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

Chapter 90: The Crown Prince's Conspiracy is Unsolved, and the Prince of Wei's Mansion Becomes Quiet (Fourth Update)

Nanchang Princess Mansion, study in the backyard.

Su Jun half-knelt in front of his father, Su Xu, and said sincerely, "Father, Li Yifu is ultimately the Prince of Jin's man. Su Liangsi and the Crown Prince have only just made contact. As long as we act in time, we can sever their connection."

"Under normal circumstances, perhaps there is a way." Su Xu shook his head and said, "But the King of Wei has just been in such a big trouble. Neither of them will have much good feelings towards him. If they can't win him over, they can either alienate him or attack him... The Crown Prince is now eager for talent, so alienating him is difficult. As for attacking him, do you want to attack the King of Jin or your own clan?"

Su Jun was speechless for a long time.

Su Xu sighed deeply and said, "What we need to do now, what the King of Wei needs to do now, is to calm down and stop attracting the attention of His Majesty. Otherwise, the more you do, the more mistakes you will make."

"Yes!" Su Jun nodded with some difficulty.

Su Xu glanced at his son and felt a little bitter in his heart. The prince's methods were far more than that.

Su Dingfang, the General of the Left Thousand Oxen Guard, and Zhang Wenguan, the Deputy Secretary of the Dali Temple, were both people of outstanding abilities. After all this, they had almost become enemies with the Prince of Wei's Palace.

Now, it has become inevitable for them to get close to the East Palace.

Su Dingfang was once a vanguard general under Li Jing. Not only was he an outstanding general, he also had a close relationship with Hou Junji.

Zhang Wenguan, the Dali Temple Secretary, was born into the Qinghe Zhang family. Although the family has been silent in recent years, it was due to the change of dynasties.

The Zhang family of Qinghe is a descendant of Zhang Liang, Marquis of Liu, and of Zhang Xie, the Imperial Guard of the Eastern Han Dynasty.

Zhang Wenguan's grandfather was the governor of Yanzhou in the Northern Qi Dynasty, and his great-grandfather was the minister of the Northern Wei Dynasty. The family had a long history, and in Qinghe, he had many marriages with the Cui family of Qinghe and the Li family of Zhaojun.

Moreover, Zhang Wenguan himself has outstanding abilities, and it is inevitable that he will move up in the future.

The most crucial thing is that Su Liangsi and Li Yifu are both censors of the eighth rank, and although Zhang Wenguan is a sixth rank Dali Temple Secretary, his position is remote, so these people are close to the Eastern Palace and the emperor will not care at all.

Therefore, there is no need for anyone to bring up the fact that the prince is making friends with important officials, because they are not important officials at all.

Normally speaking, it would take at least twenty years for these people to become high-ranking officials in the future.

But now they are close to the prince. If the prince ascends the throne in the future, they will immediately become the prince's future prime ministers.

……

"The prince is in Wugong County today. What else is going on?" Su Xu calmed down.

"There are two more things." Su Jun came back to his senses and thought for a moment before saying, "The Crown Prince is now in charge of intermarriage with Tubo. He said that if the Su family plans to use the trade route from Chang'an to Tubo, he can help, especially with Tubo."

"Her Royal Highness is the daughter of His Majesty and the sister of the Crown Prince. Therefore, the Crown Prince is the brother-in-law of the Tibetan King Songtsen. When the Crown Prince speaks, he represents His Majesty and the Tang Dynasty. Lu Dongzan will not refuse to honor him and will even do his utmost to help him for the next few years."

Su Xu nodded calmly, then narrowed his eyes slightly: "The East Palace is replenishing its financial resources!"

"Is it possible to prevent this?" Su Jun suggested with some worry and expectation.

Su Xu pondered for a long time, shook his head, and said, "If this is accomplished, it will first benefit the entire Wugong Su family, and even the mansion will benefit greatly. If I really do anything, I'm afraid I will offend the entire family. In addition, part of this money will be transferred to the Crown Princess's private funds. Remember, it is the Crown Princess's private funds."

Of course, the money earned by the Wugong Su family's caravan has no direct connection with Li Chengqian.

This money will be added to the Crown Princess's private money at a fixed ratio.

Even the emperor wouldn't even look at his daughter-in-law's money.

The emperor would not let anyone who dared to plot against him. "And that's not all," Su Xu said, his expression grim. "There are many who want to open up the trade route between the Tang Dynasty and Tubo, and many who are capable of doing so. But if they can work with the Crown Prince, it will be much smoother. These people will be invisibly bound to the Crown Prince."

The aristocratic families of Guanzhong include Wei, Pei, Xue, Liu, Yang and Du.

The Hedong family includes Cui, Lu, Zheng, Wang and Li.

There are also old-fashioned Longxi nobles, such as Gudu, Dou, Yu, Yuan, Yuwen, Zhang, Zhao, etc. who will all intervene.

"Such an open conspiracy. The prince's leg was injured once, but his mind has become even deeper." Su Xu shook his head slightly. This was almost an open conspiracy. Su Xu had no way to crack it, especially at the moment when Li Tai had just been punished. If the Prince of Wei's Mansion really took any action, the forces of all parties would crush it, and the Prince of Wei's Mansion might collapse directly.

"The Crown Prince is so formidable!" Su Jun gritted his teeth. Suddenly, he looked up at Su Xu and asked, "Father, the Crown Prince is so ruthless. Does His Majesty have any... suspicions?"

Su Jun finally gritted his teeth and said this.

"There's bound to be suspicion, there always is." Su Xu frowned, thinking deeply, and said, "But this matter was entrusted to the Crown Prince by His Majesty. The Crown Prince had already mentioned many things at the Taiji Hall banquet yesterday. Of course, His Majesty is aware of this, but judging by His Majesty's attitude, he doesn't seem to intend to stop it."

"It shouldn't be like this!" Su Jun looked at his father, puzzled and asked, "If the Eastern Palace uses this matter, then the noble families in the world will collude with each other, and with its growing prestige, it's hard to say for sure, but the situation will be unbalanced."

"But the Crown Prince must first connect with the world's aristocratic families!" Su Xu turned to look at Su Jun and asked, "Do you think that under the current situation, the Crown Prince will connect with the world's aristocratic families?"

Su Xu thought of Li Chengqian, who was calm, composed and smiling at Wugong Su's today, and couldn't help shaking his head.

"Then just wait patiently. For many things, if you just wait, someone will always make mistakes." Su Xu's expression calmed down. In this case, he could only wait.

"Yes!"

……

"By the way, you just said there were two more things?" Su Xu patted his forehead lightly. He almost forgot about another thing just now.

"Yes!" Su Jun's expression turned serious, and he whispered, "The Crown Prince has paid attention to the imperial examination. I'm afraid that in addition to Su Liangsi and Li Yifu, the Crown Prince also wants to win over the outstanding talents of this imperial examination."

"Imperial Examination." Su Xu's face grew serious as he asked, "Is there anyone worth noting in this year's examination?"

"There is one, Cen Changqian. He is not only the nephew of the Secretary of the Central Secretariat Cen Wenben, but also a scholar with profound knowledge and outstanding writing style." Su Jun looked at his father with some concern.

"Cen Wenben's nephew." Su Xu pondered for a moment, then shook his head. "The Crown Prince probably won't have much contact with him. After all, Cen Wenben is the Minister of the Central Secretariat, in charge of confidential matters. If the Crown Prince gets too close to him, he might actually be suspected of having connections with important officials."

The Longxi clan, after all, has already declined, the Guanzhong clan will not easily bet on it, and the Shandong family is even more distant.

Cen Wenben's position is extremely important. If Li Chengqian really tries to win over Cen Changqian, it will be easy for something to go wrong.

"Let's wait and see." Su Xu withdrew his thoughts and looked towards the direction of the palace. He said seriously, "Now, for us, for the King of Wei, the most important thing is to calm down first and wait until the previous incidents have passed. As for Cen Changqian, there are many outstanding scholars in the palace. Let them make friends with Cen Changqian through literature."

If the Prince of Wei's Mansion does not show up and uses other people to win over the emperor, there will be no suspicion of handing over important officials.

The most important thing is that the emperor will not care about this approach.

"Can Your Highness really leave the palace tomorrow?"

"Your Majesty said it's okay."

(End of this chapter)