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

Chapter 1719: Confiscating the House and Killing People, Acting Cheaply
The noisy courtyard became completely deserted in an instant.

Li Xuan, dressed in a bright red groom's suit, walked forward step by step, stood in front of the many guests, and then stared at Cui Zhiwen with suppressed anger.

First marry the daughter, then kill the person.

The methods used by aristocratic families are always so disgusting.

Li Xuan's angry and cold eyes fell on Cui Zhiwen's eyes, and his heart suddenly felt a chill. He immediately understood that Li Xuan had at least seen through today's matter.

But Cui Zhiwen quickly calmed down, now he had no way out.

Not to mention that he let Zheng Xuankai imprison the empress dowager and snatch the emperor's command arrow and tiger talisman, the fact that he secretly transferred 3,000 soldiers into Chang'an was enough to get him and his entire family executed.

He has completely reached the point where there is no turning back.

Cui Zhiwen clenched the imperial edict in his hand, stared at Li Xuan and said, "Prince Peng, are you going to accept the edict or not?"

"No." Li Xuan stared at Cui Zhiwen without giving in, then raised his head and said, "The Queen Mother has the right to manage the affairs of the harem and the female relatives, but since the matter involves the previous dynasty, it must have the seal of the Ministry of Personnel. Without the seal of the Ministry of Personnel, this is a false edict, and the person holding it is a forgery of the edict."

At the word "falsified edict", Cui Zhiwen's breathing suddenly became heavy.

After all, whether it is the empress dowager or the emperor, they are still puppets.

The emperor was young, and the nine prime ministers in the Council of State exercised the emperor's power.

The empress dowager had certain powers; when she wanted to reward something or summon someone, she only had to ask the eunuchs to convey the empress dowager's oral instructions.

As for other titles and official positions that require money from the Ministry of Revenue, they require an imperial edict from the Menxia Province.

Generally speaking, the prime minister of the Menxia Province would not object. If it was not important, it would be passed after a brief discussion.

After all, it was just the prime ministers giving the empress dowager this face, not that the empress dowager really possessed the power.

"How do you know that this edict does not have the seal of the Menxia Province?" Cui Zhiwen looked at Li Xuan coldly.

"No." Li Xuan looked at Cui Zhiwen calmly and said lightly: "When I was on duty today, the Queen Mother did not issue any imperial edicts from the harem. After I was off duty, Prime Minister Liu returned home, Minister Ouyang was in my backyard, and Prime Minister Cen went out to drink with his friends. They were not in the Ministry of Personnel. Who stamped Prime Minister Cui's seal? It couldn't be Prime Minister Cui himself, right?"

Li Xuan's words made everyone in the yard couldn't help but laugh softly.

It is not impossible for Cui Zhiwen to stamp his own seal. After all, he has been a disciple for so many years...

Everyone immediately realized that Cui Zhiwen had indeed been in the Ministry of Personnel for many years, but he was now the Minister of the Central Secretariat.

If the Minister of the Secretariat went back to the Ministry of Personnel to stamp the seal without permission, wouldn't that mean that he wanted to take charge of the Secretariat alone?

He wants to be the sole prime minister.

Many people's expressions changed slightly, and their eyes looking at Cui Zhiwen showed something very clear.

In this way, everything that happened when Cui Zhiwen came to Prince Peng’s mansion tonight can be explained.

With Prince Peng in the government hall, no one can hope to become the sole prime minister.

Therefore, in order to become the sole prime minister, he must first eliminate King Peng.

"Doesn't Prince Peng want to know what was written in the Queen Mother's imperial edict that made me come so directly?" Cui Zhiwen stared at Li Xuan. Seeing that Li Xuan was about to speak, he interrupted him directly: "Right now, four hundred scholars are blocking the Suzaku Gate, demanding that the court thoroughly investigate this imperial examination fraud case."

When hearing the words "imperial examination fraud", many people in the courtyard were stunned.

Due to the imperial examination fraud case, four hundred scholars blocked the Suzaku Gate.

Such a big thing, why didn't anyone tell us before?
Many eyes fell directly on Li Xuan.

Cui Zhiwen stared at Li Xuan and said through gritted teeth: "Someone leaked the test questions in this imperial examination, and this person is King Peng... King Peng, do you accept the order now?"

Cui Zhiwen's crazy shout stunned many people in the courtyard.

Li Xuan looked at Cui Zhiwen calmly and said softly, "No!"

"Someone come!" Cui Zhiwen put the imperial edict back into his sleeve with one hand, and at the same time grabbed the emperor's command arrow and tiger talisman, and shouted to the civil and military officials in the courtyard: "According to the order of the Queen Mother, Prince Peng leaked the test questions privately, and he must be summoned to the palace immediately. Anyone who obstructs or hesitates will be charged with treason and beheaded immediately. Kill!"

The golden command arrow and tiger talisman suddenly moved forward, pointing directly at Li Xuan.

The four Jinwu Guards rushed forward at the same time, pounced fiercely at Li Xuan who was almost in front of them, and laughed ferociously in the air with the swords in their hands.

At the same time, in the shadows on both sides, many private soldiers disguised as servants suddenly drew swords from under the tables.

Even the guests turned against each other in an instant, drew their swords, and had hideous grins on their faces.

There were flashes of swords and sabers, and it seemed as if in an instant, all you could see were enemies.

At this moment, Li Xuan, who was standing opposite in a red groom's suit, looked up indifferently.

"Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!" More than a dozen crossbow arrows shot out from the left and right sides at the same time in the air.

In an instant, the four Jinwu Guards who were rushing towards Li Xuan were shot into hedgehogs.

Further back, under the eaves and behind the pillars, more people stuck their heads out and frantically fired crossbows at Zheng's private soldiers who were holding swords in the yard.

Just as Zheng's private soldiers were frantically trying to block the crossbow arrows, their companions, or who they thought were their companions, suddenly turned around and stabbed the long knives in their hands directly into their chests.

It was only then that they discovered that these people all had a red rope tied around their left arms.

Blood-red eyes.

……

Standing at the gate of the courtyard, Cui Zhiwen watched everything calmly. If Prince Peng's Mansion had no resistance at all, it would not be theirs.

Cui Zhiwen waved his right hand gently: "Kill!"

The next moment, more Jinwu Guards rushed in, some even holding crossbows in their hands.

Li Xuan also raised her head calmly and her eyes met Cui Zhiwen's.

The indifference in Li Xuan's eyes, at this moment, completely and brutally rushed into Cui Zhiwen's mind.

With a loud bang, the doors of the houses on both sides and the courtyard at the back opened instantly. The next moment, countless black-armored soldiers rushed out of the houses and launched a frenzied massacre against the Jinwu Guards and Zheng's private soldiers who had rushed into the courtyard.

Cui Zhiwen was so fast that he didn't have time to react at all. His right hand stopped in mid-air, still waving gently. At this moment, the Jinwu Guards who rushed into the yard from behind him suddenly stopped, and suddenly no one came in to kill him anymore.

The sounds of fighting and screams continued to ring in my ears, but the familiar footsteps suddenly stopped.

Cui Zhiwen was stunned for a moment, then suddenly shuddered. The next moment, he turned around and looked outside the door behind him. No one followed the Jinwu Guards in.

Everyone outside the door stopped, even except for Cui Zhiwen who brought out his confidants, no one outside the courtyard entered Prince Peng's mansion.

Before, Cui Zhiwen had his own confidants behind him, so he didn't pay attention to what was behind. But now, after all his confidants rushed into Prince Peng's mansion, everything outside the mansion was clearly displayed in front of him.

……

"Choi Shenji!" Choi Ji-wen suddenly roared angrily, looked outside the door, and his face was full of gritted teeth.

The reason why Cui Zhiwen dared to take the risk today was because he had the three thousand elite soldiers brought by Cui Shenji from Daizhou.

Naturally, it was a pipe dream for these 3,000 elite soldiers to attack and control Chang'an, but it was possible to use these 3,000 elite soldiers to attack Prince Peng's mansion and control Kaihuafang.

Li Xuan did control the vast majority of the military forces in Chang'an City, but in Kaihuafang, in the Pengwang Mansion, Cui Zhiwen was able to, no, had already completely surrounded it with three thousand elite troops.

Cui Zhiwen was not surprised that Prince Peng's mansion had made some preparations. After all, he had revealed some clues before. Although the troops in front of him were a bit too many, they definitely could not stop three thousand elite soldiers.

but……

Cui Zhiwen stared outside the door with rapid breathing, and the hand holding the golden arrow tiger talisman wished he could stab it directly into someone's heart.

As he was staring, a general in red clothes and golden armor appeared at the door. He bowed to Cui Zhiwen with a guilty look on his face, but did not speak.

"Why, why?" Cui Zhiwen gnashed his teeth and stared at Cui Shenji, asking angrily, "As long as we succeed, my family will be able to become the number one family in the Tang Dynasty. Why do you want to betray the family?"

"Don't blame him." Li Xuan's calm voice came from behind Cui Zhiwen.

Cui Zhiwen turned around stiffly. The fighting in the courtyard in front of him had stopped.

Only deeper down, there were still some remnants of fighting.

The loneliness and coldness make people numb.

Li Xuan calmly walked to Cui Zhiwen, looked at the white-haired old man, and said lightly: "The three thousand elite soldiers under his command have been discovered since he set out from Daizhou. Although the Earl of Yancheng has just arrived in Bingzhou, the Duke of Hejian has sent many people before him, not to mention the Wang family of Taiyuan, especially you are moving the troops of the Duke of Pingyang."

Xue Rengui, Duke of Pingyang, died early and his son Xue Na inherited the title. Although he did not support Empress Wu's rebellion, he did not help Li Xuan either, so Li Xuan was very wary of him.

Especially now he is involved with Princess Taiping.

He couldn't move the soldiers in Chang'an, so the only ones he could move were the soldiers in Daizhou.

"And..." Li Xuan raised his head and waved his right hand gently. The next moment, with a "whoosh", countless figures stood up from the courtyard wall outside Prince Peng's Mansion. There were even more almost endless footsteps coming from the depths of Kaihuafang.

In a very short period of time, the entire Pengwang Mansion and the entire Kaihuafang were completely surrounded.

Li Xuan calmly shook his head and said, "Prime Minister Cui may not have held Chang'an City for many years. Doesn't he know that the Watchtower Guards will pay special attention to any cavalry of more than ten people, let alone thousands of people?"

"But I am with the Jinwu Guards." Cui Zhiwen looked up at Li Xuan with unwillingness in his eyes.

“Indeed, in the past, as they were all under the command of the Jinwu Guards, the Watchtower Guards would not interfere. But now, I have changed the rules. Whenever there are more than ten cavalrymen in Chang'an City, the Central Watchtower will keep a close eye on them. If there are more than thirty cavalrymen, the news will be immediately passed to the general of the Jinwu Guards. If there are more than a hundred cavalrymen, the news will be immediately passed to me. Although the rules for the infantrymen are relaxed, but…” Li Xuan tilted his head slightly and stared at Cui Zhiwen.

Everything in Chang'an City was under his control. He would not allow any chaos to happen.

Cui Zhiwen understood immediately and sighed in his heart that he had chosen the wrong place. But Cui Zhiwen immediately looked up and looked at Li Xuan and asked, "About the imperial examination..."

"The matter of the imperial examination still needs to be explained clearly to all officials by Prime Minister Cui." Li Xuan looked sideways and said in a deep voice, "Come here, send a message to all officials above the fifth rank in the court to go to the Suzaku Gate immediately to take a look at the four hundred scholars who knocked on the gate."

Cui Zhiwen's expression couldn't help but change slightly.

"Let's go, Cui Xiang." Li Xuan's eyes fell on Cui Shenji outside the door, and he said softly: "Although Cui Xiang is confused, his nephews are still good."

Cui Zhiwen immediately fell silent.

Li Xuan ignored him and strode towards the door, still wearing the red groom's suit.

At this time, it looks particularly dazzling.

……

Li Xuan led a large group of people towards the palace, but many people still stayed in Prince Peng's mansion.

Zhou Qian, Li Mo, Cui Ding, and Li Yan all stood solemnly in the hall.

Liu Jinyu, dressed in a black and red skirt, walked into the main hall from the side door.

Everyone immediately bowed and said, "Princess."

Liu Jinyu sat on the table, put a black list on the table, and said calmly: "From now on, surround the houses of the people on this list and control all the people in their families. In addition, send people to their hometowns to count and confiscate all their land and property. If the local officials do not cooperate, they will be dismissed or beheaded. It is up to you to do it."

"Yes!" Zhou Qian, Li Mo, Cui Ding and Li Yan all bowed.

Liu Jinyu nodded, looked at the darkness outside the mansion, and said softly: "Also, send someone to keep an eye on Princess Taiping's mansion."

"Here!"

……

In Ganlu Palace, Li Xuan stood at the bottom of the golden steps and bowed deeply to Zheng, who was sitting on the imperial bed in a plain green skirt and silently shedding tears.

Zheng Xuankai fell to his knees, his face pale.

Li Xuan stood up and saluted, saying, "Queen Dowager, according to the law, the Duke of Xingyang County stole the Emperor's order arrow and tiger seal, and he should be beheaded for treason, and his three clans should be implicated!"

Zheng immediately looked up, her face full of shock, and looked at Li Xuan pleadingly.

(End of this chapter)