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

Chapter 1349: Pass the decree, mobilize the military to think twice before entering the capital

There was silence in Penglai Hall.

On the bed, a figure wearing a thin white silk robe was sitting cross-legged and adjusting his breath.

His expression was calm and his face was familiar.

Surprisingly, it was the emperor himself.

His eyebrows were lowered and his breathing was slow.

A slight blush appeared on the emperor's face, and he felt completely relaxed.

On the inside of the bed on one side, a black-and-gold-painted one with its lid opened fell there, and no one could see it.

Slight footsteps sounded in front of the palace door, and then they suddenly stopped and waited patiently.

"What's the matter?" Although the emperor still closed his eyes, his cold voice was heard directly outside the palace.

Wang Fulai entered the palace cautiously, glanced at the emperor with a worried expression, and then said, "Your Majesty, Zuo Qianniu Guardsman Su Baotong has returned. The matter deep in Mang Mountain has come to an end."

"Pass it on, let me see how many people dare to do things under my nose." Li Zhi slowly opened his eyes.

The affairs of the Xiao family and the Yang family seem to be big, but in fact the impact is limited. The real big families in the world, the Fanyang Lu family, the Boling Cui family, the Qinghe Cui family, and the Xingyang Zheng family are not involved. Wei Pei, Xue, Liuyang Du, only one part of the Yang family was involved, so the impact was not big.

The others were none other than the Yue King Li Zhen, but to be honest, Li Zhen had very few connections at his disposal.

All that's left are the rats hiding in the gutter.

Even the imperial power is not afraid, and they even dare to privately manufacture armor and sell traitors. All such people should be killed.

A trace of indifference flashed in Li Zhi's eyes. He raised his head and saw that Su Baotong, dressed in red clothes and gold armor, had already walked quickly into the hall.

Su Baotong knelt down on one knee and said in a deep voice, "My lord, Su Baotong, General Zuo Qianniu Guardsman, pays homage to Your Majesty. May Your Majesty live forever."

Li Zhi nodded and said, "Get back on your feet."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Su Baotong stood up solemnly.

"Have you found out what happened deep in Mang Mountain?" Li Zhi asked calmly.

"Yes!" Su Baotong raised his hand and said, "Reporting to your majesty, at yesterday's hour, I followed King Peng into the dense valley of Mang Mountain, captured and killed more than 300 people, lost 30 soldiers, and captured 17 armors and 3 horizontal knives. One hundred, seventeen shields, seven spears, fifty crossbows, and three thousand crossbow arrows.”

"It's already more than a local county government, and it's still there. If it's been sold over the years, it's probably as many as one in Shangzhou." Li Zhi's eyes were cold.

In addition to Chang'an, Luoyang, the border, and garrisoned states, there are several other places that can produce so many weapons that can be used immediately for battlefield killing.

Even if it is placed in Chang'an or Luoyang, it is enough to cause some troubles.

Especially now that he has been involved in a treason case.

"Continue." Li Zhi looked up at Su Baotong.

"Yes." Su Baotong handed over his hand and said, "I personally interrogated the people behind the scenes and learned that they actually started operating in Mangshan in the autumn of the year before last. There are shipping records over the years, and some can find out who they sold to. , and some use completely pseudonyms.”

Su Baotong handed the account book he took out from his sleeve to Wang Fulai. After Wang Fulai took it, he handed it to the emperor.

Li Zhi reached out from behind the gauze curtain, took the account book directly, and then gently rolled his eyes a few times.

The rest didn't matter, but some of the places deliberately circled with red pen made Li Zhi very concerned.

"Twenty thousand yuan is sent to Chang'an every month, and it has been sent for two consecutive years." Li Zhi's fists suddenly clenched hard.

Today's Tang Dynasty's annual tax revenue is about 11 million yuan, more than 200,000 yuan, or two years, which does not seem to be much.

But in fact, the national treasury is in deficit every year, and the amount of the deficit is around two to three million yuan.

Two years of income is enough to make up for one-tenth of the court's deficit.

Such a sum of money actually flowed right before his eyes.

"Who is it? Have you found it?" Li Zhi raised his head and stared at Su Baotong.

Su Baotong solemnly raised his hands, and then said: "Reporting to your majesty, I found it. Someone in the valley once sent money into Chang'an, so Qianniuwei checked based on the clues and found that they had arrived at the house where the money was collected, but they were only transferring money in transit... In addition, that night, Two people visited the valley at night and were captured directly."

Li Zhi couldn't help but frown. Although the avoidance in Su Baotong's words was vague, Li Zhi still heard it clearly.

Anyone who dares to do such a thing is definitely not an ordinary person.

"Originally, I wanted to torture the two of them, but King Peng suddenly said that he had met the two of them before." Su Baotong paused here.

Li Zhi narrowed his eyes slightly, and then couldn't help but said in a funny tone: "No wonder he is hiding in Luoyang and not coming back for such a big thing... Tell me, who is he, and when and where is King Peng? I’ve seen these two people.”

"The year before last, the first year of Tiaolu, late September, Chang'an, Duke Zhou's Mansion." After Su Baotong finished speaking, he knelt down again.

"What?" Li Zhi was stunned immediately. It was late September in the first year of Tiaolu, Chang'an, Duke Zhou's Mansion.

Li Zhi squinted his eyes and said in disbelief: "Is it Duke Zhou?"

Su Baotong lowered his head and cupped his hands and said: "Qian Niu Guards, check, the last place those people who transported copper coins went to was indeed the Duke of Zhou's Mansion, once a month for two years."

Li Zhi took a deep breath and recalled: "If I remember correctly, in the first year of Tiaolu, the King of England had just made the crown prince, and late September, September 19th, was the birthday of Duke Zhou. King Peng personally congratulated him on his birthday. There seemed to be some unpleasantness happening in the middle.”

Li Zhi turned to look at Wang Fulai. Wang Fulai immediately raised his hands and said: "Report to your majesty, Duke Zhou did have a group of people in private. When King Yong was just deposed, Duke Zhou secretly robbed the Wei family of the property left behind in the East Palace. Duke Zhou was very "I suffered some losses." "The representative of the Wei family, taking some of Erlang's things, is nothing, but why did Chengsi take action?" Li Zhi's tone was very slow, as if he was really puzzled.

Wang Fulai lowered his head and did not dare to reply.

Su Baotong also lowered his head. Now these are far beyond his ability to participate.

When he first knew that Wu Chengsi was involved, Su Baotong had already realized that there would be big trouble.

But this matter itself was the responsibility of the secret guard. When Li Xuan began to shirk, Su Baotong had no other choice.

Fortunately, Li Xuan left him a way out.

……

"...The year before last, the first year of Tiaolu, Su Qing, I remember what you said at the beginning, was that the casting workshop also opened the year before last?" Li Zhi suddenly said.

"Yes!" Su Baotong quickly handed over his hand and said, "There were people there before, but it fell into the hands of Zhou Guogong in the first year of Tiaolu. Later, a group of criminal craftsmen were transferred from various places, and then they started to continue the casting business."

"So, that place originally belonged to the East Palace. The East Palace was used to make armor. However, after the East Palace was confiscated, it continued to be used to make armor and then used it for rebellion." Li Zhi said with cold eyes: " He is indeed an immature wolf cub, he will never forget to bite me."

"Your Majesty." Wang Fulai knelt down with a "pop" and lowered his head, not daring to raise it at all.

"Forget it, let the Queen handle it." Li Zhi waved his hand, then looked at Su Baotong and asked, "Where is Prince Peng?"

"Reporting to your majesty, King Peng has returned to Luoyang to inspect the families related to the foundry. If anyone hides armor in the city, he will be punished according to the law." Su Baotong raised his head and said seriously: "In addition, there is one more thing."

"What's the matter?" Behind the curtain, Li Zhi seemed a little absent-minded. Although he asked Empress Wu to deal with Wu Chengsi's affairs, Li Zhi still had other ideas.

"Reporting to your majesty, I was interrogating many people in the foundry and found out that it is not just Chang'an that is related to it. There seem to be several other workshops hidden near Luoyang in Chang'an."

When Su Baotong saw the emperor's eyes falling on the account book, he quickly handed over his hand and said: "There is no record in the account book, but someone has been to other places, and one of them is in Zhongnan Mountain."

Li Zhi suddenly raised his head, staring at Su Baotong like a furious beast.

He also stared at Li Xuan who was hiding behind him.

Right now, this matter is once again a pool of muddy water.

Li Zhi could sense that Li Xuan didn't want to get involved anymore, so he left everything to Li Zhi to handle.

Li Xuan's identity really can no longer be opposed to Wu Chengsi's, because the things Wu Chengsi is doing now are too bad.

After a long time, Li Zhi spoke directly: "This matter will be handed over to General Zuo Qianniuwei and Prince Li Jingjia of Beiping County for further investigation."

"Here!" Su Baotong finally breathed a sigh of relief, then glanced at the somewhat silent emperor, and quickly said, "I'm leaving."

Li Zhi waved his hand nonchalantly, and Su Baotong carefully withdrew.

It wasn't until he retreated outside Penglai Hall that Su Baotong felt completely relieved.

Zhou Guogong is the nephew of the Queen of Heaven. Even if he was involved in some illegal things before, he was just demoted in the end.

These things today seem not to be trivial, and they seem to make the emperor angry, but in fact, it is hard to say what the real situation is.

Not to mention the final result.

Su Baotong understood Li Xuan's thoughts at this time. If Li Xuan came back in person this time to report the matter to the emperor, should the emperor deal with it more seriously or lightly?
You know, now Li Xuan is not only the general of the right guard, but also the guest of the prince and the heir to the dynasty.

If he comes by himself, I'm afraid the emperor will not be able to deal with it in the end.

What's more, if Wu Chengsi is not handled properly, it will in turn affect Li Xuan herself.

It would be easier for the emperor to take a step back and let Su Bao play the part.

Just looking at the fact that Zuo Qianniuwei general Li Jingjia was left to handle it instead of leaving it to the Ministry of Punishment and Dali Temple can tell something.

The emperor's advances and retreats became even greater.

But this also means that in the end, Wu Chengsi is likely to escape punishment.

Ugh!
……

In Penglai Hall, the previous memorials and account books have been received aside.

Li Zhi sat on the bed and slowly closed his eyes.

Seeing this scene, Wang Fulai breathed a sigh of relief, turned around, and was about to walk out of the Penglai Hall. At this moment, the emperor's voice rang out: "Passengers are informed that Wu Sansi, the magistrate of Hong County, will be transferred to the capital for another appointment."

"Here!" Wang Fulai turned around immediately, and then held his hands in the air.

"Go ahead and do it." Li Zhi waved his hand.

"Here!" Wang Fulai slowly exited Penglai Hall this time. When he left, he was completely soaked.

……

Li Zhi sat in the Penglai Palace and said softly: "King Cao, King Yue, King Xu, and now there is Wu Chengsi, it's just right."

(End of this chapter)