Peach Blossoms in Chang'an

Qian Xu hurried to the outside of the imperial study, but saw General Li, the commander of the imperial guards, standing at the door with a serious look on his face. Qian Xu's heart skipped a beat, thinking something was not right. Before he could ask, General Li said in a deep voice, "Sir Qian, the emperor is angry, so you must be careful with your words when you go in." Qian Xu took a deep breath, nodded, straightened his official uniform, and then stepped over the high threshold.

As soon as he entered the imperial study, Qian Xu felt a low pressure enveloping the entire room. The imperial study, which used to be solemn and dignified, was now filled with a tense atmosphere of impending storm. Qian Xu looked up and saw Emperor Li Xuan sitting on the dragon throne with a sullen face, tightly holding a roll of memorials in his hand, and on his right was the anxious eunuch chief steward. In the center of the imperial study, officials from the three provinces and six ministries had already gathered together, each with a solemn expression and silence, and no one dared to make a sound.

"Huang Chao! Huang Chao! I have maintained a peaceful and prosperous era for so many years, but a salt merchant turned it upside down!" Li Xuan slammed the memorial in his hand on the dragon table, and his anger almost set the entire imperial study on fire. Qian Xu's heart also trembled violently with the loud noise, and he immediately realized what happened.

"My dear ministers, the Huang Chao rebels are now conquering cities and are approaching the Central Plains with great momentum. What good plans do you have for this?" Li Xuan suppressed his anger and glanced at everyone in the hall. His tone was so cold that it made people shudder.

The Minister of Revenue was the first to step forward and said tremblingly: "Your Majesty, the Huang Chao rebels are very powerful. We need to mobilize food and military pay as soon as possible to support the soldiers on the front line..."

"Food and military pay! Food and military pay! Every year they say there is a shortage of food and military pay. Why don't you tell me where all the money in the national treasury has gone?!" Li Xuan shouted angrily, interrupting the Minister of Revenue's words. He was so scared that he fell to his knees with a thud, sweating profusely, but he didn't dare to say another word.

Qian Xu looked at the scene in front of him with mixed feelings. He knew that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, an opportunity to break the monopoly of the aristocratic families and revive the government! Qian Xu took a deep breath, stepped forward, and said with a folded hand: "Your Majesty, I think the most urgent task is not to simply mobilize food and military pay, but to formulate a thorough strategy to suppress the rebellion, so as to defeat the enemy."

"Oh? What insights does the Qian family have? Feel free to share them with us." Li Xuan turned his gaze to Qian Xu, with a hint of inquiry in his tone.

Qian Xu took out a memorial from his sleeve calmly and said in a loud voice: "I have carefully studied the route and strategy of Huang Chao's uprising these days, and found that he did not just attack the city with brute force, but was good at using the people's hearts and inciting the people. Therefore, I suggest that on the one hand, we should send elite soldiers and generals to face the rebels head-on, and on the other hand, we should adopt a strategy to appease the people and cut off the rebels' food and grass sources."

As soon as Qian Xu said this, there was a lot of discussion in the court. Some old officials were accustomed to the previous way of suppressing rebellions and sneered at Qian Xu's proposal, while some young officials were enlightened and nodded in agreement.

"Master Qian is absolutely right!" A clear female voice came from behind the beaded curtain. Everyone looked in the direction of the voice and saw Dou Qing, dressed in palace clothes, slowly walking out from behind the screen. "The hearts of the people are like water. Water can carry a boat, but it can also overturn it. If we can win the hearts of the people, we can suppress the rebellion with half the effort."

Dou Qing's words were so powerful that the court fell silent. Everyone knew that although Dou Qing was only a concubine in the harem, she was deeply favored by the emperor. Her words, to some extent, represented the emperor's attitude.

The representatives of the seven families and five surnames exchanged glances and became secretly alert. Qian Xu's rise was already unstoppable, and now with Dou Qing's support, they felt even more uneasy.

"It seems that it's time to teach him a lesson..." Cui family's representative Cui Hao stared at Qian Xu with a gloomy look and a sneer appeared at the corner of his mouth.

After receiving the order, Qian Xu quickly assembled his troops and prepared to go to the front. However, the night before he was about to leave, the official in charge of transporting grain and grass suddenly reported that the grain and grass had been robbed by bandits on the way and suffered heavy losses. Qian Xu was shocked and immediately realized that something was wrong. He rushed to the scene overnight and after a careful investigation, he found that this was not the work of ordinary bandits. The traces left at the scene showed that these "bandits" were well-trained and knew the government's grain transportation route well.

Qian Xu frowned, feeling a kind of invisible pressure in his heart. He knew that someone was secretly obstructing him, and these people were probably the noble families in the court who disagreed with him.

At the same time, a major event happened in the palace. When Dou Qing was walking in the imperial garden, she was suddenly attacked by a group of men in black. These assassins were highly skilled in martial arts and their moves were deadly. They were obviously well prepared. The palace maids and guards around Dou Qing fought desperately, but they were outnumbered and were about to die.

At the critical moment, a figure flashed by like lightning, with a long sword in his hand flashing coldly, and instantly repelled the assassins who besieged Dou Qing. The person who came was Qian Xu. After he got the news, he was extremely anxious and rushed back to the palace without stopping, just in time to see this scene.

"Master Qian..." Dou Qing was still in shock and his face was pale. When he saw Qian Xu appear, he immediately felt at ease.

Qian Xu protected Dou Qing behind him, glanced at the assassins around him with cold eyes, and asked in a cold voice: "Who sent you here?"

The assassins did not answer, but attacked Qian Xu more frantically. Qian Xu was a skilled martial artist with a sharp swordsmanship, but the assassins were numerous and coordinated well, so it was difficult for him to win for a while.

Qian Xu's eyes were stern, and the sword light danced like a silver snake, forcing several assassins to retreat. He seized an opportunity, flew up, jumped onto the rockery beside, and looked down at the situation below. The assassins saw that they could not take the city after a long time, and were worried that reinforcements would arrive, so they had to exchange glances with each other and quickly evacuate.

"Master Qian, are you okay?" Dou Qing asked worriedly.

"I'm fine." Qian Xu shook his head and looked at the direction where the assassin disappeared. A cold light flashed in his eyes. "This matter is strange. I must get to the bottom of it."

When Qian Xu returned home, he immediately summoned his confidants and told them in detail about the robbery of grain and Dou Qing's assassination. He also ordered them to investigate secretly and make sure to find out the truth.

"Sir, these two things seem to be unrelated, but I always feel that something is amiss." A confidant said, "Both things happened at the critical moment when you were about to go out to quell the rebellion. Moreover, whether it was the 'bandits' who looted food or the assassin who killed Miss Dou Qing, they were not ordinary people. There seems to be a powerful force behind all this."

Qian Xu nodded and said thoughtfully: "You are right. These two things are by no means accidental. There must be someone behind the scenes making trouble."

"Sir, do you suspect that it was done by those aristocratic families in the court?" asked another confidant.

"Apart from them, who else has the guts to act so presumptuously under the emperor's feet?" Qian Xu snorted coldly. "These aristocratic families, relying on their ancestors' merits, have deep roots in the court and control a large amount of wealth and resources. They have long disliked me. This time, Huang Chao's uprising is a good opportunity for them to get rid of me and protect their own interests."

Qian Xu's eyes flashed with a gleam of light. He understood that he was facing not only Huang Chao's rebels this time, but also the open and covert attacks from within the court. He took a deep breath and said in a deep voice: "Pass the order down, the whole army will be ready to go. In three days, we will set out to suppress the rebellion!"

While Qian Xu was actively preparing for war, the scale of Huang Chao's uprising continued to expand. The rebels were unstoppable and successively captured Shandong, Henan and other places, and marched straight to Chang'an. People in the court and the country were panicked, and many officials even began to secretly sell their property and prepare to flee Chang'an.

"The real storm has just begun..." Qian Xu muttered to himself as he looked out the window at the gloomy sky. He knew that he was about to embark on a road full of thorns, but he had made up his mind that no matter how many difficulties and obstacles there were ahead, he would cut through them to protect the Tang Dynasty and the justice and ideals in his heart.