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

Chapter 1213 The deal with Wu Chengsi

On the fourth day of the first lunar month, Xue Yuanchao taught.

Although Xue Yuanchao is now Zhongshu Ling, he still serves as the crown prince Zuo Shuzi.

Lectures in the East Palace are still going on, and not everyone can let go of the title of Prince Master, let alone the fact that there may be instructions from the emperor.

Li Xuan took a brief look, then turned and left the East Palace.

The list of both Pei Yan and Wu Chengsi being the best groomsmen of the prince has been submitted, and Webster must have known about it.

Li Xuan has no plans to face Webster's wrath head-on now.

After going around the six departments, Li Xuan went to Pingkangfang Changzhou Jinzou Academy.

In Changzhou, there are still some places that need to be adjusted in front of the Luochie Taoist army.

……

Sitting in the carriage, Li Xuan closed his eyes and thought carefully. He could not stay in Chang'an for more than a few days now, and there were still some places that were not arranged in place.

"Hey!" Li Zhu's voice calling to stop the horse sounded from outside.

Li Xuan came back to her senses and asked with cold eyes: "What's the matter?"

"Your Majesty, it's Duke Zhou." Li Zhu responded in a low voice.

Li Xuan closed her eyes slightly, and the next moment she became gentle.

Opening the curtain, a carriage was parked on the side of the wide street, and Wu Chengsi was already standing on the long street.

On the street, the people around saw the two luxury carriages stopping and subconsciously stayed away.

"Is there something wrong, Duke?" Li Xuan stepped out of the carriage and held his hands in front of Wu Chengsi with a surprised look on his face.

Wu Chengsi returned the gift with his hand, and then said to Li Xuan gently: "There is something I need to trouble the prince."

"Oh!" Li Xuan was slightly surprised, then looked forward, pointed to a restaurant not far away, and said, "Let's go there to talk."

"Okay!" Wu Chengsi's face remained calm, he nodded and said, "Have a happy New Year, I'll treat the prince to a few drinks."

"Your Majesty, please." Li Xuan waved her hand, and then walked side by side with Wu Chengsi.

The horse-drawn carriage behind him had already pulled up to the roadside and followed slowly, and the long street was now flowing smoothly again.

"Chang'an, I don't know when I will come back after this trip." Standing in front of the restaurant, looking at the bustling Pingkangfang, Li Xuan glanced at the luxuriously decorated restaurant and stretched out her hand: "Please, please."

"My lord, please go first." Wu Chengsi took a rare initiative to take a step back.

……

The beautiful Madam Hu served the roasted mutton, then helped slice it, and then she took the initiative to retreat.

"Your Majesty, please." Li Xuan picked up the wine glass, and Wu Chengsi responded immediately.

After a glass of wine, Wu Chengsi started talking about business.

"Erlang has been following the prince in Changzhou for several years, right?" Wu Chengsi raised his eyes and looked at Li Xuan with a serious expression.

"Gong joins the army?" Li Xuan was a little surprised. Wu Chengsi's nephew Gong Siye is now serving as an official in Changzhou and joining the army.

Li Xuan nodded slowly and said: "It's been almost three years. Gong Canjun has been doing his duty in Changzhou and it's pretty good. Xuan plans to be transferred to the front of the Luoshe Taoist Army in two years."

"Thank you for your consideration, Your Majesty." Wu Chengsi smiled bitterly. It was obvious that Li Xuan did not have any ill intentions towards Gong Siye.

Moreover, Gong Siye had never noticed anything out of the ordinary in Li Xuan's actions during his years in Changzhou.

Rules are set for Changzhou affairs, and everyone follows them. Everything is clear and clean.

"Actually, to be honest, if possible, Chengsi would be willing to let Erlang practice more with the prince, but it is rare that there is a vacancy in the court nowadays, so Chengsi plans to transfer Erlang back." Wu Chengsi raised his head and glanced at Li Xuan , with a complicated expression.

In fact, he had no intention of looking for Li Xuan at all and took care of the matter himself. But unfortunately, the Ministry of Personnel directly locked Changzhou's personnel files.

People from outside can be transferred in, but people inside can't be transferred out without Li Xuan's permission.

It would be useless to go to Dou Xuande on this matter, because it was Li Xuan and Li Jingxuan who blocked the matter in the first place.

At that time, Li Jingxuan had just been promoted to Zhongshu Ling, and he issued the order when he was still inspecting the School of Civil Affairs. How could the people below dare to interpret it?

Li Xuan's eyes flashed, and he immediately understood what was going on, and his expression became serious.

After pondering for a while, Li Xuan said: "My lord, what happened in Changzhou was originally because Changzhou was first established. In order to reassure the officials, they blocked their way to transfer abroad... Now, Luoxudao is attacking Tubo. Soon, once something is achieved, Xuan will mobilize a large number of Changzhou officials to enter Tubo, and at this time, he will mobilize people to leave..."

"If you need Chengsi's help, Your Majesty, please just tell me." Wu Chengsi felt relieved, Li Xuan didn't say anything, it was just a transaction.

"This..." Li Xuan showed a look of embarrassment on his face. To be honest, he also had many difficult things to deal with, but in front of those things, Gong Siye's matter was not a big deal at all.

For example, if Wu Chengsi was asked to edit the "Book of Han", Li Xuan believed that as long as he opened his mouth, Wu Chengsi would immediately turn around and leave.

What kind of deal could he do with Wu Chengsi without revealing his secret?

Seeing Li Xuan's expression, Wu Chengsi immediately handed over his hand and said, "Your Majesty, don't worry, Chengsi will definitely handle the matter of the crown prince's concubine."

Li Xuan nodded slowly and said, "There is a small matter, and it's not easy for Xuan to come forward."

Wu Chengsi immediately stretched out his hand: "Your Majesty, please speak."

"This year in Changzhou, in addition to He Zhizhang, there are six scholars who participated in the scientific examination. Although these scholars have been trained for several years, they are still on the verge of becoming Jinshi." After a slight pause, Li Xuan said: "Originally, Xuan I planned to do some activities so that one or two of them, no, even one of them would win the exam, but it's a pity..."

"How about it? With the prince's reputation and ability, it shouldn't be difficult to accomplish this, right?" Wu Chengsi was a little confused. He just recommended a person to become a Jinshi. Li Xuan's ability can do it!

Li Xuan smiled bitterly and said: "This year's events are under special circumstances. I originally thought that during the grassland war, the Jinshi in the imperial court would be able to get more, but it happened to happen that the princess..." "Those children from aristocratic families, oh, by the way, they I also have to take the scientific examination." Wu Chengsi reacted immediately.

Now that I have come to Chang'an to participate in the selection of the princess's son-in-law, there are at least a dozen children of high-ranking families.

Once these people take the scientific examination, the originally small number of admission places will suddenly be reduced a lot.

Because these people, even if they don't consider the princess, they will definitely get Jinshi if they take part in the imperial examination.

As a result, Li Xuan's few reluctant scholars had no hope at all.

"This matter is actually not a big deal." Li Xuan shook his head with a smile and said, "If you can't take it, then you can't take it. The worst is to go next year... But if it comes next year, who knows what will happen, so this matter is still I hope Duke Guo can make some recommendations."

Wu Chengsi and Dou Xuande have a good relationship.

Because Wu Chengsi is very close to Beimen Bachelor, and because of Li Dan's relationship, if he recommends it to Dou Xuande, plus Li Xuan's face, he can still consider it.

Li Xuan gently pushed the wine glass on the table forward and said softly: "You don't need to have good results, even if you are in last place, you just need to be able to pass the exam."

After a slight pause, Li Xuan said: "If these things hadn't happened this year, with their talent and knowledge, and the scientific examination tips that Xuan deliberately found someone to teach, it would have been a matter of course for them to become Jinshi."

There are tricks to taking the imperial examinations. In many cases, the more talented and knowledgeable people are, the less likely they are to pass the exams. The reason is that they cannot see through the tricks of the imperial examinations.

The reason why members of aristocratic families are able to succeed repeatedly is because they have hidden these secrets secretly. As family secrets, ordinary people have no access to them.

Now that Li Xuan has used these methods, as long as he pushes forward, the chances of these people winning are still very high.

Wu Chengsi nodded slowly and said, "Please prepare some documents, please, and Chengsi will hand them over to Dou Weng."

"In this way, you and I both get what we want." Li Xuan raised the wine glass, touched it with Wu Chengsi, and drank it all in one gulp.

Putting down the wine glass, Li Xuan said easily: "The Duke took away a talented person from Xuan, so Xuan had to find a way to make up for it."

Wu Chengsi smiled. After Li Xuan said this, he felt much more balanced.

After a slight pause, Wu Chengsi asked: "This year's attack on Tanggula Mountain. I heard that Lun Qinling has deployed heavy troops on the Tanggula Mountain pass. Are you confident?"

"To be honest, it's not that difficult." Li Xuan thought for a moment and said, "The people in Tubo are in turmoil. After all, they have never been beaten to the Tanggula Pass in many years.

Not to mention that once the Tanggula Pass is breached, our army will go straight into the interior of Tubo. There has not been a war there for many years. Xuan thought that the initial stage should be smooth. "

"Initial stage?" Wu Chengsi keenly grasped Li Xuan's key point.

"Yes!" Li Xuan nodded and said: "In the Battle of Tubo, once Tanggula Mountain is captured, the focus will be on Luoche. Xuan heard someone mention that Luoche City is a strong city, and now it has been reinforced again. , if there is no good strategy, it is normal to be under siege for one or two years."

Wu Chengsi nodded slowly, there was no such precedent in the history of the Tang Dynasty.

When the late emperor attacked Luoyang, he started from Hangu Pass in the west and fought for three years until he reached the city of Luoyang. It took another ten months to capture Luoyang.

This is because Wang Shichong consumed too much military rations before, resulting in insufficient military rations.

Before that, Luoyang had not been conquered for eighty-seven years.

"The only good thing is that after entering Tubo, we can seize the grain and grass needed to supply the army, and the pressure on the court may not be so great. After all, the grain road is too long." Li Xuan couldn't help but feel a little scared, and then said He said with a wry smile: "I hope Lun Qin Ling won't do anything to strengthen the walls and clear out the wilderness."

The corner of Wu Chengsi's mouth twitched slightly, and then he said: "It doesn't matter. With the Minister of Household Affairs following him, the prince will definitely achieve a great victory in this trip."

"That's why we need talents." Li Xuan looked at Wu Chengsi and said seriously: "Xuan not only needs to recruit people from Changzhou, but also the entire Northwest Road and various monasteries in Chang'an. A large number of officials need to be transferred there. If Zhou Guogong has If any talent recommends it, Xuan will definitely arrange a good position."

Wu Chengsi looked embarrassed.

If the place where Li Xuan wanted to go was not too far away, then there was no need for Li Xuan to say that Wu Chengsi would definitely send someone to monitor it, just like Gong Siye.

But he went to Tubo, south of the Tanggula Mountains, which was three thousand miles away. Communication was long and dangerous.

It is even possible that even if he died in Tubo, no one would know.

"This matter, after Chengsi returns..." Before Wu Chengsi could finish his words, a huge noise suddenly came from outside the building.

Li Xuan and Wu Chengsi were surprised. They looked at each other, then stood up and walked to the window. Then they saw hundreds of people densely packed on the street rushing towards the gambling shop opposite.

"Come, come and see what's going on." Li Xuan looked towards the door.

"Here!" Li Zhu flashed at the door, then quickly disappeared.

……

"List of Jinshi." Wu Chengsi frowned, looking at the list of Jinshi and the odds that Li Zhu brought from the gambling house, and felt extremely ridiculous for a moment.

The first one on the list is Xue Shao, with odds of one.

He is almost certain to be the top pick.

Others Cui Can, Lu Yuan, Wei Shu, Zheng Liangwen and others are all on the list, and the odds are not high.

It is almost certain that he will be at the forefront of the imperial examination.

"This...what is this?" Wu Chengsi looked at Li Xuan in disbelief, breathing heavily.

Li Xuan couldn't help but burst into laughter, and then shook his head and said: "The person who can make this thing must be someone who was in the palace that night, otherwise it is impossible to know these things."

Wu Chengsi calmed down quickly. Looking at the list, he couldn't help but shake his head and said: "This matter needs to be reported to His Majesty and the Queen immediately. If the final score of the imperial examination is close to this, then there will be big trouble."

"Then it's troublesome for the Duke. There are still several scholars under Xuan who want to take part in the imperial examination, so it is inconvenient to participate."

Li Xuan raised her head and solemnly handed over to Wu Chengsi: "If this matter can be successful, the merits of the Duke will be immeasurable."

"it is good!"

(End of this chapter)