People in the early Tang Dynasty: I compete with Wu Zhao for the throne

Chapter 1024 King Yue, King Cao and Dong Palace
In the Zichen Hall, the charcoal fire is warm.

Empress Wu sat behind the imperial desk and said softly: "Tell Cheng Zhongzheng and Xing Wenwei to serve their lives sincerely. I don't want anything to happen to Tubo."

"Yes!" Yuan Wanqing took the order seriously.

Empress Wu nodded, looked at the palace in front of her, and said: "If the northwest is stable, the Tang Dynasty can recuperate and recuperate. The King of Nanchang understands this, so he has no objection to the court's handling. It would not be possible if it were another person. "

"Yes!" Yuan Wanqing bowed slightly with an expression of admiration.

Empress Wu is like this. Even if she has other plans, she will never undermine the overall situation.

"The King of Nanchang is still pretty good." Empress Wu sighed softly and said, "If the East Palace had really acted according to the advice of the King of Nanchang in the past few years, it wouldn't have been like this... Let Shiro learn from it."

"Here!" Yuan Waqing nodded solemnly. He agreed with Empress Wu. If the prince had studied the "Book of the Former Han" and been more open-minded, the situation would not be the same as it is now.

"The movement in the East Palace has been a bit loud recently, please pay attention carefully." Empress Wu turned sideways and looked at Yuan Wanqing seriously.

Yuan Wanqing suddenly shook his head, cupped his hands and said: "Here!"

"Tell Ming Shiyin to go to Maoshan quickly and not stay in Chang'an. I don't want to think about how many people want to kill him now." Empress Wu gently knocked on the imperial table.

Yuan Wanqing immediately lowered his head and said, "Here!"

Empress Wu was still protecting Ming Chongyan. Even though the emperor ordered a secret decree, Ming Chongyan still moved freely in Chang'an.

Even on the surface, there was no imperial edict to remove Ming Chongyan from his official position, but only to let him go to Maoshan to worship.

But it seems that not many people are aware of this, especially the East Palace.

They didn't even know that this was deliberately caused by Empress Wu.

"By the way, write to Chengsi and ask him to do better in Fenzhou. Your Majesty has decided to appoint the king of Longxi County to the official position. The position of Minister of Rites is now vacant. If he cannot seize this opportunity, he will leave this palace. I won’t take care of him anymore.” Empress Wu’s face turned slightly cold.

"Yes!" Yuan Wanqing bowed again.

Empress Wu's face was still cold and she said: "Don't think that I won't pursue the things Ming Chongyan did secretly. Tell him that he will pay the price."

"Yes!" Yuan Wanqing looked solemn.

He plotted against the prime minister several times, but each time without Empress Wu's permission.

Don't think that the prime ministers just let it go. If Empress Wu hadn't paid a huge price, this matter wouldn't have been so easy.

In the case of Hao Chujun, the Zhongshu Order was not pursued for the time being because the emperor transferred Hao Chujun's uncle Xu Yushi back to the court to serve as the Minister of Household Affairs.

Hubu, that's Empress Wu's territory.

Fortunately, after Master Xu Yu returned to Chang'an, he showed a certain degree of closeness to Empress Wu, so the matter was reluctantly suppressed.

Zhang Wenguan's case was the most difficult to handle. Although a palace eunuch was replaced and Zhang Wenguan was transferred to the crown prince Zuo Shuzi, the people in Dali Temple were already secretly searching for Ming Chongyan like crazy.

If the people from Dali Temple really found out that Ming Chongyan was in Chang'an, they would probably arrest Ming Chongyan for disobeying the imperial edict and sneaking into Beijing privately.

Of course, this is a superficial excuse.

If Ming Chongyan really dared to resist, those people would really kill him at all costs.

In addition, there are still Yuan Wanqing...some things have been started, and it is difficult to stop.

"Tell him, after going to Muzhou, take a closer look and see what the hell King Cao and King Yue are doing?" Empress Wu's face darkened.

Since the emperor's grandson's full moon birthday last year, King Cao and King Yue have put on a good show with the prince.

Originally, everything could go on in depth, and even Empress Wu was waiting to see if Li Xian could find out anything and see what he would do next, but unfortunately, Li Xian stopped halfway.

Not to mention the emperor, even Empress Wu was disappointed.

"The King of Nanchang had found out the beginning of that matter back then, but there has been no follow-up until now. Is it because the King of Nanchang, King Cao, and King Yue were too strong, or you didn't put your mind on this at all." Empress Wu said again. He knocked on the table and said, "Tell Ming Chongyan that if he can't find out clearly, don't come back."

"Yes!" Yuan Wanqing accepted the order solemnly.

"If there is news from the King of Nanchang, you should check it immediately." Empress Wu narrowed her eyes slightly. She was still a little afraid of Li Xuan.

"Yes!"

"Okay, please step back." Empress Wu waved her hand gently, Yuan Wanqing bowed, and then quietly stepped back.

A rustling voice sounded, and Empress Wu continued to lower her head to deal with the official documents. Suddenly, a faint whistling sound came from her ears.

Empress Wu put the thin bamboo red pen on one side, raised her head and looked outside. The door of the main hall was closed.

"What's wrong?" Empress Wu asked casually.

A young and pretty maid, wearing a green official robe, walked up from behind and said softly: "To the Queen of Heaven, it's snowing."

"Oh!" Empress Wu stretched deeply, then stood up and walked to the entrance of the hall.

Several waiters behind him quickly put their brocade clothes and mink furs on Empress Wu's body.

As soon as Empress Wu raised her hand, the waiter quickly opened the door of the palace. Suddenly, the extremely cold air rushed into the palace with snowflakes. While people were stunned, they also woke up instantly.

"The Forbidden Garden condenses the fresh air, and the auspicious snow covers the morning light." Empress Wu chanted softly, and then became a little funny. She looked to the side and said: "Wan'er, your grandfather's poem is quite majestic."

The maid Wan'er took a step forward, bowed calmly and said: "Dou Xuemei vomited first, Jingfengliu didn't relax. The Queen's vision is broad, how can it be compared with ordinary people." "Haha!" Queen Wu smiled and nodded with satisfaction,

Looking at Chang'an Shengjing in the wind and snow in front of her, the smile on Empress Wu's face gradually faded, and then became extremely indifferent.

Everything in the world is before her eyes, everything is in the palm of her hand.

……

Fan Lubing's mansion in the wind and snow.

In the study room in the backyard, Fan Lubing placed a cup of hot tea in front of Ming Chongyan, and said helplessly: "Wanqing has been asking you to meet for two days. There is a decree from the Queen of Heaven. Why do you avoid it like this?"

"Pindao just didn't want to see him. No, as soon as he heard that it was the Queen's order, he came immediately." Ming Chongyan raised his head and looked at Fan Lubing calmly.

Fan Lubing frowned. He saw deep vigilance in Ming Chongyan's eyes, vigilance against Yuan Wanqing.

"The Queen of Heaven has a purpose, and there is no way Wanqing will attack you." Fan Lubing always felt that Ming Chongyan was too sensitive.

"Pindao hopes so too." Ming Chongyan shook his head slightly, looked at Fan Lubing, and said softly: "But many times, you don't need to be a killer yourself to kill someone."

Fan Lubing was stunned, and then his face turned ugly.

He did not expect that the gap between Ming Chongyan and Yuan Wanqing was already so deep.

The two of them haven't met much recently. If there is any rift between them, the most they can do is to eliminate Ming Chongyan's influence in the internal defense of Yuan Wanqing...

"Stop talking about this, what is the Queen's will?" Ming Chongyan directly interrupted Fan Lubing's thoughts.

Fan Lubing collected his thoughts and said in a deep voice: "The Queen asked you to hurry up and go to Maoshan and not stay in Chang'an... In addition, after arriving in Maoshan, she investigated the relationship between King Yue, King Cao and the East Palace. The Queen felt something was wrong."

"Something's wrong?" Ming Chongyan frowned slightly and whispered: "The King of Yue and King Cao just provided some to the East Palace..."

Halfway through the words, Ming Chongyan's expression changed slightly, and then became extremely dark.

"What?" Fan Lubing asked quickly.

"Some food and grass." Ming Chongyan said, "I still remember last year, King Yue and King Cao gave the emperor's grandson two golden Buddhas, but the two golden Buddhas were replaced with food. I'm afraid the situation will be similar this year. After all, although the drought has slowed down last year, it is still difficult for the people to save food until the autumn harvest. If we continue to do this, we will gain huge prestige for the prince."

"Isn't this what the Queen asked?" Fan Lubing was not that easy to fool. He stared at Ming Chongyan and asked: "When the King of Nanchang was appointed as Wuzhou's farewell, he noticed some problems. Now we need to dig deeper into these problems. dig."

"Okay." Ming Chongyan spread his hands and said, "What else could it be? A gold mine. The King of Yue has a gold mine. The King of Nanchang tried to check it, but before he could do anything, the King of Yue stopped all traces. Later, when the King of Nanchang was transferred, the matter could no longer be investigated, and the case was handed over to You Qianniuwei, but there was no result."

"Then they contact the prince?" Fan Lubing asked cautiously.

"I should ask the prince to help cover it up." Ming Chongyan shook his head slightly and said: "But all the money has been converted into food and sent to various places for disaster relief. Even if this matter is further investigated, the gold will also become food. Relieving the people is equivalent to entering the national treasury in disguise, and it is difficult to achieve any results."

Fan Lubing raised his eyebrows. He understood the relationship.

If it were an ordinary person, I'm afraid I would still have to dig deeper, but if it were a clan, and with the prince covering up and providing large sums of money for disaster relief, the matter could only end like this in the end.

Fan Lubing's thoughts changed and he immediately said: "Then you have to check it out. Who knows if there is anything unknown here?"

"Okay, I understand." Ming Chongyan nodded, then stood up. Just as he was about to leave, he paused and asked, "Where is the King of Nanchang now?"

"We have left Chang'an and headed west. If nothing happens, we will arrive in Tianshui soon." Fan Lubing waved his hand and said, "The King of Nanchang has a secret guard around him, so don't worry."

"Okay." Ming Chongyan finally felt relieved and said, "I will leave Chang'an in three to five days at most. Brother Fan, see you in Luoyang."

This year the emperor will tour east to Luoyang. They will be in Luoyang until August.

Fan Lubing cupped his hands and said, "See you in Luoyang."

……

The carriage swayed away from Fan Lubing's mansion. Ming Chongyan looked behind him carefully from time to time. He was worried that Yuan Wanqing's people were following him.

But fortunately, there are no familiar faces, it’s just...

There are many Wannian County police officers on this street!

Ming Chongyan immediately became alert.

At this time, there are many people who want to cause trouble for him.

The prince, Dali Temple, and countless people he had offended.

The most important thing is that the current secret guards cannot be completely trusted.

Ming Chongyan raised his head and looked in the direction of Zichen Palace with a solemn expression. He suspected that Empress Wu might also know about this situation, so he urged him to go to Maoshan immediately.

But the southeast is not a good place either.

It may not be a good thing for Empress Wu to send him to the southeast.

After three turns and two turns, Ming Chongyan unknowingly returned to the home of a household doctor where he was hiding.

With the sound of "chirping", a group of dove hawks flew across the sky.

(End of this chapter)