Tiantang Splendid

Chapter 4894 An's Self-Rescue
Outside, the wind was howling and the snow was pouring, but the hearts of the people inside were colder than the winter.

Everyone knew what An Yuanshou meant. He was willing to be killed with his own body to appease the king's anger and gain peace for the An family...

He is the patriarch of the An family, yet he was forced into such a situation. Why did it come to this?

Is this the "benevolent and harmonious" Lord praised by the world? !

Zhai Liuniang, who had been silent the whole time, shook her head and said calmly, "Even if my husband sacrifices himself, how can I be sure that His Majesty can really forgive the An family?"

If An Yuanshou is sacrificed in exchange for the peace of the whole family, it is painful but not impossible to consider, but who can guarantee that Your Majesty will let the An family go after executing An Yuanshou? If An Yuanshou tied himself up in front of the emperor and asked to be killed, and Your Majesty was still angry and vowed to wipe out the An family, wouldn't An Yuanshou's sacrifice be in vain?

An Yongda said hurriedly: "Sister-in-law, what you said makes sense. It's just a matter of death. We might as well fight back. If he wants our An family's head, he has to break his big teeth!"

An Zhongjing stood up, waved his fist and roared: "My An family has lived in Liangzhou for a long time and has made great contributions to the Tang Dynasty. Now the king is cruel and regards me as a thorn in his side and needs to be eliminated as soon as possible. How can we surrender and humiliate the prestige of our ancestors? Let's fight!"

An Yuanshou's face changed and he was hesitant.

Just as An Zhongjing said, the An family has made great contributions to the Tang Dynasty!
At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, Li Gui ruled Liangzhou, connected with the Turks in the north and Tuyuhun in the south, and eyeing Guanzhong, which was a serious threat. An Xinggui volunteered to return to Liangzhou, his ancestral home, to assist the court in suppressing Li Gui, so that the Tang Dynasty no longer had to worry about the future. For this achievement, he was highly appreciated by Emperor Gaozu, "he was successively appointed as the Supreme Pillar of the State, the Right General of Wuhou, and was named the Duke of Liang, and was given 10,000 pieces of silk and 600 households". Among the meritorious officials in the early Tang Dynasty, there were only a handful of people who had more merit than An Xinggui.

When An Yuanshou was young, he was extremely brave. At the age of sixteen, he entered the Qin Palace as a meritorious son and served as the Right Treasury Officer. In the ninth year of Wude, when Emperor Taizong launched the Xuanwu Gate Incident, he ordered An Yuanshou to guard the Jiaqi Gate, which was the entrance and exit from the Taiji Palace. He made great contributions.

In the same year, Jie Li Khan led his troops south to the Wei River. When Emperor Taizong made the "Wei River Alliance" with Jie Li Khan at the Wei River Bridge, it was An Yuanshou who guarded alone in the military tent, so that Emperor Taizong had no worries.

With all these achievements, how many people in the Tang Dynasty can match them?

Just because you raised an army and went to Chang'an without authorization, you want to annihilate the entire family to vent your anger?

I really don't want to!
He was deeply moved by the fact that his wife, cousin, and son could not bear to see him go to Chang'an to die, and would rather raise an army and fight to the death in one place.

After all, the best way at this time is to push him out. After all, there is still a possibility that His Majesty will calm down his anger and let the An family go. If we fight to the death, the only way out is defeat and the extinction of the An family.

"boom!"

Zhai Liuniang slapped the table with her hand, her beautiful eyes wide open, and shouted, "Be quiet, everyone! When did I say I was going to rebel? It's not that my husband can't tie himself up in front of the emperor and die to apologize, but we need to find a way to make His Majesty stop pursuing An Shi and allow An Shi to be safe and sound!"

An Yuanshou: “…”

It turns out that they didn't want me to die, but they wanted my death to be meaningful...

An Yongda asked hurriedly: "What's the plan?"

Although Zhai Liuniang was a woman, she was smart and resourceful, and was able to manage half of the family, so she had always been very prestigious and the An family members had great faith in her.

"Send someone to Chang'an secretly with a large sum of money to bribe and persuade the ministers to speak to Your Majesty. This may save the An family!"

An Yongda's eyes lit up: "Sister-in-law is indeed a female Zhuge Liang. This will definitely help resolve the crisis!"

An Zhongjing also agreed: "Your Majesty may seem tolerant, but he is actually stubborn. He is weak and indecisive. To put it bluntly, he is easily influenced! As long as we can bribe enough important ministers to give him advice, and elaborate on the merits of the An family and the huge price we have to pay to wipe them out, I believe that after weighing the pros and cons, Your Majesty will definitely let the An family go!"

An Yuanshou: “…”

You only care about how to bribe the ministers and how to persuade His Majesty, but don't you care at all about me who paid the greatest price in this?

He coughed dryly and said, "The person your majesty trusts the most right now is Fang Jun. If we can get him to make a remonstration in front of your majesty, the chances of success will be infinitely increased."

Zhai Liuniang shook her head and said, "Destroying the An family is a great achievement. Cheng Yaojin is hoping to return to Chang'an with this. Fang Jun is a military giant and will never offend Cheng Yaojin. Besides, Fang Jun is the richest man in the world. Even if we spend all our wealth, he may not be interested in us."

The ancestor of the An family was a prince of the Parthian Kingdom. He settled in Liangzhou during the Northern Wei Dynasty and gradually became a wealthy and prominent family in Wuwei. Over the past two hundred years, the family has thrived here and has grown in population. Because they control the Silk Road, they have accumulated countless wealth.

However, An's wealth may be the most powerful in Hexi and counted in Chang'an, but it pales in comparison with the "rich enough to rival a country". The money that An's family has collected after selling all their wealth may not be in Fang Jun's eyes...

An Yongda wondered, "Who else can influence your majesty?"

Zhai Liuniang said, "The Minister of the Central Secretariat is Liu Li!"

Before anyone could ask, she explained, "Liu Li is the head of the civil officials, but he does not have the deep foundation of Fang Xuanling and Cen Wenben, and his achievements are not as good as his. His prestige is naturally insufficient. If he wants to command the support of the civil officials, he must have a huge amount of money to maintain the relationship. However, the Liu family of Jingzhou behind him is just a small family, which is far from being able to support the expenses of the court, so Liu Li must be short of money."

"Besides, the current dispute between the civil officials and the military officials in the court was instigated by Liu Li. He defends the interests of the civil officials and denounces the military for waging wars at will. His stance is naturally opposite to that of the military. As long as he speaks for us, he will definitely go all out."

Hearing that Zhai Liuniang was fully aware of the situation in the court, An Yongda clapped his hands and sighed, "Sister-in-law is able to make plans and win battles thousands of miles away. Women are as good as men. The An family is lucky to have a mistress like you!"

An Yuanshou: “…”

So as long as I have your sister-in-law, it's enough. It makes no difference whether I have her or not, right?
Zhai Liuniang said, "There is no time to lose. Yongda, you must go to Chang'an immediately with a large sum of money and convince Liu Ji. After he makes a remonstrance before His Majesty and His Majesty approves it, your brother can come to the capital with himself tied up and ask for forgiveness. Otherwise, we would rather die in battle than let your brother die in vain!"

Although his brother-in-law had a bad temper, he usually acted very prudently. Moreover, the one who was to bring the family's assets into the palace had to be a close relative. Otherwise, if he absconded with the money, the An family would suffer a devastating disaster...

An Yongda assured her face to face: "Don't worry, sister-in-law, I will do my best to complete this matter and make your death a worthy one!"

An Yuanshou: “…”

I didn't say much, and you decided to sacrifice me with just a few words?
I had originally volunteered to die, with a heroic spirit, seeking a way out for my entire family with my own body, but now I see myself being sacrificed like a commodity by my family. The heroic spirit of "the wind whistles and the Yi River is cold" has inevitably weakened a bit, and I feel quite melancholy...

……

Going from Fanhe to Chang'an, Guzang City is the only way to go.

If they transported the money to Chang'an openly, they might be hijacked by Cheng Yaojin who was stationed in Guzang City halfway, so An had to make some arrangements in advance to hide the money among the goods and form a large caravan to avoid being seen.

At the same time, they also had to find a way to contact the aristocratic families in Guzang City to cooperate in allowing the caravan to pass under Cheng Yaojin's nose.

Guzang City is the most famous city on the Silk Road. Its architectural regulations are even a model for city construction in Luoyang and other places. To this day, Guzang City is still on par with Chang'an and Luoyang in terms of city scale. Its strategic position is the gateway and lifeline of the Silk Road, and its status can be seen from this.

An Yongda disguised himself and entered Guzang City with two followers.

The city of Guzang is magnificent. During the Former Liang Dynasty, the city was expanded and "the old city was divided into five parts with interconnected streets. It had twenty-two gates, and the palaces and pavilions were renovated with exquisite decorations, imitating the style of Central China." This made Guzang the "third largest city in the world" after Chang'an and Luoyang for the next few hundred years.

To this day, despite repeated wars, the regulations of Guzang City are still rare in the world.

After entering the city, An Yongda went straight to the south, knocked on the door of a luxurious mansion, handed over his business card, and asked to see the owner.

Later, a servant led him into the mansion, and he saw the owner of the house, Yin Hongyong, beside a water pavilion covered with heavy snow.

The two of them took their seats one after another. The maid prepared some fragrant tea, but Yin Hongyong dismissed her and poured the tea himself.

After taking a sip of tea, Yin Hongyong said, "My dear brother, you are stationed in Fanhe now and have a lot of military affairs to attend to. You came into Guzang City in such weather. I guess you came here for something?"

An Yongda put down his teacup and said solemnly, "The An family is in trouble now and I'm afraid they can't escape. I hope you can lend a helping hand and give the An family a chance of survival. If this is accomplished, the Wuwei An family will remember this great kindness and repay it with all our heart!"

Yin Hongyong looked solemn. How could the Yin family, as a big family in Guzang, not know what the An family was in? Seeing An Yongda speak like this, he knew that the matter was serious.

"If you need anything, please let me know. As long as I can do it, I will never shirk my responsibility."

The two families were old friends. When Emperor Gaozu conquered Guzang City, he intended to massacre the entire Yin family. It was An Yongda's uncle, Gong Xinggui of Liang State, who interceded for them. Only Yin Shishi was killed and the rest of the family members were imprisoned. After Emperor Taizong ascended the throne, the entire Yin family saw the light of day again.

An saved Yin's life.

An Yongda sighed, "The world is going downhill and people's hearts are not the same as they used to be. Brother, you can remember our friendship and lend a helping hand when the An family is in trouble. The An family is grateful! My visit here is not a big deal. I just hope that brother can protect our caravan from being blocked by the garrison when passing through Guzang and ensure that it can pass smoothly."