Chapter 497: The Conditions in Lushan

The good days when An Lushan entered Chang’an triumphantly a few months ago were gone. As dawn broke, bad news came one after another—his two hundred elite soldiers were utterly defeated. Two soldiers who managed to escape brought him the truth: the Jinyiwei had struck from behind. They had tried to abduct the Imperial Concubine along the way, but after learning of their failure, the Jinyiwei killed them. Without their interference and slaughter, at least sixty to seventy of the two hundred could have escaped.

This time, An Lushan was furious—a silent rage, the kind born from being stabbed in the back. He held no grudges against the Qianniuwei, as they and his Anxi troops were already mortal enemies. He wouldn’t be surprised if the Anxi troops killed all his men; if it were him, he would do the same to them. But the Jinyiwei were different—they were his allies, their alliance barely sealed when they turned on him. No wonder Li Heng refused to see him last night—he had no face to face him, too ashamed to do so.

If this hadn’t been ordered by Li Heng, An Lushan would never have believed it. Was this politics—alliances made above, knives drawn below? An Lushan understood: this was Li Heng’s style. If he dared kill his own son, what was he, An Lushan, worth?

Though already dealt a heavy blow, the final fatal strike came after dawn. He received word that Li Heng and Chen Xuanli had visited the Qianniuwei headquarters. All five hundred Jinyiwei soldiers were released, each given wine to calm their nerves, and left happily. But his thirty-odd subordinates were all beheaded, their heads hung in Huaiyuan Fang.

At this point, An Lushan was beyond anger. Either he would erupt or die in silence. He chose to erupt. Fifteen minutes later, he quickly packed his things and left his mansion under the protection of hundreds of bodyguards.

An Lushan left the city in a grand display. A convoy of hundreds marched down Zhuque Street, causing a sensation in Chang’an. His carriage was surrounded by three hundred guards, the curtains tightly drawn, hiding what was inside. Spectators filled both sides of Zhuque Street, occasionally throwing rotten eggs at the carriage, with many shouting insults.

Despite not being popular among the people, An Lushan’s convoy moved slowly, as if waiting for something.

The news of An Lushan leaving Chang’an reached Li Heng’s ears immediately. By then, Li Heng had already experienced the cruelty of the Qianniu Wei turning against him—on one hand, they publicly released the soldiers of the Jinwu Wei, while on the other hand, they killed An Lushan’s men. This was undoubtedly adding fuel to the fire, intensifying the conflict between him and An Lushan. Although Li Heng understood that the Qianniu Wei were exploiting the situation, he didn’t want to change his strategy. An Lushan’s departure was within his expectations; he was moving slowly, waiting for Li Heng to come and negotiate, to make concessions—in other words, An Lushan’s true intentions were finally coming to light. “Go and see him!” Li Heng said to his trusted eunuch, Li Fuguo. “Be humble and sincere. Please ask him to stay and hear his conditions.” “I understand!” Li Fuguo rushed off immediately. Meanwhile, Li Heng slowly walked to the window and gazed in the direction of Zhuque Street, a mocking smirk on his face. Yes, everyone was using this situation to their advantage, including An Lushan. He really wanted to know what An Lushan’s true purpose for entering the capital was…

…When An Lushan’s carriage approached Mingde Gate, it was caught up by Li Fuguo, who had been chasing after him. “General An! Please slow down!” Li Fuguo’s voice was loud and urgent. Inside the carriage, An Lushan smiled triumphantly. He knew Li Heng would come after him; he wouldn’t really let him go. They hadn’t even discussed the details of how to deal with Li Qing’an! How could Li Heng let him go? It had been almost three months since he entered the capital—it was time to confront each other. “Don’t stop. Keep going!” An Lushan ordered in a low voice. The carriage continued moving slowly. Then, Li Fuguo caught up to it. He rushed to the carriage window, out of breath, and said, “General, please slow down for a moment. I have something to say.” The carriage finally stopped. A slit was opened in the curtain, revealing An Lushan’s pumpkin-like face and eyes barely visible beneath his thick cheeks. He said leisurely, “Is it you who has something to say, or is it His Majesty the Regent?” “It’s His Majesty the Regent who has something to say. I’m just delivering the message.” “Speak then! What does he say?” Li Fuguo dismounted and knelt in front of the window, saying, “General, His Majesty the Regent says that someone deliberately tried to stir up discord between you two yesterday. Please, Your Majesty, don’t fall for their schemes and ruin your alliance. Please go back first; we can discuss this properly!”

“Don’t shift blame onto others for everything. I know if there are any ulterior motives. Please convey to His Highness that my departure from Chang’an has nothing to do with last night’s incident. It’s because I couldn’t see his sincerity that I decided to return to Fanyang. Eunuch Li, please go!”
“No! No! No!”
Li Fuguo waved his hands repeatedly. “Marshal An, please don’t act out of anger. Listen to this old servant—His Regency Prince certainly isn’t insincere. On the contrary, he’s very sincere, which is why he sent me to chase after you. If he weren’t still recovering from illness, he would have come in person. Please go back; everything can be discussed.”
“Is that so? Very well! Then I’ll make one small request to test his sincerity. If he’s truly sincere, I’ll return.”
“Please state your request clearly, Marshal!”
Only then did An Lushan slowly say, “I am currently the Prince of Dongping. Among all the regional lords, I rank second. Once I can tie for first, then I’ll believe in His Highness’s sincerity.”
An Lushan had finally laid out his demands—he wanted to rise above the rank of prince. Whether that could be achieved was a matter for Li Heng to consider. After speaking, An Lushan waved his hand and said, “Let’s set off!”
The carriage started moving again. This time, Li Fuguo didn’t chase after it. As he watched the carriage gradually leave Mingde Gate, he reflected on An Lushan’s words and couldn’t help but sigh bitterly. From prince to crown prince—An Lushan’s ambition was truly vast.
……
“What!”
Li Heng turned around abruptly, his eyes wide in disbelief. “Are you saying his demand is to become a crown prince?”
Li Fuguo replied helplessly, “Yes. That’s what An Lushan meant. He thinks he’s only a prince and wants to be on par with Li Qingan, so he also wants to be a crown prince. Your Highness, this must be An Lushan’s real purpose for coming to the capital this time.”
“Very good! Very good!”
Li Heng laughed bitterly in anger. “If he wants to be a crown prince this time, what about next time? Will he then want to be emperor?”
At that moment, Li Heng seemed to remember something. He immediately went to the bookshelf and began flipping through it. Soon, he found a copy of a memorial submitted half a year earlier by Li Luo, the censor of Hebei. The memorial accused An Lushan of having disloyal intentions and of fabricating evidence by digging up the stone stele of the Prince of Yan in Fanyang.
“As I thought!” Li Heng muttered to himself.
Everyone knew An Lushan was ambitious, but it was hard to tell how he would pursue his ambitions. Now that he had openly revealed his desire to become a crown prince, his next move became clear.

For now, An Lushan does not dare to rebel yet. The crushing defeat in the Guannei region must have severely damaged his plans to openly rebel, so he changed his strategy and sought to gradually realize his ambitions through separatist actions. Becoming the King of Yan was just the first step. Judging from the discovery of the stele of the King of Yan half a year ago, An Lushan’s plans were very meticulous, with each step carefully planned. The discovery of the stele gave him the impression of divine approval, after which he went to the capital to seek the emperor’s recognition as the King of Yan—this was his purpose for going to the capital. If he failed to achieve this goal, he would surely proclaim himself King of Yan upon returning and wait for chaos in the court to launch a military campaign to force the court to submit.

By then, the territory under the King of Yan’s rule would not be limited to Fanyang alone.

Li Heng understood that he needed to make a decision—whether An Lushan was beneficial or harmful to him. Over the past two months since An Lushan arrived in the capital, he had been carefully interacting with him, gradually reaching an alliance. He hoped An Lushan’s army could help him contain Li Qing’an’s eastward expansion. But from An Lushan’s current behavior, Li Heng was disappointed. An Lushan’s two hundred elite troops had been killed by the Qianniu Guard, yet he didn’t dare to do anything against them and instead packed up to return to Hebei.

While there was certainly the reason that An Lushan wanted to bargain with him, he also deeply feared the Anxi Army and was afraid they would hold him accountable. Li Heng felt he had judged An Lushan correctly—he was indeed very afraid of the Anxi Army. How could he then expect An Lushan to help him suppress Li Qing’an?

After realizing this, Li Heng made up his mind. He took out a gold plaque and handed it to Li Fuguo, saying, “Take this gold plaque to Chen Xuanli immediately. Tell him that no matter what happens, An Lushan must not leave Guanzhong!”

……

As soon as An Lushan’s carriage left Chang’an, it accelerated. In fact, An Lushan was also gambling—he was betting that Li Heng would accept his demands and persuade the government to recognize him as the King of Yan. After all, he had hundreds of thousands of troops, and he was the only opponent to Li Qing’an. Li Heng would surely rely on him. But An Lushan also knew the risks involved in his gamble. If Li Heng rejected his conditions, he might very well turn against him.

Therefore, An Lushan was also extremely afraid. After traveling less than twenty li, his advisor Gao Shang and general Shi Siming joined him with their troops. Now that he had seven hundred soldiers at his disposal, his heart settled a little.

“Commander, I feel something’s wrong!” advisor Gao Shang said, riding up to the window of his carriage.

“What have you noticed?”

Gao Shang said anxiously, “If Li Heng truly meant it, he should have come in person to persuade the Great Marshal. Sending a trusted eunuch instead—does that not imply an attempt to deceive the Great Marshal?”
An Lushan pondered for a moment. It was indeed possible. He knew Li Heng well enough—someone who would kill his own son—so what wouldn’t he dare do? Growing nervous, he quickly asked, “Then should we follow our original plan?”
They had long discussed an exit strategy. If negotiations with Li Heng failed, Li Heng would surely resort to violence. In that case, they would head west, through western Guanzhong controlled by Li Qing’an, cross the river inside Guanzhong, or take the route via Hanzhong.
Gao Shang shook his head. “Your Highness, judging from the actions of the Qianniu Guard last night, they must also be on guard. We can no longer go west. We need to find another route.”
“Then does the master have a plan?”
“Yes! We’ll take the water route.”
……
Two hours later, An Lushan’s convoy arrived at Xinfeng County. Just as they were about to leave the main road and take a side path, thousands of soldiers from Guanzhong stationed in Xinfeng rushed out of the nearby woods, firing arrows like a rainstorm. An Lushan’s guards were caught off guard and were quickly overwhelmed, many dying or wounded. In an instant, thousands of soldiers surrounded An Lushan’s convoy.
“Where is An Lushan?” an officer demanded harshly.
“Our Great Marshal isn’t in the carriage. He left a long time ago.”
……
From Chang’an to Shanzhou, besides taking the land route via Tongguan, one could also travel by water along the canal system. This canal system was crucial for maintaining Guanzhong’s economy. After Li Longji ascended the throne, he ordered several major dredging projects. In the 28th year of the Kaiyuan era, Li Qiwu, the governor of Shanzhou, dug the Kaiyuan New River. Two years later, Wei Jian, who succeeded him as governor of Shanzhou, continued to deepen the canal and connected it to the Ba River, allowing ships from the Jianghuai region to reach Guangyuntan, nine li east of Chang’an. This canal was later renamed the Tianbao Canal, and Wei Jian was promoted to Minister of Punishments and became a prime minister.
In the morning, Guangyuntan was filled with boats. Many ships left Guanzhong for the Jianghuai region before the river froze. In front of a river transport inspection post, several river officials were busy in a small boat, collecting fees to allow ships to pass. They were sharp-eyed—no ship could escape free of charge. Then a large decorated boat approached.
“Stop the boat!”
The river official shouted. Their small boat approached the decorated boat. “What’s the matter?”

A decorated boat among numerous cargo ships was indeed eye-catching. There were over a dozen young servants on the boat, and a middle-aged butler bowed and said with a smile, “Sir, this is a bride’s boat, heading to Shanzhou on time.”
“It’s faster to go by land. How long will it take by water?”
Two officials curiously peered in. Through the gaps in the boat’s curtains, they could faintly see an extremely obese woman wearing a bright red dress and adorned with numerous jewels, looking extremely flamboyant. She was sitting sideways, so her face couldn’t be seen clearly. However, her sheer obesity dissipated the inspectors’ interest, and one of them said with a laugh, “For a bride’s boat, besides the usual fee, there should also be betrothal money!”
“Yes! Yes! Yes!”
The middle-aged man took out two strings of coins and respectfully handed them over, saying, “This is a small token of appreciation. Please accept it!”
Normally, passing boats were only charged a few hundred coins, but they received two strings here, which truly delighted the two officials. After taking the money, they waved and said, “Go ahead!”
The decorated boat slowly set off and soon left the checkpoint, disappearing among the vast fleet of cargo ships.