Chapter 546 Imperial Mind

Pang Fei asked Qin Mubai what he wanted to know, and Qin Mubai asked--

"Do you have any definite news about King Wu?"

"No." Pang Fei shook his head in embarrassment, and his answer made Qin Mubai a little disappointed.

Qin Mubai frowned and said, "Is the king of Wu really assassinated?"

Pang Fei replied, "After hearing about this, I immediately sent my confidant to secretly investigate the place where the crime happened in Jingzhou. As a result, the Jingzhou government blocked the news very tightly. I only know that the court sent Chu Suiliang to investigate the case in person. In addition, there was a survivor accompanied by the King of Wu, that is, the lieutenant of the army of the King of Wu, Yin Yang!"

"Yin Yang?" The news surprised Qin Mubai a little. He said, "I know him very well. At first, Yuwen Hongtai, who was still him, and I worked together in the Wu Palace, which was also a good friendship. So where is he now?

"I don't know." Pang Fei shook his head, "It is possible that he will still stay in Jingzhou, or he may return to Chang'an with Chu Suiliang. The people I sent tried their best to find out in Jingzhou, but it was difficult to find out any valuable information, let alone contact with Yin Yang's people who knew the case.

Qin Mubai touched his chin and fell into meditation. After a long time, he said, "Did Chang'an send someone?"

"I'm gone, but I haven't come back yet." Pang Fei looked embarrassed and lowered his voice a little, "After the case of King Wu, all the passages from Kansai to the customs have been strengthened on vigilance and passers-by have been closely checked. In particular, all the officials and generals under the governor's office of Lanzhou are very difficult to go to the customs, and they have to be under layers of scrutiny, just like supervising prisoners. Therefore, I guess that the person I sent to Chang'an to inquire about the news did not come back so soon.

"What do they mean?" Qin Mubai couldn't help but be a little annoyed, "Did you treat my Kansai Army and the Governor's Office of Lanzhou as a thief?"

Pang Fei sighed and said, "There is one more thing if I tell my teacher, he will definitely be more angry when he hears it..."

"Tay!"

"I have several colleagues who were born in Baiqi together, and their teachers also know each other. They work in the military government of Longzhou, Jingzhou and Qizhou in the western Xinjiang area. We often have letters and exchanges, and we have a very good relationship. Pang Fei said, "Not long after the case of the King of Wu, someone told me in a secret letter that the court had issued a decree to gather the soldiers of most of the military government in Guanzhong and go to Chang'an to strengthen the garrison. In addition... The Ming Zeng posts in the western Xinjiang area are secretly investigated, which is vaguely intended to guard against our Kansai army!"

Hearing Pang Fei's words, Qin Mubai's heart was half cold.

However, Pang Fei also said that all this was just "hidden", which is not enough to prove it. Qin Mubai has always been calm and did not have an attack. He just said lightly, "You can't have a guard against others. We are not afraid of shadows, let them go! - However, since the court has made such a reaction, I feel that the current situation of the King of Wu is not optimistic. Either he has been assassinated, but the court strictly locks the news and does not send it; or it is the court itself that has a big problem and has made such an emergency response to prevent the turmoil in Kyoto!"

"The turmoil in Kyoto?" Pang Fei blinked his eyes and said, "In fact, rumors stop at the wise man. As long as there is the backbone of His Majesty the Emperor in the court, it will not be chaotic. In addition, even if the king of Wu really has any accident, as long as he finds out the truth and catches the murderer to the world, and then appeases all parties, there will be no big trouble. Although we don't have the exact news about Chang'an yet, I have an ominous hunch that the grass and trees are all soldiers from Western Xinjiang to Guannei..."

"Do you think something happened to the emperor?" A touch of light appeared in Qin Mubai's eyes.

"That's the business!" Pang Fei whispered in surprise, "Unless there is something wrong with His Majesty the Emperor, the owner of the court will look so nervous and chaotic!"

Qin Mubai frowned, and his face looked more cold. He nodded and said in a low voice, "If this is the case... Then my country of the Tang Dynasty will really be in chaos!"

Seeing Qin Mubai's face, Pang Fei took a deep breath of cold air! - Looking at his situation, he was not only preparing to make a "response" of emergency self-help against these actions of the court!

"As you said, no matter what the life and death of the King of Wu is, no matter how rumors spread, as long as His Majesty the emperor is still presiding over the court, there will be no danger." Qin Mubai said seriously, "But if the emperor falls down and ignores political affairs, the power of the court will definitely fall into the hands of the king of Wei and Changsun Wuji and others!" ... Such a situation will be very unfavorable to us!"

Pang Fei's expression also tightened and said, "In addition, there are rumors about the teacher now. I'm very worried that someone in the court will play a role because of this, and they will attack us sooner or later!" Because if the king of Wu is gone, the future prince and emperor will undoubtedly be the king of Wei. Well, the first stumbling block to be eradicated is the mentor and these people of our Kansai Army!"

"But - what if the King of Wu is not dead?" Qin Mubai asked a rhetorical question.

Pang Fei was stunned for a moment and didn't know how to answer. He hesitated, "That's another situation. But looking at the current situation, even if the king of Wu is not dead, he must have hid in Chang'an, or was kidnapped and lost his freedom! Otherwise, why does Chang'an have to be so wary against me in Kansai?"

"Smart!" Qin Mubai nodded and praised, "Pang Fei, you are getting stronger and stronger now, and the analysis is very reasonable. That's right. If the King of Wu was ambushed but did not die, then Jingzhou would not be guilty of blocking the news so tightly. Therefore, Chang'an will not be the current scene of wind and cranes. There are only two possibilities for this. First, the king of Wu is dead; second, even if the king of Wu is not dead, he is still missing! Even the people in the court, including the emperor, don't know where the King of Wu is!"

"That's right. This explanation is reasonable." Pang Fei said, "If the king of Wu has any shortcomings, it is easy to remind people of how his mentor will react, so the court will take strict precautions against our Kansai army!"

Qin Mubai's eyes narrowed. In the cracks of the eyes, a touch of murderous air faintly overflowed.

"Gively take precautions?" Qin Mubai said word by word, "I, Qin, am a meritorious minister loyal to the Tang Dynasty. When did I become a traitor?"

"Oh..." Pang Fei sighed helplessly and said, "Teacher, hundreds of thousands of soldiers in the Kansai Army, including all the officials and people in Lanzhou, are all loyal to the Tang Dynasty. Over the years, we have been born and died here in Lanzhou. How many brothers have been blood stained with yellow sand and buried in the battlefield; and how many people have sacrificed their husbands and children to support our army? When we went through hardship to defeat the strong enemy and open up the territory for the Tang Dynasty, the court guarded us like a thief... 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 powerful people to investigate the whereabouts of the King of Wu in the customs and inquire about the direction of the court; second, Zhang Bang showed the people and told all the soldiers and civilians under the governor's office of Lanzhou that I had conquered the Western Regions and returned triumphantly! Then prepare to hold a celebration conference in Lanzhou Dadufu, inviting all officials with more than seven grades under the jurisdiction of the governor's office to participate with representatives of the gentry. Let me think about the rest of the matter.

"Okay, the students will do it right away." Pang Fei answered Nuo. Although he was anxious, since Qin Mubai had come back, Lanzhou had the backbone. He also had a bottom in his heart and was no longer so hesitant. He knew that Qin Mubai had always disliked to show off. The reason why he specially held a "celebration party" this time was to show his loyalty to the court to officials from all walks of life in Lanzhou and smash rumors in the market to stabilize the hearts of the people.

As long as Lanzhou is not chaotic and things outside, Pang Fei believes that Qin Mubai can solve it.

After getting a general understanding of some information from Pang Fei and ordering several incidents, Qin Mubai was ready to leave the barracks. When he left, he deliberately looked around the barracks and felt good. When he left Lanzhou for a long time, the general's political power was handed over to Pang Fei's agent. This boy seemed to work very hard. 70% of the 100,000 troops left in Lanzhou are new troops. After this period of training, they have been very popular, and their spirit is also very sufficient, which is a good inheritance of the hard work of the Kansai Army.

Looking at the army in front of him, Qin Mubai couldn't help thinking that there were 100,000 troops in Lanzhou, plus the 300,000 troops in the rear Xue Rengui and Yuwen Hongtai returning, Lanzhou will soon have 400,000 troops, and it is an elite division that has gone through a hundred battles!

From another perspective, if you are the emperor and a courtier, it is really 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 the Tang Dynasty in recent years, and most of the soldiers and horses in the mainland have been transferred to the frontier battlefield. Now the customs are empty, and all the soldiers and horses add up to at most half of the number of the Western army!

Moreover, in addition to some elite recruits of the imperial guard of the imperial city, even if the number of other idle soldiers is huge, how can they be compared with the tiger and wolf division of the Kansai Army, which has experienced bloody battle?

If Kansai really wants to rebel, Chang'an may not be able to stand it!

Thinking of this, Qin Mubai frowned and raised doubts in his heart. He secretly said: With Li Shimin's wisdom, since he knows that the military strength of Chang'an and Kansai is so different, why do he put on a "anti-thief" style to stimulate me? Isn't it easier to break my heart and force me back? Although I will not naively think that Li Shimin is a saint and will never be afraid of his ministers and achievements, with his always wrists and style, it is the best strategy to appease and praise me for being added to the title at this time, and then call me, a great meritorious minister, to Beijing to "surve the king of Qin".

But why did the emperor play such a faintly stinky chess at this critical time?

"This is so unreasonable!" In Qin Mubai's heart, he raised such a startling question and continued to think, "This is really not like the emperor's usual wrist. I guess there are two possibilities for such a situation. First, Li Shimin suddenly fell ill and even died, and the power of the court fell into the hands of Changsun Wuji, Li Tai and others. They must be afraid that I will plead guilty to avenge Li Ke, so they first set up a defensive position for the strong. According to this analysis, it is very likely that Li Ke is really dead, and he died at the hands of these two people; the second possibility is... The emperor is testing me in an extremely dangerous and mean way!"

Thinking of this, Qin Mubai's heart was like a flash of lightning, which was both shocked and bright. He raised his eyebrows and said to himself, "If it is the first possibility, it can be said that the Tang Dynasty is really chaotic. Even if I, Qin, don't ask for guilt, the eldest grandson Wuji and Li Tai can't suppress the feudal officials and generals and marshals from other places. The world will be in chaos, and even fall into flames everywhere like the end of the Sui Dynasty. If so, I'm not afraid. The division of 400,000 tigers and wolves in Kansai is in hand, and the territory of thousands of miles in the Western Regions is the backing. In addition, Li Xun in Mobei and Li Daozong in Liaodong have a lot to do with me. Who can touch me? If it's the second possibility...then!!"

"Then Li Ke is not dead!"

"Li Shimin is testing my loyalty and human heart and bottom line of the Tang Empire! He wants to take advantage of the chaos to cut off some resistance and then make Li Ke the reserve, and make me the main leader of Li Ke's auxiliary and the Tang military in the future!"

Qin Mubai closed his sore eyes, raised his head, took a deep breath, and muttered to himself, "Just like Li Shimin treated Li Xun in history. After establishing Li Zhi, the cowardly son, as the crown prince, Li Shimin found a small crime and demoted Li Xun, the head of the military at that time, to the military power. Then wait for the prince to take office and then give Li Xun official a heavy responsibility to restore his position, so that the new king can show kindness to Li Xun for control. At the same time, it is also testing Li Xun's loyalty and bottom line. At that critical juncture, if Li Xun, who was unjustly demoted, can't calm down and complain, or does something else out of line, it means that Xinjun will definitely not be able to control him in the future, then Li Xun is a dead end! Li Shimin will definitely get rid of it quickly and cut off the future troubles for the future new king!"

"Is this the so-called, the great responsibility of the people from the sky?" Qin Mubai sighed deeply and muttered, "Is it that all this is just the emperor's heart skill?"