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

Chapter 1550: Li Xuan and Empress Wu's Fight in Changzhou

Luoyang, Imperial Palace.

Palace lanterns flicker in the night.

Shangguan Wan'er entered Huiyou Hall from outside, and the maid in the front hall bowed to her earnestly.

Shangguan Wan'er walked past indifferently without even looking at him.

Arriving at the rear hall, Empress Wu knelt quietly on the ground with her eyes closed, but she was chanting Buddhist scriptures in a low voice.

Shangguan Wan'er walked in with very light steps, raised her head to glance at the statue of Buddha above, and then lowered her head to look at Empress Wu.

After a section of Buddhist scriptures was finished, Shangguan Wan'er whispered, "Queen of Heaven!"

"What's wrong?" Empress Wu opened her eyes and looked towards the Buddha statue in front of her.

"Your Majesty is extremely delighted to read the poems left by Prince Peng." Shangguan Wan'er bowed slightly.

Empress Wu couldn't help but smile, and then whispered: "Just one sentence of 'The Holy Emperor respects the Emperor of the East' made him so happy. Xian'er is still too green."

Shangguan Wan'er lowered her head and dared not speak.

"Prince Peng has a good way. He constantly raises the emperor's prestige in the hearts of scholars all over the world and makes people admire him. He is not afraid that this admiration will be shattered one day and people will be disappointed in the emperor." Empress Wu shook her head gently.

Looking at the eyes of the Buddha statue in front of her, her face was extremely cold.

It was as if Empress Wu saw Li Xuan through the eyes of the Buddha statue.

All Li Xuan's actions during this period were like this. He constantly strengthened the impression of the emperor's benevolence, filial piety and sincerity among officials, scholars and common people. In this way, anyone who wanted to have any bad intentions towards the emperor would have to be careful.

Once a mistake is made, there will be an immediate and severe backlash.

Shangguan Wan'er remained silent.

Empress Wu asked casually, "What is the reaction of the court now?"

Shangguan Wan'er bowed her head and said, "Everyone in the court is praising your majesty and Prince Peng for getting along well with each other, and they all say it's a good thing... After all, Prince Peng is commanding a large number of troops outside. If he can remain loyal, the central government will have less pressure."

Empress Wu nodded and said, "What a good trick. It looks like I will have to put in more effort in the future."

Shangguan Wan'er lowered her head again.

Empress Wu continued, "Where is Cheng Wuting now?"

Shangguan Wan'er thought for a moment and said, "We should be almost in Mei County."

"Tell him to take it easy and keep a close eye on Prince Peng's every move along the way." Empress Wu said in a slightly cold voice.

"Yes!"

"Prince Peng disappeared for half an hour last night. Have you found out what he was doing?" Empress Wu looked indifferent.

“No.” Shangguan Wan’er shook her head and frowned, saying, “We have checked. The person who knocked down the secret guard was just an ordinary citizen. After the interrogation by the Left Street Envoy of the Jinwu Guard, it was indeed an accident.

But then all the secret guards who were monitoring King Peng were sent to the Jinwu Guard Left Street Envoy, which is not right."

After Li Xuan met Yuchi Xunyu that night, he disappeared from the secret guards' surveillance for half an hour.

Wu Sansi, Fan Lubing, and even Liu Rengui all noticed something was wrong.

"He must have done something." Empress Wu looked serious and said, "Go check. Check all the people who have a relationship with King Peng."

"Yes!" Shangguan Wan'er bowed slightly.

Just as Shangguan Wan'er turned to leave, a light sound of footsteps was heard, and Qiu Huan walked up from behind, bowed to Empress Wu and said, "Empress, the Left Prime Minister has a secret document to report."

"Hmm?" Empress Wu was slightly stunned and turned to look at Qiu Huan.

Qiu Huan quickly handed over the memorial. Empress Wu took it, opened it and read it. She couldn't help but frowned slightly and said unceremoniously, "This old fellow actually reached his hands into the palace."

Shangguan Wan'er and Qiu Huan lowered their heads at the same time.

Empress Wu took a deep breath and said, "The Left Prime Minister disagrees with Fan Yunxian being appointed as the Eunuch Supervisor. I think Prince Peng also disagrees."

Shangguan Wan'er immediately understood that during the half hour that King Peng disappeared, he must have done something, or even met someone.

But who is this person? Now, as long as he is related to Wang Fulai, we just need to investigate.

"You did it too hastily." Empress Wu shook her head slightly.

Wang Fulai's case involved too many things, so she had to deal with it severely and quickly.

But as a result, some sensitive figures in the court began to sense the danger.

Even start doing some planning ahead of time.

Just like King Peng.

Even the things he did in Chang'an these days were done for defense.

Empress Wu suddenly raised her head and asked, "How is Prime Minister Xue's matter going?"

Shangguan Wan'er raised her eyebrows and looked directly at Qiu Huan.

We have just killed Wang Fulai, and now we are going to kill Xue Yuanchao. If someone connects Wang Fulai to Xue Yuanchao, then things will get serious.

Qiu Huan quickly bowed and said, "After returning to heaven, starting from today, an extra ingredient will be added to the medicine used by Prime Minister Xue. It may not be noticeable at ordinary times, but after two months, the person will not be able to get up."

Empress Wu pondered for a moment, then said softly, "It's April... OK, let's continue."

"Yes!" Qiu Huan bowed immediately.

Empress Wu looked at Shangguan Wan'er and said, "Send a message to Cheng Wuting. After he arrives in Changzhou, he should gradually remove the influence of Prince Peng in Changzhou. He Zhizhang, Zhuge Minghui, and the other people who served in Changzhou when Prince Peng was the governor of Changzhou should all be driven out of Changzhou."

"Yes!" Shangguan Wan'er bowed calmly.

“Also, King Peng has a lot of prestige among the Tuyuhun people. Those Tuyuhun people who are close to King Peng should be made to disappear.” Empress Wu’s voice was terribly cold.

"Yes!" Shangguan Wan'er bowed slightly. Empress Wu waved her hand, and Shangguan Wan'er immediately turned around and left.

Turning around and coming to the room in the front hall, He Miao had already ground the ink. Shangguan Wan'er immediately sat down and began to write, but He Miao had quietly left the room.

He Miao returned to the room only after Shangguan Wan'er finished writing the letter and left.

Looking at the ink marks on the letter in front of her, He Miao carefully picked up the letter, then walked to the copper basin beside her, carefully placed the letter in the copper basin full of ashes and turned it around. The next moment, the full handwriting had all appeared.

The flames rose, and He Miao had already used a tinder to light the letter. She didn't sit back in her seat until the letter was burned to ashes.

Just at this moment, a burst of hurried footsteps sounded outside the door.

He Miao's body couldn't help but tense up a little, but in an instant, she relaxed.

The footsteps quickly moved towards the back hall, quickly disappeared, but soon sounded again, but this time they had already left.

It didn't take long for He Miao to know what had happened.

Li Jingxuan, former Shangshu You Pushe, Governor of Qianzhou and Duke of Zhao, has passed away.

After hearing the news, He Miao didn't know what to say.

Li Jingxuan was appointed as the Minister of the Central Secretariat for his military achievements, and later promoted to Shangshu You Pushe. Later, he was suspected by the emperor because of the Turkic affairs. Finally, because his son pleaded for the King of Yue, he was transferred to Qianzhou.

Now, due to the fatigue from the long journey, the death of the previous emperor, and the emperor's no intention of summoning him back to Chang'an, he finally died of depression.

He Miao shook her head slightly and closed her eyes gently.

In an instant, everything went dark before my eyes.

……

In the darkness, Li Xuan calmly opened her eyes.

The whole study was silent.

Li Xuan stood up and walked to the window. In front of him was the entire dazzling Qugou City.

The pavilion he was in was four stories high, and because of its high terrain, he could overlook the entire Qugou.

The entire Qugou City was extremely prosperous, and every year a considerable number of merchants traveled between East and West Tuyuhun and the Tang Dynasty.

Qugou is a place they must pass through.

The large flow of materials also made the entire Qugou extremely prosperous.

In addition, when Li Xuan was building the city, he deliberately did not build city walls, causing the entire city to expand outward every day.

Today, it has become the biggest pearl on the entire plateau.

Its prosperity was far greater than that of Xinghai, the capital of Changzhou.

And this place is about to fall into Cheng Wuting's hands.

Li Xuan looked at the clear and bright night sky above his head. From the first moment Cheng Wuting was appointed as the governor of Changzhou, he knew that Cheng Wuting came here to resist the pressure from Fanzhou on Li Xuan.

In this way, it is only natural to erase Li Xuan's traces in Changzhou.

But he didn't expect that Empress Wu would dare to attack the Tuyuhun people.

She really thought the plateau was a flat and smooth place.

"Your Majesty." A cold voice sounded behind Li Xuan. Li Xuan didn't need to look back, he knew that at this moment, the only person who appeared here was Zhang Wanyu.

"How are the arrangements for Western Tuyuhun going?" Li Xuan turned slightly.

Zhang Wanyu stood in the corner and said with her head down: "Everything has been arranged."

"That's good." Li Xuan nodded and said, "From today on, the production of jade and salt shipped from Western Tuyuhun to Guanzhong will be reduced, and will be completely stopped by the end of the year."

"Yes!" Zhang Wanyu bowed seriously.

"Also, the new governor of Changzhou is about to take office. He will inevitably be accompanied by a large group of people. Moreover, when they come to Qugou, they will have to stay here for a while. Put some medicine in the water source so that half of their people will die in Changzhou." Li Xuan's eyes became more and more indifferent.

"Yes!"

"Chi Hongzang, the magistrate of Qugou County, is old. Let's send Cheng Wuting to see the gods on the night after he arrives in Qugou. Let's do it more obviously." Li Xuan sneered slightly.

"Yes!"

"After Changzhou becomes chaotic, will you go to Suzhou? Starting from Suzhou, go to Ganzhou and Lanzhou, and gradually clean out the secret guards to make the place chaotic." Li Xuan's face gradually turned cold.

"Yes!"

"How's going in the Western Regions?" Li Xuan raised his head slightly. He was going to the Western Regions in May to pacify the Western Turks and drive out the Arabs. If he failed to do these, he would not be able to come back easily.

"The Arabs have begun to gradually retreat to the west. On the contrary, the Western Turkic cavalry plans to directly attack Anxi Town this autumn." Zhang Wanyu was surprisingly well-informed about the affairs of the Western Regions.

Li Xuan nodded gently and said, "Very good, now everything depends on when we can come back."

……

Xinghai, posthouse.

A table of wine and food had been set up in the central hall.

Li Xuan looked at He Zhizhang, Zhuge Minghui, and Yuan Wei, whose faces had turned dark, and said gently, "Sit down."

"Yes!" He Zhizhang, Zhuge Minghui and Yuan Wei sat down without any hesitation.

"You have been in Changzhou for many years. The Ministry of Personnel has given you excellent evaluations over the years. When Minister Lu was in Luoyang, he mentioned to me that it is time to transfer you back to the central government to take up positions. What do you think? If you have no objection, I will write back to Minister Lu." Li Xuan looked at the few people with a smile.

He Zhizhang hesitated for a moment, looked at Li Xuan and asked, "Your Majesty, what about Changzhou?"

"Changzhou has its own successor to handle it. The thing that is most in short supply in this world is people who want to be officials." Li Xuan smiled and said, "It just takes some time to get familiar with it. There is nothing else to worry about."

He Zhizhang, Zhuge Minghui, and Yuan Wei looked at each other, and said, "In that case, thank you, Your Majesty."

(End of this chapter)