Chapter 660: Shrimp fishing for big fish (Part 1)

The next morning, Li Qing'an came to the Daming Palace. He was here to meet the Empress Dowager. Two eunuchs led him to Linde Hall and said with a smile: "Your Highness, please wait a moment, and the old slave will come and report to the Empress Dowager."

Li Qingan nodded and stared at the majestic palace of the Ming Palace with his hands behind his back. He had been to the Ming Palace for many times, but he always came and went in a hurry and had never appreciated this magnificent palace. Even the Green Palace in Baghdad and the Golden Palace in Constantinople, they were hard to match the most magnificent palace in the Tang Empire.

He gently patted the white jade railing beside him. He had never noticed that there were actually little white jade lions carved on the railing, with stone balls in his mouth, which were lifelike.

"Your Highness, the Empress Dowager summoned me!" Behind him, a eunuch whispered to remind him.

Li Qingan smiled, turned around and followed the eunuch into the Qilin Hall. In the side hall, the Empress Dowager Chen Zhenzhu sat on a cold and high seat. Her pale face and thin shoulders all seemed extremely lonely. Only when Li Qingan's burly figure appeared at the door of the hall, a trace of brightness flashed in her eyes, and then it was covered by her long eyelashes.

Li Qing'an walked forward, knelt down on one knee and bowed, "My minister Li Qing'an met the Queen Mother, I wish the Queen Mother a thousand years old!"

"King Zhao is flat and granted a seat!"

"Thank you Queen Mother!"

Chen Zhenzhu's voice was very soft, and her eyes gradually became clear. Finally, she mustered up the courage to look at Li Qing'an. The caring smile on Li Qing'an's face made her feel a little warmth in her heart, and her nervous mood calmed down.

She smiled slightly, "When did King Zhao return to Beijing?"

"Report to the Empress Dowager, I returned to Beijing the evening before yesterday and rested at home for a day yesterday."

Chen Zhenzhu nodded, "King Zhao has been fighting abroad for many years and has spent too little time with his family. Since he has returned to Beijing, try to accompany his wife and children. Moreover, if you come back from a long journey, you will definitely be very tired. In fact, you should also rest at home today and should not enter the palace so quickly."

"It is my duty to meet the Empress Dowager. I should have come to meet him yesterday, but I was a little sick yesterday and it is inconvenient to enter the palace. I hope the Empress Dowager will forgive me!"

"Then... Is your health better?" Chen Zhenzhu tried her best to restrain her emotions and asked in a calm tone.

"Thank you for your concern. My health is much better, but I see that the empress dowager is not very good, and I hope the empress dowager can take good care of her. Yesterday, my wife also told me that the empress dowager's health has not been very good recently. If the empress dowager has any needs, I can ask her at any time."

Chen Zhenzhu sighed secretly and whispered: "Thank you, my dear, but the Ai family has no need for the time being. If your dear does not object, the Ai family wants to invite the princess to come to the palace to sit often and talk to Ai's house."

"I have no objection!"

The side hall was silent for a moment, and the atmosphere seemed a little awkward. Only Chen Zhenzhu's heart felt all kinds of feelings. The three words "strong" of the powerful man in front of her were her own feelings. She would never forget that feeling in her life. Originally, it was just a deal with him, a deal with her son and husband after she died, but later. ． ． ． ． ．

Chen Zhenzhu felt the Buddha in her heart being tormented by an invisible flame. If possible, she would rather smash the throne under her and smash the golden crown on her head, but it was impossible. She was the queen mother of the Tang Empire. This identity was like a heavy shackle that she could not change and could not be removed for the rest of her life.

More importantly, she herself did not want to betray this identity. This was when the two of them reached a tacit understanding at some point.

When I was so silent that I could no longer remain silent, Li Qingan finally spoke, "I am here today, first to greet the Queen Mother, and in addition, I want to tell the Queen Mother about the Southern Tang Dynasty."

If there is anything more unforgettable than Li Qing'an's powerful feeling, then it is only Nan Tang. Her enemy, who killed his husband and son, is still sitting on a high throne and is still a lonely life. The hatred has settled in her heart and has solidified into a piece of iron.

Chen Zhenzhu sat up straight, and her pale face looked rosy due to excitement. She asked quickly: "Is King Zhao preparing for the southern expedition?"

Li Qing'an nodded slowly, "I have found out that the Southern Tang colluded with officials to frame the weak ministers, and the methods were bad, which made people intolerable. I have decided to fight in the south. I came to see the queen mother today, and I also wanted to ask the queen mother to issue an order to fight in the south."

"Ai family can issue an order!"

Chen Zhenzhu agreed without hesitation, "I wonder when the King of Zhao needs the Ai family to issue an order?"

"Wait for two more days, and when the truth is revealed, there will be a series of decrees that need to be promulgated by the Queen Mother."

"Does there be other orders besides the Southern Tang Dynasty?" Chen Zhenzhu suddenly understood Li Qing'an's implicit meaning.

Li Qing'an nodded, "It involves the safety of the ministers and the long-term stability of the Tang Dynasty. I hope the queen mother can understand the difficulties of the ministers."

Chen Zhenzhu stared at Li Qing'an for a long time, and Li Qing'an also stared at her with bright eyes. Chen Zhenzhu understood what Li Qing'an wanted her to do, which was something she didn't want to do, but she had to do it. Her eyes finally softened and she sighed softly, "Then you promise the Ai family, don't violate the bottom line of the Ai family."

"I promised the Empress Dowager that I would not harm women, children and elderly people, nor would I kill old ministers in a rash way. I just wanted to make some official positions adjustments."

"Don't deceive the Ai family."

"I promised with my reputation that I will never deceive the Queen Mother."

Chen Zhenzhu's face gradually calmed down, "Okay! Ai's family promised you."

"Thank you, the Queen Mother, I'm going to leave."

Li Qingan slowly retreated, and Chen Zhenzhu seemed to want to call him, but her lips moved, but she couldn't say anything, and her eyes suddenly dimmed.

Li Qingan took a few steps, but stopped, looked back at her, his eyes filled with smiles, as if he understood Chen Zhenzhu's thoughts.

"King Zhao...is there anything else?" Chen Zhenzhu asked in a trembling voice.

"I have another matter to ask the Queen Mother. I will pay more attention to the government affairs in the future. I will set up court rooms in the Daming Palace and stay often in the Daming Palace. In that case, the guards in the palace will increase greatly. I wonder if the Queen Mother will allow it?"

"Ai family... has no objection!"

"Then I sued."

Li Qingan withdrew from the side hall. Chen Zhenzhu looked at his back, and her eyes gradually became brighter, but it was filled with a deep contradiction and helplessness.

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The sequelae brought about by Pei Zunqing's death has not been eliminated until now. The original seventh minister of the Political Affairs Hall became the sixth minister due to Pei Zunqing's death. Cui Ping soon became the inspector of Hedong Road and became the fifth minister. Cui Ning regained the left prime minister and went to Jianghuai to clear the grain transportation. In addition, Zhang Hao became the observer of Longyou Road and the chief of the Anxi Jiedu Prefecture, and became the highest administrative officer of Anxi. In this way, the four ministers of the Political Affairs Hall were actually left, Zhang Yun, Wei Tao, Lu Huan and Wang Jin.

Among these four major points, Wei Tao and Lu Huan are an alliance between the Wei Party, Wang Jin is a centrist, and Zhang Yun formed his own party, so in the Political Affairs Hall, the Wei Party clearly had an advantage. Among the six ministries of the Shangshu Province, the Wei Party controlled the three ministries, the Ministry of Works, Lis and Military Affairs, Zhang Yun controlled the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Revenue, and Wang Jin controlled the Ministry of Justice.

Although Li Qing'an once hinted that Zhang Yun could eradicate Wei Tao, in the absence of the emperor, Zhang Yun could not move Wei Tao at all without conclusive evidence. Even if Li Qing'an ascended the throne, Li Qing'an could not easily change his appearance at the beginning of his ascension. Only when he held the throne firmly could he change his prime minister one after another according to his wishes.

So if Li Qingan wants to rebuild the power structure according to his own wishes, he must arrange everything before he takes office. Now is the time for him to start the power reorganization.

Zhang Yun is a very stable pawn. He wants to stay for one or two years. Wang Jin has good abilities and a strong spirit of reform. He also wants to stay for the position. In addition to these two, Cui Ning, Yan Zhenqing, Pei Min, Liu Yan, Guo Ziyi and other five are also capable ministers who he wants to arrange for the Political Affairs Hall.

Then Wei Tao and Lu Huan are two extra people. These two are not only two prime ministers, but also two huge baskets. All the ministers who oppose him, Li Qing'an, and all the people who become obstacles to his ascension can put them into these two big baskets together and deal with them together.

Zhang Yun was still worried about not finding an excuse to eliminate Wei Tao, but Li Qing'an found it. Isn't the sudden appearance of Ruizhao case the best excuse?

Qi Xun sent by the Southern Tang Dynasty is the best net, and they can be caught all in one go. As for the bait, Li Qing'an has arranged a delicious shrimp. He believes that the two big fish Wei Tao and Lu Huan will definitely rush to swallow the shrimp.

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After Zhang Bingguo returned from Gaoling County, there was nothing abnormal. After inspecting the Zhongbai Canal, Zhang Yun decided to start strengthening and repairing the Guanzhong River Canal as soon as possible. In this way, the work pressure of Dushui Supervisor increased significantly. In addition, half of the officials were seconded to the Jianghuai River to clear the canal transportation. The remaining officials could only work day and night to prepare river canal repair plans and estimate the repair cost. Zhang Bingguo himself was too busy to go home and could not go home at night and lived directly in the Chaofang.

Although Zhang Bingguo was very busy, he was still called by Wei Tao during lunch the next day.

Zhang Bingguo was a member of the Wei Party, and because he was in charge of Dushui Supervisory, he became the target of Wei Tao's focus and gradually became the backbone of the Wei Party. It was normal for Wei Tao to come to him. The day before yesterday, Zhang Bingguo accompanied Zhang Yun to Gaoling County and did not report to him in advance. Wei Tao felt a little uncomfortable.

Wei Tao's court room was in the Imperial City Rites Ministry. The room was spacious and bright. Wei Tao was lowering his head and writing something. Wei Tao was already sixty years old this year, but he was still energetic and keen in thinking. Especially his desire for power did not weaken at all, but instead became stronger as he grew older.

Just like Zhang Yun wanted to eliminate him, he was always thinking about how to get rid of Zhang Yun. He and Zhang Yun were mortal enemies in the power field, one Wei Party and the other Zhang Party. Almost the entire imperial court pattern of the Northern Tang Dynasty revolved around them.

In fact, Zhang Yun has many weaknesses. For example, his brother Zhang Ye is now a member of the Southern Tang Political Affairs Hall. With this, he can create evidence that Zhang Yun had an affair with the Southern Tang, thereby bringing him down. Unfortunately, Zhang Yun received the support of Li Qing'an, and it was difficult to defeat him.

In fact, Wei Tao was also because of this, Li Qing'an wanted to overthrow Cui Huan and entered the Political Affairs Hall. However, as his wings gradually became fuller, he no longer wanted to be controlled by Li Qing'an, especially Li Qing'an supported Zhang Yun, which made him very dissatisfied. Li Qing'an's power was too strong, which made him afraid to object publicly, but not daring to object publicly does not mean that he did not object. He secretly carried out a series of operations, and some royal families or ministers who firmly opposed Li Qing'an gradually joined him, strengthening the strength of the Wei Party.

Wei Tao knew very well that if his family wanted to prosper for a long time, there were only two ways to go. One was to embrace Li Qing'an's thighs, and the second was to strengthen his own strength. It was not easy to get Li Qing'an's favor. The Wei family was repeatedly hit and no longer had the strong strength of Cui and Pei's two aristocratic families. He could only be mediocre and not as good as Yan Zhenqing, Liu Yan and others.

With these people here, Li Qing'an could not pay attention to him anymore. The first path was obviously not possible. He had to consider taking the second path, strengthening his own strength, and making the Wei Party a vital force played by the court. In this way, even if Li Qing'an ascended the throne, he would not dare to move himself easily. By the time he wanted to move himself, the Wei family's children were already spread throughout the Tang Dynasty's officialdom and it was difficult to take root.

It was with this idea that Wei Tao neither cooperated nor opposed Li Qing'an. In order to appease the Wei Party, those who opposed Li Qing'an, such as Li Kaifu, Minister of Works, Miao Jinqing, Minister of War, etc., he knew that these people were secretly colluding with the Southern Tang to carry out activities against Li Qing'an, and he turned a blind eye. Recently, the Ruizhao incident occurred, so he knew very well the inside story in the middle.

Just as Wei Tao was writing hard, his clerk came in and reported: "Shishangshu, Zhang Zuo, is here, wait for him to see him outside the door!"

"Let him in!"

Wei Tao put down his pen. As soon as Li Qing'an returned to Chang'an, Zhang Yun became active, which made him feel alert. Especially the day before yesterday, Zhang Yun went to Gaoling County to inspect water conservancy and called Zhang Bingguo, the left envoy of Dushui, to accompany him, but did not call Li Kaifu, the Minister of Works. This was very unreasonable and made him full of doubts.

Recently, the imperial court attached great importance to water transportation and water conservancy, and Du Water Supervision began to be taken seriously. Zhang Yun even proposed to upgrade Du Water Supervision to a third-ranked rank. Zhang Yun wanted to win over Zhang Bingguo!

After a moment, Zhang Bingguo quickly walked into the court room and bowed, "I'm not here to see Shangshu Wei!"

Wei Tao laughed and said, "I'm really embarrassed to find Zhang Zuo's envoy from his busy schedule."

As he said that, Wei Tao gave Wenshulang a wink. Wenshulang understood and closed the door and went out, leaving only the two of them in the room.

At this time, Wei Tao's face began to become a little gloomy and he asked lightly: "Why don't you tell me in advance when you go to Gaoling County?"

Zhang Bingguo's heart was thrilled. He knew that Wei Tao was starting to settle the score, so he hurriedly said: "It was very sudden to go to Gaoling County. I had to prepare a lot of information. I originally wanted to tell the Shangshu during lunch, but Zhang Xiangguo suddenly got ahead of the scene and we set off without even having lunch."

"Um!"

Wei Tao nodded. He could barely accept what Zhang Bingguo said, but he had to ask clearly one thing.

"I heard that Zhang Yun summoned you alone in the evening. What did you all say?"

This matter is what Wei Tao is most worried about. If it is about the governance of Zhongbaiqu, then the magistrate of Wu should have gone together, but the magistrate of Wu did not go, only the two of them. What did Zhang Yun talk to him?

Zhang Bingguo hurriedly said: "It is mainly about the management of the Guanzhong River Canal and the consumption of money and food. Zhang Xiangguo is reading my report, but some places are puzzled, so he called the Beishi."

"There is nothing but river canal management?"

Zhang Bingguo hesitated and said, "In addition to talking about river and canal management, he also asked about the family situation of Huyi. He seemed to be very clear about the family situation of Huyi."

As expected, he wanted to win over Zhang Bingguo. Wei Tao knew Zhang Yun's methods very well. If he wanted to win over someone, he would first investigate the other party's family situation in advance. If he was not interested in Zhang Bingguo, he would not care about the life or death of the Zhang family.
To be continued...