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

Chapter 337: Although Wu Cairen is a Concubine, she has no children (Part )
Jin Palace.

The lanterns are on.

Li Zhi came out of the inner courtyard and walked towards the study with a calm expression.

After entering the study, Li Zhi turned around and closed the door.

Ji Jiafu, who entered the study first, immediately bowed to Li Zhi and said, "Your Highness!"

Li Zhi walked to the table and sat down, then looked up at Ji Jiafu: "Any news?"

"Yes!" Ji Jiafu took out a secret note from his sleeve and placed it on the table in front of Li Zhi.

Li Zhi looked at the secret note and raised his head to ask, "No one noticed, right?"

"Don't worry, Your Highness! The information was brought in by merchants delivering food and meat, and they had no idea what was inside." Ji Jiafu bowed and said, "So, even if someone was watching, they wouldn't notice we delivered the message, nor would they know it had even reached the palace."

In fact, Ji Jiafu was more careful.

This secret letter was delivered from Guo Xiaoshen's hands to Li Zhi's hands, and passed through the hands of three groups of people before it was finally delivered to the palace by an unrelated merchant.

"It's better to be cautious." Li Zhi sighed and said, "The current Yongzhou Chief Secretary is Yu Zhining, and the Yongzhou Sima is Wang Renyou. They are both close friends of the Crown Prince. They will have countless eyes on us."

"Yes!" Ji Jiafu bowed, then whispered, "Your Highness, there's news that Prime Minister Yu will step down as Yongzhou's Chief Clerk after the new year, leaving only Wang Renyou... I don't think Your Majesty will let Wang Renyou stay in the Yongzhou Sima position for long."

Wang Renyou's daughter was Prince Liangyuan, who came from the Wang family of Taiyuan.

The power he can exert in his position as the Chief Secretary of Yongzhou is far beyond people's imagination.

Others may not know this, but the emperor must know it.

He will definitely take precautions in this matter.

Li Zhi looked up at Ji Jiafu, shook his head, and said, "This has nothing to do with us. Maybe I had already left Chang'an before Wang Renyou was transferred away from Chang'an."

Ji Jiafu was stunned for a moment, then he bowed and said, "Yes!"

The emperor was wary of the prince, but Li Zhi didn't believe the emperor would give him much chance.

Therefore, the best way for Li Zhi now is to leave Chang'an first, and then wait until the emperor forgets his mistake, and then come back to fight.

He only has a chance if the emperor has a good impression of him.

Not now!
……

"Chu Suiliang!" Li Zhi put down the letter in his hand and frowned slightly. He couldn't understand why Wu Meiniang would suggest him to win over Chu Suiliang.

Yuwen Jie was beheaded and Liu Li was forced to commit suicide.

If you trace the root of the problem, it all stems from Chu Suiliang's betrayal.

Or it's a false accusation.

What Liu Li said to Yuwen Jie and Chu Suiliang, after the death of Yuwen Jie and Liu Li, it seemed that only Chu Suiliang knew, but Zhao Zhongjian, who received the message from Yuwen Jie, and Li Zhi also knew the same.

However, they could not tell anyone a single word of what they knew.

Although Yuwen Jie and Liu Li died, their affairs did not affect their families after all.

The fact that Li Zhi was plotting against Li Chengqian in Hebei was not exposed.

Although there are many discussions among the people now, as long as the emperor and the Eastern Palace do not speak out, the discussions will just be discussions, and it will not take long before these discussions will completely disappear.

Once those things were exposed, Liu Li and Yuwen Jie's families would also be implicated.

Even Li Zhi himself would not have an easy time.

Now, Wu Meiniang suggested that Li Zhi first look for the families of Yuwen Jie and Liu Li. Li Zhi could understand this, after all, their deaths were ultimately caused by him.

The emperor was naturally destined not to reveal this matter, so it would not be difficult for him to win their favor by avoiding his eyes and paying homage to the two of them.

But Li Zhi couldn't understand why Wu Meiniang suggested that he go find Chu Suiliang.

Chu Suiliang is now the prime minister. Even though his reputation is bad because of his betrayal of Liu Li and Yuwen Jie, that is all.

He gained the trust of the emperor and Zhangsun Wuji...

what!
Li Zhi let out a light exclamation and thought about it again in his mind.

Indeed, in his opinion, because of that incident, the emperor would trust Chu Suiliang, and Zhangsun Wuji would trust Chu Suiliang, but the prince would not.

The prince would not trust Chu Suiliang.

Li Zhi's eyes lit up instantly.

The prince is the heir to the throne and the next emperor. If the prince does not trust Chu Suiliang, it means that even if Chu Suiliang becomes the prime minister now, once the emperor dies in the future and the prince ascends the throne, the person who does not have the trust of the new emperor will definitely not have a good end.

Li Zhi clenched his fists.

Then he lowered his head again, looking puzzled.

Why did he subconsciously think, no, be certain, why was he so sure that the prince would not trust Chu Suiliang?
Liu Li, Chu Suiliang.

They were both from Jiangnan. Chu Suiliang stabbed Liu Li in the back, leading to Liu Li's suicide.

Naturally, Li Zhi understood that Liu Li's suicide must have been the emperor's intention. This is why, from Liu Li's suicide until now, although the court officials had different thoughts, none of them had the intention of bringing the matter to the table.

If Chu Suiliang can backstab Liu Li today, then he can backstab others tomorrow.

Li Zhi couldn't help but stand up, his fists clenched tightly.

Because he immediately understood that not only Li Chengqian no longer trusted Chu Suiliang, but even Changsun Wuji and the people from the Guanzhong faction would not trust Chu Suiliang.

Chu Suiliang had become a lonely man in the court.

Put yourself in Li Zhi's shoes. If he didn't have other needs at the moment, he wouldn't trust Chu Suiliang.

Because this person could betray them at any time.

Therefore, Chu Suiliang is now in need of trust the most, but the prince, the next emperor of the Tang Dynasty, has lost trust in him.

Not to mention anything else, if the emperor was unfortunate and the prince succeeded to the throne, Chu Suiliang's future would be over.

Of course, he can rely on his uncle, but is he really willing to be someone else's puppet?

Therefore, the best solution is for someone who fully trusts him and is willing to give him a better future to ascend the throne.

This person is naturally Li Zhi. ...

Thinking of this, Li Zhi's eyes suddenly became clear.

Once he can get the support of Chu Suiliang in the court, he will have the opportunity to change his uncle's attitude at a critical moment.

With the support of his uncle, Li Zhi's chances of successfully competing for the throne in the future will greatly increase.

Of course, Li Zhi still lacked the means to make the final decision.

He still needs to wait for the prince to make a mistake.

He didn't have the ability to force the prince to make a mistake, so he could only wait for the prince to make a mistake himself, or in other words...

Li Zhi looked at the secret note on the table and became serious.

Li Zhi learned about Wu Meiniang when he was in Taiyuan.

This woman had already given her two brothers a lot of trouble before she even got married.

Both his ideas and methods are pretty good.

Li Zhi originally wanted to win over Wu Meiniang and make her a thorn in his side in front of the emperor.

It now seems that Wu Meiniang is even more perceptive than Li Zhi originally expected.

To win over Chu Suiliang, let’s win over Wu Meiniang first.

Li Zhi had a feeling that the most crucial factor in whether he could ascend the throne was Wu Meiniang's support.

"Send someone to Taiyuan." Li Zhi looked up at Ji Jiafu and said, "Let Guo Xiaoshen introduce him, then let him enter the Wu family, and then find a way to send some money to Wu Yuanshuang.

He won over Wu Yuanshuang, and finally bought a large amount of land for Guo Xiaoshen in his name, and then asked Guo Xiaoshen to pay tribute to Lady Yingshan.

"Yes!" Ji Jiafu bowed immediately. After thinking about it for a moment, he knew what Li Zhi was doing.

Li Zhi was a prince, and it was taboo for him to have direct contact with concubines.

However, by first going through Wu Yuanshuang, then returning to Guo Xiaoshen, and finally to Wu Cairen's mother, this is the only way to avoid being caught by others to the greatest extent.

"One more thing!" Li Zhi thought for a moment and continued, "As for Prime Minister Chu, first send someone to Luoyang, then from Luoyang to Chang'an, and purchase a house in the name of the Dou family. Then go to the East and West Markets to recruit some scholars, especially those from Guanzhong. Then have them recruit some Chang'an residents as servants and guards. Finally, be careful not to cause friction with the Chu family."

"Your Highness!" Ji Jiafu didn't quite understand for a moment.

"No!" Li Zhi waved his hand and said, "First, send someone to spread the news that Chu Suiliang stabbed Liu Li in the back, causing him to commit suicide... Do you know what to do?"

"Start from the remote areas in the city first, and then let people use words such as hearsay and quotation." Ji Jiafu nodded. His uncle was the Deputy Director of the Military Affairs Department, so he was no stranger to these methods.

"Go ahead. What we need to do is make Prime Minister Chu think that he has been ostracized by the entire Guanlong Group and has lost the support of the Jiangnan Group, and that others are keeping their distance from him." Li Zhi took a deep breath, looked at Ji Jiafu and said, "Finally, send someone to Hangzhou to investigate what happened in Prime Minister Chu's hometown."

"Yes!" Ji Jiafu immediately understood.

Li Zhi raised his head and said softly, "Now all that remains is to see where my father will transfer me next year."

"Yes!"

Li Zhi smiled gently, asked Wu Cairen to give him advice, asked Chu Suiliang to help him keep an eye on people's hearts, and he himself made some achievements to show the emperor.

Now, he can finally return to the emperor's heart.

This way, when the prince makes a mistake, he will have a chance...

As for the prince's mistakes, let's see if Wu Cairen can give him some advice in the future.

As for Concubine Wu, although she was a concubine, she had no children. Once the emperor died, her fate would definitely not be good.

As for the emperor's health, he won't last many more years.

Li Zhi believed Liu Li's words.

……

New Year's Eve.

Liangyi Hall, the emperor's evening banquet.

The kings, princesses, princes-in-law, as well as Zhangsun Wuji, Fang Xuanling, Gao Shilian, Yang Shidao and others were all sitting on both sides of the hall.

The emperor sat on the imperial couch, smiling as he looked at Li Chengqian, Li Zhi, Princess Jinyang and Princess Xincheng who were sitting on the steps.

Sitting next to Li Zhi was Princess Zhao of Jin.

Sitting beside Li Chengqian were the Crown Princess Su Shu, Li Xiang, Li Jue, Li Yu and Princess Yongkang.

Sitting next to the emperor was the virtuous concubine Xu Hui.

Xu Hui's eyes were filled with unconcealable joy. This was the first time in so many years that she accompanied the emperor to the New Year's Eve banquet.

Li Shimin glanced at Xu Hui from the corner of his eye, then looked at Li Chengqian again and said, "Tea?"

"It's stir-fried tea!" Li Chengqian handed the Five Blessings tea box to Zhang Ananda, then bowed to the emperor and said, "Most tea used in the world today is steamed green, then pounded and sun-dried into balls. Stir-fried tea, on the other hand, is primarily stir-fried green, directly frying the tea leaves without forming them into balls. When drinking, it's not boiled like before, but steeped."

"How to make tea!" Li Chengqian nodded, then looked to the side and said, "Bring it up!"

"Here!" Xu An walked in from the side hall, holding a tray with a black teapot on it, three tea bowls and a saucer of tea leaves next to it.

Walking up the steps, Xu An came to Li Chengqian's side and stood with his head bowed.

Li Chengqian stood up, picked up the bamboo clip, added three pieces of tea leaves and put them into the tea bowl.

The following three are in order.

Finally, he picked up the teapot and poured the boiling water into the three tea bowls.

Li Chengqian stepped back slightly, Xu An took two steps forward and handed the tray to Zhang Ananda.

Zhang Ananda took it, then turned around and placed the tray on the table in front of the emperor.

Li Shimin leaned over gently, and a tea fragrance lingered from the cool tea soup, reaching his mouth and nose.

The emperor immediately felt refreshed and said subconsciously, "Good stuff!"

(End of this chapter)