Back to the prosperous Tang Dynasty to be the emperor

Chapter 168 High-profile attack (1)

In late autumn, the dawn was late, and it was already the time of day. The sun had just risen, and a ray of golden sunlight slanted in from outside the hall, shining on the shining stone floor, reflecting several scattered rays. One of the rays of light fell on the front wall, and Empress Wu, who was buried in the official documents, was shaken for a moment. She couldn't help but stretched out her hand to cover her eyes, raised her head, and showed a slightly tired face. face.

Age is not forgiving. Although Empress Wu has been taking good care of herself, she is almost fifty years old, but she still looks like she is in her early thirties, but her energy is not as good as before. After not sleeping well last night, today's I just corrected a few memorials earlier, and some people were sleepy, but they were worried about something, but they couldn't help but muster their spirits to sit here in Qianyuan Hall, correcting those who knew it was probably a waste of effort. Zhezi—Although Luoyang and Chang'an are not far away, it only takes about two days to travel by fast horse. Empress Wu was extremely annoyed, but there was nothing she could do about it. It was one thing to be too far away, but the more important thing was that although her power in the current court situation was not small, it was far from being able to completely control it. If she wanted to change This kind of situation obviously needs time and opportunity. Empress Wu naturally knows this, but she understands it, but Empress Wu is still very unwilling. Maybe it's time to make some changes!

"Ma'am, something happened."

Just when Empress Wu was in a daze, Gao Hesheng, the eunuch of the ceremony, walked in from outside the hall, hurriedly walked to Empress Wu, bowed his body, and reported the report in an anxious tone.

"Ok?"

Hearing the sound, Empress Wu woke up from the fugue, raised her head slightly, glanced at Gao Hesheng, and snorted softly from her nostrils.

"Your Majesty, Wang Yi is dead, Yan Desheng is missing, and all the people he took with him died with Wang Yi. The Luoyang Mansion received a report from the people early this morning, and found something strange at the scene. , have handed out a sign outside the palace gate to see His Majesty."

The situation was urgent, Gao Hesheng didn't dare to be negligent in the slightest, and hurriedly reported the news he knew, with a sense of panic and uneasiness in his words.

"Humph!"

Upon hearing that the matter turned out to be such a result, Empress Wu's complexion immediately became gloomy, and she snorted coldly, but she never said a word, only the evil spirit on her body was strong and violent.

"Your Majesty, look at this..."

Gao Hesheng has followed Empress Wu for a long time, so he knows Empress Wu's temperament. Seeing Empress Wu's silence, he knows that Empress Wu is very angry. He is afraid of being angered, so he dare not say more. The problem is the Luoyang government officials outside. Still waiting for an answer, Gao Hesheng didn't dare to delay too long, so he could only be brave enough to remind him half of the sentence in a low voice.

"Well, Eunuch Gao, in your opinion, is Yan Desheng alive or dead?"

Empress Wu ignored Gao Hesheng's request for instructions, but instead asked a seemingly irrelevant question.

"This one……"

Although Gao Hesheng holds a high position among the eunuchs and nominally controls the dark underworld forces under Empress Wu, but because of his lack of martial arts skills, Yu Yan Desheng's group of activists lacks control, and the relationship between them is not easy to talk about. It's not friendly, but there are frictions from time to time. For Gao Hesheng, it would be better if Yan Desheng died, so as not to have to fight with himself for favor every day, but naturally such thoughts cannot be said in front of Empress Wu, let alone , Gao Hesheng is also at a loss now. He really doesn't understand how a simple matter can turn into such a serious situation. He dare not make random guesses, and can only stammer and pretend to be confused.

"Let's go, just say that His Majesty's dragon body violated the peace, and the matter will be reported to Luoyang Mansion after trial."

Empress Wu didn't ask any more questions, but waved her hand impatiently, and ordered directly.

"Yes, the old slave obeys the order."

When Gao Hesheng heard that Empress Wu's order had no time limit for solving the case, and did not specify the person in charge of solving the case, he knew that Empress Wu was planning to delay and cover up the matter, but he didn't dare to say anything about it, and could only respond respectfully. With a sound, he hurriedly exited the hall.

"waste!"

Empress Wu didn't pay attention to Gao Hesheng's departure, but sat silently behind the dragon case. After a long time, she suddenly bit her lip and cursed viciously.The dignified face was distorted to look ferocious, obviously the anger in his heart was raging.

"Ma'am, something happened."

Empress Wu was annoyed, but she saw Gao Hesheng turned back quickly, ran to the front in a panic, and said nervously.

"Say!"

Empress Wu was in an extremely bad mood at this moment, seeing Gao Hesheng's panicked face, she was very annoyed, with a straight face, and let out a cold snort.

"My lady, my maidservant went to deliver the message according to my ladyship's order, but unexpectedly, His Royal Highness Zhou rushed over. After asking the reason, he refused to let Mr. Pei leave, and insisted on making a fuss to face the saint. First, I complied perfunctorily, and implored the empress to order."

Seeing Empress Wu's face turned extremely ugly, Gao Hesheng's flustered heart became even more flustered, he didn't dare to be negligent, and hurriedly explained what happened in detail.

"what?"

When Empress Wu heard this, the anger in her heart could no longer be suppressed, and she threw out the Langhao brush she was holding in her hand with a "snap", and stood up suddenly, glaring at Gao Hesheng angrily, frightened Gao Hesheng He quickly fell to his knees on the ground, trembling all over.

"Xuan!"

Just when Gao Hesheng thought that Empress Wu would be furious, Empress Wu suddenly calmed down and spit out a word expressionlessly.

"Yes, the slaves obey the order."

Gao Hesheng heaved a sigh of relief, hurriedly responded, and rushed out of the Qianyuan Hall at a trot, and went to summon the relevant people without mentioning it.

"My son kowtowed to see his mother."

"My minister kowtowed to the empress."

Not long after Gao Hesheng left, he accompanied Li Xian and Luoyang Governor Pei Heng back again. When they saw Empress Wu who was sitting expressionlessly behind the dragon case, they rushed forward to pay homage to each other. stand up.

"Stay flat."

Looking at Li Xian's heroic face, Empress Wu felt annoyed for no reason, and her eyelids twitched wildly for a while, but she didn't break out, but cried out flatly.

"I thank my mother, Empress Long En."

Li Xian thanked you according to the usual practice, stood up straight, cupped his hands, and said without arrogance or humility: "Qing mother, on the way to pay your respects to the palace, I was shocked to hear that there was a terrible murder in the city last night. Surprised, I thought this matter was serious, and I must not ignore it lightly, so I came here to ask my father, the emperor, to adjudicate it."

"Oh? What does my son think of this?"

Empress Wu glanced at Li Xian indifferently, and asked calmly.

"After Qi reported to my mother, among the dead, Wang Yi was the Zuo Yulin Army Qianniu Bei, while the other four were unexpectedly eunuchs in the palace. They had no subordinates to each other, and now they died together. Check, my son is afraid that there are bad guards in the palace, which will be detrimental to the country, so it is necessary to find out the root cause!" Li Xian talked freely with righteous indignation on his face, as if he was thinking about the safety of the palace.

"Does Mr. Pei have any good ideas?"

Empress Wu is such a shrewd person, although she never witnessed what happened last night, how could she not know that the real culprit in this case is Li Xian? Seeing Li Xian pretending to be a thief and calling for a thief, Empress Wu was so angry that her lungs almost exploded , but this is a matter of fact, but it is impossible to explain the matter. After all, there is no evidence in hand. Being able to knock out his teeth and swallow it in his stomach, he simply ignored Li Xian, turned to look at Luoyang Governor Pei Heng, and asked calmly.

"My minister has no objection, everything is up to the Holy Order."

Pei Heng was born in a famous family and has been in office for a long time. He is not an ordinary person. He is very old and cunning. Although he did not understand what was going on in this case, he vaguely sensed the smell of gunpowder between Empress Wu and Li Xian. Turning to himself, he didn't dare to express his opinion easily, so he replied vaguely, no one could tell whether the holy order he was talking about was the holy order of Empress Wu or the holy order of Gaozong. cut.

Slip!

Hearing what Pei Heng said, Empress Wu and Li Xian both scolded in their hearts at the same time, but they couldn't force Pei Heng to make a statement. They could only keep silent, and the atmosphere in the hall seemed to freeze. average.

"His Majesty is here!"

Just as the three of them were silently thinking about each other, a shout came from outside the hall, and immediately, the pale-faced Gaozong staggered into the hall.

"My son kowtowed to my father."

Seeing Gaozong entered the hall, Li Xian immediately rushed forward and saluted respectfully.

"Come here, Xian'er, okay, no, no."

Among Gaozong's several sons, Li Xian was born tall and handsome, quite reminiscent of Taizong's demeanor, the more he looked at him, the more he liked him. Seeing Li Xian greet him, Gaozong's pale face immediately showed a gentle smile , Xu raised his hand and called out.

"Wei Chen meets His Majesty."

Sandwiched between Empress Wu and Li Xian, Pei Heng was uncomfortable at first, but when he saw Gao Zong arrived, he was secretly relieved, and hurried forward, paying homage incessantly.

"Huh? Why is Aiqing here?"

Gaozong took a closer look and saw that the person saluting was Pei Heng, he couldn't help but hesitated for a moment, and asked angrily——Qianyuan Hall is forbidden inside, and important officials are not allowed to enter unless they get the order, let alone Said that Pei Heng is waiting for a magistrate.

"This……"

Pei Heng couldn't make up his mind whether to report last night's bloody case to Yu Jia, so he couldn't help but stop talking, his old eyes turned like spinning tops.

"Huh? What's going on? Tell me!"

Seeing Pei Heng's hesitant look, Gaozong immediately became suspicious, frowned, looked at Pei Heng displeased, and asked a question in a blunt tone. As soon as he said this, the atmosphere in the hall That's why it's so weird...

(End of this chapter)