Chapter 211 Self-collapse
It was neither reasonable nor moral for Li Jiancheng to go against his mother's wishes easily. This was the essence of filial piety.

Moreover, his intention to denounce the entire Dugu family was just an act. Because Dugu Huai'en was a fool, he didn't want to implicate the entire clan.

He did this just to see how many of his in-laws and old friends would be easily influenced.

Moreover, as the saying goes, a once, a twice, but not a three times. Every time one uses relationships to influence the emperor, it is a huge drain on the family's influence. When Li Jiancheng really wants to move against someone in the future, they will probably not have the face to come and beg for mercy.

After listening to this, Li Jiancheng said, "If that's the case, I will pardon them and only hold Dugu Huai'en accountable."

Just as the mother and son were talking, Li Wei walked in quickly and saluted. He didn't say anything but his meaning was very clear. Li Jiancheng stood up and said goodbye to his mother.

Dou knew that something serious must have happened, but she had no intention of asking further questions. She just reminded him, "You must take care of your health."

"promise."

After leaving the Funing Palace, Li Wei immediately reported: "The Huairong monk Gao Tansheng took advantage of the government's order to hold a vegetarian feast and perform rituals to attract people to worship Buddha, and gathered more than 5,000 monks to start an uprising and killed the county magistrate and the garrison commander.

He proclaimed himself the reincarnation of Maitreya, the Mahayana Emperor, named his country the Buddha Kingdom, the reign title Dharma Wheel, appointed the nun Jingxuan as Queen Ye Lun, and appointed monks and Taoists as civil and military officials.

There were also Lü Chongmao from Xia County, Li Zhongwen, the governor of Ruyin, Yang Shilin, the prefect of Xianzhou, Meng Dangui, the prefect of Daizhou, Cheng Mingzhen, the magistrate of Pule County, and Jiang Shan, the magistrate of Yucheng County, who openly responded to Dugu Huai'en's false edict.

The officials and noble families of Lingling, Nankang, Guiyang, Shi'an, Hengshan, Xiping and other counties raised troops to welcome Dugu Huai'en.

It sounded like a big noise, but Li Jiancheng's expression did not change at all. He continued to move forward steadily with light steps. Li Wei took a breath and said, "Your Majesty, the Left Prime Minister has summoned the civil and military officials to the Xuanzheng Hall, waiting for your order to quell the rebellion."

"Ah."

After changing into court robes, Li Jiancheng arrived at the Xuanzheng Hall. The ministers stopped talking and bowed to greet him. Only when the emperor sat down firmly and heard the words "no need for formalities" did they straighten their backs again.

Zuo Pushe Pei Ji was the first to speak: "Your Majesty, I think we should send troops to suppress the rebellion immediately."

Qin Shubao and Zhang Huli immediately stepped out to ask for battle: "I ask to go to the battle and will wipe out the bandits for Your Majesty."

Li Mi, Xue Ju and others were not willing to be outdone. After all, such opportunities were becoming fewer and fewer. They had all experienced the chaos at the end of the Sui Dynasty, and a rebellion of this magnitude now was not a big deal at all.

The rebellious county officials were not the foundation of the Tang Dynasty. They responded to Dugu Huai'en not because they really believed in the forged edict, but because they had already committed serious crimes.

They wanted to use this to demonstrate their strength. As long as the imperial court showed some appeasement, they would immediately deal with the rebels on their own and capture Dugu Huai'en and send him back to Chang'an.

But those people obviously did not understand the emperor. Only those who had truly fought against the emperor knew what it felt like to have every step arranged clearly.

The emperor did not order a general to lead troops to quell the rebellion, but only ordered local troops to assemble to quell the rebellion, which surprised the ministers. At this time, Dugu Huai'en finally arrived at the place and smoothly met the governors of various counties and representatives of the noble families. Because they had already had interests in the alliance, he successfully became the leader of the alliance with nearly 100,000 troops.

Dugu Huai'en spread the word that the emperor was immoral and disloyal at home and cowardly and incompetent abroad, and that he was not a wise ruler. The retired emperor was kind and gave his son a son, but he was imprisoned in the palace. The King of Qin and the King of Qi were extremely virtuous, but they were driven out of Chang'an.

He gave up his prominent position as Minister of Works for the sake of the Tang Dynasty, fled here to gather troops and prepare to return to Guanzhong to support the emperor and welcome the retired emperor to restore the throne.

Dugu Huai'en had a great influence in the south, and there was no movement in Chang'an. For a while, people with hidden ambitions emerged in the world, ready to follow the example of their predecessors, raise troops to travel across the states and counties, and claim to be the only one with power.

But the strange thing is that no matter how hard they tried, they could not gather many troops and were quickly wiped out by the local soldiers.

After Dugu Huai'en had been struggling for several months, fewer and fewer people responded, and the number of troops under his command had not increased. Although he had several counties and was not short of food, fodder and money.

Dugu Huai'en only became a little more sober from his ambition at this time. He hurriedly summoned his subordinates and ordered them to forcibly conscript soldiers and then follow him in the Northern Expedition.

But what he got was a blunt refusal. Dugu Huai'en was angry and wanted to pick a few people to make an example of, but after he gave the order, the hall was silent.

In the dead silence, Lingling Governor Zhao Dan sighed, "The Emperor went out to Hongnong County a few days ago. After Qin Wang Li Shimin wiped out the rebels in Henan, he has been staying at home and refusing visitors. The King of Qi has not made any moves in Jinyang either."

As the "chicken" that was just called, the commander of the Zhechou Commandery, Feng Qi, glared at Dugu Huai'en fiercely and said, "The court has no intention of appeasing him either. What should we do? Should we follow this idiot in the Northern Expedition?"

“The Northern Expedition is a dead end. Not only is he stupid, but so are we. We originally thought that if we joined forces, we could easily gather 200,000 soldiers and force the court to make concessions. We didn’t expect that the chaotic times would really be over.

As a result, now let alone 200,000, even 100,000 is barely enough. What can be accomplished with this mob? "

Nankang Beijia whispered: "There are at least 200,000 soldiers stationed in Chang'an, and they are elite troops such as the Xiaoguo Army and the Yanyun Iron Cavalry."

The more they talked, the uglier their faces became. The imperial court had clearly not responded by cracking down on them, allowing them to develop on their own, and as a result, they were about to collapse on their own.

Finally, someone couldn't help but rush forward and dragged Dugu Huai'en, who was at the top, to the ground and said, "Didn't you say that Your Majesty is unpopular in Chang'an, and the Li clan and the nobles in Guanlong are very resentful. As long as we raise an army, Guanzhong will naturally be in chaos, and the King of Qin and the King of Qi will also raise an army?
Didn’t you say that your Dugu family is extremely prominent, with relatives and old friends all over the world, and that most of your nephews and nephews are local officials? How come there is no response from anyone now!
Dugu Huai'en, a relative of two dynasties, was treated like this for the first time in his life. He thought he was dreaming when he fell to the ground.

After he realized what was happening, he immediately felt extremely humiliated and stood up angrily to kill the man. As a typical Guanlong noble, his riding and archery skills were quite good.

But this was someone else's territory after all, and he was soon pressed on the table. Dugu Huai'en shouted to his confidants: "What are you still looking at? Kill them, kill them!"

Yuan Junbao and others turned a blind eye. If we talk about hatred, they hated Dugu Huai'en the most. It was because of this guy's instigation that they abandoned the wealth of Chang'an and ran to this place where they had no control over life and death and had no future.

Zhao Dan closed his eyes in pain. Lord Yuwen, where is your successor?
...............

(End of this chapter)