The Flourishing Tang Dynasty: Beginning with Marrying Yang Yuhuan

Chapter 9 Crisis lurks everywhere
In the palace, Li Longji sat on the dragon throne with his hand on his forehead, looking a little tired.

Gao Lishi, who was standing by, reported: "Your Majesty, His Highness Prince Shou has not left the Prince Shou's Palace during this period of time, except for paying respects to Concubine Hui."

Li Longji did not raise his head and asked again: "Have you seen anyone special?"

"No." Gao Lishi replied affirmatively.

Li Longji fell silent, thought for a moment, and then asked, "Where is the crown prince?"

Gao Lishi replied: "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is often with Prince E Li Yao and Prince Guang Li Ju, and some ministers in the court also go to visit them."

Hearing this, Li Longji finally raised his head, looked at Gao Lishi, and asked, "Where is Li Heng?"

Gao Lishi said: "Li Linfu did go to visit His Royal Highness Prince Zhong, but His Royal Highness Prince Zhong did not see him."

Li Longji asked, "Who are the people Li Heng has been meeting recently?"

Gao Lishi said: "He Zhizhang, Pan Su, Lu Xiang, Huangfu Bin and others are all famous scholars."

Li Longji nodded and said nothing more. Gao Lishi retreated on his own initiative.

After Gao Lishi left, a guard came in, bowed and said, "Greetings, Saint."

Li Longji asked, "Is what Gao Lishi just said true?"

"Every word is true." The guard replied, lying on the ground.

Li Longji said: "Okay, you can go out."

"Yes." The guard retreated.

There was no one around, so Li Longji leaned back on the dragon throne and started to think.

It was inevitable that Li Heng would lose power, so he could go wherever he wanted.

The prince is now a little too proud of himself, but Li Heng, on the other hand, is really calm.

If I want to balance the power of the crown prince right now, it seems I can only support Li Heng.

Li Heng, I hope you can really keep your composure and not pretend to be building a plank road while secretly attacking Chencang.

Li Ying spent the whole day in the palace with Yang Yuhuan reading poems and listening to music. Time passed quickly and it was already mid-January.

This month, Li Longji did two things.

The first was to issue an imperial decree: "All fugitives in the country are required to surrender within this year. Those with old property will be required to return it to their hometowns, and those without will be subject to other procedures. If they fail to surrender within the deadline, special envoys will be ordered to search for them and disperse them to the military."

The second thing was to allow Prince Shou to travel outside the capital, and to send the daughter of Imperial Physician Zhang to be Li Heng's medical officer, and to send a General of the Guards to be Li Heng's personal bodyguard.

The first incident concerns the national economy and people's livelihood, but in Chang'an City, the second incident obviously brought a greater shock.

Because Li Heng was not only ill, but also had to leave the capital, which meant that Li Heng would no longer have the chance to become the crown prince.
For a time, there was an undercurrent.

……

The three brothers, Crown Prince Li Ying, Prince of E Li Yao, and Prince of Guang Li Ju, sat together.

Prince E Li Yao said: "God has a good eye and made Li Heng suffer from an incurable disease. Now my second brother's position as the crown prince is secure."

Prince Guang Li Ju followed up and said, "Li Heng deserves to die! Concubine Wu Hui pissed off our mother to death, now she should also experience the pain of losing her loved ones."

Li Ying's two brothers cursed vigorously, but he himself was relatively calm. He thought for a moment and said, "My two brothers, I have said too much. After all, Li Heng is also our brother. How can we add insult to injury when our brother is ill?"

Li Yao and Li Ju looked at each other and said in unison, "Your Highness, I spoke out of turn." Li Ying raised his hand, indicating that there was no need to be polite, and then said, "The situation is not so clear now. Although Li Heng has left the capital due to illness, Consort Wu Hui is still here, and the emperor's favor towards her has not diminished at all. Although she cannot allow her son to become the crown prince, she can still influence others."

Prince Guang Li Ju said: "Before there was Wu, and after that there were Empress Wei, Princess Anle, Shangguan Wan'er and Princess Taiping. Father clearly knew that it was a taboo for women to interfere in politics, but he still favored Concubine Wu Hui and let her..."

"Shut up!" Li Ying interrupted Li Ju and said, "Father is a wise and enlightened ruler. How could you say that? Besides, father is not unaware of the taboos, otherwise Wu Huifei would not be Huifei, but the queen. Not making her the queen is already a restriction by father."

Li Ju was dissatisfied and said, "Although she doesn't have the title of queen, she is also a queen in reality."

Li Ju understood something when he said this, and then asked, "Second brother, you are not trying to please her, are you?"

Li Ying said: "When Wei, Shu and Wu were in a tripartite situation, they often united to deal with the other side, because no one would be an enemy forever. In the past few days, I saw that my father often summoned He Zhizhang, Pan Su, Lu Xiang, Huangfu Bin and others. They are all Li Heng's teachers and friends. It can be seen that my father has other intentions."

"This..." Li Ju reacted, "But I really don't want to unite with the Wu family, and I have to lower myself."

Li Yao, who had been silent for a long time, said: "Alliance is an alliance, but it does not mean that we have no other ways."

"What method?" Li Ju asked.

Li Yao said, "Isn't Li Heng going to leave Chang'an? Once he leaves Chang'an, the journey will be difficult and dangerous. He may encounter any accidents. If this accident is caused by Li Heng's people, wouldn't it be killing two birds with one stone?"

"Yes!" Li Ju clapped his hands and turned to ask Li Ying's opinion, but saw that Li Ying had already walked out the door.

Li Ju asked Li Yao, "What do you mean, second brother? Do you disagree?"

Li Yao smiled and shook his head, saying: "If the second brother really disagrees, he has already stopped us. But he is the prince, he should do the right thing, these things should be done by us."

Li Ju said: "Well, let's discuss it."

……

In Li Heng's mansion.

Li Heng poured tea for Lü Xiang and Huangfu Bin and said, "This is new tea just sent from Lingnan. It tastes very good. Please taste it, teachers."

Lu Xiang and Huangfu Bin took a sip and Lu Xiang said, "Not greasy or spicy, leaves a lingering fragrance on the lips and teeth, good tea."

Huangfu Bin continued, "Your Highness, although Lingnan is a good place to produce tea, Chang'an is still a better place to live."

Huangfu Bin meant to hint to Li Heng that he should seize the throne, because if Li Heng did not seize the throne, it would not be up to him to decide whether he could stay in Chang'an for a long time.

Li Heng heard the hidden meaning, but did not express his attitude. He just said: "I have some acquaintances in Lingnan area. The teacher likes Lingnan tea. I can send someone to send it to the teacher every year."

Huangfu Bin knew that Li Heng was pretending to be confused, so he said directly: "Your Highness, the Saint has summoned the four of us to the palace now. His intention is obvious. If we don't seize the opportunity now, we will miss the good chance and regret it. I know that Your Highness is kind-hearted, but with such intentions, the Crown Prince will definitely take action. If we don't make preparations early, I'm afraid we will be unable to deal with it by then."

Li Heng was slightly stunned after hearing this, and after thinking for a while, he said, "What do you think, teacher?"

Huangfu Bin said: "Strike first."

"How to take the initiative?" Li Heng asked.

Huangfu Bin said: "The Crown Prince has always been at odds with Prince Shou and Consort Wu Huifei. If something unexpected happens after Prince Shou leaves Chang'an this time, the Crown Prince will probably be implicated..."

Li Heng said: "He is my brother!"

Huangfu Bin said, "His mother is from the Wu family. The Wu family has done many unjust things, so it is only right that they will pay the price on him. Besides, he will not live long because of his illness."

Li Heng said: "I will pretend I have never heard of this matter."

Li Heng just said he had never heard of it, but did not stop it. The implication of his words was self-evident.

(End of this chapter)