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

Chapter 1561: Imperial Palace: Witchcraft

The night was dim and the palace was silent.

In the Huiyou Palace, Empress Wu calmly put down her teacup, looked up at Qiu Huan and asked, "Has Su Liangsi set off?"

"He left the city before the gates were closed." Qiu Huan bowed slightly, and then continued, "But before leaving the city, he first visited the Dali Temple Minister, and then visited the Minister of Personnel and the Minister of War. However, the two ministers were busy in the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of War, and were unable to meet the Imperial Censor."

"They are hiding." Empress Wu sneered and said, "These scholars are more loyal than each other, but when faced with trouble, they hide faster than each other."

Qiu Huan lowered his head slightly and said nothing.

However, he knew in his heart that what was happening now was, after all, just a power struggle between the emperor and the empress dowager and their son.

These foreign officials will not get too involved.

People like Pei Yan and Su Liangsi were too close to the fight and couldn't escape at all.

Empress Wu calmed down and asked, "What happens next?"

"Then His Majesty transferred a group of people from the Eastern Palace to Qianyang Palace and Zhuangjing Palace, and some people went to Chengtian Gate."

After a short pause, Qiu Huan said, "Your Majesty said that there is no one left in the Eastern Palace. So it would be better to transfer the maids, eunuchs, and guards from the Eastern Palace. It just so happens that he is short of manpower here."

Empress Wu fell silent.

What Li Xian said is not without reason.

Li Xian, Wei, Zheng, Gao, Yang, the Crown Prince, and Prince Ping'en, the owners of the Eastern Palace have all left the Eastern Palace.

Even when Li Xian was the crown prince, all the old ministers employed by the Eastern Palace were transferred to the palace.

There is no need to guard the East Palace anymore.

Just leave a team of guards behind to watch out for anyone stealing anything from inside.

"Let him be." Empress Wu shook her head slightly and said, "Su Liangsi is a man of good sense. Send someone to watch over him and make sure he doesn't come back again in the next few days."

"Yes!" Qiu Huan bowed slightly.

Empress Wu raised her head and asked, "How is Prince Peng doing? Has Wang Yinke sent any letter back?"

"Yes." Qiu Huan bowed and whispered, "King Peng is still traveling westward as normal, with no sign of turning back."

"Tell him to report once a day starting from today. Also, send a message to Cheng Wuting, saying that from today on, no one should care about any letters sent back to Chang'an from Fanzhou. But all news sent from Chang'an to Fanzhou, except those from the secret guards, must be intercepted by me." Empress Wu looked grim. She wanted to completely cut off the possibility of Li Xuan returning to Beijing.

If Li Xuan cannot receive any information from the central government, he can only head west.

As long as Li Xuan did not return to Chang'an, Empress Wu would not have to worry about the heavy pressure from Fanzhou.

As long as Li Xuan did not return to Chang'an, Empress Wu would not have to worry about the heavy pressure from the royal family.

Among the royal family of the Tang Dynasty, only Li Xuan truly commanded a large number of troops. The others, even the Governor of Dingzhou and Prince Huo Li Yuangui, were far inferior.

Even when the Turks came to attack him, he could only use the empty city plan to scare them.

Didn't he want to actually resist with troops? No, he wanted to, but there was no way, he had no troops.

Those who truly pose a threat to the throne have no soldiers.

"Yes!" Qiu Huan continued to nod.

Empress Wu was silent for a long time before she asked, "How is the preparation of that thing going?"

Qiu Huan's breathing stopped for a moment. He trembled and bowed to Empress Wu, saying, "Reporting to the Queen Mother, the things have been prepared..."

"Put it in Yangpin's palace." Empress Wu looked at Qiu Huan in surprise and frowned, "What's wrong with you? Could it be that decades of peace in the palace have made you forget the bloody storm back then?"

"I dare not!" Qiu Huan quickly lowered his head.

Empress Wu nodded gently and said, "Okay, go ahead. It's just a small matter."

"Yes!" Qiu Huan breathed a sigh of relief, bowed, turned around and left.

……

Under the night sky, outside the Jixian Palace.

Qiu Huan appeared outside the palace silently and then walked outside quickly.

None of the palace maids and guards guarding inside and outside noticed any trace of Qiu Huan.

A moment later, Qiu Huan was already standing in the shadow of the palace walls outside the Jixian Palace and the Xianju Palace.

Opposite him, Li Xian calmly walked into the Xianju Palace.

Qiu Huan was full of surprise. The emperor rarely went to Concubine Gao's Xianju Palace. Why did he do that today...

Qiu Huan immediately understood that the emperor wanted to rely on the power of the Gao family.

Although Gao Kan, the Duke of Pingyuan, stayed in the border area all year round, he was the General of the Left Gate Guard. It was unknown how many of the left and right gate guards of Ziwei Palace were his confidants.

Moreover, Gao Kan not only served as the Left Gate Guard, he also served as the Right Guard.

Gao Kan himself started out as a Lang Jiang of the Right Guard, and later served as Lieutenant General of the Right Guard and General of the Right Guard.

Although the Right Guard has few troops in Luoyang now, and the Right Guard General in charge has no relationship with him, many of the chief clerks, military officers, and lieutenant generals under him are his old subordinates, or the sons of his old subordinates.

In addition to the Left Gate Guard, the emperor could mobilize a lot of power through Concubine Gao.

If the manpower mobilized from the Eastern Palace is added, the emperor's power in the palace will be greatly enhanced.

With a light sigh, Qiu Huan took a step back and retreated into the shadows, but only into the shadows; he did not leave completely.

Not long after, the emperor came out of the Xianju Palace and went to the Renshou Palace.

Qiu Huan looked inside Renshou Palace and couldn't help but frown.

Renshou Palace is the place where enemy eunuchs have infiltrated the least.

Xu Lu is now the Junior Supervisor of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Because Zheng is pregnant, all the people in Zheng's palace are her old friends she brought from the Eastern Palace, and many of them are even from Zheng's palace.

Zheng's father was the Sima of Xue Rengui, the general of the Left Guard, and he also had a certain influence in the Left Guard.

In Chang'an and Luoyang, the left and right guards were the strongest. Now the emperor obviously wanted to win over the power of the inner and outer guards through the harem.

He had already noticed something was wrong.

Yeah, who wouldn't notice something was wrong?

Seeing that the Minister of Punishment, the Chief Censor, and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court were all about to be transferred out of Chang'an, even the Emperor would be anxious.

In particular, Empress Wu's control over the Sixteen Guards was not weak at all.

General Wang Guo of the Left Guard, General Linghu Zhitong of the Left Guard, General Yang Xuanjian of the Right Guard, and General Guo Qizon of the Right Thousand Oxen.

Although the four of them went to the four major military governorates of Bing, Yi, Jing and Yang, their trusted subordinates still firmly controlled the troops in their hands.

Originally, after these people left Luoyang, the emperor had relaxed his vigilance. However, as the emperor's confidants were transferred away from Luoyang one by one, if he did not think of some solutions, then his position as emperor would be unstable.

Soon, under the gaze of Qiu Huan, the emperor left Renshou Palace and went to Jixian Palace.

After all, Concubine Yang was from the Hongnong Yang clan, and the Yang clan had close ties with the royal family. The emperor probably had some plans in mind.

But what's the use? The previous emperor has passed away, and no matter how hard the new emperor tries, it will be in vain.

Qiu Huan calmly watched Li Xian, with a bitter look on his face, leave the Jixian Palace.

Standing in the shadows, he couldn't help but smile.

Yangpin was imitating Concubine Zheng in making lotus seed soup for the emperor, but Concubine Zheng's lotus seed soup was made with great care, so it was naturally delicious. As for Yangpin's...

With a smile, Qiu Huan retreated into the shadows. At the same time, Li Xian also entered Zhuangjing Hall, the Queen's bedroom.

……

May thirteenth.

The emperor led all the officials in the palace to worship the coffin of the late emperor in the morning, and then all the officials returned to their offices to do their work.

Li Xian sat back on the throne in Qianyang Palace and couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

It has been four or five days since Su Liangsi set out for Yangzhou. Although the atmosphere in the palace is a little strange, it is okay.

The queen mother was quiet and didn't do anything out of the ordinary, which made Li Xian, who was originally a little nervous, relax.

At some point, he even thought about whether he should return to the East Palace and rest there.

This is the only way to avoid the increasingly suffocating atmosphere in the palace.

However, in the past few days, there really wasn't any big East Palace in the palace, which made Li Xian wonder if he was being too sensitive.

His actions these days...

Li Xuan immediately collected his thoughts, looked at Pei Yan solemnly and said, "Pei Qing, let's begin."

"Yes!" Pei Yan nodded seriously and looked at the Minister of the Left Guo Daiju: "Let's start with the Ministry of ...

"Yes!" Guo Daiju walked out of the train and said to Li Xian: "Your Majesty, Jizhou..."

I listened as Guo Daiju began to report on the affairs of various departments one by one. People from the Ministry of Personnel, Ministry of Revenue, Ministry of War, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Works, and Ministry of Rites came out one by one to respond.

Wang Dezhen, the Minister of the Imperial Court, Liu Jingxian, the Minister of the Imperial Court, and others stepped forward one after another to point out the mistakes.

The entire government quickly got back on track.

In the entire Qianyang Palace, the chief officials of the three ministries of Zhongshu, Menxia and Shangshu were all present. The six ministries of Personnel, Revenue, War, Punishments, Works and Rites all had hall officials in charge. The heads of the nine temples were occasionally summoned into the palace. Even the Chief Censor Qian Weidao was there.

The matter being dealt with was not of vital military or national importance, but the emperor still arranged everything in an orderly manner with the support of Pei Yan.

Try to pack in as little as possible before the May 15th day of the lunar calendar.

Let Empress Wu intervene as little as possible in state affairs.

What was strange was that Empress Wu strangely did not say anything about the emperor and Pei Yan's tacit collusion to deprive her of her rights.

This allowed many of the emperor's personnel arrangements to be implemented quickly.

Just as the morning was about to end, a burst of hurried footsteps entered the hall.

Soon, a eunuch stood at the door: "Your Majesty, the Minister of Justice Pei Judao and the Sima of Shanzhou Yu Chongguang request to see you!"

Li Xian turned his head to look at Pei Yan, who also looked surprised.

"Announce!" Li Xian nodded solemnly.

Soon, Pei Judao, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, led a dusty official into the hall.

"I am Pei Judao, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, and I am here to pay my respects to Your Majesty." Pei Judao stood in the hall and bowed.

"Your Majesty, I am Yu Chongguang, the Sima of Shaanxi Province!" The 30-year-old Yu Chongguang knelt down and kowtowed.

Li Xian's eyes fell directly on Yu Chongguang and asked, "What happened?"

Yu Chongguang bowed solemnly and said, "Your Majesty, Lingbao County discovered 500 cavalrymen appeared around Sanmenxia yesterday."

Pei Judao immediately followed suit and said, "After investigation, no troops were transferred from the court to Lingbao County."

Li Xian couldn't help but frown, turned to look at Pei Yan and said: "Pei Qing, what's going on?"

"Reporting to Your Majesty." Pei Yan bowed with a solemn expression and said, "The terrain of Sanmenxia is precipitous. If a ship is not careful, it will capsize. The original plan for the emperor's coffin to return to Chang'an was to be transported by ship, then pulled to the Wei River by boatmen in Sanmenxia, ​​and finally returned to Chang'an from the Wei River."

"Today is May 13th. On May 17th, my father's coffin will depart from Luoyang." Li Xian frowned tightly and looked serious.

"Yes!" Pei Yan cupped his hands and said, "Now it seems that someone wants to make trouble in Sanmenxia. I would like to ask you to send someone to investigate."

"Okay." Li Xian nodded, turned around and said, "Order the Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Justice Pei Judao, Luozhou Sima, Assistant Censor Di Renjie, and Assistant Censor Yao Chong to Shanzhou to investigate. All the departments they pass through must cooperate with their authority."

"Yes!" Pei Judao immediately bowed.

At this moment, a steady sound of footsteps was heard on the side porch.

(End of this chapter)