Chapter 47: An Lushan the Barbarian

The crowd on the street once again became chaotic. Dozens of attendants escorted a carriage at full speed. From afar, someone shouted, “You wretch! Do you want to drive me to death?”
Seeing the carriage arrive, the Yulin Army stepped aside. Even Chen Zhongyu, the general of the Yulin Army, did not obstruct it and moved his horse to the side.
The carriage came to a sudden stop. Two attendants helped a middle-aged man with a stout build out of the carriage. Fuming with anger, he rushed at An Qingxu and slapped him twice in quick succession. “You wretch! Kneel down!”
Needless to say, this stout man was An Lushan, the governor of Fanyang. He had been reporting to the court recently. That day, while attending a court meeting, he suddenly received news from Yan Zhuang that his second son, An Qingxu, had led troops to attack the Anxi Reporting Office. Terrified, An Lushan rushed over to stop it, but it was already too late—his son and his cavalry had been captured by the Yulin Army.
Sweating profusely, An Lushan’s top priority now was to downplay the incident. After making his son kneel, he hurriedly approached the Anxi Army, bowing repeatedly and saying, “Generals, my son is young and reckless. What happened today was unintentional. I’ve caused you trouble, and I’m willing to use all my wealth to rebuild the Reporting Office. I’ll also provide generous compensation for those injured. Please show me some leniency.”
An Lushan knew very well that to minimize this incident, the key lay with the Anxi Army. If they would show tolerance, the emperor would likely offer some leniency as well. Otherwise, since the Anxi Army had just achieved a great victory over the Xiaobo Li and then suffered humiliation upon entering the capital, the emperor would have no way to explain things to the people.
The members of the Anxi Army all looked at Li Qingan, but he remained expressionless and silent, as if he hadn’t heard anything. Seeing that Li Qingan didn’t respond, everyone kept their mouths shut. Even Li Fei Yuanli didn’t say anything at this critical moment.
Seeing that the Anxi Army remained silent, An Lushan realized he had to take action. Suddenly, he turned around and kicked An Qingxu to the ground, shouting, “Someone! Hold him down and beat him until he dies!”
An Qingxu turned pale with fear and begged for mercy, kowtowing repeatedly. “Father, I know I was wrong. Please spare me!”
Four or five generals rushed forward, pinned down An Qingxu, and began beating him with clubs. They knew exactly what to do. Clubs flew like rain, leaving An Qingxu’s body covered in wounds and blood, as he cried out in pain. Each blow to An Qingxu caused agony for An Lushan. Eighty blows had already been dealt, yet the Anxi Army still refused to relent. Filled with rage, he thought, “These dogs! Do they really intend to let my own son be beaten to death?”

Ninety blows had already been delivered. The troops from Anxi all turned to look at Li Qingan. It should be almost over by now. Unexpectedly, Li Qingan remained expressionless, showing no sign of relenting. Even Li Siye secretly admired his composure. At 103 blows, An Qingxu suddenly let out a loud scream as his legs were broken alive, causing him to faint.

“General An, this is actually just a misunderstanding. Why go to such extremes?” Li Qingan finally spoke up.

……

“My son, are you alright?” An Lushan was heartbroken as he bent down to check the injuries from the blows. One of the executioners whispered, “General, the last few blows broke his legs.”

“Ah!” An Lushan cried out in shock. Fury surged within him. He was the military governor of Fanyang and a high-ranking general. How dare these inferior troops from Anxi disrespect him by breaking his son’s legs alive? Just as he was about to explode, his advisor Yan Zhuang quickly stepped forward and said, “General, we need the Imperial Guards to examine the injuries.”

This remark reminded An Lushan, who promptly summoned the Imperial Guards to check the injuries. He forced a smile and said sincerely to the troops from Anxi, “We are all soldiers of the Tang Dynasty. There should be no deep hatred between us. It’s just that due to a dispute during the polo match the year before last, my son became a bit irritable. Please bear with us. I will give each of you 300 strings of coins as compensation, and I’ll double the amount for those who are injured.”

“General An, I wonder how much compensation you plan to offer for the injured?” Li Fei Yuanli, who had always been obedient, finally couldn’t help but speak up.

“Well… I’ll compensate each person with 1,000 strings of coins.”

Li Fei Yuanli grinned broadly. He had been extremely reluctant to play the role of an injured person, as he would have to endure having an arrow shot into his buttocks for nothing. But since he had caused the trouble, he had no choice but to accept it. To his surprise, one arrow was worth 1,000 strings of coins! How could he not be overjoyed? He even wished he could get a few more arrows shot into him to pretend to be more seriously injured—wouldn’t that mean more compensation?

Li Fei Yuanli’s joyful smile suddenly made An Lushan wary. This didn’t look like the pain of an injured person. Could it be that they…

At that moment, loud horseback sounds came from afar.

“The imperial edict has arrived!”

Several eunuchs rushed over on horseback and declared loudly, “By the emperor’s order, the soldiers from Anxi are summoned to the Hanyuan Hall for an audience.”

Li Longji had just received a report from Xiao Jing, the governor of Jingzhao, that An Qingxu, the son of An Lushan, had led his troops to attack the Anxi Reporting Office for unknown reasons. Although his subordinates did not know the origin of the conflict, Li Longji was well aware that during the polo match at the beginning of the Tianbao era, fierce fighting had broken out between the Fanyang and Anxi armies, leading to hostility between them. With another polo match approaching, it was highly likely that the two armies would settle old scores once again.

If this had happened half a year earlier, Li Longji might not have taken it too seriously and sent someone to calm both sides. But this time was different. The Anxi army had just achieved a glorious victory over the Xiaobo Li, and the whole court was celebrating. Before they could award rewards, the Anxi Reporting Office was attacked and even set on fire. If this matter was not dealt with strictly, it would dampen everyone’s morale, especially that of the Anxi army, which might even lead to a mutiny. Last time, Bian Lingcheng mentioned that Gao Xianzhi’s demotion had nearly triggered a mutiny.

Li Longji could not afford to be careless. First, he needed to pacify the Anxi army, and then investigate the responsibility.

At that moment, a eunuch announced at the door, “Your Majesty, the Prime Minister has arrived.”

“Send him in.”

Li Linfu hurried in, bowed, and said, “Your servant pays his respects to Your Majesty!”

Li Longji glanced at him and asked, “Any developments on An Lushan’s side?”

“I heard that An Lushan broke his son’s legs on the spot and has reached an understanding with the Anxi army.”

“Oh? He acted quite quickly!”

Li Longji smiled and said to Li Linfu, “Prime Minister, I’ll leave this matter in your hands.”

“Your servant obeys!”

Li Longji then took a document from his desk and handed it to him, smiling, “These are the rewards for the battle against the Xiaobo Li. I made a few adjustments to the Ministry of War’s proposal. Please take a look.”

The rewards for the Anxi army were divided into two parts. One part was for the commander-in-chief, Gao Xianzhi, which fell under Li Longji’s authority and could not be interfered with by the Prime Minister. However, the rewards for the lower-ranking soldiers were drafted by the Ministry of War, reviewed by the Prime Minister, and then submitted to Li Longji, who made slight modifications.

Li Linfu opened it and saw two changes: one was an additional 50,000 bolts of silk as a reward, and the other was a change in the official title of Li Qingan. Li Linfu was stunned and quickly glanced at Gao Lishi beside him. Gao Lishi remained expressionless, as if the matter had nothing to do with him.

Li Linfu did not dare to object and bowed, saying, “Your servant will issue the decrees according to Your Majesty’s wishes.”

“Go! I will announce the decrees at the Hanyuan Hall early tomorrow morning. Do not delay.”

“Your servant understands!” Li Linfu slowly retreated.

Li Linfu left. Li Longji gently pressed his temples, feeling exhausted. He pointed at the stack of memorials on the table and said to Gao Lishi, “I’m quite tired. I’ll return to the palace to rest first. Please handle these memorials in my place.”
“Your servant will obey.”
Gao Lishi hurried to the door and announced loudly, “Escort the Emperor back to the palace!”