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Chapter 722: The Inside Story of Xiangyang Incident

Li Yan tried to blow it a few times without hesitation, looking for the position of the notes. Then, under the surprised gazes of Wang Xuance and Ashina Yun, a string of desolate rhythms with gracefulness and endless longing rang out in the room like mercury pouring on the ground.

White clouds float in the blue sky, and horses run under the clouds
The whip is waved, and the birds fly in all directions.
If someone asks me where this place is.
I proudly told him that this is our hometown
A song about the sun that never sets on the grassland in later times slowly floated out from the eagle flute, like a flock of sheep bathing in the afterglow of the setting sun, or like water gurgling on the grass under the moonlight, making people immersed and intoxicated, and instantly stunned Ashina Yun and Wang Xuance.

Ashina Yun, who came from the grassland, could understand the feelings of the children of the desert contained in the music better than Wang Xuance. It was as if on the endless grassland, the setting sun, tents spread all over the grassland like flower umbrellas, and curling smoke slowly floated in the sky.

The old people began to prepare dinner, groups of young people rode their handsome horses freely under the white clouds, children played and fought by the river, and in the distance, herders drove herds of cattle and sheep home.

A vivid grassland scene unfolded in Ashina Yun's mind. Even Wang Xuance, who had never been to the desert, could feel the strong longing and affection for his hometown emanating from the music.

When the song ended, Li Yan put away the eagle flute.

"What song is this? Why have I never heard of it before?" Ashina Yun had a complicated look in his eyes. This man was not just a good-looking guy. He was very proficient in these strange and tricky skills. So he asked Li Yan with some curiosity.

Li Yan did not speak, but handed the eagle flute to Wang Xuance and ordered: "Send someone to deliver this thing to the Shuwang Mansion and tell Li Ke to bring Cheng Yunliang's head to the gate of Huichang Temple within an hour to exchange for him."

"If he doesn't see Cheng Yunliang's head within an hour, he will never see the owner of the Eagle Flute again in his life."

"Yes, Your Highness!" Wang Xuance reached out to take the token, without even looking at Ashina Yun, and walked out directly.

"you"

When Ashina Yun heard Li Yan's handsome face speaking such bloody words in a gentle voice, the little bit of goodwill he had just felt from playing the flute disappeared instantly. His face changed and he said coldly, "Is this what the Crown Prince calls making friends? Is this how you Tang people treat guests?"

"Princess, don't get me wrong. I've just said that no one here will hurt you!"

Li Yan smiled slightly and said calmly: "If the princess wants to leave, she can leave at any time. I just want to see how important the princess is in my third brother's heart."

"Since the princess has confidence in Li Ke and believes that his feelings for you are sincere, why don't you test him? It is said that you can know a person's face but not his heart. I have just told the princess the reason for the incident. When the princess was facing life-threatening danger, did Li Ke kill Cheng Yunliang to save the princess?"

"Or should he ignore the princess's life and death and hand Cheng Yunliang over to the emperor to defeat a political enemy? Which is more important? After weighing the pros and cons, what choice will Li Ke make?"

To be honest, Li Yan was not too fond of Cheng Yunliang, although he reported Hou Junji's corruption. But Hou Junji only seized Ding Jie's treasury, which was seized on the battlefield, not embezzlement of court funds or drinking soldiers' blood to gain military power.

Instead, he used his own silver and salary to appease the orphans of the Flying Tiger Army. He lived on pickles every day and did not set up a government office or a mansion like other meritorious officials. He did not have a large number of guests, three wives and four concubines, and he did not bully men or women.

In Li Yan's opinion, Hou Junji was a very good general because he lived frugally and lived a frugal life.

Now the Tang Dynasty is still in the midst of war. Generals are leading their troops outside, risking their lives to quell the rebellion for the court and conquer one piece of territory after another. Many are killed or wounded in the war.

Everyone only sees the glory of the Tang Dynasty. Who would care about the men who sacrificed their lives in one war after another, and who would care about their families?

The imperial court was overwhelmed with expenses and had to deal with the repeated invasions by the Turks, and was unable to provide adequate relief to all the victims.

As generals who sent those children to the battlefield, no matter who they were, as long as they had some conscience, they would not turn a blind eye. From Hou Junji's experience, we can know that most generals made up for this deficiency by seizing spoils from the battlefield.

What Chi Deli said makes sense. Hou Junji is old and will gradually withdraw from the battlefield. Without any additional gains, how can he take care of the orphans of the Flying Tiger Army?

You must know that this is not a peaceful period of long-term peace and stability, but a critical moment when the Li family replaced the Yang family. It is a turbulent time when the world is being conquered. How can it be that the generals at the front take credit for rewards and embezzle the spoils?
When Li Shimin was a general, he did a lot of things like this. Emperor Wude had a lot of leverage over him, and everyone knew it. No emperor would ever argue with his generals about these things when conquering the world, and it wasn't even a crime!

Strict laws and strict punishments, and honesty and integrity are things that can only be done after the country is stable.

Now everyone is doing this. If the court is too fussy, do they still want the world? Cheng Yunliang is less than 30 years old, but he is already a fourth-rank official in the court. He is very proud of his youth. Just because he is Li Ke's disciple, he will do anything to kill Hou Junji for any mistake he makes, regardless of the harmonious cooperation he has had with Hou Junji for many years.

Li Yan checked the files of the Ministry of Personnel. Cheng Yunliang did not have a background of a wealthy or powerful family in Guanlong. The biggest reason why he was able to become the governor of Xiangyang was that when the Tang Dynasty was first established, Xiangyang was located where the forces of Wang Shiyun and Xiao Xing intersected.

Although these major rebel kings had been pacified at the end of the Sui Dynasty, there were still many local bandits who occupied the mountains and became kings, resisting the court. Xiangyang was one of them. Although it was designated as the territory of the Tang Dynasty, it was not actually controlled by the court because of the rampant local bandits.

The so-called Xiangyang governor was just a figurehead, so no one in the court valued him, and Cheng Yunliang was given the position. Later, Xiangyang gradually stabilized and became a piece of fat meat, and the court officials cast their eyes there, and Cheng Yunliang was valued by Li Ke.

At this time, Cheng Yunliang also needed strong support from the court, otherwise he would not be able to hold on to the position of Governor of Xiangyang. So the two of them hit it off and became disciples of the King of Shu.

If there was no Hou Junji, the Ding Jie bandits would have caused chaos in Xiangyang. There would have been no stable environment for Cheng Yunliang to govern. Hou Junji fought desperately to put down the rebellion and capture Xiangyang. Then Cheng Yunliang took the benefits and not only did he not feel grateful for his kindness, he also put Hou Junji to death for some battlefield spoils.

Logically speaking, Hou Junji is from the Eastern Palace, so Xiangyang should also be the Eastern Palace's sphere of influence. If anyone wants to pick peaches, Li Yan should be the one to pick them.

In Li Yan's view, this incident was nothing more than a power struggle between Cheng Yunliang and Hou Junji for the control of Xiangyang, which was manifested in the form of corruption.

Young Master Ruilong, who would not allow anyone more powerful than himself in Handong, once said, "There is not so much corruption. To put it bluntly, it's all just your infighting!"
Hou Junji must have withheld seized items more than once.

In the ninth year of Wude, after the Battle of Bianqiao, Hou Junji went to Xiangyang to quell the rebellion. He and Cheng Yunliang, one civil and one military, cooperated well. Cheng Yunliang supervised the transportation of Hou Junji's food and grass. After Beizhai was captured, Hou Junji also asked Cheng Yunliang to count the account books. What does this indicate?
This shows that Hou Junji trusted Cheng Yunliang very much and was not on guard against him in anything.

In this case, how could Cheng Yunliang not know that the officers and generals in the army had embezzled the captured goods? He had always known about it. How many similar incidents would have happened in the past three or four years? But why didn't Cheng Yunliang discover it before?

No report?

It was at this time that Hou Junji's corruption was exposed. This timing is very intriguing.

Li Yan secretly guessed that it was simply because Xiangyang had not been taken before, and Cheng Yunliang still needed Hou Junji to continue working for him.

By the time the last northern stronghold was captured, the remaining troops of Ding Jie had been wiped out, the treasury had been seized, and the bandits had certainly been pacified.

At this time, Cheng Yunliang was worried that Hou Junji would stay in Xiangyang for a long time, which would affect his power, and even the Eastern Palace would use this opportunity to interfere in the affairs of Xiangyang.

When the bird is dead, the bow is put away; when the rabbit is dead, the dog is cooked!
Therefore, Cheng Yunliang reported Hou Junji's affairs to the emperor without hesitation. He wanted to please his patron, the King of Shu, and at the same time kick Hou Junji out of Xiangyang out of his actual need to monopolize power.

In troubled times, it was normal to have military generals under the age of thirty, but it was rare to have a fourth-rank civil official under the age of thirty, or a powerful governor of Zhongzhou. Cheng Yunliang was still unsatisfied and was greedy by nature. In the end, he even wanted to use Hou Junji's corpse to make another contribution.

Even so, Hou Junji couldn't bear to kill him, so he just placed him under house arrest on the boat and prevented him from contacting the outside world. What was the purpose of this? He just wanted to wait until he had some free time, and then he could persuade him, do some ideological work, and use coercion and inducement to resolve the matter.

For a general who commands a large army, in an era of war, where he doesn't know how many people will die in a day, it is too easy to get rid of a civil servant silently by taking advantage of the remaining troubles caused by Ding Jie or simply finding someone to pretend to be a bandit.

If it was Li Yan, he would never be merciful and leave himself with trouble. There is no point in being under house arrest on the ship. Cheng Yunliang is a scholar with deep scheming and clear goals. He will not compromise so easily. It is most convenient to kill him directly.

Just based on this point, Hou Junji is not a bad person.

However, Cheng Yunliang was still somewhat useful for the time being, so Li Yan would not let Li Ke kill Cheng Yunliang, as he had a backup plan. The reason why Li Ke was told to exchange Cheng Yunliang's head for Ashina Yun was to give Li Ke and Ashina Yun a hint, giving them the illusion that they were exchanging heads for heads and lives for lives.

In fact, whether Li Ke killed Cheng Yunliang or not, Ashina Yun himself would not touch him.

(End of this chapter)