Man Tang Huacai

Chapter 619 Black Hand
It was the end of the fifth year of Zhengxing, and there was heavy snow in Luoyang.

There were two braziers in the east upper pavilion of the Ziwei Palace. It wasn't very warm, but just enough to prevent people from catching a cold.

"Your Highness, it's time to wake up." The young eunuch Liu An called several times and then reached out to push the quilt. "If you don't wake up, the gentlemen will scold you again."

Li Zuo, curled up in the warm quilt, finally opened his eyes and muttered, "But I'm so sleepy."

If we count his age in lunar calendar, he would be seven years old after the Chinese New Year. He was at the age when people were sleepy, but he had to get up before dawn every day to learn various etiquette, literature, martial arts, and ways of governing the country.

Not to mention compared with other children, even compared with most adult men, he is considered to have a very hard life.

Liu An felt distressed when he saw this, but it was his duty, so he had to say: "Your Highness should get up. I also want you to sleep more, but if it's too late, I will be punished."

"Okay, get up."

Li Zuozhen sat up, and without Liu An's help, he dressed and washed himself, and dressed himself properly. Breakfast had been served, and after eating, he went to Chongwen Pavilion to study.

When he opened the door of the bedroom, a cold wind blew in and Liu An shivered. However, Li Zuo was not afraid of the cold, which was a result of his training since childhood.

When walking on the road, if someone passed by, Li Zuo would always behave very calmly, like a little adult.

Only when no one was paying attention would he whisper a few words to Liu An.

"The snow is so deep. It would be fun to have a snowball fight."

"Your Highness may not have time to play."

"I know, so I'm telling you 'if I can'."

After all, he is still a child at heart.

After passing through Daye Gate, I saw a tall figure standing there. It was Yan Zhenqing, standing in the snow wearing a cloak.

When Li Zuo saw this, his eyes immediately lit up with joy and he ran two steps excitedly. Then, remembering that he still had to observe etiquette in front of his grandfather, he slowed down his pace and went over to greet him properly.

Although Yan Zhenqing treated him very strictly, he also loved him very much. Li Zuo was a very perceptive child and could feel the special and deep affection his grandfather had for him, so he returned the same deep respect and love.

When there are outsiders around, they speak in a very serious manner, but in private, they talk like ordinary grandparents and grandchildren.

After sending everyone away that day, Li Zuo couldn't help but ask, "Why is Grandpa standing in the snow? There is snow all over your fu hat."

He stood on tiptoe and stretched out his hand to brush the snow off Yan Zhenqing's head, but unfortunately he was not tall enough and could not reach him.

Yan Zhenqing then squatted down a little.

Years of working at a desk had severely strained his waist. This movement was very strenuous and he felt a sharp pain in his waist, but a smile appeared on his face.

"If the common people cannot have a warm winter, it is not decent for officials to be unable to endure the cold during court sessions." Yan Zhenqing patiently answered the question and said, "Today, you will take a day off from studying. You should attend the morning court session and announce your return to Chang'an."

"Are you going back to Chang'an now?" Li Zuo asked, "But my father hasn't returned from his tour yet."

"I went back to Chang'an and waited."

Although Li Zuo is young, he does not seem to be ignorant of everything.

He looked up at his grandfather, hesitated for a moment, and asked, "Aunt, is it because the people of Luoyang said bad things about our father?"

"Really?" Yan Zhenqing responded calmly, "What bad things did you hear?"

"It says that the emperor is not a descendant of the Li family."

After hearing this, Yan Zhenqing was in a trance for a moment. He had always tried his best to prevent Li Zuo from hearing these rumors, but he didn't expect to have to face them so soon.

But when he answered, his voice was still calm, just like he usually did when he denied a ridiculous little thing.

"That's just nonsense. When you are in heaven, you will hear countless doubts and accusations throughout your life. Don't doubt it. You must always believe in yourself."

In fact, Yan Zhenqing had thought about this matter countless times in his mind, wondering what to do if he really encountered this situation.

Li Zuo seemed to understand, but he tried to comprehend it for a long time. He couldn't help but ask, "But some people say that my father's surname is not Li, but Xue."

Yan Zhenqing asked, "Do you remember the story about Liu Bingyi that I told you?"

"I remember." Li Zuo responded crisply, "Emperor Xuan of Han, Liu Xun, whose original name was Bingyi, was the great-grandson of Emperor Wu of Han. He encountered witchcraft when he was young and grew up among the people."

Seeing that his memory was so good, Yan Zhenqing nodded with satisfaction and said, "Yes, the experience of the current emperor is similar to that of Emperor Xuan of Han. He encountered the Three Commoners Case when he was young and grew up among the people."

"I understand. We can learn from history to understand the rise and fall of nations."

"Okay, okay, okay, do you know where this comes from?"

"It's the Emperor Taizong's words!"

Yan Zhenqing looked over and saw that Li Zuo's eyes were bright, as if he was proud of being the descendant of Emperor Taizong. He knew that his teaching over the years had not been in vain, and he felt relieved. He turned his head and wiped his eyes.

The current crown prince's surname is Li and his given name is Zuo. This is the name given by Emperor Xuanzong and written in the royal jade book. No one can deny it, and Yan Zhenqing will not let anyone deny it.

~~
During the morning court session, the prince announced that he would return to Chang'an.

The officials were not surprised, but had expected it.

After all, the current situation is full of undercurrents, and anything that can be announced in this hall already has a basic direction.

After the morning court session, Yan Zhenqing returned to the Council Hall, where Yan Quanming was already waiting anxiously.

"Uncle, Li Chengji broke his promise. They still caused people to rebel and are now making a big fuss in Zhengzhou to attack Your Majesty..."

"We'll talk later."

Yan Zhenqing raised his hand to stop Yan Quanming first, then turned to his trusted subordinate and asked, "Is Liu An here?"

"Reply to Alang, he is already inside."

Yan Zhenqing then went in first, met Liu An, and asked straight to the point: "Where did you hear this rumor, Your Highness?"

Liu An was very frightened. He wiped the sweat off his face with his sleeve and said, "I don't know either."

"You follow His Highness every day, how could you not know?"

"Your Highness must have accidentally heard the palace servants gossiping while walking in the palace. Although I followed Your Highness, I was probably distracted and didn't notice it."

As he said this, Liu An first slapped himself hard to make it difficult for Yan Zhenqing to deal with him.

Yan Zhenqing stared at him deeply, waved his hand, and told him to go back to take care of Li Zuo. After he left, his eyes revealed a thoughtful look.

After a while, he finally called Yan Quanming over.

"go on."

"Yes, the Li family did not raise an army directly, but instructed the slaves who had been released before to gather together and cause trouble..."

The Li family mentioned here refers to Li Kui's family power, with Li Chengyu of the Longyou Li family as the patriarch, who is Li Kui's father.

This branch of the Longyou Li family is called the Guzang branch, and is the descendant of the Guzang Marquis of the Northern Wei Dynasty, whose ancestral home is in Chengji County of Longyou. In the generation of Li Chengyu, he was granted the title of Duke of Chengji County and served as the Secretary General before retiring.

The Li family occupied a large amount of land and slaves in Zhengzhou. Since the imperial court reformed, more than 20,000 hectares of good land and 30,000 slaves have been seized from other clans. The number was so exaggerated that Yan Zhenqing could not believe it at the time. You must know that Yuwen Rong seized a total of 800,000 households in the world.

But the Li family was not willing to release so many slaves, and secretly colluded with local officials in Zhengzhou. By means of not distributing land and requiring more taxes, they made it very difficult for these 30,000 households to return to their hometowns and farm the land. Instead, these released slaves began to starve and freeze.

In this way, with further instigation, they were led to rise up in rebellion, and with the help of the Li family, they captured the arsenal and granary in Zhengzhou, and their momentum was greatly boosted.

They are all farmers, and their fighting power is definitely not good enough, but what the Li family wants is to make the imperial court give up, and all they need to do is make a big enough noise.

After Li Kui's death, it was not only the Longxi Li family that was frightened, but all the high-ranking families in the world. When they saw that someone was making a big fuss, they would naturally condone and encourage the turmoil to ferment further.

Yan Zhenqing had anticipated this, so he sent officials to appease the people. Unfortunately, because Xue Bai killed Li Kui, the situation was beyond his control.

"When Li Qiyun arrived, the news that His Majesty had killed Li Kui had already spread to Zhengzhou. Li Qiyun was unable to appease them. Now the Zhengzhou government office has been captured by the 'rioters'. The Li family did not participate in it openly, but they must have given considerable support. There were several scholars among the 'rioters' who wrote a manifesto to attack His Majesty..."

"A manifesto?" Yan Zhenqing asked, "What does it say?"

Yan Quanming hesitated for a moment before saying, "They compare your majesty to the Wu family who usurped the Tang Dynasty."

Although he had expected this, Yan Zhenqing still frowned. In these days, the wrinkles between his eyebrows have deepened a lot.

What he hated most was that they always attacked the current emperor's background.

They are obviously a group of people who only care about their own personal gain. If they want to oppose the reform, then they should oppose the reform, but they have to bring up irrelevant old things.

Originally it was just a question of whether the reform could succeed. If it failed, it would just be the problem of land annexation that could not be solved. But now it has become a dispute over the orthodoxy of the Tang Dynasty, and it will shake the foundation of the country.

"Has Li Qijun come back?" Yan Zhenqing asked.

"We have already entered Luoyang City."

"Why didn't you come to see me?"

Yan Quanming said: "He first went to meet many officials from famous families."

"Go and call him."

"Here."

After waiting for a long time, Li Qiyun finally arrived. When he rushed into the government hall, there were still a lot of snowflakes on his body, and a gust of cold wind came up.

"Your humble servant greets the Right Prime Minister."

"You failed to persuade Li Chengyu?"

"Yes." Li Qiyun said calmly: "When I arrived, Your Majesty had already beheaded Li Kui. I was really powerless to do anything."

"So what?" Yan Zhenqing asked, "Do they really want to kill the king?"

Li Qiyun said quickly, "Of course they would never dare to do that. Li Chengyu said that he had tried his best to restrain those rioters. But now those rioters are no longer his tenants, but have become the court's householders. They have also been treated harshly by local officials and have rebelled out of anger. He is unable to suppress them and is powerless."

"This is a threat to your Majesty."

"I dare not. These are Li Chengyu's exact words."

Yan Zhenqing frowned and asked, "Isn't he afraid that the imperial court will mobilize a large army to attack him?"

Li Qiyun said: "He did not participate in the rebellion, and has been claiming that his son was wrongly killed. The court is afraid that it has no reason to do so. Moreover, now all the prefectures and counties in the country regard the new law as a man-eating tiger. If the court wants to mobilize troops, I am afraid... it is not appropriate."

Then he added: "This is also what Li Chengyu said. I think that once the army is mobilized, it means that the court will fight to the death with these noble families, which will intensify the conflict and cause unrest in the country."

Yan Zhenqing remained silent, as if hesitating whether to mobilize troops.

If he considered it from the perspective of a teacher, father-in-law, and prime minister, he would have wanted to raise an army to rescue Xue Bai; but considering the stability of the Tang Dynasty, raising an army would be the worst outcome.

Li Qiyun said: "I think the solution to this problem is not difficult."

"explain."

"As long as the court issues an order, the inspection has been completed and there will be no more inspections." Li Qiyun said: "In addition, I have met many officials before coming here today, and they all support the crown prince to ascend the throne..."

~~
In the evening, Li Zuo was practicing riding and archery in a military robe.

He was carried on horseback to play when he was four years old. Now his feet can just step into the stirrups, and his riding skills are very good. He rides on horseback as if it were flat ground.

"Your Majesty, slow down." Liu An did not ride a horse, but trotted behind.

"Just wait here, I'll be back after running a lap."

Li Zuo shouted, and urged the horse's back with his little feet, and the colt quickly ran towards the Lugong Courtyard.

This was where Wu Zetian used to raise deer. It has been vacant for a long time now and is considered a small paradise for Li Zuo.

He was small and light, and the colt on his back was very obedient, so he ran very fast and soon left the guards behind him behind.

Afterwards, he pulled the reins, left the horse path, entered a small woods in the palace, and saw a woman standing in front of a house.

Li Zuo couldn't help but feel happy and said, "Horse, stop." The colt obediently slowed down and came in front of the woman.

"Godmother." Li Zuo said with a smile, "Why did you come to the palace today?"

The person standing there was Du Jin.

She used to often go to the palace to see Li Zuo, but now that Xue Bai and his wife were not there, Yan Zhenqing did not like her having too much contact with Li Zuo, so she started coming secretly. After all, she was free to come and go, and no one could stop her.

Du Jin took Li Zuo off the horse and said, "Come and see if you are tired?"

"Not tired." Li Zuo asked, "Did godmother bring me a comic book today?"

The comic books he mentioned are a popular type of story with illustrations, and are one of his biggest hobbies besides reading.

"It seems that you didn't think about me, but only wanted the comic book."

"No, I come here every day to see if my godmother is here."

After hearing this, Du Jin took out a picture book from her sleeve, patted Li Zuo on the head, and said, "You are quite well behaved. I'll give this to you."

"Thank you, godmother!" Li Zuo was very happy.

Apart from his parents, the two people closest to him in the world were Yan Zhenqing and Du Jin. The difference was that he respected and loved Yan Zhenqing, but he felt more relaxed and comfortable getting along with Du Jin.

The two chatted for a while, and then Du Jin asked, "Did you come here two days ago?"

"Yes." Li Zuo couldn't wait to flip through the picture book. When he heard the question, he nodded repeatedly.

After seeing Li Zuo off, Du Jin called Qu Shui over and said, "The person who gossiped and let Zuo Er hear it is in the Lu Palace. Find out who it is and deal with it."

"Yes."

~~
Yan Zhenqing was also investigating how Li Zuo heard from others that Xue Bai's life experience was different, but two days later he learned that two palace maids had accidentally fallen into the water and died.

When he heard the news, he asked, "Are they palace servants from the Deer Palace?"

"Yes."

Yan Zhenqing's face darkened and he ordered, "Let Yan Quanming come to see me."

After a while, Yan Quanming arrived.

"Do you know why I asked Liu An to come here last time?" Yan Zhenqing asked.

"Nephew, I don't know." Yan Quanming said.

"Your Highness heard that someone was slandering the Saint." Yan Zhenqing asked, "Now, the two palace servants who spoke have been silenced. Was this also an accident?"

Yan Quanming felt very embarrassed. He hesitated for a while and said, "Didn't my uncle find out? Nowadays, many people are deliberately killing people to frame my uncle..."

Yan Zhenqing had asked him a similar question before, and he had answered in the same way. But this time was obviously different, the matter was more secretive, Yan Zhenqing heard from Li Zuo in private that someone had died within two days.

"You lied like this, it seems you know who did it." Yan Zhenqing said, "Could it be His Highness?"

"No." Yan Quanming had no choice but to say, "It was my nephew who ordered the killing of the two palace servants."

"I just asked you, how can you give an order if you don't know about this?"

"My nephew just lied."

"Is it Du Erniang?"

Yan Zhenqing seemed to have known this for a long time. He shook his head and was quite dissatisfied with Du Jin's methods.

~~
Luoyang Daodefang, Du’s House.

When Du Wulang entered the house that day, he was surprised to see Du Jin's mount, which he rarely saw, so he ran to find her in a hurry.

After searching for a while, he finally found someone in Du Youlin's study.

When I opened the door, I saw Du Jin flipping through the letters on the table. She had an even more prime minister-like aura than Du Youlin.

"Second sister, you know that the south is in chaos. Liu Zhan rebelled, and Zhengzhou also rebelled. Now your majesty is caught between the rebels and can't come back. Why aren't you anxious at all?"

"Who said I'm not anxious?" Du Jin said.

"You're in a hurry? Then why don't you go and protect the emperor?"

"You are still a fool." Du Jin glanced at Du Wulang with disdain and said, "His Majesty is not in the Eastern Capital. What's the point of running to Jianghuai if I don't guard him at this time?"

"But I felt very uneasy." Du Wulang whispered, "When I came back, I felt someone was watching me."

"Someone is watching you?" Du Jin asked, "How do you know?"

"I have a good nose. I could faintly smell the odor of that person. It was like the smell of rotten eggs. It followed me all the way."

"Maybe he's just a rogue."

Du Wulang asked, "Is there going to be unrest in Luoyang as well?"

"No." Du Jin said casually, "The imperial court's troops are here, those people dare not."

“But the new law touches so many…”

"Shut up."

Du Jin scolded her and left with a few letters.

Du Wulang then realized that she had pried open a locked drawer of Du Youlin. He was very surprised and shouted, "No, how could you steal Grandpa's things?"

Du Jin ignored him, left the study, went back to find Du Jin, and handed her the letter.

"As expected, the Jingzhao Du family is not innocent either. These people failed to beg Master, so they must have stood against us."

Du Yan took the letter and read it. It was a letter from some clansmen to Du Youlin. Some of them contained threatening words, vaguely indicating that if they were forced to reopen the old case, they would still be able to bring Du Youlin to ruin.

This kind of dispute between clansmen is much more troublesome than conflicts with outsiders.

Even they felt a headache for Du Youlin after seeing this.

"Second Mother, please don't kill them all." Du Yan pulled Du Yan's hand and said worriedly, "They are all our people."

"In the eyes of my elder sister, have I become a murderous demon now?"

Just as Du Jin was thinking about how to deny it, someone came to see her. It turned out to be Yan Zhenqing, who invited her to have a talk at the observatory in the imperial palace tomorrow afternoon.

After only a brief thought, Du Jin agreed.

She knew what Yan Zhenqing was up to, and thought that at this juncture they should cooperate to stabilize the situation.

The next day.

Du Jin's carriage left Daodefang, traveled along the Luo River for a short distance, and then prepared to cross the Tianjin Bridge.

The imperial city is to the north of Tianjin Bridge, so there are not many civilians on the bridge, only some officials walking hurriedly.

When the carriage reached the bridge, an official turned his head to take a look, and many documents in his hands fell to the ground, scattering all over the floor. He hurriedly bent down to pick them up, blocking the way.

"Wait a moment."

"Hurry up..."

Before the driver could finish his words, something unexpected happened.

"boom!"

The bridge deck suddenly exploded, and Du Jin's carriage was blown to pieces. As the collapsed bridge deck was lifted up, it fell heavily into the Luo River.

The pedestrians on both sides of the river were suddenly frightened and ran away in panic.

Some people reacted too slowly. When they came to their senses and looked at the bridge again, they only saw a broken bridge and a large hole in the ice. The carriage and the people on the bridge were gone.

In this situation, it is obviously impossible to survive.

Gradually, those who had escaped came back on tiptoe, looking around and talking about something.

"Which important official of the imperial court was assassinated?"

"It looks like the carriage of Prime Minister Du Gong."

On that day, the news of Du Youlin's assassination spread throughout Luoyang.

Only a few people knew that the person who was assassinated was Du Jin, who was more powerful than Du Youlin...

~~
Nanshi, Fenghui Bank.

Du Jin bit her nails unconsciously, staring blankly at the corpse that was carried back, with a murderous aura lingering around her.

"That was a close call. How did Second Mother know that someone was going to assassinate you?" Da Xi Yingying asked.

"I do not know."

"I don't know?"

"Yes." Du Jin said, "I only know that someone is secretly following Wu Lang. I thought it was meaningless to follow that idiot, so he must be trying to find out my whereabouts. So I used a trick when I went out today."

Da Xi Yingying was puzzled and murmured, "Following Wu Lang and assassinating Er Niang... What is the connection between these two things?"

She thought about it and said, "I don't think anyone can track down Er Niang's whereabouts by following Wu Lang."

"Yes, I can think of someone who knows my whereabouts today, has the ability to obtain explosives, and has a motive."

"Mr. Yan?"

"Ah."

The two were silent for a while, and Da Xi Yingying said: "It seems that Lord Yan is determined to give up Your Majesty?"

Du Jin said, "Today, I wanted to talk to him about this matter."

As they were talking, there was a knock on the door.

Da Xi Yingying was very surprised and asked curiously, "Since we have ordered not to disturb you, who would dare to come?"

She immediately became alert, thinking that even Fenghui Bank was not safe, so she picked up a dagger for self-defense.

"it's me."

Suddenly a voice was heard outside the house.

After hearing this, Du Jin was stunned for a moment, then quickly went forward to open the door, and saw Xue Bai standing outside.

She was extremely surprised and immediately rushed over and hugged Xue Bai.

"Why is your majesty here?"

Xue Bai patted Du Jin on the back and said, "I heard that you were assassinated. I'm very worried."

"Well, you have to be careful about your father-in-law. He's not a bad man, but he wants to protect too many things, and he may have given up on you."

Seeing the two of them being so intimate, Da Xi Yingying couldn't help but lower her head, but something came to her mind.

Someone followed Du Wulang and then decided to assassinate Du Jin. There may not be a complete connection between the two.

"May I ask, has Your Majesty met Du Wulang first? If so, I'm afraid that today's assassination was aimed at Your Majesty..."

(End of this chapter)