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

Chapter 1516 Hostages, Means of Escape
In the Zhenguan Hall, Wang Fulai stood beside the new emperor and said loudly: "Princesses, princesses, and ladies of state, mourn and offer sacrifice to the late emperor!"

Empress Wu, who was standing on the other side of the imperial couch, looked back calmly.

Then we saw the Grand Princess Huainan, the Grand Princess Qianjin, the Grand Princess Wencheng, the Grand Princess Dongyang, the Grand Princess Linchuan, the Princess of Teng, the Princess of Zheng, and the Princess of Peng, as well as the princesses of various counties, county princesses, county ladies, county ladies, dowager ladies, ladies, and dozens of other women entered the Zhenguan Hall.

Empress Wu's gaze swept across Liu Jinyu and finally fell on the Grand Princess of Huainan, her expression becoming solemn.

Wang Fulai stood on the golden steps and said loudly: "All ladies outside the court should bow and kowtow!"

All the princesses, princesses, county ladies, county ladies, and ladies bowed five times and kowtowed three times, then burst into tears.

A quarter of an hour later, Wang Fuli spoke again: "Rise! Ladies of the court, pay your respects to His Majesty and kneel."

"Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you. Please accept my condolences." The ladies of state bowed again.

"Grandma, aunt, great-aunt, aunt, sister Wang, sister Wang, ladies, please stand up." Li Xian, dressed in plain clothes, stood up and raised his hand.

"Thank you, Your Majesty." The ladies bowed and stood up.

"All ladies of state, pay homage to the Queen of Heaven, kneel!"

"Your servant pays homage to the Queen Mother, please accept my condolences!" The ladies of state once again bowed.

"Aunts, sisters, princesses, sisters, ladies, please stand up." Empress Wu raised her hand calmly.

Although Empress Wu was the widow of the previous emperor, the biological mother of the emperor, and the de facto empress dowager, because the emperor had not yet been canonized, she could not be canonized as empress dowager, so it is more appropriate to call her the Queen of Heaven now.

"Thank you, Queen." The ladies bowed and stood up.

Empress Wu's eyes fell on the eldest princess of Huainan, and she said with a rare gentle look: "The weather is cold, aunt, please take care of yourself."

Princess Huainan stood at the head of all the ladies, wiped the tears from her eyes, bowed to Empress Wu and said, "Thank you for your concern, Empress Wu. Please accept my condolences and take care of yourself."

"Thank you for trouble, aunt and relatives. There will be rewards from the palace later." Empress Wu nodded slightly.

All the ladies bowed and said at the same time: "Thank you, Queen. I will take my leave."

"Yes!" Empress Wu nodded slightly and looked at Li Xian.

Li Xian nodded calmly.

The ladies turned around and left the Zhenguan Hall. Empress Wu looked at Princess Huainan again, then jumped slightly and looked at Liu Jinyu and Xia'er behind them.

The Grand Princess Huainan was the twelfth daughter of Emperor Gaozu. She was now sixty-two years old and was the most noble living woman in the entire Tang Dynasty, except for Empress Wu.

Even the Crown Princess and Princess Taiping cannot compare to her.

Although the Crown Princess would soon become the Queen, she had not yet been given the title.

As for Princess Taiping, everyone is a princess, and everyone is the emperor's daughter.

What's more, the late emperor has passed away.

There was not much difference in status between Princess Taiping and Princess Huainan, and Princess Taiping was even inferior to her.

Not only that, the husband of the Grand Princess Huainan is Feng Yandao, the son of former prime minister Feng Deyi.

Duke Mi of Mi, Feng Yandao, was previously the Chief Clerk of the Yangzhou Grand Military Governor's Office, and is currently the Governor of Huaizhou.

Over the years, Feng Yandao served as the governor of more than a dozen states throughout the country. In addition, the former officials of the former prime minister Feng Deyi were spread all over the country. His children married into the Five Surnames and Seven Families, and he had a great influence on the court and the country.

Especially since the Grand Princess Huainan was the most important woman in the world, even Empress Wu would have to be wary of her.

Among all the ladies, apart from the Grand Princess Huainan, the ones that Empress Wu cared about the most were Princess Peng and Princess Fuchang.

King Peng, General of the Right Guard.

……

Li Xuan was dressed in a black brocade robe with a white linen mourning robe on the outside. He stood outside Chengtian Gate with a long sword in his hand and a solemn expression on his face.

It was not until the Grand Princess of Huainan came out with a group of ladies that he breathed a sigh of relief and stepped forward to pay his respects.

Similarly, it was not only Li Xuan who was like this, but also other clan members and officials.

The late emperor passed away last night, and the new emperor ascended the throne today.

When the ministers entered the palace in the morning, Li Xian had not yet ascended the throne and the funeral rites had not yet been announced. So although the ladies of various families knew that they had to go to the palace to mourn, they could not act rashly without an imperial edict.

After that, they waited until the imperial edict was issued before rushing to the palace.

At that time, Li Xuan and others had already come out of the palace.

The Grand Princess Huainan looked at Li Xuan and nodded calmly. Without saying anything more, she walked towards her own carriage.

So does everyone else.

Right now, right now, this place is really not the place to talk.

Li Xuan met Liu Jinyu, Pei Shitong, Xiaer, Zhaoer and Changer, and then headed towards Yulong Garden.

Liu Jinyu is Princess Peng, so she must be there.

Pei Shitong was Peng Wen's concubine and also the Lady of Guangping County, a fifth-rank lady.

Xia'er is a princess, Zhao'er is a prince, and Chang'er is a county earl.

They are not children who cannot move. When the late emperor passed away, they were supposed to go to the palace to mourn according to the rules.

However, women of noble birth are women of noble birth, and members of the royal family are members of the royal family, and their order is different.

Fortunately, Li Xuan found someone to take care of her in advance, and now she is out safely, so there should be nothing wrong.

The carriage swayed towards Sigongfang. Li Xuan asked in a low voice, "Is everything okay?"

"No." Liu Jinyu hugged Xia'er and Zhao'er, glanced at Pei Shitong, then shook her head and said, "The Queen only spoke a few words to Aunt Huainan today, nothing else."

"Well!" Li Xuan breathed a sigh of relief. The status of the Grand Princess of Huainan was there. Not to mention Li Xian, even when Li Zhi was alive, he respected the Grand Princess of Huainan very much.

This kind of respect has now become a special right in disguise.

Even when facing the Princess Huainan, Empress Wu had to treat her with respect.

"During the late emperor's funeral, there are strict rules. After Sanniang and Tong'er go back, keep an eye on the three of them at home and make sure they don't do anything against the rules." Li Xuan whispered. If they really did something against etiquette at this time, once others knew about it, it would be fatal no matter what time it was.

"Don't worry, my husband. I know what's going on." Liu Jinyu and Pei Shitong nodded at the same time.

As they were talking, they had unknowingly returned to Sigongfang.

Li Xuan looked up at the Lecheng County Mansion, and then said, "Sanniang, please pay more attention to Mr. Yue, and don't let him get sick from overwork."

"I saved it." Liu Jinyu suddenly became serious.

When an emperor passed away, the funeral rites were always extremely solemn, and every time, old ministers would die because their bodies could not bear it.

According to legend, the reason why Empress Wu was taken into the harem by Emperor Taizong was because her father died of crying at the funeral of Emperor Gaozu.

A loyal minister!
However, most people don't want such loyal ministers.

Li Xuan took Liu Jinyu, Pei Shitong, and several children into the carriage, and then said to Liu Jinyu: "My husband wants to go to Songshan. Stay at home today and try not to go out if possible."

"Yes!" Liu Jinyu and Pei Shitong nodded at the same time.

Only then did Li Xuan feel relieved and rode out of Sigongfang, with Li Zhu and a team of guards following closely.

Right now, we can't relax at all.

When leaving the gate, Li Xuan couldn't help but look back at Liu Jinyu and the others, while Liu Jinyu was looking at Li Xuan from a distance.

Li Xuan sighed softly in his heart.

There is no doubt that after he leaves Beijing, Liu Jinyu and Pei Shitong will become hostages kept in the hands of Empress Wu.

Although Li Xuan had made various preparations, it was still hard to say whether he could finally break free from Empress Wu's control.

But from another perspective, it was precisely because they were in Luoyang that Empress Wu would not do anything to Li Xuan even if he acted a little out of line.

Li Xuan couldn't help but smile bitterly, then walked out of Sigongfang calmly.

Looking up, I saw that the West Market across the street was closed and deserted.

When the emperor died, all the markets had to close.

Li Xuan turned and looked to the left side of the door. There was a three-meter-tall swing there, but at this time, no one was playing on it.

Li Xuan stopped his horse, turned around and looked at Li Zhu and said, "Take down the rope of the swing. Let's put it aside for now. If someone still wants to play with it after the 27th, put it up again."

When the emperor passed away, all officials mourned for 27 days. Although the common people did not have to mourn for that number, playing and celebrating were not allowed.

But after the emperor's funeral, the excitement will always return.

……

With the cold wind blowing in their faces, dozens of war horses rushed directly up Mount Song and finally stopped at Songyang Temple.

Looking at Wang Yinke standing in front of the door, Li Xuan dismounted and bowed, asking, "Why is the Chief Secretary here?"

"Greetings, Your Majesty." Wang Yinke bowed earnestly and said, "I have been ordered to assist Your Majesty in handling the cleanup of Songshan."

"I see." Li Xuan nodded slightly, turned around and looked around, and could clearly see dragon embroidered silk on many tree branches.

There are many similar things.

Before the emperor's Fengshan ceremony, the court placed many things in Songshan in preparation.

Many of them were only available to the emperor.

For example, the Temple of Heaven and the Temple of Earth for Fengshan, the place where the emperor rested, the arrangements along the way, the soldiers in Songshan, etc., all need to be evacuated now.

Li Xuan glanced at Wang Yinke and said, "Chief Secretary, let's inspect the area and decide on an order for evacuation."

"Yes!" Wang Yinke's expression suddenly became solemn. There are many secrets in this Songshan Mountain. He wants to destroy these secrets and not let Li Xuan know about them.

In addition, Wang Yinke also tried to find out whether Li Xuan had any connection with the previous ambush and murder of the secret guards at the foot of Mount Song.

After following Li Xuan up for a while, Wang Yinke couldn't help but frowned and said, "Your Majesty seems quite tired."

Li Xuan came back to his senses, looked at the surrounding mountains, then looked at Wang Yinke, and said with a smile: "The Chief Secretary also knows that I stayed in the palace all night last night without relaxing for a moment. Now that I have arrived at Songshan, I can finally relax."

Wang Yinke was stunned for a moment, then nodded in agreement.

In a place like the palace, even if there hadn't been special circumstances last night, you still had to be extremely careful, otherwise, you could lose your life if you weren't careful.

Li Xuan smiled, bowed to Wang Yinke and said, "I'll trouble you to pay more attention to all the things happening in Songshan later. I'm going to Zhongyue Temple to pray for the late emperor."

Blessings in the underworld.

Although Wang Yinke knew that Li Xuan was looking for an excuse to rest, he could not say anything and could only bow and say seriously: "Your Majesty, please go. I will take care of everything."

"Good!" Li Xuan nodded and said, "For matters in the palace, the Chief Secretary must find time to go back to Chang'an. After all, the official files of the palace are all in Chang'an."

"Don't worry, Your Majesty. I won't have to worry about it."

……

Watching Li Xuan enter Songshan Temple, Wang Yinke raised his eyebrows slightly.

King Peng is no longer involved in the affairs of Songshan, so there is no need to worry about the secrets here being discovered by him.

As for what happened last night, Wang Yinke looked at the team of right guard cavalry who came to Songshan with Li Xuan, and couldn't help shaking his head in his heart.

After what happened last night, King Peng only brought a team of right guard cavalry, and was not worried about retaliation from the palace at all.

It seems that either he has no guilt in his heart or he is extremely cunning.

Wang Yinke is more inclined to the former, after all, Li Xuan was in the palace all night last night.

The only question is who was the person who escaped from the palace and what did he take from the palace.

Where is he now?
　Thanks to the book friend [I am incompatible with gambling and drugs ivi] for the reward, love you.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)