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

Chapter 1578 The problem of the world lies in Empress Wu, not Li Xuan

At the Lecheng County Mansion, Zhang Qianxu bowed solemnly to Liu Rengui and said, "Left Prime Minister, your Majesty will be leaving for the capital the day after tomorrow. Please assist me in preparing for the reception."

"Okay!" Liu Rengui came back to his senses and nodded with a gloomy face.

Zhang Qianxu glanced at the imperial edict on the table, bowed and said, "I will take my leave."

Turning around, Zhang Qianxu left quickly.

As soon as he arrived at the courtyard, a general came up to him and said, "General, the one who died was not the crown prince."

"What?" Zhang Qianxu stopped suddenly and looked at his men in disbelief.

"Brothers in the army..." After a short pause, the general said carefully, "Brothers in the army originally wanted to help the prince clean up the body. After all, it would not look good if it was burned to charcoal. However, after checking, we found that all the jade pendants and gold ornaments that the prince should have carried were missing."

Zhang Qianxu glanced coldly at his subordinates. He knew what was going on at once. It was obvious that his subordinates wanted to search Li Chongzhao for some gold and jade artifacts. After all, Li Chongzhao was no longer the crown prince. The crown prince had become Li Chengqi.

Suppressing his anger a little, Zhang Qianxu said, "Perhaps the prince didn't bring those things with him at all, but left them in the East Palace?"

"The brothers in the East Palace said that many of the prince's things are missing, especially the prince's seal." Lang Jiang's last sentence made Zhang Qianxu's face change drastically.

Zhang Qianxu grabbed his general by the collar and said through gritted teeth, "What do you mean the Crown Prince's Seal is also missing?"

"The brothers did not find the prince's seal, and they knew nothing after torturing the people in the East Palace. They even don't know who kidnapped the prince tonight. The reason they resisted tonight is..." The general stopped talking halfway.

"What are you talking about?" Zhang Qianxu looked at his men with gritted teeth. He hated people who only finished speaking halfway the most.

"They said that the order to resist the general was given by Wu Sansi, the prince's household official." Just as Lang Jiang finished speaking, Zhang Qianxu's hand stopped in mid-air.

"Wu Sansi, why is it Wu Sansi?" Zhang Qianxu's eyebrows suddenly raised, and he immediately understood: "Wu Sansi wants to use me to kill the prince."

Zhang Qianxu clenched his fists immediately, and he realized that he had been caught in a vortex of a huge power struggle.

As soon as the power struggle between Empress Wu and the emperor ended, a power struggle between the Wu family and the royal family arose.

He, the great contributor who deposed the emperor, had quietly become a sharp weapon for the Wu family to stab the royal family.

The key is that he himself doesn't know anything yet.

Taking a deep breath, Zhang Qianxu ordered: "Don't move anything in the Eastern Palace until I report to the Queen Mother. As for the Crown Prince, let's go. The Crown Prince must still be in Chang'an, and in the direction of the Da Ci'en Temple. Even if we turn over all four blocks around the Da Ci'en Temple, we must find the Crown Prince."

"Yes!" The general immediately bowed, and then quickly left the Lecheng County Mansion with Zhang Qianxu.

No, it’s the Lecheng County Mansion.

Liu Rengui looked at the imperial edict on the table and listened to the sounds coming from the courtyard. A hint of strangeness appeared on his originally sad face.

The prince escaped?

The prince escaped from the East Palace.

Liu Rengui saw through it at a glance. It was not Wu Sansi's doing at all. The one who was really acting in secret was Li Xuan.

Li Xuan had already planned and done a lot of things a few months ago, before leaving Chang'an.

For example, Wei Sili was brought into the Eastern Palace by Li Xuan.

It was precisely because of his obstruction that Zhang Qianxu was forced to go on a killing spree in the Eastern Palace.

In the end, it was because of his death that Zhang Qianxu was unable to find out who had taken the prince away...

Wait, Liu Rengui’s brows suddenly frowned.

He suddenly realized that Wei Sili was the son of Wei Siqian, the Minister of Zongzheng Temple.

At present, Wei Siqian is in Suzhou investigating the case of Prince Ze's treason.

What would he think once he knew that his son died protecting the prince?
Especially once the prince falls into his hands...

Liu Rengui stood up suddenly.

宗正寺卿，宗正寺卿。

The position of the Minister of Zongzheng Temple was able to decide the emperor's candidate in some special circumstances.

Because from the Han Dynasty to the present, generally speaking, the position of the Minister of Zongzheng Temple has been held by members of the royal family.

They are usually even elders of the royal family.

Therefore, for a long time, the Minister of the Zongzheng Temple has had the right to decide the emperor to a certain extent.

If Crown Prince Li Chongzhao was sent to Suzhou by Li Xuan, no, no, it was Yangzhou.

Wei Siqian's eldest son, Wei Chengqing, is now the assistant military officer of the Yangzhou Household Department. In addition, there is Wei Xuanfu, the governor of Runzhou, and many other chief secretaries, Sima officers, and assistant military officers of the Wei family in Jiangnan. They are definitely a huge force.

The Wei family’s power in Jiangnan is definitely not weak.

In recent years, the trade between Jiangnan and the countries in Southeast Asia has become increasingly heavy, and all the major families have intervened.

The Wei family had Empress Wei as the queen in the palace.

Not counting the time they spent in the Eastern Palace, even in the past few months, they had no idea how much benefit they had gained from the future.

Now that Emperor Zhongzong is dead and Empress Wei has been deposed, the Wei family’s privileges in Jiangnan will be immediately cut in half.

The huge profits brought by the privileges will be cut in half.

The Wei family will never let this go.

Once the prince falls into their hands, it is conceivable that there will be a great turmoil in Jiangnan.

No, it’s either Jiangnan or Yangzhou.

There were only a few Zhechoufu in the whole of Jiangnan, but there were four Zhechoufu in Yangzhou.

No, there is also Princess Wencheng in Yangzhou.

Liu Rengui couldn't help but groan.

With the support of the Longxi aristocratic family, Wei Siqian, the Minister of Zongzheng Temple, and Princess Wencheng, an elder of the royal family, as long as they get the crown prince, they will immediately establish another emperor in Jiangnan.

Even behind them, there is Li Xuan secretly supporting them.

Li Xuan is very powerful in Jiangnan, but not many people in the court know about this.

Liu Rengui was one of them. He had just been appointed as the Prince's Left Secretary, and was the same person as Lu Yuanfang, the former Minister of Personnel who was a third-rank official in the Secretariat.

After all, Lu Yuanfang himself came from the position of Sima of Yangzhou. The connection between the Jiangnan family and Li Xuan became inseparable after Li Xuan sent He Zhizhang to the position of number one scholar.

Not to mention Jiangnan, just Yangzhou alone.

Now that Yangzhou's power is divided into four parts, Li Xuan must definitely occupy one-fourth of the share, no more, no less.

Li Xuan's layout in Jiangnan has been exposed over the years, but most of the time it was quietly erased by Liu Rengui.

At that time, he thought Li Xuan was just planning the trade routes, but he didn't expect that... Liu Rengui immediately shook his head and said, "No, no matter how far-sighted he is, he couldn't have known long in advance that the Queen Mother would kill Emperor Zhongzong. This is the premise of everything. If Emperor Zhongzong doesn't die, then everything else is meaningless."

That’s right, as long as Li Xian is alive, it will be useless even if Li Xuan sends Li Chongzhao to Yangzhou.

It would be better to take Li Chongzhao to the Western Regions.

Therefore, the planning of all this may have started with the death of Wang Fulai after the death of the previous emperor at the beginning of the year.

In this way, the defeat of Emperor Zhongzong can be explained.

The biggest benefit of Crown Prince Li Chongzhao's arrival in Yangzhou and the Wei family's uprising is that the Queen Mother will not be too forceful towards Prince Peng's Mansion.

Liu Rengui couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

In Yangzhou, the Wei family's power barely accounted for a quarter; Li Xuan's power accounted for a quarter; the Yangzhou Li family, Princess Wencheng, and the royal family's power accounted for a quarter; and the last quarter was Pei Xingjian, the chief secretary of the Yangzhou Grand Commander.

The Yangzhou bureaucratic system with Pei Xingjian as the core.

Although the Empress had appointed Pei Xingjian as the Prince's Grand Tutor and the third rank official in the Secretariat, in the eyes of the people of Yangzhou, he was still the General of the Imperial Guard and the Chief Clerk of Yangzhou.

In fact, if Pei Xingjian and the Wei family started a rebellion together, then his role as the Prince's Guardian would be more legitimate.

It is even more legitimate to have the Prince's Grand Tutor lead all military affairs in Yangzhou.

At that time, all we need to do is push Li Chongzhao to the throne, and Pei Xingjian will be the Taibao, the third rank official in the Secretariat.

The crown prince, the royal guardian, the minister of the Imperial Clan Temple, and the eldest princess of the royal family.

When Li Chongzhao ascends the throne, who would dare to say that he is not orthodox? Who could say that he is not orthodox?

Especially when Li Dan's succession to the throne was not legitimate.

However, once Li Chongzhao ascended the throne, military disasters ensued.

Liu Rengui could even imagine that with Pei Xingjian's ability, even if he commanded 10,000 elite troops, the court would have to dispatch 30,000 to 50,000 people to respond.

It's even more than that. With Yangzhou's financial resources, once mobilized, 100,000 people can do it.

The Yangzhou canal hub in particular blocked the transportation of autumn grain from the south of the Yangtze River to the central region. If something went wrong, it would be fatal.

The court would have to send hundreds of thousands of people to deal with it.

One moment of carelessness can result in devastation of lives.

The person who actively manipulated and planned all this was his grandson-in-law.

When Li Xuanren was still in the Western Regions, he had already caused chaos in the world.

There is no more evil person in the world than this one.

And at that time, there was indeed such a person who was secretly called this. This person was Li Jingye.

He was even so evil that Li Ji wanted to kill him.

The Central Plains is in chaos. Once Li Xuan leads his army back, how can the central plains, which is attacked from all sides, resist?

Make a feint to the east and attack in the west, attack from both sides.

It's really a good idea!

Liu Rengui couldn't help but sigh softly, and then couldn't help but shake his head with a serious expression. He had already seen the scene of chaos in the world and devastation of all lives in the future.

But, he is the prime minister, and the left prime minister at that.

It is his duty to quell the rebellion and stabilize the world.

This means that he will stand against Li Xuan and against his own grandson-in-law.

Liu Rengui then smiled bitterly. He had discussed this issue with Li Xuan before, but the final result was Li Xuan's answer.

If the world can be at peace if one person dies, then Li Xuan can be sacrificed.

But if the sacrifice requires an entire clan, then we will decline the offer.

If Empress Wu came to power, the Longxi Li family, the Zhaojun Li family, and the Jingzhao Wei family would all be unable to escape.

No, in the future there will even be the Dou family, the Dugu family, and even the Pei family, the Beimen scholar.

The crux of the world lies with Empress Wu, not Li Xuan.

Liu Rengui sighed and shook his head slightly. He really didn't have much to do with Empress Wu.

Because now, although he is still the prime minister, he is no longer in Empress Wu's core.

He is no longer at the core of the court.

……

May 16th, early morning light.

South of Chang'an City, outside Qixia Gate.

A Taoist priest wearing a simple black Taoist robe and a hat like this appeared outside the city gate.

When entering the city, the Taoist took out the Taoist disc and handed it over, with the words "Xuan Miao" clearly written on it.

Soon, Taoist Xuan Miao easily entered Chang'an City.

However, compared to the ease of entering the city, it is extremely difficult to leave the city at this moment.

The guards at the city gate were replaced by a group of imperial guards, who conducted the most stringent screening of anyone leaving Chang'an, as if they were looking for something.

Taoist Xuan Miao smiled lightly and soon put everything behind him.

Walking calmly on Chang'an Street, he could clearly feel that the people around him were talking about what happened in Da Ci'en Temple last night.

Fire from heaven descends.

Faintly, one could still hear the words "The Emperor is Reborn" on the street corners.

Zhang Qianxu searched the four districts of Zhaoguo, Jinchang, Xiuxing and Xiuzheng all night last night, and even turned the Da Ci'en Temple upside down, but in the end he found nothing.

And that's not all.

The fighting in the East Palace last night could not be hidden from the people in the officialdom, and everyone was already in a panic.

……

Taoist Xuan Miao stopped and saw three words firmly engraved on the gate in front of him.

Pingkang Square.

(End of this chapter)