No. 66 Phantom's Counterattack (5)

  "Baima Temple, monks, body. Although there is no evidence, it reminds me of a story." Ye continued to speak, pulling me forward as he spoke. I listened intently, completely unaware that the two of us, a man and a woman, holding hands was quite inappropriate.

  "Zhen Zhen, have you ever heard of Chi Fa Ling Guan Dan Xiong Xin?" asked the Young Master of the Night, raising a question that made me feel like I was crossing over.

  Shan Xing, I must have heard of him before. Although he's not in the textbooks, he's everywhere in the TV series and radio dramas. Before coming here, the criminal police team would often play "rumors" CDs in the car after work, which happened to be Shan Tianfang's storytelling "The Heroes of Sui and Tang Dynasties", and the first part was about Shan Xing.

  It turns out that Shan Xiong Xin and my dry brother's dry brother Li Shimin are sworn enemies!

  About Shan Xiongxin, the book says that he is majestic in appearance, with a wolf-toothed club as his weapon. He was the master of Balian Village, Lanzhou, Shanxi Province, and the leader of the Green Forest Outlaws in the nine provinces of the Sui Dynasty, nicknamed "Red-Haired Divine Officer". Because he was very chivalrous on his travels, he was also known as "Righteousness Thin as Clouds, Young Guan Yu". When Emperor Gaozu of Tang, Li Yuan, was still the Duke of Tang and went to Taiyuan to take office, he was pursued by treacherous people and mistakenly killed Shan Xiongxin's brother. Therefore, Shan Xiongxin later did not surrender to the Tang Dynasty, but instead surrendered to Wang Shichong.

  Later, Wang Shichong was defeated by Li Shimin and surrendered his army. Li Shimin ordered the execution of all generals including Shan Xiongxin. Shan's good friend Xu Maogong pleaded with Li Shimin to spare Shan's life, but was flatly refused. Shan comforted Xu saying that he knew he would definitely die. Xu said that loyalty and righteousness are hard to maintain simultaneously and promised to take care of Shan's family after his death. He then cut off a piece of his own flesh and gave it to Shan to eat, saying that he had not forgotten their original oath. After eating the flesh, Shan went to his death.

  Thinking about it, Xue Rengui seems like a great hero, while our Emperor Taizong of Tang appears to be so ruthless and cunning. However, I suppose there's no other way out - if we kill him, the great meritorious officials Qin Qiong and Xu Maogong will be heartbroken; but if we don't kill him, he'll remain an eternal enemy. Thinking about the Xuanwu Gate Incident, it's clear how that seemingly gentle Emperor Taizong would make decisions when faced with major events.

  "Now that you know, it's easy to say." Ye looked at me with a knowing gaze and nodded, "It's said that when Shan Xiongxin was executed, all his generals were also killed. But actually, it wasn't like that. The emperor announced it to the outside world, but I investigated this matter during my time in Tianjing Gate. Three of Shan Xiongxin's most trusted generals weren't executed. They saw that the situation had already been settled and didn't want to be enemies with Li Tang, nor did they want to surrender to Li Tang, so Li Shimin let them go."

  "This..." I wanted to say something, but hesitated for a moment.

  "What?"

  "I feel that the Emperor's character isn't like that!"

  A person who can slaughter his own brothers will not show mercy when he determines that some people still pose a threat to his future, no matter how broad-minded and benevolent he is. Wisdom and ruthlessness are originally two contradictory qualities, but when they coexist in the same person, this person will be an extremely terrifying existence. If such a person rules the world, his reign will be stable and his name will be revered for eternity, which would be fortunate for both his followers and the common people.

  This is my understanding of Li Shimin after I saw him in person.

  He smiled slightly and said, "What you said is correct, so there must be some hidden truth in this."

  The Marquis of Night told a long story. It turned out that these three people really hid a major secret on their bodies.

  The Erxian Zhuang in Luzhou, where Shan Xiongxin was located, was a rich and powerful existence that could rival the country before he started his rebellion against the Sui Dynasty. Otherwise, Shan Xiongxin would not have been able to generously distribute his wealth and become the leader of the Green Forest heroes in seven provinces and thirteen roads. In fact, after starting the rebellion, Shan Xiongxin was sandwiched between several armies, feeling anxious and depressed. Therefore, he did not take out all the wealth from Erxian Zhuang to recruit soldiers and buy horses, but instead hid most of it away.

  Maybe one day it will come in handy for something big. He probably thought so.

  However, he himself did not live to see this day. The treasure of Erxian Village was buried in a location depicted on a treasure map, which was divided into three parts and kept by his three most trusted generals.

  Not bad, it was those three people who were let go by Li Shimin.

  I feel like something has suddenly lit up in my heart. At the beginning of the founding of the country, everything must have been scarce, and Li Shimin paid attention to this wealth, but he knew that it was impossible to get it by force, so he let them go, but still put them under his own control, in order to plot against them slowly. Now it seems that there are others who want this treasure.

  Indeed, Ye continued, "The three generals later ended up becoming monks at the White Horse Temple. This matter was top-secret, so no one knew the identities of these three monks. As for how General Shan arranged that wealth back then, they didn't mention a single word about it. As for how to identify these three people, the people from Erxian Village all had special tattoos on their backs. So, when the Tianguangmen people took away the monks and stripped them of their clothes to inspect, they were probably looking for those three people."

  If it is an organization that needs this wealth and competes with the emperor for this wealth, then their purpose is most likely to rebel!

  Thinking of this, I couldn't help but feel a chill run down my spine. This way, everything can be explained. The reason Ren Ping set up this scheme was to make it impossible for people to distinguish between the perpetrator and their motive. On the one hand, it would sever the connection between the incident and the Tianjing Gate; on the other hand, it would have to cover up the suspicion that the Tianjing Gate wanted to obtain treasure, or even possibly plotted a rebellion.

  My previous premonition has come true. When I first heard about the Tianjing Gate, I felt that their creed was diametrically opposed to Li Shimin's idea, and they must become enemies. Seeing this opposition looming ahead, it seems we have already taken sides.

  "Tonight," I couldn't help but clench his hand, "what does Nie Qiuyuan plan to do about this matter?"

  The Young Master of the Night hesitated for a moment before answering, "Those three people have already fallen into Ren Ping's hands. With our current situation, it's very difficult to take them back. So, this chess piece is probably lost. What we can do now is to quickly inform the Emperor of all the circumstances."

  The road of autumn is my road. I bit my lip tightly and quietly followed the night as it rushed forward. As I was suddenly swept into the massive vortex of historical events, for a time my thoughts were somewhat in disarray.

  The Young Master of the Night suddenly stopped in his tracks, and I didn't have time to react, bumping my head against his back. I almost let out a cry of surprise, but he quickly covered my mouth with his hand...