Although this matter had passed for many years, the gossip in the capital did not stop. No one dared to talk about it in public, but it was still very common for friends to talk about it in private. In the Tang dynasty, where the entertainment industry was still very underdeveloped, it was quite interesting to talk about the affairs in the palace. Anyway, they had nothing to do.
As the matter of the imperial concubine became more and more popular, Li Mao, the good-for-nothing ex-husband, soon entered the public's attention. Although no one dared to say anything in front of Li Mao, when they met Li Mao, their eyes were full of deep meaning, which revealed their thoughts. In order to protect his identity as a prince, Li Mao could only suppress the anger in his heart and did not dare to do anything to the passers-by.
After all, the passers-by did not say anything. If Li Mao was angry and caught the passers-by who looked at him wrongly and beat him up, he would become famous. In this way, more people began to pay attention to Li Mao and privately speculated that this lost prince must be angry because his wife was stolen by his father, so he vented his anger on ordinary people. Moreover, it was impossible to guess the meaning of the passers-by's eyes with 100% accuracy. Therefore, he could not simply beat people up.
However, there had to be a way for him to vent his anger. Otherwise, he would be suffocated until something went wrong. However, Li Mao was a prince, and an extremely disappointed one at that. He couldn't just casually find someone to vent his anger on, lest his father find something to use against him and execute him in a fit of anger.
No matter what Li Longji was like, in Li Mao's heart, his father was definitely not a good person. Perhaps he was always watching him. As long as he did something wrong, he would be killed. Li Mao was also very careful and did not dare to make the slightest bold move. Every day, he ate vegetarian and recited Buddhist scriptures, appearing to be aloof from worldly affairs. He almost directly entered Buddhism.
Since there was no way to vent his bad emotions, there was only another way, which was to suppress the anger in his heart and use the Buddha's nature that blessed all things to get rid of the anger in his heart.
However, Li Mao's study of Buddhism was not very thorough, and he did not really enter Buddhism. Therefore, even if he was sitting in front of the Buddha, he could not suppress his bad mood. Therefore, from time to time, he would lose his temper in front of the Buddha statue. Because of this, the Tubo aristocrat Tashi Zan, who had evil intentions, found out about it and tried his best to rope him in. He intended to make the royal family of the Tang dynasty kill each other to relieve the hatred in his heart.
After calming down in front of the Buddha for a few days, Li Mao's anger gradually dissipated. He thought that he was going to enter a peaceful life. Who would have thought that the old man who was still angry a few days ago would forgive Yang Yuhuan so quickly and bring her to the palace? Their love was even more passionate than before, which surprised everyone and caused a new round of gossip. This once again pushed Li Mao to the forefront of the storm and aroused his anger.
What made him even angrier and more annoyed was that Tashi Zan came to bother him again. This Tubo aristocrat who did not know the immensity of heaven and earth had fixed his eyes on him, as if he would not stop until he was annoyed to death.
Li Mao no longer had any feelings for his father. Ever since Li Er entered the Xuanwu Sect, there were no real feelings between the father and brother of the Li family. In fact, the royal family of the past dynasties did not have any feelings to speak of. In order to consolidate the country, it was common to push the daughter into the fire pit. There were also endless cases of father and son fighting for power. Therefore, the royal family did not have any feelings at all.
However, even if the father and son became enemies, it did not mean that Li Mao was willing to cooperate with Tashi Zan, who was not very powerful. The consequence of cooperating with such a fanatic was likely to be a complete failure and be consigned to eternal damnation. However, when he encountered such a shameless person, it seemed to be somewhat difficult for him to get rid of him. It was not right to agree to cooperate with him, but it was even more inappropriate to reject him.
Just when Li Mao was upset, Tashi Zan came again shamelessly. It had only been a few days, but he had come three times. Each time, he would say the same thing and persuade Li Mao to join their camp.
Since there was no way to hide, Li Mao had to face reality. He was prepared to have a good talk with Tashi Zan to test the confidence of this fanatic. He wanted to find out how much capital this guy had that he dared to boast shamelessly about reviving the country.
"His Highness King Shou seems to be in a bad mood recently. This is understandable. The relationship between the Emperor of the Tang dynasty and his Imperial Concubine has become better. Everyone in Chang 'an City is talking about this. Although I have never seen this Imperial Concubine before, even if she is as beautiful as a fairy, she is still a woman after all. As long as he rules the world one day, he can get as many women as he wants. Why should he care so much about one person? Moreover, as long as King Shou can ascend to the throne, the Imperial Concubine will be a piece of cake. How can she run away? "
Tashi Zan said it very casually. After all, it did not happen to him. Of course, he would not feel the pain.
A trace of anger appeared on Li Mao's face. After a pause, he asked, "You keep saying that you want to assassinate my father. But with your ability, how can you do it? Even if you succeed, how can you revive the country if you do not have enough strength? How much strength do you have? How many people are willing to cooperate with you and stand by your side? I feel that I am qualified to know these. "
Tashi Zan smiled and said, "Although Tubo has submitted to the Tang dynasty and the capital is controlled by the Tang Army, the Tubo nobles and people are not convinced. The power of resistance has been brewing. To tell you the truth, Your Highness King Shou, as long as I raise my arm, I can gather 100,000 Tubo soldiers. Later on, I can add another 200,000 soldiers. In addition, many officials of the Tang dynasty have been bribed by me. The Northern Army of the Tang dynasty, which has been pushed aside, has at least 100,000 soldiers ready to cooperate at any time. Even the Imperial Palace of the Tang dynasty has our people. If not, how can I know the whereabouts of the Emperor of the Tang dynasty?"
Li Mao was slightly surprised and said, "It seems that I have underestimated you. I did not expect you to have such strength. However, since you already have such strength, why do you want to rope me in? You must know that I really cannot provide any help to you. I am a cripple, a cripple who is being monitored. Isn't it a waste of time to rope in a cripple? "
"Your Highness King Shou is too modest. How can you be a cripple? Once the Emperor of the Tang dynasty dies, even if the Crown Prince successfully ascends the throne, he may not be able to stabilize the situation. At that time, I only need to add fuel to the fire to set off a turmoil. The forces that support the Crown Prince and the forces that support the other princes will fight fiercely. My Tubo warriors must support a prince in order to legitimately raise the army. Your Highness King Shou is the most suitable candidate. I believe that the Tang dynasty will belong to you in the end. "
"Tashi Zan, you have considered everything. The reason why you support me is not because I was treated unfairly by my father and you want to voice out the injustice for me. It is because no other prince will cooperate with you because your plan is too arrogant. The success rate is not high."
Li Mao poured cold water on Tashi Zan's enthusiasm.
Tashi Zan was very unhappy and said angrily, "So, Your Highness King Shou does not intend to support us?"
"Humph, don't worry. I will not betray you. When you succeed, come to me! Maybe I will agree to cooperate with you. "
Li Mao said.
"Well, it seems that Your Highness King Shou wants to see the strength of my Tubo warriors. Goodbye."
Tashi Zan left Xingguo Temple angrily and went back to plan the assassination of the Emperor of the Tang dynasty.
An Lushan and Duan Shi had been waiting for Tashi Zan in the private house. Seeing Tashi Zan come back angrily, they hurried to greet him.
"What's the matter? Li Mao doesn't know what's good for him and doesn't want to cooperate with us?"
Duan Shi said angrily.
"Does he doubt our strength and is afraid that we can't achieve great things?"
An Lushan guessed.
Tashi Zan nodded and said, "Yes, King Shou doesn't believe that we can assassinate the Emperor of the Tang dynasty at all. However, he said that he will not betray us. If we succeed in assassinating the Emperor, he may cooperate with us."
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's make the arrangement now and kill the stinky Emperor first."
Duan Shi said loudly.
Tashi Zan looked at An Lushan and asked, "Minister An, has there been any news from the palace? When will the Emperor of the Tang dynasty leave the palace?"
"According to the news that just came, the Emperor will take the train to the Pure Flowers Palace in two days. He will be escorted by 500 Flying Dragon Imperial Guards. It's not easy to deal with him!"
An Lushan said with a frown.
Actually, when the emperor went out in the past, the number of guards was even larger. However, Pure Flowers Palace wasn't too far from the capital and there weren't too many bandits in the vicinity either, so there was no need for him to bring so many people with him. Moreover, the speed of the train was too fast for the cavalry to keep up, so the guards could only take the train. As such, he naturally couldn't bring too many people with him. Both the capital and Pure Flowers Palace had a large number of guards, so what could possibly happen in the seventy to eighty li of travel? If it wasn't for the guards' persuasion, Li Longji was planning to bring only a hundred guards with him.
"500 Flying Dragon Imperial Guards are indeed difficult to deal with. Therefore, we can't fight them head-on. We should outsmart them."
Duan Shi said.
"General Duan, do you have any good ideas?"
Tashi Zan hurriedly asked.
Duan Shi thought for a moment and sneered, "I once took the train from Chang 'an to Luoyang. I clearly remember that there is a large bridge between Chang' an and the Pure Flowers Palace. Under the bridge is deep water. If the train that the Emperor of the Tang dynasty is on flipped under the bridge, do you think the Emperor of the Tang dynasty will be able to escape this calamity?"
Tashi Zan and An Lushan looked at each other and nodded in satisfaction. "General Duan is right. As long as the train flips under the bridge, the Emperor of the Tang dynasty will be able to escape this calamity. However, the train is so large. How can we make it flip under the bridge? If the plan fails, the Emperor of the Tang dynasty will definitely be on high alert. It will be difficult to make a move next time. "
"Hmph, although the train is large, it can only move on the tracks. Once a foreign object is placed on the tracks, the train will derail."
Although Duan Shi had only taken a few trains, he had already figured out the most basic situation of the train. As long as the tracks were tampered with, the train would not be able to move normally. It might even cause a major accident such as flipping over.
An Lushan frowned and thought for a moment. Then, he asked doubtfully, "General Duan, do you know that when His Majesty travels, there is definitely more than one train? There is a scout train ten miles ahead and one mile ahead. Once the tracks are tampered with, the scout train ahead will definitely flip over. In this way, the Emperor's train will immediately stop and won't flip under the bridge."
"Minister An is right. There are two scout trains ahead of the Emperor's train. It is indeed not good to tamper with the tracks in advance. This is a big trouble!"
Tashi Zan said.
Duan Shi thought for a moment and said, "This is not difficult. We can ambush someone under the bridge in advance. When the Emperor's train passes by, he can suddenly put an iron rod on the tracks. In this way, the train can unexpectedly flip over under the bridge."
"It is indeed a good idea. However, the ambush person must be hidden well. If he is discovered by the soldiers patrolling in advance, he will be exposed."
"This is easy. We can let the ambush person hide in the water and breathe through the hollow reeds. When he hears the sound of the train, he will come out of the water to prepare."
"In this way, we will be able to flip over the train. However, it is really uncertain whether the train will really flip over into the river. After all, this kind of thing has never happened before. No one can predict what will happen when the train is blocked."
"Yes! If the train just derails and doesn't flip over into the river, it will be difficult for our plan to succeed. "
"Even if the train flips over into the river, there will be someone to save the Emperor. There is still no guarantee that the Emperor will drown!"
Everyone was talking at once.
An Lushan thought for a long time and said, "Then prepare more people. In addition to the people hiding under the bridge, send some people to hide in the water. Once the train falls into the water, they will immediately rush over from the water and kill the Emperor. If the train doesn't fall into the river, they can immediately jump out of the water and rush to the carriage where the Emperor is sitting, killing the Emperor in the carriage."
"Have you determined the exact location of the carriage where the Emperor is sitting?"
"The first five carriages are all for the Emperor alone. However, it is not easy to determine which carriage the Emperor is in."
"As long as it is in the first five carriages, it will be easy. Let the assassins rush over directly."
"This plan is still not 100% successful. If the train flips over into the river, the chances of success will be higher. If it just derails, the chances of success will not be so high."
"There is no plan in the world that is 100% successful. If we don't try, how will we know if it will succeed?"
"That's right. If we don't try, how will we know if it will succeed? If it doesn't work this time, we will think of other ways next time."
Tashi Zan thought for a moment and said seriously, "Okay. I have 200 warriors around Chang 'an City. This time, I will send 50 elites to complete this task. I hope we can succeed in one try."
"Okay, let's do it. I will send someone to find out the exact time when the Emperor will leave and calculate the exact time when the train will pass the bridge."
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