My older brother said I'm invincible.

Chapter 289 Capturing the Rebels
Yang Jian rode his horse, swaying and staggering along the road.

He turned to look at Li Xuanba, who was standing beside him, and asked, "General Li, what do you think we should do to capture those rebels who are connected with the thieves?"

Li Xuanba simply shook his head. "I have only recently returned to Luoyang. I know nothing of the rebellion, nor do I know how to arrest them."

On the other side, Qiao Ling laughed and said, "My lord, His Highness is giving you a chance to make a contribution!"

"His Majesty attaches great importance to this matter. If you, Lord Jun, say a few words, it will be considered a merit in front of His Majesty."

Yang Jian narrowed his eyes, his posture arrogant. "General Li, there are actually quite a few people who want to participate in this matter. Duke Xu sent someone to find me, saying he wanted a few people to work with me on this matter, and even gave me a lot of gifts, but I still refused him."

"Does the general know why?"

Li Xuanba shook his head. "I don't know."

"Because Duke Xu is getting old, the people I want to befriend are those who can help me achieve my goals in the future, the next Duke Xu."

"General Lang is the third son in his family. It's unlikely he'll obtain the position of Duke of Tang, but it's not without a chance to surpass it."

Li Xuanba slowly said, "Your Highness, it is a serious crime for a prince to privately associate with a general of the Imperial Guard."

"Hahaha, befriending the Imperial Guard generals?"

Yang Jian seemed to have heard something amusing. He pointed to the few attendants behind him and said, “Don’t be fooled by their obsequious manner, thinking they come from some humble family. Some of them are from the same background as Lang Jiang. Even the generals of the Twelve Guards like to keep their children by my side to work for me.”

"It's not that I look down on you, General. I've already befriended all the generals in the Imperial Guards, so why would I be afraid to befriend a mere general like you?"

Yang Jian said, "General, there is no need to be afraid. This is something that my father personally agreed to back then. He asked me to make friends with more talented people, and he will not punish you for this."

"Thank you for your high regard, Your Highness."

Yang Jian didn't ask him any more questions, but instead looked at the others behind him and asked them for their solutions.

These people were very enthusiastic and shared their opinions.

"Your Highness! Those people claimed to be Maitreya Buddha when they rebelled. General Li should lead men to search the city's inhabitants. Anyone who worships Maitreya Buddha must be colluding with the rebels!"

“Your Highness, they were all wearing white clothes at that time. You can search their homes. Anyone with white clothes in their house is colluding with thieves.”

"Your Highness, is there another day we can enter and leave the city?"

"Those who have criticized the government in the past should not be let off the hook either."

"Yes, those who linger on the road also have problems."

Their suggestions were varied and numerous, but they all sounded quite unreliable. If we followed their advice to arrest people, who knows how many people we would actually catch.

Yang Jian clearly didn't care much. With a wave of his hand, he handed the matter over to his trusted confidant.

The group arrived at the palace gates, and Yang Jian then reined in his horse.

He looked at the young Li Xuanba before him and instructed, "General, as the Prefect of Henan, I have many, many things to do. I can only entrust this task of finding the thieves to you and Qiao Jun. Please do your best."

Yang Jian gave a few instructions and then entered the palace, while Li Xuanba summoned the palace guards to prepare for the search.

This matter should have been handled by Yang Jian, but after he handed it over to his subordinates and Li Xuanba, he refused to show himself. Although Yang Jian trusted his subordinates, most of them were commoners without official positions, so in the end, Li Xuanba became the person in charge.

Li Xuanba still harbored some resentment towards the search for rebels.

However, this matter could not be refused outright, as the group that rebelled had all been killed by the King of Qi, and there was no one to interrogate.

Li Xuanba sent people to search various places, but they couldn't find any information about this group of rebels. It was as if they had appeared out of thin air. Li Xuanba could only try to identify these rebels, but he couldn't find out where they were from either. The coroner and other officials in charge of the matter told Li Xuanba that these people might not be from the same place because their appearances and heights differed too much. Li Xuanba investigated for four or five days, but made no progress.

Yang Jian's men were really getting restless.

That day, Li Xuanba was preparing to verify the identities of those people as usual when Qiao Lingze pulled him aside. Several other people were standing beside him. Qiao Lingze excitedly said, "My lord! We've found out that there are more than a dozen households in the eastern part of the city that worship Maitreya Buddha, and we've heard that they also have white clothes in their homes."

Li Xuanba said with a stern face, "There are many Buddhists in the capital, and quite a few worship Maitreya. Can we arrest people for that?"

Qiao Lingze's smile froze instantly, and he remained silent.

She Di Zhongqi, who was standing to the side, could no longer hold back. He said unhappily, "In your opinion, how are we supposed to find these rebels? His Majesty has been urging us to do this every day, but we have yet to find anything. Aren't you afraid that His Majesty will blame us?"

"I dare not fail to do my best in what Your Majesty has asked me to do, but you cannot arbitrarily arrest people just because Your Majesty urges you on. Isn't that a crime of deceiving the emperor?"

Li Xuanba refuted this.

She Dizhongqi dared not argue, but said angrily, "How can this be considered arbitrarily arresting people! His Highness Prince Qi trusts the General, which is why he entrusted this matter to the General. But so far, the General has not been able to arrest a single person. If the General continues to be so negligent, I will definitely report this to His Highness!"

Qiao Lingze smiled and said, "Don't do that, don't do that, my lord. Lord Shedi is just worried that His Highness will be reprimanded because of this. Please don't worry about it. We are not trying to deceive His Majesty, nor do we have the courage to do so. I just think that it would be better to arrest these worshippers first and interrogate them. If it is not them, we can release them. What's wrong with that?"

"I can't arrest people without any evidence."

She Di Zhongqi flew into a rage, "You scoundrel!"

Before he could finish speaking, several soldiers around him had already drawn their swords. She Dizhongqi was clearly unaware that Li Xuanba held a high position in the Imperial Guard. These soldiers respected brave and valiant men, and moreover, at Li Xuanba's suggestion, the Emperor had arranged for the Imperial Guard to rest in shifts, granting them leave. The soldiers were extremely grateful for this.

Even if Li Xuanba had never done these things, a commoner who reprimanded his general in front of his soldiers should still be killed.

Seeing these crude warriors draw their swords with fierce eyes, Qiao Ling quickly pulled She Di Zhongqi back, apologized to Li Xuanba with a smile, and then hurriedly left.

Li Xuanba said nothing, he just stared at them coldly.

When Qiao Lingze, She Dizhongqi, and the others returned to Yang Jian's side, Yang Jian was hosting a private banquet. Dancers were swaying their bodies seductively, and Yuwen Huaji was sitting to the side, bowing his head and toasting the King of Qi.

"It's not that I don't want to handle the matter concerning Duke Xu, but I'm powerless to do so. You can tell him when you get back."

"How dare I? How dare I? My father sent me here to inform Your Highness that he was indeed impetuous in what happened earlier. The investigation into the thieves is of great importance, and we cannot allow people to be placed in positions simply because of military merit. My father sent me here to apologize. Also, I hope Your Highness will not return the gifts I sent earlier; please keep them with you."

As the two were talking, Qiao Lingze and the others hurriedly walked in. They were about to speak, but when they saw Yuwen Huaji there, they dared not utter a word.

"What happened?"

"Your Highness, this Li Xuanba is an incorrigible fool. I can't persuade him or command his soldiers no matter what I do. He refuses to arrest people and doesn't respect Your Highness at all!"

Everyone began to complain, and even Qiao Lingze was filled with regret. "I shouldn't have advised His Highness to befriend such a person. Such a fool is utterly useless!"

Yang Jian remained completely unperturbed upon hearing this.

"If he can't command his soldiers, don't I have anyone here who can?"

"Why bother with him? Take some guests and go out to arrest people. Arrest as many as possible, at least a thousand households. Get it done quickly!"

Yang Jian said something, then suddenly remembered something, "Oh right, I heard that the Lu family in the west of the city has a daughter who is famous and may be related to thieves. Remember to bring her here for me to interrogate."

"If you have any other suspects, arrest them all as well, it doesn't matter how many."

"Here!"

(End of this chapter)