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

Chapter 1555 Your Majesty, Please Drink Lotus Seed Soup
Inside the central hall, Heichi Changzhi, Zhang Da'an, Zhang Hongyu, Yu Ze, Zhou Qian, Cui Ding and others couldn't help but breathe heavily.

Zhang Daan, in particular, stared at Wang Yinke intently.

He was the left assistant to Crown Prince Li Xian back then, and he knew very well how Li Xian was deposed.

Zhang Da'an was particularly aware of Empress Wu's desire for power.

Now, Empress Wu was gradually stripping away the emperor's power in Chang'an with ease, while at the same time gaining control of a large amount of military power.

If we go a step further and deprive the emperor of his power, it would be like the Later Han Dynasty, when the emperor controlled the world from behind the curtain every day.

Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, Wang Yinke remained calm. He shook his head calmly and said, "I don't know. Perhaps His Majesty and Prime Minister Pei will make some arrangements. But there is no rush. After all, the Eastern Turks have been relatively peaceful in recent years..."

Before Wang Yinke could finish his words, hurried footsteps were suddenly heard outside, and then Qiu Zhenmu quickly walked into the hall.

He presented the official document with a solemn expression, and at the same time bowed to Li Xuan and said, "General, an urgent document from Luoyang!"

Li Xuan was slightly stunned. Yu Ze had already taken the official document from Qiu Zhenmu and handed it to Li Xuan.

Li Xuan looked at the black official document in front of him, his face had become extremely heavy. He opened the document with some difficulty, and what caught his eyes was the obituary of Shangshu You Pushe, Fenyin County Marquis Xue Yuanchao.

The corners of Li Xuan's mouth twitched slightly. He wanted to say something, but he couldn't get it out.

Li Xuan looked at Yu Ze with a somewhat stiff body, and moved his fingers imperceptibly.

Yu Ze quickly took the document, took a look at it, his face changed drastically, and then he immediately handed the document to Heichi Changzhi.

After Heichi Changzhi looked at it, he handed it to Zhang Daan with a serious expression.

Zhang Da'an took a glance at it, handed it to Zhang Hongyu, and then passed it down in turn.

"Your Highness." Zhang Da'an stepped forward and said, "The Duke of Pingyang passed away, and the Right Prime Minister passed away. Your Highness should write a letter to express his condolences."

Li Xuan recovered, forced a smile and nodded, looked at Yu Ze and said, "General Yu, prepare paper and pen. I will write letters to express my condolences to the families, and at the same time write a letter to Your Majesty to express my condolences. Your Majesty, please accept my condolences."

"Here!" Yu Ze quickly walked to the side, picked up paper and ground ink.

Li Xuan turned to look at everyone and said expressionlessly, "Everyone, get busy. We will be leaving for the expedition in a few days. Nothing can be delayed."

"Yes!" Everyone bowed subconsciously, then turned around and left one after another.

Only Wang Yinke couldn't help but glance at Li Xuan in the end.

It is only three days away from the second day of May. However, Xue Rengui and Xue Yuanchao have passed away one after another. Add to that Li Jingxuan and Wang Fulai before. Even the dumbest person can see that a big change is about to happen in the court.

If Li Xuan no longer went to the Western Regions as originally planned, but changed his mind and stayed.

In that case, even if the troops did not return to Chang'an, but only delayed in Luosi with various reasons, and really waited until the coffin of the late emperor returned to Chang'an, the emperor's position would be completely stabilized.

Wang Yinke and other people under Empress Wu knew that they had to take action before the late emperor's coffin set off for Chang'an. Otherwise, even if they succeeded in Chang'an, they would eventually face a strong backlash.

In Luoyang, it is their best chance.

Whether Li Xuan can send out troops on time on May 2nd is crucial to whether Empress Wu can act smoothly in the future.

If Li Xuan stayed, it would not only mean that Empress Wu's plan would be in great danger, but it also meant that they had to get rid of Li Xuan in advance before they took action in Luoyang.

Otherwise, even if Empress Wu succeeded in Luoyang and Li Xuan's troops returned to Chang'an, the situation would be difficult to control.

What Wang Yinke hopes now is that although Li Xuan has seen the hidden dangers in Chang'an, he is not sure whether Empress Wu will take action or when she will take action.

Now, or in a few years.

It is also uncertain how far Empress Wu will go.

He will go to the Western Regions as planned.

Li Xuan did not raise his head to look at Wang Yinke. At this moment, he had already started writing a draft on paper: "Your Highness, I, King Peng Xuan, request to add six more Zhongshu Sheren, four Jieshi Zhong, two Shangshu Langzhong, and four Shiyushi..."

……

It was mid-May and the nights were sultry.

In the Qianyang Palace, Li Xian picked up the memorial in his hand and handed it to his left hand.

Fan Yunxian took it and quickly handed it to Pei Yan.

Pei Yan took the memorial that Li Xuan had sent from Fanzhou by carrier pigeon, opened it and read it carefully.

In his memorial, Li Xuan first expressed his condolences to the emperor for Xue Rengui and Xue Yuanchao, and at the same time expressed his concerns about the court situation.

Due to Xue Yuanchao's death, the government affairs of the Secretariat might be delayed, so it was suggested to increase the number of middle and lower-level officials such as six Zhongshu Sheren, four Jieshi Zhong, two Shangshu Langzhong, four Shiyushi, etc.

Moreover, these positions in the court are not of high rank, but are key positions with extremely important actual power.

For example, according to the court system, there should be only six Zhongshu Sheren, and their position in the Zhongshu Province is only below Zhongshu Ling and Zhongshu Shilang.

The same goes for Jieshizhong. According to the court system, there should be only four of them, and their position in the Menxia Province is only below Shizhong and Huangmen Shilang.

There were only two Langzhong in the Shangshu, Zuosi Langzhong and Yousi Langzhong. In the Shangshu Province, they were only under the Zuo Pushe and Zuo Cheng of the Shangshu.

In fact, the same applies to positions such as Shiyushi.

Pei Yan pondered over the memorial carefully. As long as Li Xian and Pei Yan agreed on Li Xuan's suggestion, they could implement it even without going through Empress Wu.

But the prerequisite is that Pei Yan must agree.

"Your Majesty!" Pei Yan held Li Xuan's memorial, raised his head and looked at Li Xian, saying, "This matter is of great importance. If we really want to increase the quota by force, I'm afraid we need the ministers and the chancellors to discuss it together. Otherwise, it will easily shake the court system. In my opinion, it would be better to give a few people the title of inspectors in the name of reward. We don't need so many people. The Secretariat and the Ministry of Personnel can each add two people. The Ministry of Chancellery can add two inspectors of the Right Secretary. In this way, your majesty and I can decide."

Li Xian looked at Pei Yan, frowning slightly. He pondered and said, "Will this not work?"

Pei Yan cupped his hands and said with a wry smile, "Your Majesty, even if that is the case, I still need to use the excuse that Duke Pengcheng is in the Western Regions and Prime Minister Li has requested an order. Otherwise, I am afraid that I will not be able to get through to the Empress Dowager, let alone the court."

Li Xian's expression finally became completely gloomy.

After Xue Yuanchao's death, Li Xian finally came to his senses after a period of mourning.

Xue Yuanchao died of illness, Liu Rengui stayed in Chang'an, Li Xuan returned to Fanzhou, and Duan Baoxuan went to Daizhou.

The only people available to Li Xian at the level of prime minister and minister were Lu Yuanfang, Yao Lingzhang and Su Liangsi. Although others such as Ouyang Tong and Wang Jishan also assisted in the administration, they were not so close to Li Xian.

As for the others, they were either Empress Wu’s people or Pei Yan’s people.

Li Xian's situation is already beginning to look like a crisis.

Fortunately, Li Xian still has Li Jingjia, Li Dazhi, Li Yi and others in the army.

The memorial that Li Xuan sent from Fanzhou greatly relieved his pressure in the court.

But if he couldn't do it completely according to Li Xuan's approach, Li Xian's situation would be slightly alleviated, but only slightly.

Li Xian nodded slightly. He knew that what Pei Yan said was right. Under the current situation, Li Xian couldn't do what he wanted.

Li Xian raised his head and looked deeply at Pei Yan, and asked, "Prime Minister Li, do you still feel like retiring?"

"Yes!" Pei Yan bowed his hands solemnly and said with a serious face: "I personally persuaded him, but it was still useless. Prime Minister Li still insisted on requesting retirement."

The emperor's face darkened slightly.

In his opinion, although Li Yiyan was not a member of the royal family, he was only one generation away from them.

Especially as the prime minister, he should have tried his best to help Li Xian. But at this moment, Li Yiyan asked for retirement without hesitation and abandoned him, which made Li Xian very unhappy.

But Li Xian had no way to stop it personally.

Because Li Yiyan used the excuse that the previous emperor had passed away, he was mentally exhausted and could no longer serve the emperor.

This kind of thing is not the only one that has happened recently in the court.

Since Wang Fulai, Li Jingxuan, Xue Rengui, and Xue Yuanchao all died of illness.

Not to mention, the rest were General Sun Renshi of the Right Guard and Duke of Yan Li Jinxing, who had just retired and was about to return to Youzhou as soon as the emperor was buried. They were both seriously ill.

If something happens to these people again and Li Xian stops Li Yiyan from retiring, then when Li Yiyan dies of illness, Li Xian will be blamed.

Li Xian suddenly smiled bitterly, looked at Pei Yan and said: "Government is difficult, I am afraid I can only rely on Pei Qing in the future. Pei Qing, please take care of your health and don't fall ill again."

Pei Yan bowed his hands solemnly and said, "Your Majesty, rest assured. I will ensure that your Majesty's country will be worry-free forever."

Li Xian smiled, nodded, and said, "Go ahead, let Prime Minister Pei handle this matter. Also, Prime Minister Wang and Prime Minister Liu of the Ministry of Personnel should not be left idle. They should also keep an eye on the affairs of the Ministry of Shangshu."

"I understand." Pei Yan bowed, then said, "I will take my leave first."

"Yeah!" Li Xian nodded, and Pei Yan turned and left.

The moment he turned around, Pei Yan's expression became completely stern.

He originally did not want to agree to the emperor and Li Xuan's request, but when he saw that the emperor's power was being intentionally stripped away bit by bit, Pei Yan also saw the danger of the situation.

In particular, he received a letter from his concubine in Chang'an at home, saying that someone was spying on the house outside.

In other words, someone was secretly watching him, watching him as the regent.

In the entire court, only the emperor and Empress Wu had the power to do this.

But judging from the emperor's style of doing things, he is not such a person at all. On the contrary, it is Empress Wu who does such things. This kind of thing is too much in line with her habits.

In the current situation, Empress Wu is becoming increasingly powerful, while Li Xian and Pei Yan are beginning to strangely weaken in power.

If this continues, once Li Xian loses his throne, Pei Yan, the regent, will also be in trouble.

So the two of them need to join forces.

There was another reason that forced Pei Yan to choose to join forces with Li Xian, and that was the death of Xue Yuanchao.

There was no sign of surprise in Xue Yuanchao's death at the moment. Even Pei Yan himself knew that Xue Yuanchao was in poor health several months ago.

However, as soon as Xue Yuanchao passed away, Li Yiyan was in a hurry to resign from his post. This behavior was too strange.

You know, he is the prime minister.

Even in the entire Tang Dynasty, there are not many people.

But just now, on the eve of the burial of the late emperor's coffin in Qianling Mausoleum, after Xue Rengui and Xue Yuanchao passed away one after another, Li Yiyan made an unusually decisive choice to retire.

No matter how Pei Yan tried to persuade him, he wouldn't listen, which made Pei Yan keenly aware of the danger.

Now he needs to join forces with the emperor.

……

In Renshou Palace, Li Xian walked into the palace with a calm expression.

He was still thinking about Li Xuan's memorial.

By increasing the number of Zhongshu Sheren, Jieshi Zhong and Shangshu Langzhong, Li Xian's control over the government was increased.

Even without the Shangshu You Pushe and Zhongshu Shilang, Li Xian could still control them.

But even Li Xian himself knew that it would be difficult to double the number of personnel at once. Now that Pei Yan had agreed to increase the number by half, it was already a great victory for Li Xian.

In particular, Li Xian had already vaguely sensed Pei Yan's intention to join forces, and he also extended an olive branch.

Li Xian finally understood a little, perhaps this was Li Xuan's real intention.

"Your Majesty!" Zheng gently placed a bowl of lotus seed soup in front of Li Xian.

Li Xian smiled gently at Zheng. For some reason, he had begun to like the taste of lotus seed soup.

Behind the door curtain not far away, a pair of bright eyes were staring at Li Xian.

Staring at the lotus seed soup in his hand.

(End of this chapter)