A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Starting from the Village Chief

Chapter 80: Whoever captures Li Yi will be promoted three levels
Jingzhou,

In Changcheng City,

In the middle of summer, the Qin Emperor Xue Ju was wrapped tightly in a woolen blanket, but he was still shivering from the cold.

Huangmen Shilang Chu Liang reported helplessly: "Li Tang's defense in Fufeng is very tight, and our right wing army is unable to break through its defense.

The left-wing army's attack in the direction of Beidi County had failed for the third time.

Ningzhou Governor Hu Yan has repelled the Crown Prince several times."

"Where is Liang Shidu? Hasn't he sent out the troops yet?" Xue Ju asked angrily, his teeth trembling.

Prime Minister Hao Yuan had no choice but to tell the emperor, "Your Majesty, the Liang army is a cowardly bunch. Previously, they were willing to sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight, and they were reluctant to send troops. After Your Majesty suffered a minor setback in the Changwu War, the Liang army lost its courage and dared not to go out. Now that Yulin Guo Zihe has defected to the Tang Dynasty and sent troops to harass the Shuofang area, the Liang army is already overwhelmed."

There was silence in the tent.

"Where is Lingwu?" Xue Ju asked after a long time.

"Last time, Liang Shidu sent his brother to attack Lingwu, but was defeated by Tang General Lin Xingcan. Your Majesty sent Zong Luohou to rescue him, and Tang Fengzhou General Liu Changxun came to support him with all his strength..."

After several battles, Lingwu is still under the control of the Tang army and is garrisoned by Tang General Qiu Xinggong.

A bone-chilling chill rose up,
Xue Ju trembled and asked, "Has there ever been an emperor who surrendered in ancient times?"

Zhu Liang, the Imperial Court Minister, replied, "In the past, Zhao Tuo surrendered Nanyue to the Han Dynasty, and Liu Chan of Shu Han also served in the Jin Dynasty. In modern times, Xiao Cong's family still exists today. Turning misfortune into fortune has always been a common practice."

"If I surrender, what official title can Li Yuan grant me?"

Hao Yuan sighed, "Your Majesty, what Chu Liang said is wrong. In the past, Emperor Gaozu of Han suffered repeated defeats, and the first ruler of Shu lost his wife and children. Victory and defeat are common in the military. How can we surrender our country because of a temporary setback?"

Xue Ju was bewildered, saying, "I raised an army in Longyou, but now I am trapped. I cannot capture Jingzhou, and cannot enter the Guanzhong Plain in one fell swoop. I cannot take Lingwu either, so I cannot join forces with Liang Shidu, and I cannot borrow troops from the Turks.

Now we are trapped in Changcheng City, the morale of the soldiers is low, and the army's food and fodder are almost gone. What can we do?"

Saying,

Xue Ju suddenly had a splitting headache and vomited violently.
Ministers such as Chu Liang and He Yuan discovered that the emperor was vomiting blood.

"Imperial Physician,"

A doctor was brought in, but he was helpless in the face of the emperor's condition.

"It's just malaria, and you haven't been able to cure it for so long. You good-for-nothing, what's the point of keeping you here? Take you out and behead you."

Chu Suiliang, son of Chu Liang and a clerk in charge of affairs, said, "Your Majesty, I heard that Li Shimin also contracted malaria in Changwu. He was very ill. Even after the military physician gave him medicine, he vomited violently. Later, Li Shimin took a Taoist elixir. After only two days, he felt better. He even led his troops to attack our army in the middle of the night..."

"How could there be such a miracle drug in the world?" Hao Yuan was unconvinced. "Even if malaria is mild, it takes at least a month of medication to get better. If it's serious, it may take even half a year to heal."

"Prime Minister Hao, this is true. Recently, our army captured some Tang soldiers and civilians. They all said so, and they even said it with details. They said that the elixir came from a young Taoist named Wu Yi, and the elixir was originally made by his master, Master Li.

Before Li Shimin went to war, he met the Taoist Wuyi at the Du family's house in Fanchuan. Wuyi was only sixteen years old, but he was good at face reading. He told Li Shimin that he was about to face a disaster. Later, he gave Li Shimin a pot of elixir.
Unexpectedly, he contracted malaria in Changwu, and his condition became serious. The more the imperial physicians treated him, the worse his condition became. At this critical moment, Li Shimin remembered the elixir given by Taoist Wuyi, so he took it. Sure enough, he felt better the next day and was able to mount his horse and launch a surprise attack in the middle of the night.

Everyone was stunned for a while.

Everyone knows that Chu Liang and his father are excellent calligraphers and writers, but no one expected that Chu Suiliang was also such a good storyteller.

But since these came from the mouths of captured Tang army prisoners, they were inevitably true to some extent.

"Could there really be such a miracle cure for malaria?" Xue Ju asked, "Li Shimin was indeed absent during the battle at Qianshuiyuan, otherwise we might not have had a chance of winning. But he reappeared at Changwu City, so perhaps this is the case. It's a pity that I don't have this miracle cure."

He Yuan suggested, "We can send scouts from the army to disguise themselves and sneak into Chang'an to find Wu Yi. We can either kidnap him or steal the elixir."

"As long as Wu Yi is willing to come, I will appoint him as the fifth-rank official of the Shangyao Bureau. If he can cure my illness, I will give him five hundred taels of gold."

"If this boy refuses to come, and I can bring him here by abducting him, I will reward him with a hundred taels of gold and promote him three ranks."

Chu Liang and Chu Suiliang, father and son, returned to their residence.

The father and the daughter sat opposite each other in the study.

"Xue Ju is going to die." Chu Liang said.

Chu Suiliang agreed, "Looking at his condition, even if Chang'an Wuyi really has a magic pill to cure malaria, I'm afraid it's too late."

"Once Xue Ju died, the Qin Dynasty collapsed."

Both father and son were not optimistic about the powerful Crown Prince Xue Rengao. Xue Rengao led his troops to attack Ningzhou, but he couldn't even defeat a civil servant like Hu Yan.

What's more, Xue Rengao has always been cruel and bloodthirsty. He is brutal to his enemies and harsh to his subordinates. Most of the Qin army generals have a bad relationship with this prince.

In fact, even the father and son Chu Liang and Chu Suiliang were in Cao's camp but their hearts were with Han, so they had no choice but to submit to Xue Ju.

Back then, Zhu Liang was appointed as the Minister of the Palace of Shangshu in the Southern Chen Dynasty. After the fall of Chen, he entered the Sui Dynasty as a scholar of the Eastern Palace. Later, he was a doctor of Taichang in the Daye Dynasty. He was implicated in Yang Xuangan's rebellion and demoted to the Sihu of Xihai County. Xue Ju raised an army and forcibly recruited him.

At that time, many people in Longyou were conscripted, such as Yu Li, the son of the literary master Yu Xin. Xue Ju summoned Yu Li, but Yu Li refused. Xue Rengao simply tied him up, put him on a rack and burned him, then cut off some of his flesh for his soldiers to eat.

Many people, including Chu Liang and his son, were frightened by Xue Rengao's brutal methods, and then Xue Ju gave them official positions and titles to win them over, and they surrendered.

But deep down, many people did not really support Xue Ju and his son.

It's just that I have no choice.

Chu Liang sighed, "Li Shimin contracted malaria, but he was able to get a magic pill and get better in two days, and then he was able to turn the tide in a night attack. However, Xue Ju contracted malaria, which made his current decline even worse. It really seems like God wants him to die."

"Then what should we do?" Chu Suiliang asked his father.

"We are civil officials. This war has nothing to do with us. Perhaps within a hundred days, we can return to Chang'an."

"Can the Tang Dynasty accept us?"

"I used to have a good relationship with Li Yuan in the court. Now, Li Yuan only controls Guanzhong and Hedong. If we submit to him now, he will surely be happy to accept us and grant us official titles. Just wait."

Chu Liang spread out a piece of paper and pressed it with a paperweight.

"I've never heard of that Taoist Wuyi and his master, Li Zhenren, when I was in Beijing. I only knew of the Medicine King Sun Simiao in Zhongnan Mountain, but never heard of Li Zhenren."

Chu Suiliang ground ink for his father and said, "I have been interrogating the captured Tang soldiers, civilians and common people every day recently. There are many rumors about this Wu Yi. This man is only sixteen years old. He can not only read faces, but also has magic pills. He even opened a school and wrote a very good enlightenment article, the Three Character Classic.
Man is born good...”

Chu Liang exclaimed, "This boy is extraordinary. He actually refused Li Yuan's offer of an official position.
But if what you said today causes him to be harmed by Xue Ju's men or captured, you will be doing him a disservice."

"My son is a little regretful now." Chu Suiliang smiled, "I hope he's okay. Xue Ju's men might not succeed if they go to Chang'an. I'll go to his house and apologize when I get back to Chang'an. But I heard he also has excellent calligraphy. It's the thin tendon style created by his master. Li Shimin once said that the Wuyi thin tendon style is comparable to the calligraphy of Ouyang Xun and Yu Shinan. My son regrets that he hasn't seen this thin tendon style yet."

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(End of this chapter)