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

Chapter 1549: The Prime Minister's Three Clans, the World in Turmoil

The daughter of the Wu family married the prince.

I don’t know how many people have praised them and said they are a match made in heaven.

Wu Sansi's heart was also moved. He shook his head and looked at Li Xuan and said, "King Peng has always been an amazing poet. As he is leaving Beijing today, why not commemorate him with a poem? We can also commemorate him through the ages."

Li Xuan cupped his hands, looked at everyone and said: "I am leaving the capital this time, and there is no date for me to return. I only wish you all peace and success in everything. Your Majesty is kind and sincere, and the country is clear and pure. It is difficult to describe it in words. In a moment of urgency, I wrote a poem to praise you. Please don't mind."

Everyone couldn't help but smile and looked relaxed.

Li Xuan looked around. There were swords and spears standing on the city wall, and the grass and trees were green under the city wall.

Spring is in the air.

Li Xuan looked at the Golden Light Gate and the endless Chang'an City behind it, and said softly: "The mountains and rivers are majestic at dawn, and the grass and trees are fragrant in the spring breeze of all nations. The destiny is selfless and allows it to flow freely. The wise and wise emperor respects the Eastern Emperor."

"The wise and enlightened emperor respects the Eastern Emperor." Wu Sansi's mouth twitched slightly. This poem by Li Xuan was not an outstanding poem that could be passed down through the ages, but in officialdom, it was definitely a qualified work of persuasion.

Li Xuan glanced at Wu Sansi and smiled indifferently.

He remembered a poem by Du Fu: The country is ruined but the mountains and rivers remain, the city is overgrown with grass and trees in spring.

Du Mu also has a poem: Looking back at Chang'an, I see piles of embroidery, and thousands of doors on the mountaintop open one after another.

This poem by Cui Dun is a mixture of the two.
Now that it was written before Du Fu and Du Mu, it has quite a flavor.

Cen Changqian was already lowering his head to savor the taste, unlike Wu Sansi, who was uneducated and unskillful.

……

"Everyone, it's time for Xuan to set off." Li Xuan's eyes became serious, his hand pressed on the long sword at his waist, and his expression was filled with endless murderous intent.

Wu Sansi, Yuan Ming, Cen Changqian, Li Zhaode, Lai Sui, He Yiqiu, and other officials and Western Regions envoys present all bowed and said, "Farewell, General."

Li Xuan jumped onto the horse, wearing a red robe and golden armor, with a long spear hanging diagonally on the side of the horse.

Turning back, Li Xuan took a deep look at Chang'an City. The next moment, he turned his horse around and left without any hesitation.

A dozen officers beside him, three hundred Right Guard soldiers, one hundred Qianniu Guards, and one hundred Jinwu Guards all turned around instantly.

The flags are flying and the spears are sharp.

In the blink of an eye, five hundred cavalrymen swept away like the wind.

Five miles away, three thousand right guard cavalrymen came quickly to escort, but the general who was guarding them went west.

In a blink of an eye, the military flags fluttered, one hundred men rushed forward to explore the way, one hundred men fell behind to observe, and three hundred men spread out diagonally forward.

The army formation is strict.

When the people in Chang'an city saw this scene, they couldn't help but feel heavy in their hearts.

It was not until Li Xuan and his troops completely disappeared from their sight that these people could not help but breathe a sigh of relief.

Lai Sui came to the side of Pei Shitong's carriage, bowed slightly, and followed the palace guards to escort Pei Shitong back to Prince Peng's palace.

When Li Xuan was not in Chang'an, it was his friends who had always taken care of the peace of Prince Peng's Mansion.

It was because General Zhao Gong of the Left Thousand Bull Guards was not there, otherwise it would not have been their turn.

……

On top of the city gate, Fan Lubing watched with a serious expression as the flag disappeared into the distant horizon.

He couldn't help but clench his fists.

When they were in Luoyang, they were extremely wary of Li Xuan's overt tactics.

In particular, the emperor was allowed to hold the imperial examination in advance. The forty-nine people he introduced for this imperial examination had already allowed him to win the hearts of as many scholars as possible.

When Li Xuan was in Chang'an, he planned to let the emperor, who was still the crown prince at the time, marry the daughter of Zheng as his concubine. It was Empress Wu who did this, and she went from being the legitimate granddaughter of Lady Cui of Tong'an to being the niece of Lady Cui of Tong'an, which suddenly lowered her status.

Otherwise, if Zheng became pregnant, the entire Cui, Lu and Zheng families would instantly gather together under the emperor.

But even in the current situation, the hearts of the three families of Cui, Lu and Zheng have gradually been won over by the emperor.

Once Zheng finally gives birth to a son, the three families of Cui, Lu and Zheng might fully support Zheng's son in his fight for the future throne.

This also indirectly put all their family power under the emperor's command.

And there is the prince...

Fan Lubing didn't even want to think about it anymore, as Li Xuan's presence in the court posed too great a threat to them.

Only when Li Xuan leaves Chang'an can they feel at ease.

But now Li Xuan was heading towards Fanzhou, and would soon go to the Western Regions. However, looking at the solemn and orderly Right Guard Army, Fan Lubing felt uneasy again.

You know, King Peng was a villain who once destroyed a country.

Although he behaved extremely docilely in Luoyang and Chang'an, once he was able to leave the center, he would immediately become the kind of fierce general in the army who could destroy a family and a country at any time.

If he returns to Chang'an in the future, how can we stop him?

If possible, Fan Lubing hoped that Li Xuan would never return to Chang'an. He hoped even more that King Peng would really be able to follow the late emperor in Luoyang.

But unfortunately, the price of killing King Peng was too high.

The royal family, the prime minister, the military, the in-laws, the aristocratic families, or the ordinary scholars would not agree with what Empress Wu did.

"I hope I won't regret it." Fan Lubing sighed softly.

At this moment, a black-clad secret guard stepped forward quickly and handed a piece of paper to Fan Lubing.

Fan Lubing took a look and whispered: "The mountains and rivers are majestic in the morning sun, and the wise emperor respects the Eastern Emperor."

After pondering for a while, Fan Lubing could not help cursing, "Wu Sansi, you idiot."

The black-clad secret guards stood aside without saying a word.

Fan Lubing took a deep breath, returned the paper to the secret guard, and said, "Send this paper to Luoyang, and report that Prince Peng has left the capital."

"Yes!" The black-clad secret guard immediately bowed, then turned around and walked down quickly.

Fan Lubing stood on the city gate, looking at the distant horizon where no one was visible. For some reason, his heart was beating very fast.

A sense of fear of missing something instantly attacked his whole body.

...In the Secretariat, the Right Secretary quickly delivered the paper to Liu Rengui's desk.

Liu Rengui took a look and couldn't help laughing and scolding: "This King Peng has set a trap for the Duke of Dang again."

The Right Secretary didn't say anything more. He bowed, turned around and left quickly.

Although the emperor is in Luoyang now, most of the prime ministers and ministers in the court are also in Luoyang, which means that many government affairs need to be sent to Luoyang.

It seems that the Secretariat in Chang'an is rather idle, but in fact it is not the case at all.

When the emperor was on his eastern tour to Luoyang, the government affairs of the world were actually divided into two.

The areas east of Hangu Pass were handled by Luoyang, and the areas west of Hangu Pass were handled by Chang'an.

When the Secretariat in Chang'an was unable to resolve the case, it would be sent to Luoyang for the emperor's judgment.

Although the emperor has just ascended the throne, the same rules still apply.

This is not something that can be decided by the will of the emperor alone. Countless officials in the entire court have already formed a custom.

Therefore, even though the Crown Prince is only five years old and is now governing the country, the Secretariat still has countless things to do.

In fact, because more people are actually in Luoyang, they are short of manpower here, so there is more to do.

Especially the Right Secretary.

Just as Yousi Langzhong had just left, Liu Yuanlang suddenly came to the door.

Seeing Liu Yuanlang appear in his duty room, Liu Rengui frowned and asked, "What's the matter?"

Liu Yuanlang cupped his hands and said, "Father, someone just delivered a letter to my son. Please give it to me immediately."

"Whose letter is it?" Liu Rengui took the letter.

Liu Yuanlang cupped his hands and said, "It's a letter from King Peng."

Liu Rengui couldn't help but frown.

Li Xuan's letter, Li Xuan asked Liu Yuanlang to deliver it to him.

Liu Rengui had a bad feeling in his heart, so he quickly opened the envelope. There were only three names on the letter paper.

Pei Yan, Wang Dezhen, Liu Shenli.

Liu Rengui looked at it for a while, and suddenly his eyes narrowed and his eyes were filled with horror.

"Three clans!" Liu Rengui couldn't help but grit his teeth.

If the words "three tribes" were added to Li Xuan's letter, everything would be made clear.

Wang Dezhen is Pei Yan's biological uncle, and many people in the court may have forgotten this.

Wang Dezhen was born into the Jingzhao Wang family.

Because of the incident with Queen Wang, Pei Yan's father was worried that the matter would implicate Wang Dezhen, and then through Wang Dezhen he would be implicated, so he cut off his relationship with Wang Dezhen without hesitation.

Of course, it was also because Pei Yan’s mother had died of illness a long time ago.

Pei Yan also inherited his father's sensitivity and had almost no contact with Wang Dezhen for decades.

But even if they are no longer related, Wang Dezhen is still Pei Yan's uncle and a member of his mother's family.

Wang Dezhen was not important back then, the real fatal one was Liu Shenli.

Liu Shenli's cousin was Pei Yan's first wife.

Although Liu also died early, which led to a bad relationship between Pei Yan and Liu Shenli, there is no doubt that Liu was Pei Yan's wife's family.

Liu was the daughter of the younger brother of Liu Dewei, Liu Shenli's father. If we really want to investigate, Liu Shenli's uncle and cousin are all within his wife's family.

Even Liu Shenli could be implicated if Empress Wu wanted to.

If it was just collective punishment, even if it was the prime minister, it wouldn't be a big problem.

But the problem now is that Liu Shenli is now the commander-in-chief of the Western Regions Army, in charge of tens of thousands of elite Tang troops in the Western Regions.

The Western Regions Road now has two deputy general managers, Anxi Protector-General Wang Fangyi and Anxi Deputy Protector-General Quan Shancai.

There is no need to say much about Wang Fangyi. It was the scholars of Beimen who secretly manipulated the dismissal of Quan Shancai.

It was Li Xuan who stepped in later and helped him save his life.

If there is a real change of imperial power and Pei Yan's three clans are destroyed, then the entire Western Region will immediately turn to Li Xuan.

In Lhasa and the Western Regions combined, there were more than 100,000 elite troops of the Tang Dynasty alone.

If they joined forces to pacify the Western Turks, then together with Tubo and Tuyuhun, they could easily integrate an army of 300,000, and even 500,000 would not be a difficult task.

Once these people follow Li Xuan back from Fanzhou and the Western Regions, I'm afraid the entire Longyou Road will be unable to stop them.

Liu Rengui sighed helplessly.

How did it become like this?

There was originally no problem with the arrangement made by the late emperor. After all, Liu Shenli was the prime minister. With his ability and prestige, he was enough to drive Li Xuan to fight in front of the army. However, even the late emperor probably could not have imagined that Pei Yan's three clans would be exterminated by Empress Wu.

Even Liu Rengui couldn't have imagined it.

But he knew that if Empress Wu really wanted to do it, whether it was framing or something else, she would have been able to do it.

If Empress Wu really did this, once Pei Yan was involved, Wang Dezhen and Liu Shenli alone would be enough to cause endless turmoil in the entire court.

Liu Rengui could even imagine a future where cruel officials would run rampant and all officials would tremble in fear.

Once someone rises up, thousands of people will respond.

With a sigh, Liu Rengui looked at Liu Yuanlang and said, "Go and call the Right Secretary Doctor over."

"Yes!" Liu Yuanlang went out quickly and called the right secretary over, but he himself never came in again.

"Left Prime Minister." The Right Secretary bowed solemnly.

Liu Rengui nodded and said, "Send a message to the governors of Longyou and Jiannan Road, and all the prefectures and counties, to ensure a good harvest this year. When the emperor ascends the throne, if anyone makes a mistake, I will ask for your permission to dismiss him directly and he will not be allowed to serve again for life."

The Right Secretary Doctor did not hesitate at all and bowed and said, "Yes!"

(End of this chapter)