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

Chapter 131 Father, the Crown Prince sent someone to assassinate me (Part )

In front of the Liangyi Hall, Li Chengqian held the memorial in his hand, looking a little confused.

Although he had already arrived at the palace, the emperor still asked him to write a memorial in detail and send it to him.

Although Li Chengqian was somewhat confused, he still followed the emperor's instructions and wrote down everything he could about what happened today.

"The Prince wants to see you." Zhang Ananda shouted on the jade steps.

Li Chengqian immediately walked up the jade steps with a solemn expression and entered the hall.

"Your son pays homage to His Majesty, Father. May Your Majesty live forever." Li Chengqian stood in the hall and bowed earnestly to the emperor sitting on the imperial couch.

Li Shimin cast a scrutinizing gaze upon Li Chengqian, then asked calmly, "How is Duke Zheng's condition?"

"Not very good." Li Chengqian shook his head and said, "Master Sun diagnosed and prescribed medicine. You can use ginseng to keep him alive for a year, and then we can see about other things. If it works, continue to use the medicine.

Sun Zhenren said that there might be some ginseng from the Tuyuhun, Dangxiang, and the sea that is different from the Liaodong ginseng. It might be effective, but the specific efficacy depends on the specific situation. It might even prolong life for a few more years.

As he spoke, Li Chengqian handed over the memorial in his hand and said seriously, "When I was discussing with Master Sun, he mentioned that perhaps we could train some female doctors to specialize in female fertility, and eventually compile a book on it."

Li Shimin looked up at Li Chengqian in surprise, then lowered his head to read the memorial.

Sure enough, in the memorial, there was no mention of the Ministry of Agriculture or any business or travel matters, but the use of female doctors to improve women's fertility was all attributed to Sun Simiao.

Li Shimin couldn't help but sigh in his heart. Did he really do something over the years that made the prince so cautious?

"Regarding Master Sun's matter, we'll do as he says. Regarding the female doctor and the ginseng, I'll have the Qianniu Guard obey Master Sun's orders." After a brief pause, Li Shimin asked, "Since Prime Minister Wei is unwell, what do you think of him submitting a letter requesting retirement?"

"Hmm?" Li Chengqian looked up in disbelief. Then he realized what was happening and said, "I haven't thought about this question, but Prime Minister Wei is unwell and should rest. If he submits a petition requesting retirement, I think it would allow him to stay away from government affairs. But forget about retirement. If Prime Minister Wei loses his title, the ginseng might not reach him."

Li Shimin's face, which had been slightly gloomy, paused. He immediately understood that the matter of Wei Zheng's daughter entering the Eastern Palace had not been finalized. If he lost the title of prime minister, then perhaps the ginseng might really not reach Wei Zheng's hands.

"Don't worry, I'll let Zhang Ananda take charge of these matters." The emperor smiled and said, "I'll also let him into the palace from time to time to ask for advice. It might be a good thing for him to retire and take a break."

"Yes!" Li Chengqian relaxed, then said, "Your son can also visit Wei Xiang more often. Now he can relax. In a few years, when Wei Xiang's health has completely recovered, he can accompany father to the Fengshan ceremony."

"Fengshan." Li Shimin said softly with emotion.

The faster the Fengshan ceremony, the better it would be within two years before he sends troops to Goguryeo. The slower the ceremony, the better it would be after he defeats Goguryeo and comes back to perform the Fengshan ceremony. It is up to him to choose.

"If Prime Minister Wei could perform the Fengshan ceremony together with my father, it would be a wonderful story." Li Chengqian bowed sincerely.

"Yes." The emperor nodded in agreement, then changed the subject and said, "By the way, do you remember what you said at the end of last year about letting the princes of the royal family to farm the land themselves? The Zongzheng Temple has already compiled a year's statistics. You can go and take a look."

"Yes!" Li Chengqian bowed again.

"Okay, there's nothing else to do, so you can go back."

"Yes!" Li Chengqian bowed in surprise, but still took his leave.

……

Only after Li Chengqian completely left Liangyi Hall did Li Shimin couldn't help but sigh.

Wei Zheng was the most important force in the court supporting the prince. Once Wei Zheng retired, this force would be immediately weakened.

Li Shimin pondered these matters calmly.

Wei Zheng's retirement may indeed weaken the power of the Eastern Palace, but for Wei Zheng's health, this may be necessary.

As for Li Chengqian's worry that someone would make things difficult for Wei Zheng, Li Shimin was not worried at all.

He lowered his head and opened the imperial edict placed below, which was the edict to appoint Wei Zheng's second daughter as Crown Princess Liangti.

If Li Chengqian opposed Wei Zheng's retirement today, Li Shimin would burn the edict that appointed Wei Zheng's second daughter as Crown Prince Liangti.

If Wei Zheng's daughter became the Crown Prince Liangti, then naturally no one would neglect Wei Zheng's affairs, and with Zhang Ananda handling it personally, there would definitely be no problem.

The prince did not mention the Ministry of Revenue's affairs.

When Li Chengqian was speaking today, Li Shimin was also present, and Li Chengqian did not mention anything about the Ministry of Revenue.

But the reason why Wei Zheng mentioned the Ministry of Revenue was because they all knew that the things Li Chengqian was going to do would sooner or later involve the Ministry of Revenue.

The emperor was absolutely unwilling to let the prince interfere in the Ministry of Revenue.

But after returning to the palace, he thought about it carefully. Apart from other things, there was one thing that the prince was right about, and that was that the current Ministry of Revenue was not doing a very good job.

Like the Minister of Agriculture Zhao Yuankai, the Minister of Revenue Tang Jian was a qualified Minister of Revenue, but only qualified.

Fengshan, Fengshan ultimately involves the issue of population.

After a few days, the emperor had clearly realized that he was indeed not qualified to offer sacrifices to the gods on Mount Tai.

Although cruel, it is true.

Li Shimin also accepted it, so Fengshan Songshan became the best choice.

The Ministry of Revenue needs to make some achievements after all.

Forget it, let the prince make some achievements in the Sinong Temple first.

After all, the prince might not even think about interfering in the affairs of the Ministry of Revenue right now.

Coming back to his senses, the emperor looked to the side and asked, "How is the investigation going on with that matter?"

Zhang Ananda bowed and stepped forward, then said, "Your Majesty, I have recently checked with the doctors at the Eastern Palace, and no one knows that Crown Prince Liangti is pregnant. However, the Crown Princess is very strict with the Eastern Palace's backyard, especially with Princess Ankang and Crown Prince Liangti. Furthermore, the Crown Prince generally doesn't care about the affairs of the Eastern Palace's backyard."

"Chengqian doesn't know?" Li Shimin immediately understood. Li Chengqian really didn't know about these things, and all of them were handled by Crown Princess Su Shu alone.

In other words, when Li Chengqian went to Wei Zheng's mansion today, he didn't know what was happening in the backyard.

At this time, the emperor suddenly had a headache for no apparent reason.

It's not because of Li Chengqian, but because of Su Shu. Su Shu is the Crown Princess.

If the Crown Princess doesn't say a word, then she will be as insignificant as if she doesn't exist.

However, Su Shu has now demonstrated quite good abilities.

In particular, she gave birth to two sons and a daughter for the prince.

This actually raised the prestige of the Crown Princess.

You should know that in the entire system of imperial concubines in the Tang Dynasty, the empress ranked first. If the empress was gone, the first place would not be the imperial concubine, but the crown princess.

Because the Crown Princess is the principal wife and is seen by all the noble ladies in the world, she is born with the right to represent the Emperor and the Crown Prince, and the entire royal family.

As for the Imperial Noble Consort, a special decree from the Emperor was required.

When the Crown Princess calmly stepped forward, the weight of the Eastern Palace, at least in the Emperor's heart, was no longer the same as before.

Li Shimin couldn't help but smile as he shook his head slightly, but then his face became a little gloomy.

Over the past year, the Crown Prince's proper handling of state affairs has been praised by both the government and the people.

There is nothing wrong with it.

On the contrary, although Li Tai followed him in Luoyang and was also editing books, the person who was actually in charge of these matters was Su Xu.

He is inferior to the prince in every aspect.

And this was even when Prince's Secretary Yu Zhining was away in the second half of last year.

Prince's Secretary.

The emperor couldn't help but think of the Prince's Secretary.

Lowering his head and looking at the memorial in front of him, the emperor subconsciously picked up the pen and wrote down a name.

Ma Zhou.

……

The night was shrouded in darkness, and the sword flashed across.

The masked man with a turban suddenly stepped back. The next moment, he stepped harder and instantly retreated to the canal behind him.

Push your feet hard.

The river surface, which had been frozen in the cold winter, suddenly cracked into a big hole, and the next moment, he fell into the river.

The two Qianniu Guards standing on the embankment looked at each other, and the next moment, one of the Qianniu Guards jumped directly into the canal.

After a moment, he finally raised his head again, but shook his head helplessly.

Although he could go into the water, he was not a very good swimmer, so he did not find anyone.

Soon, the two Qianniu Guards immediately summoned more companions and the Jinwu Guards in the city to begin a complete blockade and search.

It wasn't long before they found a hole in the canal and wet footsteps...

Qi Zhixuan hid in an empty house with a look of relief on his face.

Although he had jumped out of the ditch before and left traces of walking, he soon fell back down and found another place to exit the ditch.

After a while, the people behind stopped following them.

hope so.

Qi Zhixuan's face darkened. He didn't even know how he was targeted.

He had only been walking around the residence of the Censor Wang An when the Qianniu Guards immediately approached him.

We can't stay in Chang'an City any longer.

Qi Zhixuan was almost certain that the entire Chang'an was targeting him.

The only thing to be thankful for is that his true face was not revealed.

But he didn't dare take the risk, he didn't know if the prince still remembered him.

Now that he wants to leave Chang'an City and is being heavily hunted by the Qianniu Guards, the only way out he can rely on is... the King of Wei?
A moment later, Qi Zhixuan had sneaked into Prince Wei's mansion.

It seems that the Prince of Wei's Mansion never thought that it would be invaded, so the internal security loopholes were too large.

Li Tai had just entered the study when a cold, bright long knife fell under his jaw. Li Tai suddenly did not dare to move.

"Your Highness, please do me a favor. In two hours, tell them that someone is trying to assassinate you." Qi Zhixuan's voice rang out, and then he added, "Next year, two thousand strings of cash will be delivered to the Prince of Wei's palace."

"It's you!" Li Tai knew who it was as soon as he heard the cash.

"It's me." Qi Zhixuan raised his long sword, and Li Tai saw that it was the back of the sword that was against his jaw.

"Your Highness, there is no need to look back. Just do it." Qi Zhixuan calmly put away his sword.

Li Tai nodded slightly.

……

In the Liangyi Hall, Li Tai knelt upright on the ground, looking at the emperor standing in front of a map of Goguryeo on the side, crying and wailing, "Father, the crown prince sent someone to assassinate me, father, the crown prince sent someone to assassinate me, father, you have to intervene!"

Li Shimin looked at Li Tai indifferently and said coldly: "Get out!"

(End of this chapter)