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

Chapter 1705: Murdering the Emperor, Execution of the Family

Outside the study, Liu Jinyu stood under the window, listening to Zhuge Minghui giving a lecture to the six children in the family. She couldn't help but relax a little.

He Zhizhang, Chen Zi'ang, and even Bi Gou were all on the list of academic mentors chosen by Liu Jinyu for his sons.

Although they are not as good as Li Zhaode and Wang Yinke, they are also the best of the time and each has his own style.

But in the end, Liu Jinyu chose Zhuge Minghui.

Zhuge Minghui, who is calm and knowledgeable, is more favored by Liu Jinyu.

Although parents hope for talented children, harmony among brothers is what the family desires.

Especially if there is a future...

"Tap, tap, tap..." The sound of hurried footsteps came from behind. Liu Jinyu turned around calmly. Li Hou, the steward outside the palace, stopped and bowed to Liu Jinyu, saying, "Princess, someone is coming from the palace. Please enter the palace now."

"Got it." Liu Jinyu nodded and said, "Go contact Li Zhu to see if there are any changes to the imperial guards. Also, go find my uncle and ask him what happened."

Zhao Gong, the commander-in-chief of the Secret Guard, had his title of General of the Left Thousand Bull Guard stripped by Li Xuan, but Li Xuan immediately granted him the military official title of General Yunhui.

As a third-rank official, he was appointed commander-in-chief of the secret guards and had access to the palace.

Without any external position, he, the commander-in-chief of the secret guards, became less and less noticed.

But no matter whether it was Li Zhu of the Imperial Guard, Zhou Qian of the Left Thousand Oxen Guard, Li Mo of the Right Thousand Oxen Guard, Cui Ding of the Left Golden Guard, or Yuchi Xunyu of the Right Golden Guard, they all obeyed his orders.

The entire Chang'an city was under his control.

When Li Xuan was not in Chang'an, Zhao Gong was the person who truly helped Li Xuan look after the entire Chang'an City. And in today's Chang'an City, the person who truly made decisions on behalf of Li Xuan was Liu Jinyu.

……

The carriage swayed forward and the Suzaku Gate was already in sight.

Liu Jinyu handed over his badge, and the Qianniu Guard in front immediately led the way into the palace.

In the imperial city and the palace, all the guards bowed their heads in obeisance.

Enter Taiji Gate, pass Taiji Palace, go through Liangyi Gate, Ganlu Gate, walk past the side of Ganlu Hall, and finally arrive at Anren Hall.

As soon as he entered the hall, Liu Jinyu saw Empress Wei's mother, Cui, kneeling in the middle of the hall with a look of confusion on her face.

Standing to one side was Choi Ji-won, whose face was ashen.

The Cui family is from Lantian, Jingzhao, and is the Jingzhao branch of the Qinghe Cui family.

Cui Zhiwen was from Yanling, Xuzhou, and a member of the Yanling branch of the Qinghe Cui family.

Although Cui Zhiwen and Cui Shi are uncle and nephew from the same clan, to be honest, they don't have much contact with each other.

There is not even as much interaction as Cui Zhiwen and Zheng.

Especially since Yanling is only one step away from Xingyang, and since the three families of Cui, Lu, and Zheng have always been united, it is normal for Cui Zhiwen to choose Li Chongjun between Li Chongzhao and Li Chongjun, especially since he can be the head of the three families.

But Wei, Cui Zhiwen couldn't even say a word.

Especially yesterday, the Wei family mobilized a large number of people to impeach Cui Zhiwen, which made him very embarrassed.

By now, the uncle and nephew were left, one standing and the other kneeling.

One had a grim face, and the other looked confused.

Liu Jinyu walked past Cui and bowed gently to Cui Zhiwen, saying, "Prime Minister Cui."

"The princess is here." Cui Zhiwen took a deep breath, restrained his expression a little, made way, and said, "Princess, please go in. The princess and Prime Minister Liu are all in the palace."

"Yes!" Liu Jinyu bowed again, then walked past Cui Zhiwen and entered the inner hall.

The five prime ministers Liu Rengui, Liu Shenli, Lu Yuanfang, Li Yiyan and Liu Jingxian stood on the left, some with hatred and some with indifference.

Prince of Han Li Yuanjia, Prince of Huo Li Yuangui, the Grand Princess of Huainan, the Grand Princess of Qianjin, and the Grand Princess of Taiping all had eyes filled with anger.

Only Concubine Zheng was holding Li Chongjun with a worried look on her face, and Li Chongjun was sleeping peacefully.

Everyone's eyes were fixed on a maid in green who was kneeling on the ground in the middle of the hall. Her face was red and swollen from being slapped, and her arms were tied behind her back.

……

"Greetings, Concubine Dowager." Liu Jinyu bowed slightly to Concubine Zheng, and then saluted to the left and right.

"Aunt, please stand up." Zheng's expression finally relaxed a little.

Liu Jinyu stood up and asked seriously, "May I ask the Concubine Dowager, I don't know what happened that you asked me to enter the palace?"

"Let me speak." Liu Rengui stood up, and all the kings, ministers, and princesses nodded slightly. "Yes!" Liu Jinyu looked at his grandfather solemnly.

"Today." Liu Rengui looked at Cui outside the palace with anger, then retracted his gaze and said, "Today, Cui came to visit Princess Anle and pay her respects to the Weiguo Concubine. However, her health was not very good, so Shangguan Zhaoyi asked the imperial physician to diagnose her before she met the Concubine. At this time, the eunuch Xu Lu discovered that this bitch..."

Liu Rengui took a step forward and kicked the maid in green who was kneeling on the ground, then gritted his teeth and said, "This bitch, the tea she served to the concubine was poisoned."

"What?" Liu Jinyu turned sideways in surprise and looked at the maid in green. Cui's figure flashed through her mind, and she said in disbelief: "Cui was outside attracting everyone's attention, and then she poisoned the concubine in the palace?"

"She confessed." Li Yuanjia spoke expressionlessly, saying indifferently: "Someone outside the palace sold a large amount of land to her father and brother at a low price, and then someone secretly brought the news into the palace, and she agreed."

"She should not be the only one who agreed. For an ordinary palace maid, it is not easy to get this kind of poison that can make people gradually seriously ill and die." Li Yuangui raised his head and looked deeply outside the palace.

"It can't be helped." Princess Qianjin said, shaking her head, "In Luoyang Palace, Twenty-Seventh Prince can be cleansed without scruples, but it's difficult in Taiji Palace, as there are too many things involved."

"Prince Peng has done a good job." Lu Yuanfang nodded and said, "Many older palace maids in Taiji Palace have been released, and many have even married into the families of meritorious soldiers in the army as their wives. This is very rare."

The fate of palace maids who left the palace has always been bad.

Either they become nannies to teach children in wealthy families, or their fathers and brothers squeeze all their money out of them.

However, Li Xuan specifically found meritorious soldiers in the army who had not married, and married a palace maid who had left the palace as his wife.

It allowed two groups that would rarely meet each other in normal times to have a wonderful encounter.

The key is that Li Xuan's subordinates and the meritorious soldiers in the army can all save the money in their hands well and not squander it.

With enough land and estates, as well as military positions, the maids leaving the palace would have a good future.

In addition, the men in the army are in good health, and the women in the palace, even if they are older...

"This matter has nothing to do with King Peng." Li Yiyan said this and removed Li Xuan from the matter.

Li Xuan was the general of the imperial guards. When an assassination occurred in the palace, even though he had already left Chang'an, if someone insisted on getting involved, it would be enough to disrupt his plans in the palace.

But fortunately, Liu Jinyu and Li Yiyan were there, and Liu Shenli and Liu Jingxian had no plans to associate with Li Xuan.

"Then how should this matter be handled?" Liu Jinyu looked at Liu Rengui cautiously. She knew that the reason why she was called into the palace today was because although Li Xuan was no longer in charge of the military power, most of the soldiers in the army were his cronies, and even in the court, his traces were very heavy.

Therefore, this matter needs to be informed to Liu Jinyu to avoid trouble when Li Xuan returns in the future.

"The Wei family is now taking such action. I'm afraid the news from Yangzhou is false." Li Yuanjia's words completely exposed the biggest lie behind this matter. He slowly raised his head, looked at everyone and said, "If the emperor doesn't come back, the prince of Wei will be the crown prince and the next emperor. Anyone who plots to murder the emperor will be executed."

The execution of a whole clan, in one word, is a wake-up call.

Prince Huo, Princess Huainan, Princess Qianjin, and Princess Taiping all had grim expressions.

"What do you think, Princess Peng?" Liu Rengui looked down at Liu Jinyu. If Liu Jinyu also said that the entire family should be exterminated, then things would be very troublesome.

"Let's first let the three judicial officials convict him according to the law." Liu Jinyu looked at the maid in green kneeling on the ground, shook his head slightly and said, "After all, the Wei family is the descendant of Emperor Zhongzong, so we should always be more cautious. Not to mention that the Jingzhao Wei family is a big family in Chang'an. If they waver, Chang'an will be in turmoil."

"Slow down a bit." Lu Yuanfang said, "All those directly involved in this matter will be imprisoned, and all relatives of the three clans will be imprisoned. All will be sentenced according to the law by the three judicial officials. If the emperor returns safely from Yangzhou, and the emperor is willing to reduce the sentence, we will have no say. But if the emperor cannot return, then everything will be considered as conspiracy to murder the crown prince, and the crime will be increased. The three clans will be exterminated, and the rest will be exiled."

"Examine the crime, but do not convict." Li Yiyan added, Liu Shenli and Liu Jingxian nodded.

"That's it." Liu Rengui finally made a conclusion, looked at Li Chongjun and said, "Prince Wei is still young, so we need to avoid bloodshed because of him. If he ascends the throne, that will be another matter."

"Over the years, all cases involving the Wei family and all impeachment complaints against the Wei family must be re-examined." Cui Zhiwen walked in from outside and added at the end.

"Okay." Liu Rengui nodded in agreement.

"What about King Peng?" Li Yuanjia suddenly spoke up, looking at Liu Rengui and said, "The so-called whereabouts of the emperor is just a scam. King Peng is inevitably in danger in Jiangnan. Should we send someone to call King Peng back now?"

Since the Wei family has taken action against Li Chongjun, they will not let Li Xuan go easily. For the royal family, Li Xuan is equivalent to the entire military power.

"Don't worry, he hasn't arrived in Yangzhou yet. He is still waiting in Xuzhou." Liu Rengui said, and everyone present looked up in astonishment.

Could it be that what happened today was a setup?

Cui Zhiwen suddenly felt a chill running down his back.

"Send someone to tell him what happened in Chang'an, and let him continue his journey east to Yangzhou. The matter of the emperor must be concluded no matter what. Only in this way can the King of Wei succeed to the throne safely." Liu Rengui said in one sentence the real reason why he asked Li Xuan to go to Yangzhou this time.

Whether Li Chongzhao is dead or alive, he must give an explanation to the court and the people, and Li Chongjun cannot succeed to the throne in such a muddleheaded way.

When Li Xuan went to Yangzhou, he had to come to a conclusion for the world.

"Yes!" Everyone in the hall bowed.

“Also, appoint Prince Peng as the Inspector General of the Southeast, to inspect all military and political affairs in the southeastern states. Grant him the power to act at his discretion. Anyone who does evil can be executed first and reported to the police later.” With Liu Rengui’s words, a scene of mountains of corpses and seas of blood suddenly rose before everyone’s eyes.

I'm afraid that none of the people from the Wei family who went to Jiangnan to search for the emperor will survive.

(End of this chapter)