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

Chapter 1642 Tonight, it rains

There was a huge crowd of people on Dingdingmen Street.

Escorted by hundreds of Jinwu Guards, the carriage carrying Ouyang Tong was slowly heading towards Xishi.

Behead Ouyang Tong. Empress Wu had said so and she would never change her mind.

From time to time, people in the crowd threw rotten vegetable leaves and rotten eggs at Ouyang Tong, who already looked haggard and emaciated.

Among the crowd on the roadside, a Taoist wearing a black bamboo hat watched everything calmly.

When the prison van passed by, a small number of the pedestrians who were supposed to disperse quickly ran into the alley and then chased forward again.

Looking at this scene, a trace of contempt flashed in the Taoist's eyes.

His gaze passed over Dingdingmen Street and stared directly at the imperial palace at the northernmost end of the long street.

Go through Duanmen, Chengtianmen, and go straight into Qianyang Palace.

On July 15th, there is a grand court ceremony on the full moon day.

All officials in the court stood in silence, the emperor took the throne, and the empress drew the curtain.

The black pearl curtain swayed gently, and Empress Wu's gaze fell on Li Dan in front of her.

Li Dan had not appeared in front of his ministers for half a year.

Even if Li Dan had not appeared this time, the ministers would not even know whether he was alive or dead.

After all, even for Fan Lubing, it would be difficult to see the emperor again.

"Your subjects pay their respects to the Queen Mother, may she be blessed with good health and happiness."

"Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you. May your Majesty live forever."

All the ministers bowed their heads at the same time, and the dense crowd spread from Qianyang Palace to Chengtian Gate.

Empress Wu raised her hand calmly and said, "Everyone, please stand up."

"Thank you, Queen." The ministers then became solemn.

Empress Wu nodded: "Let's get started."

Wang Dezhen, the imperial attendant, stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, more than half of this year's autumn grain has been collected. At the beginning of next month, they will be sent to the Eastern Capital one after another."

Empress Wu nodded with satisfaction and breathed a sigh of relief.

Chang'an is short of food, and Luoyang is also short of food. The reason why they can still hold on is that there has been no major disaster this year, and there is no large amount of food that needs to be transported to Chang'an.

But if the autumn grain from the south of the Yangtze River cannot be transported here this year, there will be some problems.

The government affairs continued, and there were grand court meetings on the first and fifteenth day of each month, with a lot of things to deal with.

The ministers seemed to be listening attentively, but they didn't seem to care much.

Finally, the Minister of Justice Qian Weidao stood up and bowed to the golden steps and said, "Your Majesty, the three judicial departments have decided that the former Minister of Revenue Ouyang Tong has committed dereliction of duty, leaked secrets, and is a traitor. He is sentenced to immediate execution and will be beheaded at noon today."

All the ministers in the hall turned sideways, their eyes quickly swept over Qian Wei's face, but then quickly retracted their eyes.

……

Empress Wu sat behind the pearl curtain, taking in the looks of all the ministers. She then glanced at the calm Li Dan, and finally looked at Qian Weiwei and asked, "How long is it until noon?"

"One more hour." Qian Weidao bowed solemnly.

Empress Wu nodded, turned sideways and looked at the Minister of War Miao Chuke, and asked, "Miao Qing, how is the situation at Hangu Pass?"

"Reporting to the Queen Mother." Miao Chuke stepped out of the line and said with a folded hand, "There is a report from Shanzhou. Three days ago, King Peng sent his Jinwu Guards to forcibly clear all the checkpoints on the road from Shanzhou to Hangu Pass. It seems that they are about to mobilize troops."

"Did he mobilize the troops? If he really wanted to do something, he should have arrived in Shanzhou yesterday?" Empress Wu leaned forward slightly, her eyes solemn.

“No.” Miao Chuke cupped his hands and said, “There were only 500 Jinwu Guards charging forward and backward, but they were forced to stop at Sushan Pass, ten miles west of Shanzhou City. Shanzhou sent out 3,000 soldiers to force them back, and finally found that there were only 500 Jinwu Guards. However, after these Jinwu Guards retreated, they came back the next day, but there were only them.”

"Just pretend?" Empress Wu sneered and swept her eyes over the faces of Wang Dezhen, Su Liangsi and others. Everyone looked calm, and at this time, no one stood up to plead for Ouyang Tong.

Empress Wu immediately lost interest, looked up at Miao Chuke and asked, "How is Hanzhong going?"

"Reporting to the Queen Mother, General Wang Guo of the Left Guard has led an army of 20,000 out of Shiyan and will reach Ankang in a few days. Once in Ankang, they will be only one step away from Hanzhong." Miao Chuke looked solemn.

Once we arrived in Hanzhong, the road to Chang'an was close.

Even if they captured Hanzhong, the food route from Shuzhong to Chang'an would be cut off, and Chang'an would even be terrified and collapse without a fight.

The Qiao-Han Ancient Road restricted the hands and feet of both sides, but each side was not necessarily limited to the Qiao-Han Ancient Road.

"How's the grain price in Chang'an?" Empress Wu's eyes fell on Wu Sansi.

Wu Youning went to Hanzhong, and the affairs of the secret guard were handed over to Wu Sansi.

Wu Sansi bowed his hands solemnly and said, "Reporting to the Queen Mother, after King Peng arrived in Chang'an in early May, he completely exempted the people of Yongzhou from grain taxes for a year, so the increase in grain prices in Chang'an was limited. However, now in Chang'an, the news of the fall of Yangzhou is known to everyone."

Empress Wu raised her eyebrows, nodded and said, "Although it is not satisfactory, it is still a gain. However, we still need to contact some people in Chang'an and ask them to cause chaos in Chang'an as soon as possible. It would be best if we can cut off the food supply of King Peng, so that he will collapse without a fight, or be forced to make a desperate attempt."

"Yes!" Wu Sansi bowed solemnly, but couldn't help but feel relieved in his heart.

Empress Wu looked at Miao Chuke and said, "Send a message to Wang Guo, and have him rush into Hanzhong as soon as possible. There is no need to rush into Chang'an. We just need to make a big announcement to let Chang'an know that Guanzhong has been recovered by the court, and then the people of Chang'an will make their own choice."

"Yes!" Miao Chuke bowed solemnly.

Empress Wu continued, "Tell Yang Zaisi to hold Shanzhou. It won't take long before he can break into Hangu Pass."

"Yes!" Miao Chuke immediately bowed.

At this moment, a burst of hurried footsteps came from outside the palace. A Qianniu Guard rushed into the palace, looking exhausted. Then he knelt on the ground and said loudly to Empress Wu: "I have an urgent report from Bingzhou, six hundred miles away. The traitor Wang Fangyi captured Wenshui three days ago and is now heading to Taiyuan."

Many court officials in the palace were immediately shocked. Half a month ago, they had heard that Wang Fangyi had entered Bingzhou, but there had been no further follow-up. However, they had never expected that Wang Fangyi would not only enter Bingzhou, but also capture Wenshui and head towards Taiyuan. Once Taiyuan was captured, everything would be in trouble, and it would not be long before Wang Fangyi entered Hangu Pass from Taiyuan.

Empress Wu raised her head and said directly: "Order the governors of Luzhou, Qinzhou, and Zezhou to prepare for defense, and they will go south along the Taihang Mountains. Order the governors of Zhaozhou, Zhenzhou, Mingzhou, and Jizhou to prepare for defense, and they will attack Hebei from the six passes of Taihang. Transfer the Right Guard Lieutenant General Su Xiaoxiang to lead 5,000 Right Guards to support Hulao Pass."

"Yes!" Miao Chuke immediately stood up and bowed.

Empress Wu looked thoughtful and said, "Taiyuan, Wenshui, Wenshui, Taiyuan."

"Empress!" Wu Sansi could not help but stand up and said, "Empress, I beg you to postpone the execution of Ouyang Tong to prevent... to prevent King Peng from losing his mind and causing chaos in Bingzhou."

Empress Wu raised her head with an unpleasant expression, looked deeply at Wu Sansi, and said calmly, "King Peng will not threaten my family's ancestral tomb."

"Queen, please forgive me for worrying too much, but Wenshui is the foundation of my Wu family. If King Peng gets angry and does not care about anything, I will not be able to face my ancestors." Wu Sansi kowtowed heavily to the ground, and there was even a hint of tears in his words.

"Queen, I beg you to delay the execution of Ouyang Tong." Gong Siye also stood up and spoke at this time.

"Queen, I beg you to postpone the execution of Ouyang Tong." Lai Junchen, Suo Yuanli and others also stood up. Unconsciously, half of the court officials had stood up to plead for mercy.

Wang Dezhen, Su Liangsi and others watched this scene calmly.

They already knew that they couldn't kill Ouyang Tong today.

Wang Fangyi entered Wenshui at least half a month ago, and had even defeated the Taiyuan defenders long ago.

If the defenders of Taiyuan had not held the city firmly, Taiyuan would have been lost.

Everything that happened today was actually just a plan made by Empress Wu to save face.

Because within half a month, Empress Wu had received the news from Bingzhou.

If Empress Wu killed Ouyang Tong, Li Xuan would dig up the ancestral tombs of the Wu family in Bingzhou and kill all members of the Wu family in Bingzhou.

Naturally, Empress Wu could not let her ministers know that she was threatened, but she did not wait to execute Ouyang Tong, but she also could not let him go easily.

After all, she had just said two months ago that she would kill Ouyang Tong. Now it was somewhat embarrassing for her to let Ouyang Tong go because of the threat.

But after today's manipulation, Empress Wu was worried that King Peng would go crazy and dig up the Wu family's ancestral tomb, so she was forced to not execute Ouyang Tong for the time being. If the people of Luoyang knew about it, they would only scold Li Xuan for being shameless.

Especially if he really did this in the future, there is no telling how many people would scold him to death.

After some planning, the initiative returned to Empress Wu.

……

Empress Wu nodded slightly, then looked at Wu Sansi and said helplessly: "In that case, then pass on the order to postpone the execution of Ouyang Tong and take him back to the Ministry of Justice."

"Yes!" Wu Sansi breathed a sigh of relief this time and stood up.

As soon as Wu Sansi stood up, Lai Junchen stepped forward and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty, I, the Imperial Censor Lai Junchen, impeach the King of Han, the King of Huo, the King of Lu, the King of Shu, and their sons for not obeying the imperial edict and lingering in the local area. I ask Your Majesty to depose all of them from their royal titles, remove them from all their positions in the court, and take them back to Luoyang to be tried for their crimes."

Su Liangsi subconsciously looked up and glanced at Empress Wu. He knew that this was Empress Wu's revenge.

Li Xuan wanted to threaten Empress Wu with her ancestral tomb, so Empress Wu threatened her with the other kings.

Originally, Empress Wu ordered all the kings to return to the court, but unfortunately, most of the kings did not obey the order.

Now, only Prince Ji and Prince Xu, who had been under control, have returned to the court.

Especially Prince Ji, who is a brother of Emperor Gaozong.

Empress Wu calmly shook her head and said, "Just dismiss the king's title and position. Order the Qianniu Guard to send people to each state to summon the kings to the capital. Anyone who delays will be immediately removed from the clan register and beheaded on the spot."

"I obey your order." Liu Siqian, the General of the Right Thousand Bull Guard, bowed and accepted the order.

Empress Wu looked up at the ministers and asked directly, "My Lords, what else do you want?"

"Your Majesty." Grand Historian Li Yan stood up and said, "Your Majesty, now that summer has passed and autumn is approaching, the rain will increase. Please prepare for it."

Empress Wu was slightly stunned, looked at Li Yan and asked, "Didn't Li Qing say that there wouldn't be much rain this year?"

"Not much." Li Yan cupped his hands and said, "This summer, it hardly rained. But now that summer is over and autumn is coming, the rain has increased. It's the right time."

Empress Wu's expression suddenly became solemn, and she asked, "When will it rain this autumn, and how much will it rain?"

"Reporting to the Queen Mother, the rainfall this autumn is not heavy, but the drizzle is long and will last for several days. The latest rain should be tonight, but it will not be heavy. The rain will stop tomorrow morning. But in August, especially mid-August, the rain will become more frequent and heavier." Li Yan bowed slightly.

Empress Wu heaved a sigh of relief and said, "I understand."

Li Yan bowed and then returned to the train.

Empress Wu looked at Miao Chuke and said, "Tell Cheng Wuting about this."

"Yes!" Miao Chuke bowed.

"Retreat."

……

At the end of the Wei hour, at Hangu Pass, tens of thousands of troops stood in front and behind.

Li Xuan looked up at the sky, where clouds were already gathering.

His eyes fell on the Yellow River on one side.

The Yellow River has been completely blocked, with more than half of the river surface exposed to the bottom and dried up under the sun.

Li Xuan lowered his head and waved his right hand: "Go forward to Shanzhou."

The wind blew completely from behind.