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Pugu Huaien reminded him: "There are also 5,000 Uyghur cavalry. The total is 55,000, with 20,000 horses... In fact, there are fewer than 10,000 cavalry. Each Uyghur soldier has one, two, or three horses, but they certainly will not lend them to us."
"Where is the bandit's strength?"
"The scouts report that Shi Chaoyi is in Luoyang, with Ashina Chengqing as his commander, and his troops number seventy to eighty thousand. However, we still need to defend against Li Luze (Li Baoyu, the military governor of Luze) in the north and Li Taiwei in the south. At most, he can only send fifty thousand men to defend against us."
Li Ji stroked his beard and pondered, "In that case, the enemy and I are evenly matched..."
Guo Yingyi said, “We must not be careless. The military governor of Suiyang appointed by Shi has 40,000 troops, while the military governors of Yejun, Hengyang, Boling, and Wuqing each have 10,000 to 20,000 troops. In addition, the military governor of Fanyang, Li Huaixian, is protecting their stronghold. If they continue to gather troops, the number will probably not be less than 200,000!”
Pugu Huaien waved his hand: "Xin Yunjing is in Hedong, ready to march east to Taihang at any time, so Zhang Zhongzhi and others will not dare to act rashly; as for Li Huaixian, Fanyang is too far away, how can he travel south to help? The only concern is Tian Chengsi, but he is on the southern route, so let Grand Commandant Li have a headache."
Li Ji nodded and said, "In that case, our army should fight quickly. If we delay too long, the Fanyang army may very well march south..."
“Of course we must fight quickly,” Pugu Huai’en laughed. “If we delay too long, we will run out of food and supplies. Whether it is our army or the enemy army, we will have to strip tree bark and eat dry grass.”
“Actually,” Li Ji frowned slightly, “with the three armies surrounding Luoyang, it wouldn’t be difficult to recapture it. If we could capture or kill the traitor Shi Chaoyi in one battle, then the overall situation would be settled. I only fear that Shi Chaoyi will flee to Hebei, gather troops to defend Xiang and Wei prefectures, and Li Huaixian will then send the Fanyang army south to reinforce him…”
Wei Boyu's face darkened, and he said in a low voice, "That's the situation in the second year of Qianyuan!"
Li Ji narrowed his eyes slightly and slowly said, "The defeat at Xiangzhou was not due to the incompetence of Lords Guo and Li, nor to the inability of the generals to fight..." As he spoke, he glanced at Pugu Huai'en, who had been present at the time—"but rather to someone who deceived his superiors and delayed military operations." He then slammed his right fist into his left hand: "If this traitor is not eliminated, I fear the defeat of the second year of Qianyuan will be repeated tomorrow!"
Chapter 51, Insubordination
As Li Ji spoke, he steered the conversation toward Yu Chaoen.
The defeat at Xiangzhou was not entirely Yu Chaoen's fault, but if the generals were to be ranked and assigned responsibility, he would certainly be first. At that time, the eleven military governorships did not have a commander-in-chief. Neither Guo Ziyi nor Li Guangbi could command the entire army. The only one who could speak up and no one dared to disobey was Yu Chaoen.
Although Yu Chaoen did not hold the title of commander-in-chief, he wielded the authority of one.
Shi Siming led his troops south and stationed them in Weizhou, ready to launch a surprise attack at any time. Li Guangbi had already raised this threat with Yu Chaoen, but Yu Chaoen ignored it, neither submitting a memorial to the court seeking a countermeasure nor ordering the troops to be on high alert. However, after the defeat, he shifted all the blame onto Guo Ziyi, ultimately forcing Guo Ziyi to leave the front line at Heyang.
Since then, Old Minister Situ spent two and a half of those three years sitting on the sidelines in the capital, and he remains so to this day.
Therefore, Li Ji's idea was that since the marshal was not going to the front lines but instead staying in Shanzhou, the generals at the front would still respect Yu Chaoen. If he made another mistake, it would inevitably repeat the defeat at Xiangzhou. Moreover, after the battle, who knew who would be blamed for the defeat!
He said this naturally, because everyone knew that Li Ji and Yu Chaoen were enemies. As for the Pugu father and son, when Yu Chaoen instructed Li Guangbi to murder Li Ji, forcing Li Ji to flee the Tang camp, both of them were in the Heyang army and quickly learned the whole story. Pugu Yang privately cursed Yu Chaoen, and Pugu Huai'en also said, "Grand Commandant Li is still incompetent. If Minister Guo were here, this wouldn't have happened!"
For Wei Boyu, he had personally witnessed Li Ji chasing Yu Chaoen through the palace with a knife, all the way to Emperor Suzong Li Heng's presence. Moreover, after Zhang Xun's death, Yu Chaoen wanted to sever the garrison in Luoyang, forcing Nan Jiyun, Lei Wanchun, and others to stage a military remonstrance with the memorial tablet, a move that Wei Boyu had secretly instigated. Now, Nan and Lei were both under Li Ji's command, and supposedly even friends. So, even if it was just to avenge a friend, Li Ji wouldn't easily let Yu Chaoen go.
Only Guo Yingyi had only heard about the aforementioned events—but that was enough for her to understand the deep-seated grudge between the two.
Li Ji then berated Yu Chaoen, but Pugu Yang, a brainless man, chimed in first: "What Erlang is worried about is not unreasonable. That fellow has indeed slandered Minister Guo, and we all hate him for it!"
Pugu Huai'en repeatedly winked at his son, but Pugu Yang remained oblivious and continued, "Since the rebellion began, the government army has suffered several defeats, all due to the supervising eunuchs. Moreover, Yu Chao'en is not even a supervising eunuch of a particular town, but rather an inspector of military appearance and pacification commissioner. Although not the commander-in-chief, he is in real control of the entire army..." He pointed at Pugu Huai'en and said, "My father's position as deputy commander of Hebei is nominal, and Li Taiwei's position as deputy commander of Henan is also nominal. In the north and south of the Yellow River, Yu Chao'en can make decisions with a single word, which is truly detrimental to the army's operations."
Pugu Huai'en immediately rebuked him, saying, "You brat, don't speak nonsense!"
Li Ji glanced sideways at Pugu Huai'en and smiled slightly: "So even the deputy commander is afraid of Yu Chao'en?"
Pugu Huai'en, unable to withstand the provocation, immediately retorted, "What are you saying, Erlang? In the army, I only fear... no, I admire Minister Guo. I don't even care about Grand Commandant Li. How could I be afraid of a spineless coward like him? But even a crow can become a phoenix when it wears colorful clothes. Since he has been appointed as the envoy to inspect the army and to deliver orders on behalf of the emperor, how can we not obey?"
Li Ji spread his hands: "If we obey orders, then we will suffer defeat at Xiangzhou. Do you all really want the government army to suffer another defeat at the gates of Xiangzhou? Besides, Yu Chaoen is now in charge of the rearguard. He only needs to tamper with the supplies a little, and we will be defeated even if we don't want to be!"
As he spoke, he stood up and bowed deeply to Pugu Huai'en: "Yu Chao'en has wanted to kill me for a long time, but I fear that tomorrow I will implicate Lord Pugu..."
Pugu Huai'en's eyes widened, and he roared, "How dare he?! If Yu Chao'en tries to harm Erlang again, or delays the grain transport, I will risk my life to return to the Marshal and ask him to take the head of that eunuch!"
He then glanced at Wei Boyu and Guo Yingyi: "What did you two say?"
Wei Boyu thought to himself, "What are you doing? Taking sides? I'm going to be in the middle with you, Pugu Huaien. If Yu Chaoen, who's in the rear, tries anything, I'll be in the same boat. We're tied together, do you think I'm going to doubt you?" He immediately cupped his hands and said, "I will obey Pugu's orders."
Guo Yingyi was somewhat embarrassed, because according to the plan, he was supposed to cover the rear with Yu Chaoen; especially since Yu Chaoen didn't actually have many troops under his direct command, and Guo Yingyi was the strongest in terms of rear support—of course, strength doesn't necessarily equate to influence. If Li Ji's words came true, helping him would surely offend Yu Chaoen, but if he didn't help, would Pugu Huai'en and the others let him off the hook in the future?
He could only wave his hand and say, "Why must it be like this... Although the Marshal is not at the front lines, he is still in Shanzhou and will surely be able to restrain Yu Junrong..."
Li Ji sneered, "What's the difference between Shanzhou and Chang'an? Li Xi was once a marshal, how could he possibly restrain Yu Chaoen?" He then looked at Pugu Huai'en, "Since we know it's a malignant tumor, how can we not cut it out and wait for it to fester? By then, the army will be defeated, and we don't even know if we'll have the chance to come back and seek revenge on Yu Chaoen!"
Wei Boyu felt he roughly understood Li Ji's true intention in inviting him today, so he asked, "Does Defense Commander Li mean that the generals jointly petition to dismiss Yu Chaoen?"
Li Ji shook his head: "It's difficult. It's obvious that the marshal can't make the decision. If we jointly submit a memorial to the court, it will take several days for the process to proceed. The army will have to set off as soon as possible to have any hope of successfully recovering Luoyang."
Pugu Yang asked, "What does Erlang intend to do?"
Li Ji smiled sinisterly: "Suddenly, I remembered an old friend..."
"who is it?"
"Li Fei Gong".
He claimed to be Li Feiyuanli. After the Battle of Heyang, Li Feiyuanli was appointed as the military governor of Zhenxi and Beiting, stationed in Yicheng, where he was killed by a mutiny of his soldiers.
In the past year or two, such heinous incidents have occurred one after another, including the murder of Deng Jingshan, the military governor of Hedong, Li Guozhen, the commander of the various military camps in Shuofang and other regions, and Li Zangyong, the prefect of Chuzhou, all by their subordinates. However, the situation of the Zhenxi and Beiting military camps is the most special and worth discussing.
Firstly, Li Feiyuanli had met and knew Li Ji when he was in Heyang, so it would be too unnatural for Li Ji to suddenly bring up someone he had never met before; secondly, when Guo Ziyi pacified Hedong, the murderers of Deng Jingshan and Li Guozhen did not have good ends, but the Zhenxi and Beiting armies, after killing Li Feiyuanli, unanimously elected the subordinate general Bai Xiaode as the military governor, and the court actually recognized it...
The fact that the garrison troops established their own military leaders was an extremely bad precedent. When Li Ji mentioned this matter to Li Bi in the past, he couldn't help but feel deep resentment towards Li Heng and Li Fuguo.
Now that Li Ji has brought up the example of Li Feiyuanli, the Pugu father and son, being slow-witted, hadn't quite grasped it when Wei Boyu exclaimed in alarm, waving his hand: "Does Defense Commander Li intend to incite the generals to rebel? Absolutely not!"
Li Ji rolled his eyes: "How could I have such an intention? Duke Wei, you cannot slander someone's innocence for no reason!" Then he smiled wryly: "Back in Heyang, I did meet Bai Xiaode once. He was just a minor officer, but I never expected him to become a military governor..."
Guo Yingyi suddenly remembered something and asked, "I heard that Defense Commander Li accompanied the angel to Xiangyang to summon Lord Lai back, but the Xiangyang soldiers rebelled and besieged the post station where the angel was staying. Is this true?"
Li Ji nodded: "That's right." He then recounted the general events, and said: "Fortunately, I still have some martial arts skills, which allowed me to thwart the rebels' plot. If it had been Yu Chaoen, he might have died alongside the imperial envoy!" He paused, and then said: "Even so, since I killed Li Zhao, I was also forced to pardon Liang Chongyi. The rebel soldiers were only killed four or five ringleaders—I was afraid of another rebellion, and the country needed capable people, so I had to be cautious."
Upon hearing this, everyone looked at each other in bewilderment.
Li Ji's meaning was clear: he did want to incite the soldiers to besiege Yu Chaoen and force Li Shi or the court to dismiss him. With Bai Xiaode and Liang Chongyi as examples, he believed that there wouldn't be any serious consequences—at most, a few scapegoats would be pushed out.
But he wouldn't say it outright, because if he did, it would give others ammunition to criticize him.
Guo Yingyi said angrily, "For a soldier to offend his general, for an inferior to a superior, is a grave taboo! If this precedent is set, the order of the country will be lost. Even if the rebels in Guandong are successfully suppressed, chaos will surely break out again! Commander Li must not take such a bad approach because of the precedent set by the Xiangyang troops!"
Li Ji replied, “It is indeed a great taboo for a soldier to offend a general, and for a subordinate to defy a superior. However, there are precedents, and the court has been unable to control it. As for your suggestion to stir up trouble again, we cannot even quell the current unrest in Guandong. Who can worry about the future? If my suggestion is the worst option, please tell me, Lord Guo, what are the best and second-best options?” He bowed and said, “I humbly request Lord Guo to teach me.”
Guo Yingyi was speechless.
Li Ji then asked Wei Boyu, "Today we've invited you all here for tea and casual conversation, so there's no need for any reservations. But what if the troops are all dissatisfied with Yu Chaoen's actions and start a disturbance on their own? What would you do, Lord Wei?"
"Naturally, depending on the situation, one may send troops to suppress it or offer kind words of persuasion."
"When Nan Jiyun and Lei Wanchun carried the memorial tablet of Doctor Zhang to remonstrate with Yu Chaoen, did Duke Wei suppress them or persuade them to reconsider?"
Wei Boyu was slightly taken aback, then flicked his sleeve and said, "When they entered Shaanxi City without weapons, they were asking for permission, not causing trouble, so why suppress them?"
Li Ji nodded: "I see. If the troops go there armed, it will be considered a rebellion, and it will need to be suppressed." He paused, then asked: "May I ask, Lord Wei, if I am taken hostage by the soldiers and cannot remove my sword and mace in time, what will you do?"
Wei Boyu, pressed to his limit by the questioning, was about to rebuke Li Ji—"What 'what if' or 'suppose'? Are you trying to force me to take sides?!"—when he suddenly heard Pugu Yang shout from the side, "Regardless of what Erlang did, I'm on Erlang's side!"
Pugu Huai'en cursed his son inwardly, thinking him a complete fool. Faced with such a problem, everyone else would shrink back, but he had to step forward and speak up. If Pugu Yang hadn't spoken, he could have continued to feign ignorance, but since his son had taken the lead, the father couldn't remain silent. Therefore, he slowly said, "If Erlang truly has his reasons, we are helpless, but we will never turn against Erlang with arms..."
I'll sit on the sidelines and watch you make a fuss.
Li Ji smiled: "That's for the best. The troops are all dissatisfied with those eunuchs. If something truly unspeakable happens, I, Li, will have no choice but to..." A sudden glint flashed in his eyes: "Yu Chaoen has wanted to kill me for a long time. Who is willing to sit idly by and wait to die? At worst, I'll exchange my blood for his head! I only hope it won't implicate you gentlemen..."
He said that all the armies were dissatisfied with Yu Chaoen, and there was truth to that. His subordinates, such as Nan Jiyun and Lei Wanchun, naturally hated Yu Chaoen to the bone. As for the Xiangyang soldiers, all they had to do was spread rumors that the court's recall of Lai Zhen was entirely due to Yu Chaoen's slander. Presumably, Liang Chongyi would be the first to jump out and declare that he was irreconcilably opposed to that eunuch.
Yu Chaoen was often in Shanzhou, and he treated the soldiers of Shanguo like servants. There were many dissatisfied people in the Shanguo army. Otherwise, Wei Boyu would not have let Nan Jiyun, Lei Wanchun and others off the hook that day and told them to go to Yu Chaoen to demand an explanation.
As for the Shuofang Army, Guo Ziyi was summoned back to the capital due to Yu Chaoen's slander. Although Pugu Huaien later flirted with Yu Chaoen to counter Li Guangbi, it was merely mutual exploitation, far from being truly allies. Only the Tonghua Army, led by Guo Yingyi, seemed to have no grudge against Yu Chaoen, but it's only natural for soldiers to be hostile towards the supervising eunuch.
Although Li Ji arrived in Shanzhou last, his spies had already been dispatched long ago!
Therefore, he asked the generals to state their position—"I want to deal with Yu Chaoen, will you help me or not?" After Pugu Huaien indicated that he could stand by and watch, Wei Boyu had no choice but to bow his head and say the same thing: "I will obey Pugu's orders." Guo Yingyi remained silent, so Li Ji added two more sentences: "The so-called 'law does not punish the masses.' Moreover, if there are any rebels under your command, I fear that you will not be able to escape responsibility in the future."
Then he bowed deeply again: "If I have been implicated in anything, I, Li Ji, apologize to you all in advance."
It's not that easy to completely stay out of it!
The "tea party" ended on a sour note—though everyone outwardly maintained the proper politeness. After leaving the Shannan East Circuit military camp, Pugu Yang asked his father, "Does Erlang really intend to fight Yu Guanchai to the death?" Pugu Huai'en sighed deeply, "Why must it come to this!"
Pugu Yang said, "If I were Erlang, I would also have no choice but to take this drastic measure—the fish scout is watching us from behind, his sword half-drawn. Who could feel safe fighting on the front lines?" He then lowered his voice and asked, "Would you like to lend Erlang a hand?"
Pugu Huai'en glared at him: "Don't act rashly!" Then he whispered a warning: "Secretly observe the situation first. When the time comes, obey my orders. You must not act recklessly." In truth, Pugu Huai'en was happy to see Li Ji succeed, to bring down Yu Chao'en, or even kill him outright. However, whether he himself could get involved, and how deeply he could get involved, was another matter...
Guo Yingyi, traveling with Wei Boyu, complained repeatedly: "This Inspector Li is far too irritable... Could it be that he has become arrogant because of the Emperor's and Marshal's favor, and even dares to... Should we hurry and report this to the Marshal?"
Wei Boyu did not answer, but stroked his beard, lowered his head and pondered in silence. Guo Yingyi asked three times before Wei Boyu finally said, "You may choose for yourself..." Then he slightly curled his lips, revealing an inscrutable smile.
Back in Ding'an, when Wei Boyu witnessed Li Ji chasing Yu Chaoen all the way to Emperor Suzong's presence, he thought to himself: "That little guy is doomed!" Who would have thought that Li Ji would not only escape unscathed, but would also become completely acquainted with Li Yu and his son, and even be regarded as a benefactor by Li Tan...
If Li Ji truly wanted the generals' assistance today, he could have spoken with them one by one in private. Why did he have to summon them all together and ask for their opinions? Especially since this was his first meeting with Guo Yingyi, and they had no prior acquaintance...
Chapter 52, Removing Your Military Power
Li Ji summoned the military governors of various towns and threatened to incite his soldiers to rebel, besiege or even kill Yu Chaoen. This matter could not be kept secret. By midnight, Li Shi and Yu Chaoen had both received the news.
Li Shi was extremely anxious and immediately ordered someone to summon Li Ji that very night to question him. The two closed the door and talked privately for a long time.
Yu Chaoen was furious and immediately slammed his fist on the table, shouting, "If Li Ji dares to defy his superiors, I will report to the Emperor and have this barbarian beheaded!"
But after finishing the rant, upon reflection, I couldn't help but feel a chill run down my spine.
Ultimately, although Li Ji had leaked information to the various military governors, he hadn't taken any concrete action yet. His accusations of harboring resentment and insulting his superiors weren't enough to bring him down. Not only did Li Yu and his son Li Shi deeply favor Li Ji, especially Li Bi behind him, but even as an ordinary military commander, having led eight thousand troops, with a major battle imminent, no one would dare or be willing to punish him for his words.
What can we do then? Just wait for Li Ji to come knocking on our door?
Li Jike made a harsh statement: "At worst, I'll give up my passion to make him die!" When Yu Chaoen recalled these words, the past events in Ding'an Xingzai flashed before his eyes, and his knees went weak, and he knelt down.
With Li Ji's martial prowess and the presence of enemies like Nan Jiyun and Lei Wanchun under his command, if they were to attack, he could easily defeat me without the help of his generals! If I were to mishandle the situation, that fellow might actually unleash a powerful mace and smash my head open!
What's the point of the court beheading Li Ji and displaying his head to the public if he's already dead? Why should I fight that kid to the death?
Terrified and trembling, after much thought, he decided to go to Li Shi and plead his case by clinging to his leg—Li Ji couldn't very well refuse to give Li Shi face, could he?
However, when he sent someone to inform the marshal—because it was too late to barge in and meet him directly—he received a reply saying that Li Shi was currently meeting with Li Ji. Yu Chaoen was both pleased and worried—the marshal had heard about this and would surely reprimand Li Ji severely, which would likely force the boy to stop; but he was also worried—he couldn't barge in now, he didn't want to face Li Ji again…
Anyway, I figured nothing would happen tonight, so I decided to get some rest and go see the marshal tomorrow morning. But I tossed and turned all night, unable to sleep. Every time I closed my eyes, I vaguely saw Li Ji approaching with his mace... When I woke up the next day, both of the eunuchs had dark circles under their eyes.
He went to see Li Shi again, but heard that the Uyghur general Di De had come to pay his respects that day. Li Shi got up early and went out of the city to meet him at the camp of the Shannan East Circuit Army...
Yu Chaoen knew that Di De and Li Ji were quite close. The other day, Di De had said that he would wait for Li Ji to come before crossing the river to see the Marshal, saving him two trips. Perhaps this was why Li Shi had made a special trip to the Shannan East Circuit military camp to meet Di De…
But could it be that Li Shi failed to persuade Li Ji to give up, and therefore went to his army to oversee things and prevent any unrest from happening?
Upon further reflection, it seems that Li Ji also holds some position as a Tu-tun-fa (a military post) among the Uyghurs. Perhaps he can incite the Uyghur troops to attack him together. Moreover... the current emperor's reliance on the Uyghurs is no less than that of his father. If Li Ji is given this additional halo, would the emperor dare not punish him with death even if he were to kill him?
No wonder that kid was so arrogant and domineering, daring to openly tell the generals: I'm going to slaughter Yu Chaoen!
Yu Chaoen became increasingly frightened as he thought about it, but he was at a loss for what to do. The key was that Li Shi was protecting him, so he couldn't make a move against Li Ji. Originally, the army's departure would have been a great opportunity to deal with Li Ji, although he hadn't originally planned to. However, Li Ji was also concerned about this and insisted on settling their old grudges before the eastern expedition.
Is it too late for me to beg Li Ji for forgiveness now?
After racking his brains repeatedly without finding a solution, he had no choice but to order someone to go and summon Zhou Zhiguang.
Yu Chaoen feared Li Ji for two reasons: first, the lingering psychological trauma of being expelled from the Ding'an imperial court; and second, the lack of troops under his command. After all, he was a military supervisor, not a garrison commander, and only had a few hundred personal guards. He originally had the authority to freely command the Shaanxi-Guo army, and even to coordinate with the Tonghua and Shuofang armies. However, following word of what others had said, although Pugu and his son, along with Wei Boyu, refused to explicitly side with Li Ji, they intended to remain neutral and observe from the sidelines…
As for Guo Yingyi's Tonghua Army, firstly, its combat strength is limited, and secondly... Yu Chaoen is not familiar with Guo Yingyi. The Tonghua Army was only recently established, and his influence has not yet extended there.
If all the military governors of the various towns stand idly by, do you think Guo Yingyi would be willing to rush over to their aid?
Therefore, Yu Chaoen also cultivated his own faction within the various armies, hoping to truly control a military force of his own. Previously, he had chosen Liu Xixian and used him to raise 4,000 Shence Army soldiers to defend Chang'an. Unfortunately, Liu Xixian was soon driven back to Shanzhou for refusing to submit to Empress Zhang. Not long ago, Liu Xixian was executed for treason, but fortunately, he was killed in the chaos of battle, not through public execution, thus preventing Yu Chaoen from being implicated.
Yu Chaoen returned to Shanzhou, originally intending to target Zhang Xun's garrison in Luoyang, but his plan was thwarted by the remonstrance of Nan Jiyun, Lei Wanchun, and others. He then had to find a suitable candidate within the Shan-Guo army, eventually recruiting Zhou Zhiguang.
Zhou Zhiguang was a native of Shanzhou. He was incredibly strong and skilled in archery and horsemanship. After joining the army, he rose through the ranks and became a deputy general. Wei Boyu was in charge of the Shence Army. His old subordinates were all from Longxi. He inevitably treated the local soldiers differently. Yu Chaoen took advantage of this and recruited Zhou Zhiguang as his right-hand man.
He summoned Zhou Zhiguang to inquire: "Can your troops be mobilized to protect me? With your martial arts skills, do you think you can defeat Li Ji?"
Zhou Zhiguang said with a wry smile, "How dare a lowly general like me mobilize troops without the orders of the commander?" He then comforted Yu Chaoen, "Defense Commander Li is just talking. I don't think he would really dare to come and offend the military."
Yu Chaoen thought to himself, "Come on, you have no idea how reckless Li Ji is... Although the little guy is actually quite cunning, he can get carried away with his emotions sometimes, and you never know what he might do. Especially now that Li Bi has returned to court, Li Ji is probably feeling emboldened... I wouldn't dare take that risk!"
With furrowed brows and a look of bewilderment, Zhou Zhiguang, eager to share his benefactor's burdens, suggested, "A Mr. Qingyuan has recently arrived in Shanzhou City. He possesses profound Taoist magic, is adept at predicting fortune and misfortune, and is omnipotent. I inquired with him the other day, and he knew my origins and background with a single touch, even stating that I would one day become a garrison commander… Since the military situation presents us with such perplexing matters, why not invite him for advice?"
Yu Chaoen, like a drowning man grasping at a straw, hurriedly said upon hearing this, "Alright, go quickly and invite this Mr. Qingyuan here for me."
Not long after Zhou Zhiguang left, he returned with Mr. Qingyuan. Yu Chaoen looked closely and indeed saw that he possessed an air of otherworldly refinement, unlike any ordinary person—perhaps not just a common charlatan? He bowed and invited him to sit, but Qingyuan shook his head and said, "I won't sit. As soon as I entered the hall, I saw black mist swirling around me. I fear that before long, this place will become a killing field..."
Upon hearing this, Yu Chaoen was greatly surprised and hurriedly asked, "What do you think of me, Mr. Ze?"
Qing Yuan glanced at his face and suddenly realized, "Ah, so the origin of this black aura was in observing his body!"
"Really?"
With a flick of his wrist, Qingyuan conjured a faint wisp of black energy in the air, one end connected to Yu Chaoen, the other swirling outwards. Upon seeing this, both Yu Chaoen and Zhou Zhiguang were terrified, speechless with astonishment.
As soon as Qingyuan appeared with black energy, he turned and walked towards the hall below. Yu Chaoen then realized what was happening, quickly rushed forward, bowed deeply, and said, "Sir, please don't leave... I beg you to save my life!"
At first, he was skeptical of the Taoist priest, but the fact that the man could even manifest invisible black energy was like that of a deity! He believed that as long as he sincerely prayed, he would surely receive some guidance.
Qingyuan glanced back briefly, then at Yu Chaoen, before slowly saying, "When I arrived, I saw a falcon swooping down to pounce on a wild rabbit. Seeing its impending doom, the rabbit suddenly flipped over and kicked the falcon with its hind legs. Although the rabbit was pecked, the falcon also fell to the ground, both injured. What a terrible thing to do! If the falcon had been more astute and fled earlier, wouldn't it have avoided a catastrophic disaster?"
"What the gentleman means is that I should give way..."