Chapter 471 The Prince

"Your Highness is too weak."

Yang Hui held a piece of bacon and put it to the tip of his nose and smelled it. He frowned with a look of disgust. He didn't know whether he disliked the bacon or Li Cong.

"Xue Bai killed so many people, which is tantamount to rebellion. Your Highness did not deal with him, but instead stepped forward to support him and beheaded Bian Lingcheng?"

"Don't forget, Xue Bai has always supported Li Cong as the crown prince."

The people gathered together to discuss today are all sons, nephews and sons-in-law of saints. The one who spoke at this time was Siqi King Li Zhen, who looked very similar to Li Longji. He sneered as he spoke, "Otherwise, how could Li Cong with that damn appearance?" Enter the East Palace?"

"They confiscated all the food stored in the city." Rongyang King Li Jue said leisurely: "Is it really to quell the rebellion?"

"I think those people are right. Xue Baicheng's mansion is very deep and his intentions are unpredictable."

Yang Hui couldn't help but feel filled with emotion when he heard this. He still remembered that when he first met Xue Bai, he was just a boy his wife bought back to play with. In the blink of an eye, he had become a powerful minister.

He chewed the bacon in his hand. He was too old and the food was tasteless. The food stored at home had been requisitioned. Every time the rations were distributed, there was very little meat. It was a pity to throw it away. Therefore, he could not help but feel resentful and said: "He has so much in his hands." Just forget about this life?"

"More than just forgetting it?" Li Zhen said: "I'm afraid Xue Bai will go further."

Yang Hui asked: "What? Do you still want to ban him?"

At this time, a eunuch came to deliver a message, saying that the saint had summoned them to the Forbidden Garden for a celebration banquet tonight.

"Celebrating?" Yang Hui was surprised, "Celebrating for what?"

"His Highness said that the rebels' plot to attack Chang'an was foiled, and I would like to congratulate you."

Yang Hui and Li Zhen looked at each other and said, "Sure enough..."

The Forbidden Garden is located to the north of Chang'an. It was originally the Daxing Garden of the Sui Dynasty. It covers a vast area and was a place for royal tours, hunting, and horse training. It also grew fruits, vegetables, poultry, and fish. In addition, the Sixth Army of Bei Ya was stationed in it, so it is also An important defensive base to protect the capital.

For example, when the rebels attacked Chang'an, they would rather attack the Chang'an City Wall than the Forbidden Garden because it is adjacent to the Wei River to the north, Chan River to the east, and Chang'an City to the southwest. There are twenty-four palaces in it.

This time the Qing Palace Banquet was held in the Wangchun Palace in the Forbidden Garden, east of the Daming Palace, adjacent to the city wall of the Forbidden Garden and very close to Guangtai Gate in the east.

When the princes and nobles arrived, they saw no singing or dancing, only the soldiers of the imperial army lined up neatly, flags flying, and the scene was grand and solemn.

"It doesn't look like a banquet," Li Zhen said, "but rather like a war."

Yang Hui licked his lips and said, "I haven't drank for several days, and I thought I could satisfy my craving today."

"Let's go."

There were a lot of people from the clan, hundreds of them. After everyone sat down, Li Cong just walked over. The scars on his face looked a bit ferocious in the sun, but it made people feel at ease at this time when Chang'an was under siege.

Li Cong was followed by several of his children, but what caught people's attention was that Xue Bai was also walking among them, which was particularly conspicuous.

At this glance, Li Zhen realized what the purpose of this so-called celebration banquet was to officially give Xue Bai a clan title. What was deplorable was that he, the Zong Zhengqing, was not informed of this matter in advance.

"Today is a family banquet, and it is also a celebration banquet. I invite all uncles and brothers to come, and I have some good news to announce to you!"

"Your Highness, the siege of Chang'an has not been lifted yet, and we are still hungry. May I ask if there is any good news?" Li Zhen asked loudly, deliberately trying to dismantle Li Cong.

He looks more like Li Longji, and he always looks down on Li Cong, who has a scratched face, and occasionally likes to make jokes like this that are not too excessive.

Li Cong was not angry either. He turned around, raised his hand and pointed at the Guangtai Gate in the distance, directing everyone to look at the Guangtai Gate in the distance and said, "Open it!"

As a result, the Guangtai Gate was slowly opened.

All the clan members stood up one after another, looking at the scene behind Guangtai Gate, and exclaimed.

Thousands of corpses were piled up outside the city gate. Their bodies were burnt black and broken, and their flesh and blood were blurred. If you look carefully, you can see their extremely distorted faces. They obviously suffered great pain before they died.

There was even black water flowing from the mouth of the corpse, which was very scary.

The exclamations stopped, and everyone watched this scene in silence, until Li Cong put his hands on his hands and laughed, saying: "Yesterday, the rebels colluded with the people in the city to incite the officials to cause chaos, and wanted to forcefully invade the Taiji Palace. I ordered Xue Bai, Wang Nannan to wait.

They quelled the turmoil, annihilated the rebels who entered the city, and thwarted their conspiracy!"

"Your Highness is so mighty and powerful that he is truly a blessing to the Tang Dynasty."

The person who received the most praise was Li Jie, the heir apparent. He was young, only twelve or thirteen years old. He spoke with a childish tone and his voice was drawl, but he had a high seniority and title.

There is an anecdote about Li Jie being able to inherit the throne of King Xu. His grandfather, Li Guan, had a son when he was old. After Li Guan died, his brothers suspected that Li Jie was not his biological son and wanted to seek his title. At that time, he was just entering the officialdom.

With Xue Bai's help, Li Jie was able to inherit the title.

Today, the reason why Li Cong is willing to cooperate with Xue Bai in hosting such a celebration banquet is to show his merit. As a political figure, facing Xue Bai's aggressiveness, what he did was not only to confront, but also to take advantage of Xue Bai.

energy to demonstrate his authority.

After showing off his martial arts, Li Cong glanced in Xue Bai's direction reluctantly, and then said: "Let's talk about the second happy event. My brother Li Ying was wronged..."

No one listened carefully to Li Cong's words, and all their eyes fell on Xue Bai unconsciously. Until finally, following Li Cong's guidance, Xue Bai walked calmly in front of everyone.

"I will introduce you to my uncles and brothers again today." Li Cong picked up a glass of wine and said with a smile: "He is your majesty's long-lost grandson, my nephew, and my adopted son, Li Qian."

Yang Hui had been staring at the wine glass on the table for a long time, always wondering where all the fine wine in Chang'an City had been confiscated. After finally seeing everyone toasting, he quickly raised his glass, but after hearing this, he hesitated whether to

Should drink.

He recalled the winter of Tianbao's fifth year, when he first saw Xue Bai at home. The young man's eyes were simple, showing fear, and he felt that he was not deeply involved in the world and that humans and animals were harmless. He confirmed that he was right, but now he looked at Xue Bai.

Bai, his eyes are clear and unfathomable, and they don't look like the same person at all.

So, Xue Bai was just pretending in the beginning, in order to take revenge on the couple? It should be noted that the case of the Three Common People was created by him secretly advising Concubine Wu Hui.

Yang Hui drank the wine in one gulp, knowing that he was in danger and had to think of a way.

At the same time, Xue Bai's peripheral vision also caught sight of Yang Wei. He did not hate Yang Wei, but since he became Li Qian, he had to deal with Yang Wei.

"I have asked the saint for a decree." Li Cong said: "Give the emperor's grandson Li Qian the title he deserves and reward him for his merits."

As soon as he signaled, a eunuch naturally stood up with several imperial edicts and read them loudly in front of all the clan members.

First, he vindicated the three cases of common people, but did not punish the consequences in advance. He only posthumously awarded Li Ying the title of crown prince, and restored the titles of Li Yao, Li Ju, and Xue Xiu during their lifetimes.

"The branch of life is divided into the concubine's position. After extensive research, he is called Dayou. The son of Crown Prince Ying, Qian, observes his knowledge of weapons and equipment. He has a clear understanding of intelligence, a majestic expression, and a long-term elegance. The clothes and crown are in order, so it is appropriate to award them.

It is an honor for you to be in a position of honor, to open up new territories with your well-being, and to still carry on your family's business. You can make Qian the Prince of Beiping..."

"Prince of Peiping County?"

Li Zhen frowned after hearing this. She immediately thought of An Lushan's title of "Dongping Commandery Prince" and even felt that Xue Bai was even less worthy because he was too young.

Although it has always been customary to grant the title of prince to a county based on the status of the emperor's grandson, he felt that Xue Bai's status as the emperor's grandson was doubtful. At least, he did not see the saint admit it in front of the clan. For example, he looked exactly like the saint when he was young.

, has always suspected that he is the illegitimate son of a saint, but even so, he did not get the qualification to compete for the throne because of this. This is decency.

"This is not appropriate." Li Zhen muttered.

"King Qi." Yang Hui gently pulled Li Zhen and whispered: "Objection. We can't let him get the title of county king easily."

Li Zhen pondered and was about to speak when suddenly, someone exclaimed and pointed outside Guangtai's door.

"What is that?!"

All the clan members turned their heads and looked away. From a distance, they saw rebel sentries appearing on the other side of the Chan River.

Those sentry riders obviously also saw the corpses piled up on the west side of Chanshui River, and they were very angry at first. Then, they saw that the Guangtai Gate was not closed. They were surprised and blew the horns, urging more rebels to come and attack the city.

Soon, more rebel sentries arrived and swam straight towards the city gate.

"Close the city gate!" Li Zhen was horrified and shouted quickly.

Li Cong looked back and said as if nothing had happened: "I have soldiers from the Forbidden Army here. How can a few rebels attack? Continue to confer, Li Qian, why don't you accept the order?"

Xue Bai then walked slowly towards the eunuch who was delivering the order.

Whether they were in favor or against his knighthood, their minds were not on this matter at all at this time. They were all staring outside the city, watching the rebels crossing the river and preparing to attack here, but they encountered the arrows of the imperial guards at the top of the city.

.

They just wanted to leave this dangerous place and hoped that Xue Bai would move faster.

Finally, Xue Bai took the scroll with both hands and said loudly: "I accept the order and thank you."

"Congratulations to the Prince of Peiping. Here are your ribbon, fish charm, and fabric for your uniform."

"Thank you, Your Majesty for your grace."

Xue Bai was very calm. There was not much difference to him at this moment, it was just an extra name.

But for many people, it gave them more confidence in the Tang Dynasty clan, or in other words, they had one more person to choose from.

"Fight into the city."

Then came the shouts of the rebel generals.

Since Chang'an was besieged, this was the first time that the clan members felt that danger was so close to them, and many people shouted that it was time to retreat to the city.

"What are you afraid of?!"

Xue Bai, who had just been named the Prince of Peiping, still held the imperial edict in his hand, but he encouraged people's hearts and said: "Since we are here to celebrate today, we should defeat the enemy's majesty again. Please join me on the top of the city."

, repel the rebels."

"What?" Li Zhen asked in surprise: "Are you crazy? We are all members of the clan."

"Yes, Your Highness is here, and many clans are here. If the rebels come in and catch them all, the Tang Dynasty will be over."

Of course they were unwilling. However, as Xue Bai ascended the city first, the imperial guards behind them actually held up their halberds and "invited" them to go up to the top of the city to take a look.
To be continued...