Tang Dynasty, my wife Wu Zetian

Chapter 205: Fight with Li Tang!
The moon is bright and the stars are sparse, and the evening breeze is blowing.

Di Renjie pushed open the gate and entered a small courtyard.

This is an inconspicuous courtyard house located in Anyifang in the south of the city.

The light was on in the north room, and there were two people sitting inside. One of them was sitting on a chair. He was in his thirties, with sparse hair, mostly bald, and a depressed look on his face.

The other person was standing by the window with his arms folded, observing the situation outside. It was Li Yuanfang.

After Di Renjie entered the room, the bald man Shi Ming hurriedly asked, "Sir Di, didn't Xiao Shu already speak? When can this case be tried?"

Di Renjie raised his hand and soothed him, "Don't worry. Minister Ren has reviewed the confession and agreed to begin the trial tomorrow. Just be patient for one more night."

Shi Ming clenched his fists and chuckled, "Okay, I've been waiting for several years anyway, so one night won't make a difference." His laughter was sad.

Di Renjie said to Li Yuanfang, "Although someone is secretly protecting us, there is no guarantee that there won't be any accidents. Yuanfang, you must be careful here."

Li Yuanfang smiled and said, "Don't worry, I've already told a friend from the Jinwu Guards, he's patrolling outside the town, and when those people come, they'll..."

Before he could finish his words, his expression suddenly became extremely solemn.

"Yuan Fang, what's wrong?" Di Renjie asked.

Li Yuanfang stared at the roof opposite. Just now, a flash of light passed by. It was the moonlight reflected on the sharp blade.

Li Yuanfang winked at him, slowly took out the bow and arrow from the wall, and with a whoosh, shot an arrow out of the window.

It was a flare arrow. After it was shot out, it soared into the sky, making a sharp whistling sound.

At this moment, many men in black appeared from behind the roof. They stepped on bricks and tiles, jumped down from the roof, rolled on the ground, and stood up half-kneeling with sharp swords in their hands.

Li Yuanfang drew his sword, stood in front of the door, and said to Di Renjie, "The Jinwu Guards will take a cup of tea to arrive. Di Shaoqing, you hide now."

Di Renjie did not hide. He picked up the bow and arrow that Li Yuanfang had placed on the table, put the quiver on his back, drew the bow and arrow, and walked to the window.

However, when he saw the situation outside the house, he was stunned.

In the dark night, a fierce fight was taking place in the courtyard, and those men in black were killing each other.

Looking closely, it turned out that there were two groups of men in black. Although they were all wearing black clothes, the styles were different.

In the dark, who has the time to carefully look at the styles of clothes? One group of people in black were in a panic and couldn't tell the enemy from the friend.

The other group was more well-trained. I don’t know how they distinguished between their own people and enemies, but they attacked cleanly and neatly without any hesitation.

After fighting for a while, the sound of horse hooves could be heard faintly in the distance. It was the Jinwu Guards arriving.

The two groups of men in black simultaneously used their grappling hooks to climb over the wall and evacuate the courtyard.

In the blink of an eye, there were only corpses left in the yard.

Li Yuanfang smiled and said, "Di Shaoqing, you guessed it right again. Sure enough, someone is secretly protecting us."

Di Renjie put down his bow and arrow and said in a deep voice, "Yuan Fang, go see if there are any survivors."

……

Xiao Mansion, back hall.

With a "bang", Xiao Siye slammed his fist on the table, knocking over the teacup and spilling tea all over the table.

"Do you still respect me, the clan leader? You actually tried to assassinate Shi Ming without telling me!"

Apart from him, there were only six people in the room, five of whom were elders of the Xiao family, and the other one was Xiao Rui.

Xiao Rui said with a gloomy face: "Even if I tell you, you will only stop me and won't be able to help me. Why should I tell you?"

Xiao Siye laughed in anger and said, "Okay, okay, then let me ask you, now that the assassination attempt has failed, how are you going to clean up the mess?"

Xiao Rui was silent for a moment, then snorted coldly, "Those people are all deadly warriors. Even if there are survivors at the scene, they will never confess!"

Xiao Siye said coldly, "Without a single survivor, Di Renjie doesn't know it was us who did it? And don't the officials in the court know it was our Xiao family who wanted to silence them?"

"Do you know how much effort I put in to gain the support of so many people? As long as they knew what happened tonight, do you think they would still support my Xiao Group?"

Xiao Rui snorted and said, "No matter how many people you find, you can't stop Di Renjie from investigating the case."

An elder coughed and said, "Prince Consort, please be quiet." He turned to Xiao Siye and said, "Chief, we were reckless in this matter. What do you think we can do to remedy this situation?"

Xiao Siye smiled bitterly and said, "How reckless! Uncle, it's so easy for you to say that. How can I go see Prime Minister Xin again? And how can I face asking for your help again?"

Another short and thin elder glared and said, "If they don't help us, we will return to Jiangnan. You all should resign your positions and cut ties with the Li family!"

Xiao Siye stared at the elder in disbelief, "Uncle Nine, do you think Di Renjie won't investigate this case once we return to Jiangnan? Even if he finds us guilty, he'll still bring us to Chang'an for questioning!"

The short and thin elder slammed the table and shouted angrily, "If they go too far, why should we continue to worship the Li family as the emperor? Gather all the tenants in the clan, including the servants in the house, there are more than 10,000 people, and fight them!"

At this moment, Xiao Siye felt a deep sense of powerlessness. These older generations were still immersed in the fantasy of the Southern Dynasty and had long been out of touch with the times.

He slowly stood up and swept his sharp eyes over the few people.

"Back then, my uncle handed the Xiao family over to me. You can disobey me if you want, and I won't bother to care if you act recklessly in Jiangnan. However, if you dare to rebel, then I can't just ignore it."

Xiao Rui suddenly laughed and said, "Minister Xiao, do you think we only have this idea now?"

Xiao Siye's face turned pale and he asked, "What do you mean by that?"

Xiao Rui said coldly: "When the emperor dealt with the Gu and Wang families last year, we were already preparing a retreat."

Xiao Siye pointed at him, angrily saying, "You...you are hopeless!" The short, thin elder snorted coldly, "Li Zhi has gone too far. He's arrested the heads of two of Jiangnan's two great clans for a trivial matter. Who could accept that? No one wants to be like the next Gu or Wang, so they've united to protect themselves."

Xiao Siye shouted sternly, "Whoever dares to rebel against the Tang Dynasty will be killed first!"

Xiao Rui said coldly: "Xiao Siye, don't forget your last name. Without the Xiao family, there would be no you. It is Li Tang who has wronged the Xiao family, not the Xiao family who has wronged Li Tang!"

Xiao Siye's eyes slowly turned to look at the other elders, and he gritted his teeth and said, "Do you all think so too?"

A white-haired elder sighed, "When Grand Marshal Changsun was still around, we all lived peacefully. Ever since Your Majesty made Wu the empress and expelled Grand Marshal Changsun from the court, everything has been thrown into chaos. We are helpless."

Xiao Siye felt a chill in his heart.

He had already seen that these people had already discussed the matter secretly and reached a consensus, so no amount of persuasion would be of any use.

Xiao Siye slowly sat back in his chair and said calmly, "Now that things have come to this, I have nothing more to say. Just kill me."

The white-haired elder said in a hoarse voice, "Siye, you are the head of the Xiao clan. We still need you to take the helm!"

Xiao Siye sneered, "You've already dug a huge hole in the boat. How am I supposed to steer it?"

Xiao Rui said in a deep voice: "What's the point of you saying all this now? It's better to fight to the death. There are seven Zhechongfu in Jiangnan. If we want to start a war, we must first conquer these seven palaces!"

The white-haired elder said, "Siye, you are the Minister of War. As long as you issue an order to have these seven prefectures change their defenses immediately, we can seize the opportunity to attack and break through these seven prefectures."

Xiao Siye closed his eyes and said nothing.

The white-haired elder said, "You have led troops before, and everyone will support you. If you can rebuild the Later Liang Dynasty, everyone will support you as emperor!"

Xiao Siye suddenly muttered to himself, "It should have left the town by now."

Xiao Rui said with a serious face: "What are you talking about?"

Xiao Siye said calmly, "Since I'm laying my cards on the table with you, do you think I'm unprepared?"

Xiao Rui stood up suddenly and asked sternly, "What did you do?"

Xiao Siye smiled and said, "Nothing much. I just told a trusted confidant outside the door that if anything goes wrong inside the house, he should report it."

Xiao Rui grinned and said, "Then you made a wrong calculation. We have already issued orders to guard all the gates and not allow anyone to leave. Your people can't get out."

Xiao Siye asked, "Really?"

At this moment, a member of the Xiao clan came running over and said to Xiao Rui, "Uncle, the servants in the backyard just reported that Madam Shufei left the mansion through the back door!"

Although Concubine Xiao Shufei was demoted to a commoner by Li Zhi, the Xiao family still respected her as Concubine Shufei and hoped that she would return to the palace one day.

Xiao Rui was shocked and angry, and asked, "Why did you let her go?"

The tribesman said anxiously, "You gave the order before that no man was allowed to look at her or talk to her for too long, otherwise he would be put to death immediately! Those servants didn't dare to stop us!"

Xiao Rui was stunned.

He did give that order.

Concubine Xiao Shufei was so beautiful that he was worried that one of his servants would lose control and have an affair with her, causing her to never be able to return to the palace, so he issued such a death order.

The white-haired elder slammed the table and said anxiously, "What are you still standing there for? Send someone to get him back!"

Immediately, an elder of the clan personally led people to chase Concubine Xiao Shufei.

Xiao Rui didn't move, he knew it was too late.

"Xiao Siye, were you the one who asked that confidant to find her?" Xiao Rui said gritting his teeth.

Xiao Siye sat steadily on the chair, picked up the teacup, and said lightly: "I have no choice. Everyone in this house has gone crazy. She is the only one I can trust."

Xiao Rui said sternly: "You traitor, the Xiao family will be destroyed in your hands!"

Xiao Siye stared at him and said, "No, I'm saving the Xiao family. Now I fully understand why your father handed the clan leader to me. He saw through you a long time ago. You will destroy the Xiao family!"

Xiao Rui was shocked and furious. He quickly walked to the door, pulled out a knife from a guard's waist, and rushed towards him.

"I'll kill you first!"

Xiao Siye remained motionless and showed no reaction, but several elders of the clan moved.

Including the short and thin elder, four people stood in front of Xiao Rui and looked at him coldly.

"Four uncles, what are you doing? Let me kill this traitor!"

The white-haired elder said, "If we can recover Commoner Xiao, I will be the first to kill him. If we can't recover him, the Xiao family will have to rely on him to survive."

Xiao Rui roared angrily and threw the knife to the ground.

The six people sat quietly in the back hall waiting. After an unknown amount of time, a burst of dense footsteps sounded outside, accompanied by the sound of armor colliding and the shouts of the Xiao family members.

A member of the Xiao clan rushed in and said anxiously, "Uncle, Prince Consort, Clan Leader, the Jinwu Guards are here!"

Everyone looked ashen.

The white-haired elder slowly stood up, gave Xiao Siye a deep look, and said in a hoarse voice, "Xiao Siye, the rest of the mess is left to you."

With trembling steps, he left the house.

(End of this chapter)