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

Chapter 1714: Qin and Jin's friendship, swordplay

Daming Palace, Taiye Pool.

The pavilions and corridors are winding and the pool surface is flat and wide.

Li Xuan, wearing a purple robe, and Liu Jinyu, wearing a light pink skirt, holding Xia'er's hand, strolled leisurely by the Taiye Lake to relax.

On the side, the Penglai Palace is solemn and dignified.

The Purple Palace appears and disappears among the shade of trees.

Li Xuan glanced at him lightly, feeling overwhelmed for a moment.

Daming Palace was the place where Empress Wu and Li Zhi avoided the chaos of Taiji Palace and used to better rule the world.

But since Li Zhi's death, Empress Wu never came back.

Later, when they learned that Li Zhi's death was related to Empress Wu, the ministers understood why she didn't want to come here.

Originally, the Daming Palace had been closed. People would only pass by here occasionally when it was inconvenient to enter or exit the Chang'an city gate, but they would leave quickly.

"How did the Queen Mother come up with the idea of ​​bringing all the officials and ladies to the Daming Palace for a banquet on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month?" Liu Jinyu was a little curious.

Li Xuan pulled Xia'er a little and said casually, "Perhaps she wants to show that she is the current owner of this Daming Palace."

Li Xuan subconsciously glanced at Penglai Pavilion again and whispered to himself: There is another reason, there are few people here.

Liu Jinyu's expression was slightly solemn: "After Concubine Zheng became the Queen Mother, her style of doing things gradually became apparent. Although she is not as good as the Queen Mother, she is undoubtedly a qualified harem master."

"No matter who has experienced what happened in Luoyang, they will always grow." Li Xuan sighed softly. Who could have thought that Empress Wu could kill so many people in one breath.

Liu Jinyu nodded silently. No one wanted to recall the bloody massacre committed by Empress Wu in Luoyang.

"How's the situation with Wuzhao going?" Liu Jinyu glanced into the distance and saw Cui Zhiwen appearing under the pavilion in the distance.

"The investigation has already begun." Li Xuan's gaze returned, and he whispered, "The three families of Cui, Lu, and Zheng will mobilize a lot of manpower inside and outside this time. This time they will find evidence and eliminate all those involved. It also happens that the imperial examination is about to begin, so there will be room for them."

The three families of Cui, Lu and Zheng tried to use this incident to completely drag Li Xuan into the quagmire of war. Once Tang Zhenxing was defeated, Li Xuan would inevitably be attacked. By then, the imperial examination fraud would break out and Li Xuan's foundation in the court would be shaken, and they would immediately take Li Xuan's life.

But unfortunately, Li Xuan saw all of this very clearly.

Or rather, he knew too much about war.

The Five Zhaos had many internal conflicts, and it was not easy to unite, but in the end they massacred the city.

Don’t they know what kind of wrath this will bring upon the Tang Dynasty?

So, these poor guys were taken advantage of after being lured by someone.

After the massacre, even they themselves were in a panic.

If Li Xuan really disregarded everything and transferred Tang Zhenxing south in a very short time, not only would it be a long journey, but the situation would be unclear and it would be easy for him to be stabbed in the back and then defeated.

If you calculate the time, it is exactly mid-March, when the imperial examination results are announced.

But unfortunately, Li Xuan walked very steadily step by step. Not only did Tang Zhenxing move slowly, but he also threatened to block the Jinsha River, Nu River, and Canglan River. I'm afraid that before Tang Zhenxing could kill him, they would fall into internal turmoil among themselves.

By then, it will be just the right time to pull out all the dark forces and then place the new batch of scholars for the imperial examination.

"Where is Chang'an?" Liu Jinyu looked forward and saw the beautiful Shangguan Wan'er walking towards him.

"It's still under control, but I don't know where they will transfer troops from?" Li Xuan's voice was very soft, and Liu Jinyu's expression suddenly became solemn.

In the final analysis, everything still has to be solved by military force. The three families of Cui, Lu and Zheng are very weak in this regard. Especially after Zheng Xuanguo's death, Empress Wu eliminated all the forces of the Zheng family in the army.

The only person who could be mobilized was Zheng Xuankai, who once served as Sima under Xue Rengui.

Now Xue Na is serving as the Right Jinwu Guard in Chang'an. If Zheng Xuankai wants to use this relationship to call upon Xue Na's Right Jinwu Guard...

Li Xuan suddenly sneered in his heart.

"Prince, Princess, Princess, the Queen Mother invites you." Shangguan Wan'er stood in front of Li Xuan and bowed slightly.

Li Xuan and Liu Jinyu looked at each other. Sure enough, today's events were not that simple.

……

"May the Empress Dowager be blessed with good health." Li Xuan and Liu Jinyu bowed to Zheng at the same time.

"Uncle Wang and Aunt Wang, please stand up!" Zheng nodded gently, but for some reason, a trace of anger flashed in her eyes, but she quickly restrained it and looked to the side. Zheng said, "This is my uncle and aunt. Uncle Wang and Aunt Wang have never seen them."

Li Xuan and Liu Jinyu turned slightly and nodded in greeting.

Because Zheng became the empress dowager, many people in the Zheng family received rewards, but only two people received the most important rewards: Zheng's father Zheng Xuankai and Zheng's mother Ma.

Even if others have received some rewards, they are still not as good as Mr. and Mrs. Li Xuan.

but……

There were only three people standing by the side, Zheng's uncle Zheng Xuanxing, Zheng's aunt Ran, and a 28-year-old, beautiful young girl named Zheng Shiwu Niang.

Li Xuan and Liu Jinyu looked at each other secretly, a trace of confusion flashed in their eyes. What were they doing?
"Fifteenth Niang, greetings to Prince Peng and Princess Peng." Zheng looked at Zheng Fifteenth Niang indifferently.

"Greetings, His Majesty and Princess." Zheng Shiwu Niang was a little nervous, but she still bowed very formally without any mistakes.

Li Xuan and Liu Jinyu nodded slightly, and a thought flashed through their minds: Is this asking them to help with matchmaking?
"Fifteenth Lady was engaged to Yang's son earlier, but her fiancé disappeared in the battle of Luoyang." Zheng said with a hint of sneer, "Yang built a cenotaph a while ago, so the marriage was naturally over. My uncle and aunt originally wanted to send Fifteenth Lady to the palace to accompany me, but... I think she still has a future, and she doesn't need to accompany a widow like me in the palace, so I think it's better to let her go to the princess' place to be a maid."

Li Xuan and Liu Jinyu were completely stunned. What kind of tutoring maid? How could the legitimate daughter of the Zheng family be Xia'er's tutoring maid?
This, I am afraid that she will marry into the Pengwang Mansion? Zheng raised her head and looked at Cui Zhiwen behind the pillars in the distance, and said, "This is also what Prime Minister Cui meant."

Li Xuan turned sideways and looked at Zheng Shiwu Niang, with a hint of absurdity in his eyes.

He turned around and looked at Zheng, and said seriously: "Queen Dowager, if a few years pass and I am a few years older, I may receive your grace, but now..."

"Indeed, being a maid is not suitable." Zheng suddenly relaxed, nodded, and said with a smile: "Just go to Uncle Wang's house and be a sixth-rank maid. Let's settle it like this. In the future, Shiwu Niang can visit the emperor more often in the palace."

"Yes!" Liu Jinyu suddenly spoke up and said to Zheng: "I obey your orders."

……

The carriage swayed slowly towards Kaihuafang.

Liu Jinyu hugged Xia'er and whispered, "Are they going to take action?"

Li Xuan closed his eyes slightly, thought for a moment, and said in a cold voice: "Yes, they want to take this opportunity to insert people into the palace, and at the critical moment, they will join forces inside and outside to break through directly... Good tricks, this should be Prime Minister Cui's trick."

"It may not be a critical moment, maybe it's the wedding day." Liu Jinyu looked up at Li Xuan, snorted coldly, and said, "Fourth Lady is also a sixth-rank Teng person. When my husband married her, he also married her with great fanfare. Today, the Queen Mother did not send anyone back with her, just to make my husband marry her. The day set for the wedding may very well be the day of action."

Li Xuan closed her eyes again, with no expression on her face, and said calmly: "Ask someone to contact the wedding. If the wedding date can be set before the eighth day of the second lunar month, then this is the Zheng family trying to make peace, pretending to reconcile, confusing us, and then taking action later. But if it is after the eighth day of the second lunar month, then they will take action on the wedding day."

"Those are Zheng's private soldiers." Liu Jinyu's expression became serious.

It was impossible for the Zheng family to mobilize troops in Chang'an. Li Xuan didn't know how many eyes were staring at every corner of Chang'an.

But if Zheng family’s private troops were to be mobilized from Xingyang, that would be another matter.

During the wedding, the Zheng family could take the opportunity to enter Prince Peng’s mansion, and on that day, they would capture all the guests entering the mansion.

"On that day, the one who enters the palace must be the general your husband trusts the most. Even if one of them is killed or injured, it will be a huge blow to your husband. If we can wipe them out at once, with the power of the three families of Cui, Lu and Zheng, plus the name of the empress dowager, and if we can also mobilize Xue Na, we will have no problem controlling the situation." Liu Jinyu looked at Li Xuan with a serious expression.

"It's not that simple." Li Xuan waved her hand and said, "Even if he killed my husband, what about the revenge of the royal family? The emperor is young and has no prestige. He can't stand the name of clearing the court. So if the royal family leads the army back to fight, what will they do?"

"Unless there is someone in the royal family who joins forces with the Cui family?" Liu Jinyu frowned immediately. This reason sounds reasonable, but it is difficult to implement in practice.

Almost all the clan members are now supporting Li Xuan. Even if one or two people are dissatisfied, it is difficult to resist the power of the entire clan. Therefore, unless more than half of the clan members...

"It's King Shu." Li Xuan clenched his fists lightly in an instant.

"Prince Shu, the son of Emperor Gaozu's concubine Yang?" Liu Jinyu looked up at Li Xuan and asked in a low voice, "Before he was Prince Jiang, now he is Prince Shu. Is the Hongnong Yang family so hard on their husband?"

"This has nothing to do with the Yang family. It's an internal matter of the royal family. It also involves an event from the early years..." Li Xuan shook his head slightly and said, "You know, when Emperor Xiaojing passed away, I came straight from Nanchang to Luoyang. In addition to the fact that Prince Jiang's fiefdom was in Jiangzhou, there was another reason. The governor of Jiangzhou at that time was Prince Yuzhang Li Tan, the eldest son of Prince Shu."

Prince of Yuzhang, Prince of Nanchang.

Liu Jinyu immediately understood the entanglement involved.

Yuzhang and Nanchang are actually the same place, and there should be only one prince in one place.

But there was already Li Xuan, the Prince of Nanchang, but there was also Li Tan, the Prince of Yuzhang...

No, it should be Li Dan who became Prince of Yuzhang first, and then Li Xuan who became Prince of Nanchang. After all, Li Dan was much older than Li Xuan.

"Isn't Prince Shu going to be transferred to be the governor of Suzhou?" Liu Jinyu suddenly thought of what happened before.

Li Xuan shook his head slightly and said, "Yes, maybe they didn't necessarily contact Prince Shu. Maybe they contacted Prince Wuyang, the second son of Prince Jiang, and Prince Wuyang contacted Prince Yuzhang. But Prince Shu should not know about it. After all, he still knows the overall situation of the royal family."

"Doesn't that mean that Prince Wuyang deceived the Pei family, but the Pei family believed it?" Liu Jinyu's eyes widened in disbelief.

Li Xuan shook his head again and said, "If it succeeds, then anything is fine. If it fails, will King Shu know nothing?"

"What are your plans, husband?" Liu Jinyu looked at Li Xuan and asked in a low voice.

Li Xuan shook his head slightly and said, "We must eliminate all hidden dangers, Prince Shu cannot intervene, and do something in Suzhou to attract Prince Shu's attention.

As for the King of Wuyang, since he dares to be absent from his post, then just kill him; and as for Xue Na, they cannot interfere either."

"Okay!" Liu Jinyu nodded solemnly.

"From now on, let's deploy troops in Kaihuafang." Li Xuan raised his head, looked outside the curtain, and said softly: "The war is about to start, so we must prepare in all aspects, and no accidents can happen."

"Yeah!" Liu Jinyu leaned gently in Li Xuan's arms.

The three families of Cui, Lu and Zheng, and King Shu, may be the last hurdle they have to overcome.

Before we knew it, the carriage had stopped.

As soon as Li Xuan got off his horse, he saw Zhang Jianzhi standing in front of the mansion gate.

Li Xuan waved to him, and Zhang Jianzhi stepped forward solemnly, bowed and said, "Your Highness, the case of the Wei family has been closed."

"Yes!" Li Xuan nodded slightly and said, "Let Jianzhi go to Luoyang. The Imperial Censor Wei Fangzhi is in Luoyang. Let's bring him back quietly."

"Yes!" Zhang Jianzhi bowed solemnly.

……

In late January, the wind softened.

Lu Xiangxian, dressed in blue silk, had just left the Imperial College and got into the carriage. He immediately said solemnly, "Go to Prince Peng's Mansion immediately."

(End of this chapter)