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

Chapter 1538 The Queen Killed the Late Emperor

The clouds roll in the sky and the river surface sparkles.

The grass and trees on the shore are green, and the tender buds are just beginning to wet the water.

On the river, a black-sailed boat slowly sailed eastward along the Luo River.

Xia'er, wearing a red and green chest-length skirt, sat on the deck, clapping her hands and playing with her two younger brothers.

Li Xuan sat behind the three of them, looking at her three children with a doting face.

Liu Jinyu sat next to Li Xuan and looked forward. On the river a hundred meters away, a two-masted sailboat was slowly leading the way.

The same is true in the rear.

On this side of the river, it is quiet, but on the other side, there is a constant stream of boats coming and going.

Spring has arrived and people have begun to travel back and forth again.

"Husband, why are you here today?" Liu Jinyu leaned in Li Xuan's arms, looked up, with a hint of worry in her eyes.

"I will be setting off for the west the day after tomorrow. Today is the last day I can go out with you. It may even be the only chance in the next few years."

Li Xuan looked forward and said softly, "If the world is at peace, I am afraid that I will not be able to return to the capital for several years."

"What if there is an accident?" Liu Jinyu knew Li Xuan best. If everything was normal, there would not be today's trip.

Li Xuan sighed and said, "Normally speaking, the Crown Prince has ascended the throne, the Empress has returned to the harem, the country is peaceful, and the rivers and lakes are clear. Even if there is some unrest, it is a matter of the Western Frontier, but we are afraid of accidents."

"Queen." Liu Jinyu looked at Li Xuan deeply. She also had enough understanding of the court affairs.

Over the years, countless things have happened in the court, and all of them stemmed from Empress Wu's desire for power.

Li Xian is now the emperor, and the only one who can dispute with him is Prince Xiang.

But behind Prince Xiang was always Empress Wu.

Fan Lubing, the current head of the Northern Gate Scholars, as well as Yuan Wanqing before him, and even Ming Chongyan who died early, were all placed by Empress Wu to be close to Li Dan.

Li Dan's chief secretary, Dou Lu Qinwang, is now the Minister of Revenue.

"But my husband, since His Majesty ascended the throne, the relationship between Minister Dou Lu and Prince Xiang has become somewhat distant." Liu Jinyu looked at Li Xuan cautiously, with a hint of confusion in her eyes.

Liu Jinyu has always had a deep understanding of what Li Xuan has been worried about.

For example, Li Xuan was the Prince's Right Assistant Doctor of Crown Prince Li Xian in his early years, and later he became the Prince's Junior Secretary and Prince's Guest of Crown Prince Li Xian.

Once anything happens to the prince, Li Xuan will be in trouble immediately.

Even the family would be implicated, and house searches were nothing new, so their family had been prepared over the years.

Now that Li Xian has ascended the throne, although Liu Jinyu knows that the situation is somewhat dangerous, it is nothing more than a power struggle during the emperor's first ascension to the throne.

However, Li Xuan linked current events to the earlier times when Li Xian was the crown prince, and even when Li Xian was the crown prince.

A sense of urgent danger immediately surged into Liu Jinyu's heart.

It’s not that she doubted Li Xuan’s judgment, but if Li Xuan’s judgment was really followed, then when Li Xian was deposed as emperor, it would not just be their family that would be threatened.

Even the lives and deaths of countless people inside and outside the court.

"Some relationships cannot be severed. Once His Majesty has problems, the Prince of Xiang will immediately... The Prince of Xiang's former subordinates will immediately gather around him." Li Xuan sighed and said, "Under normal circumstances, even if His Majesty fails in the power struggle, he will only be imprisoned by the Queen Mother, but..."

Li Xuan raised her head slightly and looked at the river ahead.

A white dove flew up from the shore, landed directly on the black-sailed boat, and finally landed directly on Li Xuan's arm.

Li Xuan took a secret letter from the white pigeon's calf. There were twenty words written on the palm-sized piece of paper.

There are doubts about the emperor's death, so send the news through the guards. Be careful with the inner guards. Good fortune will come to the hidden guests, so be careful and pious.

……

Li Xuan handed the secret letter to Liu Jinyu and said seriously, "A few days ago, the secret guards in the palace began to search frantically in the direction of Mangshan, Shanzhou, and Ruzhou, and finally turned their attention to Yangzhou, and even sent people to Yangzhou. I have always been curious about what happened, and now the result is here."

Within Luoyang City, the secret guards were naturally the strongest, but outside Luoyang City, Li Xuan's actions were less restricted, and the secret guards' power was difficult to hide from his eyes.

Especially during the period when the late emperor's body was kept in Zhenguan Hall, Li Xuan had been praying for him in Songshan, and many things could not be hidden from Li Xuan's eyes.

Liu Jinyu knew a lot about these things.

Seeing Liu Jinyu staring at the words on the secret letter, Li Xuan sighed softly: "My wife also knows that on the night when the late emperor passed away, your husband was also in the palace. Everything was normal, but suddenly, there was a quarrel in the Zhenguan Hall, and then the Queen Mother came out of the hall and drove everyone away."

Liu Jinyu pursed her lips tightly.

"If it were an ordinary person, they might think that the late emperor was demented before his death and had some secret words that could not be known to others. But you and I both know that the late emperor was actually taking Zhong Lu's life-extending pill that night. The essence of that medicine is just Wu Shi San, and it has no ability to prolong life at all. However, not everyone knows this."

Li Xuan raised her head and looked at Liu Jinyu who was biting her lips tightly, and couldn't help but sigh in her heart.

Before the late emperor passed away, they had been worried that he would make trouble for Xia'er, but now the late emperor has passed away and the prince has ascended the throne.

In Liu Jinyu's mind, even if there were some fluctuations in the government, nothing would happen given the relationship between Li Xuan and Li Xian.

In this way, she can also focus on taking care of her husband and children.

She lived her life peacefully as the heir to the throne. But she never expected that in the blink of an eye, she would face the crisis of her entire family being exterminated.

Li Xuan took a deep breath and continued, "So, that night, after the Queen left Zhenguan Palace, what happened in the palace?"

"Take the medicine." Liu Jinyu finally raised her head and looked at Li Xuan. Now she couldn't avoid anything and she had to face it.

Li Xuan smiled, and then continued: "That's true, but the late emperor still died after taking the medicine, especially that medicine was Wushisan."

Liu Jinyu's expression couldn't help but change slightly. She had understood the meaning of Li Xuan's words.

"Yes, that is the Five Stones Powder. Even the strongest person will have great marks on his body after taking the Five Stones Powder, not to mention the weak body of the late emperor, who died after taking the powder. The marks should be more obvious."

Li Xuan shook his head bitterly and said, "I was in the palace that night. Before I saw the late emperor's body, the Queen Mother had no time or opportunity to clean and dress the late emperor. The subsequent washing and changing of clothes were all things that happened after I saw the late emperor's body."

"The late emperor did not take Wushisan, nor did he take Zhonglu Yanmingdan." Liu Jinyu looked at Li Xuan in disbelief and whispered, "The late emperor's medicine was replaced."

"Yeah!" Li Xuan nodded, then shook her head and said, "It's a pity that my husband never thought about it. After all, we were all celebrating at that time."

What is there to be thankful for? Of course, we should be thankful that the late emperor is dead.

Although the late emperor had shown great kindness to Li Xuan, he could not use the same against Xia'er.

So when the previous emperor died, Li Xuan and Liu Jinyu were not only relaxed, they even felt a little proud.

So at that time, they did not think that there might be other reasons for the death of the late emperor.

"After all, the late emperor was a wise and enlightened ruler, so even though he died, he left behind enough information."

Li Xuan reached out and took the secret letter from Liu Jinyu's hand, then looked at the first two sentences and said, "The emperor's death is suspicious, that's it. The death guards will deliver the message, which is a later matter."

"The dead guard went to Yangzhou." Liu Jinyu nodded with a solemn expression. She did not forget that during those days, there was a lot more correspondence between her home and Yangzhou.

"It's actually too late for me to investigate Yangzhou." Li Xuan shook his head slightly and said, "That person has already left Jiangnan and went to Guangzhou, so that matter has nothing to do with us... However, since there are doubts about the death of the late emperor, even if no one in the world doubts it, the Queen Mother will not be able to rest at ease."

This is what it means to have something to hide. You will start to move at the slightest sign of trouble.

What the hell?

The Queen Mother killed the late Emperor.

The power struggle between Wu Zetian and Li Xian would therefore intensify step by step, and in the end, in order to completely eliminate this hidden danger, Wu Zetian would even directly depose Li Xian.

Li Dan was made emperor.

Even though Li Dan became emperor, he was just a puppet in the end.

Not to mention that over the years, most of the people around Li Dan were Empress Wu's Northern Gate Scholars.

Li Dan had no room to resist in Empress Wu's hands.

"Since the Queen is determined to take action, it will be difficult for Your Majesty to resist with your ability." Li Xuan shook his head helplessly and said, "Especially since my husband is about to go to the Western Regions, and Your Majesty and Prime Minister Pei have been confused by the Queen's low-key behavior during this period."

"Is there really nothing Prime Minister Pei can do?" Liu Jinyu looked straight at Li Xuan and said, "What if my husband tells these things to my father-in-law, or even Prime Minister Pei?"

"What do you mean? Do you mean I have my own spies in the palace? Or do you mean the matter of Zhong Lu's life-extending pills? We are also involved in the death of the late emperor." Li Xuan shook his head and said, "Prime Minister Pei may have a way, but don't forget that there are inner guards in the palace. Even the imperial guard general Zhang Qianxu has been controlled by the Queen Mother."

Be careful with your inner guards, be careful with your piety, that's what it means.

Li Xuan sighed, shook her head, and said, "The most important thing is that they themselves are not vigilant enough about the Queen Mother, and I don't trust Prime Minister Pei. Once he finds out, he is likely to turn to the Queen Mother."

"So, my husband doesn't want to care about anything and just watch His Majesty being controlled by the Queen?" Liu Jinyu stared at Li Xuan, and she finally saw through Li Xuan's purpose.

As for Li Xian's throne, Li Xuan had no intention of using all his strength to help him maintain it.

"In fact, I have already said everything I can to your majesty." Li Xuan looked at Liu Jinyu and said seriously, "I even taught your majesty to secretly attack the queen yesterday... Your majesty has been warned of the crisis, but your majesty still has no intention of letting me stay, so..."

Li Xuan shook his head slightly and said, "As a husband, I can only respect God's arrangement for Your Majesty."

Li Xian has his own destiny. Li Xuan has done everything he can. All that is left is to respect Li Xian's destiny.

Liu Jinyu was silent for a long time, and finally shook his head gently.

Unless Li Xian kept Li Xuan in Luoyang and let him command the army, there was no chance of Li Xian turning the tables.

And when it comes down to it, Li Xian and Empress Wu are mother and son.

Li Xuan said so much, but Li Xian was still undecided whether to believe it or not, let alone other things.

"If it is normal, there is a change in the palace, and it is the Prince of Xiang who ascends the throne, our family has a good relationship with the Prince of Xiang, so they will not take action against my family, especially since my husband is leading a large army outside, they will always have to be cautious." Li Xuan sighed lightly and said, "If the Prince of Xiang becomes a puppet, then we can only find Princess Taiping."

After a long silence, Liu Jinyu spoke again: "So, my husband, when do you think the drastic change will come?"

Li Xuan was stunned for a moment, and then he came back to his senses and said softly, "February is coming soon. There will be an imperial examination in late February. Your Majesty will recruit 49 Jinshi this year, and the whole country will be excited. Before the imperial examination and within a month after the results are released, your Majesty's prestige will increase greatly, and even the Queen Mother will not do anything more."

"So it was in April." Empress Wu looked straight at Li Xuan.

Li Xuan nodded gently: "May is the time when the late emperor's mausoleum returns to Chang'an. Once it returns to Cheng'an, the Queen Mother will have no chance, so if there is something, it should be done before May. If the Queen Mother is quick enough and everything is stable, then there will be no problem. But if Luoyang is in turmoil by then, then my lady will need to go out and hide."

As he spoke, Li Xuan's gaze fell on the Luo River in front of him.

Liu Jinyu finally understood why Li Xuan brought her and her three children to Luo River for a trip today.

(End of this chapter)