Early Tang Dynasty: forge ahead

Chapter 539 Planning
Chen's House in Chang'an.

Chen Qingsi entertained the bad commander Yin Ming at his home.

"Thank you, General Buliang, for helping me find the thief. If it weren't for General Buliang, Wu Liu would have been captured and caught red-handed. I can't imagine that Pei Yan would be so cruel to me."

Chen Qingsi has always known that Pei Yan is very utilitarian.

After all, Pei Yan's performance in history is obvious to all. If it were not for his utilitarianism, a figure like Wu Zetian would never have appeared in history.

The so-called foreign relatives refer to a group, not a single person. Under Li Zhi's suppression, Empress Wu and the Wu family were almost at odds, and the Wu family did not arrange any outstanding figures for Li Zhi.

Empress Wu, who became the Empress Dowager, had no power to monopolize power. In order to make his power as prime minister suppress the imperial power, Pei Yan divided the imperial power into two and gave it to Wu Zetian. This allowed Empress Wu, who was suppressed by Li Zhi at the time and publicly issued an edict to call her a beast, to regain power...

Facing such a person, Chen Qingsi had never thought of working with him from the beginning. It was just because of the favor of recommendation that he could not be too extreme. On the one hand, it was personal morality. Chen Qingsi had a certain gratitude towards Pei Yan. Regardless of whether the other party regretted it later, the first step for him to rise was given by Pei Yan. On the other hand, he also had to take public opinion into consideration.

Just like later generations, this era also has its black spots. Pei Yan has shown great kindness to Chen Qingsi, which is well known. If Chen Qingsi is too harsh on Pei Yan, it will inevitably have a certain impact.

Now that Pei Yan has done such a ruthless thing, Chen Qingsi has enough reasons to take drastic measures.

As for how Wu Liu fell into Chen Qingsi's hands and was caught red-handed, this was also a coincidence.

Wu Liu was caught by the bad leader Yin Ming.

With the support of Chen Qingsi, Yin Ming became the leader of Chang'an and the Wannian Bad Guys. A character like him who is neither an official nor a thief is most suitable to become a hub connecting the black and white areas and possesses considerable power.

But after all, there was still a little difference between him and Zhou Kui, who was one of his own. So Chen Qingsi did not let Zhou Kui tell Yin Ming about the assassination, but let his own people direct and act it out, and only a few people knew the inside story.

Therefore, when Yin Ming learned that Chen Qingsi was assassinated, he was furious. The reason why a person like him could convince thousands of bad people was because of the word righteousness.

Chen Qingsi had done him a great favor, and now that his benefactor had been assassinated, he would do his utmost to find out the person behind the incident.

Zhou Kui carried out the assassination in secret, and because he was the victim, he did not leave any clues.

Yin Ming was not someone like Di Renjie or Su Wuming, who were good at solving cases, so he couldn't find any clues at all.

As the bad guy of Chang'an, the leader of thousands of bad guys, even if he doesn't have any clever ideas, he can still use some clumsy tricks.

The real difficulty in assassinating Chen Qingsi is not the assassination, but the escape after the assassination.

Chen Qingsi's status and position were there, and whether the assassination was successful or not, it would cause an uproar. Unless he was the kind of warrior who was determined to die, as long as he had a little desire to survive, he would arrange a retreat for himself in advance.

The assassin who tried to assassinate Chen Qingsi mysteriously disappeared after the assassination failed. He must have gotten help from others and left Chang'an through illegal means, or simply went into hiding.

In response to this, Yin Ming used his influence to screen one by one and used various means to threaten those who were engaged in smuggling and illegal immigration in the city, asking them to hand over the identities of those who had left the city through illegal means after the city was sealed off and martial law was imposed, or who had contacted them with the intention of sneaking out of the city.

Yin Ming is determined and refuses to cooperate, so he can forget about staying in Chang'an.

Yin Ming, the bad guy, holds power in both the black and white worlds, and is well-placed to deal with the powerful people roaming the streets.

He couldn't find the real murderer, but he did find out about the strange existence of Wu Liu.

Wu Liu is not just a pure death warrior, but a brave man who dares to risk his life for his future. He can risk his life for his future, but he is unwilling to die in Chang'an.

His plan was to contact his helpers immediately after assassinating Chen Qingsi, steal the water network and leave Chang'an. Then he would go to the Western Regions to gain military merit and become famous. But the assassination was taken by someone else, so he didn't need to steal the water network. Instead, he stayed in Chang'an for another day before going to the Western Regions to join the army with Pei Yan's letter of introduction.

Wu Liu did not carry out the assassination, but his movements were very suspicious. Yin Ming's haphazard method of casting a wide net accidentally caught Wu Liu and told Chen Qingsi about it.

Upon hearing the news, Chen Qingsi had no scruples. Pei Yan's assassination completely severed the already shaky relationship between the two. He contacted Xu Jingzong and made him a general directly.

Now Li Ji is leading nearly 50,000 Tang warriors and 100,000 foreign troops who have surrendered to the Tang Dynasty to fight desperately in the Western Regions. Chen Qingsi doesn't want the mess in the temple to affect the front line.

The transition of the imperial power would inevitably affect the front line. If there were any special fighting, the traitors in the Arab Kingdom would spread the news and shake the morale of the army. Especially the 100,000 foreign troops, they were submitting to the powerful Tang Dynasty, not an internally unstable dynasty.

The reason why Li Zhi appointed him as the sole prime minister was probably due to this relationship.

Without stable support from the rear, under the current circumstances, it would be difficult for Li Ji to gain the upper hand over the Arab Empire.

What Chen Qingsi did was to create a stable environment on the front line so as to win the battle.

"Sir, Minister Liu is outside the house asking to see you!"

Just when they were drinking and having fun, news came from outside that Liu Jingxian wanted to see them.

Chen Qingsi raised his glass and said, "General Buliang, I have other things to do, so I will not accompany you. I will ask Manager Qing to accompany you on my behalf."

Yin Ming hurriedly said, "Mr. Chen, please do as you please. Don't bother with a rough man like me."

Chen Qingsi is now climbing higher and higher, and has completely widened the gap.

Yin Ming originally just wanted to have someone to cling to, but now he found that this person had become a mountain, and he seemed to have no qualifications to cling to. But Chen Qingsi did not underestimate him because of this. Instead, he personally entertained him because of his small contribution, which was enough for him to brag about for a while. How dare he expect anything else...

Chen Qingsi, however, seemed approachable and courteous. For a man like Yin Ming, if you give him some face, he would save your life.

Chen Qingsi met Liu Jingxian in the hall.

Liu Jingxian had already sorted out the clues. At this moment, his heart was still thinking about his good friend Pei Yan. Facing Chen Qingsi, he said sincerely: "My lord, Mr. Pei made a big mistake this time because of greed. I have persuaded him to apologize to His Majesty. Brother Zilong is very remorseful and is willing to go to the palace to explain everything to His Majesty. I hope that my lord can give him a break for the sake of our past friendship."

Chen Qingsi said: "If he can cooperate, I will spare his life."

He was giving Li Hong some face, as Li Hong must have known about the tampering of the will.

Chen Qingsi could understand that no one wanted to be an emperor with a big father on his head. But if this matter was really fully revealed, the prestige of Li Hong, the new emperor whose presence was not very good, would be seriously affected, which would be unfavorable to the situation.

When Xu Jingzong impeached Pei Yan and Li Jingxuan, he picked Li Hong out. That is to say, when Li Zhi entrusted his son to the care of others, Li Hong was not present. The only people who heard the will were Pei Yan, Xu Jingzong and Li Jingxuan.

Of course, this kind of talk is full of loopholes, and it is just to fool outsiders. Those who are truly politically savvy know what is going on, but because of this, no one will expose it.

Liu Jingxian continued, "Not only that, when Li Xianggong saw that the matter was exposed, he also went to the palace with Pei Xianggong to plead guilty."

Upon hearing this, Chen Qingsi frowned and asked, "Is Li Jingxuan here too?"

Liu Jingxian said, "When I went to Pei's house to persuade Mr. Pei, Mr. Li happened to be there."

Chen Qingsi pondered for a moment and said with a smile: "Thank you for your hard work, Minister Liu. You have done everything a friend can do. Now it depends on his own choice."

Liu Jingxian felt that Chen Qingsi seemed to have something else in his words.

Chen Qingsi did not make it clear, but had Liu Jingxian sent away and asked someone to call Zhang Jianzhi over.

This time when he returned to Beijing, many things were complicated, so Chen Qingsi specially found a home for Zhang Jianzhi in Wubenfang where he lived, so that they could discuss things together.

Zhang Jianzhi arrived very quickly.

Chen Qingsi briefly told Zhang Jianzhi the news that Liu Jingxian brought.

Zhang Jianzhi immediately reacted and asked, "Could this be false?"

Chen Qingsi said: "If it was only Pei Yan, this matter would most likely be true. With Li Jingxuan, it's different. Pei Yan and Li Jingxuan, they are the same kind of people, but also not the same kind of people."

Zhang Jianzhi knew what Chen Qingsi meant. Pei Yan had the Pei family behind him. He was not alone. If something happened, he had to consider the entire Pei family.

Even if this kind of person really fails, he will not do anything to the extreme. Even if he gets angry and turns into a mad dog that bites people, the Pei family will not let him go crazy.

Li Jingxuan is different. The Li family relies on Li Jingxuan alone. The Li family cannot control Li Jingxuan. Even if they are unwilling to be buried with Li Jingxuan, they are powerless to stop any crazy actions of Li Jingxuan.

Chen Qingsi believed that Pei Yan would take all the blame for the Pei family and leave Li Hong with dignity.

But I don't believe that Li Jingxuan will cooperate like this.

"They are already trapped in a jar, but we have to be careful that they may jump out of the corner."

"Tell me, where is their only chance now?"

Chen Qingsi's eyes are deep.

Zhang Jianzhi thought for a moment and said, "Northern Yamen Imperial Guards."

The Beiya Imperial Guards refer to the emperor's private soldiers stationed in the north of the palace city, whose main responsibility is to protect the emperor and the royal family. They were originally the subordinates of Emperor Taizu Li Yuan during the Taiyuan Uprising. When they grew old, their sons served as the Imperial Guards, and were called "father-son soldiers."

Li Shimin was a horse-riding emperor, and it was normal for him to train troops in the imperial palace. He would select a hundred good archers and make them the second shift at the north gate, called the "Hundred Riders", and train them day and night.

Li Zhi improved this system, thus forming the Left and Right Yulin Army, which was separated from the Twelve Guards of the Southern Court and existed as the emperor's private army, known as the Northern Court Forbidden Army.

After Li Hong ascended the throne, the Ten Rates Office of the Eastern Palace was promoted to the Northern Ya Forbidden Army.

This is the only power that Li Jingxuan can use...

"Let him move!"

Chen Qingsi said: "He asked for death, so it's just right for them to die completely."

Incorporate Pei Yan's political power, eliminate Li Jingxuan's political capital, and gather the scattered forces again.

(End of this chapter)