Neon Clothes and Iron Clothes

Chapter 902 Save your life
"What prison?" Princess Taiping smiled slyly, "It's in the posthouse, near Guiyifang!"

"Posthouse? Guiyifang?" Huliang was surprised: "What does this mean? Hasn't the Queen Mother sent Prince Poyang to the Sanfasi to be tried?"

"Haha!" Princess Taiping laughed twice: "I guess my sister-in-law is waiting for you to come back now!"

"Wait for me to come back?" Hu Liang was stunned when he heard this, and then he came to his senses: "You mean she doesn't dare--?"

"What else can I do?" Princess Taiping said with a smile, "Speaking of this, I still have to admire Aung. When he retired and left Chang'an, he left you behind. I didn't quite understand it at first, but now I understand how smart he was!"

"How to say?"

"Think about it! When Aung was in Chang'an, although he was in charge of the government, my sister-in-law would still cause trouble from time to time; and now that he has gone to Fanyang, the government is nominally in my sister-in-law's hands, but in reality, is there anything that my sister-in-law doesn't consider him over and over again? Instead, he has become very honest!"

"That's right!" Hu Liang nodded: "What do you think should be done about the Poyang King's matter?"

Princess Taiping said, "Tomorrow you and I will go to the palace to see her. First, tell her about the governor of Jiaozhou, and we will do the rest as the situation dictates."

----------

Ganlu Temple.

Through the narrow high windows of the side hall, the sun shines on the surface, hanging the bars on the window. The original works of Zhong Yao and Wang Xianzhi that once hung on the wall have been removed and replaced with four Persian tapestries with green and brown contrasting, vividly depicting hunting scenes, but in the eyes of the queen mother, the whole side hall still has an air of decay that is difficult to conceal.

She sat on a large golden dragon-patterned throne, which was covered with various dragon reliefs, each with its own majestic posture, swimming around. But to be honest, this seat was not comfortable. The throne was made of the best wood and covered with gold foil. She only felt her back and buttocks were sore and painful. Damn it, why did her husband and father-in-law like to sit on it so much when they were alive? Why didn't they cover it with fur and put thick cushions on it? That way, she could be more comfortable now.

"Is your father in good health?" The Empress Dowager asked with a smile. On the right side of her throne was Wang Anlu. In order to show her closeness to Hu Liang and his wife and ensure the privacy of their conversation, she left only Wang Anlu in the hall.

"Thank you for your concern, Your Majesty. My father is in good health!" Hu Liang answered respectfully. He and Princess Taiping both got a chair.

"That's good. Your father is a pillar of the country. He served the late emperor, Emperor Gaozong for two generations, and made unparalleled contributions! Although he has retired now, if the court has any difficult matters, I will still have to trouble your father!" said the empress dowager with a smile.

"I dare not!" Hu Liang responded. He exchanged glances with his wife, coughed and said, "Queen Dowager, this time I am going to Fanyang, my father has something to ask of you: I have a brother named Yuanbao, who is now the governor of Cangzhou. He has some talent in both civil and military affairs. He wants to be the governor of Jiaozhou. I hope Your Majesty will agree!"

"What? You want to be the governor of Jiaozhou?" The Queen Mother thought she had misheard. "But the Jiaozhou in Jiaozhi in the south?"

"Yes, it's Jiaozhou!"

The Queen Mother turned her head and subconsciously turned her gaze to the only confidant beside her. The request made by Hu Liang was completely beyond her imagination. Jiaozhou and the southwest have always been the place where the losers of the political struggle in the Tang Dynasty went. Why did Wang Wenzuo kick his son there? Did this Yuanbao offend his father?
"My dear Huliang!" The Queen Mother coughed and said, "Did your brother commit any crime that angered your father?"

"That's not the case!" Hu Liang was also a little embarrassed: "My father has other arrangements. There are plenty of wild lands in the territory under my father's rule. If he wants to be exiled, there is no need to send him to Jiaozhou!"

"That's right!" The Queen Mother also understood. She smiled and said, "If it's just Jiaozhou, it won't be a big problem, but it still needs to be discussed by the Political Affairs Hall!"

"Of course!" Hu Liang breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that the Queen Mother did not refuse. In the Tang Dynasty, the power of the prime minister was extremely strong, and the current Queen Mother herself did not have outstanding administrative skills, so she also had a more "Buddhist" leadership style. For matters like the appointment and removal of the Governor of Jiaozhou, the Political Affairs Hall had a lot of say to a large extent (after all, it was close to the border and there were many local ethnic minorities under its governance, so the ability and integrity of the Governor were very high).
After confirming that Huliang had only this one request when he returned from Fanyang, the Queen Mother finally felt relieved. She glanced at Princess Taiping and said with a smile, "Dingyue, if you have nothing to do on weekdays, come to the palace more often and talk to me. Ever since your brother left me, this palace has become increasingly deserted."

"Since my sister-in-law said so, I won't be polite!" Princess Taiping laughed. She patted Huliang's arm and said with a smile, "You always talk about the etiquette between the emperor and his subjects and the strictness of the palace at home. Did you hear that my sister-in-law personally asked me to come to the palace more often?"

"Who says these things at home!" Huliang secretly complained in his heart, but his wife glanced at him and just laughed twice without saying anything. Seeing this, the Queen Mother laughed and said, "Huliang, you are too distant. What's the etiquette between the monarch and his subjects? The palace is strict. We are all family members. How can we compare with those foreign ministers!"

Hearing that the Queen Mother was playing the sentimental card, he stood up and bowed to her, "The Queen Mother said this is a gesture of affection, but I dare not be spoiled by your favor!"

The Queen Mother praised her and called the maid to bring three bowls of milk cakes, giving them to Hu Liang and his wife to share. After eating two bites, she suddenly sighed, a look of sadness appeared on her face, she put down the bowl, covered her face and sobbed. Hu Liang and his wife looked at each other, and Princess Taiping stood up and walked to the Queen Mother, and asked softly, "Sister-in-law, why are you sad?"

"Ah!" The Queen Mother wiped the tears from her face. "A few days ago, the governor of Raozhou submitted a memorial saying that the Prince of Poyang was secretly raising fugitives in the local area, secretly making weapons and armor, and taking in astronomical sorcerers, showing signs of treason. I felt really bad after hearing this. Although the Prince of Poyang was not born by me, he is the blood of the late emperor anyway. If I were to deal with him according to the national law, it would hurt the late emperor's wisdom; if I just let him go, where would the national law be? I am in a dilemma and it is difficult to decide!"

"There is such a thing!" Princess Taiping was horrified. "I remember that Li Shouwen was a very obedient child in the palace. How could he do such a ridiculous thing? Besides, how could someone rebel in Raozhou? Huliang, don't you think so?"

As soon as his wife started talking, Hu Liang immediately understood: "Yes, Raozhou is a remote place and has no strong soldiers. Moreover, the Prince of Poyang is just a county prince, and his salary is only 5,000 households. With such little strength, he is planning a rebellion. Could it be that the governor of Raozhou made a mistake?"

When the Queen Mother heard Princess Taiping and the Huliang couple singing the same tune and openly questioning the authenticity of Prince Poyang's rebellion, her face suddenly turned ugly. It was obvious that these two people would not easily accept the statement that Prince Poyang was plotting a rebellion.

"It is very clear in the letter from the governor of Raozhou, and the evidence is irrefutable!" the queen mother said in a deep voice. "In my opinion, it is most likely that there is a villain around him!" Princess Taiping said, "Sister-in-law, don't you know what kind of character Shouwen is? You kept him in Ganlu Palace for a long time and treated him as your own child! How could he rebel against you? In my opinion, he must have left Chang'an suddenly, missed you, and was sad. He was bewitched by the shameless villain around him and did such a stupid thing. The officials in Raozhou wanted to make trouble and gain merit, so they didn't check the truth of the matter and reported it all at once! Huliang, do you think I am right?"

"Your Majesty, I also think that this matter should be investigated thoroughly. Otherwise, if it gets out, I'm afraid that the people of the world will think that Your Majesty can't tolerate the son of the late emperor, which may damage your reputation!"

The Queen Mother gritted her teeth, suppressed the anger in her chest, glanced at Wang Anlu beside her, and asked, "Anlu, what do you think?"

Wang Anlu, who had been working hard to be a wax figure, heard his own name and secretly said, "I think we should investigate the matter of Prince Poyang before making any conclusions!"

"Yes!" The Queen Mother nodded. "In fact, I thought so too. So after the Prince of Poyang arrived in Chang'an, I just let him stay in the post house and didn't hand him over to the Three Law Departments. Now it seems that I think the same as you two!"

"It's all because of my sister-in-law's kindness!" Princess Taiping said with a smile, "In fact, in my opinion, no matter what the final result of the investigation is, we should punish those villains around Prince Poyang and transfer them to another place!"

"Oh?" the Queen Mother asked, "Why do you say that?"

"Sister-in-law, there are many ignorant people in the world. Even if the Prince of Poyang is guilty of treason, most people will not believe it. They will only say that you cut off the bloodline of the previous emperor. But why do you want to hurt a prince? You just need to remove the wings around him. Even if he wants to rebel, he will be powerless. Why ruin your reputation?"

Princess Taiping's words really touched the heart of the Queen Mother. The reason why the Queen Mother wanted to make trouble for Prince Poyang was, after all, because she had a grudge against Prince Poyang for killing her mother. But now the throne of the Son of Heaven has been decided. As long as all the people who trusted Prince Poyang were killed and thrown into a strange place and strictly guarded by officials, this person would never make any trouble again. It would only take a word to make him "die of a sudden illness". In this case, why should she ruin her reputation? Obviously, Princess Taiping and Huliang were only against the punishment of Prince Poyang. As for other things, they didn't care. Thinking of this, the Queen Mother's anger had subsided by 50% and she smiled and said, "Dingyue is right!"

------------------

As the carriage wheels rolled over the bluestone floor, Princess Taiping let out a long sigh: "The Queen Mother really likes that fake show, it's really exhausting!"

"I see you're enjoying it!"

"What can I do? She's the Empress Dowager after all. I can only play with her!" Princess Taiping had a smug look on her face, with no helplessness in her words.

"Let's not talk about this anymore. What did you mean by your last sentence?" Hu Liang asked.

"The last part? The part about treason?"

"Right? That's the part! If you say that, the Queen Mother will definitely find out that Prince Poyang is guilty!"

"Ah!" Princess Taiping sighed, "My husband! What can I say to you? The Queen Mother has arrested Shouwen and brought him to Chang'an. Do you think the governor of Raozhou didn't make this case a solid case? Let me put it this way! This case is now a solid case. The only difference is whether Shouwen can save his life!"

"That's true! So is this a delaying tactic?"

"That's about right!" Princess Taiping said, "The Queen Mother is bargaining with us tonight, but she also has a bottom line. She will never release Prince Poyang in one piece. Otherwise, where is her dignity? So unless you plan to stage a mutiny and put a knife to her neck, you can't cross this line. In other words, under the premise that the case of Prince Poyang is settled, Prince Poyang himself has to bear some responsibility!"

"Yeah!" Hu Liang nodded. "What you said makes sense. But if that's the case, and everyone around Prince Poyang is dead, it won't be difficult for the Queen Mother to kill him. Just find a poor, mountainous, and waterless place and throw him there. He will be gone in a few days!"

"That's the next step!" Princess Taiping said, "The Queen Mother doesn't have that much free time to spend all her energy on killing a half-grown child! Besides, we are just doing our best. There is no need to fight to the end, right?"

Huliang nodded and fell into silence. Princess Taiping stretched out her right hand and stroked her husband's cheek: "What's wrong? Are you in a bad mood because of this?"

"That's not the case!" Hu Liang sighed: "After listening to what you said just now, I suddenly understand why my father did this!"

"Ah, old man? Are you saying that Yuanbao should be appointed as the governor of Jiaozhou?" asked Princess Taiping.

"Hmm!" Hu Liang sighed. He told Wang Wenzuo about his plan to divide the fiefdoms between his sons and the children of meritorious officials in the north and south. Finally, he said, "There are too many cases of fratricide in the Tian family. My father probably did this because he didn't want us brothers to turn our swords against each other after his death and kill each other for a little family property!"

"Why do you say that? Is it because we are far away?" asked Princess Taiping.

"It's not just about distance!" Hu Liang laughed, "Just think about it, no matter where my brothers go, the first thing they have to deal with is the resistance of the local indigenous people. Every brother is actually a potential target for help, so how could they kill each other? By the time all the indigenous people are pacified, it will be decades or even hundreds of years later. I'm afraid our generation won't be able to see it!"

"That's right, Grandpa is thinking far ahead!" Princess Taiping laughed: "In fact, this is also good for you and me!"

"What are the benefits of being a couple?"

"Yes!" Princess Taiping said with a smile, "Look, the land that Grandfather plans to give to his son is either in the south of Jiaozhou or overseas. Neither of them has anything to do with the Tang Dynasty. Isn't it clearly left for my husband and me?"