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

Chapter 1632: Granting a Sword to Kill People

May 7th, the beginning of the Mao hour.

Li Xuan opened her eyes after a deep sleep all night, and saw white light outside the window.

Li Xuan moved his body slightly, and Pei Shitong, who was lying in his arms, opened her eyes: "Husband."

Li Xuan patted Pei Shitong's shoulder and said softly, "You continue to sleep. I will take a nap before getting up."

"Hmm!" Pei Shitong responded vaguely. Just as she was about to lie down, she immediately raised her head again. She was completely awake: "My husband will change clothes and leave soon. It's wrong for Shitong to sleep any longer. Mother reminded me several times last night."

"Okay." Li Xuan smiled, then got up and started to change clothes under Pei Shitong's care.

In fact, Pei Shitong has never left Chang'an too far.

Before leaving Chang'an, Li Xuan had already made a detailed layout, with actions being taken simultaneously in Luoyang and Chang'an.

At the same time that Liu Jinyu and Pei were sent out of Luoyang, Pei Shitong and Ouyang were also sent out of Chang'an City.

In Luoyang, Li Xuan sent people to create the illusion that Liu Jinyu was heading for Chang'an. When Wu Zetian's people found out that Liu Jinyu had gone to Yangzhou to chase him, Pei took Li Guangren to Nanyang, and then returned to Chang'an via Nanyang via Hanzhong.

The same went for Pei Shitong and Ouyang. Li Xuan had people make it appear as if Pei Shitong and Ouyang were heading to the Western Regions, but in fact, Pei Shitong and Ouyang had been staying in the underground secret room of Li Xuan's Chang'an villa.

Empress Wu may never have thought that Pei Shitong and Ouyang had never left Chang'an.

As for the villa, the secret guard only checked it once, then handed it over to the Jinwu Guard for custody and left.

The Jinwu Guards were almost useless, and in the end they didn't even notice that Pei and Li Guangren were sent to the underground secret room.

Afterwards, very quickly, step by step, the several Jinwu Guards stationed there were completely controlled.

In the villa, they only stayed in the front yard and never set foot in the back yard, so Ouyang felt at ease staying in the villa.

Li Xuan's arrangement method was so magical that even Ouyang, the mother, was impressed.

……

Wearing a purple dragon robe and no armor, Li Xuan calmly walked into the ancestral temple in the backyard.

The bright yellow curtains on both sides swayed gently. Li Xuan stepped forward solemnly, lit three incense sticks, and then inserted them into the incense burner.

Looking at the three tall incense sticks emitting wisps of green smoke, Li Xuan bowed down solemnly.

Above his head, five tablets were lined up up and down, from bottom to top, namely: Pengsi Wang Yuanze, Gaozu Taiwu Emperor Yuan, Shizu Yuan Emperor Bing, Taizu Jing Emperor Hu, and Yizu Guang Emperor Tianxi.

Li Xuan knelt down three times and kowtowed nine times before he stood up. Then, Li Xuan took a step forward and took out a long black box from under the altar.

The long black box opened, and a yew wood longbow suddenly appeared in front of Li Xuan.

"Sparrow Carved Bow!" Li Xuan sighed softly and reached out to gently stroke the artifact.

This sparrow-carved bow was made by Li Xuan's grandfather, Emperor Gaozu Li Yuan, who had ordered it to imitate the longbows he used on the battlefield.

Each king was given one to be passed down among the kings.

Emperor Taizong Li Shimin and Prince of Qi Li Yuanji were the few people who used this thing, but others like the Prince of Han and the Prince of Huo had never used it.

The sword in Li Xuan's hand was left by his father, King Pengsi Li Yuanze.

If King Han Li Yuanjia hadn't told him, Li Xuan wouldn't even know that there was such a thing at home.

Li Xuan has never used this thing in front of outsiders.

In the entire Pengwang Mansion, perhaps Li Xuan is the only one who knows about the existence of this thing.

Li Xuan never told Liu Jinyu, and he suspected that Li Yuanze had never told Ouyang either.

So every time Li Xuan came back, he would carefully wipe the bow by himself and then take good care of it to ensure that it was safe for him to use.

Today, Li Xuan took it out.

From now on, this sparrow carving bow will really come in handy.

……

At the west gate of Chang'an, two hundred Jinwu guards escorted Li Xuan slowly towards the Jinguan Gate.

Today, the main force of 40,000 troops set out towards Hangu Pass. At the same time, Li Xuan left Chang'an City and headed for Qianling Mausoleum to pay tribute to Li Zhi.

It’s a bit funny to say that Li Xuan wanted to attack Luoyang, but the person in charge of Luoyang happened to be Li Zhi’s queen, Wu.

Before sending troops, Li Xuan went to Qianling Mausoleum to pay homage and inform Li Zhi. How ridiculous.

But all the officials in the court were extremely in favor of it, because in this way, Li Xuan's military campaign would be more legitimate.

Liu Rengui, Lu Yuanfang, Yuan Jiazuo, Cui Zhiwen, Li Yiyan, Yun Hongyin, He Yiqiu, Wei Shishi, Wei Hongji, Wei Juyuan and others all came to see him off.

But at this moment, the person walking side by side with Li Xuan and leaving Chang'an City together was Yuan Jiazuo, the chief officer of Yongzhou.

After leaving the city, Li Xuan pointed to the Wei River in the distance and said, "The Wei River comes from Tianshui and runs through the entire Guanzhong Plain. However, to this day, the irrigation of the Guanzhong Plain by the Wei River is still not ideal.

I remember that Prince Yong once proposed to the late emperor to use water wheels on the Wei River for irrigation and water power, but the late emperor later rejected the idea because the water flow of the Wei River was insufficient.

"Your Highness is planning to set up water carts for transportation on both sides of the Wei River. This will cost a lot." Yuan Jiazuo did not understand Li Xuan's plan for a moment.

Li Xuan shook his head slightly and said calmly, "We will not do transportation, but use water trucks to speed up irrigation, and try to make the Guanzhong Plain have a bumper harvest this year. A bumper harvest means cheap grain, and the Ministry of Revenue can take advantage of the situation to buy it, and increase the price of grain, so that the people will be rich. Although the court is short of grain, it is not short of money. In this way, the people will benefit, the court will benefit, and the whole world will benefit."

"But in this case, Wei River transportation..." Yuan Jiazuo suddenly stopped talking in the middle of his words. He already understood something.

Li Xuan smiled and said, "The transportation of the Wei River ends at Hangu Pass, but the matter of the Wei River flowing into the Yellow River and then turning into the Luo River has nothing to do with us."

Two words suddenly exploded in Yuan Jiazuo's mind.

Water attack.

Li Xuan’s best skill is water attack.

Wang Xiaojie died because of Li Xuan's water attack.

Now, Li Xuan has started to write about the Wei River.

It is obvious that he would use the Wei River to attack the Qiaohan Pass in Luoyang.

"Go ahead and do it." Li Xuan looked up at Yuan Jiazuo and said, "It is not our turn to take care of Luoyang's affairs right now, and even if we have to, it is not difficult.

The great flood a few years ago is over, isn't it? In the end, it was nothing more than compensation. If we take Luoyang, the whole country will be connected, and we can provide any compensation we want."

"Yes!" Yuan Jiazuo understood Li Xuan's meaning. Let's take Luoyang first. There is enough food in Luokou warehouse.

Li Xuan looked at the people who came to see him off, and said meaningfully: "The Chief Secretary needs to put more effort into Chang'an's affairs. There is no need to show mercy to those who are plotting rebellion."

As he spoke, Li Xuan untied the black sheathed long sword from his waist and threw it to Yuan Jiazuo, saying at the same time: "With this sword, the Chief Secretary can mobilize all the military guards inside and outside Chang'an City. Anyone who threatens the stability of Chang'an can be killed by the Chief Secretary."

Yuan Jiazuo hugged Li Xuan's black-sheathed long sword, and after listening to Li Xuan's words, he was immediately surprised and said, "Will the prince not return to Chang'an in the short term?"

"I will never return to Chang'an until Luoyang is conquered." After Li Xuan said this, he jumped on his horse and headed straight for Qianling Mausoleum without saying goodbye to anyone.

The others looked at Li Xuan in surprise, and then saw the black-sheathed sword in Yuan Jiazuo's hand, and were immediately surprised and unbelievable.

Only Liu Rengui seemed to understand something vaguely when he saw the sword.

……

The northern peak of Liangshan Mountain and the Xuan Palace of Qianling Mausoleum.

The weather is gloomy and there seems to be a sign of heavy rain.

Li Xuan knelt before Li Zhi's spirit tablet with a gloomy face. Witnessed by the spirit officer of Qianling Mausoleum of Zongzheng Temple, he knelt three times and kowtowed nine times to Li Zhi's spirit tablet.

Bowing to the ground, Li Xuan gently closed his eyes.

A trace of pity flashed across his eyes for a moment.

No, it’s just pity for Li Zhi.

He checked the records in the court and found that after Empress Wu went to Luoyang, no one came to Qianling to offer sacrifices to Li Zhi.

Not to mention Empress Wu.

Li Xuan still remembered that when Li Zhi was alive, the kings would offer sacrifices to Xianling and Zhaoling before the Lunar New Year, and the emperor would preside over the sacrifices after the Lunar New Year. That was the time when people's hearts were won over.

From now on, I will be the one to offer sacrifices.

After taking a deep breath, Li Xuan slowly stood up.

After paying a solemn salute to the spiritual official, Li Xuan turned around and left Qianling Mausoleum.

After a long time, a carrier pigeon flew up from Qianling Mausoleum and quickly headed towards Luoyang.

However, as soon as the carrier pigeon flew out of Liangshan, more than a dozen archers jumped into the air and shot the carrier pigeon to death with one arrow.

Li Xuan stood at the foot of the mountain on horseback and glanced at Zhou Qian sideways.

Zhou Qian nodded, then immediately led a team of cavalry back to Liangshan.

Li Xuan turned his horse again and headed towards Chang'an.

Hundreds of cavalrymen followed closely behind Li Xuan, but this time, Li Xuan did not return to Chang'an. Instead, he directly crossed the city of Chang'an and headed further east.

An hour later, a cavalry of more than 10,000 people appeared in front.

When Li Xuan returned to the camp, the army immediately became full of vigor.

During the few days that Li Xuan was in Chang'an, the most important thing he did was to sort out the generals and soldiers under his command.

Many generals who had made contributions in the various wars were quickly promoted, while those who were incompetent were quickly transferred to the Left and Right Garrison Guards, or even to Yongzhou Prefecture.

That’s right, Li Xuan intended to designate Yongzhou Prefecture as Jingzhao Prefecture.

Although the two counties of Chang'an and Wannian made it convenient for the emperor to control the city of Chang'an, people's hearts would change when the emperor was away.

The two counties of Chang'an and Wannian will not only be unable to control the situation, but will even become tools used by others.

It was actually a bit too much for Li Xuan to directly intervene in the two counties of Chang'an and Wannian. However, if he intervened in Yongzhou Prefecture and allowed Yongzhou Prefecture to have real power, he would be able to completely control Chang'an.

For three days, Li Xuan sneered in his heart.

Wei Juyuan couldn't help but ask Li Xuan in the court when he would go to Luoyang, and Li Xuan directly gave him a deadline of three days.

In three days, Li Xuan had only just begun to sort out Chang'an City.

Three days later, Li Xuan led his troops to Luoyang without any hesitation.

Now is not the time for him to make Chang'an the one who has the final say, nor is it the time for him to let Chang'an drag him down.

With Li Bi as the Vice Minister of War, Li Xuan can ensure that the military does not get out of control. As for the rest of the affairs in Chang'an City, there are Liu Rengui, Lu Yuanfang and Cui Zhiwen above him, and Shangshu Youcheng Wang Yinke and Zuosi Langzhong Liu Yuanlang below him, and Yuan Jiazuo in the middle, so the overall situation will not be in chaos.

Li Xuan wanted to see how far the Wei family could go.

At this moment, the news of the fall of Yangzhou was blocked by Li Xuan. The Wei family would try their best to help Li Xuan, but once the news of the fall of Yangzhou reached Chang'an, the Wei family would stop and even start preparing to make some small moves.

Especially what happened in Luoyang at the end.

Empress Wei and Prince Ping'en Li Chongfu are both in Luoyang, in the imperial palace. If anything happens to them in the future.

The Wei family will have nothing left.

……

Forty thousand troops arrived at Tongguan one after another. After replacing half of the guards, Li Xuan led the rest of the troops directly to Hangu Pass.

At the foot of Hangu Pass, Wang Fangyi was already waiting outside the city.

Li Xuan calmly dismounted, looking past Hangu Pass and outside it, and asked, "Uncle, who is leading the army on the other side now?"

"Right Guard General Cao Renshi once followed Duke Jiang to attack the Turks. Somehow, he was promoted from Right Guard General to Right Guard General." Wang Fangyi looked towards the east, then shook his head and said, "But on the other side, the commander-in-chief is not him either. The commander-in-chief is Yang Zaisi, the Minister of War, and his deputy commanders are Yang Zhirou, the Junior Secretary of the Imperial Guards, and Lou Shide, the Doctor of the Ministry of Justice."

"Lou Shide." Li Xuan's expression suddenly became serious.

He was not familiar with Cao Renshi, but he was very familiar with Yang Zaisi, Yang Zhirou and Lou Shide.

If we were to ask who among these four people posed the greatest threat to him, it would undoubtedly be Lou Shide.

Trouble.

(End of this chapter)