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

Chapter 873 The Prince’s Half-Brother

Under the night, the long street was quiet, and the red carriage drove slowly towards Prince Peng's Mansion.

In the carriage, Xianniang had already fallen asleep in Liu Jinyu's arms. She only spit out bubbles from her mouth from time to time, and she was still naughty in her dream.

The car curtain shook, and the night view of Chang'an flashed outside.

August [-]th, Mid-Autumn Festival.

People celebrate the day with high lanterns.

Suddenly, Li Xuan sighed inexplicably.

Liu Jinyu reached out and grabbed the back of Li Xuan's hand. Seeing Li Xuan turn around, she asked in a low voice, "Is it about General Quan?"

"Yes!" Li Xuan nodded slightly and said, "Your Majesty asked how to deal with General Quan. Originally, it was just according to the law, but the prince interceded for General Quan."

Prince, General Zuo Weiwei, when these two words were connected, Liu Jinyu's face immediately became heavy.

Li Xuan said softly: "The prince is planning for the court to appease the morale of the army, so he hopes to give General Quan a lighter punishment. It is best to give him a small punishment but a big warning."

"In this case, Your Majesty is afraid that General Quan will have to be severely punished." A trace of sympathy flashed across Liu Jinyu's face, and he said softly: "It was originally a trivial matter that was punishable but not punishable. First, he was brought to court by the censor, and now There is also a prince begging for mercy, I'm afraid it will be difficult to be kind without peeling off the skin."

Quan Shancai's matter, as long as it was unknown, it would naturally not be a big deal.

But once people know about it, especially if it causes a big stir and goes to court, it is a big deal.

You know, in Zhaoling, not only the late Emperor Taizong is buried, but also Cheng Yaojin, Wei Zheng, Qin Qiong, Wen Yanbo, Duan Zhixuan, Gao Shilian, Fang Xuanling, Kong Yingda, Li Jing, Yuchi Jingde, Li Ji There are nearly 180 tombs for important officials and other meritorious officials.

It is large in scale and covers an extremely large area.

There are even tombs of clan kings, princesses and consorts, also within Zhaoling.

Li Chengqian, Li Yun, Li Min, several sons of Emperor Taizong, more than a dozen princesses, and their mothers and concubines, and even King Zanpu of Sa Bao and Princess Dejin of Silla are among them. This involves more than just the royal family. , ministers, and even the affairs of the country.

Li Xuan doesn't know what his future will be like, but King Cao Li Ming, Yue King Li Zhen, and Ji King Li Shen, these sons of Taizong, will also be buried with Zhaoling in the future.

There is also a large group of former ministers who are still alive but already quite old and will also be buried with Zhaoling in the future.

At this time, Zhaoling is at risk of being stolen, so no one is in a hurry.

Nowadays, it is natural to have an explanation from top to bottom.

"If this case is just judged as accidentally cutting down the mausoleum trees, it would be fine. But if it is judged as damaging the mausoleum and destroying luck, then it will be difficult for General Quan to survive. I don't know how many people want him dead. I don’t know how many people will die with him." Li Xuan had a trace of worry in her eyes.

"Mr. Lang is worried that someone is stirring up trouble behind this?" Liu Jinyu immediately understood the meaning of Li Xuan's words.

Li Xuan nodded and said: "Jiuyi Mountain is a hundred miles away from Chang'an, and the person who did it was a lieutenant in the army. How could the censor Zhongcheng know about it?"

After a slight pause, Li Xuan shook his head and said: "Quan Shancai's position as general is already unstable. Now if something happens, countless people will immediately focus on this position. This is one; second. , and the person in charge of General Quan is Cui Zhiwen, Minister Zuocheng."

Quan Shancai was a member of the Dangxiang clan. After being recaptured by Cui Zhiwen, who was the governor of Lanzhou at the time, he led the entire clan to join the Tang Dynasty.

Quan Shancai served several times and was finally promoted to General Zuo Weiwei. No one would believe it without Cui Zhiwen's recommendation.

Now that Quan Shancai is in trouble, if Yushitai continues to hold on, Cui Zhiwen will be implicated immediately.

"Shang Shu Zuo Cheng." Liu Jinyu's face was extremely ugly and she said softly: "Someone is eyeing the position of Shangshu Zuo Cheng."

General Zuo Weiwei and Shangshu Zuo Cheng, two people with third-rank official positions, are definitely the vast majority of people who can never reach a single position after struggling all their lives.

"Censor Zhongcheng Cui Mi took action, and suddenly no one knew who was behind it?" Li Xuan couldn't help but shook her head slightly.

Cui Mi is also a member of the Cui family of Qinghe. Logically speaking, although he and Cui Zhiwen have different positions, they are members of the same clan and would not be so ruthless.

He stood there, and even Li Xuan didn't know who was behind him?
……

"By the way, has anything noteworthy happened in the DPRK recently?" Li Xuan suddenly looked at Liu Jinyu.

Although the two of them corresponded, there were many things they couldn't say in letters.

Even though Li Xuan has returned to Chang'an now, he doesn't know many things in the past.

After all, many things have nothing to do with him and are not of special concern to him and Liu Jinyu.

But Liu Jinyu was in Chang'an after all, so she still had some memories of some special things.

"There is one thing." Liu Jinyu suddenly looked up at Li Xuan and said, "Mr. Lang still remembers that in the letter I wrote to him a while ago, he mentioned that the imperial court had begun to check the debts owed by Taichang Temple. From various princes' palaces, the princess The government, the county prince's government, kept checking out, and many families paid back the full amount. However, there were also a few families who really had no money and kept owing their debts. They had no money and could not repay. Later, it was His Highness the Crown Prince who provided the money. Hand this matter over."

Li Xuan nodded slightly and began to recall some details of that incident.

Because the military expenditure was very high at the beginning, Empress Wu decided to check all kinds of debts owed by the court. The first thing to check was Taichang Temple, which had the largest debts from the clan.

The Crown Prince's Palace, Prince Ying's Palace, Prince Xiang's Palace, and even Princess Taiping's Palace all have more or less outstanding debts.

The person who owes the most money here is naturally the Taiwong.

When Li Xian was still King Yong, he did a lot of things and borrowed a lot of money from Taichang Temple. Fortunately, after he became the prince, his salary and other available money were much more.Various previous arrears were quickly included in the court system after the results were released, and then the court allocated the advance payment.

After several misappropriations like this, Li Xian completely repaid the debt.

Second only to Li Xian is Li Xian. Li Xian has always been playful and lavish, and he owes Taichang Temple a lot of money.

However, although he likes to play, he is not a fool. When gambling with others, although he loses more than he wins, he does not lose too much.

If it were a place where he really lost too much, Li Xian would not have gone there.

Not to mention, they already knew that he was restless, and Empress Wu even deliberately greeted him, so although Li Xian owed a lot of money, it was still within control.

Li Xuan helped him get a batch of money back from Jiangqiu Garden in Jinggongfang, but Li Xian was banned later.

The money had always been there, but when the accounts were audited, people from the British Prince's Palace returned the money.

Li Dan has always been a man of few desires and doesn't pay much attention to outside matters, so he...he doesn't owe anything at all.

Various other families owed money here and there, and those who could repay were basically repaid, and those who could not repay were all repaid by borrowing money.

Because they all know that if the Queen of Heaven really wants to bite her, even if she kills everyone in the family, it will be easy.

But there were also a few who really had no money and couldn't even pay it back, so they were stuck. Fortunately, they didn't have much money, so Li Xian couldn't stand it, so he paid it back instead.

Liu Jinyu came close to Li Xuan and whispered: "Prince Ze and Prince Xu are among them."

Li Xuan shuddered violently and looked at Liu Jinyu with disbelief.

Li Shangjin, the king of Ze, was impeached in July of the second year of the Yuan Dynasty. He was dismissed from office and placed under house arrest in Lizhou. Naturally, the money could not be paid.

In the early years of Qianfeng's reign, King Xu Li Sujie was unable to gather at court due to long-term illness, so he was granted the title of King Poyang and settled in Yuanzhou.

The last time Li Xuan saw these two unfortunates was at the funeral of Emperor Li Hong last year.

Now that I hear the names of these two people again and associate them with Li Xian, I can't help but tremble.

The initial conflict between the filial emperor Li Hong and Empress Wu was that Li Hong discovered Princess Yiyang and Princess Xuancheng who were over [-] years old in Yeting, and then petitioned to let the two half-sisters get married. palace.

The emperor agreed, but Empress Wu was furious and married the two princesses on the spot to Yiwei Quanyi and Wang Suigu who were on duty.

Now, Li Xian also paid off the debt of his half-brother, and Li Xuan immediately knew how angry Empress Wu was this time.

But in the three meetings between him and Empress Wu, he never saw Empress Wu getting angry.

Why, forcefully suppress it.

……

Crown Prince, Minister Zuo Cheng, General Zuo Weiwei, Yu Shi Zhongcheng.

In the study, Li Xuan displayed a row of names in front of Liu Jinyu, and then burned them directly in front of her.

Looking at the ashes in front of her, Li Xuan whispered: "Be careful. When my husband is not in Chang'an, just stay at home and take care of the children. Don't worry about anything. Don't have too much contact with Dong Palace."

"I remember it." Liu Jinyu nodded seriously. The mother and son were fine in the power struggle between Empress Wu and the Crown Prince, but everyone involved in it did not end well.

After a slight pause, Liu Jinyu asked: "So this time General Quan was impeached..."

"Heavy punishment." Li Xuan sighed softly, and then said in a cold voice: "The heavier the punishment, the better. Only in this way, Minister Zuo Cheng will not be involved, and only in this way, the prince will not be involved. .”

"But the Queen..." Liu Jinyu looked at Li Xuan worriedly. Queen Wu's methods were not just that.

Li Xuan shook her head, looked in the direction of the palace, and said softly: "This matter is ultimately the prince's business. This time I have to intervene because I have been involved. I don't need to worry about future matters."

Liu Jinyu immediately understood that Li Xuan's involvement in the current matter was more of the emperor's intention.

The emperor was maintaining the balance of the court.

Li Xuan, on the other hand, was neither the prince's nor Empress Wu's, he was the emperor's.

"When will the gentleman leave Chang'an and return to the army?" Liu Jinyu looked at Li Xuan worriedly.

The longer Li Xuan stays in Chang'an, the more likely it is that Li Xuan will get into trouble, so it's best for him to leave Chang'an as soon as possible. However, there is the emperor's will, his daughter Xianiang's involvement, and even Liu Jinyu herself. , and I don’t want Li Xuan to leave so soon.

Li Xuan reached out and patted the back of Liu Jinyu's hand, and said softly: "It should still be a while, we have to wait for the news from Tubo. If nothing unexpected happens, after the Tubo situation is settled, we can return to the front of the army, which will be as soon as half a month." , or one month later.”

"So what if there really is an accident?" Liu Jinyu asked subconsciously

"Then my husband might not have to go back to the army."

Li Xuan suddenly laughed and hugged Liu Jinyu directly.

The young and beautiful lady gently bit her red lips...

(End of this chapter)