Li Chengqian of the Tang Dynasty: Please say long live His Majesty

Chapter 105 If the Crown Prince Dies, the Throne Will Be His (First Update)
The Luo River is quiet and the waning moon hangs high in the sky.

The Taoist magic workshop by the river and the study deep in the Prince of Wei’s residence.

The candlelight flickered, and Li Tai's angry but suppressed voice rang out, "Isn't your father afraid of the daughter of Zheng Rentai, the General of the Right Guard? What if your brother gets angry one day and directly orders Zheng Rentai to lead his troops to attack Xuanwu Gate? What will your father do?"

"Your Highness, please take a closer look." Chai Lingwu, a 27-year-old man dressed in a dark green official robe, with a thin complexion and narrow eyes, gently pushed the document in his hand and said calmly, "Zheng Rentai has been transferred to the position of General of the Left Jinwu Guard. In Chang'an City, no matter how capable he is, he can only command two hundred personal soldiers at most."

"That's what I said, but with Zheng Rentai in Chang'an City, I don't know how many hands and feet you can use with Zheng Rentai. At that time, it will be difficult to restrain your hands and feet."

Li Tai shook his head and said solemnly, "The key is that if Zheng Rentai's daughter marries into the Eastern Palace, then everyone in the court and the country will think that my brother's position as crown prince is as secure as Mount Tai. I..."

Zheng Rentai is an old man in the Qin Palace. He was one of the ten vanguards who attacked Xuanwu Gate.

Today, those who dominate the army and the court are all the old men from the Qin Palace.

Wei Zheng, even though he is the prime minister, to be honest, his position in the court will never be as high as Fang Xuanling and Zhangsun Wuji.

Since Zheng Rentai's daughter married into the Eastern Palace, many of his fellow comrades who came from the Prince of Qin's Palace would subconsciously conclude that the emperor wanted to completely bind the prince and the old ministers of the Prince of Qin's Palace, as well as the descendants of these old ministers.

With their overt or covert support, the prince's position will be even more stable.

"No matter how much they support the Crown Prince, can their loyalty ever surpass theirs to Your Majesty?" Chai Lingwu frowned slightly and said, "Your Highness, as far as I know, the astrological changes, coupled with the plague in Zezhou, have already made Your Majesty distressed. Now that the Crown Prince has taken a concubine, it's a good opportunity for Your Majesty to relax, and for the court officials to relax as well."

"To bring good luck?" Li Tai looked at Chai Lingwu in surprise.

"I think Your Majesty truly has this intention." Chai Lingwu sighed softly and said, "It can only be said that the Crown Prince has come at an opportune time. At any other time, Your Majesty would never allow the daughter of a military commander to join the Eastern Palace. Now... for the sake of maintaining stability within the court and the people, Your Majesty has no choice but to do so."

"Damn it." Li Tai couldn't help but curse.

"Your Highness, be careful with your words." Chai Lingwu's brows were already furrowed. He bowed and said, "Your Highness, the Crown Prince is your elder brother. No matter when or where, Your Highness should always put filial piety and brotherly love first."

Li Tai was stunned for a moment, then his expression gradually relaxed. He looked at Chai Lingwu and said, "It's Qingque's fault."

"That's what happened in Chang'an," Chai Lingwu said solemnly. "For Your Majesty, the harmony of the imperial family is more important than anything else. Therefore, Your Highness must be more respectful to the Crown Prince in the near future. Your Majesty does not want to be troubled by these matters right now."

"My cousin is right." Li Tai's expression calmed down completely. If everything was fine in the world, the emperor might tolerate their mischief a little, but once there was a crisis in the world, anyone who interfered with him would be severely punished by the emperor.

"For Your Highness, the three most important things right now are: continue the construction of the Longmen Grottoes. Also, find a few more princes and princesses, and have them contribute money and offerings to pray for Empress Wende's afterlife. At the same time, Your Highness should try to win them over, especially Prince Jin."

Originally, when people talked about the construction of Longmen Grottoes, Li Tai listened very seriously, but when Chai Lingwu mentioned Li Zhi, a hint of displeasure flashed in Li Tai's eyes.

But after being severely punished by the emperor, Li Tai gradually became more shrewd.

He lowered his head slightly so as not to let Chai Lingwu see his displeasure.

"The second is the 'Guo Di Zhi'. The 'Guo Di Zhi' is the foundation of your highness. You don't need to worry too much about this matter. Sima Su is in control of everything." As Chai Lingwu spoke, Li Tai's expression gradually became more pleasant.

"Finally, there's the matter of compiling the Book of the Later Han." Chai Lingwu sighed softly and said, "To be honest, of the three matters, the Book of the Later Han is the most important to Your Highness. If it can be successfully compiled, Your Highness's influence in the court will far surpass that of the Crown Prince."

"Yeah!" Li Tai nodded seriously.

"Book of the Later Han" is a history, and "Comprehensive Geography" is, after all, just a geography monograph. It attracted the attention of scholars because it mixed in some county history, geographical locations, myths and legends, and major historical events. If it were not for these, no one would care at all.

"Duke Zhao has been very concerned about the Longmen Grottoes in the past two months. Sima said that next month, we can talk to Duke Zhao about compiling the Book of the Later Han." After Chai Lingwu finished speaking, he felt much more relaxed.

"No." Li Tai suddenly shook his head, raised his head and stared at Chai Lingwu and said, "The compilation of the Book of the Later Han must be accelerated. This month, it would be best if my uncle could talk to my father about Prince Cao's matter tomorrow, and then we can start compiling the Book of the Later Han."

"But we haven't gathered all our manpower yet?" Chai Lingwu's face was full of confusion.

According to Su Xu's plan, the emperor agreed in June, and he began to gather people in July to make preliminary plans. In August, he also withdrew some people from the "Guo Di Zhi" so that he could quickly find the rhythm.

If more effort is put in at the end of the year, it is very likely that the "Guo Di Zhi" will be presented to the emperor on New Year's Eve and the "Book of the Later Han" will be presented to the emperor on Lantern Festival.

In that case, the status of the Prince of Wei's Mansion in the hearts of court officials would surpass that of the Crown Prince in one fell swoop.

"Your Highness, if this happens, the completion of the Comprehensive Geography will be affected." Chai Lingwu looked at Li Tai seriously.

"It's nothing more than presenting the 'Book of the Later Han' on New Year's Eve and the 'Comprehensive Geography' on Lantern Festival." Li Tai calmly shook his head and said, "I know the difference between the important and the unimportant."

"Okay!" Chai Lingwu bowed and said, "I will go find Sima Su immediately, and then go with him to find Duke Zhao."

Although Chai Lingwu and Changsun Wuji are not related by blood, Chai Shao and Changsun Wuji were both important officials in the Qin Palace and had a good relationship. Moreover, one married the emperor's sister and the other's sister married the emperor, so they were real relatives.

"Thank you for your help, cousin." Li Tai breathed a sigh of relief and nodded.

"I'll take my leave." Chai Lingwu immediately bowed and left quickly.

…In the study, Li Tai leaned back on the couch feeling somewhat heavy-hearted.

The Crown Prince wanted to marry the daughter of General Zheng Rentai of the Left Jinwu Guard to be Crown Prince Liangti, which put a lot of pressure on Li Tai.

Although the Zheng family's situation has been somewhat depressed in recent years due to the incident of the Crown Princess Zheng Guanyin, their foundation is still there.

In particular, Zheng Rentai's wife was from the Cui family of Boling, and had been married to the Lu family of Fanyang for many years.

The three families of Cui, Lu and Zheng joined forces. Once Li Chengqian found a gap between them, they would soon turn to the Eastern Palace, which was something Li Tai did not want to see.

In particular, Fang Xuanling's wife was from the Lu family of Fanyang, and was of the same clan as Lu Chengqing, the left chancellor.

However, since Fang Yiai was banished from the capital, Fang Xuanling rarely contacted Li Tai.

Especially in the past few months, he has been recuperating from his injuries and has been under house arrest. No one has passed on the message to him, and he couldn't even get any news from Fang Xuanling.

He even had a feeling that if Fang Yiai left Chang'an, Fang Xuanling would not help him as much.

With Fang Xuanling behind him, Li Tai had no taboos, but without Fang Xuanling's support, Li Tai was in fear day and night.

That night, my father almost whipped him himself.

Therefore, if the emperor's elder brother wanted to marry Crown Prince Liangti, he had to compile the "Book of the Later Han" at the same time, so that he could surpass his elder brother in popularity.

……

The waning moon ripples in the Luo River.

A small black-sailed boat gently glided across the river, crushing the moonlight across the river.

"There is nothing left in Xiangcheng Palace. There was nothing unusual about Yan Lide in Longmen Temple. We didn't find anything." Under the candlelight, a tall figure appeared in the swaying boat curtain. His face was not clear, and a long sword with a red tassel hilt was placed beside him.

"The King of Wei knows nothing. He doesn't even care why his father-in-law was dismissed from the position of governor because of a small Xiangcheng Palace." An indifferent voice came from the darkness opposite the candlelight, with a hint of sarcasm in it.

"What else could it be? Yan Lide is not only the foremost master architect of the dynasty, but also a relative of the emperor. The Northern Expedition to Goguryeo requires him... Especially their father, Yan Pi, who was Yang Guang's Junior Supervisor of the Imperial Household. During the Goguryeo campaign, he supervised the grain transport, repaired the Linshuo Palace, and led three offensive raids into Goguryeo as a Wuben Langjiang." The tall figure sneered softly and said, "If the emperor wants to conquer Goguryeo, Yan Lide is the most important."

"Jiang Xingben isn't bad either. There's also a new guy in the East Palace named Yang Wulian, a disciple of the Huang Gen and Huang Gun brothers. He's quite good at shipbuilding." The voice in the darkness shook its head and said helplessly, "The Emperor wants to conquer Goguryeo. Many people in Dengzhou and Yangzhou have expressed their support."

Yang Wulian came from Yangzhou.

"The Emperor wants to conquer Goguryeo, but when?" The tall figure sighed softly and said, "The Emperor started working on it five or six years ago, but there's still no news of further preparations. We mobilized quite a few people for this Fengshan ceremony, and some of our influence has been exposed, but it seems the Emperor has no intention of taking action."

"He's waiting for an opportunity." The figure in the darkness shook his head and said, "Even if we invade Goguryeo now, the chances of success are slim. He's waiting for problems to arise within Goguryeo."

"Do you have news?" The tall figure looked up in surprise, revealing half of his handsome face, with a straight nose, heroic eyebrows, and a black mole hidden in his left eyebrow.

The figure in the darkness did not answer.

The tall figure didn't ask any more questions.

"The Prince of Wei is gradually losing ground in his dispute with the Crown Prince. The key is that the Emperor no longer favors him, and he's getting anxious." The figure in the darkness raised his head and said, "The Crown Prince's marriage to the daughter of Zheng from Xingyang will probably reassure the three families of Cui, Lu, and Zheng."

"They'll be able to appear by the side of the next emperor again." The tall figure sneered softly and said, "Those self-proclaimed noble families are more adept at using these tactics than anyone else."

"The Emperor's attitude has softened. The King of Wei has little chance."

"No, Prince Wei actually has the greatest chance. He is the second legitimate son. If the crown prince dies, the throne will be his turn." The tall figure raised his head, and under the firelight, a cold light flashed in his deep eyes.

"Perhaps King Jin?"

"Let's talk about it later." The tall figure shook his head and said coldly, "The Crown Prince must die. Only with his death will the central government be in chaos, and the Emperor's expedition against Goguryeo will be delayed indefinitely."

"Did you really not leave anything behind at Lu Hu's place?"

"I don't know." The tall figure suddenly frowned, then shook his head and said, "Don't worry about this matter. I'll check it myself."

"Okay!" The dark figure relaxed a little, then said, "The King of Wei is really anxious."

"Let him do whatever he wants. The more natural, the better." The tall figure shook his head slightly and said, "Only then, after the Crown Prince dies, can he distance himself from the matter."

The figure opposite was silent and motionless.

(End of this chapter)