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

Chapter 169: The Old Clan of Longyou, the Prince's Right Guard Zhang Liang (Part )

Pingkangfang under the night sky.

The lights are bright, the wine is drunk, and the birds are singing and dancing.

Familiar restaurant, familiar voice.

Chai Lingwu still sat by the window, glanced downstairs, then looked across and said, "Brother Zhang, His Majesty is indeed suspicious of Quan Wanji. Even the secret guards who usually keep an eye on me are nowhere to be seen."

In the shadows across from him, Zhang Yi, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, looked up at Chai Lingwu and said, "This time, he has suddenly compromised with Yin Hongzhi. Your Majesty, with his wisdom, will surely see the problem. It's only natural to send the Hundred Cavalry Division to keep an eye on him. So, father has already issued an order forbidding anyone to visit him privately while he's in Chang'an."

The reason why Quan Wanji compromised with Yin Hongzhi this time was because there was something wrong with the rumors in the court.

The prince advocated transferring Yin Hongzhi and handing over Qizhou to Quan Wanji, which they originally welcomed.

But many people see the benefits and want to get involved, which is a bit inappropriate.

Yin Hongzhi left and a new person came.

Not only will they have to fight each other again, but they will also have to be careful about Yin Hongzhi coming back to attack them, and there will also be the King of Qi.

He was the one who was most dissatisfied with Yin Hongzhi's transfer.

When the fight breaks out again, it’s hard to say what the outcome will be.

If the emperor finds out about this again, he will take ruthless action and everyone will be in trouble.

Instead of doing this, it would be better to compromise with Yin Hongzhi and divide the benefits together. After all, even if Quan Wanji is gone, there will be others.

Of course, Quan Wanji's return this time was too sudden, and their compromise was also very sudden.

When the emperor saw this, he naturally became suspicious.

However, even though he had doubts, the emperor would not say anything more as long as they "assisted" the King of Qi in governing Qizhou in the future.

Right now is the most sensitive time, so it’s better not to meet Quan Wanji rashly.

……

"The general is right." Chai Lingwu nodded, then looked up at Zhang Yi and said, "It's just that the King of Wei asked me to find out who is behind Quan Wanji."

"What is going on?" Zhang Yi grasped the key point in Chai Lingwu's words and asked, "Who does the King of Wei suspect?"

"King Wu." Chai Lingwu picked up the wine glass and drank the wine in it. Then he said, "Compared to the crown prince, the King Wu is a greater threat to the King of Wei."

Zhang Xi frowned and asked, "Why do you say that?"

"Your Majesty has no intention of replacing the Crown Prince for the time being, so whether it's the King of Wei or the King of Wu, there's not much difference in your eyes." Chai Lingwu looked up and said, "If Your Majesty favors the King of Wu over the King of Wei, then the King of Wei will be marginalized. If Your Majesty ever decides to depose the Crown Prince, it will be difficult for the King of Wei to squeeze into the front again."

Li Chengqian was the legitimate eldest son. Once he was deposed, the legitimate eldest son would be deposed. Although Li Tai was still the legitimate son, he would also be affected.

If he had not been able to secure the position of crown prince the moment Li Chengqian was deposed, then the role he, the legitimate son, could play in the future would not have been significant.

Others will also flock to compete with him for the position of crown prince.

"So, if the King of Wu is behind Quan Wanji, then the King of Wei will use all his strength to eliminate Quan Wanji and prevent the King of Wu's power from infiltrating Qi Province and threatening his position." Chai Lingwu looked at Zhang Yi and said, "So, Brother Zhang, tell me, is the King of Wu behind Quan Wanji? If so, I'm afraid I will follow the King of Wei and take action against the King of Wu."

"I almost forgot that Princess Pingyang is your Majesty's legitimate sister." Zhang Yi reacted immediately.

It is precisely because of this that the relationship between Chai Lingwu and Li Tai is much closer than that between other grandsons of Emperor Gaozu.

On the contrary, the relationship between Chai Lingwu and Li Ke was much more distant.

The Chai family itself is a direct lineage of the royal family, not those emperor's children who have the titles of prince and princess but are actually illegitimate children.

They are closely related by blood.

"Tell me the result." Chai Lingwu stared straight at Zhang Yi. He needed a result to tell Li Tai.

"Not the King of Wu." Zhang Yi waved his hand slightly and said, "Although Quan Wanji was once the Chief Secretary of the King of Wu, it was actually just a job relationship. The two sides did not have much personal interest in each other. Ever since Quan Wanji was transferred to the position of Chief Secretary of the King of Qi, the relationship between the two sides has become distant."

"Although I have been serving you day and night, once I leave my post, I will be treated like a guest." Chai Lingwu nodded slowly.

"Yes, that's exactly what He Xun of the Southern Liang meant." Zhang Yi nodded and said, "The King of Wu relies most heavily on the Hongnong Yang family. It's difficult for others to join his inner circle, and the same goes for Quan Wanji."

"Then, who is behind him?" Chai Lingwu's expression became serious.

"The Quan family, of course it's the Quan family. The Quan family of Tianshui is also a big family in the world. Quan Wanji's cousin Quan Hongshou is a veteran who started the uprising in Taiyuan. He is the Chief Clerk of the Qin Palace of Your Majesty and the Left Prime Minister of the Grand Secretariat of the East Shaanxi Province. Since the Zhenguan period, he has been promoted from the Minister of the Imperial Household to the Minister of the Ministry of War and the Minister of Households, the Duke of Tianshui County, and a big family in Longxi. They don't need to rely on anyone." Zhang Yi felt a little funny.

When everyone saw Quan Wanji, they couldn't help but think of Li Ke, but they didn't know that he was a descendant of a wealthy family.

"So they are from an old clan in Longyou. Now everything is clear." Chai Lingwu was completely relaxed.

Now that he knows Quan Wanji's background, he no longer has to worry about anything.

The so-called old clans of Longxi were actually several large clans that were at their peak during the Northern Wei Dynasty and the early Sui Dynasty, such as the Linghu, Yuan, Dugu, Quan, Zhang, and even the Dou family, among more than a dozen other large and small families. It cannot be said that they did not contribute to the founding of the Tang Dynasty, but their contribution was not great.

Since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, the emperor has worked hard to move eastward, with the Guanlong Wei, Pei, Xue, Liu, Yang and Du families as the core, and then won over the Wang, Cui, Lu, Zheng and Li families to control the world.

At the same time, aristocratic families from Shuzhong, Jingxiang, Jiangnan, and Lingnan gradually integrated into the Tang Dynasty.

Of course, their position is still on the outside.

In this process, old clans such as Linghu, Yuan, Dugu, Quan, Zhang, and even Dou were gradually left behind from the core of power.

Not to mention others, the same is true for the Dugu family. The Dou family is in a slightly better situation, after all, they are the emperor's maternal family, but in fact their power has been gradually declining over the years.

The most intuitive manifestation is that the number of provincial governors from these surnames is decreasing every year.

The prime minister and the minister at the center of the government are one thing, but the real measure of whether a family is prosperous or not lies in how many provincial governors it has.

As the emperor increasingly appointed talents from Guandong, the number of provincial governors from wealthy families in Guanlong decreased, not to mention the old Longxi families, which themselves did not produce many talents. Of course, this was directly related to the fact that the old Longxi Ganliang families supported Xue Ju and Liang Shi when the Tang Dynasty was founded.

Chai Lingwu was naturally well-versed in these things.

Even Quan Wanji is part of this group of people.

However, even among these people, there are several groups. No one knows who is doing what unless they communicate specifically.

They won't let others know either.

……

"So, the Quan family is trying to open up the line that was broken by the Qi family, so this year, Quan Wanji is making efforts in Qizhou?" Chai Lingwu looked up at Zhang Yi.

"Guangzhou is on the Huai River line. Because of the Qi family, Guangzhou is cut off, so we can only focus on the Yellow River. Qizhou originally had a route because of the Qi King and the Wei family. But we need this route to expand further, and we also have to not harm the interests of the Wei family, nor let the Wei family become bigger, so we have no choice but to block the Yin family."

Zhang Xi shook his head and said, "Our original target was only the Yin family. We didn't want to touch the King of Qi. However, if the Yin family is completely eliminated, the situation will be disadvantageous."

"Because more people will see this benefit, and once chaos breaks out, Your Majesty will also pay attention to it." Chai Lingwu understood the logic.

"That's right. You can tell these words directly to the King of Wei. Aye has said it, so you can pick out the ones you want to say." Zhang Yi looked at Chai Lingwu solemnly.

Chai Lingwu understood that as these things happened more and more, they would be exposed more and more to Li Tai.

But it doesn’t matter, as long as Li Tai doesn’t know the whole story.

What's more, even Chai Lingwu himself didn't know what the true picture was.

"Although the situation has stabilized now, His Majesty will definitely continue to pay attention to it. You should be careful not to be discovered by His Majesty again." Chai Lingwu understood that since Quan Wanji and Yin Hongzhi had reached a compromise, then in the future, smuggling with Goguryeo, Baekje, Silla, and even Japan would all be carried out through this route.

"We don't need to worry about what we're doing. The one we really need to worry about is the King of Wei." Zhang Yi looked at Chai Lingwu, shook his head, and said, "Be careful of the King of Wei. He's the one who messed up the Qi family's affairs. The last thing we need is for him to get involved and mess us up again."

"Okay, I understand." Chai Lingwu nodded.

"Okay, that's it. I'm going back." Zhang Xi got up and left.

Chai Lingwu did not move until a quarter of an hour later, when he left the restaurant.

……

Mansion of the Duke of Yun.

Minister of Works, Duke of Yun, Zhang Liang, returned to his residence.

Zhang Xi quickly arrived at the study. Seeing Zhang Liang, who had changed into casual clothes, he immediately bowed and said, "Aye!"

Zhang Liang stood in front of the desk and wrote the last word of "Lanting Xu" with the brush in his hand before putting the brush down.

Zhang Xi immediately handed over the towel beside him.

Zhang Liang wiped his hands, then looked at Zhang Xi and asked, "How did things go today?"

"I have told Chai Lingwu everything that needs to be said. As expected, Quan Wanji's actions still attracted too much attention." Zhang Xi bowed slightly with a serious expression.

"There's nothing we can do. The Qi family fell so quickly. Fortunately, Chai Lingwu acted decisively, otherwise more things would have been exposed." Zhang Liang put the towel aside and sighed softly, "If that were the case, we might have had to kill Chai Lingwu to silence him."

"Yes!" Zhang Yi couldn't help but shiver.

Chai Lingwu was not only the son of Princess Pingyang and Chai Shao, but also the emperor's son-in-law. More importantly, his elder brother Chai Zhewei was a young general valued by the emperor.

If Chai Lingwu died like this, I don’t know how big a thing would happen.

Zhang Liang sat down on the short couch, then looked at Zhang Yi and said, "Actually, Chai Lingwu is quite good. The real trouble lies with the King of Wei. He is too incompetent."

"Yes!" Zhang Yi nodded and said, "If Chai Lingwu and Fang Yiai had not both served as military officers for the King of Wei, with his position as the Right Guard Commander of Prince Aye, he would not have needed to intervene in the struggle for the throne."

"We don't have one right now." Zhang Liang glared at Zhang Yi and said, "Your Majesty has no intention of changing the crown prince. The crown prince is also wise enough. We won't do anything. It's enough for us to focus on our own affairs."

"Yes!" Zhang Xi bowed immediately.

Zhang Liang nodded and said, "Since Quan Wanji has returned to Chang'an, we should arrange for someone to go to Qizhou with him to clear the way."

"Yes!" Zhang Yi looked serious.

"We have to tell the Dou family about this." Zhang Liang paused for a moment and said, "Get ten stalks of the best Korean ginseng from the warehouse and send them to Duke Shen. His health has not been good."

"Yes!" Zhang Xi bowed seriously.

Duke of Shen Dou Dan was not only the nephew of Empress Taimu, who grew up with the emperor, but also married the second daughter of Emperor Gaozu. He was now the Minister of the Imperial Clan Affairs Bureau. Even the Crown Prince did not dare to neglect him when he met him.

Similarly, the old clans of Longxi and Ganliang were all headed by the Dou family, but Dou Dan's health was not very good, so he was not very active in these matters.

But in fact, they all know what is going on when the body is not in good condition.

Thinking of this, Zhang Liang waved his hand: "Okay, go ahead."

"Yes!" Zhang Xi immediately bowed, then turned around and was about to leave.

"Wait!" Zhang Liang suddenly stopped Zhang Yi and said after a moment's hesitation, "The Eastern Palace's personnel in Chang'an City have all been closely monitored recently."

"Yes!" Zhang Xi immediately became serious, bowed solemnly, and turned to leave.

On the short couch, Zhang Liang's expression was slightly solemn. He wondered if the prince had seen through something this time.

As the prince's right guard, he also has to find out the prince's background.

(End of this chapter)