Tang Dynasty, my wife Wu Zetian

Chapter 80 The Small Aristocracy Ready to Make a Move
"Your Majesty, what is this?"

In Ganlu Palace, Xue Rengui took the secret letter handed to him by Li Zhi and his face changed slightly after reading it.

Li Zhi sat on the dragon throne and said slowly, "This was written by Wang Wendu. The contents of the letter should be true. Xue Qing, what do you think about this matter?"

Xue Rengui pondered for a moment and said, "Although I haven't had much contact with Duke Lu, I have heard a lot about his deeds. This is not like his style."

Li Zhi smiled and said, "That's what I think. Then why do you think he would do such a thing?"

Xue Rengui frowned and thought for a while, then shook his head and said, "I can't think of it."

Li Zhi said: "Think about it again, what happened recently?"

Xue Rengui's heart moved, and he said, "Could it be related to the retirement of Duke Zhao?"

Li Zhi said slowly, "Judging from the time, that's exactly what happened. After Duke Zhao retired, someone wrote to Duke Lu about this. After he learned of it, he stopped the march."

Xue Rengui was stunned for a moment and said, "I still don't understand why General Cheng is like this."

Li Zhi was silent for a long time, then sighed, "He must have made mistakes on purpose so that I can punish him."

Xue Rengui was startled and wanted to say something, but finally he kept his mouth shut.

Li Zhi looked up at him and said, "Xue Qing, you should go to Liangzhou. You will take over Su Dingfang's position, and let Su Dingfang take over Cheng Zhijie's position."

Xue Rengui took a deep breath, bowed and said, "I obey your order!"

……

Chunming Gate, noon.

In early spring, the weather was cold and warm at the same time. Some of the people coming in and out of Qixiamen were still wearing sheepskin felt coats, while others had already changed into short-sleeved brown clothes.

Du Zhenglun got out of the carriage, looked up at the bright sunshine, felt a little hot, and took off his felt coat.

He had just returned from Hedong, where the climate was even worse than in Guanzhong. After staying there for a long time, he actually felt that the climate in Chang'an was not bad.

Since being promoted to the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, Du Zhenglun has been busy all the time.

He sent a large number of people to survey the geology, and also sent people to issue orders to the household officials of various states and counties, asking them to assist in finding mines.

With the full cooperation of all states and counties, several coal mines were finally discovered in the Hedong area.

After requesting imperial decree, Du Zhenglun personally went to Hedong, organized officials from nearby prefectures and counties, established several mines, mobilized civilians, and mined coal.

Now that the mine over there is back on track, Du Zhenglun can finally return to Chang'an City to report.

After entering the city, Du Zhenglun got on the carriage and prepared to go home to take a bath before going to the palace to meet the emperor.

As the carriage was moving, there was a sudden sound of horse hooves and a voice came from outside the window: "Uncle Du."

Du Zhenglun was slightly stunned. He lifted the curtain and looked outside. He saw a horse moving forward with the carriage. The person on the horse was a young man.

"So it's Du Shulang. I'm not worthy of being called that." Du Zhenglun said lightly.

The young man was Du Fu, son of Du Chong. He bowed to Du Zhenglun and said, "Uncle Du, the Huanshui Du family and the Jingzhao Du family are of the same lineage and share the same ancestor. How dare this nephew be disrespectful to you, Uncle Du?"

Du Zhenglun nodded and said, "Tell me, why are you here?"

Du Fu smiled bitterly and said, "My family, Du, once offended a man named Gao Youdao. Now that he has become the new top scholar, he has dug up the past and wants to take revenge on me."

Du Zhenglun frowned and asked, "What is Gao Youdao's background?"

Du Fu said: "The poor family of Huzhou is not worth mentioning."

Du Zhenglun said, "If that's the case, how could you not be able to handle him, just because he's the newly crowned number one scholar? Weren't you also the number one scholar in the third year of Yonghui?"

Du Fu sighed, "He has a friend who is the Shaoqing of the Dali Temple."

Du Zhenglun was stunned and said, "Could it be Di Renjie?"

Du Fu smiled bitterly and said, "It was Di Renjie. If he had been promoted to Shaoqing through the formal channels, he would not have been friends with him."

Du Zhenglun pondered for a moment and said, "What do you want me to do?"

Du Fu hurriedly said, "Everyone in the court knows that Uncle Du is favored by the Emperor. If you can help find Gao Youdao and ask him to drop the lawsuit, I, the Du family, will pay him whatever money he wants."

Du Zhenglun glanced at him and said, "Let me think about it."

Du Fu hurriedly said, "Uncle Du, as long as you are willing to help us this time, our Jingzhao Du family is willing to join the same genealogy as the Huanshui Du family!"

Du Zhenglun's eyes twitched and he said, "You go back first. I'll send someone to tell you if there's any news."

Du Fu happily said, "Thank you, Uncle Du."

The wheels rolled slowly and soon arrived at the Du Mansion.

After Du Zhenglun returned home, he had just exchanged a few farewell words with his wife and children when a guard arrived to announce that Lu Chengqing wanted to see him. Du Zhenglun didn't dare to neglect him and hurriedly said, "Please come in. No, I'll go and invite him myself." He arrived at the door and personally invited Lu Chengqing into the study, and ordered someone to serve him the best tea in the mansion.

After finishing his tea, Du Zhenglun said with a smile, "Brother Lu, have you returned to Chang'an? Could it be that the plan to destroy the reef in Sanmenxia has been a success?"

Lu Chengqing sighed and said, "To be honest with you, Brother Du, something happened in Sanmenxia, ​​and I came back to Beijing to report it."

Du Zhenglun was startled and asked, "What happened? Can't the gunpowder break through the reef?"

Lu Chengqing shook his head and said in a deep voice, "Someone dumped mud and sand upstream. The mud and sand rushed down, causing the riverbed to rise. Many ships capsized near Sanmenxia, ​​affecting the reef-breaking incident."

"Then a rumor spread that the two rocks were sacred stones, and that our destruction of the rocks had angered the gods, causing the ship to capsize."

The ancients were superstitious, and the yamen runners in charge of breaking the reef were afraid of the gods, so they were timid. The people nearby also came over to oppose this matter.

Du Zhenglun's face changed. "Who is so bold? How dare they go against the imperial court?"

Lu Chengqing said coldly: "They act very carefully, only operating at night, and there are people standing guard outside. They are definitely not ordinary people."

Du Zhenglun was silent for a moment, then frowned and said, "Strange! This seems like something aristocratic families would do, but Zhangsun Wuji has already retired. How could they still have the guts to act so recklessly?"

Lu Chengqing glanced at him and said, "On the contrary, it's precisely because Zhangsun Wuji retired that they dared to do this."

Du Zhenglun was stunned and asked, "Why is this?"

Lu Chengqing pondered for a moment and said, "Although I don't like Zhangsun Wuji's abuse of power, when he was the leader of the aristocratic faction, he always restrained the major aristocratic families."

Du Zhenglun nodded. Although the Huanshui Du family was only a small clan, they could also feel this.

Lu Chengqing continued, "The seven great clans of Shandong, the five great clans of Guanzhong, and the four great clans of Jiangnan have always been under the control of Zhangsun Wuji. There are also many smaller clans that are under the control of these great clans."

Changsun Wuji restrained the big aristocratic families, and the big aristocratic families restrained the small aristocratic families.

Therefore, when Changsun Wuji was no longer able to restrain the big families, the big families would no longer restrain the small families.

Small clans are not as involved in so many things, nor are they as low-key and introverted as the big clans. When doing things, they are more unscrupulous than the big clans.

Du Zhenglun said in a deep voice, "So you suspect that a certain aristocratic family planned this? But what was their purpose?"

Lu Chengqing was silent for a while, then said, "Maybe it's for some kind of benefit, or maybe it's driven by a powerful family. I've sent people from the family to investigate, but there aren't many clues."

Du Zhenglun said, "We must report this to His Majesty as soon as possible."

Lu Chengqing asked, "Is your progress going smoothly?"

Du Zhenglun smiled and said, "It's not bad. We have built four mines. This stuff burns much longer than firewood. As long as we find more coal mines, there will be enough for Chang'an to use."

Lu Chengqing breathed a sigh of relief and said, "That's good. If neither you nor I are successful, I really don't know how to explain it to His Majesty."

After Du Zhenglun took a bath, he went to the Taiji Hall with Lu Chengqing.

While walking along Chengtianmen Street, Lu Chengqing suddenly remembered something and said, "Brother Du, several things have happened in Chang'an recently. One of them is related to the Jingzhao Du family. Have you heard about it?"

Du Zhenglun's eyes flashed, and he said, "Brother Lu, are you talking about Gao Youdao?"

Lu Chengqing smiled and said, "Now that you've heard about it, I have nothing to worry about."

Du Zhenglun hurriedly said: "I also heard Du Fu mention this matter, I don't know much, please Brother Lu tell me in detail."

Lu Chengqing nodded and told him about how Du Chong had harmed Gao Youdao that year, and also about the imperial examinations in the court.

He had asked Lu Zhaolin about this matter in detail, so he knew it very clearly.

After listening to this, Du Zhenglun sighed, "So that's how it is. That bastard Du Fu really concealed most of the information, and he even wanted me to help him find Gao Youdao to intercede."

Lu Chengqing said sternly, "Brother Du, the Saint is extremely concerned about this matter. Even Zhangsun Wuji fell because of this. You must not act rashly."

Du Zhenglun smiled and said, “Brother Lu, don’t worry. Even if you don’t tell me this, I don’t intend to help them.”

Lu Chengqing tilted his head and said, "Oh?"

Du Zhenglun said in a deep voice, "It's not that I don't care about the feelings of my fellow clansmen, but that the Jingzhao Du family is too hateful. They once humiliated my Huanshui Du family."

The Huanshui Du family, to which Du Zhenglun came from, was originally a noble family from Hebei.

After the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, the Guanzhong nobles suppressed the Hebei nobles the most harshly. The Huanshui Du family then moved to Chang'an, hoping to be included in the genealogy with the Jingzhao Du family and get rid of their Hebei noble identity.

Unfortunately, the Jingzhao Du family looked down on their poor relatives and refused them outright. They also forbade their clan members from having any contact with the Huanshui Du family.

Since then, the Du family of Huanshui has resented the Du family of Shangjingzhao.

After listening to his story, Lu Chengqing shook his head and said, "After Du Ruhui, the Du family has been declining with each generation. They are so narrow-minded. No wonder they are declining."

As they were talking, the two of them arrived at Ganlu Hall, reported, and entered the hall.

(End of this chapter)