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

Chapter 181: I am still the General of the Right Jinwu Guard, what am I afraid of? (Part )
In the study, Chai Lingwu closed all the doors and windows before turning to look at Li Tai and saying, "Your Highness has done very well before. Let the Chief Secretary pack up your things. Although Your Highness is reluctant, the Emperor has issued the decree. You must sincerely prepare to leave Luoyang."

"Prepare?" Li Tai heard Chai Lingwu's key word - prepare, not really to leave.

"Your Highness, do you still remember that the Prince of Qi suddenly fell ill in the 12th year of Zhenguan and stayed in Chang'an for two years?" Chai Lingwu suddenly mentioned the Prince of Qi Li You.

"I remember!" Li Tai frowned and looked at Chai Lingwu, saying, "The King of Qi must have been really ill at that time. What was it?"

"It's a cold." Chai Lingwu sneered softly and said, "A cold. He's been sick for two years. Maybe he was really sick at first, but later on, he was definitely faking it so he didn't want to leave."

"So, cousin, what you mean is that I will also stay in Luoyang on the pretext of being sick?" Li Tai nodded in sudden realization.

"That would be too simple." Chai Lingwu waved his hand and said, "If Your Highness packed up and said he was leaving today, and then fell ill tomorrow, it would be too obvious. Not to mention His Majesty, any court official would be able to see the trick."

"So what should we do according to what my cousin said?" Li Tai's eyes gradually showed anticipation.

"I spent a few days packing, then went to bid farewell to His Majesty and finally left Luoyang by boat. However, when I arrived in Xingyang, His Majesty suddenly fell ill and was stranded in Xingyang."

Chai Lingwu breathed a sigh of relief, then said, "Your Highness has already left Luoyang. The court won't rush you, and you won't be under too much attention. This way, we can proceed calmly to the next step."

"Go on, cousin."

"Your Highness is sick in Xingyang, so some people may suspect that Your Highness is faking his illness, but what can they do? Can he chase you to Xingyang and let the imperial physician diagnose Your Highness?" Chai Lingwu sneered disdainfully. Once Li Tai arrived in Xingyang, it would be difficult for others to do anything.

"What about Father?"

"Your Majesty can send the imperial physician, and naturally no one can stop him. But the real key is that Your Highness must be truly ill before the imperial physician arrives in Xingyang." Chai Lingwu shook his head and said, "If it were winter now, I might be able to make Your Highness catch a cold like the King of Qi, but now it's early summer, and everything is uncertain."

"That's fine. Just find the imperial physician." Li Tai smiled nonchalantly and said, "There are so many injuries in the world. There must be one that suits me."

"Yes!" Chai Lingwu bowed slightly.

"Is this enough?" Li Tai breathed a sigh of relief.

"Not enough." Chai Lingwu shook his head again.

"Oh?"

"Your Highness may be staying in Xingyang, but he's not staying in Luoyang, much less staying by Your Majesty's side, so it's not enough." After a brief pause, Chai Lingwu said seriously, "I've been wondering for years what aspects of Your Highness's life are inferior to the Crown Prince... Perhaps other aspects require further consideration, but there is one area where Your Highness is truly inferior to the Crown Prince."

"Where?" Li Tai frowned slightly.

"Offspring!" Chai Lingwu's words made Li Tai's face change slightly.

The prince now has two sons and a daughter, and even his wife Zheng is pregnant. But Li Tai, after so many years, only has one son, Li Xin.

"With all due respect, Your Highness, it's not difficult for you to stay in Luoyang now. However, the best way for Your Highness to regain His Majesty's favor is to have another child." Chai Lingwu looked at Li Tai seriously and said, "The Crown Prince has proven that this path is feasible."

Li Tai's originally somewhat ugly expression gradually eased, and then he nodded solemnly.

But soon, Li Tai raised his head again, looked at Chai Lingwu, shook his head, and said, "Cousin, Qingque also wants to have children, but it's not something that Qingque can have just by saying so, let alone in such a short time."

Even if Li Tai delayed for a dozen days, a month or two, he would not be able to suddenly have a child after being childless for nearly ten years.

"I suggest that Your Highness send someone back to Chang'an tonight to see if Master Sun has any special medicine that can help Your Highness and the Princess." Chai Lingwu paused, looked at Li Tai seriously, and said, "The reason I am so anxious about this matter is because Your Highness has just returned from Longmen. Although the North Cave was unsuccessful, the South Cave is still a sacred place for Buddhism, and it is also the place where Your Highness prayed for the Queen's afterlife. If we can have a child now..."

"It's the blessing of Buddha and the Queen Mother." Li Tai nodded in surprise. He had to admit that Chai Lingwu's idea was amazing.

If this were possible, the emperor would definitely change his mind.

"Your Highness arrived in Xingyang, but was delayed due to illness. Then he suddenly heard that the princess was pregnant, so he rushed back to Luoyang from Xingyang despite his illness. In this way, Your Highness can stay in Luoyang." Chai Lingwu bowed slightly. This was the method he thought of to save the current situation for Li Tai.

Li Tai breathed a sigh of relief, then nodded and said with satisfaction: "My cousin still has a solution."

Chai Lingwu bowed and said nothing.

"But cousin, do you think the Chief Secretary had no other options, or did he..." Li Tai looked at Chai Lingwu, narrowing his eyes, and asked, "Did he already know that I was going to be transferred to Weizhou?"

Chai Lingwu raised his eyebrows, and all that Liu Xiaosun had done during the time he entered the Prince of Wei's Palace flashed through his mind.

Finally he fell silent.

Seeing that Chai Lingwu remained silent, Li Tai already knew the answer. He sighed softly and said, "I'm afraid that Father has thought of transferring me to a provincial post a long time ago, probably when my brother was recovering from leg problems. My cousin is right. Father is either trying to appease my brother, or he has turned his interest to someone else."

After a moment of silence, Chai Lingwu spoke again, "Your Highness, the best thing for you right now is to regain His Majesty's favor. As for other things, Your Highness should not think too much about it. Stay here and stay with His Majesty first."

"My cousin is right." Li Tai nodded slightly, then said, "Although my cousin has made excellent plans for the current situation, if my father really wanted to transfer me to a lower level from the beginning, it would not be so easy to change his mind.

Therefore, we need to find other people to help. It would be best to use my cousin's connections and my connections here."

……

Li Tai looked straight at Chai Lingwu, his eyes seemed to penetrate his body and look at the thing behind him.

Chai Lingwu's expression suddenly became serious.

Li Tai said it very clearly, he used his connections and Chai Lingwu used Chai Lingwu's connections.

Chai Lingwu had noticed a long time ago that there was someone behind Li Tai, and Li Tai had also noticed that there was someone behind Chai Lingwu.

"I will do my best." Chai Lingwu bowed seriously.

"That's good!" Li Tai nodded. He had a lot of connections that he could use, including the princess and her husband, the Yan family, the Su Xu family, and even Fang Xuanling.

There are many things Chai Lingwu can do, not to mention the Chai family themselves, the most important one is Zhang Liang, and there are also the many families they are connected with.

As long as careful and detailed arrangements are made, the goal of persuading the emperor can be achieved.

"In that case, Your Highness, I will go down and make the arrangements first." Chai Lingwu bowed and said, "But Your Highness, this matter needs to be handled steadily. We must proceed step by step and make no mistakes."

"I know." Li Tai nodded, looked outside the study door, and said softly: "Try not to let the Chief Secretary know about these things."

"Yes!" Chai Lingwu bowed and turned to leave. He had only taken two steps when he suddenly turned back and bowed to Li Tai, saying, "Your Highness, the most important thing in this matter is the child. If the princess is not suitable, Your Highness may consider other options and register them under the princess' name... As for the imperial physician, I will see to it."

After saying that, Chai Lingwu turned and walked away, leaving Li Tai sitting there stunned. Li Tai and Yan Wan had only one son, but almost everyone inside and outside the family assumed it was Yan Wan's fault.

Chai Lingwu's words were to tell Li Tai not to place all his bets on Yan Wan alone.

If it were someone else, perhaps they could really have a child in a short period of time, and then tell others that the child was Yan Wan's.

If the imperial physician Chai Lingwu could handle it, he could naturally hide it from the emperor.

As for Yan Wan, she had already given birth to a child once, so she knew what to do.

But the prerequisite for all this is that Li Tai can convince Yan Wan.

Thinking of this, Li Tai felt a headache.

Shaking his head, Li Tai sat behind the desk, picked up a brush and began to write a letter to Yan Liben of the Yan family, Su Xu who had been transferred to the Director of the Imperial College, and... the Imperial Censor Wei Ting.

The father-in-law of Prince Li You of Qi, the Imperial Censor Wei Ting.

Finally, there is Fang Xuanling.

Thinking of Fang Xuanling, Li Tai's expression became solemn.

Ever since Fang Yiai was transferred to Songzhou, the relationship between him and the Fang family has gradually become distant.

They no longer even got involved in the affairs of Prince Wei's Palace.

Li Tai suddenly sneered. He wanted to break off relations with him, but he was dreaming. Don't forget that Fang Yiai still had something in his hand. Fang Xuanling also did something for him that the emperor must never know.

Thinking of this, Li Tai immediately began to write and a letter was already written.

He looked up to the side and said calmly, "Send these letters."

"Here!" A figure walked out from behind the curtain, took the envelope, then bowed and retreated.

Li Tai sighed lightly, stood up and walked towards the study door. No matter what Yan Wan said, he had to make this matter clear to her.

……

With a "bang", Li Tai slammed the letter in his hand heavily on the table, his face full of extreme anger.

This was the third letter he had received refusing to help him stay in Chang'an.

The first letter was from the Yan family, the second was from Su Xu, and the third was from Fang Xuanling.

The Yan family left a message when Yan Lide left: they would obey Your Majesty in everything and do whatever Your Majesty arranged.

However, Li Tai was not worried. As long as Yan Wan was "pregnant", he would naturally be able to convince the Yan family.

As for Su Xu, his reply was very polite, so polite that it seemed unfamiliar.

It was also mentioned in the middle that Su Gan had been transferred to the south to serve as a local military officer.

This not only meant that Li Tai could no longer use Su Gan as a threat to blackmail Su Xu, but also that Su Xu had completely drawn a line between himself and Li Tai because of this incident.

Su Xu was lucky, at least he replied, but Fang Xuanling directly returned his letter.

Li Tai immediately understood that Fang Xuanling was no longer afraid of his threats.

Fang Xuanling didn't care about the incident involving Fang Yiai.

Because Fang Yiai was already the imperial concubine's son-in-law, if Li Tai really brought up what he said when he was drunk, not only Fang Yiai would be in trouble, but also Li Tai himself.

As for the incident of the Crown Prince's broken leg, although Fang Xuanling was the mastermind behind it, judging from his attitude today, he already has a way to resolve it.

"Fang's strategy and Du's judgment are indeed well-deserved." Li Tai gritted his teeth.

He reached out and took out a letter from the secret compartment. Looking at the flames in front of him, he slowly moved the envelope closer.

Based on his understanding of Fang Xuanling, that guy might have already started planning to get the letter back.

In other words, Fang Xuanling would not only not support him staying in Luoyang, he also had little regard for Li Tai seizing the position of crown prince.

The same is true for Su Xu and Yan Lide. The key is the emperor.

These people all have an extremely good understanding of the emperor.

If the emperor gave up on him completely, it would mean that Li Tai really had no chance at all.

He could not accomplish anything with only Chai Lingwu, Zhang Liang, and the old clans of Longyou.

Thinking that the emperor had completely given up on him and that he had no chance at all, Li Tai felt inexplicably cold.

Cold all over.

Bone-chilling cold
"No, never." Li Tai growled through gritted teeth.

Looking at the burning flames, an amazing idea suddenly appeared in Li Tai's mind.

He was also the General of the Right Jinwu Guard and the Governor of Xiangzhou. He also had the Wei family, yes, Li You, Zhang Liang, and Hou Junji.

Connecting everyone together, a most helpless thought under duress has emerged from the bottom of my heart.

In an instant, Li Tai took back the envelope that had just caught fire and put it out.

Fang Xuanling, he is still useful at critical moments, even if he remains neutral.

Putting down the envelope, Li Tai took out another piece of paper and began writing: Du Qing...

(End of this chapter)