The palace of King Qing Li Cong is located in Yongfufang in the northeast of Chang'an, also called the Sixteenth Prince's Palace. More than a dozen princes live here, including the brothers of Emperor Li Longji and his son. The palace of Sining is also here. In fact, the palace of Sining
It's Prince Ning's Mansion.
Opposite the Prince Si Ning's Mansion is the Prince Qing's Mansion. Eight years before Tianbao, the gates of Prince Qing's Mansion were closed all day long. Prince Qing Li Cong would not leave the mansion all year round. He was closely monitored by eunuchs, and every word and deed was very cautious.
Of course, he also has his own business. For example, he has eight shops for rent in the East Market and many shops in the West Market. Li Cong lets his staff take care of these businesses. Tang Yu, a man in Tsing Yi, is responsible for taking care of the East Market for him.
's store.
Eight years after Tianbao, the emperor Li Longji finally relaxed the restraints on the princes and grandsons. The monitoring eunuchs were withdrawn, allowing them to go out, allow them to communicate with ministers, allow them to go out of the city to hunt or play, and allowed them to support warriors. Of course, warriors
There is an upper limit on the number of people, no more than a hundred people are allowed.
But a hundred people are enough. No matter how many people there are, they can't support them. Since King Qing, King Di, King Rong and King Yong formed the alliance of the four kings, the number of warriors they can use reaches 400. This number can launch a small battle.
coup.
In the morning, Di Wang Li Yan, Rong Wang Li Wan and Yong Wang Li Lin all gathered in Qing Wang Mansion.
In the past two days, major incidents occurred in the imperial court, which shocked them.
"Brother, is it true? Li Ye is appointed as the military governor of Anxi?"
The three princes couldn't believe that Li Ye had already been promoted to be the governor of Hezhong Prefecture. It had only been a year and a half! Now he was actually going to be the governor of Anxi.
King Yong Li Lin asked in surprise: "He is only twenty years old at most, but he can actually command nearly 40,000 troops in Anxi and Hezhong. How did he do it?"
King Qing Li Cong sneered and said: "If you can donate three million gold coins to my father, then you can also be named the military governor of Anxi."
Li Lin smiled bitterly and said: "Brother is joking. At most, we can lead the military envoys from afar. My father will not give me the opportunity to lead troops."
Prince Rong Li Wan frowned and said, "I heard that his father Li Dai's appointment as Minister of Household Affairs is also related to the three million gold coins he donated?"
Li Cong smiled meaningfully and said: "It should be that Li Ye presented the spoils of war that should be handed over to the imperial court to his father. The imperial court must be dissatisfied. I heard that the man in the East Palace was so angry that he threw the cup, so Li Ye did this too much.
Going too far will please the emperor but offend everyone else.
My father was also embarrassed, and he would definitely ask him to come out with more money to appease the court. What should I say? "Li Ye, please bring another two million gold coins to the court!" My father would definitely not say this, so he promoted Li Dai to be the Minister of Household Affairs.
Let Li Dai force his son to pay."
Di Wang Li Yan nodded, "Brother is right. The key is that the river is too far away. If it is the Hexi Corridor, we would directly send troops to transport money, so we would not ask Li Ye for charity."
Li Lin thought for a moment and said: "Brother said just now that the people in the East Palace were so angry that they threw the cup. Is that true?"
Li Cong smiled and said: "It was Li Fuguo who told Yuan Siyi. I heard it from Yuan Siyi. The news should be accurate."
All three of them knew that Li Cong had the support of the eunuch Yuan Siyi. Since the information was obtained from Yuan Siyi, the information should be reliable.
"That's the problem!"
Li Lin said to everyone: "Since Li Dai is recognized as the prince's faction, when Li Ye came back this time, he did not show any sign to the prince. The father allowed foreign vassals to donate money to the East Palace. Could it be that the father and son each burned their own incense?
Or maybe Li Dai is not from the prince faction at all?"
Di Wang Li Yan curled his lips and said: "I think you are all thinking too much. How can a young boy who is not twenty years old think so carefully? He must be trying to please the emperor. He will not care about the feelings of the court and the prince.
, if it were me, I would be the same, we don’t need to think about him too complicatedly.”
Li Wan smiled and said: "Second brother is right. We do think things are complicated sometimes."
Li Cong did not say anything. He walked a few steps in the lobby with his hands behind his back and sighed softly: "Although this Li Ye is young, he is very mature. He is smarter than his father and has vicious tactics. He is known as the Ksitigarbha Demon. His grandfather
Li Linfu has always regarded him as his successor.
After Li Linfu's death, the Yang family did not suppress his father Li Dai. It is said that it was Li Ye who took the path of Guo Guo's wife. This man actually dared to ignore the imperial court and dedicated three million gold coins to the emperor. His courage was so great that no measure could be taken.
Even An Lushan can't compare with him. I feel deeply about him. We must not underestimate him, otherwise we will fall into his hands sooner or later."
The three of them looked at each other in surprise, and asked together: "Brother is deeply touched, has something happened?"
Li Cong nodded, "I brought you here just to tell you something. The case of Prince Consort Zhang Bian has been solved. It was solved ten days ago."
The three of them were shocked, and Li Yan said anxiously: "How is it possible? The eldest brother arranged it so secretly, and Tang Yu was silenced. Who can find out that it was the eldest brother who planned it?"
Li Cong sighed: "My father didn't summon me, and I thought this case was a fatal case. But my father told Mrs. Guo Guo, and Mrs. Guo Guo told Yuan Siyi, and I realized that the case had been solved. You know
Who solved the case?"
Li Lin blurted out, "Is it Li Ye?"
Li Cong nodded, "That's him. He found out Tang Yu's identity."
"But he has no evidence!"
"But for my father, do I need evidence? My father knows that I did it. He will only blame me for being incompetent. I can't even do this little thing well. I exposed my flaws and was caught by others."
The three of them were silent. They all realized that the reason why their father appointed Li Ye as the governor of Anxi was not necessarily due to the three million gold coins. They wanted to seize the legitimate son, and Li Ye and his son must not take it lightly.
At this time, the housekeeper reported in the hall, "Your Majesty, Yan Zhuang has something urgent to see you!"
Li Cong nodded, "Invite him in!"
After a moment, Yan Zhuang hurried in. Seeing that the four princes were there, he quickly bowed and saluted, "Greetings to all princes!"
"Mr. Yan, please sit down!"
Yan Zhuang sat down and said: "Without wasting your princes' time, I will make a long story short. Something happened last night, which caused us heavy losses. Our martial arts hall in Shengdaofang was attacked, and the opponent used poisoned crossbows.
, our elite warriors shot and killed one hundred and fourteen people, and we estimated that there were four to five hundred people on the other side."
The four of them were shocked. There were four to five hundred warriors. Could there be such a big force in Chang'an City?
Li Cong asked: "Do you know why you were attacked?"
Yan Zhuang nodded, "The night before yesterday, we attacked Wude Restaurant and killed the shopkeeper and several bartenders. We were attacked last night. It must be related to the Wude Restaurant case."
"You suspect that the Wang family is attacking you? But Wang Xuanhai is not that capable. He can gather four to five hundred people to attack you with military crossbows. If he dares to use military crossbows, it is tantamount to rebellion."
Yan Zhuang sighed, "I also think that if I give the Wang family a hundred courages, they don't dare to confront our princes, so we suspect that it is the Wang family's backstage. Do the four princes know who the Wang family's backstage is?"
The four princes had been restricted for many years and had no information. They really didn't know the inside story of Chang'an. However, Li Cong was very cunning. He found that this was an opportunity, a perfect opportunity to drive a wedge between An Lushan and the prince.
Li Cong said slowly: "Being able to tangle four to five hundred warriors and also use military crossbows is not something ordinary forces can do. Only the Qingshan Tower of the Yang family in Chang'an has five hundred warriors. Could it be that Yang Guozhong took revenge on you for killing him?"
His son? But I think it’s more likely that it’s the prince’s influence, or the prince thinks you assassinated the consort Zhang Bian, and he’s taking revenge?”