Damn it, I'm in the garbage book I wrote

Chapter 556 Is Chang'an in Chaos?

"That's awesome."

After reading the negotiation content reported by Fang Xuanling, Li Yuan couldn't help but sigh. He felt that Xia Lin was really amazing. He was good in other aspects, but his skill in diplomacy was extremely strong.

His idea was tantamount to hanging a knife on the head of the Eastern Turks, but if the Western Turks were wiped out, then the knife would be on his own head. With the grasslands being unobstructed for thousands of miles, the cavalry of the Eastern Turks could invade the Central Plains in a few days, and without the obstruction of the Western Turks on this line, the entire northern line of the Tang Dynasty would be completely exposed to the iron hoofs of the barbarians.

So now Li Yuan has to be protected whether he wants to or not.

"I think his intentions are more than that." Du Ruhui walked over to the map and looked around: "Yes, it is indeed more than that."

"Just say what you want to say, don't try to be mysterious."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Du Ruhui chuckled, "In my opinion, what he wants is to rebuild the border army. Since he holds the tiger talisman of the twelve generals, this matter must not be groundless."

"Hmm..." Li Yuan pondered for a long time. After a while, he pointed at Du Ruhui and said, "Didn't I tell you to plug your ears?"

"Hmm?" Du Ruhui was stunned for a moment, then agreed: "But your majesty did not ask me to cover my eyes."

"Then I have wronged you." Li Yuan laughed twice: "If that's the case, then do you think we should let him do it or not?"

"Of course not. If he succeeds, wouldn't he have the final say in the unification of the world? Whoever he says is legitimate is legitimate. Does Your Majesty think he will recognize Your Majesty as the common ruler of the world?"

"Okay." Du Ruhui's answer touched Li Yuan's heart. Li Yuan nodded in agreement and said, "Then Keming, how can you stop him?"

"No."

Li Yuan almost turned into a happy comedian at this moment. He looked around, walked up to a eunuch, picked up the whisk in his hand and started fighting with Du Ruhui.

"Your Majesty, I really didn't. Your Majesty just asked me if I agreed with him rebuilding the border army. Of course I didn't agree, but I couldn't stop it, Your Majesty... Ouch..."

The two of them chased and fought in the hall for a long time. Li Yuan was old after all, so he sat on the steps and began to pant. Du Ruhui approached him with a shy look on his face: "Your Majesty, don't be angry."

"Don't be angry, don't be angry. How can I not be angry? Someone has grabbed my lifeblood!"

"Who says it isn't?"

When Du Ruhui said this, Li Yuan's eyes widened: "If your father hadn't entrusted you to me when he died, I would have dug a hole and buried you now."

"I know, I know that His Majesty loves me like a son, but I haven't finished what I want to say. Now he holds the lifeblood of the Tang Dynasty in his hands, don't we also hold his lifeblood in our hands?"

Li Yuan was stunned, then turned around and asked: "What do you mean?"

"Of course he can deny the legitimacy of Li Tang, but does he recognize the legitimacy of Li Zhi?" Du Ruhui walked back and forth with a smile on his face: "I think he will recognize it, right?"

As soon as these words came out, Li Yuan's eyes suddenly lit up: "Li Zhi... That's right!"

"There are some things I shouldn't say, but Your Majesty should understand. Who will be the future emperor of the Tang Dynasty? There is already a discussion. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince? His Royal Highness the Princess? Or His Royal Highness the Second Prince?"

"You're going to get yourself killed for saying that."

"Kill him." Du Ruhui bowed and said, "It is not a pity for me to die for the sake of the Tang Dynasty for thousands of years."

"Roll, roll, roll."

"My minister retire."

"Wait a minute!" Li Yuan pointed at Du Ruhui and said, "Come back!"

"I'm here." Du Ruhui stood in front of Li Yuan again: "What do you want, Your Majesty?"

"What do you have in mind?"

Du Ruhui raised his eyebrows slightly: "Take advantage of the situation and create an image of someone so powerful that he will shock the master."

Li Yuan rolled his eyes at that moment and asked, "Made?"

"That's right. Your Majesty is in a dilemma right now because of how to explain it to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. It would be better to tell His Royal Highness the Princess that her achievements have shocked the Lord, and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince will make the decision himself."

"You, you!" Li Yuan pointed at Du Ruhui and said, "You are vicious."

"Your Majesty, I don't recognize you. I only have the Tang Dynasty in my heart. Besides, whether His Royal Highness ascends the throne or not, there will be a war. Your Majesty, don't forget that there is also a Second Prince. But if... they can all survive."

He didn't explain it clearly, but Li Yuan understood it. What he meant was that as long as the eldest princess could be promoted, all the brothers and sisters of the Li family would survive. Moreover, she would have the support of Xia Daosheng externally and the support of Erfeng internally, and they would not kill Li Jiancheng.

This is a good move, but the key is that Xia Daosheng can't go after his son's kingdom, right? Then no matter if it's Sanniang's eldest son, he is also Xia Daosheng's eldest son.

"Then let's do this. Ask Fang Xuanling to give in a little on the Turkic issue and let Xia Lin handle it." "No, Your Majesty." Du Ruhui shook his head hurriedly: "Don't be so impatient, otherwise with Xia Daosheng's ability, he will be able to guess Your Majesty's intentions in a blink of an eye."

"Then explain it to me clearly!"

Du Ruhui chuckled and said, "Ask Xia Daosheng to negotiate with the Western Turks. He can take the money, but if he exchanges it for other things, he will have to pay a 25% tax when passing through Chang'an. Even our official grain has to be taxed, so he is no exception."

Li Yuan slapped his thigh and said, "Great! The Turks don't have much money, so they must be using their assets to repay their debts. In this way, we can take a share from them. But will he agree to this?"

"Why not?" Du Ruhui tilted his head and smiled, "Let's build a road for him. Doesn't it cost money to build a road? The people along the way also need to survive. Doesn't Xia Daosheng claim to be saving the world and the people? If he doesn't agree, how can he be considered a savior?"

"Isn't this what we are going to repair... Oh!!!" Li Yuan nodded hurriedly: "Okay, okay, tell Fang Xuanling this."

"I will do it now."

As soon as Du Ruhui frowned, Li Yuan began to think about this matter. The four words "achievements so great that they threaten the emperor" have always been taboo in the court. In fact, no matter whether it is Erfeng or Sanniang, they have already made great achievements over the years, but Li Yuan was able to hide their achievements.

And now...

"Call the Minister of Personnel here." Li Yuan stood up and said to the eunuch beside him, "Tell him to come to my study to see me."

Li Yuan quickly gave the highest instructions to the Minister of Personnel and transferred seven or eight people up in succession. These people seemed to have no special connection, but in fact they were all the team of Longcheng back then.

What this means is actually very obvious. Back then, Longcheng was the territory of the eldest daughter of the Li family, and the officials of the Longcheng faction were actually all from Sanniang's team. Now that so many of them have been promoted, anyone with a little bit of insight can feel the change in the situation.

However, Li Yuan had no intention of hiding. As he was proficient in the method of raising Gu, all he needed was to get Li Jiancheng down under a legitimate name and then arrange his daughter to take over.

He even started thinking about how to avoid the identity issue of his grandson Li Zhi. Anyway, as Du Ruhui said, Sanniang was actually the most suitable candidate.

Meanwhile, over at Sanniang's side, little Douya was lying in a rocking chair in the shade of a tree, enjoying the coolness, while Li Zhi was being beaten by Jiaye beside her, making him cry loudly. Ever since the two little ones could walk, there has not been a single peaceful day in this mansion.

Li Zhi was very smart, but his personality was like Sanniang. Jiaye was okay, but his personality was exactly like that bastard, so it was usually the younger sister who bullied the older brother.

"These guys still use the same old tricks." Xiao Douya put the information he had found on the tea table next to him and said, "Asking me to break this situation, isn't that child's play?"

Sanniang laughed and said, "It's child's play again. What do you think we should do?"

"Spend money." Xiao Douya stretched his neck and said, "No, if your man was here, what would he do?"

"He will use Ma Zhou." Sanniang snorted softly, "Don't you find it strange? Ma Zhou is the prime minister of Wei, but he has been in Chang'an these days. He is said to be coordinating materials for Xinxianyang, but how can a prime minister be asked to do such things?"

Xiao Douya straightened up now: "Yes, Lao Ma!"

Who in their group didn't know each other? Douyazi naturally knew that Ma Zhou was one of their own. When she heard Sanniang mention Ma Zhou, she suddenly became excited.

"Come here, invite Prime Minister Ma to the mansion for a banquet." Douyazi shouted to the housekeeper beside him, "Don't be negligent."

Sanniang sat by and watched her children playing around her knees, then suddenly spoke up, "It seems that he knew what would happen to Chang'an City when he went to the Western Regions. Ma Zhou is an expert in handling such matters."

"Of course, those ugly men are all smart. If it weren't for these people, Tian Wei would have been finished long ago. The Fu Party still supported Tian Wei after all."

Douyazi raised his head and sighed, "It's a pity that the world is not doing well now. If it were a good world, I don't know how much better the lives of the people would be."

As they were talking, Princess Tuoba and Tang Baoer came in. They came forward and sat in front of the child: "Let's go make some summer clothes for the child and see if they are suitable."

Dugu Douya glanced at them and said, "If you like them so much, why don't you have a baby yourself?"

"Is it because you don't like me that your Dugu family didn't take over the country?" Sanniang rolled her eyes at her: "Don't say such bullshit to irritate me."

Princess Tuoba didn't care, but Tang Bao'er sighed: "The blessing source has not arrived yet. Taoist Yuan has sentenced our lives. If there is no blessing, there is no such good fortune."

"What a blessing! Look at Sanniang. She used to be so strong and vigorous, but now she's shriveled up after two years of feeding."

Sanniang said nothing, but just carried the bean sprouts to the front hall to wait for Ma Zhou to arrive.

After receiving the invitation, Ma Zhou was quite happy to come to Dugu Mansion with some gifts. After he came in and looked around, he couldn't help but exclaimed: "It's great to have money."

"I don't know whether I should laugh or cry for being praised by you, Prime Minister Ma. If I were in Wei, I'm afraid you would have already started to plan how to settle accounts, right?"

Douyazi is so mean. If she were not a girl, she would be a born villain, the kind that cannot be changed even if she washes herself away.

"I dare not." Ma Zhou bowed and said, "I wonder why Master Dugu invited me today? I am an envoy. Master Dugu is not afraid of others gossiping about me?"

"Chew it up. They also said that my two children were Xia Daosheng's children. Did I care about it?" Xiao Douya came to Ma Zhou with his hands behind his back and made an inviting gesture: "Prime Minister Ma, please come in."

(End of this chapter)