720 Shangguan Yangyu (2/2)
Shangguan Yangyu said, ”You should send more servants for the mission, and as for those subordinates of yours who are armed and who dare to kill, I have a bigger mission for them.”
Mr. Qi then asked, ”What is it?”
Shangguan Yangyu answered after a moment of silence, ”The riot in Chang'an tonight was mainly caused by cultivators. The Yulin Royal Guards may be able to suppress the riot on streets, but they can't find the cultivators who initiated the riot.”
Mr. Qi was surprised after hearing those words, and he said, ”My brothers in the Gang are no match for those cultivators, either.”
Shangguan Qingyu said, ”I don't expect your men to kill or capture those cultivators, I just need them to stop the cultivators from attacking common people.”
Mr. Qi frowned and said, ”The cultivators are either in the Imperial Center Administration or in the Southern Gate Temple. With your governmental permission, your runners can go there, but they can't do anything to those cultivators, let alone my brothers in the Gang.”
”There are lots of things that your Gang can do while the Chang'an government cannot.”
”These are papers I stole out from the Military Ministry last year. These are the family addresses of the officials and deacons of the Imperial Administration, including those married Taoists in the Southern Gate Temple. Their elderly parents, their wife and young children must be at home.”
His Excellency Shangguan took out the pile of paper graciously, and he said, ”The Fish-dragon Gang is the local villain of Chang'an. And it should be easy to locate these places. Also, to invite the old and young, women and children there to some secret places.”
Mr. Qi took over those papers and for a moment he was dazed. The he felt a chill and looked at the gracious face of His Excellency, and said in shaking voice, ”This... It's too ruthless.”
Shangguan Yangyu then sighed, ”I don't want to do it, either. But you know that to live is to be ruthless.”
Finally Mr. Qi understood the talk between the Old Lord Chao and Shangguan Yangyu. He admired the two but at the same time, he felt worried.
”The Qinghe County Guild, the Imperial Administration and the Southern Gate Temple, they are not in your charge.”
Mr.Qi asked with confusion, ”Why would you take such a high risk to do that?”
Shangguan Yangyu stroked his beard and was about to talk.
Mr.Qi had read his mind as soon as he saw the face. Then Mr.Qi said, ”No one on the royal court would believe Your Excellency is a selfless man, so you can drop this excuse.”
”I was timid, and I may have perverted justice for a bribe. And that won't make any sense if I claim how much I love the country. But without the Empire of Tang, how could an ugly man like me be an official, and even get promoted to the position of the prefectural magistrate of the capital city?”
Shangguan Yangyu then sighed, ”Where can I get bribed if the Empire dies? The reason is simple enough for me to understand, but it's strange that there's a lot of people who do get it.”
Li Yu walked slowly into the hall.
She was tired, so were her feet. The news of Qinghe County's betrayal, like hailstone hitting after more than ten days worth of pouring rain.
Just afterwards, what she just heard was like a thunder in the hailstone sky.
She walked to the couch and watched his pale panicked brother. Her heart ached, but later she laughed as if she was mocking at herself. Then she asked in a gentle voice, ”Did you do it?”
Li Huiyuan felt such a relief when heard her voice which was as gentle and soft as it used to. He smiled and said, ”Yes, those traitors were trying to kill me, so I killed them all.”
Li Yu sat by the couch, and after a moment of silence she said, ”Was General Xu Shi trying to kill you, too?”
The smile on Li Huiyuan's face was frozen, and he asked, ”What are you talking about, sister?”
Li Yu then said in low voice, ”Wang Jinglue arrived in Chang'an yesterday, and he came to see me in the palace tonight after examing the information in the Military Ministry. So I am here to ask you.”
Li Huiyuan's voice was shaking. He forced a smile and said, ”What are you asking me for?”
Li Yu still looked calm, and she simply said, ”Qinghe County betrayed us, and the Hierarch Lord of the Divine Hall made a detour from Xiao Mountain to enter our Tang realm. The secret guards of the Imperial Center Administration and informers of the Military Ministry didn't find it, which was understandable, but how did the Hierarch Lord know that the general was encamping at the foot of Xiao Mountian?”
”Even I didn't know the general was in the Xiao Mountain on that night. How was the Divine Hall informed?”
Li Yu looked at him in the eyes and kept asking, ”General Xu Shi was a confident and proud man, but he could be quite careful and cautious when getting on the battlefield. So I want to know, how did you find out?”
Li Huiyuan's smile was getting stiffer and stiffer, no better than crying.
Then a cold voice came from the quiet hall gate.
”Many cultivators of the South School of Haotian Taoism joined the army these years. Now that I am the master of the South School, those people would be honest with me. The Imperial Center Administration and the Military Ministry was tightly related, and I obeyed the late Emperor's order to take charge of the Administration, so I was lucky enough to be informed of the route of his return.”
The door opened and He Mingchi walked into the hall.
With a distorted yellow oiled-paper umbrella under his arm, he bent slightly to salute to the brother and his sister sitting by the couch.