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

Chapter 1588 Pei Yan's Dead End
June 23rd, at this moment, Mao hour.

There was already some light on the horizon.

In the quiet and cold backyard, a solitary pavilion stands.

Pei Yan, who was sitting in the stone pavilion, woke up suddenly with a start.

The black cloak draped over his back instantly slipped to the ground.

Pei Yan's gaze fell on the front. Dew had already condensed on a blade of green grass and was about to fall.

Pei Yan's breathing became heavy. He did not turn around, but asked softly, "Who are you?"

"I am Xuanmiao, nice to meet Prime Minister Pei."

Li Xuan, dressed in a black Taoist robe, appeared three meters behind Pei Yan and bowed calmly.

"The immortal's voice... sounds familiar?" Pei Yan frowned slightly. He was sure that he had never heard the voice of the Taoist Xuanmiao behind him, but there was something in it that made him feel very familiar.

Li Xuan frowned slightly, then said calmly: "Perhaps I have been reciting scriptures too much."

"It seems that the master rarely comes down the mountain!" Pei Yan keenly grasped the implicit message of Li Xuan.

Li Xuan's breathing was still calm, without any haste or relaxation, and he said, "Prime Minister Pei has been waiting all night, is he waiting for the news of General Zhang's death?"

Pei Yan frowned, then said calmly: "He's dead?"

"Dead!" Li Xuan nodded and said, "Left Guard General Yuchi Xunyu personally cut off his head."

"Yuchi?" Pei Yan frowned and asked doubtfully, "The grandson of Duke of E, Yuchi Jingde, right? He doesn't have the strength to kill Zhang Qianxu, right? So, was it the real person who killed him?"

Li Xuan said calmly: "Although Duke E is gone, there are still some good fighters in his mansion."

Pei Yan laughed. No matter how good a fighter was, it was impossible for him to kill the general of the imperial guards in the army, right?
"Master is helping him so much, isn't he afraid that the Queen Mother will see through it and then question his origins?" Pei Yan chuckled and turned sideways.

Li Xuan shook his head and said calmly, "How to deal with such a matter and how to explain it to the Queen Mother? The Duke of E's Mansion has its own way to dispel the Queen Mother's doubts. They are better at these things than I am."

The smile on Pei Yan's face suddenly disappeared.

Although the people in the army are vulgar, the tactics they use are so slick that you can't even imagine.

Not to mention others, Pei Yan himself, at this moment, was able to come up with several excuses to kill Zhang Qianxu without arousing Empress Wu's suspicion.

For a moment, Pei Yan fell silent.

Li Xuan didn't say anything either.

The sky in the east was already turning pale, and Li Xuan became calmer, but Pei Yan's brows gradually became tense.

Finally, Pei Yan spoke: "So now, Master, you come to see me, is there something going on?"

Li Xuan sighed and said, "Zhang Qianxu probably never thought until his death that everything he did in the past month was just a trap set by others. He was a chess piece of others from beginning to end. In the past month, everyone he met privately and everyone he connected with was closely watched, including Prime Minister Pei, of course."

Pei Yan's mouth flashed a hint of sarcasm, and he said lightly: "Oh!"

Li Xuan's expression remained calm: "He just met Minister Cui, and then Minister Cui reported his affairs to the Queen Mother. Of course, Minister Cui also reported his meeting with Prime Minister Pei to the Queen Mother."

Pei Yan's face suddenly darkened, and a trace of worry rose in his heart unconsciously, but he still said calmly: "Prime Minister Cui's temperament is fickle, so this is normal."

Li Xuan nodded calmly and said, "Indeed, but by doing this, he has actually pitted Prime Minister Pei."

"Why would you say there's a trap?" Pei Yan said calmly, "I have reported everything to the Queen Mother."

"Who knows?" Li Xuan swung his sleeves back, sneering and no longer hiding his expression.

Pei Yan felt an inexplicable anger rising in his heart, but he suppressed it in an instant.

Taking a deep breath, Pei Yan said, "As long as my messenger is not killed by the real person, the memorial will naturally reach the hands of the Queen."

Li Xuan smiled and said calmly, "I am just acting alone. I don't have the energy to kill Prime Minister Pei's messenger. As for whether Prime Minister Pei has been honest with the Queen Mother, it is not up to me or Prime Minister Pei to decide. The Queen Mother has the final say."

"Master, what do you mean by this?" Pei Yan finally couldn't help but turn sideways to look at Li Xuan with a gloomy expression.

Li Xuan said calmly, "Prime Minister Pei would not think that the Queen Mother returned from Luoyang early and hid in the Lishan Hot Spring Palace for a month, carefully planning to plot against only Zhang Qianxu?"

The morning breeze blew and Pei Yan shivered inexplicably.

Yes, Empress Wu returned from Luoyang a month ago.

The reason why Pei Yan was released back to Chang'an by Empress Wu was because Empress Wu herself had also returned.

In today's court, apart from Wu Zetian's party, Li Dan's party is subordinate to Wu Zetian's party. The other remnants of Li Xian are second only to Wu Zetian's party in the entire court. It's just that they were divided into four parts of the world by Wu Zetian's means and failed to form a joint force.

For example, Li Xuan, Pei Xingjian, Duan Baoxuan, Su Liangsi and so on. These people are all scattered all over the world, which makes them weak in the center.

If any of these people were in the court, it would not be so easy for Empress Wu to drive Li Xian out of power.

But unfortunately, there is only one Pei Yan in the court.

Others are more neutral.

Originally, Pei Yan had quite a few confidants. After all, he was promoted from the Minister of Justice, to the Palace Attendant, to the Minister of the Central Secretariat, and then to the Regent. There was no telling how many people had followed him.

But since he knelt at the feet of Empress Wu, those who once followed him gradually dispersed.

Some joined the faction of Empress Wu and Li Dan, some remained neutral, and more were at a loss as to what to do.

There were even many people in Chang'an who, after seeing Liu Rengui's actions that day, did not hesitate to ask for retirement like Liu Rengui.

But even so, Pei Yan was still the person with the highest position in the Tang Dynasty bureaucracy.

Even now that he is almost disgraced, Pei Yan still has enormous influence in the entire court.

……

It was also because of this that, at the beginning, Empress Wu did not think of letting Pei Yan accompany Li Dan back to Chang'an.

However, things often change unexpectedly.

Zhang Qianxu failed to capture the crown prince Li Chongzhao, and even massacred the Eastern Palace and besieged Weiqu. If Li Chongzhao fell into the hands of others, the country would be torn apart in an instant.

Not to mention the ministers in the court, each of them has a strange mind, who knows what they will do when the time comes.

Empress Wu needed to calm and unite people's hearts.

In this way, an answer must be given to the death of Li Xian, who stood between her and the court officials.

It was not the perfunctory words that Li Dan had used before. Those words couldn't even fool a ghost.

Therefore, Empress Wu asked Pei Yan to return to Chang'an.

Empress Wu kept Pei Yan in Luoyang in order to prevent him from colluding with Liu Rengui and others, so as to allow Li Dan to take power and secure the throne.

After all, not long ago, Li Xian had forced her with a sword to return to the harem and no longer interfere in state affairs.

This kind of thing happened for the first time, and Empress Wu definitely didn't want to see it a second time, so she wouldn't give Pei Yan even the slightest chance.

So when she had to release Pei Yan back to Chang'an and let him come forward as a regent to explain to the ministers the reasons for Li Xian's death and Li Dan's ascension to the throne, Wu Zetian also left Luoyang.

Without Pei Yan, everything in Luoyang was under Empress Wu's control, and she didn't need to worry about anything anymore.

But after leaving Luoyang, she did not follow Pei Yan back to Chang'an, but quietly arrived at the Lishan Hot Spring Palace.

Mount Li was not far from Chang'an. Together with the Sixteen Guards of Chang'an and the secret guards in the palace, they were all under her control. Empress Wu quietly hid herself.

While she was carefully controlling the political situation, she also began to make careful and meticulous arrangements in Chang'an.

Because from the very beginning, Empress Wu's goal was not to let Pei Yan deceive the ministers with more elaborate lies. On the contrary, she wanted to use the heads of Pei Yan and Zhang Qianxu to appease the ministers' anxiety and dispel their fear of her.

There was no need to say much about Zhang Qianxu. Li Xian's last words in Qianyang Palace had already completely sealed his doom.

Afterwards, he returned to Chang'an, but his mistake in arresting Crown Prince Chongzhao further led him to his death.

The incident at Da Ci'en Temple is still fermenting to this day.

Therefore, when he entered Weiqu to search, Empress Wu began to pave the way for his death.

Not only that, when Empress Wu let Pei Yan return to Chang'an, Zhang Qianxu, the chess piece, had only the last bit of value left.

Pei Yan.

……

"Only when you, Prime Minister Pei, die, will Emperor Zhongzong have someone qualified to be buried with him."

Li Xuan sighed and said, "Not only is General Zhang in contact with Prime Minister Pei now, but even the fact that General Zhang stabbed Duke Jiang in the back for Prime Minister Pei in the early years will also be dug up."

All the dirty water will be thrown on Pei Yan then.

Pei Yan was proficient in the calligraphy of the Spring and Autumn Annals, and Empress Wu framed him, and her methods were definitely no worse than Pei Yan's.

The Crown Prince's concubine Yang had an affair with the Imperial Guard General Zhang Qianxu, and used witchcraft to curse Emperor Zhongzong, causing him to lose his mind and go mad. Later, Zhang Qianxu colluded with Pei Yan, instigated the Empress Dowager to depose Emperor Zhongzong, and even took the opportunity to secretly kill Emperor Zhongzong.

Thinking of this, Pei Yan's breathing became heavy.

He could imagine that by then, even if Empress Wu did not take action herself, the group of scholars at the North Gate would not let him go.

"So, the Queen Mother 'won't' receive the memorial I sent, and then let Cui Zhiwen impeach me for colluding with Zhang Qianxu to cause rebellion, and finally my entire family would be executed, right?"

Pei Yan's eyes were full of helplessness and pain. He really hadn't expected that his final role as the regent would be here.

“If I remember correctly, Prime Minister Pei has a copy of the late emperor’s will in his hand.” Li Xuan sighed softly and delivered the last murderous intent in Empress Wu’s heart.

“Hahaha!” Pei Yan laughed, and then said: “Thank you for the reminder, Immortal. I will give you the late emperor’s will.”

Li Xuan shook his head directly: "I didn't come here today for the will."

"What is that?" Pei Yan finally couldn't help but turned around and looked at Li Xuan directly.

Li Xuan said calmly, "Please ask Prime Minister Pei to write a letter."

"to whom?"

"Right Prime Minister, Shangshu You Pushe, Anxi Road Marching Commander, Duke of Pengwang County." Li Xuan gently spit out Liu Shenli's name.

Pei Yan frowned and looked at Li Xuan and said, "Are you from the royal family, King Peng's man?"

At the same time, Pei Yan was also a little dazed. No wonder Li Xuan's voice sounded familiar to him. Now looking at him from the front, even his appearance had some characteristics of the Li clan.

Li Xuan said calmly: "Prime Minister Pei, I don't have much time, and Prime Minister Pei doesn't have much time either."

"Okay!" Pei Yan retracted his gaze, stood up and walked towards the study, and asked, "What to write?"

"Write whatever you want. Whatever Prime Minister Pei wants to say to the Duke of Pengcheng." Li Xuan's expression was calm, but Pei Yan looked at him with great surprise.

……

Pei Yan walked out of the study, handed the envelope to Li Xuan, and said, "Now, the road from Chang'an to the Western Regions has been cut off. How can the real person deliver it to King Peng?"

Li Xuan took the envelope, stuffed it into his sleeve without even looking at it, nodded slightly to Pei Yan, and said, "The court will have to send someone to summon King Peng back, and then you can go with us... In this case, Prime Minister Pei, I'll take my leave."

Li Xuan took a step back, and the next moment, he had left dozens of afterimages and appeared in the corner of the courtyard.

He turned around and completely disappeared into the shadow of the corner.

Pei Yan shook his head and looked serious.

Raising his head, Pei Yan squinted and looked towards the direction of Mount Li.

Next, it was his turn to face his own life-and-death crisis.

Li Xuan now specifically reminded him that if he still couldn't survive from Empress Wu's hands, he would really be dead.

(End of this chapter)