emperor If he falls and ignores political affairs, the power of the court will definitely fall into the hands of King Wei, Changsun Wuji and others... Such a situation will be very detrimental to us! "
Pang Fei's expression tightened and he continued: "In addition, there are rumors about my mentor now. I am very worried that someone in the court will take advantage of this and attack us sooner or later! Because, if King Wu is gone, The future prince and emperor will undoubtedly be the King of Wei. So, the first stumbling block to be eliminated is our mentor, the people of the Kansai Army!"
"But - what if King Wu is not dead?" Qin Mubai asked back.
Pang Fei was stunned for a moment and didn't know how to answer, so he hesitated and said: "That's a different situation. But looking at the current situation, even if King Wu is not dead, he must be hiding in Chang'an, or he was kidnapped and lost. Freedom! Otherwise, why would Chang'an be so guarded against me in Guanxi?"
"Smart!" Qin Mubai nodded and praised, "Pang Fei, you are getting stronger and stronger now, and your analysis is very reasonable. Yes, if King Wu was ambushed but not dead, then what happened to Jingzhou? There is no need to block the news so tightly. Therefore, Chang'an will not be in such a turbulent situation. There are only two possibilities. One is that King Wu is dead; the other is that even if King Wu is not dead, He is also missing! Even the people in the court, including the emperor, don’t know where King Wu is!”
"Yes, this explanation makes sense." Pang Fei said, "If the King of Wu had any shortcomings, it would be easy to imagine how my mentor would react, so the imperial court took strict precautions against my Kansai Army!"
Qin Mubai's eyes narrowed. In the slit between his eyes, a murderous aura faintly overflowed.
"Take strict precautions?" Qin Mubai said word by word, "I, Mr. Qin, am a hero loyal to the Tang Dynasty. When did I become a traitor and a traitor?!"
"Hey..." Pang Fei sighed helplessly and said, "Teacher, the hundreds of thousands of soldiers of my Guanxi Army, including all the officials and civilians in Lanzhou, are all loyal to the Tang Dynasty. Over the years, we have been born and died here in Lanzhou, and how many brothers have been stained with blood. The battlefield where bones are buried in the yellow sand; how many people fought hard to support our army and sacrificed their husbands and sons? After we went through hardships to defeat powerful enemies and opened up territory for the Tang Dynasty, the imperial court treated us like bandits. They are guarding us... This is really chilling!”
Qin Mubai closed his eyes and took a long breath, "Forget it... this is politics!"
"Teacher, what should we do now?" Pang Fei asked.
"I'll leave two things to you." Qin Mubai said, "First, continue to send capable people to go to the pass to investigate the whereabouts of King Wu and find out the direction of the court; second, make a list to show the people and inform the Lanzhou generals All the soldiers and civilians under the Dudu Mansion said that I, Qin Mubai, had returned triumphantly from the Western Regions! Then they made preparations to hold a celebration meeting in the Dudu Mansion in Lanzhou, inviting all officials of the seventh rank and above under the Dudu Mansion, as well as the remaining representatives of the gentry and people. Let me think about it before talking about it.”
"Okay, students will get started immediately." Pang Fei agreed. Although he was anxious, since Qin Mubai had returned, Lanzhou had a backbone. He felt confident and no longer so hesitant. He knew that Qin Mubai had never liked to show off, and the reason why he held a "celebration party" this time was to show his loyalty to the imperial court to people from all walks of life in Lanzhou, crush the rumors in the market, and stabilize the morale of the people and the military.
As long as there is no internal chaos in Lanzhou, Pang Fei believes that Qin Mubai can solve all external matters.
After getting a general understanding of the situation from Pang Fei and giving instructions on several matters, Qin Mubai prepared to leave the military camp. When leaving, he looked around the military camp and felt pretty good. After he left Lanzhou for a long time, he handed over the military and political power to Pang Fei as his agent. This guy seemed to be working very hard. Seventy percent of the 100,000 troops left in Lanzhou were new troops. After this period of training, they had gained several percent of their strength and were very energetic. They had inherited the passion and bravery of the Kansai Army.
Looking at the army camp in front of him, Qin Mubai couldn't help but think to himself, there are 100,000 troops here in Lanzhou, plus the 300,000 troops that Xue Rengui and Yuwen Hongtai are returning from behind, Lanzhou will soon have 400,000 troops, and it's An elite division that has experienced hundreds of battles!
Thinking about it from another angle, if he were an emperor and a courtier, it would indeed be impossible to turn a blind eye to the 400,000 troops in Kansai after Li Ke's accident. As we all know, there have been many wars around Datang in recent years. Most of the troops from the mainland have been transferred to the frontier battlefields. Now the Guan is empty. All the troops combined are at most half the number of the Guanxi Army!
Moreover, except for some elite recruits from the Imperial City Guards, even if the number of other idle soldiers is huge, how can they be compared with the Kansai Army, a tiger and wolf division that has experienced bloody battles
If Kansai really wants to rebel, Chang'an may not be able to resist it!
Just thinking of this, Qin Mubai frowned and became suspicious, secretly thinking: With Li Shimin's wisdom, since he knew that the military strength of Chang'an and Guanxi was so disparate, why did he still put on a "guard against thieves" attitude? To stimulate me? Wouldn't it be easier to hurt my heart and push me back? Although I do not naively think that Li Shimin is a saint and will never be afraid of his ministers' high achievements, but with his usual skill and style, at this time, he preemptively appeases and praises me for being promoted to an official position. Then calling me, a great hero, to Beijing to "protect you" is the best strategy.
But why did the emperor make such a stupid move at this critical moment
"This is so unreasonable!" Dou Ran asked in surprise in Qin Mubai's heart, and continued to think, "This is really not like the emperor's usual method. I guess there are two possibilities for why such a situation occurs. First, Li Shimin suddenly fell ill or even died, and the power of the court fell into the hands of Changsun Wuji, Li Tai and others. They must have been afraid that I would launch an attack to avenge Li Ke, so they took the initiative and set up a defensive position. Be prepared. According to this analysis, it is very likely that Li Ke is really dead, and died at the hands of these two people; the second possibility is that... the emperor is using an extremely dangerous and mean way. , testing me!"
Thinking of this, Qin Mubai's heart was like a flash of lightning, he was shocked and bright, he raised his eyebrows and said to himself: "If it is the first possibility, there is no need to say that the Tang Dynasty will really be in chaos. Even if I, the Qin Dynasty, don't raise an army to investigate the crime, Changsun Wuji and Li Tai will not be able to suppress the feudal officials, generals and marshals from other places. The world will be in chaos, and even end up like the end of the Sui Dynasty, when people rebel against the king and fight everywhere. , but I am not afraid. I have 400,000 tigers and wolves in Kansai, and I have thousands of miles of territory in the Western Region as my backing. I also have close connections with Li Ji from Mobei and Li Daozong from Liaodong. If it’s the second possibility... then!”
"Then Li Ke is not dead!"
"Li Shimin is testing my loyalty to the Tang Dynasty and my broad mind and bottom line! He wants to take advantage of the chaos to cut off some resistance and then make Li Ke his chief minister, and in the future make me Li Ke's prime minister and the military of the Tang Dynasty. The mainstay leader!”
Qin Mubai closed his sore eyes, raised his head, took a deep breath, and murmured to himself, "Just like Li Shimin treated Li Ji in history. After making Li Zhi, a cowardly son, the prince, Li Shimin He demoted Li Ji, the head of the military at that time, and gave him military power based on an unfounded accusation. Then, when the prince came to power, he restored Li Ji to his post and gave him important responsibilities, so that the new king could be kind to Li Ji. At the same time, it was also a test of Li Ji's loyalty and bottom line. At this critical juncture, if Li Ji, who had been wronged and demoted, could not hold back his anger and complained, or made any other extraordinary move, it would mean a new situation in the future. You will definitely not be able to control him, then Li Ji will be dead! Li Shimin will definitely get rid of it quickly and cut off the future troubles for the new king!"
"Is this what is called, a great responsibility given to this person by heaven?" Qin Mubai sighed deeply and murmured, "Is all this just the emperor's mind at work?"