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

Chapter 526: The Last Will and Testament, the Source of Disaster (Fourth Update)
The flames in the brazier danced gently before my eyes.

The figure of King Jing Li Yuanjing appeared in Li Chengqian's mind.

After the funeral that day, Li Baiyao brought Li Yuanjing over and arranged to announce the concubines' ordination the next day, with Prince Jing as witness. Li Chengqian found it strange.

Concubine Mo died of illness in November of the first year of Wude.

Although Li Yuanjing grew up in the palace, he should not have any attachment to the palace.

Why did I suddenly have this idea?

Now seeing him getting closer to Li Ke, no matter what he was planning to do, it showed that this guy had some thoughts that he shouldn't have.

"With the passing of my father, even the imperial family is beginning to feel uneasy." Li Chengqian raised his head, looked at the tablet of Emperor Taizong in front of him, and said softly, "Father, does my son really have to be stained with the blood of the imperial family in order to stabilize the world?"

Zhang Ananda stood behind Li Chengqian, bowed, and remained silent.

Li Chengqian lowered his head, his gaze falling on the dancing flames, and said softly, "Make arrangements. Carefully place people around the King of Jing. It would be best if it's easy, but if it's not, that would explain the problem.

If it were easy, everything about Li Yuanjing would naturally be under Li Chengqian's control.

If it is not easy, then it means that Li Yuanjing is really ambitious.

"Yes!" Zhang Ananda bowed seriously.

"And the King of Wu." Li Chengqian's expression softened, and he said softly, "The King of Wu is still obedient. I asked him not to spread the news for the time being, and he really didn't say anything. It's just a pity that he hooked someone he shouldn't have hooked."

Li Yuanjing's maternal family, the Mo family, was not a large family, but his wife's family, the Pei family, was not to be underestimated.

The Princess of Jing was the daughter of Sikong Pei Ji, and Pei Ji's son Pei Lu married the fourteenth daughter of Emperor Gaozu, Princess Linhai.

Not to mention, there are also powerful generals in the army like Pei Xingjian and Pei Xingfang.

Pei Yun's grandson Pei Yin married Princess Xincheng not long ago.

Of course, the Pei family would not easily support Li Yuanjing.

However, if Li Yuanjing succeeded in his rebellion, the Pei family would never oppose him.

In addition, Li Yuanjing's daughter married Fang Xuanling's son Fang Yize.
During the funeral of the late emperor, Li Yuanjing and Fang Yiai were very close.

Behind Fang Yiai was Princess Gaoyang.

"The people around the King of Wu should be placed more secretly. On the contrary, more people should be placed around the King of Shu." Li Chengqian raised his head slightly and said, "The King of Wu is a cautious person. It will not be easy to make him move. On the contrary, the King of Shu is too easy to be attacked by others."

"Yes!" Zhang Ananda bowed solemnly.

"Keep a close eye on Ganye Temple. After all, they are all concubines of the late emperor." Li Chengqian gave a brief reminder.

If the late emperor's concubine had had a relationship with a man in Ganye Temple when she became a nun, the late emperor would inevitably have been cheated on.

"Yes!" Zhang Ananda bowed slightly.

"Finally, there's Concubine Wu. Keep an eye on her every move." Li Chengqian paused briefly and continued, "Concubine Wu and Wu Yuanqing don't have a good relationship. It's already difficult for them to maintain contact, and it's not easy to get Wu Yuanqing to help Concubine Wu. So, be careful of the Yang family members who meet Concubine Wu."

"Yes!" Zhang Ananda looked stern.

Wu Meiniang's mother was the cousin of Yang Shidao, the Minister of Personnel, and the people of the Yang family had a close relationship with Wu Meiniang.

"Tell the Queen to prepare plans for the harem after the concubines leave the palace. No one can live in the East Palace anymore." Li Chengqian raised his head slightly.

Since he ascended the throne, except for him and the queen, Zheng Shuang'er and Wei Wei have been living in the imperial palace, while Li Chengqian's other concubines still live in the East Palace.

Now, Emperor Taizong has left the palace, and his harem will also leave completely in three days.

The most significant trace left by Emperor Taizong in the palace is probably the tablet in front of us.

The palace is new and it belongs only to the new emperor.

"Yes!" Zhang Ananda bowed calmly.

"Go ahead." Li Chengqian waved his hand.

Zhang Ananda immediately bowed and retreated.

……

"If you want to carry out reforms and win over those who can survive, you must offer sufficient benefits." Li Chengqian looked at the tablet of Emperor Gaozu Li Yuan on the altar and kowtowed gently, saying, "Grandfather, I am unfilial. I am afraid I can only take action against the King of Jing. And this time, I am afraid that blood will really be shed."

Unlike Li Tai and Li Zhi before, at that time, with Emperor Taizong in power, Li Chengqian would restrain himself as much as possible and not push things to a desperate situation.

However, Li Yuanjing was different.

Although he was Li Chengqian's uncle, his relationship with him was more distant.

Li Yuanjing's mother was Concubine Mo, and Li Chengqian's grandmother was Empress Taimu Dou.

Therefore, Li Chengqian would use the most ruthless means to deal with this uncle who had ambitions just after Emperor Taizong was buried.

"Grandfather, rest assured. I will follow the imperial rules and will not wrongly accuse him in the slightest, but I will not condone him in the slightest either." Li Chengqian spoke calmly, "At most, I will ensure that he retains a bloodline."

Li Chengqian would not take action against Li Yuanjing so quickly.

Although huge benefits will inevitably be exposed once Li Yuanjing falls, Li Chengqian will not easily touch him before ensuring that these benefits fall completely into his own hands.

There are so many factions in the court, and his uncle Changsun Wuji alone is the biggest hungry tiger.

Once something happened to Li Yuanjing, the huge benefits from his position as governor of Fuzhou, his fiefdom, and all the people related to him would be targeted by Changsun Wuji and the Guanlong clan behind him.

However, after Li Yuanjing's accident, Li Chengqian was likely to leave all the huge benefits to his own people. As for what Zhangsun Wuji and his men wanted to do, they could just go and compete with the Hongnong Yang family.

Li Chengqian turned his gaze to the tablet of Emperor Taizong Li Shimin, his expression mournful. He whispered, "Father, I do not wish to take action against Sanlang. However, if he is obedient and willing to allow the Concubine to accompany Empress Xiao, I can at most use him as bait to lure out the remnants of the Sui Dynasty and the Hongnong Yang clan, and then make him a lone minister."

Although being a lone minister was not a good situation, at least he could survive well and would not even affect his descendants. However, Li Ke disappointed Li Chengqian.

Li Ke was keenly aware of the potential danger here, so he decisively refused.

He didn't believe Li Chengqian.

Or to be more precise, he still hoped to preserve the roots of the Hongnong Yang family.

Preserve the strength you have cultivated.

But unfortunately, Li Chengqian was unwilling to do so.

Therefore, Li Chengqian would use his backup plan to stir up conflicts between Li Ke and Changsun Wuji. These are what he is doing now.

As for whether Li Ke can survive under Changsun Wuji's tactics, it depends on his own ability.

But Li Chengqian probably finds it difficult.

Li Yuanjing set his sights on Li Ke. Li Ke had the Hongnong Yang family behind him, while Li Yuanjing had the Hedong Pei family and the Fang family behind him.

Everything was fine when Fang Xuanling was around, but once Fang Xuanling was gone, no one knew what Fang Yiai and Gao Yang would do.

……

Li Chengqian picked up the paper money and placed it into the brazier one by one. He then said softly, "Prince Jing, Fang Yiai, and Gao Yang, I'm afraid the three of them are really going to do something. I just hope I can control myself, so as not to..."

Li Chengqian paused.

There were some things he was unwilling to say even in front of his father's spirit tablet.

To avoid what, he wanted to avoid being implicated like in the previous life of Li Zhi, where Li Ke, Li Yin, Xue Wanche, Li Daozon, Fang Xuanling's other sons, and many generals in the army were all cleaned out by Zhangsun Wuji taking the opportunity.

But this is not what Li Chengqian needs.

What he needed was for them to destroy the Hongnong Yang family, and then Li Chengqian would come to distribute the Hongnong Yang family.

But unfortunately, even though Changsun Wuji defeated Li Ke, he still did not take action against the Hongnong Yang family, and missed the best opportunity to resolve the prophecy that "Tang will last for three generations, and female warriors will replace Tang."

In other words, Changsun Wuji might choose to let go of the Hongnong Yang family after resolving all the immediate troubles.

After all, the Hongnong Yang family is an old Guanlong family with concentrated in-laws. Even among Li Chengqian's concubines, there was a Yang concubine who was taken in during the late emperor's serious illness.

But Li Chengqian needed to completely dismember the Hongnong Yang family so that he could use the interests left by the Hongnong Yang family to win over the officials.

"I hope my uncle won't make the wrong choice then." Li Chengqian sighed lightly, then kowtowed deeply to the spirit tablets and stood up.

Turning around, he arrived at the gate of the Taimiao.

At this time, two figures were waiting there.

Li Chengqian stopped and looked at Li Baiyao, the Minister of Imperial Clan Affairs, and Li Fengci, the Prince of Bohai, who had appeared here, and asked, "Why are you here together?"

"Your Majesty, here are the last words left by Emperor Gaozu and Emperor Taizong." Li Baiyao and Li Fengci bowed at the same time.

"Hmm?" Li Chengqian frowned immediately and asked, "What's the matter?"

"Your Majesty, please enter the main hall of the Taimiao."

……

"What? Leaving a will?" Li Chengqian looked at Li Baiyao in astonishment. He then turned to Li Fengci and asked, "This was arranged by the Emperor's grandfather."

"Yes!" Li Fengci bowed and said, "During the Wude period, my brother served as the Imperial Ancestral Temple Director, and Emperor Gaozu made some arrangements."

Li Boyi, Prince of Longxi, is the elder brother of Li Fengci, Prince of Bohai.

Emperor Gaozu appointed Li Boyi as the Taimiao Order, and Emperor Taizong appointed Li Fengci as the Taimiao Order. It turned out to be a secret passed down from generation to generation.

"So, my grandfather left a will before the Xuanwu Gate, and my father also left a will after he ascended the throne?" Li Chengqian turned slightly.

"Yes!" Li Fengci bowed and said, "Emperor Gaozu left his will very early on. As for the late emperor, he left his will only after Emperor Gaozu's death."

"So, you only told me today." Li Chengqian understood a little and asked, "Then who did the emperor's grandfather write in his will to pass on the throne?"

Is he the crown prince or the King of Qin?

"I don't know." Li Fengci shook his head and said, "The late emperor burned the will."

"Then in my father's will..." Li Chengqian smiled and said, "Since I'm asking, my name is of course written in my father's will...after my grandfather's death, ten years after the Zhenguan era."

Ten years after the Zhenguan period, Li Shimin suddenly and inexplicably favored Li Tai. Ten years after the Zhenguan period, Dou Dan, the Minister of Zongzheng Temple, inexplicably began to be suspected.

"Crown Prince!" Li Chengqian understood a little. When the emperor clearly wrote down the will and made the crown prince the successor, the crown prince had already become the biggest threat to his throne.

That’s why all those messy things happened back then.

Now, it was Li Chengqian's turn to write a will and pass the throne to Li Xiang.

His breathing suddenly became heavier.

(End of this chapter)