Chapter 15 Face Gangzi head on!"Stand up, I'm not used to you kneeling to talk..." After Li Xingyun said this, Yuan Tiangang also stood up and said, "Thank you, Your Highness." Li Xingyun then asked, "I have been living in seclusion in Jianlu with Yang Shuzi for the past eight years, but I am not completely isolated from the world. I go to the city to purchase supplies every month. I heard that the governors of the vassal states all used their own troops to establish themselves, each with their own guards and generals and their own assassination organizations. In the thirty years after the Huang Chao Uprising, the Liang State Xuanming Sect, the Qi State Huanyinfang, and the Jin State Tongwenguan recruited heroes from all over the world and were called the three strongest assassination organizations in the world. How does the Bad People compare to them?" Yuan Tiangang snorted, "They can be considered an assassination organization, but that's only because I, the Bad People, have been in seclusion! In the fifth year of Qianfu, Huang Chao's troops entered the Eastern Capital, and the Tang Dynasty was already terminally ill. The Bad People can kill people, kill many people, but they can't kill everyone in the world. Seeing that the situation was hopeless, I disbanded the Bad People and arranged for them to lurk in various major vassal towns and gangs so that they can make a comeback in the future. But unfortunately, people's hearts are unpredictable." "After the fall of the Tang Dynasty, people's hearts were scattered and the bad guys were no longer the same as they used to be. I have been in the Cangbing Valley for more than 30 years. Time means nothing to me. I am waiting for an opportunity, an opportunity to revive the Tang Dynasty!" Yuan Tiangang saluted towards Li Xingyun and said, "I ask Your Highness to think of the people of the world, take the bad people as the foundation, raise an army to become emperor, eliminate Zhu Wen, and restore the Tang Dynasty!" Li Xingyun did not answer Yuan Tiangang. Instead, he laughed, "Haha, hahahaha..." "Why is Your Highness laughing?" Yuan Tiangang asked. Li Xingyun restrained his smile and asked calmly, "The Bad People are an assassination organization. Let me ask you, how many people are there in the Bad People? How many are loyal to the Tang Dynasty?" Yuan Tiangang was very confident and said, "So this is what Your Highness is worried about. Don't worry, Your Highness, if I give the order, all the thirty-six captains of the Bad People will dare to obey, and the tens of thousands of Bad People scattered all over the world will be able to return within a month! Even if some of them have already betrayed the Tang Dynasty, I have ways to make them obey!" Li Xingyun put his hands behind his back and paced, "Not enough. To start an army, you need people, land, money, and reputation. All of these are indispensable. Moreover, the Bad People today are no longer the Bad People of the Zhenguan period. If you recall them, it would be like putting the assassination organization you have worked so hard to build out in the open, and the Bad People would become worthless."
Yuan Tiangang's eyes lit up, and he couldn't help but want to test him, saying: "But Your Highness is the direct descendant of Emperor Taizong, and you hold the righteousness of the world. Now Zhu Wen is tyrannical and immoral, and the states of Jin, Qi, and Shu are all against him. If Your Highness raises his arms and calls for action, the heroes of the world will surely rise up!" Li Xingyun snorted and said, "When my father was in power, the warlords in the world had already disregarded the Li Tang royal family. If I rely on them, even if I destroy Daliang, I am afraid that I will face even more powerful opponents next." Yuan Tiangang added: "Your Highness, don't worry about the sincerity of these princes. As long as they raise an army and destroy Zhu Wen, I will help Your Highness suppress the princes! Then Your Highness can take out the Longquan treasure, recruit soldiers and expand our strength. When the time is right, we can rebuild the Tang Dynasty and reproduce the prosperous Zhenguan era!" Li Xingyun narrowed his eyes upon hearing this, looked at Yuan Tiangang and said, "How can you suppress the kings with your own strength?" "Hahaha." Yuan Tiangang laughed three times and opened his arms, saying, "As long as these vassal kings are still afraid of life and death, then with my three hundred years of skills, taking their heads will be as easy as taking something out of a bag! How can they not be afraid?" Li Xingyun came in front of Yuan Tiangang, put his hand on Yuan Tiangang's shoulder and said, "I believe what you said, but it's not enough." "Not enough?" Yuan Tiangang's eyes changed slightly, and he said with a folded hand: "I would like to hear the details." Li Xingyun closed his eyes, and kept recalling all the information about this chaotic era in his mind. He said slowly: "In this world, it is not uncommon for sons to hate their fathers and ministers to kill their emperors. The feudal system has led to the decentralization of military and political power. The princes have tasted the sweetness of power, and their desires have grown along with power. They no longer respect the imperial power. This is the root cause of the unrest in the world. Everyone wants to be emperor, and as long as they have military power, they have the opportunity to become emperor." Opening his eyes, Li Xingyun looked at Yuan Tiangang and said, "As you said, I raised an army as a descendant of Li Tang. After destroying Zhu Wen, you can suppress the kings. They are afraid of death and will surrender on the surface. But if I want to achieve world peace, I must reduce the power of the princes and endanger the military power in my hands. They are all heroes of the world, how can they be bound obediently? At that time, the war will start again, and everything will have to start all over again." "Of course, these problems can be solved. It just takes more time. The problem I'm worried about is you, Marshal." Li Xingyun glanced at Yuan Tiangang, and the atmosphere between them suddenly became subtle. "What problem are you worried about, Your Highness?" Yuan Tiangang asked in a deep voice. Li Xingyun let go of Yuan Tiangang's shoulder and said, "As the Marshal just said, you have the ability to pacify the world. With such a powerful force as the Bad People in your hands, you naturally have the ability to wreak havoc on the world!" "Your Highness, are you doubting my loyalty to the Tang Dynasty?" Yuan Tiangang glanced sideways. "No, I have never doubted your loyalty to the Tang Dynasty. Otherwise, you wouldn't have kneeled down to greet a lonely person like me today. But I guess the Tang Dynasty you are loyal to is the Tang Dynasty of Emperor Taizong, right?" After Li Xingyun finished speaking, Yuan Tiangang opened his eyes slightly, surprisingly without replying. Li Xingyun said solemnly, "Yuan Tiangang, during the Zhenguan period, you were indeed a loyal minister of the Tang Dynasty, but your friends and your monarch all died in the passage of time, and you have survived to this day with the power of the elixir of immortality. In the past three hundred years, you have witnessed the Mawei Slope Incident of Emperor Xuanzong, and you have also watched my father and brother being slaughtered. Now you are no longer a minister of the Tang Dynasty. Your calculations for the world are more like a wisp of obsession of the dead Tang Dynasty." After these words were spoken, even Yuan Tiangang couldn't help but be stunned. His three hundred years of internal strength was unmatched by anyone in the world, but now his defense was broken by these words. "I don't know what your hexagrams have predicted, but eight years ago you knew my identity but didn't recognize me. Today you are testing me because my performance is so different from what it was eight years ago. Haha, in your eyes, this world is just a chess game, and I, Li Xingyun, am just one of your chess pieces. Although you and I are called the king and the minister today, am I really the king in your heart?" Yuan Tiangang slowly raised his head and looked at Li Xingyun with complicated eyes, only to see Li Xingyun looking at him calmly and saying word by word: "I, Li Xingyun, a descendant of Li Tang, started with nothing. With your ability and my situation, I should flatter you, I should be respectful, I should be terrified by your assistance, I should be so happy that tears flow down my face, Yuan Tiangang!" "Your Highness..." An emotion appeared in Yuan Tiangang's eyes for the first time in three hundred years: shock! I don’t know what you think of this chapter, but I feel it was written very well and it speaks directly from my heart!
(End of this chapter)
