Neon Clothes and Iron Clothes

Chapter 903 Survive
"Shut up!" Hu Liang was startled when he heard that. He leaned his head out of the carriage window to make sure that the accompanying guards and the coachman outside the carriage had not heard what his wife had just said. Then he went back into the carriage and lowered his voice to scold: "Dingyue, how can you say such things casually?"

"What's there to hide?" Princess Taiping said with a nonchalant smile, "My dear, don't worry. This carriage is specially made. There are layers on all four walls. Unless we shout loudly, the driver outside won't be able to hear us clearly!"

"Really?" Hu Liang breathed a sigh of relief: "Well, Dingyue, don't let your imagination run wild from now on. Don't forget that your last name is also Li!"

"So what?" Princess Taiping said with a sweet smile, "As the saying goes, if you marry a chicken, you follow the chicken; if you marry a dog, you follow the dog. No matter what my last name was, I am now the daughter-in-law of the Wang family! Besides, if we women don't support our own children, how can we support our nephew?"

Hearing his wife's explicit words, Huliang was speechless for a while. After a while, he whispered, "The throne is a destiny, not something that can be obtained by intelligence. Since Emperor Taizu Jing (Li Hu), the Li family has been either meritorious or relatives of the emperor's wife. Over the generations, they have accumulated great virtues and reputations. Emperor Taizong Wen was also a genius who swept away the heroes at the end of the Sui Dynasty and saved Yuan Yuan from danger. It was God's will that brought us the world. I, Huliang, inherited this position from my father. I have no unparalleled merits, nor do I have extraordinary intelligence. I often feel uneasy in this position. I think I am dull in intelligence and shallow in virtues and reputation. How dare I dream of the throne?"

"Haha!" Princess Taiping laughed. She stretched out her right hand and hugged her husband's arm affectionately. "You said that you are dull and lack moral integrity, and you are not qualified to be an emperor. Then why did Emperor Gaozu Wu take the throne? The first merits of the Taiyuan uprising were Liu Wenjing and Emperor Taizong Wen; the defeat of Song Laosheng and the capture of Chang'an were also the merits of Emperor Taizong Wen and Princess Pingyang Zhao; the defeat of Xue Ju and his son in Qianshuiyuan, the defeat of Song Jingang in Shuque Valley, the defeat of Wang Shichong in Luoyang, and the capture of Dou Jiande in Hulao were all the merits of Emperor Wen. Emperor Gaozu Wu lived in Chang'an, so what merits did he have? Instead, he behaved in a confused manner, causing Emperor Taizong Wen to be forced by Prince Yin, and finally caused the regrettable incident of the Xuanwu Gate Incident. Could this also be a sign of great moral integrity?"

"This——" Huliang was speechless for a while because of his wife's complaints about his ancestors. The meaning of Princess Taiping's words was very clear: You said that you have no virtue and no merit, but does Li Yuan have these? Li Yuan has been winning by doing nothing since he started his army in Taiyuan. At least Huliang had military merits in suppressing the rebellion of bandits in the middle of Sichuan and defeating the powerful Tubo enemy. As for virtue, Li Yuan killed Liu Wenjing, who had made great contributions in initiating the initiative, and played a balancing game between his eldest son Li Jiancheng and his second son Li Shimin, who had made great contributions to the world. In the end, he played too much and caused the tragedy of brothers killing each other in the Xuanwu Gate Incident. Even if Huliang's virtue is worse, he is much better than Li Yuan. But the problem is that anyone can say this, but Princess Taiping said that Huliang sounds weird. No matter what, Li Yuan is your ancestor! Is it appropriate for you, a junior, to complain about the family's scandals in front of outsiders?

"Although Emperor Gaozu Wu lacks virtue and talent, he is the father of Emperor Taizong Wen after all!" Hu Liang said with a wry smile.

"Emperor Gaozu Wu was not talented enough to ascend the throne with his son, so why can't you rely on your father-in-law's talent?" Princess Taiping retorted: "Well, even if you think you are already a minister of the Tang Dynasty and it is not appropriate for a minister to force the emperor, then our child can be, right? He has not eaten Tang salary, and he also has the blood of Emperor Taizong Wen and Emperor Gaozong Xiao!"

"Our child?" Hu Liang was stunned when he heard this. It would not be wrong to say that he had no extravagant thoughts about the throne of the Tang Dynasty. However, Hu Liang knew that his talent and virtue were far inferior to his father's, and Wang Wenzuo had never shown any desire for the throne over the years, no matter how powerful he was. Naturally, he felt that he was even less qualified to have this idea. Later, although Yan Liang privately expressed his support for him to seize the throne, he still felt that it was a little bit lacking, not necessarily because he was concerned about his wife, the daughter-in-law of the Li family. However, he did not expect that when he came back from Fanyang this time, his wife turned the gun around and encouraged him to seize the throne, which undoubtedly added a piece of dry wood to the fire of ambition.

"It's too early to say that now!" Hu Liang smiled and said, "How old is Bishamon (the nickname of their son)? Let's wait and see!"

Hearing that her husband did not flatly refuse, Princess Taiping already had a clue in her mind. She smiled and pushed her husband's arm: "Speaking of Bishamon, you haven't hugged him since you came back from Fanyang! This is your fault as a father!"

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Guiyifang, posthouse.

"Your Highness, please enjoy your meal!" The servant of the inn bowed and walked out of the room, not forgetting to close the door.

Li Shouwen walked to the table, where four dishes were placed: pan-fried white sausage, roasted goose, pickled meat and baked green beans, and a large bowl of mutton soup in the middle. Although he was already starving, he did not reach out to eat immediately. Instead, he took out a silver needle from his sleeve and poked it into each dish to make sure it had not turned black. Then he took a little from each dish, put it in his mouth, chewed it, and swallowed it. He waited for a while to make sure he was fine before eating.

After dinner, Li Shouwen took out the remaining Hu pancakes, smoked goose, and pickled meat, wrapped them in paper and hid them in a secret place, and then asked someone to come and clean up the dishes. The servant came in and saw that the bowls on the table were empty. He couldn't help but be stunned. Seeing that the guest was of noble status, he didn't expect him to eat so cleanly. According to the rules, the leftovers here were originally for himself and the servants on duty. What should he do?

Li Shouwen saw the servant's expression and immediately guessed something. He couldn't help but feel extremely distressed. If it weren't for that evil woman who kept forcing him, how could he end up in such a situation? Thinking of this, Li Shouwen felt even more annoyed: "What's wrong? Is there anything else?"

"No, it's gone!" The servant hurriedly put away the dishes and went out. Li Shouwen heard some murmuring coming from the yard. He must have thought that the servant was complaining about him to his companions. Thinking that he was being complained by such a few lowly people, Li Shouwen felt a surge of anger in his chest and kicked over the stool next to him.

"Your Highness, Prince of Poyang!" A deep voice came from the courtyard: "I, the Censor Huan Yanfan, request an audience!"

"Huan Yanfan? Who is this person?" Li Shouwen tried to search for this name in his mind, but to no avail. There were too many officials in Chang'an. However, most of the censors were smart and capable people who were skilled in litigation. Most of them came for their own cases. Thinking of this, Li Shouwen couldn't help but laugh bitterly in his heart: "It seems that my days here are coming to an end!"

"Come in!" Li Shouwen sat down beside the desk and said in a deep voice.

"Thank you!" The door was pushed open, and a green-robed official came in. He bowed to Li Shouwen and said, "Your Highness, I am here on the orders of the Left Vice-Chief Censor to verify a few things with you. Please forgive me if I have offended you!"

"Forget it!" Li Shouwen said coldly, "Since it is the order of the court, I will answer any questions you have. Please sit down first!"

"Thank you, Your Highness!" Huan Yanfan bowed again, sat down where Li Shouwen pointed, and waved to the outside. A clerk in blue came in, holding a low table, and knelt on the ground. He spread out ink, paper and inkstone on the low table, holding the brush but not writing, obviously preparing to record Huan Yanfan's next interrogation.

"Your Highness!" Huan Yanfan coughed, "Do you remember the matter of buying horses that Liu An, the Sima of the Royal Palace, brought up when he came to see you on the tenth day of the first month of this year?" Li Shouwen answered Huan Yanfan's questions one by one according to his memory. He had originally given up hope for his fate. He had experienced the vicissitudes of life since he was a child and had long understood the benefits and disadvantages of the pen-and-paper officials. Even if he could not be tortured for the time being due to his status, he could not escape the final fate of other criminals under the torture of fabricated grammar. Given this mentality, he was too lazy to even guess the other party's intentions, and just answered whatever was asked, just like an exhausted person who fell into the water, gave up struggling, and let the water submerge his mouth and nose.

But as the interrogation progressed, Li Shouwen was surprised to find that the censor in front of him not only did not set up vicious traps to put him in danger if he retreated, but also seemed to be trying to find a way to help him get rid of the crime. To be precise, his questions intentionally or unintentionally pushed him from the host and instigator of the entire rebellion to the role of a victim who was unaware of it beforehand and was deceived by those greedy and ambitious subordinates. This is very strange. If this is the case, at most he would be guilty of "not observing people clearly". His royal title would definitely be gone, but his life would be saved. Did the Queen Mother spend so much effort to bring him from Raozhou to Chang'an just to abolish his royal title? This is too ridiculous, isn't it?

"Your Highness, Your Highness!"

"Oh!" Li Shouwen was pulled back to reality by Huan Yanfan's voice. He looked up and found that the other party was looking at him with a smile. He couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed: "Forgive me, I was a little distracted just now. What did you want to ask me just now?"

"It's all right!" Huan Yanfan smiled gently, "I have finished asking questions, Your Highness, you can check whether the records are true. If they are true, please sign your name to record it!" He took the interrogation record he had just copied from the blue-clothed clerk beside him and presented it to Li Shouwen with both hands. Li Shouwen took it and read it carefully from beginning to end. His doubts became heavier. If he followed the records above, he would never be convicted of treason. With his status and title, the punishment for other crimes would not be painful at all.

"Censor Huan!" Li Shouwen pointed at the confession and said, "Have you ever seen this record?"

"Your Highness, my memory is pretty good. I still remember what I asked and what you said just now!" Huan Yanfan said with a smile.

"You'd better take a look first!" Li Shouwen handed it over. Huan Yanfan was slightly stunned, took the record and read it again: "Yes, there is no mistake!"

"Then the censor must know that if I am convicted based on this record, the most I can do is to be accused of 'not observing people well'!"

"Haha!" Huan Yanfan laughed: "If that's the case, then I'd like to congratulate Your Highness first!"

"Forget it!" Li Shouwen decided not to beat around the bush. "Since you came to me today, someone must have warned you before. The court spent so much effort to bring me from Raozhou to Chang'an, just to put me to death. But you let me go like this, aren't you afraid that someone will want your life?"

"I don't understand what Your Highness is saying!" Huan Yanfan smiled calmly, like a deep pool, making it impossible to know what is hidden under the water. "Yes, my boss did give me some instructions before I came to you, but he didn't tell me to kill Your Highness, but to act impartially, which is what I did. Is Your Highness not satisfied with the result?"

"It's not that I'm dissatisfied with the result!" Li Shouwen just felt annoyed. He had originally made up his mind to die, but he didn't expect that when death was approaching, he would change. Instead of being ecstatic, he felt a sense of panic. Could it be that the woman had some vicious trap hidden behind that he hadn't thought of?

"That would be the best!" Huan Yanfan said with a smile, "Your Highness, if you don't think there is anything wrong with this, then please sign it, so that I can report back!"

Li Shouwen picked up the brush, left his signature at the end of the confession, and sent Huan Yanfan out the door. He had been ready to die, but was suddenly told that he didn't have to die. He felt a strange sense of loss in his heart, which made him feel empty.

Facts have proved that Li Shouwen's judgment was accurate, and the judge did not want his life. The three judicial officials took only one and a half days to come up with the conclusion: Poyang Wang was not clear about the investigation, which led to the gathering of traitors in the palace, who wanted to commit treason, but before that they were unaware of everything and had no intention of treason. Therefore, the punishment was not severe, but he was demoted to a commoner and exiled to Fangzhou, which was specially responsible for watching the royal family of the Tang Dynasty, and was ordered to be under residential surveillance. This can be said to be a pleasant surprise for Li Shouwen.

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Princess Taiping Mansion.

"It seems that the Queen Mother still keeps her word!" Princess Taiping said with a smile: "What do you think? Do you want to send someone to escort Li Shouwen to Fangzhou?"

"Be a good person till the end!" Hu Liang smiled: "Otherwise if he dies on the way, wouldn't all our efforts have been in vain?"

"Alright!" Princess Taiping shook her head nonchalantly. "But how is the situation with the Jiaozhou governor in the Political Affairs Hall?"

"There are still some troubles!"

"Trouble?" Princess Taiping frowned. "It's not Jianghuai or Henan, where no one wants to go. How can there be any trouble? Is someone deliberately shirking responsibility?"

"That's not the case!" Hu Liang laughed. "The local barbarians are causing trouble again and are fighting. The Political Affairs Hall feels that at this critical moment, if someone who knows nothing about the local area and is not adapted to the local climate is sent there, the war may get worse! So they suggest that we slow down the process first!"