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

Chapter 1487: The Emperor issues an imperial decree to appoint King Peng as the Supervisor of Fengshan
In the Zhenguan Hall, the emperor was dressed in a black sable fur coat, lying casually on the imperial couch, with a chessboard on the low table in front of him.

Empress Wu sat opposite the chessboard for a long time before she placed a move with a serious expression.

The emperor smiled lightly, picked up a black piece and dropped it casually. Empress Wu's expression instantly became more solemn.

"Mei Niang, your chess skills have declined." The emperor smiled gently and looked at Empress Wu.

Empress Wu raised her head and said with a wry smile, "It's not that my chess skills have declined, but that your Majesty's chess skills have greatly improved."

"Haha!" Li Zhi couldn't help laughing. At this moment, a slight sound of footsteps sounded outside the door.

The emperor turned sideways and saw Qiu Huan walking out with a serious expression, then standing in front of the hall.

"What's the situation?" Li Zhi looked up with an indifferent expression.

"Reporting to your majesty, fifty assassins were killed in Songshan; outside Dingding Gate, the secret guards and the left guards killed thirty assassins in total; at Xinzhong Bridge, fourteen assassins were killed, and there was no incident in other places." Qiu Huan said, taking out a piece of paper from his sleeve and handed it over, "The Duke of Dang has already drawn a picture of the assassin."

Empress Wu took the paper and opened it, frowning slightly and saying, "Hey, this isn't Zheng Xuan Guo."

"Of course it can't be him." Li Zhi didn't look at it, but shook his head slightly and said, "The son of a rich family should not sit in the hall. How could the eldest son of the Zheng family be easily linked to the assassination of the king? These people definitely have no connection with him."

"But tonight, he must be here." Empress Wu looked at the emperor solemnly.

Li Zhi nodded and said, "Since he has chosen Sansi as his target tonight, it means he must be not far away. Send an order to order King Peng to be the supervisor of Fengshan and to coordinate with Qianniu Guards, Jinwu Guards, the Ministry of Justice, the Dali Temple, Luozhou Prefecture, Henan, and Luoyang County to investigate local public security."

"Yes!" Empress Wu nodded slightly and looked at Qiu Huan.

Qiu Huan bowed slightly, then turned around and left quickly.

The emperor gently picked up a black dot and said calmly, "If Zheng Xuanguo cannot escape tonight, then the next step is to thoroughly clean up the governors of the Zheng family in various states across the country, especially those who are unworthy of their positions, and directly dismiss them... From now on, the Zheng family will recognize Zheng Xuankai as the lineage."

"Yes!" Empress Wu nodded again.

The emperor holds power over the world. Killing is not very effective against the aristocratic families. Instead, it can divide and disintegrate them. Praising the powerful and suppressing the weak can cause internal conflicts among the aristocratic families, causing them to gradually conflict with each other and lose their power.

……

On Xin'an Bridge, Li Xuan and Wu Sansi looked at each other, then at the same time, they solemnly bowed to Qiu Huan and said, "Your Majesty, I accept your order. May your Majesty be blessed with good health."

Qiu Huan carefully handed an imperial edict to Li Xuan, then bowed and turned away.

Opposite them, General Zhao Gong of the Left Jinwu Guard, General He Ji of the Left Qianniu Guard, Vice Minister Su Liangsi of the Ministry of Justice, Junior Secretary Xu Yu of the Dali Temple, Chief Clerk Yuan Jiazuo of Luoyang, Magistrate Yang Jin of Luoyang County, and Magistrate Lu Xiu of Henan County stepped forward at the same time and bowed to Li Xuan, saying, "This subordinate greets King Peng."

Li Xuan looked at Zhao Gong helplessly, waved his hand, and said: "Hello everyone. You don't have to be polite. We are all acquaintances, and there are also Xuan's elders. It would be better to resolve today's matter as soon as possible so that we can report back to His Majesty."

"Yes!" Everyone bowed at the same time and smiled at each other.

Zhao Gong was Li Xuan's cousin. He Ji and Li Xuan both served as General of the Left Guard. Su Liangsi was Li Xuan's colleague in the Eastern Palace. Xu Yu, Yuan Jiazuo, and Lu Xiu all had interactions with Li Xuan in previous cases. Only Yang Jin, the magistrate of Luoyang County, had less contact with Li Xuan.

But Yang Jin is of the same clan as Yang Zhirou, and there is no major conflict between him and Li Xuan.

Li Xuan's expression became solemn. He turned around and looked at Wu Sansi. Wu Sansi subconsciously took a step back and bowed solemnly.

His eyes fell on the imperial edict in Li Xuan's hand.

With the imperial edict in hand, Li Xuan can arrest anyone he wants in Luoyang.

Of course, this is a joke.

But in fact, everyone knows that something happened in Luoyang tonight. No one knows how serious the incident is, but they just have a vague feeling that it may be related to usurpation of power.

Li Xuan looked up at everyone and said, "You may not know that tonight, in Luoyang, in addition to the assassination of the Duke of Dang, someone also assassinated the commander of the secret guards at the city gate, and someone attacked Songshan and tried to burn down the Taoist temple on Songshan Mountain."

As soon as Li Xuan said this, everyone present felt a chill down their spine.

Any one of these three things alone would be a big deal, let alone all three of them together.

If the same person was behind these three things, then what he was planning would be terrifying.

The expressions of most people were only slightly solemn, but those who knew the inside story felt as heavy as if a stone was pressing on their hearts.

Zheng Xuanguo, governor of Yizhou, former general of the Right Jinwu Guard, Duke of Tongan County, and patriarch of the Zheng family in Xingyang.

The son of the recently deceased Lady Cui of Tongan, and the father of the recently deceased Zheng Qinnan.

Once he is caught by Li Xuan, once his identity is confirmed and he is the mastermind behind all the current events, not only will the Zheng family of Xingyang be hit hard, but the royal family will not be much better off.

After all, Madam Cui of Tong'an and Madam Zheng Qinnan had just passed away. If Zheng Xuanguo madly retaliated against the court at this time, people would immediately link the deaths of Cui and Zheng Qinnan to the court, which would result in a lose-lose situation for both sides.

……

Li Xuan pulled out a piece of painting silk from his sleeve and said calmly, "Regarding the incident at Songshan, General Sun of the Right Guard happened to be on duty at Songshan, so the bandits were just walking into a trap; outside Luoyang, Commander Wang had just left the city, and although he encountered an assassin, he happened to run into General Wang Xiaojie of the Left Guard who had just left the city; this is the king at Xin'an Bridge."

The faces of everyone present, including Wu Sansi, darkened at the same time.

Even the most confused people among the crowd now understand the truth.

Although all the attacks today were sudden, the court had already been prepared for them.

The Right Guard General Sun Renshi was stationed at Songshan, the Left Guard General Wang Xiaojie was guarding Wang Yinke, and as for Li Xuan...

"I just happened to pass by here tonight." Li Xuan looked up at Wu Sansi, nodded slightly, and looked solemn. Wu Sansi was stunned, and then immediately remembered the carriage he and Li Xuan took back to Sigongfang.

Princess Peng and Princess Fuchang were also inside.

When Prince Peng does things, there is really no need to bring Princess Peng and Princess Fuchang with him.

Seeing that Wu Sansi understood, Li Xuan continued, "This portrait is of the assassin who just assassinated the Duke of Dang. The Dali Temple is already investigating."

Xu Yu, the Junior Secretary of the Dali Temple, bowed to everyone and said, "It's too late. The Dali Temple has been trying its best to mobilize manpower, but it is still insufficient. Please wait for a moment."

The others bowed at the same time without saying anything else.

No one, let alone the Dali Temple, even they were not aware of what happened tonight.

"From now on, the Dali Temple will continue to investigate the identities of everyone, but I suggest starting with the guards, especially the left and right Jinwu guards."

Li Xuan handed the painting silk to Zhao Gong and said, "This man is probably from the Jinwu Guard. He is very familiar with the assassination skills of the Jinwu Guard, so let's start with the left and right Jinwu Guards."

"Yes!" Zhao Gong immediately bowed, then turned around and left with Xu Yu.

Li Xuan looked at Luoyang Prefecture Chief Yuan Jiazuo, Luoyang County Magistrate Yang Jin, and Henan County Magistrate Lu Xiu, and said, "Your Majesty has issued an order tonight that all the districts will not be closed, but even so, the people of Luoyang have gradually begun to return home."

Although there is indeed no curfew, this sudden lifting of the curfew means that there is not much fun to do on the streets of Luoyang.

Moreover, the expenses for playing all night long are not small. For ordinary people, they would have already had a great time.

With fewer people on the streets, the Luoyang prefecture and county government had more areas to work with.

"Now, please go back to the yamen immediately. At the same time, all the neighborhood chiefs should keep a close eye on all suspicious people. If they find anyone breaking the law, they should be arrested immediately." Li Xuan looked stern.

"I obey your command." Yuan Jiazuo, Lu Xiu and Yang Jin bowed at the same time, then turned and left.

The remaining two on the opposite side were General He Ji, the General of the Left Thousand Bull Guards, and Su Liangsi, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice. Li Xuan nodded and said, "You two, let's go."

"Yes!" He Yi and Su Liangsi did not hesitate and followed Li Xuan to turn around and leave.

"Wait a moment." Wu Sansi came up with a surprised look on his face, and bowed to Li Xuan and said, "Your Highness, where are we going?"

Li Xuan turned around and looked at Wu Sansi, frowned, and said, "If you have nothing to do, please go home. I am afraid that I will not be able to take care of you in the next fight."

"Fighting, what fighting?" Wu Sansi was stunned, then his eyes lit up and he said, "Did the prince find the location of the thief?"

Looking at Wu Sansi's happy expression, Li Xuan immediately knew what he was thinking.

Li Xuan smiled faintly and said, "If the Duke is willing to go with us, please come along. However, in order to avoid alerting the enemy, we will not bring too many troops this time. When the time comes to fight, please do your part."

Li Xuan turned his head to look at the guard who was protecting Wu Sansi, and nodded with a smile.

Hearing Li Xuan's words, Wu Sansi's expression changed slightly, and he cupped his hands and said, "Forget it, Sansi will not disturb the prince from catching the thief."

"In that case, Xuan will take his leave first." Li Xuan nodded, then turned and left.

After a while, he had climbed onto his horse, holding a long spear, and galloped away into the distance.

Wu Sansi stood under Xin'an Bridge and watched from afar. He felt an urge to catch up, but in the end he stopped.

He didn't know where Li Xuan was going, nor did he know where the fighting would take place. If there really were stray arrows, he wouldn't want to be hurt, let alone hit.

Turning around, Wu Sansi looked at the guards around him and said, "You said, Prince Peng, why did you, a great general of the Right Guard, go into battle and kill the enemy in person? Really."

The guard bowed his head slightly.

He knew that Wu Sansi actually wanted Li Xuan to send soldiers to protect him so that he could be present at the scene in person and then grab some credit at the last moment.

But unfortunately, Li Xuan didn't tolerate him at all. Not only did he not send soldiers to protect him, he also set his sights on himself.

Wu Sansi would never do such a thing as being alone and in danger.

Wu Sansi is a villain!
……

At the upper east gate of Luoyang is Jidefang.

Daifukushin Temple.

Outside the temple gate, the long street is quiet.

Hundreds of Qianniu Guards, holding their sword handles, quietly approached the Buddhist temple from both sides of the long street.

Further behind, the people of Jidefang had already been suppressed by the criminal department officials and the fangzheng.

The mere statement that bandits had sneaked into the temple and threatened the safety of the monks was enough to shut up the believers who lived next to the temple.

In the silence, Li Xuan waved his hand, and the next moment, the temple door was quietly opened.

Hundreds of Qianniu Guards rushed in silently.

The target is directly at the backyard.

(End of this chapter)