Chapter 106: Defecting to the Enemy and Joining the Rebels?

Kong Sheng was Yang Qi’s prospective son-in-law and a highly renowned talent in Jiangning City. Having recently been granted an official title by the imperial court, he was enjoying a moment of great prestige. As a military officer under Yang Qi’s command, Jiang Ping dared not show him the slightest disrespect.

"You are too kind, Captain Jiang," Kong Sheng said with a smile. "May I ask why you have led your troops here? Is it to... pursue some rebels? Has there been some disturbance in Jiangning City?"

This location was far beyond the jurisdiction of the Jiangning military garrison. Although Yang Qi held the authority to command the garrisons of various prefectures, Jiangning troops generally did not cross borders without cause. Since Jiang Ping had traveled this far with his men, something significant must have occurred.

Jiang Ping shook his head. "I do not know. I am merely following orders to apprehend suspects. It is not just my unit; thousands of troops from our prefecture have been mobilized by the Governor, along with forces from various prefectures throughout Jiangnan, all acting under his tiger tally. The entire southern region is in an uproar, and I have no idea what has actually happened."

Kong Sheng drew a sharp breath. What exactly was Yang Qi planning? Mobilizing troops from all directions to hunt down rebels? Could it be... could it be related to Li Fuguo?

Kong Sheng immediately grasped the crux of the matter, but he could neither verify this suspicion with Jiang Ping nor utter a single word about it; he could only bury the thought deep within his heart.

In fact, his intuition was spot on.

Li Fuguo had indeed fled Jiangning, vanishing into thin air with only a few palace guards like Xianyu Lie, leaving even his two young eunuch attendants behind at the Wangjiang Pavilion. How Li Fuguo managed to escape remained a complete mystery to Yang Qi even now.

Yang Qi had deployed numerous scouts and woven an inescapable net around the Wangjiang Pavilion and the foot of Lion Mountain. If Li Fuguo had truly escaped, it should have been impossible for his men not to notice.

Yet, it was not until evening, when Yang Qi’s men realized that Li Fuguo, who had entered the pavilion, had not come down, that they grew suspicious. They entered the building with trepidation, only to be shocked to find that there was only one palace guard, similar in build to Li Fuguo, wearing the eunuch’s robes and standing on the corridor to act as a decoy.

Li Fuguo had escaped! Or rather, he had disappeared.

Upon receiving the report, Yang Qi was consumed by rage. In his fury and humiliation, he immediately mobilized his forces and dispatched multiple units to seal off the major transportation routes leading from Jiangnan toward Shannan and Huainan, sparking a massive upheaval across the southern region under the guise of hunting down rebels.

Yang Qi had to find Li Fuguo. On the surface, Li Fuguo was an imperial envoy; his sudden disappearance left Yang Qi, as a regional warlord, unable to account for the man to the imperial court. In the shadows, however, Yang Qi knew very well that Li Fuguo had fled because he had sensed his treacherous schemes. If Li Fuguo were to reach the Emperor and lodge a complaint, it would surely ruin the grand designs Yang Qi had been cultivating for years.

Therefore, although rank-and-file officers like Jiang Ping did not know the true nature of their mission, Yang Qi had planted his own eyes in every unit to ensure that if the escaped Li Fuguo and his party were found, they would be captured without fail. Yet, after a day and a night of chaos, there was still no trace of Li Fuguo. The high-ranking palace eunuch and his guards seemed to have evaporated from the face of the earth.

Jiang Ping gave Kong Sheng a deep, searching look. "Is Young Master Kong heading toward Henan Circuit? Why, may I ask, have you joined forces with these merchants?"

Jiang Ping knew that Kong Sheng had been appointed as an eighth-rank magistrate in a county of Henan Circuit and assumed he was on his way to take up his post.

Kong Sheng nodded. "Indeed. I happened to encounter this caravan while passing through. Since the journey to Henan is long, traveling together is a pleasant arrangement."

Jiang Ping gave a curt acknowledgment and asked nothing more. He remounted his horse and sat watching as his subordinates tore through the caravan’s baggage, conducting a meticulous search.

After a full hour, Jiang Ping’s soldiers finished searching Li Xuan’s caravan. Upon learning that no suspects were found, Jiang Ping turned to Kong Sheng, cupped his hands in a salute, and said, "Young Master Kong, I am under strict orders and cannot linger. I shall take my leave now. The road to Henan is long; please take care of yourself!"

"Safe travels, Captain!" Kong Sheng returned the salute.

Li Xuan had been listening intently to the conversation from behind. As she withdrew her suspicious gaze from Kong Sheng, she thought to herself: What is this little scoundrel really up to? Even a captain of the Jiangning garrison knows he is heading to Henan; is he truly just traveling to see the sights of the Central Plains?

In this day and age, it was common for scholars to travel the world. If not for the An Lushan rebellion blocking the official roads, there would be a constant stream of scholars from Jiangnan traveling to the Central Plains, and literati from the north visiting friends in the south.

But Li Xuan knew Kong Sheng was no ordinary scholar. In her mind, this little scoundrel was not only shameless and ruthless but also incredibly cunning. His decision to risk the chaos of war to travel to Henan was definitely out of the ordinary; there must be some ulterior motive.

After pondering for a long time, a startling thought struck her: Could this little scoundrel have seen the might of the rebel An and be planning to defect and betray his country?

Recalling Kong Sheng’s previous "criticisms" of the northern armies and his "evaluations" of An Lushan’s rebels, the more Li Xuan thought about it, the more plausible it seemed. After all, since the start of the rebellion, the number of literati, local officials, and generals who had defected to the rebels was not insignificant. When the likes of Linghu Chao rebelled and surrendered their cities, they had infuriated Prince Guo, Li Ju, to the point of vomiting blood.

While there were local officials and garrison commanders who fought to the death against the rebels wherever they appeared, there were far more turncoats.

With this preconceived notion, a cold, murderous intent rose in her heart: *You little scoundrel, if you truly intend to defect to the rebels, I will see you dead under my blade, even if it costs me my own life!*

Noticing the faint, hidden murderous intent in the gaze Li Xuan directed at him, Kong Sheng frowned inwardly.

However, he could never have imagined that Li Xuan would think he was heading to Henan to defect. Had he known her current thoughts, he would have been furious: *Is this young woman brainless? If I truly intended to defect, would I care about your life, Li Xuan? Would I care about offending a princess of the royal clan? I would simply kill you to silence you and make my escape. Once I reached the Yan army, what could Prince Guo, Li Ju, do to me?*

In truth, not only would it be no problem to offend her, but even if Kong Sheng were to go insane and rape or murder her, it would hardly matter. After all, once a traitor, he would be a sworn enemy of the Li Tang royal house; why would he care about such trifles?

In fact, last year, a certain official from Hedong had surrendered to the rebels and, to prove his sincerity, had executed over a dozen members of the Tang royal family, including the Prince of Fanyang, as a token of his loyalty. After his defection, he was rewarded by An Lushan with the title of Duke of Xiao in the puppet Yan regime, holding a first-rank official position.

With such precedents fresh in his mind, Kong Sheng knew that even if he were to imitate them, he would be quite convincing.