Chapter 606 Taiyuan Mutiny
Chapter 606 Taiyuan Mutiny
Liu Shilong, a wealthy man from Jinyang County, was the largest cloth merchant in Hedong Province and monopolized the cloth supply in the entire northern part of Hedong Province, including Taiyuan Prefecture.
Liu Shilong had countless wives and concubines, who gave birth to dozens of children for him. Among them, Liu Shilong's eighth daughter married the second son of Tiger Guard General Gao Junya.
However, Gao Junya's second son had a rather rough personality. He would beat and scold his wife every time he drank. Every time his wife was beaten, she would run back to her parents' home. After a long time, Liu Shilong got annoyed and wanted his daughter to divorce her husband.
That afternoon, when Liu Shilong returned home, he saw Gao Junya's carriage parked at the door with the Gao family's flag flying on it.
Liu Shilong then knew that his daughter had been beaten by her husband again and she fled back to her parents' home again.
This finally made Liu Shilong unable to bear it anymore, so he went straight to the backyard and found his daughter crying and complaining to her mother.
"What happened? Did that bastard hit you again?"
The daughter started to cry. Liu Shilong walked forward and lifted up her face. He saw that her left eye was swollen and black, her lip was broken, and several teeth were knocked out. It seemed that she was beaten more severely than any other time.
Liu Shilong gnashed his teeth and said, "This bastard is so cruel!"
The daughter held her father and cried, "He not only beat me, but also insulted me. I talked back to him and he killed me."
"Tell Daddy how he scolded me?"
"He said that Daddy and Li Yuan were both pigs to be slaughtered, and he would slaughter Daddy himself tomorrow!"
Liu Shilong was startled. "What does he mean by that?"
"He said that his father received a secret order from the emperor, asking his father to kill Li Yuan and Li Yuan's followers. He said that his father was Li Yuan's follower."
Liu Shilong's eyes widened. "Did he really mean that?"
"He said that when he was drunk, but someone from Luoyang came to see the father-in-law today."
Liu Shilong suddenly became nervous. He was indeed a member of Li Yuan's party and had invested tens of thousands of strings of money in Li Yuan. If Li Yuan was killed, wouldn't his investment be ruined?
Liu Shilong was so upset that he no longer cared about his daughter and hurried out to find Li Yuan.
Each circuit had three envoys and one inspector. The three envoys were the pacification envoy in charge of security and bandit suppression, the observation envoy in charge of official supervision, and the transport envoy in charge of money and grain finance. The inspector was the criminal inspector.
Li Yuan is currently the pacification envoy of Hedong Road and is in charge of security. His main task at this stage is to suppress bandits. There are currently four major bandits in Hedong Road. The first is Chai Baochang and Jing Pantuo from Jiang County in the southern part of Hedong Road, the second is Zhen Zhai'er in the southern part of Taiyuan Prefecture, the third is Lu Mingyue who is active in the Taihang Mountains in the east of Taiyuan Prefecture, and the fourth is Liu Wuzhou who is active in Mayi County.
Li Yuan led an army of 20,000 to suppress the rebellions of Chai Baochang and Zhen Zhai'er, but Liu Wuzhou and Lu Mingyue were too agile and maneuverable to suppress the rebellion.
In the afternoon, Li Yuan was reading in the study when a butler said at the door, "Master, Mr. Liu wants to see you urgently!"
"Please ask him to sit in the living room for a while. I will be there soon!"
Li Yuan packed up and walked towards the guest hall. When he entered the guest hall, Liu Shilong stood up nervously, "Gao Junya is going to attack Lord Li!"
Li Yuan was startled and asked in confusion, "What does Mr. Liu mean by this?"
"Today my evil son-in-law beat his wife again. He was drunk and said that his father Gao Junya received a secret order from the emperor, asking Gao Junya to kill Lord Li. It is very likely to happen tomorrow."
Li Yuan's face suddenly turned very ugly. He knew that after the establishment of the new dynasty in Chang'an, the emperor would not let him go and would most likely dismiss him from office. He had been waiting for this day to come, but he did not expect that the emperor would issue a secret order to kill him.
"Just Gao Junya?"
Liu Shilong said quickly: "Wang Wei should have received it as well. The emperor will not miss him!"
"Thank you for giving me the news, I will think about it carefully!" Liu Shilong said goodbye and left. Li Yuan pondered for a moment and immediately sent someone to invite several of his confidants.
Soon, Pei Ji, Xu Shixu, Changsun Shunde and Liu Hongji hurried over. The eldest son Li Jiande and son-in-law Chai Shao also came to the study, and even the sixteen-year-old second son Li Shimin came.
Li Yuan then told everyone about Liu Shilong's denunciation. Pei Ji nodded and said, "Gao Junya's second son Gao Yi has always been brutal and outspoken. Since he spoke under the influence of alcohol, it is very likely to be true."
Xu Shixu said: "The emperor is trying to cut off the firewood from under the cauldron, so Wang Wei should have played a role as well, as he is also loyal to the emperor."
Although Li Shimin was young, he was very decisive. He also said to Li Yuan: "Father, this is a matter of life and death. It is better to believe it. We will do our best and prepare for the worst!"
Changsun Shunde stroked his beard and said, "Mr. Li, Shimin is right. This is a matter of life and death, so I'd rather believe it!"
Li Yuan glanced at his eldest son Li Jiande, who nodded, "Strike first to gain the upper hand. Let's do it tonight!"
Li Yuan also recruited 2,000 soldiers to be of service at critical moments. He paused for a moment and asked, "Are there any of our men on duty at night?"
Chai Shao bowed and said, "Reply to my father-in-law, Wang Kangda is on duty at the West City Gate tonight!"
Wang Kangda was appointed as the general of Yingyang, and was also a general promoted by Li Yuan. Li Yuan immediately made up his mind and said, "Tonight, we will collude with the Turks to kill Gao Junya and Wang Wei!"
He made arrangements separately. Pei Ji was responsible for preparing evidence of collusion with the Turks, and then searching it out from the houses of the two men. He also bribed two servants to serve as witnesses, so that he could give an explanation to the army.
Li Yuan also left Li Jiande and Chai Shao behind, and the two thousand death warriors were in charge of the two of them, while the three of them discussed how to take action.
At this time, Li Shimin came to remind his father, "Father, since it was the emperor who issued the decree to Gao and Wang, the person who issued the decree must still be in their palace. He may have the emperor's golden medal. As long as he changes the secret decree and adds the emperor's golden medal, it will become the emperor's secret decree to father to execute Gao and Wang."
Li Yuan said happily: "This is a great plan!"
At the first watch, Chai Shao and Li Jiande each led a thousand warriors to the west gate. The commander of the west gate was Wang Kangda. He had received Li Yuan's secret order and immediately ordered the gate to be opened.
The city gate opened, and two thousand warriors entered the city and rushed to the mansions of Gao Junya and Wang Wei respectively. Soon, they surrounded the two mansions.
Gao Junya had just received the emperor's secret order this morning and was still considering how to deal with Li Yuan. He didn't expect Li Yuan to be so decisive.
Gao Junya was still thinking about something in the study when he suddenly heard screams and cries coming from outside. He was horrified, pulled out the sword from the wall and rushed out.
The second son, Gao Yi, ran in covered in blood. He said, "There's an assassin!" and then fell down and died.
When Gao Junya saw his son die in front of him, he was terrified. Then he saw Chai Shao rushing in with a large number of warriors. Gao Junya immediately understood what was going on. He roared and swung his sword at Chai Shao.
Chai Shao was an expert swordsman and he pierced Gao Junya's shoulder with his sword after only two rounds of fighting.
Gao Junya screamed, staggered and fell to the ground. The black-clad warriors rushed forward and hacked Gao Junya to death with their swords.
Chai Shao rushed into the study without hesitation and quickly found the emperor's secret edict and the gold medal, as well as the military command arrows.
Chai Shao walked out of the study and saw soldiers escorting a eunuch out. It was the eunuch who came from the capital to deliver a letter. He was so frightened that his face turned pale and he was shaking all over.
At the same time, Wang Wei was also attacked by warriors led by Li Jiancheng, who rushed into his mansion and killed all his family members, young and old.
Li Jiancheng also found another golden medal of the emperor. With these two golden medals, plus the revised secret decree and the eunuchs who were forced to announce the decree, Li Yuan could accomplish his great goal.
(End of this chapter)