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

Chapter 1541 How can Empress Wu depose Li Xian?
Thousands of cavalrymen galloped slowly on both sides of Luoyang, with scouts more than ten miles away and on guard on all sides.

Three three-masted sailing ships, blown by the southeast wind, sailed upstream towards Chang'an.

Standing at the stern, the wind was cold and strong.

Li Xuan, dressed in red and golden armor, placed his hand on the black-sheathed sword at his waist and looked towards the direction of the palace with a complicated expression.

He seemed to see Li Xian in the Qianyang Palace, giving instructions to Pei Yan with great enthusiasm.

Li Xuan sighed softly.

He has already reminded Li Xian of everything he should have reminded him of.

As for what Li Xian will do next, that is no longer something Li Xuan can care about.

Even if Li Xian ignored all of Li Xuan's suggestions, Li Xuan would not be surprised.

After all, they are mother and son.

In the original history, Wu Zetian did depose Li Xian and Li Dan, and killed several of her own grandsons, but she killed more people from other royal families of the Tang Dynasty. From Li Longji's perspective in the end, Wu Zetian did a pretty good job.

Li Xuan smiled coldly. He had done what he could and lived up to the trust that the late emperor and Li Xian had placed in him.

For the rest of his life, he would no longer care about Li Xian's life or death.

Without the late emperor looking down at him coldly, Empress Wu alone could no longer put any more pressure on Li Xuan.

……

Li Xuan turned around and looked around the deck. Dozens of soldiers led by the Crown Prince's Right Guard stood solemnly, with their spears sharp and razor-sharp in their hands.

In the current Eastern Palace, Crown Prince Li Chongzhao is too young, and everything he does is under the watchful eyes of Li Xian and the Queen.

Therefore, in the Eastern Palace, Li Xian and Empress Wei did not assign many officials to him.

In fact, today, among all the officials in the Eastern Palace, the leader is Liu Rengui, the Prince's Tutor, followed by Li Xuan, the Prince's Guardian, and below that is Wu Sansi, the Prince's Household Manager.

Yes, Empress Wu also sent Wu Sansi to Chang'an.

As manpower was still needed in Luoyang, Empress Wu sent Wu Sansi to Chang'an.

Li Xuan quickly figured this out.

Luoyang needs to be controlled, and Chang'an also needs to be controlled.

Especially since the crown prince was the regent, once something happened to the emperor, the old ministers in Chang'an would immediately support the crown prince to become emperor.

So when Wu Sansi returned to Chang'an, if nothing else, he was at least able to contain the power of the many Guanlong clans in Chang'an.

This is enough.

Li Xuan glanced at Wang Yinke who was standing calmly not far away. He looked calm, but a trace of pain flashed deep in his eyes.

Wang Fulai's death was definitely a huge blow to Wang Yinke.

But unfortunately, no one knows the relationship between Wang Yinke and Wang Fulai.

Li Xuan did a quick search and found out that when Wang Yinke entered the Secret Guard, he did not follow Wang Fulai's path.

No one in the entire secret guard knew the relationship between Wang Yinke and Wang Fulai.

But after thinking about it, Li Xuan understood Wang Fulai's intention.

Although both Wang Fulai and Wang Yinke were born into the Wang family of Taiyuan, compared to Wang Fulai's unchangeable past, Wang Yinke's identity and origin are easier to fabricate and more difficult to find.

As long as there is no apparent relationship between the two of them, no one would find out from Wang Fulai that Wang Yinke was also from the Wang family of Taiyuan.

No one could change Empress Wu's hatred for the Wang family of Taiyuan.

Wang Fangyi, the current deputy commander-in-chief of the Western Regions and the governor of Anxi Protectorate, is Queen Wang’s cousin.

Wang Fangyi had made countless military achievements over the years, but Empress Wu wiped them out with just one word.

Later, the Western Regions could not find a replacement candidate for a while, so they looked for Wang Fangyi.

But everyone could imagine that once Wang Fangyi pacified the Western Regions, he would be immediately transferred to another place, without even a reason.

Li Xuan glanced at Wang Yinke, turned around slightly, and looked towards the direction of the palace again.

Wang Yinke may be feeling heartbroken now, but perhaps he still has some hope in his heart.

Because once Wang Fulai died, no one would ever know that Wang Yinke was born into the Wang family of Taiyuan, so he could serve Empress Wu without any worries.

Yes, Li Xuan saw it clearly.

Over the years, not only Wang Yinke, but even Wang Fulai, had no intention of turning the tables for the Wang family of Taiyuan.

They have accepted their fate.

What made Wang Yinke betray Empress Wu now, in addition to Wang Fulai's death, was mainly his identity as the Wang family of Taiyuan.

Li Xuan looked in the direction of Guanwen Hall, his eyes becoming slightly solemn.

Li Xuan told Liu Jinyu and Pei about most of his arrangements in Luoyang, but there were some that he deliberately concealed.

The most important one among them is Ye Wanwan.

Ye Wanwan, who lurks beside the Crown Prince's Consort Zheng.

The most important thing is that Zheng is pregnant now.

Of course, this was written by Li Xuan.

In the future, if Zheng gives birth to a child, her child will be sent out of the palace immediately.

Every child of Li Xian naturally has the right to inherit the throne.

The same goes for Li Xian and Li Guangren.

It was a pity for Li Xian. With Empress Wu's careful planning, once Li Dan was made emperor, Li Xian would have been doomed.

……

Turning around, Li Xuan walked into the cabin.

Wang Yinke bowed slightly to Li Xuan, and Li Xuan nodded gently in return.

Wang Yinke is now the Chief Clerk of King Peng and Sima of Fanzhou Military Governor's Office. He will go to Fanzhou to take up his post with Li Xuan.

Li Xuan did not tell him the truth about Wang Fulai's death now. He needed Wang Yinke to report all of Li Xuan's actions to Empress Wu.

Now Li Xuan does not want Empress Wu to set her sights on him right now.

He needed Empress Wu to relax her vigilance against him, and Wang Yinke was the best chess piece.

Even the other chess pieces that Empress Wu placed around Li Xuan, Li Xuan also needed Wang Yinke's help to fish them out.

That’s right, Wang Yinke was the hook that Li Xuan threw down.

Entering the cabin, Li Xuan immediately saw Crown Prince Li Chongzhao reading in the central seat.

Li Chongzhao was a very smart child and studied very hard. Compared with Li Xian, he was more persistent.

It would be great if Li Xian had this persistence as well.

Li Xuan walked to the center of the cabin, bowed to Li Chongzhao and said, "Greetings, Your Highness."

"Uncle, please take a seat." Li Chongzhao raised his head and looked at Li Xuan with a smile. At this moment, Liu Rengui on the side could not help but frowned, looked at Li Chongzhao and said, "Please call me Shao Bao, Your Highness."

Li Chongzhao smiled bitterly, but still nodded slightly to Li Xuan and said, "Young Master, please take a seat."

"Thank you, Your Highness." Li Xuan bowed, then sat down on the side, looked up at Li Chongzhao and said, "Your Highness, according to the schedule, we will return to Chang'an at 9:00 pm the day after tomorrow. The troops along the way are patrolling everywhere to ensure Your Highness' safety."

"Sorry for troubling my uncle." Li Chongzhao breathed a sigh of relief.

Li Xuan smiled, turned and looked at Liu Rengui.

Liu Rengui nodded calmly.

Although the trip back to Chang'an was accompanied by General Wang Xiaojie of the Left Guard, General Chen An of the Right Guard, and several other generals of the Central Army, all matters of security fell into the hands of Li Xuan, the Prince's Guardian and General of the Right Guard.

This also allows him to quietly make some personnel arrangements without anyone else noticing.

"Is there any problem with the ministers and vice ministers?" Liu Rengui asked casually.

"The Minister of Works, the Minister of Rites, the Vice Minister of War, the Vice Minister of Punishment, the Vice Minister of Revenue, the Vice Minister of Personnel, as well as several ministers and junior ministers, have all been arranged." Li Xuan bowed slightly.

Although the emperor is in Luoyang, the crown prince is regent, and the six ministries, nine temples and five academies in the court must at least be able to function fully.

So when the prince returned to Chang'an this time, the Minister of Works Huang Rensu, the Minister of Rites Wei Daijia, the Vice Minister of War Cen Changqian, the Vice Minister of Punishments Li Zhaode, the Vice Minister of Revenue Fan Lubing, and the Vice Minister of Personnel Guo Zhengyi all followed him back to Chang'an.

Among them were the Minister of Works Huang Rensu, the Vice Minister of War Cen Changqian, and the Vice Minister of Revenue Fan Lubing, whose main task was to ensure the supply of various military supplies for the operations in the Western Regions.

Especially Fan Lubing, he is actually responsible for monitoring this aspect.

The Minister of Rites Wei Daijia was mainly responsible for going to Qianling Mausoleum to supervise the construction of the previous emperor's mausoleum.

Li Zhaode, the assistant minister of the Ministry of Justice, was ostensibly in charge of criminal justice affairs, but Li Xuan knew that he was actually driven out of Luoyang by Empress Wu in disguise.

Like Su Liangsi, he was once the commander of the secret guards. If both of them were by the emperor's side, it would be detrimental to Empress Wu's actions.

In fact, if Su Liangsi, the Imperial Censor, had not been difficult to drive away, Empress Wu would have driven him away long ago.

The Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel Guo Zhengyi and the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue Fan Lubing were the ones used by Empress Wu to keep a real eye on everyone in Chang'an.

Wu Sansi, you can use him to scare people, but you are still far from being able to actually use him to do things.

Liu Rengui nodded calmly, looked at the Crown Prince, Li Xuan, and Wu Sansi and said, "Your Majesty is in Luoyang now. The Minister of War, the Minister of Punishment, the Minister of Revenue, and the Minister of Personnel all need to report a lot of things to Your Majesty so that Your Majesty can quickly take control of the court. We just need to make no mistakes in Chang'an."

"Yes!" Li Xuan, Wu Sansi, and Li Chongzhao all bowed slightly.

The moment he lowered his head, Li Xuan's expression became solemn.

He knew that Ouyang Tong, Duan Baoxuan, and Lu Yuanfang were left behind in Luoyang, and Empress Wu actually intended to keep an eye on them.

If any one of the three of them ran away, it would immediately become a huge threat to Empress Wu.

Ouyang Tong was the Minister of War. Apart from the emperor, he was the only one with the most military power in the world.

Especially since Li Xuan was the General of the Right Guard, so with just a call from Ouyang Tong, Li Xuan would immediately have unlimited pretext to raise an army.

Duan Baoxuan was not only the Minister of Punishments, but also the former Minister of the Dali Temple. He was also the Governor of Yuezhou, the Inspecting General of the Left Guard, and a veteran on the battlefield.

If he left Luoyang, the threat he posed to Empress Wu would be no less than that posed by Pei Xingjian.

On the contrary, Lu Yuanfang, the Minister of Personnel, posed a much smaller threat, but he was Li Zhi's preferred candidate for prime minister.

Li Xuan had to admit that Empress Wu had kept all those who should be kept in Luoyang for close control, and had also quarantined all those who should be quarantined in Chang'an.

However, Li Xuan had an idea that he couldn't figure out.

Empress Wu wanted to depose the emperor. It was easy for her to deal with other people, but what would she do with Pei Xingjian, Xue Rengui, Gao Kan, and other generals who had left Luoyang like Li Xuan?
Li Xuan also has a new general of the Right Guard, Cheng Wuting, who is keeping an eye on him, but the others are not so easy to control.

They are much more experienced than Li Xuan.

Moreover, Pei Xingjian was the Prince's Junior Tutor, and Gao Kan was the grandfather of the Prince's concubine Gao.

Once Li Xian is deposed, they will certainly not sit idly by and wait for death.

There were also prime ministers such as Pei Yan and Xue Yuanchao.

There is even Liu Rengui who is opposite Li Xuan.

Li Xuan was really curious. Even though Empress Wu had already taken control of the inner guards and the secret guards, she still faced Li Xian, who had the support of many prime ministers and even won the hearts of a large number of scholars across the world because of the imperial examinations. What should she do to depose Li Xian and at the same time ensure the greatest stability in the world?
Li Xuan was really curious.

(End of this chapter)