Chapter 120: Intrigue (I)

That night, the atmosphere in Chang'an suddenly became tense. The gates of Pingkangfang were closed, and brothels, taverns, inns and gambling halls were all closed. Everyone was driven to the streets. Teams of soldiers searched door-to-door door-to-door, and whenever they found a man in black clothes, they immediately arrested him.

The news of Cui Xiangguo's assassination was like wings. It spread throughout Chang'an before dawn, like a hurricane, waving the joy of people's hearts for the polo competition.

The sudden news also made every official's heart suddenly nervous, not knowing what changes this would bring to the court's pattern.

Just as dawn, everyone received news from the main halls of the various yards that martial law has been implemented in Pingkangfang and the Dongshi area. Everyone is asked to take a detour. Various speculations are circulating in each yard. Some say that Cui Yuan has been seriously injured and died, while others say that this is revenge of the Uighurs.

The Emperor Li Shi of the Tang Dynasty received the news after dawn. He was shocked and worried. Some people dared to assassinate the prime minister in front of everyone. With this trend, all the important officials of the court would be in danger, but the worry was that Cui Yuan was seriously injured and did not die. An opportunity to change the power structure of the Tang Dynasty was wasted in vain.

In order to stabilize the court, the Li clan immediately summoned officials from third rank or above in Zichen Hall to discuss personnel arrangements during Cui Yuan's serious injury. At this time, Cui Yuan sent his clan's brother, Cui Yu, the Minister of Personnel, to convey his intentions. During his serious injury, the right prime minister's ruling affairs pen would be managed by six other cabinet members, each of whom would take charge of one day.

Cui Yuan's suggestion was almost unanimously accepted by everyone. Although it only took one day, it could use the power of the prime minister to achieve some of his wishes. Cui Yuan's assassination seemed to have subsided so quickly, and did not cause any political earthquake. The martial law in Pingkangfang and Dongshi was lifted in the evening.

The night became thicker and thicker, and large clouds floated in the cold night wind, and the cold moon was cold. A group of orange lanterns wandered on the Wangxian Bridge connecting the Daming Palace and the Tai Chi Palace. Li Shi came to Tai Chi Palace with concern.

The Tai Chi Palace is very quiet. Sometimes, I can’t see a palace servant when I walk through two palaces in a row. I look lifeless. Li Si is a little surprised.

Soon, he came to the empress dowager's bedroom. A young eunuch had already rushed to inform the empress dowager. After a moment, Zhang Liangdi's personal eunuch Luo Chengen came out.

"I'll meet the emperor, and the queen mother asks the emperor to come in."

Li Shi nodded, he took two steps, then turned around and asked in a low voice: "The Tai Chi Palace seems to have fewer palace people, where have they all gone?"

Luo Chengen smiled bitterly and said, "The Emperor may not know that the Empress Dowager has a hot temper these days and ordered punishment if she is not satisfied. There are at least a hundred palace maids who have been driven to the Yeting Palace by her, but there are no new people to supplement them, so she naturally seems very deserted."

Li Shi suddenly realized, and then he sneered secretly. It seemed that the Empress Dowager knew about this, so that things would be easier to do.

These days, Zhang Liangdi has been tortured by Zhang Huan's incident. She is awakened by bloody nightmare every night, and then she has insomnia all night, her nerves are extremely nervous, and she is a little disturbed. She is either furious or hides in the tent. She is only a little relieved when Zhu Li sent Longwu Army to guard the gate for her.

It seems unlikely to get rid of Zhang Huan, but it is possible to drive him away from the Daming Palace. For this reason, she sent someone to deliver a letter to the Li family. In this matter, the interests of both of them are the same.

At this time, Zhang Liangdi was applying rouge to the mirror. There was an aging and pale face in the mirror. After only a few days, she showed her old look.

"Empress Dowager, Your Majesty is here." Luo Chengen reported the report very gently behind her.

Zhang Liangdi sighed softly to the mirror and threw the powder in her hand on the table, "Let him come in!"

She sat in her seat, and the palace maid put down a curtain of gauze. Li Shi had already walked in quickly. He knelt down and gave a big gift, "The emperor met the queen mother!"

"The emperor's son is flat!" Zhang Liangdi waved her hand gently. Without waiting for Li Shi to speak, she smiled faintly and said, "We haven't seen each other for almost half a year!"

"The emperor has many things in the past six months and has no time to visit the Queen Mother. Please forgive me."

Zhang Liangdi smiled coldly, "You are really busy. You are patrolling Hedong, enthroned the prince, and also pulled up an army called Tianqi Camp. Zhang Huan, who dismissed the Ai family, reused Zhang Huan again. It's really a great gift to the Ai family!"

"Zhang Huan was valued because he made great contributions to defeating the Uighurs, and he did not intend to oppose the Empress Dowager."

"It's not necessarily!" A sarcastic smile appeared on Zhang Liangdi's lips, "Why do the Ai family think that you promoted his descendants because you are ashamed of your elder brother?"

"Empress Dowager!" Li Shi's face suddenly turned red. He said a little angrily: "If the Empress Dowager has something to say, please just say it. There is no need to be such a sarcastic act. If I had no intention, I would not have come to see the Empress Dowager today."

Zhang Liangdi nodded, "It seems that you are still relatively sober and know the seriousness of the matter."

She suddenly lowered her voice and stared at Li Shi gloomyly and said, "Don't forget, you killed him with your own hands back then, what did he say before he died?"

Li Shi was shocked by Zhang Liangdi's gloomy and pale face. Another curse of his elder brother's anger when he died appeared in his mind, "My son will avenge me!"

It was for this sentence that he started a massacre and killed all the eldest brother's sons. Even dozens of wives and daughters, including Princess Shen Zhenzhu, did not let go of any of them and killed them all, but unexpectedly.

．

．

．

．

．

"You didn't expect that he had an illegitimate child outside!"

Zhang Liangdi seemed to know his thoughts, and she smiled sharply like Ye Xiao, "Of course he knew that all his sons would not be spared. He actually refers to Zhang Huan, but unfortunately we didn't understand."

Her laughter stopped abruptly, and the ghostly face leaned closer to Li Shi and said, "But we still have a chance now, don't we?"

Li Shi was silent for a long time, and he sighed and said, "The three thousand cavalry in his hand are extraordinary, and he controls the Daming Palace. If you are negligent, you may be retaliated against yourself. I will be afraid of you!"

Zhang Liangdi suddenly laughed. She had been thinking about the answer for a long time and was already confident. She was not afraid of not being able to do it, but was afraid that the Li family would not want to do it. She smiled faintly and said, "There is another person who can control the Tianqi Camp. Did the Emperor forget it?"

Li Shi was slightly stunned, and his eyes gradually became brighter.

．

．

．

．

．

．

．

．

Just as the emperor and the empress discussed how to solve the problems left behind 16 years ago in Tai Chi Palace, an uninvited guest also came to Zhang Huan's Dong Neiyuan. Zhang Huan lit the lights in the room, poured a cup of tea and handed it to Chu Xingshui.

"I heard that Uncle Chu Shi arrived in Chang'an yesterday?"

"Don't call me Uncle Shi!" Chu Xingshui waved his hand and said decisively: "I am your uncle. The blood of my Chu family is bleed on you. This is a fact that you cannot deny."

Zhang Huan touched his nose and smiled, "We know it in our hearts, and it's always a bit embarrassing to say it."

"Awkward?" Chu Xingshui sneered and said, "You are a person who wants to do something. If you don't dare to do something, don't pretend to be sentimental in front of me. If you admit that I am your uncle, then I will tell you the truth. If you don't admit it, then I will leave now, and you don't want to ask me for help in the future."

"It sounds nice!" Zhang Huan's face suddenly sank, and he also said coldly: "Are you really here to help me? If you come to help me, don't mention the word "Pei" tonight."

Chu Xingshui's face changed several times. He stared at Zhang Huan for a long time before shook his head and said, "You really disappointed me! I originally thought you could do big things, but I didn't expect you to be a fool who doesn't know how to take advantage of opportunities."

He sat down slowly and said in a deep voice: "Yes! I was commissioned by Pei Jun to win you over. You can refuse at once, but you have to know how dangerous your situation is now. Zhang Ruohao must have known that if he dies, Hedong will lose his pillars, and chaos will arise, and no one can protect you. Maybe there is no need to wait until that time. Do you know why the emperor issued an order to deny that you are the son of Prince Yu?"

Zhang Huan smiled faintly and said, "It's just that I want to kill me."

"Not bad!" Chu Xingshui nodded gently, "You can see this, which means you still have some vision. The court does not admit that you are the son of Prince Yu, but in fact, everyone in their hearts knows the truth. This is the sign of killing you. If I guess correctly, it is not Cui Yuan who really wants to attack you, but Zhang Potian. Do you want to get it?"

Zhang Huan was silent. Although he was unwilling to admit it, he knew that Chu Xingshui was telling the truth. Zhang Huan knew very well why Zhang Potian rushed back to Hedong. However, Zhang Potian had been back from Hedong for seven days, but he had been ignoring himself. This vaguely revealed that Zhang Potian's mentality had changed. He used to value himself, but the premise was that he was a child of the Zhang family. Now, once he knew his special identity, he could not have no idea. As for him to kill himself, perhaps he was really afraid that he would destroy the Zhang family, or perhaps he had reached some kind of deal with the Li family.

However, the mantis stalks the cicada and the oriole is behind. Of course, Zhang Potian and Li Shi should know that there are two foxes behind them, waiting for them to reveal their flaws. The situation is confusing, and no one knows who will be the one who laughs the last time?

After being silent for a long time, Zhang Huan suddenly turned around and smiled, "What conditions does Pei Xiang plan to give me?"

Chu Xingshui sighed in his heart. In the end, there was only a naked deal between their nephew and uncle. Helplessly, he had to smile bitterly and said, "If you are willing to surrender to Pei Xiang, Pei Xiang will agree to appoint you as the governor of Hedong County and the envoy of the Puzhou Tuan, and recruit you as your son-in-law."

'Hedong County?' Zhang Huan sneered secretly and drew a very big cake for himself. Is Cui Yuanken? But he still said calmly: "Since I am a training envoy for the Puzhou delegation, my Three Thousand Days Cavalry Camp will also follow me. This is my condition. Can Pei Xiang agree?"

"This..." Chu Xingshui hesitated for a moment, "I want to go back to discuss this with Pei Xiang."

"Please tell Pei Xiang that I released Cui Yuan's rumors. If he promised me this condition, I might as well give him this favor."

Chu Xingshui was stunned. After a while, a hint of ecstasy burst out from his eyes and disappeared in an instant. He quickly stood up and laughed: "Then I'll go back and I'll give you a reply soon."

Just as Chu Xingshui had just walked to the door, Zhang Huan suddenly whispered: "Uncle!"

Chu Xingshui was stunned. He turned around and nodded to Zhang Huan, with a hint of warmth in his eyes, "If one day, you have no way out, then you come to Huainan."

．

．

．

．

．

．

．

．

As soon as Chu Xingshui left, Zhang Huan immediately ordered, "Come!"

A personal soldier walked in quickly and half-kneeled and bowed, "Please give me instructions."

"Go! Go to Yongjiafang quickly and invite Mr. Li to me."

Several personal soldiers rode away on horseback, while Zhang Huan paced back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back. He received the news this morning that Cui Yuan was assassinated and distributed the right prime minister's ruling pen to six other cabinet members before he recovered from his injury. Each of them took charge for one day. Of course, Zhang Huan understood what this meant.

He walked to the window and looked silently at the heavy night sky. There was not much time left, so he had to start preparing.

Soon, a carriage was parked in front of the house. Li Mi got out of the carriage and hurried into Zhang Huan's room, "Do you have something urgent to ask me?"

"I have accepted Chu Xingshui's lobbying and defect to Pei Jun." Zhang Huan said with a faint smile.

Li Mi was slightly stunned, and he immediately smiled meaningfully. Although Zhang Huan did not discuss this decision with him in advance, and he told him about his alliance with Cui Xiaofu not long ago.

But he also knew that Zhang Huan was a very scheming person, and he refused to say everything about himself in many things. As a strategist, Li Mi certainly hoped that the lord he was loyal to obey his own words, but he also hoped that Zhang Huan could make independent decisions and become the overlord of the area as soon as possible. It was this kind of worrying about gains and losses that Li Mi did not interfere with Zhang Huan's decision in the end, but just tried his best to help him improve his plan and not make any omissions.

Since Zhang Huan has decided to use Pei Jun, he must prepare early. After thinking about it, he asked with a smile: "Do you want me to go to Taiyuan first?"
Chapter completed!