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

Chapter 1479 Whoever wants the emperor to die, the emperor will make him die first

Under the cover of night, two teams of cavalry escorted Liu Rengui back to the Lecheng County Government Mansion.

When the carriage arrived at the gate and had not yet stopped, Liu Rengui had already lifted the curtain and said, "Let's not go home. Let's go to Yulong Garden first."

"Yes!" Li Xuan followed on horseback and winked at Li Zhu beside him.

Li Zhu immediately took a quick step forward, and soon, the middle door of Yulong Garden was completely opened.

Liu Rengui's carriage drove in, and the Jinwu Guards and Youwei Cavalry behind him returned to their camps.

After getting off the carriage, Liu Rengui immediately saw Xia'er standing on the steps, wearing a thick blue-red waist-length skirt.

Liu Rengui couldn't help laughing, nodded to Liu Jinyu, Zhao'er, and Ming'er who were bowing beside him, and then directly hugged Xia'er: "Princess Fuchang, do you miss your grandfather?"

"I thought about it." Xia'er said, counting on her fingers, "It's going to be the Little New Year soon. My mother and aunt said that we should spend the Little New Year at my grandfather's house."

"Okay, okay." Liu Rengui smiled and nodded with satisfaction, "Grandfather will definitely prepare delicious food for you when the time comes."

"Yeah!" Xiaer laughed happily.

……

Liu Rengui came to the backyard holding Xia'er, talking and laughing, without paying any attention to Zhao'er and Ming'er, and went straight into the study.

After handing Xia'er to Liu Jinyu and asking her to take Xia'er out to play, Liu Rengui's expression became serious.

Li Xuan placed a teapot on the stove nearby, put tea leaves in it, and then boiled it gently.

Liu Rengui sat back on the short couch, looked up at Li Xuan who was busy, and asked, "My dear son-in-law, do you know the fundamental reason for Yuan Wanqing's death today?"

Li Xuan paused for a moment, his eyes solemn.

As for today's events, he had anticipated everything else, but the only thing Li Xuan had never expected was that Yuan Wanqing would be beheaded by the emperor in the palace.

Yuan Wanqing, the chief of the Northern Gate scholars, will be killed today.

Empress Wu didn't even plead for him.

With a sigh, Li Xuan said, "Because he has been stirring up trouble between the Prince of Xiang and the Crown Prince, alienating the brothers, and eyeing the throne. Unfortunately, Your Majesty has no intention of changing the crown prince, and is very concerned about protecting the Crown Prince. In this case, he can only be allowed to die."

"I thought you were going to say that because of the death of Madam Tong'an, Your Majesty was using his head to appease the aristocratic families in the world." Liu Rengui couldn't help but smile.

Li Xuan lowered his head slightly and said, "Mrs. Tong'an's death was, after all, just because of the slippery road caused by snow, and she fell off the cliff... As for Yuan Wanqing, maybe he was somewhat responsible, but my grandson-in-law thought it would be best to demote him to a commoner and exile him to Yazhou. That way, if something happened on the road, it would have nothing to do with the court."

In Li Xuan's opinion, Yuan Wanqing will die eventually, but compared to letting him die in the court, it is better to let him die on the way of exile and die at the hands of aristocratic family.

After the emperor performed the Fengshan ceremony, he would certainly grant amnesty to the entire nation.

It took no more than fifteen days from the time Yuan Wanqing left Luoyang to the time he was pardoned.

The noble families in the world have some grievances against the royal family, so naturally they cannot vent their resentment on Prince Li Dan. So Yuan Wanqing, who gave Li Dan advice, ran back and forth, and even abandoned the Zheng family in the end, is their best target for revenge.

In particular, the emperor had pointed out his crimes and dismissed him from all official positions.

This in itself is an announcement to the world that the responsibility for the death of Madam Tong'an lies with Yuan Wanqing.

Among all the noble families in the world, at least the Zheng family and the Cui family will not let him go.

In this way, only Yuan Wanqing died at the hands of the Zheng and Cui families, and their resentment would naturally subside.

This was originally a perfect move, but the emperor chose to kill him in the court.

The aristocratic families want to vent their resentment, but they have no way to do so, which is not a good thing.

This is not really the way to do it.

"Your idea is half right, but not completely right." Liu Rengui watched Li Xuan put the hot tea in front of him, took a sip, and then sighed and said, "Your Majesty killed him because everything he did was a gamble that Your Majesty would not survive this winter."

Li Xuan suddenly raised his head and looked at Liu Rengui in disbelief.

"Yuan Wanqing and Cui Shi, their deaths were all caused by this." Liu Rengui looked at Li Xuan deeply.

Li Xuan frowned, but a trace of astonishment flashed in his eyes, and then he whispered: "Mr. Yue, Cui's death, could it be..."

Liu Rengui stared at Li Xuan and said seriously, "I don't know the details, but your majesty and the empress will definitely not let Cui go."

Liu Rengui said with a cold snort, "On a snowy night in the mountains, if there is no urgent matter, who would rush to the top of the mountain in the heavy snow? If you are not careful, you will be crushed to pieces... There is no guarantee that there will be no one chasing you."

Liu Rengui knew the Emperor and Empress Wu too well, especially the Emperor. When he saw clearly that Cui and Yuan Wanqing were betting that he would not survive the winter, the rage in his heart immediately erupted. At this time, no one could save Cui.

Li Xuanxin felt relieved and nodded slightly.

If the emperor didn't say anything, Empress Wu would definitely not let Cui go. But Li Xuan acted too quickly, and Empress Wu didn't have time to act.

"In addition to Yuan Wanqing and Cui Shi, there is also Prime Minister Cui, and finally you!" Liu Rengui's words completely pointed out the reason why he came to find Li Xuan today.

Previously, on the official ship from Chang'an to Luoyang, although Li Xuan did not make it clear to Cui Zhiwen, in fact, both of them believed that the emperor would not be able to pass this hurdle, so they joined forces in various ways.

Later, because of this,

Liu Rengui warned seriously, "Your Majesty should still be doubting whether you and Prime Minister Cui think the same way. If he calls Prime Minister Cui over and asks him directly, what do you think Prime Minister Cui will say?"

"Cui Xiang had just been dismissed from his post as the Minister of the Secretariat, and now there is the matter of my cousin. If Your Majesty asks about it, I am afraid he will not say anything."

Li Xuan shook his head slightly, looked at Liu Rengui and said, "No one hopes that Your Majesty will die, at least I do. I even hope that Your Majesty can live a long life... In fact, if it weren't for the Cui family and the Prince of Xiang, things wouldn't have come to this. I'm just defending myself."

After a short pause, Li Xuan smiled bitterly and said, "Sun Xu just saw through their thoughts. If not, the East Palace would be much more passive in many things."

"So His Majesty is just suspicious, but I'm afraid your future actions will be even more scrutinized by His Majesty. If you are a little surprised, the consequences will be disastrous." Liu Rengui's face became solemn. He looked at him and said seriously: "Especially the affairs of the Zheng family. If you don't handle it well, His Majesty and the Queen Mother will have deep thoughts. The consequences..."

Li Xuan picked up the teapot, poured himself a cup, and then said calmly: "The Zheng family's affairs, after all, are just because of the death of Madam Tong'an, which has caused unrest among the family members. But if you analyze it carefully, it is only the Cui, Lu, and Zheng families. Your Majesty has already appeased and won over the others."

Xue Yuanchao was promoted to Shangshu You Pushe, Pei Yan was promoted to Zhongshu Ling, Wang Dezhen was promoted to Shizhong, and Liu Jingxian was promoted to Tongzhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi. The same was true for them.

Hedong Xue family, Hedong Pei family, Jingzhao Wang family, Hebei Liu family.

There were also Wei Daijia, the Minister of Rites, Su Liangsi, the Vice Minister of Punishments, Su Gui, the Director of the Left Secretariat, Du Shenyan, the Secretary of the Secretariat, and Yang Jiong, the Academician of the Hongwen Academy.

The Jingzhao Wei family, the Wugong Su family, the Jingzhao Du family, and the Hongnong Yang family were all among those being wooed.

Cui Zhiwen was dismissed from his post as co-minister of the Secretariat, and Li Jingxuan was promoted to the position of Grand Tutor to the Crown Prince. This method of promoting in name only and demoting in reality made it very difficult for the aristocratic families to do anything.

"The crux of this matter is nothing more than two points. The first is the private engagement between Prince Xiang and Zheng. They made the engagement because they wanted to join forces to compete for the Minister of Rites. But after the failure of the battle for the Minister of Rites, Prince Xiang and the Zheng family quickly severed their relationship and no longer recognized the engagement. The Zheng family must be dissatisfied with this." Li Xuan said one of the core issues of the matter lightly.

Liu Rengui frowned and said, "What are you going to do? The royal family's marriage will attract the attention of all the noble families in the world."

"No big deal?" Li Xuan smiled and said, "Zheng and the Eastern Palace have already had an engagement. His Majesty said that it should be a grand affair."

"You want to isolate the lineage of the Duke of Tong'an." Liu Rengui saw through Li Xuan's plan and then said, "But what if they find the marriage certificate?"

"It's fake. The real marriage certificate has been burned by my grandson-in-law. Any other marriage certificates found are fake." Li Xuan looked up at Liu Rengui and said, "The Zheng family will be headed by Zheng Renshan in the future. The Duke of Tongan will observe mourning for three years. After three years, if he wants to have a good position, he must be more obedient."

"Aren't you afraid that he will fight to the death?" Liu Rengui frowned and said, "He is a border general after all. It won't be a good thing if he makes a big fuss."

Li Xuan sighed lightly, shook his head and said, "Mr. Yue, this matter is not trivial, because there is a second problem. Madam Tong'an is dead after all."

Liu Rengui raised his eyebrows and his expression suddenly became serious.

"After all, the Prince of Xiang was on Mount Songshan on the night that Madam Tong'an passed away. This naturally raises suspicion. If this matter cannot be resolved, then we should deal with the previous matters. The revenge for the mother is hard to eliminate, and the hatred is hard to eliminate." Li Xuan sighed.

If this hatred is not resolved, Li Xuan will have no choice but to support Zheng Renshan's lineage and fight against him with Zheng Rentai's lineage.

"This is what your majesty means. You must eliminate the hatred in the heart of the Duke of Tongan." Liu Rengui looked at Li Xuan deeply.

"That depends on how the Dali Temple, the Ministry of Justice, and the Qianniu Guards investigate the case." Li Xuan shook his head slightly, his eyes full of worry.

The core of the Zheng family incident lies in the death of Mrs. Tong'an.

If the death of Madam Tong'an is related to the palace, then things will be troublesome.

If Lady Tong'an's duties had nothing to do with the palace, Li Dan was in Songshan that night after all, so Lady Tong'an might have gone to find Li Dan.

There must be a reasonable explanation for this matter. If the Zheng family believes that Lady Cui of Tong'an died at the hands of Li Dan, or even that it was related to Empress Wu, then the situation in the entire world will become turbulent.

"This is also your problem." Liu Rengui shook his head calmly and said, "Starting tomorrow, you will have to stay in the Zheng family and face all the questions."

Li Xuan nodded solemnly. It was not easy to solve this problem.

Especially since he was the one who instigated all of this, the emperor wanted him to solve it all by himself.

……

“Don’t think about taking the easy way out. If something happens to Madam Tong’an, or if something happens to the Duke of Tong’an, people all over the world will be dissatisfied.” Liu Rengui stood in front of the door and looked at Li Xuan deeply.

Li Xuan paused, then smiled bitterly and said, "Don't worry, Mr. Yue. Although the Duke of Tong'an is the biggest problem, my grandson-in-law will not solve this problem by solving the problem."

"That's good." Liu Rengui stopped, looked at Li Xuan and said, "I'll give you a solution. Prime Minister Cui and the Ministry of Personnel will jointly handle the imperial examination. This will be of great help to you in solving this matter."

Li Xuan raised his eyebrows, then nodded slowly.

(End of this chapter)