The drizzle is continuous, above the small lake in the backyard of the Changzhou Dudu Mansion.
The awning boat floated, and the wind and rain splashed down.
A charcoal stove, a pot of hot tea, and two teacups.
It feels like discussing heroes over wine.
Li Xuan handed the official document in his hand to Zhang Da'an who was opposite him, and said softly: "Back then, when Emperor Xiaojing was in Yeting Palace, he saw two princesses from Xuancheng, Yiyang, who were over thirty and refused to marry. The prince was shocked and asked him Surrender. Mr. Zhang, is this not that simple?"
"What do you mean, Your Majesty?" Zhang Daan took the official document from Li Xuan and looked up at Li Xuan with calm eyes.
"How could Duke Zhang not know where Ye Ting is?" Li Xuan sighed softly and said, "Even if the second princess Yiyang and Xuancheng were born into an imperial family and grew up in fine clothes and fine food, they have worked hard in Ye Ting for more than ten years. I'm afraid that I will become just like ordinary village women. How can I recognize them in the crowd if I am a filial emperor?"
Li Xuan leaned forward slightly, and then asked: "Mr. Zhang, Xiao Wang was not familiar with worldly affairs in his early years, but now that he thinks about it, how could he go to Yeting to honor the emperor without anything to do? No matter how much he relaxes, he can't go to Yeting to relax, right?" "
"Maybe it's because there's something to do." Zhang Daan lowered his head slightly.
"Is there anything in the East Palace that needs the prince to go to Yeting to handle in person?" Li Xuan had a sneer on her lips.
"I think there must be something going on, otherwise I would not show up there if I was respectful to the emperor. Besides, Xiaguan was the governor of Hengzhou back then and knew very little about the affairs in the palace." Zhang Daan pushed him out easily.
Li Xuan looked at Zhang Daan gently and said, "So now, the prince is about to fall into Yeting, is Mr. Zhang really indifferent?"
Zhang Daan fell silent and lowered his head in silence.
After a long time, Zhang Daan spoke again: "Even if we know what happened back then, what's the use? What can we do thousands of miles away?"
"At least, the methods in the palace will not spread to Changzhou because of the East Palace, nor will they spread to the East Palace because of Changzhou." Li Xuan calmly stated the reason.
There is nothing in the world other than independent ownership.
Even in Changzhou, the prince still sent over a dozen children from aristocratic families.
Similarly, in Changzhou, Empress Wu also sent a Sima and a captain of Heyuan Prefecture.
All parties are beginning to extend their tentacles to Changzhou, and the information they obtain will definitely be transmitted back to Chang'an.
Mutual influence is inevitable.
"Alas!" Zhang Da'an sighed softly and said, "The prince should know that although there are secret guards in the palace, the ones who are really responsible for the security of the palace are the inner guards. The inner guards have two commanders, one male and one female. It is under the command of Your Majesty and the Queen."
After a slight pause, Zhang Daan continued: "Your Majesty, you should know that your Majesty is not good at women's hands. In his early years, he overthrew the Changsun clan. Later, he destroyed Goguryeo, Tuyuhun, and countless countries in the Western Regions. The whole world surrendered. His methods are brilliant. Someone who can be easily controlled.
In addition, His Majesty has been traveling between Chang'an and Luoyang for many years. Even if the internal guards lose control, this moment of movement is enough to mobilize the army to exterminate the rebellion. Therefore, everything in the palace and the overall situation should still be in the hands of His Majesty. "
Li Xuan put her hands between her chest and abdomen, nodded slightly, and then listened respectfully to Zhang Daan's explanation.
"What happened back then was due to two reasons." Zhang Da'an took a deep breath and continued: "The first is Your Majesty. Your Majesty cannot bear to see his two daughters, who are over thirty and still staying in the palace, almost dying of old age. Therefore, we resorted to means to make the prince stand out, and then the marriage will be granted by the Queen of Heaven. The Quan family of Tianshui and the Wang family of Taiyuan are both wealthy families, so it is not a loss."
Li Xuan nodded slightly, her eyes twinkling.
If this is really the case, then it was the emperor's plan to make the Queen gain notoriety while giving him peace of mind.
"Furthermore, all this is the Queen's method." Zhang Daan showed a solemn look on his face, and then said seriously: "The Queen deliberately led the prince to see Yiyang and the second princess Xuancheng, with the purpose of falling out with the prince... ... Only when mother and son fall out, and there are many things, can the Queen use the appearance of conflict between mother and son to fight for power like this."
After saying this, Zhang Daan's face darkened. In the second year of Xianheng, Prince Li Hong got married. In the second year of Xianheng, He Lanmin was expelled.
Finally, he said softly: "The matter between Princess Yiyang and Princess Xuancheng is probably related to the filial piety to the emperor's wedding."
On the surface, it seems that it is a matter of course to marry off all two of Prince Li Hong's sisters before his wedding.
But there is something very sensitive going on here.
That is the supervision of the country.
Li Xuan couldn't remember whether Li Hong had supervised the country before his wedding, but supervising the country after the wedding had a completely different meaning than before the wedding.
Putting this kind of thing on the emperor is called pro-government.
Putting it on the prince is also of great significance.
In the past two years, the reason why the Beimen bachelor's movement has increased is because of the wedding of Prime Minister Li Dan.
When Li Dan got married, these North Gate bachelors immediately became active and began to actively fight for power.
…
Li Xuan looked at the tea cup in front of her and said softly: "So, instead of letting the government and the public think that the relationship between the Queen and the Crown Prince was due to dissatisfaction with Concubine Xiao Shu's two daughters; rather than the relationship between the Queen and the Crown Prince because of power, Fighting and falling out will minimize the reaction between the government and the opposition."
Zhang Daan clenched his fists tightly, nodded and said: "The former is a family matter, the latter is a state matter."
"Family affairs are less important than state affairs." Li Xuan sighed softly and said: "It seems that it is just because of the prince's unintentional walking that he became the queen. In order to reduce the impact of the political changes after the prince's wedding, the queen used this method. , It’s really like spring breeze turning into rain, invisible.”
Empress Wu had manipulated all of this from the beginning. The real purpose was to eliminate dissidents and suppress threatening forces, hiding everything under the turmoil of family affairs.
"The Queen's operation is indeed exquisite." Zhang Da'an sneered lightly and said: "But unfortunately, it is not of much use. The advantage that the Queen finally gained was completely destroyed by Helan Minzhi in the same year."
"Helan Minzhi?" Li Xuan showed a thoughtful look on his face, and then said: "Mr. Zhang, if I remember correctly, Helan Minzhi and the Queen fell out because of the death of Helan Minyue, and Helan Minzhi So he knows this because someone told him.”
"It's Your Majesty." Zhang Daan nodded expressionlessly.
Li Xuan breathed a deep sigh of relief. It could be seen that Empress Wu had countless means inside and outside the palace, but similarly, there was another person with countless means, and this person was the emperor.
This couple acts as a chess game in the government, fighting each other, and everyone is a pawn on the chessboard.
If you want to avoid becoming a pawn in the game between these two couples, you must either choose one to join in, or become a pawn that neither party can give up.
Just like Li Xuan.
Using the threat of Tubo as his irreplaceable support, everyone will be wary of him.
In addition, he was cautious enough, deliberately opened up the relationship with Li Xian, and stayed away from the court, so that he could manage his own power with peace of mind.
Just like Zhang Daan in front of him.
He could still see through the emperor's thoughts.
…
Zhang Daan raised the tea cup, took a sip gently, then looked at Li Xuan and said: "The Queen is not easy. In that incident, in the end, the Queen directly took advantage of He Lan Minzhi's death to cause trouble for herself. The image of impartiality and selflessness.”
"Is this really true?" Li Xuan looked at Zhang Daan with a half-smile. In his opinion, the harm that that incident brought to Empress Wu far outweighed the benefits to her.
Even when Li Xuan got married, she was always on guard against Wu Chengsi, let alone others.
Over the years, Empress Wu's power seems to have expanded a lot, but in fact it has not made a substantial leap.
Although the filial emperor Li Hong passed away, Prince Li Xian came to the throne, and naturally a large part of his power fell around Li Xian.
Li Xuan had a feeling that the final change in the situation was probably related to his great victory on the Western Front.
The most direct point here is that Liu Shenli was promoted to the position of minister, and Li Jingxuan was promoted to the position of secretary. The relationship between the two new prime ministers and Empress Wu was not good.
Liu Shenli was from the East Palace, while Li Jingxuan was a descendant of the Li family in Zhao County.
In the power struggle, it seems that the prince has a very powerful position, but in fact the prince's power is the weakest.
As long as the prince's reaction is greater if he is carefully stimulated, endless means will be thrown at him immediately. This is what happened now.
Li Xuan raised her head and asked in a deep voice: "Mr. Zhang, at this time, does the prince still have a chance?"
Zhang Daan also saw everything clearly, but after one mistake that was not considered a mistake, he was sent to Changzhou, but there was no intention of escaping on his own initiative.
Zhang Daan sighed softly and said: "Your Majesty, I also want to help the prince, otherwise I will not come to Changzhou..."
Looking up, seeing Li Xuan's calm expression, Zhang Daan shook his head slightly and said, "But the official won't do anything. After all, the prince is here... and when the official left the capital, he already reminded the prince what to do. But it seems that the prince did not follow what the official said."
Li Xuan looked up at the drizzle outside the boat, then looked back at Zhang Daan and asked, "What does Mr. Zhang suggest the prince do?"
"Military power cannot be touched, and whoever touches it will die. Therefore, I suggest that the Crown Prince use the princes to join forces and win over the Weiwei Temple Minister, Zuo Qianniuwei General, Zuo Jinwuwei General, and the Zuo Prime Minister to attract more There are many ministers to strengthen the power of the prince, but it seems that His Highness the prince has not implemented it properly." Zhang Daan stretched out his hand out of the cabin and felt the cold raindrops falling between the sky and the earth outside, and his heart was equally cold.
"What's the matter with Prince Shao Zhan?" Li Xuan somewhat understood.
Although it was Li Xuan's deliberate strategy to advance further within the East Palace, if this move was used cruelly, Li Xuan might really be trapped in the East Palace. But unfortunately, Li Xian's mind has never been so determined.
Li Xian did bring up the matter of inspecting Prince Shao Zhan, but Li Xuan only refused slightly, and then he withdrew his idea.
"Your Majesty refused. I don't know who suggested to His Highness to send someone to Changzhou to serve." Zhang Daan looked at Li Xuan, shook his head and smiled bitterly: "Your Majesty is not the kind of person who is easily controlled by others. Once those people come to Changzhou, The state was put under control, and not even a single message could be sent back to Chang'an."
Li Xuan looked indifferent. It was indeed his method to prevent those people from contacting Chang'an.
He did not want to see any disturbance of the crown prince being deposed spread to Changzhou.
"Actually, the prince still has one last chance." Zhang Daan raised his head, looked at Li Xuan, and said seriously: "As long as the prince concentrates on government affairs, doesn't think about anything, and doesn't do anything, he can still do it after a few years. He will arrive, but the Queen of Heaven may not give him this opportunity."
"The one from Ye Ting is the bait that the prince will find hard to give up." Li Xuan nodded slightly. Empress Wu's methods were hard to guard against, and Li Xian couldn't guard against them.
Framed and framed, mentally tortured.
Empress Wu had too many means to force Li Xian to take action.
If he doesn't move, he will fall into a trap immediately. In the end, the crown prince's position will not be guaranteed.
Li Xuan suddenly thought of something, looked at Zhang Daan and asked: "The person who least wants to see the crown prince in the world is deposed, I'm afraid it's your majesty. So, where is your majesty on this matter..."
Zhang Daan smiled, his face full of cynicism and sarcasm.
(End of chapter)
