992 The Old Emperor and the Minister that Hides Behind the Shadows (1/2)

Chapter 992 – The Old Emperor and the Minister that Hides Behind the Shadows

Battle Map, Luoyang.

Di Chen and the others led their men outside of Luoyang City. Learning that Tong Pass had already been taken down, Di Chen smiled as he said to them, ”Even Gaia is standing on our side this time. Let's see what that old fox can do.”

'Haha.'

Chun Shenjun and the others laughed. Being able to win against Ouyang Shuo once in the Battle Map had great meaning to then, and it was able to raise their confidence.

Di Chen said, ”After I meet An Lushan, we will lead our troops to take down Chang An and not give the old fox a chance.”

”That's right!” Xiong Ba said.

With the 300 thousand army to rely on, Di Chen and the others did not even have An Lushan in their eyes. The moment the Yanhuang Alliance Army landed in Luoyang, the decisions that the An Lushan camp would make was up to them.

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Chang An, east outskirts.

Since Ouyang Shuo was going into the city to meet Tang Xuanzong, he did not need to go through the entire Chang An city. In truth, if he entered through the east city gate, the first building cluster on the right side was the Xingqing Palace.

Xingqing Palace was Tang Xuanzong's residence when he was the King Fan. After he ascended, it was expanded to become one of the three palaces of the city. The other two were the Taiji Palace and the Taiming Palace.

During the Kaiyuan and Tianbao years, the Xingqing Palace was the administrative center of the Tang Dynasty and was where Tang Xuanzong and Yang Guifei lived. After the An Lushan rebellion, Xingqing Palace lost its position as the administrative center and became where the empress occasionally lived.

In the Xingqing hall, Ouyang Shuo met Tang Xuanzong and the minister Yang Guozong.

As the longest serving emperor of the Tang Dynasty, Li Longji was 72 years old. His hair was white, and his skin was loose. His body far was from before, and he was not as majestic as when he was young.

Time was a grinding stone, soundless and invisible.

Li Longji was able to restructure his empire when he was young, expanding quickly and spreading his fame, fulfilling his ambitions in several decades.

As an emperor who stood at the top, Li Longji was able to run the difficult country well in the 20 years since he ascended, bringing peace to everyone. Administrative matters were efficient, and many countries came over to visit. What ruler in three generations could do that?

Despite the talents of Qin Shihuang, and the intelligence of Hanwu Emperor, neither was able to create such a prosperous scene. Hence, at the peak of his life, when he looked at the list of over 70 countries who came over from afar to visit, Li Longji felt really satisfied.

At the same time, he also felt really tired.

Normally speaking, it was rare for one to live till 70 during this time. It was all the more rare for an emperor to live till 70. After all, working so hard in the day, beauties using up your strength at night, it was a miracle if one did not die after a few decades.

Li Longji had created a miracle. Although he was busy before 50 years old, he took time to have 30 sons and 29 girls.

An Lushan's rebellion made Li Longji really sad and tired.

Li Longji loved and treated An Lushan really well. He gave him the officials he wanted, money, troops, and fame.

Let us raise a few examples.

When An Lushan moved over to Chang An, Li Longji had previously invited a few ministers to play football together. However, to make An Lushan happy, he specially ordered to postpone the football game and ordered the ministers to attend An Lushan's feast.

During the time that An Lushan was in Chang An, every time Li Longji ate a delicious food or hunted a rare delicacy, he would send someone to send it to An Lushan.

To put it simply, Li Longji was not as caring to his own son.

Surprisingly, due to him recognizing Yang Guifei as his god mother, An Lushan could enter the palace as he wished to talk to Yan Guifei and have meals with her.

The outside world spread the news that there was something going on between them but the god father did not care. Facing such treatment and kindness, even a beast would have some feelings, right?

However, An Lushan still revolted.

Losing Tong Pass had crushed Li Longji's psychological defenses. He now wished to flee from Chang An to Shu Lands to avoid all of this and live in the accompaniment of beauties as he lived out the rest of his life.

Yang Guozhong was only 40 odd years old, and at this time he was still really energetic. His sister Yang Yuhuan had looks that could take down cities while his looks were not that far off. However, his face was filled with anxiousness and fear.

Based on history, this minister who stepped on Li Linfu to climb up would quickly reach the end of his life.

Objectively, no matter how scheming Li Linfu was and how much he abused his power, he should not be able to damage the country. However, due to his tricks, be it the officials or the generals, he was able to cover them and make them yield.

This was similar to Yan Song, who joined Great Xia not long ago.

An Lushan was loved by the emperor and did not even place the other officials and generals in his eyes. He was only respectful toward Li Linfu, and he was both respectful and afraid of him.

Meeting him, even in the cold seasons, An Lushan would break out in cold sweat that would soak his attire.