Xiao Yan's question silenced the entire hall, and the doubt in his words made Liu Tongen's face suddenly tense up.
"What nonsense are you talking about? How do I know the whereabouts of Lu Jiu'an? The people sent to Pingyang County said that he has disappeared a long time ago. Even Ding Guogong's people have not found his whereabouts. How do I know where he is..."
"Since you don't know, then why can't he appear in Qinghe?"
"I……"
"Or is there any other way for Commander Liu to find out his whereabouts?"
Liu Tongen was stunned when Xiao Yan got around him. His face turned red and he held back a few words for a while: "I didn't..."
"If not, then what did you say?"
Liu Tongen: "..."
After Xiao Yan silenced Liu Tongen until he had nothing to say, he said softly:
"Since King Pingshan intends to plot rebellion, he will never let anyone catch him. Lu Jiuan disappeared two months ago and must be dormant somewhere else."
"This man is cunning and cruel, and his methods are even worse than Lu Chongyuan's. Since he can risk the lives of the entire Lu family to surrender to King Pingshan to criticize His Majesty for colluding with the Lu family and wanting to silence him when he sees the situation is wrong, and uses this as an excuse to raise an army to rebel, then why doesn't he dare to To cover up the real situation, to lure the tiger away from the mountain and then attack the capital?"
Liu Tongen couldn't help but argue: "But Prince Pingshan's palace does not have enough troops, how could they dare to separate ways..."
"Why don't you dare?"
Xiao Yan's voice was low but extremely sarcastic: "Who told you that Prince Pingshan's palace doesn't have enough troops?"
"The Taizu wanted to reduce the vassal state back then, but the late Emperor felt that the vassal kings from various places had contributed to obstructing the matter. After he ascended the throne, His Majesty felt grateful for the merits of their ancestors and did not want to make people feel cold. He treated the vassal kings from various places with special preferential treatment and specifically allowed them to raise troops."
"Pingyang County borders Haiti. There are nearly 50,000 officers and soldiers stationed all year round to defend against maritime invaders. Adding in the vassal king's ability to support soldiers and generals, King Pingshan has at least 60,000 to 70,000 troops. Moreover, Yan Shilang just said King Guopingshan has great prestige in the fiefdom, and almost everything around Pingyang County is under his jurisdiction. How do you know that he will not respond to his call after he rebels?"
Xiao Yan seemed to be questioning Liu Tongen, but his eyes fell on Emperor An.
"When Lu Chongyuan died suddenly in prison, Lu Jiu'an took over all the Lu family's secret forces and connections in advance. A century-old family will never leave no way out for him."
"When the imperial court confiscated the family, Commander Liu also saw the account books and the items copied. Do you think that with all the years of the Lu family's wealth, they really only have a few things, or did Lu Chongyuan have Lu Jiu'an secretly transfer them long before anything happened to the Lu family? "
Xiao Yan was a little aggressive.
"Do you know how many troops Lu Jiu'an has in his hands? Does Commander Liu know how many dead soldiers the Lu family has left?"
"There are other vassal kings from various places. They have never stopped communicating with each other. How can you be sure that King Pingshan did not collude with others before he raised his army? You concluded that they would not join forces. They only waited for the imperial court to send troops south and made a feint. Join forces with others and take down the capital directly."
"I don't mind leading the troops south. A Pingshan palace can eradicate them with some effort, but there are only so many troops in the imperial court. Once I lead the troops away and Lu Jiuan attacks the capital, who will protect your majesty and keep the capital safe? ?”
"Commander Liu and the imperial army of less than 5,000 people in your hands? Or when the army comes to the city one day, Commander Liu will use your words and the impossibility you say to persuade the rebels?"
Liu Tongen's face turned red when he was questioned, and turned livid the next moment, but the words in Xiao Yan's mouth made him unable to refute.
Xiao Yanfu raised his eyes again: "Or does your Majesty have other special forces or back-ups that can be used in times of crisis to prepare for emergencies?"
Emperor An was shocked and his eyelids twitched. For a moment, he thought Xiao Yan knew what he was planning.
He grabbed the handle of the dragon chair with all his strength and was thinking about how to reply, but Xiao Yan, who had a sharp look on his face, had already looked away.
It was as if what he just said was just a casual remark in anger.
"I am not trying to shirk the blame, and I don't think it is wrong to suppress the rebellion. It's just that there are a lot of troops in the court, and the troops in the suburbs of Beijing and other places guarding the capital cannot be taken away. If you want to wipe out the rebels in Pingyang County, you have to worry about other things."
"Your Majesty has always been considerate, so you must understand your thoughts?"
An Di: "..."
He wanted to say that he didn't understand, but Xiao Yan blocked all his paths.
Emperor An knew in his heart that Lu Jiu'an was not in Qinghe at all, and he knew even more clearly that Xiao Yan's righteous words just now were just to shirk his refusal to leave the capital, but he couldn't say a word, otherwise how could he explain the news that even the Privy Council's owl guards had difficulty finding out about him? But clearly?
Emperor An suppressed his heart and said in a low voice: "What Xiao Aiqing said makes sense, but we cannot ignore the rebels in Pingyang County. Otherwise, if King Pingshan completely rises, it will be difficult to suppress them."
He glanced at Liu Tongen, and Liu Tongen said: "What your Majesty is saying is that since Ding Guo Gong said that Lu Jiu'an was in Qinghe and was afraid that he would divert the tiger away from the mountain, it would be better for Ding Guo Gong to sit in the capital to protect His Majesty's safety, and then send other generals to lead troops to Pingyang. county."
"It is not possible to mobilize all the troops in the capital, but there are also troops stationed in the southern prefecture. The Water Transport Department still has 100,000 guards who can be transferred south at any time. I am willing to ask for orders to lead the troops to exterminate the rebels in the Pingshan Palace and share the worries for Your Majesty..."
Liu Tongen raised his head when he said this: "Ding Guo Gong is very loyal, surely he will never sit back and watch Pingshan King rise up to rebel?"
Xiao Yan slightly tilted his head: "That's natural."
Liu Tongen couldn't wait: "Then please ask Dingguo Bus to return the Tiger Talisman and let His Majesty order the deployment of troops."
As soon as he said this sentence, the whole hall fell into silence.
"Back in the Zichen Palace, Your Majesty trusted Duke Ding and gave you the tiger talisman so that you could use it to command the armies to retreat the Longting Guards and quell the chaos in the capital."
"Now that the crisis in the capital has been resolved, and the war in the south is imminent, Duke Ding will not let go of the tiger talisman and allow the army to lead the army in chaos without orders to mobilize the army?"
Liu Tongen looked at Xiao Yan, and his words were full of coercion, as if he wanted to return to him all the ridicule and humiliation Xiao Yan had just inflicted on him.
He wanted to see how Xiao Yan, who had just kept saying he was loyal to the court and thinking about His Majesty, and who was always sarcastic to him, would answer!
There seemed to be a wind blowing outside, rustling the lanterns hanging under the eaves.
Everyone in the hall looked at Xiao Yan.
Xiao Yan stood there for a moment and chuckled: "General Liu really knows how to confuse right and wrong with just one mouth. When it comes to loyalty and patriotism, he is devoted to Your Majesty. No one in the court can compare to you."
Liu Tongen ignored Xiao Yan's sarcasm and said, "Dong Guo Ding is unwilling to return the tiger talisman?"
"How could that happen?"
Xiao Yan's eyes were cold: "It's just a tiger talisman. Why don't you want to hand it back? What's more, in order to quell the rebels in the court, if I hold on to the tiger talisman, wouldn't it be true that Commander Liu said that I don't care about the lives of the people in the world?"
