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

Chapter 526 East Sea King, Prince Seal

On the Xin'an River, the river is turbulent, and there are many dark shadows under the water surface. There are hidden reefs lurking. If you don't pay attention, you will directly hit the bottom of the boat.

Without the guidance of experienced boatmen, this Xin'anjiang would not be easy.

A small boat docked unsteadily on the slow-moving official ship. Li Xuan grabbed the cable and jumped onto the deck.

Li Zhu followed closely behind Li Xuan.

Behind Li Zhu was a middle-aged short-bearded man with an ugly face, wearing a blue gown and a black cap.

The eyebrows are not big, and the face can only be regarded as ordinary, but this person is the former official who has the deepest research on gunpowder in the entire imperial court.

Du Chun, who used to be a supervisor, later fell into the hands of Tianyin Sect. Now, he has fallen into Li Xuan's hands.

"Take him down first, and then bring him back to Chang'an." Li Xuan turned her head and confessed.

"Here!" Li Zhu immediately cupped his hands, and then led him down.

Although Du Chun was reluctant, he was helpless.

Now that he has been found out, relatives and friends in the family will inevitably be implicated, and now he can only listen to the arrangements of the King of Nanchang to have a chance to avoid the catastrophe.

……

Standing on the deck, with the wind blowing in the river, Li Xuan folded his hands on his chest, thinking about the usefulness of Du Chun.

The main reason why Du Chun was able to make more progress in gunpowder than his predecessors was the explosion that happened in the prison.

He found that the more honey was put, the greater the power of the gunpowder explosion caused.

Today, he has begun researching alternatives to honey.

It's just that although progress has been made, there is still a long way to go, and there are even signs of going the opposite direction in essence.

Otherwise, he would have been able to play a bigger role in the previous Battle of the Underground Palace.

Li Xuan knew that Du Chun's progress was insignificant in the long river of history.

But it's attractive enough for now.

Ye Hao, just recommend him to the imperial court.

In this way, after Li Xuan used more powerful gunpowder, he could easily push it to Du Chun's body.

……

Li Xuan returned to the cabin with some thought. Inside the cabin, Sima Chengzhen and Ming Chongyan were sitting together playing chess leisurely.

Qiu Zhenmu was standing in the corner, his eyes kept falling on Ming Chongyan.

Among all the people, Qiu Shenji and Ming Chongyan had the closest relationship, and they were also the most trusted courtiers of Empress Wu.

If you ask Qiu Shenji's whereabouts, Ming Chongyan is the one who knows the most.

Li Xuan nodded slightly to Ming Chongyan and Sima Chengzhen, then sat back at the table and began to write the memorial.

Although the major events of the Tianyin Sect have come to an end, there are still many matters, large and small, that need to be reported.

Among them, not only the matter of Du Chun should be written, but also the matter about the missing whereabouts of Prince Yin should also be mentioned.

At this moment, a rush of footsteps suddenly entered from outside.

A soldier of the captain of the Huangshan Mansion walked in quickly from the outside, and presented a secret letter to Ming Chongyan.

Xue Qianfeng's people... No, they are Ming Chongyan's people, they are from the inner guards.

Although Li Xuan was writing the memorial with his head down, he was also paying attention to Ming Chongyan's every move.

After receiving the secret letter, Ming Chongyan glanced at it, and his expression changed slightly.

Although Li Xuan couldn't see the content of the secret letter in Ming Chongyan's hand, he also knew that there were not many things in this world that could make Ming Chongyan's face change slightly.

Could it be that they have already found Qiu Shenji's whereabouts.

The fine bamboo brush in Li Xuan's hand froze slightly, his face showed a natural expression of thought.

But then he wrote in his pen the words that please move the people of Muzhou from the states as soon as possible.

After this battle in Muzhou, the population suffered a serious loss. Even if everyone was granted a hundred acres of land, there are still a large number of fields that are barren. If the population cannot be relocated in time, then these fields will be occupied by aristocratic families...

Noticing Ming Chongyan's gaze passing over him, Li Xuan felt a little relieved, and then continued to write the memorial.

But I couldn't help but feel a little strange.

If Qiu Shenji's body had been found, why didn't Ming Chongyan make it public immediately? Why was he hesitating?
At this time, Ming Chongyan suddenly turned his head to look at Li Xuan again, and asked directly: "The king of Nanchang seems to be worried about something, I don't know what he is worried about, can you tell the poor?"

Li Xuan frowned, her heart was clear, Ming Chongyan suspected herself.

After all, no one saw Qiu Shenji's death, and anyone could be the suspect.

"This?" Li Xuan showed a moment of hesitation at this moment, glanced at Ming Chongyan, then turned to look at the crowd, waved his hands and said, "You all go out first."

Many Qianniuwei in the cabin, including Li Zhu and Qiu Zhenmu, also retreated together.

At this time, Li Xuan looked at Ming Chongyan and Sima Chengzhen seriously, and said cautiously: "The two real people should have heard that a few months ago, there was a prince's seal that flowed out of Shendu and fell into Tianyin Sect. However, this time I searched the underground palace of Tianyin Sect, but there is still no trace of the prince's seal?"

Ming Chongyan didn't even look at Sima Chengzhen, and said directly: "The king should know that the prince's seal is forged. Anyone who gets that prince's seal, once used, will be discovered immediately, and then the whole Tang Dynasty Strangled."

In the beginning, the Prince's seal was just Yan Zhuang's nomination certificate for infiltrating into the Tianyin Sect's general altar. Similarly, it was a trap from the beginning.

Once the cashier of the Tianyin sect is sealed by the prince, both they and the allies behind them will be exposed immediately.

"Of course this king knows this, but everything now proves that the person who really wants the crown prince's seal is not a member of the Tianyin sect, so who is this person, where is he from, and why does he want the crown prince's seal?" effect?"

Li Xuan put the thin bamboo brush in his hand aside, stared at him closely, and at the same time said in a deep voice: "Really, the one who really poses a threat to Datang has never been a prince's seal, but the one who wants to take it. to his people."

Ming Chongyan, who was standing opposite Li Xuan, felt an unusually dazzling sword, light and sword in Li Xuan's eyes for an instant.

The power struggle of the Tang royal family is more cruel than anyone imagined.

Ming Chongyan has already been involved. He is not only the counselor of Empress Wu, but also the teacher of Prime Minister Li Dan.

Although Li Xian is the prince now, no one can guarantee that the prince Li Xian can sit down forever.

Li Xian, King of England, and Li Dan, King of Xiang, both have opportunities.

Later, Li Xian was pushed down from the throne, and most of the people who really contributed, except for Empress Wu, were the ministers of Prime Minister Li Dan's palace.

Li Xuan looked at Ming Chongyan, and said coldly: "This person got the fake prince seal, even if he didn't use it for himself, he just hid him in a certain prince's palace with ulterior motives, and then set out to make the first complaint. , then the entire imperial court will immediately usher in a bloodbath...so the fake prince seal must be found, and those who want to use him must also be found."

Ming Chongyan's face became very embarrassed in an instant.

Although Li Xuan didn't point out Li Dan's name, Ming Chongyan felt that Li Xuan was referring to Li Dan.

Once the fake prince's seal suddenly appeared in the Prince Xiang's mansion sometime in the future, King Xiang would be in bad luck immediately.

In Ming Chongyan's mind, the image of the inner guards sweeping the Prime Minister's Palace had already appeared.

In the end, he had no choice but to nod solemnly, and said, "That's true. If this matter cannot be handled properly, there will be serious consequences."

"En!" Li Xuan nodded seriously, and he successfully diverted the topic away.

Ming Chongyan no longer entangled in the cause of Qiu Shenji's death, or in other words, he had transferred his suspicion to other people.

Because Li Xuan never mentioned Qiu Shenji from the beginning to the end, as if he didn't know that he was dead.

But the person who got the prince's seal is indeed troublesome, Li Xuan lowered his head and thought, this person should be the king of the East China Sea.

……

The army did not move very fast. When it was dark, the army arrived at Weiping.

After resting overnight in Weiping, the army set off again in the early morning of the second day.

At noon, the army had already appeared at the south gate of Muzhou.

Countless people stood on both sides of the city gate and the street, welcoming the triumphant return of the army.

However, when the army was passing by the gate of the city, the eyes of the common people fell more on the black coffin in the middle.

Before and after the black coffin, there were twenty or thirty arrested Tianyin believers, all of them dressed in mourning and weeping softly.

The surrounding people are no strangers to these people, because they were just like them, not only fellow Muzhou fellows, but also Tianyin believers.

Now that these people are wearing sackcloth and filial piety, it is self-evident who is in the coffin.

Under the city gate, seeing the gazes of the common people, Du Bixing cupped his hands in congratulations to Li Xuan, Duan Baoxuan, and many officials present: "Congratulations, my lord, Commander, in this way, the people of Muzhou will no longer have any repeatedly."

The coffin contained the empress's body, Ming Chongyan and Sima Chengzhen personally confirmed this after their return.

Even now, they are still guarding both sides of the coffin, and no one doubts the truth of this point.

"The hearts and minds of the people are never in one person. The key lies in whether the people's lives are stable. As long as there is enough food surplus, even if there is a natural disaster, the people will not rebel." Duan Baoxuan looked at Li Xuan and nodded slightly.

Li Xuan was a little surprised, he quickly cupped his hands and said, "What the governor said is absolutely true."

Duan Baoxuan shook his head and said: "This governor is just picking up Nanchang Wang Yahui. Although the poem written by Nanchang Wang is simple, it is a sincere truth. If all the officials in the world can understand this, then the country will be peaceful and the people will be safe." gone."

"What the governor said is true. Therefore, after returning to Wuzhou, the subordinate officials are going to go down to check the surplus food in the people's homes after the summer harvest, and then organize it into a book and report it to the central government." Li Xuan looked at Duan Baoxuan sincerely.

Duan Baoxuan nodded slightly, and said: "Yuezhou can also implement it in the same way. However, although this matter seems easy, there are still many problems. How to prevent the evil officials from playing tricks and oppressing the people, and how to prevent the people from falsely reporting figures. These are all problems. .”

"So, you can't rely on those arresting officers." Li Xuan said seriously: "For such statistics, first of all, the people need to be voluntary. Students from prefectures and counties go to the villages to make statistics, they are literate, they are their own hometowns, and they have no authority, and they can also let the people see the benefits of studying, which can serve multiple purposes.”

"My lord is not trying to take this opportunity to build more schools." Yao Zhi said suddenly, and everyone present suddenly realized.

Li Xuan smiled and nodded.

If other things are not considered political achievements, then building a school can be counted as an act of persuasion, and it can even allow more students who have failed their scientific examinations to have an income.

The land of Wuyue already had a flourishing style of writing, if they could use this to go deeper into the countryside, then more and more Wuyue officials would appear in the court in the future, which would be a good thing for them.

……

After returning to the Governor's Mansion, Duan Baoxuan immediately began to arrange many political affairs.

Du Bixing also reported to Li Xuan and Duan Baoxuan what happened in Muzhou during Li Xuan's absence.

Especially the Yang family turmoil in Muzhou that happened a few days ago.

The government found out that the Yang family in Muzhou had hidden a large amount of land and asked them to hand over the land and pay back the taxes owed for many years.

At this time, the son of the patriarch of the Yang family gathered a crowd to rebel, but he was directly defeated by Du Bixing, who had been prepared for a long time.

Looking at the confiscated land and property, Li Xuan hesitated for a while, then cupped her hands and looked at Duan Baoxuan and said, "Captain, let this matter be handed over to the new governor of Muzhou. The war is over, and the subordinate officials can't do it too much."

"Alright." Duan Baoxuan nodded, and said: "I am going to send troops from all walks of life back to the states, and the prince will go down to the counties to supervise the people's autumn planting. All these troublesome things at present will be handed over to the new officer." Inspector of Muzhou, presumably the imperial decree is coming soon."

"Yes!" Li Xuan nodded in agreement.

As early as more than ten days ago, when they first arrived in Muzhou, they had already urged the court to appoint the governor of Muzhou,

Now that the war is over, presumably the new governor of Muzhou will come with the imperial decree soon.

But even so, Li Xuan never thought that the imperial decree would come so soon.

(End of this chapter)