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

Chapter 1437 Pei Yan, imitating Changsun Wuji’s old story
On a winter afternoon, Qianyang Hall of Ziwei Palace in Luoyang.

Empress Wu placed a memorial on the table, looked at the content on it, frowned slightly, raised her head and looked to one side: "Wan'er, where is the prince?"

"Report to the Queen of Heaven." Shangguan Wan'er walked up from behind, then cupped her hands and said, "The prince has passed through Xinnan County and will arrive in Luoyang in two hours."

Empress Wu breathed a sigh of relief, then nodded and said: "I remember that the prince once asked me to report to Luoyang. After arriving in Luoyang, he greeted me and the emperor, and reported the events of this year?"

"Yes!" Shangguan Wan'er bowed slightly and said carefully: "The memorial was written by the prince, but it was sent through the Political Affairs Hall."

"He wants to see Your Majesty, and all the officials in the court also want to see Your Majesty." Empress Wu sighed softly, and said sideways: "Fan Yunxian."

"My servant is here." Fan Yunxian, the deputy chamberlain, stood up respectfully.

Empress Wu nodded and said: "After the prince arrives at Duanmen, let him go to see your majesty; also ask King Peng to come to see me. As for the other ministers, we will work together with the inside and outside to arrange them properly."

"Here!" Fan Yunxian immediately bowed and agreed.

Empress Wu raised her head, looked outside the Qianyang Hall, and said softly: "The twelfth lunar month has arrived, the New Year is coming, and the Songshan Zen ceremony is coming soon."

The same goes for the Lu family. The Lu family does not have deep influence in the court, but they are very close to the Cui family.

"Yes!" Li Xuan slightly cupped her hands and said: "Wannian County Captain Cui Ming will be transferred to Taiyuan County Lieutenant. The Cui family will let other clansmen take over as Wannian County Magistrate. Cui Xiang and his ministers have already discussed it. In the future, Cui Xiang, the Cui family, The Lu family will fully support His Highness.”

In addition, Yang herself was put into the East Palace by Empress Wu to drive a wedge between the Crown Prince and Wei. Many people in the East Palace were helping Yang, covertly and covertly, and they were as good as Wei in their fight.

"Looking at the Chang'an report, several of the Du family's children were arrested." Li Xian looked sideways at Li Xuan and asked, "So, the Cui family's matter is over?"

In all affairs of the Cui family, Cui Zhiwen and Cui Zhiti take charge.

To elaborate, I would also like to call Li Xian his cousin.

Li Xian was wearing a black cloak and stood at the bow of the ship. Everyone around him had moved away, and only Li Xuan stood beside Li Xian.

"Your Highness, marriage is the most labor-saving way after all. If it can bring peace to the world, then your Highness will feel aggrieved." Li Xuan persuaded in a low voice.

Although there was another imperial censor, Cui Mi, who was close to Empress Wu, in fact he was just a minority in the speculation of aristocratic families, just like Zheng Rentai was to the Zheng family.

"It seems that Uncle Wang also knows that the East Palace is uneasy." Li Xian smiled somewhat self-deprecatingly.

The Crown Princess Wei has a tough character, while the Crown Prince Gao has a gentle nature and is not good at fighting. They get along fairly well with each other, but at the beginning of the year, the Crown Prince accepted Yang's daughter as the Crown Prince's concubine.

Although Wei Shi was the Crown Princess, Yang Shi was somewhat related to the Queen of Heaven.

Above the Luohe River, the wind is freezing.

……

"Your Highness also knows that Mrs. Zheng may not agree, so there is no need to worry about anything in advance." Li Xuan gave Li Xian some relief.

"Marriage." Li Xian started to laugh a little, glanced at Li Xuan, and said, "Gudu still doesn't know whether to agree or not, but Zheng became picky."

The women of the Yang family are not soft, and they often have a few words and secret fights with the princess.

Now there is also a Zheng family.

"I propose that the Zheng family marry a legitimate daughter into the East Palace, but Cui Xiang cannot be the head of the Zheng family, so he needs to ask the Zheng family." Li Xuan's eyes became solemn.

Li Xian nodded silently. After a moment, he finally came to his senses and asked, "What about the Zheng family?"

……

Li Xian's face slowly darkened, he nodded and said, "Yes, Mrs. Zheng may not agree with this matter."

Marriage matters are always important.

It is not something that ordinary people think, where you can break a contract today and stab someone in the back tomorrow.

Once married, it is equivalent to a direct line between two families, completely and deeply united.

For example, the marriage between Li Hong and the Pei family, and the marriage between Li Hong and the Pei family, would allow the Hedong Pei family and the entire Dongjuan Pei family to stand behind Li Hong.

If Li Hong is unlucky in the future, then the entire Dongjuan Pei will be unlucky.

Of course, it does not involve Xijuan Pei and Xima Pei.

The same goes for the Zheng family. If a direct lineage of the Zheng family marries Li Xian, then all the Zheng family's descendants will stand behind Li Xian.

If the Zheng family regrets it in the future, then none of the Zheng family's descendants will be able to succeed in the future.

This is equivalent to Zheng losing one-third of his own strength.

Therefore, once the marriage is established, the Zheng family will not be allowed to go back on it; but if the Zheng family does not agree to the marriage, it means that they have ulterior motives.

"Let's take a look first and make more preparations." Li Xuan looked at Li Xian solemnly.

Li Xian nodded lightly, then breathed a sigh of relief and said, "So the Chang'an matter is over."

"Well!" Li Xuan turned to look in the direction of Luoyang, and then said softly: "Cui Ming's matter itself is not important. What is important is that His Highness and the Cui, Lu and Zheng families have reached a tacit understanding and act in unison in Luoyang."

The three families of Li Xuan, Dong Gong, and Cui Luzheng are fighting in Chang'an, seemingly to prevent any accidents in the future if something happens.

But there are key elements in it, which were deliberately concealed by the senior officials of Li Xuan and Cui Luzheng.

That is, in their eyes, the emperor would not die of illness in Chang'an, but in Luoyang.

So their fight in Chang'an didn't matter at all.

They were just putting on a show and showing it to the emperor at the same time.

Let the emperor think that they did not think that the emperor's body would have an accident in Luoyang this time, but in Chang'an a few years later. That's why there was such a fight for Wannian County Lieutenant, who controlled half of Chang'an's security.

But in fact, what they should really fight for is Henan and Luoyang counties.

But they didn't do that, which was equivalent to telling the emperor that they thought the emperor would not have any problems in Luoyang this time, so they fought with each other in Chang'an. But in fact, this was just a tacit understanding between the top leaders of both parties. .

But it wouldn't be right to say it was just a play. They were actually testing each other and measuring each other.

Measuring each other's strength, who will take a step back in the end?

The results have come out, and it is the Cui, Lu, and Zheng families who finally took a step back.

This led to the peace talks between Li Xuan and Cui Zhiwen on the Wei River.

Of course, this does not include the Zheng family.

With the peace talks, there will be a tacit understanding between the Donggong and Cuilu families in Luoyang in the future.

……

"Speaking of marriage, I have another marriage that I would like to recommend to His Highness." Li Xuan turned around and looked at Li Xian solemnly.

Li Xian was slightly stunned and looked at Li Xuan with helpless eyes: "Uncle Wang, I know that you are good to Gu, but for these successive marriages, even if Gu agrees, the Crown Princess will not agree."

Li Xuan smiled, cupped her hands and said, "There is no rush to get married this time, and the Zheng family's affairs may not come true, so as long as there is no decision, everything else is just a rumor."

"Haha!" Li Xian smiled, nodded and said, "What Uncle Wang said is true, so whose family is it this time?"

"The Pei family." Li Xuan stared at Li Xian and said seriously: "It's Pei who washes his horse."

"Horse washing..." Li Xiangang said two words, and then suppressed the words. Everyone around heard the movement and subconsciously looked over.

Li Xian waved his hand, and everyone immediately turned around.

Li Xian gritted his teeth and looked at Li Xuan: "Uncle Wang, Xi Ma Pei, is Prime Minister Pei a descendant of Xi Ma Pei?"

"That's right." Li Xuan nodded and said: "But Pei Yan's family is not the only one who washes horses. There are also more than a dozen houses, including the legitimate daughters of the first few houses."

"But that is also Prime Minister Pei's biological niece. Uncle Wang, do you know who the last prime minister with blood relatives in the harem was? It was Liu Shi of the Liu family. He was the biological uncle of the Mang family." Li Xian's face had completely turned cold. Li Xuan's move was indeed not very clever.

Li Xuan smiled and then said: "I not only want His Highness to marry Prime Minister Pei's niece, but also want His Highness to recommend Prime Minister Pei to be Minister Zuopushe."

Li Xian's eyes widened and he looked at Li Xuan in disbelief: "Uncle Wang, are you crazy? Shangshu Zuopushe, the concubine is a blood relative. Uncle Wang, that's not Liu Shi, that's Duke Zhao."

This Duke of Zhao is not Li Jingxuan, but Changsun Wuji.

Zhao Guogong, the emperor's uncle, Taiwei, in charge of the affairs hall, eldest son Wuji.

Li Xuan wants Pei Yan to be the eldest grandson Wuji of the dynasty.

"Your Highness, let's talk about taboos. I feel that Your Majesty was a little hasty in dealing with Duke Zhao back then." Li Xuan's words made Li Xian stunned.

Li Xuan's words directly questioned the emperor's handling of Changsun Wuji.

Li Xian wanted to say something, but in the end he couldn't because in the first year of the Yuan Dynasty, the emperor had already vindicated Changsun Wuji.

His official title was restored and he was buried with him in Zhaoling.

This is why the emperor himself believed that his treatment of Changsun Wuji was a mistake.

Li Xuan looked at Li Xian seriously and said, "Your Highness, do you think that if you had used His Majesty's current political methods to deal with the events of the past, everything would have been so tragic?"

Li Xian pursed his lips tightly. What happened that year involved not only the emperor, Changsun Wuji, countless ministers of the government and the public, but also Empress Wu.

"Just like Yu Zhining and Chu Suiliang, if back then, before the incident, His Majesty had sincerely negotiated with them, they would have allowed them to temporarily leave the court and serve as the governor of Yangzhou, the governor of Bingzhou, or the governor of Yizhou. Without these two people in the court, Zhao Guogong is isolated and helpless in the court, how can he be your Majesty's opponent?" Li Xuan raised another possibility in a few words.

"Uncle Wang is here to hear about the Duke of Xi County and Duke Zhao." Li Xian rolled his eyes slightly, and he already somewhat understood what Li Xuan said.

Li Xuan looked at Li Xian and said seriously: "Your Highness should know that Duke Li Jinxing of Yan State, General of the Right Leading Army Wei, is in poor health. After being granted Zen status, he will seek to become an official. Then, who will take over as General of the Right Leading Army Wei? Come to take over as the governor of Changzhou?"

"Didn't we agree that it was the Duke of Fuyang and General Hei Te Changzhi?" Li Xian's face was blank. He didn't know what Li Xuan meant by this.

"What if it's General Cheng Wuting of the Forbidden Army?" Li Xuan's words made Li Xian's eyes widen in surprise.

Forbidden Army General Cheng Wuting was a direct descendant of Pei Yan, and Empress Wu also trusted him more. If he could be transferred out of Chang'an, Pei Yan's threat to Li Xian would plummet.

"Let's talk about the center now." Li Xuan glanced at the ships behind, then looked at Li Xian and said, "If Prime Minister Pei is transferred to Shangshu Province, how will Zhongshu Province and Menxia Province treat Prime Minister Pei?"

Li Xian was stunned, his eyes rolled slightly, and excitement gradually flashed deep in his eyes.

In Zhongshu Province, Xue Yuanchao and Li Yiyan could not get along with Pei Yan.

Cui Zhiwen had just promised to support Li Xian in the province. As for Wang Dezhen, he was the emperor's man.

"With the disciples and Zhongshu in hand, then drive those who are close to Prime Minister Pei among the six ministers out of the court." Li Xuan's eyes showed a hint of ruthlessness and said softly: "Prime Minister Pei has a tough personality and easily offends people. So, then He was asked to do many difficult things, such as cleaning up hidden fields and reducing officials. "

Li Xian couldn't help but shudder. This hand was too cruel.

"As long as he controls the six ministers and has Zhongshu's disciples in his hands, no matter how powerful Prime Minister Pei is, he will be nothing more than a lonely man. After ten years, it will be fine to let him become an official according to the rules of the court." Li Xuan suddenly sighed and said: " So, that method is not stronger than the Xianqing Incident.”

Li Xian nodded slowly and said with emotion: "This is indeed better than what happened back then... No, there is also the Queen Mother?"

Li Xuan didn't speak again, she just raised her head and stared straight at Li Xian.

Li Xian immediately understood that Pei Yan was the one Li Xuan pushed to the front stage to fight with Empress Wu.

(End of this chapter)