Chang'an is good

It was already afternoon when Luo Guanlin left Master Chu.

Luo Guanlin, who had a free lunch, originally wanted to have a heart-to-heart talk with the Taifu and ask him questions, but unexpectedly, after listening to the serious matters, the Taifu lost his patience and was not willing to chat at all, and directly drove him away.

When Luo Guanlin returned to the official business office, a group of staff and scholars stood up to greet him and surrounded him to ask, "Did Mr. Qian have a smooth trip to meet Master Chu?"

Luo Guanlin hummed, and said, "The Grand Tutor has agreed to help the envoy."

Everyone was surprised and delighted when they heard this. They had thought that it was a great thing already to be able to meet the Grand Tutor today!
Everyone looked at Qian Shen with more admiration: "Sir, you came in person, it's really extraordinary!"

"Sir, your tongue is as powerful as that of an army!"

"I wonder how you convinced the Master?"

“……”Luo Guanlin: Can he say that he himself doesn’t know?
"This was accomplished not by my ability." He said truthfully, "It was all because of the Master's wisdom, who recognized the talent and virtue of the governor."

"Yes, yes..." Everyone agreed: "Sir, you are right!"

"However, you are so capable and yet so humble. I feel so ashamed that I cannot even begin to catch up with you..."

"..."

Everyone was talking at once, and the atmosphere was extremely lively and positive.

They are all men of letters, and they all regard the highly respected Master Chu as their mentor. Now that Master Chu has expressed his willingness to join them, they feel more at ease and are full of fighting spirit and confidence in the future.

After a while, everyone managed to suppress the excitement and turmoil in their hearts, and sat back to discuss other matters.

Someone mentioned the Grand Princess Xuan'an: "In Mr. Qian's opinion, should we go and pay a visit to the Grand Princess?"

Among the people in Luoyang City now, apart from Master Chu, the one who is most worth winning over is the Grand Princess.

Princess Xuan'an holds real power, fiefdoms, and money and grain, and her words carry a lot of weight in the Li royal family.

Precisely because the other party is a member of the royal family, they can't help but have to consider it more carefully.

Luo Guanlin shook his head and said, "Don't worry for now."

He had some trauma towards Li Rong, a woman who was difficult to talk to...

When he was working for Xu Zhengye in the past, he also wrote a letter to win over Li Rong and try to get her support. However, it was said that the other party did not even read his letter and burned it directly.

At that time, he sincerely advocated the restoration of the Li Dynasty, but the other party still had such an attitude. Now, it would be even more difficult to persuade her to support his master, who was an envoy from a foreign family. He should not rush for success.

"There's no need to make a special visit. Just send someone to tell him that if he needs anything in Luoyang City, just ask." Luo Guanlin instructed.

The scholar in charge of arranging such matters responded and asked cautiously, "If the Grand Princess wants to return to Jiangnan West Road, should we try to stop her?"

Princess Xuan'an came to Luoyang to take refuge temporarily because of the urgent situation, but she was different from others. She had the ability to leave Luoyang City at any time.

"That's not necessary." Luo Guanlin: "Li Rong is a man of strong character. He is not suitable for the method of both soft and hard tactics——"

"In the past, when we were in Jiangdu, the Xuan'an Grand Princess's Mansion had business dealings with Jiangdu, and Li Rong and the envoys also had frequent exchanges, so they had some personal relationships." He said, "If we rashly detain them in Luoyang, I'm afraid we will lose our friendship and discourage people, which will be counterproductive."

"If Li Rong wants to return to Jiangnan West Road, we will have someone escort her away, and you can also convey this intention to her."

On the basis of affection, appropriate letting go and sincerity are the best strategies to retreat in order to advance in people's hearts.

Others also understood this important intention, so someone wanted to express this sincerity and kindness in a more detailed way: "Should we select some young men with good looks to serve?"

Beauties, regardless of gender, are a resource. There is nothing to be shy about or ridicule if they are used properly at this political level.

Luo Guanlin nodded intentionally, then he thought of something and said, "I will arrange this matter myself."

The beauty trap is acceptable, but it is better to spend more time thinking about what kind of beauty to offer in order to maximize the effect and benefits.

At night, Luo Guanlin wrote a letter by lamplight. He first wrote four large and neat characters: "From Lord Chang——".

When in Jiangdu, Luo Guanlin, as a member of the outer study, had heard more than once about the obscure entanglement between Chang Kuo and Princess Xuan'an... He was not a gossipy person, but Wang Wangshan was.

At first Luo Guanlin didn't believe it, but later he discovered clues from Wang Changshi's attitude. Wang Changshi was cautious and meticulous, and he must have found some real evidence.

Luo Guanlin made a distinction in his mind. He had no interest in these matters involving men and women, but he saw the possibility of exploiting them.

Just like this, he persuaded Chang Kuo in the letter to come forward to win over the Grand Princess Xuan'an - [Even if he had to endure humiliation, it was all for the great cause of the family. ]

Yes, Mr. Luo, who had previously reminded Chang Suining to be more careful about Chang Kuo and his son stealing his achievements, now referred to his master's great cause as "the family's great cause" in his letter to Chang Kuo...

Luo Guanlin also felt that he was a bit despicable, but he had already walked out of the mud, so why not smear it all over his body?
This style of doing things can be said to be influenced by the lord's enlightenment. Only when the superiors set an example, the subordinates can cooperate properly and do nothing wrong.

That night, Luo Guanlin sent the letter "persuading Marquis Chang to sacrifice himself for the great cause" to Jiangdu.

Princess Xuan'an, who was now temporarily living in the Luoyang Palace, had just written a letter and asked someone to send it back to Xuanzhou to Li Tong.

After a female guard delivered the letter, she returned and asked, "Your Highness, are you planning to return to Xuanzhou?"

Li Rong supported her head with one hand, leaned back on the couch, closed her eyes tiredly, and a maid knelt beside her and massaged her legs.

Hearing this question, Li Rong hummed: "Wait a moment..."

Today, Mr. Qian Shen sent someone to tell her that if she wanted to return to Jiangnan West Road, they would arrange for someone to escort her all the way.

Thinking of this, Li Rong sighed lightly.

She could certainly go back to Xuanzhou, but given the current situation, how could she just abandon everything?
In the past, she could ignore the disputes outside and just live her own life behind closed doors in Xuanzhou. But things are different now. The capital has changed hands and the world is in turmoil... As a princess of the Li family, even if she doesn't take responsibility, it is impossible for her to stay out of it.

The change of imperial power this time was completely different from that of the Ming Empress. Although the Ming Empress proclaimed herself emperor, she did not overthrow the Li court, and since she had no offspring, she would have to return power one day. And under the situation back then, in Li Rong's opinion, there was indeed no better choice than for the Ming Empress to be in power.

So even though many people encouraged her to come forward, she never intervened in the struggle for imperial power.

Now that Bian Chunliang's rebellion has swept the entire world, she can't just sit back and watch.

Today, the prince's men have come, and their words still express the hope that she can support the prince.

Li Rong felt a headache when he saw this group of people.

When she was detained in the capital, the prince would visit her almost every two days. Later, she got tired of dealing with him. Seeing that the young man was also very embarrassed, Li Rong sighed bluntly: "We both have the surname Li. It's not that I don't want to support His Highness, but it's that His Highness doesn't have the ability to take on such a big responsibility. If I agree, it will harm you, me and the world. 】This is equivalent to "I also want to support you, but you are completely useless."

It's like a rotten peach, which makes people hold it in their hands, look at it over and over again, hesitate, frown and sigh, but cannot bring themselves to eat it.

At that moment, the young man was stunned for a moment, then he looked up, and for the first time, there was light in his eyes: [To be honest, Grand Princess, I think so too…]

At that moment, Li Zhi was so happy that he almost cried because he was finally understood.

The young man's eyes were slightly red, and he said sincerely and apologetically: [It is not that Li Zhi wants to disturb Your Highness, but the Saint and the ministers urged him to come. ]

After that conversation, Li Rong could only feel helpless and pity towards this cheap prince, and there was no way he would consider him.

Speaking of candidates, Li Rong couldn't help but think of Prince Rong Li Yin.

She and Li Yin were born to the same father, so they had little contact and no grudges against each other.

As for Duan Shiang's rebellion and the deaths of the governors of Lingnan and Shuofang, the Rong Palace has denied any involvement in these two events. However, in Li Rong's view, this denial is just a face-saving measure, and everyone has his own judgment in his heart.

But there is a gray area in everyone's heart. The struggle for power is never just black and white. As long as things seem okay on the surface, most people are happy to turn a deaf ear and dumb and continue to be an upright and kind person.

Li Rong despises such people, but the overall situation is not a joke that can be treated arbitrarily. If there is no better candidate, she will and can only choose Li Yin.

If nothing unexpected happened, Li Yin should have won this game for sure.

But there happened to be such an "accident" in...

No matter from which angle you look at it, there was nothing that the unexpected young girl did not suit Li Rong's taste. If there was any shortcoming, it was that the girl was not born in the Li family.

Li Rong expressed absurd regrets several times, wondering why the child did not come out of her belly and why her belly was not doing well.

In addition to regrets, there are also hidden worries.

Now that everyone is clear about what's going on, she really doesn't want to stand against that child. But she is the princess of the Li family. Her father doted on her when he was alive, and he made her give up the Li family's kingdom with her own hands. It's not easy for her to get over it...

But what if Chang Kuo begged and tortured her to death?

There is another possibility. What if the other party uses Sui'an to threaten her?

She can ignore Chang Kuo, but she can't ignore her own flesh and blood, right?
Alas, everyone has difficulties and weaknesses.

Princess Xuan'an was in a difficult situation.

After thinking it over again and again, she simply got up and wrote a letter to Chang Kuo.

When she was in the capital, Chang Kuo wrote to her many letters. Now that she has arrived in Luoyang, she should also write to him to let him know that she is safe. This is called reciprocity.

Moreover, Li Tong had mentioned in several of his letters that the several disturbances inside and outside Xuanzhou were all thanks to Chang Kuo's help and Jiangdu's support, which allowed the situation to be stabilized. This favor must be acknowledged.

Therefore, Princess Xuan'an wrote this letter with a clear conscience. After talking about her own affairs, she naturally asked about Sui'an's situation in the northern border.

However, later on, the author gradually became "unreasonable" and asked Chang Kuo to find a way to get her son back from the northern border. She only had this one son, and he was more important than her life. Now, even if she didn't want anything, she wanted her son to be alive and well. If anything happened to her son, she would not let Chang Kuo go even if she became a ghost. Every one of them would be buried with her son.

After writing it, the eldest princess read it herself and saw that it looked very realistic, so she sealed it in an envelope.

The next day, when the Grand Princess sent the letter out of Luoyang, the letter from Bian Chunliang in the capital was also delivered to Luoyang.

Bian Chunliang had already announced the news of his upcoming ascension to the throne and ordered all parties to come to the capital to pay homage, including Luoyang.

This made the court officials who were currently in Luoyang feel extremely humiliated. They saved a lot on meals today, but wasted a lot of tea and water.

The officials were distracted from their meals and were immersed in cursing, at the same time they were inevitably feeling uneasy. Bian Chunliang had someone deliver a letter from Luoyang to Chang Suining, which was obviously a test to win him over.

Once Chang Suining accepted Bian Chunliang's enticement, the crown prince and their people would probably not be able to stay in Luoyang City alive.

But after a little thought, the officials felt that Chang Suining would never agree to Bian Chunliang's solicitation... How could such an arrogant person be willing to be subservient to a salt dealer?

It has to be said that at this time, the benefits of the other party's wolfish ambitions became apparent... At least for now, this ambition can keep them safe for the time being.

Ambitious and reassuring.

The fact was indeed as they expected. After receiving the letter, Luo Guanlin only glanced at it and saw the extremely meaningless words "worship" on it, then threw it into the brazier and sneered -

"A mere thief is worthy of our Lord's worship. This is the greatest absurdity in the world."

Counting the days, the envoy should have received the news of the change in the capital and his "treasonous" letter.

He has already taken full control of Luoyang, both inside and outside, and is now only waiting for the envoy's reply.

If possible, he hoped very much that the envoy would adopt his outrageous proposal.

On this day, Cui Jing had just finished a war with the Northern Di and was inspecting the front line. He had just returned to the army when he heard about the shocking changes in the capital.

Chang Suining had been training his troops recently and had not gone to the front line. He knew the news two days earlier than Cui Jing.

After a group of generals retreated with solemn expressions, only Cui Jing and Chang Suining were left in the military tent.

Cui Jing hurried over without taking off his armor or sword. At this moment, he raised his hand to Chang Suining, with a rare solemnity in his clear eyes: "Your Highness, the time has come. It's time to declare your identity."

Chang Suining, wearing a green robe and holding his hair up with a bronze sparrow hairpin, sat cross-legged behind a sand table. He put down the letters from various places at hand, looked up at the young man, and said with a slight smile: "Cui Jing, you also come with me and be a witness for me."

Cui Jing was slightly startled. With the war at hand, he couldn't be too far away from the North, and she would not fail to consider this point -

She had never hidden anything from him. When she came here this time, she had told him that after stabilizing the war in the north, she would return to Luoyang to recognize her ancestors. However, the current situation has changed -

At this time, Cui Jing asked, "Aren't you going back to Luoyang?"

Chang Suining nodded, a gleam in his eyes.

Cui Jing immediately understood: "I will have someone arrange this matter."

Looking at this person who always understood his intentions at the first time, Chang Suining nodded with peace of mind: "Okay." (End of this chapter)