After learning that the whole thing was a conspiracy by King Pei, and that the Queen Mother and King Zhou were not really treasonous, Li Hong breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Let's go back to the palace too."
First, the guards were sent out to check and found that Wu Chengsi and others were not in the building, so they left the house.
After leaving Muyage, Li Hong and Yaruo returned directly to the palace.
After Li Dan broke up with Li Hong, he returned to the palace, put on a yellow round robe, left the palace through the back door, and went straight to the imperial city.
Arriving outside the Tianlao, the Heavenly Lao Superintendent came out with a smile and said with a smile: "Your Highness, are you here to see King Langya again?"
Li Dan just nodded and entered the prison. After reaching the lowest level, he entered the prison area where the emperor's relatives were imprisoned.
When all the jailers knew that he was talking to King Langya, they didn't like others eavesdropping, so they all left the prison area.
Li Dan ordered the guards to guard outside the prison area, and then walked into the prison passage.
When he came to the door of Langya King Li Chong's cell, he did not stop and continued to move forward. He did not stop until he came to the door of Li Xian's cell.
"Fifth brother, the plan failed."
After seeing Li Xian, Li Dan's tense face suddenly fell down, biting his lips tightly, his eyes full of frustration.
King Han on the opposite side stamped his feet after hearing this, and said in a voiceless voice: "How could it be?"
Li Dan ignored him.
Li Xian was also taken aback, but after all, he had excellent psychological quality and quickly regained his composure and asked in a deep voice: "What went wrong?"
Li Dan said: "The previous plans went well. Li Jingwu also invited the Queen Mother's ministers to Muyage. I took Li Hong to the next room and heard their conversation through the 'partition wall has ears'."
"Unexpectedly, Wu Chengsi and Li Ji suddenly broke in. They exposed Li Jingwu's stealing of the gold medal and pointed out that you were behind the plan!"
Li Xian's face turned pale and he said, "Did Li Hong hear it?"
Li Dan nodded and said: "Wu Chengsi also knew that you had allies outside. Although he didn't specify it was me, he said that the person who instigated Li Jingwu had a team of bad guys. Li Hong immediately suspected me."
Li Xian's face became even more ugly and he asked, "He wasn't exposed, was he?"
Li Dan said hurriedly: "No, and Li Hong also lost his suspicion of me later, so the situation is not too bad."
Li Xian said nothing and paced back and forth in the cell. Li Dan did not dare to disturb him and waited quietly.
After a long time, Li Xian let out a breath and said, "I didn't expect that Wu Chengsi would see through my plan that I had been considering for several months in prison."
Li Dan said bitterly: "It's all Li Jingye's fault. If he was willing to help us steal the gold medal, Li Jingwu wouldn't have to show up, and Wu Chengsi wouldn't be able to see the flaw."
Li Xiandao: "At this point, it is useless to talk about this. Li Jingwu is no longer useful, so he immediately sent a letter to ask the people who killed Li Jingye to stop and take him back to Chang'an."
Li Dan agreed and said: "Fourth brother, what should we do now? Li Hong will definitely not want to believe that the Wu family has treasonous intentions. I'm afraid I won't be able to persuade him to release you."
The reason why Li Xian was arrested in the first place was because he erected a fake stone tablet, which pointed out that the Wu family had tampering intentions.
If the Wu family really wanted to commit a major treason, his charges would naturally be cleared, and Li Hong could hardly stand alone, so he would probably be released to fight against the Wu family together.
King Pei was silent for a while and said: "Wu's ambition will be exposed sooner or later in the future, and Li Hong will still let me out at that time. I am not worried about this."
"The king is more worried about you now. If the plan is exposed, the Wu family will probably take action against you immediately, and the situation will be really bad."
Li Dan gritted his teeth and said, "Should we send someone to kill Li Jingwu?"
King Pei said: "Dali Temple is heavily guarded. Even if you have bad guys and my secret guards, it will be difficult to break in and kill people."
Li Dan said: "Then let's find a way to bribe the person in Dali Temple and poison him to death!"
King Pei was silent for a while and said, "It's useless. Even if he dies, Wu Chengsi may still suspect you."
Li Dan was surprised and said: "No way?"
King Pei said solemnly: "Since Wu Chengsi has seen through our method of stealing the gold medal, he may have been targeting Li Jingwu for a long time. Maybe he already knew that you and Li Hong were next door at that time!"
Li Dan trembled all over, frightened and frightened, feeling that he was being completely manipulated by the other party.
King Pei was silent for a long time, and then said slowly: "You don't have to worry too much, don't we still have a backup plan? It's time to put it to use!"
Li Dan understood immediately and said, "Are you going to contact the Tibetan people?"
King Pei nodded his head and said: "At this point, only relying on the power of the Tubo people can we lure Wu Chengsi away from Chang'an. We must separate their aunt and nephew first, and then we can find opportunities to defeat them one by one!"
Li Dan nodded repeatedly and said, "I understand, but fifth brother, if Li Jingwu confesses me, will they attack me immediately?"
King Pei pondered for a long time and said: "If Wu Chengsi really knows that the person behind it is you, it doesn't matter whether Li Jingwu opens his mouth or not, he will definitely take action against you."
Li Dan's face turned pale.
King Pei said in a solemn tone: "There is only one way at the moment, which can delay it for a while. After Wu Chengsi leaves Chang'an, we can take action in advance. Maybe we still have a chance to win!"
Li Dan asked urgently: "What method?"
King Pei said leisurely: "After you leave the Tianlao later, you can go find King Zheng immediately!"
"What are you doing with him?"
King Pei said: "If Wu Chengsi really knows that you and Li Hong are in Muyage, then he will definitely send someone to follow you when you come out. His people are probably outside the prison now!"
Li Dan's heart moved and he said, "Do you want me to divert their attention to Prince Zheng?"
"It's more than just diverting attention!"
He walked to the door rail, motioned for Li Dan to come closer, and told him a few words.
Li Dan couldn't help but nodded, and after hearing the end, he asked: "Fifth brother, is this useful?"
"Don't worry, for them, you are already a fish on the chopping board, and they won't rush to attack you. What they are more concerned about is whether I have any other accomplices, so that they can catch us all!"
Li Dan trusted King Pei's judgment and immediately felt relieved, nodded and said: "Fifth brother, I'll go then."
King Pei nodded and said: "You have to remember that from now on, they will keep an eye on you all the time, so you must be careful when contacting the Tibetan people, so as not to be discovered by them!"
Li Dan nodded vigorously and said, "I will be careful."
Outside the Tianluo, Guan Xiaozhi stood behind a pillar, eating red dates and staring at the Tianluo gate.
Among Wu Chengsi's delinquents, she and Feng Wu were the most gluttonous. However, Feng Wu could not gain weight no matter how much she ate, but she did not have such a good life. The more she ate, the more she would gain weight.
As a foodie, she always had all kinds of food on her. Sometimes she gave one to Feng Wu, and the two established a friendship between foodies.
When Wu Chengsi asked Feng Wu to find a capable person to keep an eye on the prison, Feng Wu gave her this 'honorable' task.
Behind Guan Xiaozhi, Long Yang and Feng Ying were sitting on the ground with their eyes closed and meditating.
After the two followed Li Jingwu to Muyage, Wu Chengsi asked them to follow Li Dan.
Following all the way to Tianlao, they met Guan Xiaozhi, who was watching Tianlao, and the two took the opportunity to rest for a while.
Suddenly, Guan Xiaozhi reminded: "Hey, get up quickly, your target is out."
The two of them hurriedly opened their eyes, came behind Guan Xiaozhi, and looked towards the Tianlao. Sure enough, Li Dan walked out of the Tianlao.
The two followed Li Dan all the way to Prince Zheng's Mansion, and were about to sneak in. Unexpectedly, as soon as they climbed over the courtyard wall, they heard someone in the distance shout: "Who is it?"
The two saw the opportunity quickly and immediately left the mansion. Feng Ying squatted outside the mansion while Long Yang returned to the palace to report the news.
After entering the mansion, Long Yang informed Wu Chengsi of Li Dan's whereabouts.
When Wu Chengsi learned that Li Dan had gone to Prince Zheng's Mansion again, he was secretly frightened and immediately went to the Daming Palace, planning to report the situation to Wu Mei.
…
Daming Palace, Langya Palace.
As soon as Li Hong returned to the palace, he was pulled by Yaruo to her 'Langya Palace'.
This palace was originally called 'Danluan Palace', but Yaruo didn't like the name after moving in and wanted to change its name to 'Langya Palace'.
Later, at Dou Wenming's suggestion, it was changed to "Langya Hall".
As soon as the two entered the back hall, Li Hong asked: "Concubine, what's wrong with you? Why are you so anxious to bring me here?"
Yaruo glanced left and right, waved his hand and said, "You all stand down."
All the maids and eunuchs agreed in unison and filed out. Only Dou Wenming stayed.
When there were only three people left in the room, Ya Ruocai said solemnly: "Your Majesty, do you think everything today is weird?"
Li Hong frowned and said, "I feel something is wrong."
Ya Ruo shouted: "Not only is something wrong, it's such a coincidence. How could we hear about the conspiracy of the Wu family by such a coincidence?"
"You mean there's something wrong with Lao Ba?" Li Hong's face darkened.
Yaruo said: "Actually, I didn't think there was anything wrong at first. Later, when I heard what Wu Chengsi said, I realized that Li Dan's behavior today was so weird. It seemed that he wanted us to hear the conversation of Wu Chengsi's party!"
Li Hongdao: "Yes! I suspected Lao Ba at that time. It was you who said you shouldn't doubt him casually, so I didn't think much about it."
Yaruo said hurriedly: "I said that on purpose, just to make him think that we didn't doubt him!"
Dou Wenming smiled and said: "Your Highness, are you overthinking it? Before King Pei was imprisoned, I had never heard that King Yin had any dealings with him."
Ya Ruo hummed: "Little Douzi, you don't understand. In our Turks, the brothers of the Khan are most likely to rebel! Your Majesty is too kind, and the other princes will definitely want to get rid of him and take the throne!"
Dou Wenming hesitated and said: "We... our Tang Dynasty is different from the Turks after all."
Yaruo was furious: "What's the difference? I heard that your Emperor Taizong killed his brother to win the throne. Won't others follow suit?"
Dou Wenming hurriedly said: "Your Highness is right, but His Highness King Yin is the general of Youjin Wuwei, and he needs to check and balance Wu Chengsi. If we turn against him, it will only benefit the Wu family!"
When Li Hong heard that it made sense, he nodded hurriedly and said: "Yes, we just have to be more careful with Lao Ba and don't get into too much trouble with him."
Yaruo had a cold face, obviously dissatisfied. She had never been a woman who took the overall situation into consideration.
Li Hong smiled and comforted her for a few words, and finally she was relieved.
At this moment, a burst of thunder suddenly sounded outside, followed by the sound of pattering rain entering the hall.
Li Hong and Yaruo came outside the palace together, and saw that the sky that was clear just now was shrouded in dark clouds, and heavy rain poured down, and it turned into a heavy rain in an instant.
Li Hong looked up at the dark clouds and sighed: "It's raining so hard, I don't know if everyone in the world has a place to shelter from the wind and rain."
Yaruo glanced sideways at him and said with a smile: "Your Majesty, what you just looked like is very similar to my father Khan. Whenever it rains heavily, he will care about whether the tribesmen have tents to shelter in."
…
At the same time, in the Zichen Palace, Wu Chengsi was reporting what happened today to Wu Mei. Wu Mei's face turned blue with anger after learning about the other party's conspiracy.
However, when Wu Chengsi revealed that Li Dan was also involved, his face turned from green to white, and he did not speak for a long time.
Wu Chengsi didn't say anything again. After a long period of silence, Wu Mei slowly said: "Is Prince Zheng also involved?"
Wu Chengsi shook his head and said: "We can't confirm it yet."
Wu Mei said in a sinister tone: "As soon as Li Dan left Tianlao, he went to Prince Zheng's Mansion. From what I see, I am afraid that Prince Zheng may also be colluding with them."
Wu Chengsi was silent. After all, King Zheng's surname was Li, and he had offended him when he was fighting for Zhongshu Ling. It was indeed possible that he would be won over by King Pei.
Wu Mei said solemnly: "I'm afraid there is more than just King Zheng. Chengsi, please don't attack Li Dan first. Send people to keep an eye on him. I will send people to investigate King Zheng, but I want to see how many people there are."
There is collusion with Li Xian!"
Wu Chengsi agreed with his hand.
At this moment, the sound of rain outside became louder and louder, and when they heard it, they both left the temple.
Looking at the pouring rain, Wu Mei frowned and looked to the north and said: "Qin Tian Jian reported a few days ago that there might be heavy rain in August. Unexpectedly, the heavy rain has come before August has arrived."
Wu Chengsi saw the worry in her eyes and said, "Aunt, are you worried about the floods in the Yellow River?"
Wu Mei said calmly: "If in previous years, the national treasury was sufficient, even if there was a flood in the Yellow River, it would be enough to provide disaster relief."
Wu Chengsi also felt a little heavy in his heart. Although the national treasury had seized the property of the three Xiao, Wei and Xue families, it was not sufficient to fight a war with the Tubo people.
If a flood occurs now, it will greatly affect the court's strategy against the Tibetans.
…
It rained heavily for five days.
The ministers in the DPRK suddenly panicked, and even Wu Mei was a little uneasy. If it continued like this, it would not only be a flood, but the Yellow River might even burst its banks and change its course!
Wu Chengsi was relatively calm. He knew that there were no major floods in the early Tang Dynasty and that the heavy rain would not last long.
Because of the heavy rain, everyone in the imperial court was busy preventing floods and transporting grain to two free warehouses along the Yellow River.
Wu Chengsi was a military commander, so he did not need to be concerned about such matters. In the past few days, he listened to reports from Feng Ying and Long Yang and discovered that Li Dan had frequently moved around with several clan members since he went to Prince Zheng's Mansion.
After reporting it to Wu Mei, Wu Mei sent out her secret guards to investigate the clan members one by one.
However, after searching for a long time, there was not much progress.
A few days later, the governors of several states in Henan reported the floods and hoped that the imperial court would provide emergency relief.
Every time the Zhongshu Provincial Committee held meetings to discuss disaster relief, Wu Chengsi would attend.
He knew nothing about this matter. He only listened with his ears and did not express any opinions.
After several days of discussion, Zhongshu Province drafted a specific disaster relief measure. Both Li Hong and Wu Mei agreed, and officials from the Ministry of Water Resources of Shangshu Province were responsible for implementing it.
Just when the imperial court was busy with disaster relief, a thunderbolt exploded in Chang'an City!
The Tubo general Lun Qinling led his troops to raid the city of Bachai. Zhang Xuanyu led his troops to rush to the rescue, but was ambushed by Lun Qinling and was defeated!
Bahuan City fell into the hands of the Tubo people for the second time!
The emperor and the queen mother issued an order at the same time to urgently hold a court meeting in Zichen Palace for discussion. Before the court meeting began, Wu Chengsi was called over by Wu Mei alone.
"Chengsi, the Tubo people are coming very hard. Do you think you can win if we start a war with them now?"
Wu Chengsi smiled slightly and said: "Don't worry, the Shenhuo Battalion has built more than 200 artillery pieces, and the Western Army has also trained several artillery and cavalry tactics. It will not be difficult to repel the Tibetans!"
Wu Mei nodded her chin and said: "Having said that, you should not be careless. I met Lu Dongzan back then. This man is extremely intelligent, which shows that Tubo also has outstanding people. As for Qinling being his son, don't underestimate him.
.”
Wu Chengsi thought to himself: "As for Qin Ling's defeat of Xue Rengui, I know his threat better than you!" He nodded and said: "My nephew has made a note of it, aunt, and my nephew thinks it's time to use Xue Rengui."
Wu Mei thought for a while and said: "Okay, you can bring it up at the court meeting later, and I will cooperate with you."
A temporary court meeting was quickly held in Zichen Hall. When Wu Chengsi entered the hall, civil officials such as Pei Yan, Liu Qixian, and Li Jingxuan all asked him whether the Tang army was sure of victory.
Wu Chengsi looked troubled and did not reply to them, which made the civil servants a little worried.
In contrast, the military generals all held their heads high and their chests high, their eyes flashing. It was obvious that they only regarded it as a time to make military exploits and did not pay attention to the Qinling Mausoleum.
Wu Mei sat high on the dragon chair and said loudly: "My lords, the Tibetan traitors have invaded our territory again and violated the power of our heaven. It is really abominable. Fortunately, the late emperor had the foresight to establish the Western Expedition Camp in advance to facilitate the attack.
.”
Li Hong and the ministers felt relieved after hearing what she said.
Li Hong still sat on the small dragon chair next to Wu Mei and said, "King Zhou, are you sure you can repel the Tubo people?"
Wu Chengsi said loudly: "There are 100,000 Tubo invaders this time. The general said that Qinling has many plans and good wars. I am only 80% sure of winning. However, if there is one person to assist me, I should have a 100% chance of winning!"
Li Hong hurriedly asked: "Who do you need to assist you?"
"Xue Rengui!"
Li Hong was stunned for a moment, then frowned and said nothing.
Wu Mei said lightly: "Although Xue Rengui was demoted by the late emperor, the country is in crisis now. If the late emperor knew the situation at this moment, he would also agree to use Xue Rengui again!"
Li Ji, Su Dingfang, Wu Yizong, Lou Shide and others immediately came out to second the proposal, and Liu Qixian, Pei Yan and Li Jingxuan also followed.
Seeing this, Li Hong could no longer object.
Wu Mei immediately issued an order to reinstate Xue Ren to his position as General Zuo Weiwei, but Duke Ping's title was not restored.
Wu Chengsi also received the order, and three days later he led his troops to help the four towns of Anxi. As for the envoy to monitor Li Dan, Wu Mei handed it over to Qiu Shenji.
That afternoon, news came from Dali Temple that Li Jingwu confessed. He admitted that he was ordered by King Yin to steal the gold medal.
His confession was no longer important to Wu Chengsi, but Dali Temple also asked about a piece of news that made him quite concerned.
According to Li Jingwu, King Yin and the others had another plan. Although he did not know the content of the plan, he knew that it was related to a carpenter from Shu.
Wu Chengsi immediately thought of Wang Chen.
Although Li Dan was already a turtle in a urn at the moment, he did not dare to be too careless.
After some consideration, they decided to find Wang Chen and figure out their plan before leaving Beijing.