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

Chapter 203: Witchcraft and the Plot to Depose the Crown Prince (Part )

Prince Wei’s Mansion, inner study.

Li Tai sat behind the desk, holding the secret letter he had just read in his hand, and then placed it on the candle beside him and lit it.

The secret letter burned rapidly until most of it was burned. Then Li Tai loosened his grip and let the secret letter fall to the ground.

In mid-air, the secret letter burned up, leaving only ashes falling into the basin of water below.

Then gently stir.

Li Tai stood up straight, then sat back on the soft cushion, looked ahead, and sneered softly: "Royal brother, you are still as cautious as ever!"

The Eastern Palace stored all the New Year gifts that the Zhang family sent to the Eastern Palace in the Prince's Household Temple.

This made it impossible for Li Tai to file a complaint directly.

Witchcraft.

If the prince was practicing witchcraft, why would he be placed in the Jialing Temple?

Jialing Temple, that place, even the prince's household steward Li Anyan would not usually go there.

So there is no point in filing a complaint now.

"Luckily, I'm not bad either. I never thought I could defeat you with this one strike." Li Tai placed his right hand on the table and raised his head softly, "Zhang Liang has been caught. The only one left is Hou Junji. Once Hou Junji is taken down, it will be Fang Xuanling's turn... Prime Minister Fang, you won't be able to escape so easily from what we did together."

Zhang Liang, Hou Junji, Fang Xuanling, plus the witchcraft dolls in the East Palace's Jialing Temple, were enough for Li Tai to depose the crown prince.

"But the premise is, Father. Father, when will you leave Beijing?" Li Tai lowered his head slightly, calculating every next step.

Most of what he needed to prepare was already in place, and all that remained was to put everything in place bit by bit.

But the most important thing here is that the emperor must leave Beijing.

If the emperor did not leave the capital, the initiative to investigate the prince's witchcraft would not fall into Li Tai's hands.

It was after Emperor Wu left the capital that Jiang Chong accused Crown Prince Liu Ju of treason.

If the emperor is in Chang'an, then all control will fall into the hands of the emperor.

There are too many variables here.

What will the emperor do, what will the prince do, and finally, will the emperor investigate him, Li Tai? These are all things Li Tai needs to worry about and consider.

The lessons learned from Liu Ju and Liu Bo were profound enough, and he didn't want Li Zhi or even Li Ke to take advantage of him.

That’s right, Li Tai copied this method exactly as compared to the “Witchcraft Incident”.

The final result is also something Li Tai must be careful about.

Therefore, all this can only be launched when the emperor leaves Beijing.

……

The candlelight burned beside him, and Li Tai's eyes gradually focused.

Now he has two choices: the emperor will march east to attack Goguryeo, or the emperor will inspect Dingzhou.

The emperor will go on an eastern expedition to Goguryeo, and the elite troops of the Tang Dynasty will be in the emperor's hands. Li Tai will join forces with Zhang Liang, Hou Junji, and Fang Xuanling to frame the prince for witchcraft. Once the emperor returns with his army, can Li Tai, Zhang Liang, Hou Junji, and Fang Xuanling hide what they have done from the emperor?

No, the question is, after the emperor returns to the court, will he trust Li Tai and make him the crown prince?

Li Tai felt inexplicably uneasy.

For example, when Liu Ju and Liu Bo were fighting for the throne, the crown prince finally fell into the hands of Liu Fuling.

Li Tai didn't dare to bet on what the emperor was thinking.

During the emperor's inspection of Dingzhou, the Tang army was stationed in various places. Li Tai joined forces with others to depose the prince. So after the emperor returned to Beijing, even if he was dissatisfied with Li Tai, Li Tai felt that he had a clue about it.

Yes, the elite of the army.

When the emperor returned from Goguryeo, his elite troops were in his hands, posing the greatest threat to Li Tai.

Unless Li Tai can collude with Goguryeo and cause the emperor to suffer a crushing defeat on the battlefield...

Li Tai shook his head. The more he did this kind of thing, the worse it would be.

On the contrary, when the emperor inspects Dingzhou next April, he will certainly not bring too many soldiers with him.

Even if he returned to Chang'an, he would be one of the Sixteen Guards guarding Chang'an. At that time, Li Tai had already completely controlled the soldiers of Chang'an through Hou Junji and Zhang Liang.

As for the emperor, he may have doubts in his heart when he returns to Chang'an, but as long as the incident with King Qi is triggered, the emperor's attention will be diverted to some extent.

In this way, even if the emperor returns to Beijing, he will not have much power.

At that time, if the emperor had appointed him as the crown prince, it would have been fine. If the emperor did not appoint him as the crown prince, then don't blame Li Tai and imitate the Xuanwu Gate incident of that year.

Li Tai closed his eyes gently, and everything became clear to him at this moment.

Opening his eyes and standing up, Li Tai blew out the candle with a "puff" sound and said softly, "April next year."

……

The twenty-seventh day of the twelfth lunar month.

The prince returned the New Year gifts to the Zhang family, and the prince's family sent him off in person.

study.

With a loud bang, Zhang You slammed his hand down on the table, unable to resist the urge to stand up and curse. "Quiet!" Li Anyan looked up indifferently, and with just one glance, the curse that Zhang You was about to utter was stopped.

After glancing at the courtyard and seeing no movement, Zhang You sat down again. He gritted his teeth and looked at Li Anyan, saying, "That bastard, he really wants to destroy the entire Zhang family!"

"The Crown Prince said that the most likely person responsible for the witchcraft incident in the Eastern Palace was Zhang Silang." Li Anyan looked at Zhang You and said, "He has evidence in the hands of the King of Wei, which is why he did this. He's so foolish that he got involved in this witchcraft incident and still wants to live!"

Zhang You knew clearly that his fourth brother was not stupid, but was deceived into thinking that the King of Wei would protect him in the end.

Moreover, it seemed to be beneficial for him if the King of Wei became the crown prince, so he did this.

"The prince's intention is to find a suitable reason to let him return to Jiangdong after the New Year. As for how to deal with him, it will be done according to the Zhang family rules." Li Anyan looked at Zhang You calmly.

Zhang You clenched his fists immediately. After a moment, he finally nodded and said, "Okay!"

"Let the butler go first. As for the other two people from King Wei." When Li Anyan said this, Zhang You couldn't help but look up with a serious expression.

How could he have forgotten that there were people from the King of Wei in the house, and they were the ones who actually brought the things into the house.

"The prince said, these two people, don't move for now, let's see if the King of Wei will kill them himself to silence them." Li Anyan looked at Zhang You, and Zhang You's pupils dilated instantly.

Yes, the things were sent to the East Palace by the Zhang family. Once something happens, they will immediately trace it back to the Zhang family from the East Palace.

Once those two people are found, they might immediately trace it back to Li Tai, who would then silence him.

"Keep an eye on them." Li Anyan knocked lightly on the table and said, "See how the King of Wei will kill them, and then keep an eye on those who kill them."

The prince was trying to find out the details of the King of Wei. Zhang You nodded and said, "Okay!"

"The relationship between the Zhang family and Duke Xun must be severed as soon as possible. No one knows when King Wei will take action." Li Anyan's face finally showed a trace of worry.

"That's not difficult. Just add the Qinghe Zhang family in the middle." Zhang You had some thoughts in his mind, but he couldn't help but look at Li Anyan and asked, "Can the Eastern Palace handle it properly?"

"Hmm!" Li Anyan lowered his head and said, "The Crown Prince burned that thing, so there is no such thing as a witchcraft case."

"This matter really should be reported to His Majesty." Zhang You couldn't help but sigh.

"The witchcraft case is too complex. Even if the King of Wei takes responsibility, and those who die are his people, your career will be ruined. The careers of everyone in the Zhang family and those connected to the Zhang family will also be ruined. Moreover, it is too complex and could easily affect the political situation, not to mention that Your Majesty still has to march east to attack Goguryeo."

Li Anyan paused for a moment, then sighed and said, "His Highness said, let's endure for the sake of the country."

"Your Highness is wise." Zhang You nodded with emotion. He knew that the risks involved were too great and no one knew what was the right thing to do. Now it seemed that the prince's approach was the safest.

"The key lies with the King of Wei." Li Anyan brought the topic back to the topic, then looked at Zhang You and said, "The Crown Prince said that the King of Wei has great ambitions. Once the Eastern Palace leaves the palace, the King of Wei will try to keep an eye on every move. With the help of Duke Xun and Prince Consort Chai, this shouldn't be difficult. So, the Crown Prince needs you to send someone to secretly watch the back door of the King of Wei's mansion..."

Zhang You nodded immediately and said, "Don't worry, there's no problem."

"Finally, no matter what the King of Wei does, protecting yourself is the most important thing." Li Anyan stood up and said, "The Crown Prince is in the palace. Even if it's just the Eastern Palace, no one else can break in without His Majesty's decree. As long as we survive that night, the Crown Prince will be able to mobilize other forces to quell the rebellion. I hope I can still see you alive by then."

"Yeah!" Zhang You stood up.

Li Anyan nodded, then turned and walked towards the door. Zhang You followed him and sent him out of the mansion.

Watching Li Anyan riding away on horseback, Zhang You's expression became solemn.

One was a case of witchcraft and the other was a case of treason.

Although there will still be many deaths in the case of treason, compared with the witchcraft case, which implicated tens of thousands of people, that is nothing.

Moreover, the crown prince was firmly seated in the Eastern Palace, and Zhang You had already seen that the crown prince was plotting against the King of Wei.

But there was one thing he didn't understand. If the prince really wanted to solve all this, there were many ways to do it. Why did he have to wait until the King of Wei rebelled?

Brothers kill each other.

Xuanwu Gate.

Zhang You's heart suddenly sank.

……

East Palace, Cheng'en Hall.

In the afternoon of the 27th day of the twelfth lunar month, there were not many people left in the Eastern Palace.

After the Eastern Palace distributed annual gifts to each official in the morning, everyone went back. They might come back tomorrow, but basically no one had any interest in official business.

As the New Year approaches, this happens not only in the Eastern Palace, but also in every official residence in the entire imperial city, the three provinces, six ministries, nine temples and five academies.

So Li Chengqian no longer stayed in the Chongjiao Hall, but returned to the Cheng'en Hall.

"Your Highness!" Li Anyan bowed to Li Chengqian and said, "The Zhang family's affairs have been arranged."

"Yes!" Li Chengqian nodded calmly while sitting in a black wheelchair. He said, "We can use the Zhang family members as we please. Now that we know about the witchcraft incident, the Zhang family is completely bound to us."

"Yes!" Li Anyan breathed a sigh of relief.

Although the Zhang family does not have many people, they are all out of sight of others, and it is difficult for others to notice what they do.

"Also, take this memorial to the Secretariat." Li Chengqian looked up and said, "This is my memorial requesting the King of Wei to perform the sacrifices at the Xian Mausoleum on my behalf on New Year's Eve."

The New Year's Eve sacrifice to the Xianling Mausoleum has always been headed by the Crown Prince. If the Crown Prince has something to do, the King of Wei will take over.

This was nothing, but under the current situation, Li Chengqian did this, and Li Anyan smelled something unusual, but he still bowed and said, "Yes!"

"Okay, go ahead." Li Chengqian smiled and waved his hand, then said, "Go ahead. I have to accompany the Crown Princess today. If it's nothing important, don't disturb me!"

"Yes!"

(End of this chapter)