Above the holy edict.
Li Xuan knelt solemnly in the lobby of the Governor's Mansion. Kneeling in front of him was Shi Dou Xuande, the governor of Yangzhou Governor's Mansion.
Dou Xuande held his hands high in the air at this moment, with a solemn look on his face, and he kowtowed and said: "Your Majesty Dou Xuande, I accept the decree, long live my emperor!"
Li Xuan, and the others behind him, all knelt down and shouted: "I accept the decree, long live my emperor."
"Weng Dou, please get up!" The imperial envoy who delivered the edict put the imperial edict in Dou Xuande's hand, helped Dou Xuande stand up, stepped back half a step, cupped his hands and said: "Weng Dou, this matter is very urgent. Your Majesty has spoken, please dou Weng and You must rush back to Chang'an before the Zhengdan meeting."
"Don't worry, Your Majesty, Dou is well aware of it." Dou Xuande nodded slightly, then looked sideways at Sima Changyu, and said solemnly: "Sima, please prepare quickly. Tomorrow at midnight, I will meet with the King of Nanchang and all of you. Colleagues set off for Chang'an."
"Here!" Chang Yu immediately accepted without any hesitation.
Dou Xuande looked at Li Xuan again and asked softly: "Your Majesty, are you going to set off at 10:00 tomorrow morning? Is there any problem?"
Li Xuan immediately raised his hands solemnly and said, "Don't worry, Weng Dou. Xuan is always on the go. Don't mention tomorrow. Even if you set off today, there will be no delay."
"That's good." Dou Xuande breathed a sigh of relief, then looked at Lu Yuanfang and said, "Brother Xizhong, the affairs of the Yangzhou Governor's Office will be handed over to Kang Shenjun for the time being."
Kangshun, the official of Yangzhou Governor's Office, joined the army and was under Lu Yuanfang.
This time, Lu Yuanfang came to Beijing according to the order, and all matters in the Yangzhou Governor's Office were handed over to Kang Shun, who joined the army and recorded affairs.
If he was undecided, he asked Sima, the governor of Yangzhou, and Shi Changyu, the governor of Yangzhou, for advice.
…
Li Xuan's face was extremely solemn. The people who went to Chang'an this time to participate in the Zhengdan court meeting were not only the governor of Yangzhou, Dou Xuande, the governor of Yangzhou, but also the Sima Lu Yuanfang of the governor of Yangzhou.
As for the other Silla envoys, the Japanese envoys, and even Deng Liang, the son of Deng Jiuguang, the governor of Dengzhou, were of secondary importance.
If nothing else happens, after Li Xuan, Dou Xuande, and Lu Yuanfang go to Chang'an, it may be difficult for them to return to Yangzhou in the future, at least in the short term.
Li Xuan had already had signs of his own transfer, but he was a little confused. Will Dou Xuande and Lu Yuanfang be transferred to any other positions?
While Li Xuan's thoughts were flashing, Dou Xuande made quick and proper arrangements for everything in Yangzhou.
Li Xuan was listening on the side and could see that Dou Xuande had already had something in mind.
Perhaps he had already known about the transfer to Chang'an. In this way, he could make arrangements quickly and set off tomorrow without delay.
After making arrangements and letting everyone leave, Dou Xuande stopped Li Xuan again and asked in a deep voice: "My dear nephew, where is the Japanese envoy?"
Li Xuan immediately handed over his hands solemnly: "My nephew was originally expected to have a meeting with him tomorrow. Now it seems that this time may have to be postponed, but it doesn't matter. The journey to Chang'an is long, and Xuan will make arrangements properly."
Dou Xuande hesitated slightly, and then whispered: "Uncle Shi once heard that your Majesty intends to use your nephew as the young minister of Honglu Temple, but even your Majesty can hardly guarantee the affairs of the world, so your nephew should be careful, Silla and Japan It’s best to handle things properly, otherwise, accidents will inevitably happen.”
Li Xuan's face had already become extremely solemn. He bowed solemnly to Dou Xuande and said, "Thank you, Uncle Shi, for the advice. Xuan will keep it in mind."
…
In the evening, at the south pier of Yangzhou City, three huge building ships came from Hangzhou.
The building boat cut across the river and reached the dock in Yangzhou City.
The ship had just stopped and Yu Ze had not yet disembarked when he saw Li Xuan waiting on the shore and had already begun to greet a group of Qianniu Guards and Jinwu Guards carrying grain, grass, supplies, and horses, preparing to board the ship.
"What, we're going to leave at 10:00 tomorrow?" Yu Ze's eyes were full of disbelief when he heard what Li Xuan said.
Li Xuan nodded slightly and said: "Your Majesty is urging us very urgently. I am afraid that he not only wants us to arrive in time for the meeting, but also seems to have other matters that require us to arrive early."
"This..." Yu Ze couldn't figure out the mystery for a while, but something always seemed to happen.
Gently shaking his head and forgetting these things, Yu Ze immediately handed over the report: "Your Majesty, Gao Ping and Leng Lin of the Ministry of Justice had already left Hangzhou earlier, but suddenly they received an order from the doctor of the Ministry of Justice to escort Xue Zhang back together. Beijing."
"The news has been received." Li Xuan nodded without surprise, and also frowned and said: "Logically speaking, Pei Yan should least want to bring Xue Zhongzhang back to Chang'an at this time. This is too attention-grabbing, but..."
"Perhaps this is not what Pei Shangshu did." Yu Ze guessed cautiously.
"It is indeed possible." Li Xuan took a breath and agreed with Yu Ze's guess.
Looking up to the northwest of Chang'an, Li Xuan said softly: "But why is this?"
There are not many people who can surpass Pei Yan and command the officials of the Ministry of Justice. The left servant of Shangshu shoots Liu Rengui, the right servant of Shangshu shoots Dai Zhide, Zhongshu Ling Hao Chujun, Tianhou Wu, and the emperor.
The only people who could make the doctor of the Ministry of Punishment ignore Pei Yan's face at all were Empress Wu and the Emperor.
Although Li Xuan's father-in-law Liu Rengui and other central ministers could also do it, once they did it, it would be equivalent to breaking up with Pei Yan or even going to war with Empress Wu, and it was totally unnecessary.
If this is the case, Liu Rengui should at least ask Li Xuan for his opinion, but he did not have any letter at all.
The key is that Li Xuan does not need to send Xue Zhongzhang to Chang'an, he can handle all the problems.
So it was not done by Liu Rengui at all, so it is clear who did it.
But why is this?
"Last night, the two of them arrived in Yangzhou. After a night's rest, they set off today at Chenshi." Li Xuan faintly told the traces of those people, and then said: "The two people should have guessed that the imperial edict arrived last night. The content of the imperial edict is unknown, so he doesn’t want to go with us, so he goes ahead so that he can arrive in Beijing early...actually it’s better this way.”
Li Xuan saw clearly the plans of Gao Ping and Leng Lin at a glance, and now they are returning to Chang'an with Wen Xu and Xue Zhongzhang.
Wenxu is a subordinate of the King of East China Sea, and many of his associates from various places want to save him, or even silence him.
As for Xue Zhongzhang, this time he offended almost all the aristocratic families in Jiangnan.
Then those wealthy families would definitely not mind killing Xue Zhongzhang in the name of saving Wen Xu.
Don't let those aristocratic families do things like this easily.
Gao Ping and Leng Lin were from the Ministry of Punishment, and they knew better than anyone else who had committed those headless murders in the files of the Ministry of Punishment.
In fact, it would be safest for Gao Ping and Leng Lin to follow the convoy from Yangzhou to Beijing.
Not only are there Qianniu Guards and Jinwu Guards, but also a large number of Yangzhou soldiers accompanying them. They are safe and sound. At least they don't have to worry about an enemy attack.
However, Gao Ping and Leng Lin extremely firmly rejected this approach.
Because they know very well how to kill people silently in this situation without being tainted with the slightest suspicion.
…
"Your Majesty, my subordinates always feel that there are too many things about Xue Zhongzhang and Wen Xu that we have ignored." Yu Ze raised his eyes to look at Li Xuan and whispered: "There are too many people paying attention to these two people now. We Now we have lost the initiative.”
"We lost the initiative." Li Xuan suddenly laughed, and then said: "Uncle Yu can see clearly that we did lose the initiative, but we must lose such an initiative... After all, this matter, from the beginning we If we get involved too deeply, if we continue to pursue and fight fiercely, we will be the ones who really deserve to be targeted by all parties."
Ever since Xue Zhongzhang and Wen Xu left Hangzhou, everything had been out of their control, and even the level of people who really paid attention to this matter had reached a level that Li Xuan could not touch.
Li Xuan raised her head and looked in the direction of Chang'an and said softly: "I did foresee this matter, and it is inevitable to escape from control. But having said that, the speed of this escape from control is indeed astonishingly fast.
Uncle Yu, please take a closer look. This kind of struggle is something you and I have never experienced before. Being able to observe it closely now is also a way to learn. "
Yu Ze nodded silently at the end. As things gradually got out of control, they couldn't understand many things in it.
But fortunately, there are not many places where their interests are really concerned about, but it can be seen clearly by onlookers.
Look at this whole situation from a special independent perspective.
Once they have figured out all this thoroughly, they will be able to handle things here in the future.
"When I return to Beijing this time, the matters in Wuzhou and Hangzhou have already been dealt with. The matters in Yangzhou also need to be dealt with." Li Xuan turned to Yu Ze and said in a deep voice: "The rest doesn't matter, it's just a gift from the Shen family. The two houses that came out, if someone follows Wen Xu's example and hides in these two houses in the future, it will definitely cause a lot of trouble."
"What is the prince's plan?" Yu Ze looked at Li Xuan, as if he didn't understand what he meant.
After all, the two houses in Yangzhou were sent here by the Yangzhou Shen family. Any disturbance inside and outside would be difficult to hide from the Yangzhou Shen family. If they were handled improperly, it would easily cause unnecessary disputes.
"Find two servants in the palace who will leave the palace within half a year, and transfer the two houses to their names, and do it more secretly." Li Xuan showed a slight smile on her lips, and said: "The Shen family Yangzhou family , I have seen this kind of thing too much, and they still don’t understand it.”
"Here!" Yu Ze figured out the joints and immediately turned around to make arrangements.
…
Nine building boats, connected in a line, leave the Hanjiang River in the north of Yangzhou City and go north along the canal.
In the twelfth lunar month of winter, it was difficult to move forward. Many cavalrymen had already disembarked from the ship very early. They traveled on horseback during the day and returned to the ship to rest at night to ensure safety.
In the morning, above the canal, inside the cabin, the stove is warm.
Li Xuan and Daozhen faced each other, looking at the chessboard in front of them, and each piece fell on the chessboard.
Li Xuan played very seriously, and Daozhen was very good at chess. He was always able to force him into exchanging pieces with each other.
After a long time, Daozhen finally surrendered. He looked at Li Xuan and said helplessly: "The prince's plans are always dense and complicated, which makes people overwhelmed... But I wonder if the same is true for the East Island incident?"
Li Xuan picked the chess pieces into the chess box one by one, and then said softly: "The East Island matter seems to have come to an end for the time being, but in fact you and I both know that everything has just begun."
Although the Tang Dynasty withdrew its troops from Anton, it still had 10,000 soldiers staying in Anton, in various places north and south of the Datong River, and might go south to attack Silla at any time.
The same goes for the Japanese state. Given their nature, if they really wanted to make a surprise attack, the Silla people might not be able to defend themselves against it.
If Silla takes action against Japan, then Tang Dynasty can take the opportunity to take action against Silla later on, and they will just keep each other in check.
After hearing Li Xuan's words, Daozhen nodded and asked casually: "What do you think of the war between Datang and Tubo next year?"
Li Xuan's hand paused in the air. In today's world, the war between Tang Dynasty and Silla is no longer the focus of the world. What is really important in the world is between Datang and Tubo. The future situation of Tang Dynasty and Silla also depends on this battle. .
"Let's make peace!"
(End of chapter)
