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

Chapter 1579: Forcing Empress Wu to Ascend the Throne

Grass welcomes the golden horse, and flowers accompany the person in the jade tower.

In the early morning, there were few people around.

The entire southeast corner of Pingkangfang fell into its usual silence.

On the top floor of an exquisite four-story attic, Su Lianyu looked at the Taoist Xuan Miao who was sitting at the edge of the railing and bowed earnestly, "Master."

"Yeah!" Xuan Miao, no, it's Li Xuan.

Su Lianyu has only one master, and that is Li Xuan.

Li Xuan turned his head and looked outside, and what he saw was the entire Pingkangfang.

There is also Chang'an East Market opposite.

Everything can be seen from here.

"Xiyulou is indeed the top brothel in Pingkangfang, making a fortune every day!" Li Xuan turned to look at Su Lianyu and said, "You did a good job yesterday."

Su Lianyu bowed her head solemnly, extremely respectful.

Li Xuan looked relaxed and asked, "What's the situation now?"

"The Imperial Guards have already sent people to surround Weiqu. The former governor of Huazhou, Duke of Fuyang, Wei Shishi, who had retired long ago, stood up to confront the Imperial Guards. That's why the Imperial Guards did not rush into Weiqu." Su Lianyu bowed slightly.

The prince escaped.

The riot at Da Ci'en Temple last night informed all officials in Chang'an that General Zhang Qianxu of the Imperial Guards led his troops to massacre the Eastern Palace, and Crown Prince Li Chongzhao also escaped from the palace and finally got away directly at Da Ci'en Temple.

Of course, there were also rumors that the prince had fallen to his death.

However, whether it is the current rumor in the capital that "the fire from heaven is coming to the world and the emperor is reborn", or Zhang Qianxu's siege of Weiqu, they all tell people that there is something else going on.

It is very likely that the prince is not really dead.

If the prince was not dead, there was only one place he could escape to, and that was Weiqu.

Queen Wei’s maiden family.

"The old man from the Wei family hasn't come out yet, don't worry." Li Xuan waved his hand indifferently.

Su Lianyu nodded slightly.

The Jingzhao Wei family is an old aristocratic family in the capital, having survived for dozens of generations, and the family does have some heritage.

Just pick one of them and he would be the former governor of Huazhou and Duke of Fuyang County.

There are even some elderly people who were born in the early Sui Dynasty and had good relations with Emperor Gaozu and Emperor Taizong.

In the whole world, there are more than a dozen officials of the Wei family who are above the fourth rank.

Especially since Wei Daijia was the third-rank Minister of Rites. At his age, he could easily become the prime minister if he took a step up.

And even though the Wei family is in a bad situation now because of Li Xian's affairs, they have not forgotten the habit of aristocratic families not to put all their eggs in one basket.

In Li Dan's Prince Xiang's Mansion, there were more than one tutors and attendants named Wei.

In the future, as long as the Wei family marries a legitimate daughter to Li Dan, their situation will be immediately reversed.

"It seems like he's scared." Li Xuan looked in the direction of Weiqu and sighed softly, "But it's not that easy to rush into Weiqu to conduct a thorough investigation."

After all, the Wei family is the descendants of Emperor Zhongzong and the face of the Longxi clan.

If Zhang Qianxu wanted to investigate Wei Qu, he must first produce the imperial edict to tell Wei why he massacred the Eastern Palace and wanted to capture the crown prince.

If he fails to explain this, he himself is committing treason.

Su Lianyu bowed slightly. She knew that Empress Wu was still trying to cover up the fact that Li Xian was dead.

Sanmenxia and Hangu Pass were closed yesterday and no one was allowed to pass through.

So apart from Zhang Qianxu who fought his way from Luoyang to Chang'an, few people knew that the emperor was dead.

Moreover, even if Zhang Qianxu had the imperial edict from Empress Wu, he could not just find somewhere and say it casually. Who would know whether he had forged the imperial edict?

Without a big shot with enough influence to support this statement, the Wei family will not recognize it.

Moreover, even if the Wei family admitted that Emperor Zhongzong was dead, what crime would Zhang Qianxu use to arrest the prince?

This involves a core issue.

Death of Emperor Zhongzong Li Xian.

Although Empress Wu forced a conclusion in Luoyang that Li Xian was cursed by the Crown Prince's concubine Yang and died suddenly.

But in fact, the fact that Li Xian was framed by Empress Wu and finally killed by Zhang Qianxu's mutiny will not change.

That day, in Qianyang Palace, too many people saw this scene.

The most important thing for Empress Wu was to appease the people of Chang'an and make them believe that there was nothing fishy about Li Xian's death and that Li Dan's accession to the throne was legitimate.

Letting Li Chongzhao escape had already posed a huge threat to Empress Wu.

If Zhang Qianxu attacked Weiqu again, I'm afraid all the Longxi families would feel insecure and become disunited.

At the very least, she wanted others to obey Li Dan's rule on the surface and recognize the legitimacy of Li Dan's ascension to the throne. This was what Empress Wu wanted.

Therefore, Zhang Qianxu had to either wait for Empress Wu's order in Luoyang before taking action, or just copy Wei Qu and find Li Chongzhao right away.

As long as Li Chongzhao was in her hands, Empress Wu would forgive him no matter how big his mistake was.

But if they copied Wei Qu and still couldn't find Li Chongzhao, then Empress Wu's wrath and the revenge of the aristocratic families would all fall on him alone.

This is what really worries Zhang Qianxu.

So he chose the third way...

"All officials above the fifth rank in the capital were called to the palace, but then the Zuo Jinwu Guards surrounded everyone's mansions." Su Lianyu was a little puzzled.

It was not enough to offend Wei Qu, did Zhang Qianxu want to offend all officials above the fifth rank in Chang'an?
"This should be Empress Wu's order." Li Xuan shook his head slightly and said, "According to the normal plan, after he captured the crown prince yesterday, he summoned all officials today to announce the death of Emperor Zhongzong. With the crown prince in hand, there is no need to worry about chaos in Chang'an, especially since the new emperor Li Dan will set off to return to Chang'an tomorrow."

Li Xuan said with a hint of sarcasm: "All the officials of the Wei family above the fifth rank have arrived in the palace. As for the rest, we can force, infiltrate or bribe them. As long as the prince is in Weiqu, we will be able to find him. But unfortunately, the prince is not here." After a short pause, Li Xuan continued: "In addition, if the prince escapes, Chang'an will no longer be safe, so there is an action to seal the residences of all officials. In addition, those who entered the palace may not be able to get out before Li Dan returns to Chang'an."

Su Lianyu bowed her head respectfully.

"There are three things for you to do." Li Xuan looked up at Su Lianyu.

Su Lianyu immediately bowed and said, "Yes!"

Li Xuan nodded and said, "The first thing to do is to send a message to Jizhou Chief Secretary Du Bixing and ask him to cooperate with our people to eliminate all the secret guards in Jizhou."

"Yes!" Su Lianyu immediately bowed.

"Pay special attention to the Turks. Try to intercept and kill as many messengers from the Turks to Chang'an as possible." Li Xuan raised his head slightly. Outside, the city of Chang'an was still prosperous and peaceful.

Turks, Turks.

Li Xuan’s most hidden killer move.

Of course, Li Xuan didn't want the Turks to invade the Tang Dynasty.

He just wanted them to move a little to make Empress Wu nervous, that was enough.

"The second thing is, are there people of ours in Zhang Qianxu's mansion?" Li Xuan looked up at Su Lianyu.

"Yes!" Su Lianyu bowed and said, "After Pei Xingjian was plotted against by Zhang Qianxu and Cheng Wuting two years ago, we began to send people to sneak into their homes, but the positions were not high."

"It's okay." Li Xuan waved his hand slightly, then reached into his sleeve, and a packet of medicine appeared in his hand. He then said softly: "Spread the medicine inside into all the wine jars in Zhang Qianxu's mansion."

"Ah?" Su Lianyu was a little surprised, but bowed respectfully.

Li Xuan calmly shook his head and said, "Don't worry, if you drink a little of the medicine in here, it will only make you excited. Only if you take a large amount of it, you will have mental problems."

Having said that, Li Xuan lowered his head slightly, with a trace of sadness in his eyes. Then, this trace of sadness was completely killed by him.

"The third thing." After a short pause, Li Xuan said, "The rumor of the heavenly fire falling to the earth and the emperor's rebirth has been spread. By this evening, if all the officials are trapped in the palace as I expected, we will spread the prophecy of 'Tang will last for three generations, and Wu will replace Tang' little by little in an inconspicuous corner. Remember to do it slowly, like sparks igniting a fire."

"Yes!" Su Lianyu bowed slightly.

Li Xuan waved his hand, and Su Lianyu immediately bowed and retreated.

Sitting on the attic, looking at the entire market street outside, Li Xuan's expression was unusually indifferent.

Li Chongzhao had been sent to Yangzhou, so before he led his troops back to Chang'an, his second plan had to be implemented quickly.

Li Xuan raised his head and looked towards Luoyang.

Li Xian died, Li Xian did not live long, but Li Dan was still in position.

But this is far from enough.

Li Xuan could not give Empress Wu too much time to calmly clean up the situation. He had to gradually reveal Empress Wu's true face to the world, and at the same time, force her to take the last step in the shortest time possible.

Enthroned as emperor.

Changed Li Tang to Wu Zhou.

……

Luoyang, Qianyang Palace.

The light of dusk spread across the palace road like a horizontal bar.

Empress Wu threw all the memorials to the ground with anger on her face. She gritted her teeth and looked at the Imperial Guards officer Xu Zhou who was kneeling on the ground. She said angrily, "How can you say that the Crown Prince was rescued from the sky with a Kongming lantern, and then escaped with a fire escape using sorcery, and even the Da Ci'en Temple was involved? How could this matter involve the Da Ci'en Temple?"

Having said that, Empress Wu grabbed the paperweight beside her and smashed it out.

With a "bang", the paperweight shattered directly. The broken pieces passed directly across the corner of Xu Zhou's eye, leaving a deep wound, but Xu Zhou did not dare to move.

The prince escaped, and the Da Ci'en Temple was implicated. In an instant, the whole incident became a hot topic in Chang'an.

This directly disrupted Empress Wu's plan in Chang'an.

Control the crown prince, use Liu Rengui to appease the officials, have Zhang Qianxu stand on one side with a knife, and then wait for Li Dan to return to Chang'an to confer titles on all the officials.

Under such circumstances, there will be very few people who will still insist on standing on Li Xian's side.

However, Zhang Qianxu failed to capture Li Chengqi and let him escape instead, and Empress Wu's plan was disrupted again.

The situation in Chang'an once again fell into weirdness and tension.

After a long time, Empress Wu calmed down her anger a little, and asked sideways, "Wan'er, who do you think rescued Chongzhao?"

Shangguan Wan'er stepped forward and bowed, saying, "Queen, it seems that this method is somewhat similar to that of King Peng. Did King Peng send someone to rescue the prince, or did someone he left in Chang'an rescue the prince?"

Empress Wu fell silent. She turned her head, looked to the side, and asked, "Guo Qing, what do you think?"

The Minister Guo Daiju walked out from behind the pillars on the side and said with a bow, "Reporting to the Queen, I know that King Peng has some achievements in instruments, but it is only a waterwheel after all. Apart from the waterwheel, King Peng does not seem to have produced anything useful in recent years. I am more inclined to believe that he is just a decoy."

"A trick?" Empress Wu was slightly stunned and asked, "What do you mean by that?"

"The Kongming lantern can indeed carry things, but they are only light objects. How can it carry two people? Therefore, I infer that there is no one under the Kongming lantern. More likely, there are just two dummies. Even so, when the Kongming lantern flew over the Da Ci'en Temple, it still couldn't control its spontaneous combustion."

After a short pause, Guo Daiju said, "In this way, it is not difficult to control it."

"So, you mean Chongzhao is still in the palace?" Empress Wu immediately understood what Guo Daiju meant.

"The most dangerous place is also the safest place. It's not a big deal that there are a few old men in the palace protecting the prince. After all, Taiji Palace is too big." Guo Daiju bowed heavily.

Taiji Palace was the official imperial palace of the Tang Dynasty.

The size of Taiji Palace cannot be compared with Daming Palace and Ziwei Palace.

The number of palace maids and eunuchs there is not comparable to that of the Ziwei Palace.

Empress Wu nodded slightly, then looked at Shangguan Wan'er and said, "Ask Li Ling, the Imperial Guard General, to come over."

As soon as Empress Wu finished speaking, Xu Zhou, who was kneeling on the ground, looked up in disbelief.

Li Lingwen, the General of the Imperial Guard Li Lingwen who was once captured by them?

(End of this chapter)