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

Chapter 891: King Xiang hires someone, Dou Shi bleeds
In the early morning, the sunlight shines into the bedroom, clear and transparent.

Li Xuan, dressed in Tsing Yi, was sitting on one side, holding a thin bamboo brush and an easel in front of her.

On the rice paper, the image of a cute little girl laughing and having fun has already appeared on it.

Liu Jinyu stood on one side and said in surprise: "Lang Jun's fine brushwork is really the best in the world."

Li Xuan said with satisfaction: "My husband lacks freehand expression, so I can only make up for it in realism. When my mother's birthday comes, my husband will draw a family portrait, make a hundred-year-old picture, and hide it at home."

"Yes!" Liu Jinyu nodded, her eyes fell on the portrait, which was almost the same proportion of Xianniang, and she said softly: "By bringing my husband to Qingnan, Aweng can also meet his great-granddaughter."

"Okay." Li Xuan put away her pen and said with a smile: "Go and hug Niang Xia and let her take a look for herself."

"Okay!" Liu Jinyu immediately stepped forward and picked up Xia Niang, who was wearing a red bellyband and had a pink face.

When Xiaoxia Niang saw herself in the portrait, she was stunned for a moment, and then she couldn't help but scream.

Who is this familiar little doll?

It's not that Xianniang has never seen her own appearance before. The bronze mirror at home is extremely clean and bright, and occasionally she can see her reflection in the water, and she can vaguely see her own appearance.

But since she was born, the only child she has seen is her own.

Li Xuan smiled softly and looked down at the large vase on one side, where a dozen rolled scrolls were placed vertically.

All the paintings on it are of Xia Niang’s appearance.

……

"My aunt, my two uncles, please leave everything to me."

Li Xian stood on the steps of the gate of the Prime Minister's Mansion and bowed his hands solemnly to Princess Huainan, Li Xuan, Li Jing and others.

Princess Taiping, who was standing behind one side, had a curious expression on her face, but at the same time she handed over her hand.

"Don't dare!" Li Xuan, Li Jing, including the eldest princess of Huainan, all smiled and returned the greeting, then turned and walked towards the middle of the street.

Li Xuan got on the horse, slightly cupped her hands towards Prince Li Xian and Princess Taiping, and then slowly urged the horse forward.

Li Jing, the king of Si Zheng, rode side by side with him. He had just returned the day before yesterday.

In the sedan chair behind the two of them, sat the eldest princess of Huainan whom the emperor and Empress Wu personally invited back.

Further back, Shi Wangdezhen, the chief minister of the Prime Minister's Palace, led 36 carriages, playing and beating together towards the Dou Palace.

Beimen bachelors Yuan Wanqing, Fan Xingyi, Miao Chuke, Zhou Simao, Han Chubin and others also followed behind and headed towards the Dou family.

The Dou family is located in the east of the city, only three squares away from the Prime Minister's Mansion, not far away.

Li Xuan took in everything and couldn't help feeling a little strange.

Why are almost all of these North Gate bachelors here today?

Ming Chongyan was Li Dan's master, and these Beimen bachelors were supporting Li Dan overtly and covertly.

But no one takes them seriously. After all, the North Gate bachelors are now in the fourth and fifth ranks of the court and gather under Empress Wu to share the power of the prime minister. But in the final analysis, they are just a group of young people attached to Empress Wu. Just a bird.

Once they leave the protection of Empress Wu, the abilities of this group of people will be completely exposed to everyone.

There is no doubt that all North Gate bachelors are outstanding people, but outstanding people also need experience, especially experience from the local area.

Otherwise, the entire court will only become worse and worse, and the tax soldiers will not be collected at all.

Just like the Ming Dynasty in later generations, the treasury gradually became poorer and poorer, while the officials became richer and richer.

Therefore, in addition to assisting Empress Wu in handling political affairs, most of the North Gate scholars held vacuous positions.

Otherwise, heavy and complicated affairs will drag down their energy, leaving them no time to hide behind the scenes and calculate everything.

But today, they all came out.

It's strange that it's not far away from Prince Li Xian.

Everyone knew that these people supported Li Dan, but when they stood up so blatantly, weren't they worried that the emperor would be unhappy?

unless……

Li Xuan glanced at the Prime Minister's Mansion opposite and understood in her heart that the Prime Minister was getting married and had reached adulthood.

These North Gate bachelors will be more and more crowded in the prime minister's palace, and they want to support the prime minister and the prince in their struggle for power.

This is the emperor's attitude.

Li Xuan withdrew her gaze and focused it on herself. His appearance here today represented the emperor's attitude to some extent.

Li Xuan didn't know how many people knew about the emperor's visit to Prince Peng's Mansion that day, but he knew in his heart that the emperor was really dissatisfied with Li Xian.

Not because of the affairs of the court, but because of the internal affairs of the East Palace.

When the emperor's attitude changed, the attitudes of Cui Zhiwen, the left prime minister, and Guo Daiju, the right prime minister of the prime minister, changed at the same time.

A chain reaction will occur throughout the court.

The prince's life is going to be difficult.

……

There were hundreds of people in the recruitment team, spreading throughout the street.

Although there were Jinwu Guards and Chang'an County on both sides to maintain order, people watching the excitement were still crowded everywhere.

Li Xuan withdrew his gaze. This was the emperor's best effort to restrain himself, otherwise the whole city would have known about the trouble. After all, the Dou family was also a wealthy family.

It’s a trivial matter to wear red makeup when you get married.

Today, apart from the eldest princess of Huainan, the person with the highest status in the clan is Li Xuan.

Because today is just an appointment, not a marriage.

The kings of the clan do not need to come back, it is enough for someone to watch.In fact, if Li Dan is not here in this situation, the most suitable person to replace him is his brother.

But Li Xian is the prince, so he can show up when he gets married, but now he shows up when he is hired, which is a bit too grand.

There were 36 boxes in total, filled with gold, jewelry and jade, and this was just for the first time.

After all, Li Dan is a prince. Whether it is an appointment or a marriage, the scale is several times larger than that of Li Xuan.

Not to mention that Li Xuan's wedding day, although considered prosperous, was actually extremely restrained.

Accepting the color, asking for the name, and accepting the Ji, these steps were all completed before Li Xuan intervened.

Today is the day to accept the levy, issue a letter of appointment, and give a big gift.

The members of the Dou family, whether they were governors outside or ministers at home, all gathered at the main residence of the Dou family on this day.

Although the daughter of the Dou family is not married as a queen, the daughter of the Dou family is married as a princess, which is an honor second only to the queen.

It is of great benefit to stabilizing the relationship between the Dou and Li families.

Thirty-six loads of gold cakes, gold chains, gold bracelets, and various blond jewelry were all opened and placed densely in the courtyard. They were then counted by Dou's family and sent to the warehouse.

Three days before the wedding, the Dou family had to send all the dowry to the Prime Minister's Mansion.

Then you can get married.

Di Renjie stood behind Li Xuan and said with a sigh on his face: "The frontline military is short of food and supplies, but behind there is a lot of gold and jade. Your lord, this..."

Li Xuan waved her hand and said: "The Tang Dynasty is actually not short of money. What the Tang Dynasty is really short of is food, and most of the food in the Tang Dynasty is stored in the granaries of aristocratic families."

Li Xuan sighed softly and then said: "Brother Huaiying, do you know how much food the Dou family will have to provide just because the Dou family marries the royal family?"

Di Renjie raised his hand and said, "Please give me your advice."

"Enough to feed and drink the entire Qinghai army for a month." Li Xuan sighed softly. The reason why the Dou family was willing to pay such a large price was that in addition to the large betrothal gift from the royal family for the wedding, the Dou family also received [-]% of the Chaka Salt Lake. of salt for sale.

With the Dou family as a precedent, other major families will soon pounce on them.

However, they are not as lucky as the Dou family. This is probably because the Dou family married a daughter to the royal family.

This can be said to be the last prince and concubine of the royal family, and others will never have such luck.

In addition, a considerable part of the salt profits obtained by the Dou family will be handed over to the royal family.

[-]% is actually only said to the outside world. In fact, the Dou family can get less than [-]% of the salt profit.

As for other aristocratic families, the salt profit that all of them can get together will not exceed [-]%.

Because the imperial court could only take out [-]% at most, and the other [-]% was in the hands of the imperial court, or in other words, in the hands of Empress Wu.

It was simply a dream for these wealthy families to take something from Empress Wu.

But this also means that these aristocratic families have been connected with Empress Wu to some extent.

Li Xuan watched all this calmly. He had no intention of panic at all, because Qugou New City would be in his hands.

It means that the tea card will also be completely in his hand.

As long as he cuts off Chaka, the money will be completely cut off, and their lifeline will completely fall into Li Xuan's hands.

Especially in the hands of aristocratic families, a considerable part of the money will be used for military expenses.

Li Xuan's breathing suddenly became heavy, which was deliberately set by the emperor.

Although the emperor does not know the way of money and food, he does know the way of balance and people's hearts.

……

Send betrothal gifts, hand over letters to Kun, hand over gift letters, and choose a good date.

The eldest princess of Huainan handed over to Dou Xuande and all the Dou family members, then took the marriage certificate and left.

Li Xuan followed behind, raised her hands to Dou Xuande and said, "Dou Weng, Xuan is leaving."

"My lord, please go slowly!" Dou Xuande returned the greeting and couldn't help but breathed a sigh of relief. This complicated engagement was finally over.

After Dou Xuande's death, Dou Zhijing, the Duke of Julu County, and Dou Sitai, a foreign official in the Ministry of Civil Affairs, both surrendered to Li Xuan.

Dou Xuande was Dou Zhijing's uncle. Dou Zhijing was the same generation as the emperor and Li Xuan, and he was also the father of Princess Dou.

Dou Sitai is the eldest brother of the Dou family, Princess Xiang. These will be the most trusted people around Li Dan... and they will also be the people that Empress Wu will definitely eradicate in the future.

Li Xuan handed over his hand again, and then left Dou Mansion with Laisui and Di Renjie.

Returning to the Prime Minister's Mansion, Li Xian personally took the marriage certificate back to the palace.

Li Xuan and others sent the eldest princess of Huainan to the princess mansion to rest. After all, the eldest princess was very old.

After it was over, Li Xuan slowly walked towards his mansion. Remembering that he met the North Gate bachelor today, Li Xuan turned around and asked: "Brother Huaiying, how is the investigation of your case?"

"We have a clue." Di Renjie said one word and stopped talking.

Li Xuan nodded slightly and said: "Solve that case as soon as possible. Don't delay it any longer. If it continues, I'm afraid it won't be possible to investigate anymore."

Di Renjie nodded seriously, and when they arrived at the door of Prince Peng's Mansion, Di Renjie and Li Xuan said goodbye.

……

The next day, Shi Di Renjie, the imperial censor, wrote a letter to impeach Cui Sheng, the minister of the Ministry of punishment, for buying officials and manipulating prisons and cultivating power with evil intentions.

Immediately, Liu Qi, a doctor in the household department, Tan Ning, a doctor in the imperial censor, and Zhou Chun, a doctor in the official department, were all involved in the case.

A storm immediately broke out, led by Cui Sheng, the Minister of Punishment.

It was at this time that Luo Governor Shi Cui Zhiti came to visit Prince Peng's Mansion.

(End of this chapter)