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

Chapter 1653 The Bloody Beginning in the Palace

"Tell me." Empress Wu narrowed her eyes slightly and looked at Lai Junchen with a cold gaze.

The ministers in the hall suddenly began breathing heavily.

Lai Junchen is a mad dog.

But this time, I don’t know who will be bitten.

Lai Junchen cupped his hands and said, "I impeach Li Cong, Prince of Yiyang."

Under the golden steps, Prince Ji Li Shen suddenly raised his head and looked at Lai Junchen in disbelief. Has the matter come to him?

"Yesterday, I checked Prime Minister Pei's mansion and found a letter between Prime Minister Pei and Prince Yi Yang." Lai Junchen took out a letter from his sleeve.

Qiu Huan immediately walked down, took the letter, turned around quickly, and handed it to Empress Wu's desk.

Empress Wu lowered her head and calmly opened the envelope, reading it instantly. When she raised her eyes, she was already looking at Prince Ji Li Shen.

Li Shen stood up and bowed, saying, "My Queen, since I returned to Luoyang, I have been in the Divine Capital Garden. There are guards guarding me when I go in and out. How could I have any connection with Pei Yan?"

"Prince Ji, don't worry." Empress Wu smiled gently, picked up the envelope in her hand, waved it slightly, looked at Li Shen and said, "This letter is just an unfinished letter that Lai Qing found in Pei Yan's mansion. Lai Qing is a little paranoid. This matter may have nothing to do with Prince Yi Yang."

"The Queen is wise." Li Shen's expression remained solemn.

"But some things need to be thoroughly understood." Empress Wu looked at Lai Junchen and said, "Lai Qing, after the court is dismissed, go to Shendu Garden to meet with Prince Yiyang and ask him if he has had any contact with Pei Yan. If not, then let's end it here."

"I obey your order." Lai Junchen bowed solemnly.

"Thank you, Queen." Li Shen finally breathed a sigh of relief and entered Shendu Garden. After all, the situation was more favorable to them. It was better than going to the Censorate and the Ministry of Justice.

Deep in his heart, Li Shen couldn't help but smile bitterly. He was afraid that the royal family would be increasingly suspected.
Especially the closer King Peng is to the Divine Capital, the more danger they, the descendants of Emperor Taizong, will face.

"Also, no matter if Pei Yan is trying to frame Prince Yi Yang or for something else, he can no longer keep this letter. Pass the order to behead Pei Yan in Xishi at noon today." Empress Wu looked stern, and looked straight at the ministers.

In an instant, the atmosphere in the entire hall suddenly became cold and solemn.

Finally, a figure struggled to stand up and said, "Your Majesty, your servant Liu Jing has made a report first."

The Yellow Gate Minister and the third-rank official of the Secretariat, Liu Jingxian.

Prime Minister.

Empress Wu narrowed her eyes slightly: "Speak!"

Liu Jingxian bowed and said, "Your Majesty, Pei Yan must be guilty. However, according to the court system, even if the crown prince is guilty, he may be investigated and convicted by the three judicial departments before being executed... In the case of Pei Yan, he was confiscated yesterday and beheaded today without going through the three judicial departments. I request that the court system be upheld."

"Oh!" There was a hint of murderous intent in Empress Wu's eyes. All Liu Jing had to do first was to delay.

Delay, how long should we delay, until Prince Peng takes over Luoyang?
Damn it.

"I second the motion." A voice came from the other side. It was none other than Wei Xuantong, the Shangshu Zuo Cheng and a third-rank official of the Secretariat.

Another prime minister.

Empress Wu sneered in her heart. She thought so. Pei Yan had been in the court for many years. How could he not have one or two loyal followers? Now two prime ministers have emerged, haven’t they?

"I second the motion," said Hu Yuanfan, the secretary of the Central Secretariat, who stood up with his hands clasped. Soon after, several censors and the junior officials of the nine temples stood up one after another.

Empress Wu felt a sinking feeling in her heart. Although Pei Yan had been imprisoned by her for a long time, he had many followers in the court. It would not be easy to execute him, but...

Empress Wu looked at the ministers coldly and said, "What you said makes sense, but I have already said that Pei Yan will be beheaded in Xishi at noon today. Do you want me to take back what I said?"

The ministers' eyes became serious.

The words of the emperor are always spoken by the emperor, but today the empress also spoke the words of the emperor, this...

"That's it." Empress Wu waved her sleeves, then looked at Gong Siye and said, "Gong Qing, since Pei Qing has made a decision on the battlefield, then we should follow Pei Qing's advice and stop King Peng west of Mianchi. If we can't, let him come to me with his head."

"Yes!" Gong Siye immediately stood up and accepted the order solemnly.

Empress Wu continued, "Also, regarding all matters in the army, send news back to the capital every half a day."

"I obey your order." Gong Siye lowered his head solemnly.

Empress Wu looked at the ministers who were silently retreating back to their positions, sneered in her heart, and then continued, "Xishi Pass is too close to Luoyang after all, Sun Qing."

Sun Renshi, the general of the Right Guard, stood up and said, "I am here."

"I appoint you as the general defending Luoyang, commanding the sixteen guards of Luoyang and the governor of Luozhou. All the counties in Luozhou are under your command." Empress Wu waved her hand and handed the important task of guarding Luoyang to Sun Renshi.

"I obey your command." Although Sun Renshi was extremely surprised, he still bowed seriously.

Among the ministers, Liu Zhirou, the chief secretary of Luozhou, looked at this scene in surprise.

You should know that Li Chongfu, Prince of Ping'en, was the governor of Luozhou, and Liu Zhirou was the chief secretary of Luozhou, a third-rank official, in charge of all affairs in Luozhou.

Now that Sun Renshi is the governor of Luozhou, then what is the Prince of Ping'en, and what is Liu Zhirou? Is he, Liu Zhirou, going to be the Luozhou Chief Secretary of the fourth rank, or simply the Shangzhou Chief Secretary of the fifth rank?
Liu Zhirou immediately started to grit her teeth.

Empress Wu didn't pay attention to Liu Zhirou's expression. She turned her head and looked to the other side, saying, "General Yan Huaidan of the Imperial Guard, you will be the deputy general of Luoyang City Defense, and assist General Sun in handling the defense of Luozhou."

Yan Huaidan was born into the Yan family of Taiyuan and had an alliance with the Wu family.

Yan Huaidan stood up solemnly and bowed, saying, "I accept your order."

When Liu Zhirou saw this scene, she finally breathed a sigh of relief, but she couldn't help but sneer in her heart.

Sun Renshi, the General of the Right Guard, was, after all, just a puppet. The one who was really in charge was the Imperial Guard General Yan Huaidan.

This man who was born in Taiyuan and was married to the Wu family was the one that Empress Wu truly trusted.

The Imperial Guards and Luoyang are all under their control.

These people are from Taiyuan!
Liu Zhirou bowed.

Empress Wu glanced at the ministers and nodded slightly, saying, "In addition, recruit another 5,000 men from Luoyang to join the Right Guard, and the Right Guard General Wu Youji."

"I'm here!" Wu Youji stood up and bowed solemnly.

"I'll leave this matter to you." Empress Wu looked at Wu Youji deeply.

"Yes!" Wu Youji bowed solemnly.

"Let's stop here today." Empress Wu waved her hand and stood up.

All the ministers bowed at the same time and said, "We respectfully bid farewell to the Queen Mother." Only when the sound of footsteps completely disappeared did the ministers slowly stand up and leave.

But there were still a few people who stood in the hall and did not leave until a long time later.

……

Empress Wu walked into the Zhenguan Hall calmly.

At this moment, there was a man kneeling on the ground in the Zhenguan Hall. When he got closer, he was found to be Pei Yan.

Pei Yan did not have his hair disheveled, but was wearing a silver crown and purple robe. Although he was kneeling on the ground, there was a memorial in front of him, which was densely written with words.

Hearing the footsteps behind him stop, Pei Yan finally stood up slightly, bowed sideways and said: "Queen of Heaven!"

"The letter of request written by Pei Qing has been completed." Empress Wu calmly walked past Pei Yan and stopped in front of him.

Pei Yan bowed slightly and said, "I did not write a petition. I know that my time is up."

Empress Wu paused for a moment, then walked to the imperial desk and sat down, looking at Pei Yan and asked, "What did Pei Qing write?"

"I have the audacity to write the preface to the Book of Han." Pei Yan bowed and said, "Over the years, from Emperor Xiaojing, Prince Zhanghuai, to Emperor Zhongzong, they have all been surrounded by the Book of Han, but no one has ever achieved anything. Even King Peng is just a coward."

Seeing Pei Yan's sarcastic expression, Empress Wu sighed and said, "What does Pei Qing think of King Peng?"

"He is just an ambitious person." Pei Yan smiled coldly and said, "His actions this time are enough to prove that he is also afraid of me."

Empress Wu was stunned for a moment, then she understood.

It was not a smart move for Li Xuan to frame Pei Yan.

Green goose, December is for me, December kills Wu.

It's only mid-July now, and there are still more than four months to December. How can we talk about December?

Empress Wu lowered her eyes slightly and asked softly, "If King Peng besieges the city, would Pei Qing be willing to go to the city gate and persuade King Peng to withdraw his troops?"

Pei Yan fell silent.

What Empress Wu was really afraid of was what Pei Yan would do when Li Xuan arrived at the city of Luoyang.

Pei Yan served as the Minister of Punishments for many years, and at least served as the Palace Attendant and the Minister of the Central Secretariat. He also worked as a Langzhong in the Ministry of War, and went to local areas to clean up hidden fields many times.

It is not an exaggeration to say that his disciples and former officials are spread all over the world.

Li Xuan didn't want Pei Yan to stay, and Empress Wu also didn't want Pei Yan to stay, otherwise, if they were not careful, the gate of Luoyang might be quietly opened by someone.

"Empress Wu, the emperor is already an adult. Although Prince Peng is fierce, as long as we return power to the emperor, Prince Peng's rebellion will be resolved without any attack." Pei Yan raised his head slightly and gave Empress Wu advice. It was the most thorough advice to resolve Li Xuan's rebellion.

Although Li Xuan was seeking revenge for Emperor Zhongzong and even held the last will of Emperor Gaozong in his hand, this was indeed very shocking. However, no matter how shocking it was, it was not as good as Empress Wu returning the government to Li Dan. In this way, the hearts of the people in Luoyang would all be focused on Li Dan.

Even many of Li Xuan's subordinates will no longer follow Li Xuan firmly.

The morale of the soldiers in the army will also be overturned as a result.

You can even send someone to negotiate with Li Xuan and let him go back to continue serving as the governor of Fanzhou and the governor-general of the Western Regions.

In this way, the world can regain stability.

Empress Wu fell completely silent and shook her head, "Let's talk about Prince Peng. I know you have a will, but I have never found it."

Pei Yan paused for a moment, then leaned forward and said bitterly, "I hid it at home. Maybe someone took it away, but there should be a copy in the palace."

"No." Empress Wu calmly shook her head and said, "The copy kept in the palace is a blank sheet of paper."

Pei Yan suddenly looked up and looked at Empress Wu in disbelief.

It turns out that he is Dou Ying.

"That's not the case. Although I haven't seen the will, the secretary who wrote it said that he wrote it himself and sent it to the palace. Unfortunately, no matter how I asked him, he was unwilling to tell me." Empress Wu raised her head and said softly, "Whoever speaks the will of the late emperor will die."

Pei Yan smiled, nodded and said, "This is indeed the style of the late emperor. However, I am about to die, so I might as well say it directly. I did have an imperial edict, but the one I controlled was not King Peng, but Pei Xingjian. The edict in King Peng's hand controlled me; then Pei Xingjian's edict should control King Peng. This is indeed the style of the late emperor."

Pei Yan and Pei Xingjian don't get along, so it's normal for both of them to exercise restraint.

Li Xuan controlled Pei Yan, so it would be inappropriate for Pei Xingjian to control Pei Yan again. Therefore, Pei Yan could only control Pei Xingjian, and Pei Xingjian could finally control Li Xuan.

A perfect closed loop is formed.

If nothing unexpected happened, Pei Xingjian was in Yangzhou and Li Xuan was in Fanzhou, and the two would never meet.

"So, if the Queen Mother wants to use that will to deal with King Peng, she has to find a way from Jiangnan." Pei Yan looked up at Empress Wu and smiled triumphantly.

Empress Wu looked at Pei Yan. She knew in her heart that there was another way, which was to keep Pei Yan.

After all, Pei Yan was the regent minister left by Li Zhi. As long as Pei Yan was left, even if Empress Wu failed in the future, with Pei Yan around, if Li Xuan dared to make even the slightest mistake, he would immediately rally the whole world to oppose Li Xuan.

But that was all in the future. After Luoyang fell and Empress Wu lost power, everything had nothing to do with her anymore.

Pei Yan can no longer help Empress Wu now.

Empress Wu nodded and said, "Have a safe journey. I won't see you off."

Pei Yan was stunned for a moment, then he kowtowed slowly and said, "I, your humble servant, feel ashamed of the late emperor. If I had not feared swords and guns that day, and had passed away together with Emperor Zhongzong, perhaps... perhaps the world would have been stable sooner."

As soon as Pei Yan died, Cheng Wuting would immediately join forces with Li Xuan and quickly put down the Wu Zetian Rebellion.

Empress Wu turned aside in disgust and waved her hand. Two guards rushed into the hall and dragged Pei Yan away.

……

After a long time, the flames gradually burned out, just like blood flowing out.

Looking at the burned "Han Shu·Preface", Empress Wu stood up and was about to leave the hall. At this time, Lai Junchen appeared at Daye Gate.

Empress Wu waved her hand, and Lai Junchen quickly came over, then bowed solemnly and said, "Your Majesty, I have investigated the affairs of Prince Yiyang. Although I have not found any connection between him and Pei Yan, I have discovered the correspondence between him and Jingzhao Wei."

"Wei?" Empress Wu frowned instantly and said sideways, "Go call Princess Ying."

"Yes!" Shangguan Wan'er bowed and turned around with a heavy expression.

(End of this chapter)