Chapter 161: Pushing the needle

Two days later, Li Qing'an came to Wei's mansion again. At this time, he was sitting in the guest hall of Wei's mansion while tasting the best Mengding tea in Shu, while looking at several calligraphy and paintings on the wall. Li Qing'an was an outsider for calligraphy and paintings, and only saw that several paintings were all written by famous masters. One of them was written like dragons and phoenixes, and the grandmother was magnificent. He walked forward slowly with a teacup. The signature was actually Zhang Xu. This calligraphy was the original work of Zhang Xu, and there was also a picture of a maid in the palace dress, which was actually painted by Yan Liben.

These calligraphy and paintings, which were considered national treasures in later generations, were hanging casually on the wall, which made Li Qingan shook his head secretly.

"Does General Li like these calligraphy and paintings?"

Wei Huan walked in slowly with his hands behind his back and smiled, "If General Li likes it, I'll give it to you."

"Do you really give it to me?"

Li Qingan turned around and smiled, "Then I'm not polite."

Wei Huan was just being polite. He also regarded these calligraphy and paintings as treasures. How could he give them to others? If his brother hadn't been hanging them out, these calligraphy and paintings should have been hidden in his box. He didn't expect that Li Qingan would take it seriously. He couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed. He laughed dryly and said, "General Li came to the door today, but he still had no intention of exaggerating the night before?"

Li Qingan smiled faintly and said, "If I guess correctly, I should be the only one who comes to the door today!"

Wei Huan was stunned. Li Qing'an had something in his words. Thinking of him as a princeling, was it true that he came on behalf of the prince as his third brother said?

Wei Huan suddenly felt hope in his heart and hurriedly said, "General Li, please sit down!"

The two sat down, and Wei Huan ordered someone to change tea again, and then sighed: "My Wei family is unfortunate. They have suffered setbacks over the past few years. In the past few years, the Wei family's children were cleaned up. They just recovered in the past two years, but this happened again. It is true that I promoted the Wei family, but it also reported to the Ministry of Personnel for approval. They did not give any official titles privately. What's wrong with it? Besides, this was a matter of half a year ago. I didn't talk about this when I was promoted, but now I have raised the old things again. Moreover, the court mobilized many troops and tried it in three parties, which is really puzzling."

Li Qingan sucked a sip of tea and said with a smile: "Envoy Wei should know that this kind of thing is just an excuse. Investigation is false and power struggle is true. If Eunuch Wei goes to Yangzhao's mansion, I guess the matter will be left alone."

After saying that, Li Qingan picked up the teacup again, but his eyes looked at Wei Huan with a smile. Waiting for his reaction, Wei Huan's face suddenly swelled into purple and red. He slapped the table angrily and said, "No matter how defeated my Wei family is, I will not be able to support someone who is promoted by nepotism. If you survive this disaster, the Wei family will resurrect. If you can't overcome it, then even if the Wei family is defeated, it will not be humiliating the ancestors. General Li will not mention this matter again."

Li Qing'an quickly put down the teacup and bowed to apologize: "Qing'an admires the integrity of the famous family. I just said something wrong. Please don't blame the envoy Wei!"

"I won't blame General Li!"

Wei Huan sighed and said, "Actually, the Cui family is not all like Cui Qiao and Cui Yuan. I know Cui Yuan. He and Yang Zhao are just using each other. However, Cui Qiao is blindly accusing himself of the power and first married a wife of the royal family, which makes the Cui family despised. Now he has publicly defected to the Yang family. There must be internal strife within the Cui family. The Cui family has hundreds of years of aristocratic family, so how can he let him ruin his reputation?"

Having said that, he was still worried. It was not easy for the Wei family to revive. If he was hit again this time, it would be difficult to have a day of recovery. He glanced at Li Qing'an, saw him smiling but not speaking, and asked tentatively: "General Li came to visit my Wei family in times of crisis. Does the prince know?"

"I came for this matter. If the envoy Wei is willing, I am willing to contact the prince for the envoy Wei, and ask the prince to stand up for you. What do you think of Wei?"

When Wei Huan heard his tone, he seemed to have not reported to the prince yet. He couldn't help but think to himself: "It turns out that it's not the prince's intention, it's that he is willing to help him. Why is this? He has no friendship with him yet!"

He smiled and said, "Thank you General Li for his chivalrous heart. The Wei family is very grateful. However, General Li will offend the Yang family in this way, and the Wei family is really sorry."

Li Qingan understood what he meant, and smiled and said, "There are two reasons why I am willing to help the Wei family. One is that I broke a table in the Wei family the night before yesterday, and it has not been compensated yet. I feel sorry for it!"

Wei Huan laughed and waved his hand, "General Li is really interesting. It turns out that he wants to compensate the Wei family's table, OK! I accept this compensation."

Li Qing'an nodded and said, "As for the second reason, it's very simple. Yang Zhao hates me to the core, and I publicly rejected the Yang family's marriage. The relationship with the Yang family is already irreversible. If there is one more person to compete with the Yang family, I would be happy to see it."

After leaving Wei Mansion, Li Qing'an went to Dongcheng again. At this time, the Dongcheng City was decorated with lights and was very lively. The shops were filled with various lanterns, which was related to the image of each shop. Therefore, each lantern was made ingeniously and lifelike. Now it is daytime, and many people are repairing the lanterns, adding oil, or repainting the damaged areas. Today is the Shangyuan Festival, and Shangyuan lanterns will reach their climax.

Li Qing'an searched around the Jinxiu Caisi Silk Store and found a silk shop called "Gaoling Dingji". As soon as he entered the door, the shopkeeper came up with a smile, "Customer, I'm sorry for not doing business today!"

"Are you the shopkeeper here?"

"I'm!"

A fat and fat middle-aged man walked out from behind the counter and bowed, "I'm here to be the shopkeeper. What's the matter with the guests?"

Li Qingan shook the gold medal from the East Palace, and the shopkeeper's face immediately became solemn, and he waved his hand quickly, "Please go to the inner room to talk."

He ordered his friend again, "Close the store door and no one is allowed to come in."

This shop is a secret contact point in the East City of Prince Li Heng. There are some inconveniences in the East Palace, so he passed the general matter to the palace first, and then made an appointment with the local area. Last time Li Heng gave Li Qing'an an address, which is the silk shop of "Gaoling Dingji". Li Qingan followed the shopkeeper into the inner room. The shopkeeper closed the door and bowed and smiled: "I'm dismounting Yingjun, I was originally an eunuch in the East Palace. I have long admired General Li's name."

It turned out that he was a famous eunuch. Li Qing'an nodded and took out a sealed letter from his arms. This was the letter of loyalty written by Wei Huan to the prince. There was also a note from him. He handed the letter to Ma Yingjun and said, "It is this letter, which is extremely important. You must hand it to the prince immediately, and you cannot delay it for a moment!"

In the East Palace, Prince Li Heng was in a good mood these two days. Last night on the eve of the Chinese New Year, he and several children and concubines visited the lanterns in the East Palace. His grandson Li Shi was lively and cute, and he liked him very much. It was funny to say that he was only 39 years old today, but his grandson was already eight years old. He gave birth to his eldest son Li Chu at the age of 15. Li Chu married Zhenzhu, the daughter of the famous Shen family in Wuxing. In the first year of Tianbao, Li Chu gave birth to his son Li Shi at the age of 16. The family was reunited and had a happy life. Moreover, the historian who recorded his daily life in the past two days was sick. The other two happened to be in Chang'an, which gave him a rare moment of leisure and could talk to his family at will.

Early in the morning, Li Heng came to the study. Last night, the Censorate transferred an impeachment memorial, which made him quite strange. He thought for a long time before he realized that this was Yang Zhao driving away the Wei family's power in Bashu. Li Heng had a special relationship with the Wei family. After the Wei Jian case, he was forced to divorce his wife Wei, who had a deep relationship with him. Wei Concubine finally fell into the nun and spent his life in desolation. This was the biggest pain in Li Heng's life. The dignified crown prince was not as good as an ordinary commoner, and he could not even protect his wife.

For this reason, Li Heng has always felt a little guilty about the purged Wei family. Now, Yang Zhao is going to attack the Wei family again, which makes Li Heng feel inexplicable anger. A villain who relies on nepotism dares to slander the ministers?

But Li Heng experienced too many ups and downs, and he was no longer as impulsive as before. He immediately thought about whether this would be the secret instruction of his father to ask Yang Zhao to come forward to attack the Wei family, which had just shown signs of revival. As soon as he thought of this, he did not dare to act rashly and stayed on the wait and see.

At this time, a confidant eunuch hurriedly walked in, put a letter on Li Heng's table, and slowly stepped down. Li Heng glanced at the envelope and turned it from Ma Yingjun's silk shop. Ma Yingjun was the eunuch who served him since childhood. He was released from the palace two years ago. Li Heng gave him some money to open a silk shop in Dongcheng City. Later, this silk shop became a secret base for contacting him. All the secret matters of Li Heng from the outside were issued orders through this silk shop. The letter from the silk shop came, which really surprised him. Who would contact him during the Yuan Dynasty?

He picked up the letter and glanced at the historian's seat in habitually. Today the seat was empty. He briskly tore open the letter skin. There were two letters inside, one was written by Li Qing'an, and the other was written by Wei Huan. He opened Li Qing'an's letter first and looked at it. In the letter, Li Qing'an suggested that the Wei family be re-accepted as the princeling party and help him once in this case of Wei Huan. Whether it succeeds or not, the Wei family will be grateful to the East Palace.

He looked at Wei Huan's letter again, which told him about his past years. Li Heng couldn't help but think of his poor Concubine Wei. His nose was slightly sour. He sighed and said to the eunuch Li Jingzhong next to him: "Go and invite Li Mi, just say I have something important to discuss with him."

After a moment, Li Mi hurried in. He was about twenty-six or seven years old, fair skin and tall figure. He showed gentle and elegant demeanor and elegant demeanor. Li Mi was praised by Li Longji when he wrote a letter to Songshan in the second year of Tianbao. He was named Hanlin Seizhao and assisted the prince in the Eastern Palace. Li Mi had a strong relationship with Li Heng. He was one of Li Heng's most trusted confidants and his adviser. Li Mi's idea was to accept Li Qing'an as the backbone of the prince's party. He believed that Beiting was not as good as the Central Plains, but was within the scope that the emperor could allow. The Beiting army supported the Eastern Palace, which was also beneficial to stabilizing the country. Therefore, the emperor would definitely acquiesce. Sure enough, Li Qing'an defected to Li Heng, and Li Longji did not say anything, which meant that he had acquiesce.

This is a kind of power balance. Li Longji killed Huangfu Weiming, demoted Wang Zhongsi, and killed all the officials who supported the prince. But this is not absolute. Huangfu Weiming was the governor of Longyou, and Wang Zhongsi was even the governor of the four towns. Their army could reach Chang'an in two or three days. Therefore, Li Longji could not tolerate it. Beiting and Anxi were different. It would take at least one month for the Beiting army to arrive in Chang'an, and it was also separated by Hexi, which was not a threat to Li Longji, so Li Longji could tolerate it. He also knew that the prince must have an army that supported him, which would be beneficial for stabilizing the country after the prince ascended the throne in the future. Therefore, Li Longji chose the balance point of Beiting, and saw that Li Qing'an became a backbone of the prince's party without interfering.

Gao Lishi knew Li Longji, and he pushed Li Qing'an to join the princeling party. Li Mi also saw through this and suggested that Li Heng accept Li Qing'an as the backbone of the princeling party. This is Li Mi's extraordinary feature.

Li Mi stepped forward and bowed and said, "I am going to see His Highness the Crown Prince!"

"Have you heard about Wei Huan?"

"I have heard of it."

Li Heng handed him the letter from Li Qing'an and Wei Huan, "You have a look first!"

Li Mi looked through and asked, "What about your Highness's thoughts?"

Li Heng took two steps behind his back and sighed: "To be honest, I am very conflicted. I hope the Wei family can surrender to me again, but I am also worried that this is the command of my father behind my back. If I stand up, it will be detrimental to me."

Li Mi smiled slightly and said, "I want to know why Your Highness thinks it is the Lord who is instructing him behind his back?"

"Look at Wei Huan's letter, you will know that he promoted his nephew, but he acted completely according to the rules. Before the promotion, he filed with the Ministry of Personnel and was transferred to a new position after obtaining approval. Moreover, Wei Ming also joined the official position from the Menyin and served as the county magistrate for four years. There is nothing wrong with this case that cannot be found. The emperor regarded it as a major case and actually tried it in three courts. I can only think that this is the emperor taking advantage of the issue."

Speaking of this, Li Heng glanced at Li Mi, saw that he was confident, and said, "What about you?"

Li Mi smiled and said, "Your Highness, my thoughts are similar to your Highness."

"Tell me!"

"I also think there is no problem with Wei Huan's promotion, but the problem lies in the fact that Yang Zhao just took over the Jiannan Jiedushi."

"What sir means is that the emperor is helping Yang Zhao suppress Wei Huan?"

"It can be said that, but I think it's not as simple as suppressing Wei Huan."

Li Heng stopped and stared at Li Mi, saying, "Speak!"

"I believe that the emperor may want to use this matter to attack famous families."

‘Dispute against famous families?’ Li Heng frowned, he really didn’t expect this level.

"What kind of strike method?"

"It's very simple. People of the same clan are not allowed to be officials in the Tongzhou area."

Li Heng nodded slowly. He understood that if this net was spread, not only the Wei family, Cui, Pei, Lu, Zheng, Wang and other major families could not escape.

"Father is so wise!"

Li Heng secretly praised, and he hurriedly said, "It seems that I will not come forward for Wei Huan's affairs."

"No! You're going to make a comeback."

Li Mi shook his head and smiled, "Your Highness stands out for the Wei family, not only can the Wei family be included in the war, but also can win the hearts of the aristocratic family. Why don't you do it?"

After handing Wei Huan's letter to the prince, Li Qingan relaxed again. All he needed to do was to match the Wei family and the prince. As for how the prince fought with Yang Zhao, it had nothing to do with him. He just sat on the clouds and watched the battle below leisurely. He also wanted to see what role Li Linfu would play in this.

When he returned to the mansion, it was already afternoon. He had just walked to the entrance of Furong Tower Courtyard, but he saw a woman in white standing at the door, walking around, looking very anxious.

"Yu Nu!" Li Qing'an suddenly recognized this woman. Isn't this woman the maid Yu Nu? Why did she come? Did something happen to Wu Yi?

"General Li!"

When Yu Nu saw Li Qing'an, she hurriedly ran up, grabbed Li Qing'an's arm, and said with a hint of crying, "General Li, go and see my girl!"

Li Qingan was startled, "What's wrong with Miss Danyi?"

"She suddenly fell ill at noon yesterday. So far, she has not said a word or drank a sip of water. I really don't know what to do."

As she said that, tears came out of her eyes, and she said sadly: "I pity my girl is lonely and lonely. Everyone in the Li family ignores her. General Li, please go and see her!"

"Don't worry, I'll go with you now."

Li Qingan turned around and explained, and immediately followed Yu Nu to Li Linfu's mansion. Although he should not appear in front of Li Linfu's mansion at this time, he could no longer care about it.

"Yu Nu, why did Miss Wuyi suddenly get sick?"

Li Qing'an was surprised in his heart. On the way to Li Linfu's mansion, he asked Yu Nu carefully: "Is something happened?"

Yu Nu's eyes were dull. After a long time, she sighed softly and whispered: "At noon yesterday, several daughters of Li Xiangguo came to my girl to report the good news."

"Report good news! What kind of good news?" Li Qingan was puzzled.

"They told the girl that General Li was going to marry the daughter of the Dugu family. She wrote poems and drew swords for her last night, and told the girl about the general's affairs in the Wei Mansion. As soon as they left, the girl fell ill. The girl shed tears all night last night."

"Stop talking!"

Li Qing felt relieved and kept calling the driver to speed up the carriage. After a moment, the carriage arrived at the side door of the Prime Minister's Mansion and stopped slowly.

Yu Nu stepped forward and knocked on the door. A doorman opened the door and said with a smile: "Oh! It turns out that it is Xiao Yu Nu! Why, are you going out to buy medicine for your girl?"

Yu Nu ignored him and turned around and waved to Li Qing'an, "General, follow me!"

The doorman saw Li Qing'an and was so scared that he quickly opened the door, "General Li, please come in quickly, do you want me to report to the master?"

"No need, I'll take a look at the girl in the dance style and don't disturb Lee's rest."
To be continued...