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

Chapter 1733: Xinluo has a letter: Letting Li Chongzhao return to the court
In the government hall, Li Xuan looked at the secret report of the Qianniu Guards in front of him and shook his head, saying, "This is impossible. Taiping cannot be alive. On that day, at least thousands of people watched Taiping retreat into the Taiji Hall. Then a fire broke out in the Taiji Hall, burning down the entire hall. There were also 68 bodies in the hall, not one less."

Lu Yuanfang looked at Li Dazhi who was standing on the side and said, "Then why did the Right Thousand Bull Guard find Princess Taiping's whereabouts again in Zhengzhou?"

"We didn't find out the whereabouts of Princess Taiping, but we found out that someone was acting in the name of the princess." Li Xuan glanced at Li Dazhi, then looked at Lu Yuanfang, Ouyang Tong, Yao Lingzhang and Wang Jishan, and said confidently: "No one has seen the princess appear, and no one will see Princess Taiping directly, because the princess's remains are placed in Qianqiu Palace."

"Someone has already checked it." Ouyang Tong spoke, slightly suppressing Li Xuan's anger, and then said: "If, if if Princess Taiping is not dead, what do you think is the possibility?"

"How could she not be dead? The Taiji Hall is so small. Unless she can fly, otherwise..." Li Xuan suddenly paused. A hint of doubt flashed across his eyes and his brows furrowed.

"What's going on?" Ouyang Tong asked closely.

Li Xuan hesitated for a moment, took a deep breath, looked at the ministers and said, "A few years ago, Xuan once investigated the case of the Tianyin Sect. The Tianyin Sect was best at using secret passages, and some of the secret passages led directly to the palace... But those secret passages were completely cut off when the Tang Dynasty was founded. But if there are still secret passages in the palace..."

As he spoke, Li Xuan's face became uglier.

Turning around, Li Xuan said directly: "Ask the Minister of the Imperial Household Wei Hongji to come to the Political Affairs Hall immediately."

"Yes!" Outside the door, Li Lang bowed and responded, then quickly turned around and left.

"What about the Zhenguan Hall and Taiji Hall?" Lu Yuanfang looked at Li Xuan with some uncertainty.

Li Xuan nodded and said, "That's right. The Zhenguan Hall was demolished and rebuilt because it was unlucky. The Taiji Hall was demolished and rebuilt because it was burned down. If there were any tunnels here, Wei Hongji would know it best. He never mentioned it to Xuan, unless he..."

"Young Master Wei has been the Young Master Supervisor for many years, since the first year of Shangyuan. I'm afraid his actions are also restricted by palace rules." Lu Yuanfang believed what Li Xuan said and shook his head, saying, "If Young Master Wei concealed this matter, then he couldn't be the only one who knew about it. There must be someone else in the palace who knew about it."

"Eunuch Supervisor Xu Lu." Li Xuan gently closed his eyes, then smiled bitterly and said, "Xuan rarely intervenes in the internal affairs of the various departments. Perhaps each department has its own secrets, but you should all know that some things still need to be cleared out and presented to Your Majesty."

Li Xuan's expression suddenly became cold and stern, and he looked straight at Lu Yuanfang and the others.

For a moment, Lu Yuanfang and others fell silent.

Lu Yuanfang once served as the Minister of Personnel.

Ouyang Tong served as Minister of War and Minister of Revenue.

Wang Jishan served as the Minister of Dali Temple and the Minister of Justice.

Each department has its own private secrets, but for some things, they are only responsible to the emperor. If the emperor doesn't know and they don't want to report it, the matter will be concealed.

Of course, many things were recorded in the secret cabinet of the palace, and officials did not dare to go too far.
Unless the emperor is really young and there is a change in political situation.

……

"Go away." Li Xuan waved his hand, and Wei Hongji bowed and retreated with an embarrassed look on his face.

He was promoted from the dust by Li Xuan, but he still concealed many things from Li Xuan regarding the Shaofu Supervisor and palace construction.

For example, the secret passage in the palace.

"There is a secret passage in the palace that only the emperor knows about." Li Xuan raised his eyes, looked at Lu Yuanfang and asked, "So, how did Princess Taiping know about it?"

"Princess Taiping is the only legitimate daughter of Emperor Gaozong and Empress Tian after all. It's not surprising that she occasionally learns some secrets." Lu Yuanfang sighed and said, "In this way, many things can be explained clearly."

Everyone fell silent.

Emperor Gaozong left a final will before his death, but how did that will escape Empress Wu's eyes and appear outside the palace?
This question has always been a mystery.

Now, the mystery has an answer.

"The princess still has to be found." Lu Yuanfang changed the subject and no longer dwelled on the matter of the secret passage.

Ouyang Tong, Yao Lingzhang, Wang Jishan and others also nodded in agreement.

It was because Princess Taiping suddenly appeared that the Queen Mother urgently summoned Li Xuan back to Luoyang.

After discussion, the court officials decided that instead of letting Li Xuan return to Luoyang to fight with Princess Taiping, which would also involve the incident at the White Horse Temple and cause more trouble, it would be better to let the emperor return to Chang'an.

This is why the emperor finally returned to Chang'an instead of Li Xuan going to Luoyang.

But even after returning to Chang'an, the threat posed by Princess Taiping still existed and still needed to be dealt with.

"No." Li Xuan looked at Lu Yuanfang and said seriously, "Princess Taiping is already dead. All her titles and rewards will be taken away from her and she will be buried with her in Qianling Mausoleum as a commoner. At the same time, let the world know... General Li, send someone to keep an eye on Qianling Mausoleum. She will go there."

"Yes!" Li Dazhi bowed solemnly, looking excited.

The leader of the Taiping clan was buried in Qianling Mausoleum with the rites of a commoner, but the person who died in Taiji Hall was a substitute. So when he went to the underworld, Li Zhi would definitely ask why a person who was not his daughter was buried in Zhaoling Mausoleum as his daughter, and with the rites of a commoner. Now everything became complicated.

As long as the operation goes smoothly, Princess Taiping will definitely go to offer sacrifices to Emperor Gaozong. Then, at that time, they will have the opportunity to capture Princess Taiping and get rid of her.

"There is also the matter of Chen Yuanguang, the General of the Left Guard and the commander-in-chief of the Lingnan Road. If Princess Taiping is not dead, then it is true that Chen Yuanguang received a secret letter from Princess Taiping. But he also reported it to the court. How should this matter be handled?" Lu Yuanfang looked up at Li Xuan.

After all, Chen Yuanguang was a military general in charge of local affairs, so Li Xuan needed to speak up for these matters.

Li Xuan pondered for a moment and said, "During the Shangyuan period, his father, Jiaqing Hou Chen Zheng, died of illness in Fujian. His son Chen Yuanguang inherited his father's position and continued to develop the deep mountains of Fujian. According to the imperial system, he has made contributions to the court. However, Fujian is full of mountain barbarians, so someone is needed to determine what to do... What he wants is nothing more than an official position in a prefecture or county. If the population meets the requirements, he will be appointed as a governor of a lower prefecture!"

"Isn't this a case of holding the emperor hostage? In addition, the secret files of the Censorate recorded that when the Lingnan Army Commander-in-Chief Chen Yuanguang hosted a party, he ordered a man in a robe to serve wine. Yuanguang was angry and ordered the man to be dragged out and then killed. He cooked the man and fed him to the guest. Later, he presented the man's two hands, and the guest was frightened and grabbed his throat and vomited." Wang Jishan spoke, looking at Li Xuan and said, "What else should we do?"

"Each matter is a matter of its own, and we should handle it according to the law." Li Xuan looked at Wang Jishan and said, "The matter of Dingzhou has nothing to do with his character. His father and son have been pioneering for generations, so they should be rewarded. As for the secret files of the Censorate, I think they are quite obscure. Who exactly is the person who died? Is the death real or fake? Maybe it was a tactic to intimidate him. And since there is no victim, it is difficult to convict him."

"What if he becomes a tyrant in the future?" Wang Jishan pressed.

"If we decide on a governor, there will naturally be the chief secretary, the secretary, the secretary, and the military officer. Even if he is the governor, one of the right general of the guard and the commander of the Lingnan Road can be promoted on the spot, or transferred from the court, or even both. Then we can transfer him to another place and see how he governs. If he is not good enough, we can dismiss him." Li Xuan gave a very direct strategy. Wang Jishan bowed his head, then nodded.

"How is the matter of Prince Shu?" Lu Yuanfang asked about Prince Shu's matter.

Li Xuan said solemnly, "Prince Lu went to Suzhou in person and has captured Prince Shu. He is going to put him under house arrest in Anzhou. All the sons will be dismissed from their official positions and exiled to Qianzhou... So let's leave it at that. There are not many people of that generation left like Uncle Wang and Uncle Wang."

Prince Yuzhang was involved in Princess Taiping's treason case. Logically, Prince Shu and his descendants should have been beheaded directly, but with the plea of ​​Prince Han and Prince Huo, this was the best way to deal with him.

"Well, that's it for today. Please, King Peng, take care of the princess's matter." Lu Yuanfang nodded, and Li Xuan stood up and bowed to say goodbye.

Looking at Li Xuan's back as she left, Lu Yuanfang turned to look at Wang Jishan and asked, "How is it?"

"Careful, not arrogant, not domineering, and decisive." Wang Jishan spread his hands and said, "I can't see any ambition."

"Having no ambition is the greatest ambition!" Lu Yuanfang waved his hand and said, "Let's leave it at that. It will remain unchanged for fifteen years."

"Yes!"

……

Li Xuan came out of Ganlu Palace and nodded to Zheng Xuankai.

Zheng Xuankai watched Li Xuan leave like that, and felt inexplicably relieved.

He raised his head and looked into the Ganlu Palace, where the empress dowager was playing with the emperor.

The emperor was safe and sound, and Prince Peng remained respectful.

The world is stable.

Turning around, Zheng Xuankai's face suddenly became serious.

Didn’t he know what was happening in Chang’an and Luoyang? No, he knew it very well, but he couldn’t tell the Queen Mother these things.

If the Queen Mother gets excited and decides to take action against King Peng, then once King Peng rebels, the blame will all be on them.

This would only strengthen the power in the palace, while persuading the ministers to be wary of King Peng, and finally hope that King Peng really had no ambitions.

But does King Peng really have no ambition?

……

As the night fell, Lu Yuan walked towards home.

"Boom, boom, boom!" The sound of evening drums rang in Lu Yuan's ears, and he couldn't help but become distracted.

The emperor returned to Beijing, and Lu Yuan had been watching the changes in the political situation, but Prince Peng did not take any action.

After a few days, the political situation gradually stabilized, and even people's hearts calmed down.

This made him feel as if his brother's guess was wrong.

King Peng really had no intention of going any further.

Lu Yuan went to Kaihuafang, and Prince Huo took Princess Heyu to his mansion to stay for a few days, and then sent her back.

After all, Princess He Yu is a wife of the Lu family, and she is only three months pregnant, so everything is fine.

However, Prince Huo's Mansion still sent a lot of gifts, and said that Princess He Yu would return to live in Prince Huo's Mansion when she was seven or eight months pregnant.

Lu Yuan knew clearly that although his wife had a gentle look, she was still somewhat distant from Prince Huo's Mansion.

Only when I see King Huo will I feel better.

With a creaky sound, the door closed behind him.

Lu Yuan collected his thoughts and walked towards home.

At this moment, suddenly, a burst of hurried horse hoof sounds came from outside the gate.

"Express military news from six hundred miles away, urgent military news from six hundred miles away, urgent military news from six hundred miles away..."

The sound gradually faded away, and Lu Yuan and other people nearby were stunned.

Then, a passerby not far away could not help cursing: "Is it never going to end? Princess Taiping's trouble has just ended, and now I don't know where else something is going on."

"The country is in chaos when the ruler is young. It has always been like this, unless we change the emperor." A scholar in blue holding a wine pot on the opposite side said something with narrowed eyes. For some reason, the people around suddenly fell silent and no one reported to the authorities.

Lu Yuan sighed lightly, and he didn't mean to say anything more.

When a new emperor ascends the throne, the country becomes unstable and wars occur one after another, so conscription of soldiers and increase of taxes are inevitable.

Lu Yuan couldn't help but look up in the direction of the imperial palace: What happened again?
……

"Silla used the handwritten edict of Emperor Sukjong to request permission to pass through Andong and Liaoxi to escort Emperor Sukjong back to the court?" Li Xuan looked at the official document in front of him and looked at Lu Yuanfang and others in disbelief: "Could it be that Emperor Sukjong really...really ended up in Silla?"

(End of this chapter)