Chapter 245: The second round of air-to-air contest with Empress Wu!
Even though she had some expectations in her mind, Empress Wu's face instantly turned livid, and she wished she could drag down all those who had spread the rumors and chop them into pieces.
But she closed her eyes, pondered for a moment, and then said: "Get off and go to Shaoyinyuan!"
Shaoyinyuan is the place where the little princess lives. Eunuch Gao was stunned and didn't understand why he wanted to go there at this time, but he still said sharply: "The Queen of Heaven is here!"
The little princess was playing with the rope in front of the courtyard, looking carefree. When she saw Empress Wu, she cheered and threw herself into her arms: "Empress! You haven't come to see me for a long time!"
Empress Wu held her little daughter in her arms, her cheeks softened slightly, and she began to greet her.
The little princess cat was in her arms, smiling and talking about recent events...
Actually, there's nothing wrong with it, I'm just having fun.
As she spoke, she suddenly felt a chill on her face.
The little princess raised her head and said in surprise: "Mother, are you crying?"
Empress Wu wiped her eyes: "Your Majesty didn't cry, how could your Majesty cry..."
The little princess raised her head and said, "No, I saw your Majesty crying. Who made you angry? I'll help your Majesty vent your anger!"
Empress Wu sighed: "No one made me angry. It's just that you, Aye, are in a daze all day long. No one can help me..."
The little princess wondered: "Isn't there a minister? The empress has given an order to let the minister go and do things!"
Empress Wu shook her head: "You have to remember that ministers are outsiders and cannot be trusted!"
The little princess exclaimed: "Then there is also the prince brother?"
Empress Wu sighed again: "Your brother, the prince, is not coming out of Shaoyang Courtyard. I'm afraid he is angry with the empress!"
"Brother Prince is the best, he won't be angry!"
The little princess immediately said: "My dear, don't cry, please wait for me, I will go to Shaoyang Courtyard to bring the prince brother!"
…
Inside Shaoyang Courtyard.
The prince was drinking porridge, and he couldn't help frowning as he drank.
The princess next to her reached out and stroked his brow: "Don't think about it, okay?"
The prince said bitterly: "I have to think about it. There are so many people outside who are hungry and there are corpses all the way. Even if I drink porridge now, it can't change anything at all. I can only seek inner comfort... Alas, I have been pursuing the policy of keeping things down for the past few years, but the result is unexpected."
It’s like this. If I had known better, I shouldn’t have suggested going to Dongdu to my father, maybe it would have been possible instead…”
The Crown Princess said: "This has nothing to do with you. Even if you don't propose to take hundreds of officials to the Eastern Capital, the Queen will suppress you. If she doesn't become the Queen of Heaven, she will not give up!"
The prince fell silent and said after a moment: "You can't eat these, you must take good care of yourself."
The Crown Princess shook her head: "I didn't mean to do this, but I just can't eat anything meaty. Doctor Liu said, it doesn't hurt to eat something lighter during these days."
The prince carefully touched her belly: "Is there any movement?"
The princess smiled and said: "It's only been more than two months, what can happen?"
A smile appeared on the prince's face: "I really want to thank Master Sun for taking good care of my body. You finally have one. I want to build a shrine of immortality for him!"
The Crown Princess chuckled and said, "Look at how excited you are. Master Sun is the King of Medicine. His prescriptions have saved countless lives. How many people are praying for him!"
The prince said: "That's right, that's right. Then I want to thank Yuan Fang. It was he who invited Master Sun..."
As he spoke, he showed worry again: "Yuanfang came back without permission, and I was afraid that my mother would be bad for him. But at this time, I can't protect him, otherwise my mother will not forgive him! Alas, I am a prince...
…”
The Crown Princess snuggled up to him: "Don't think about it! Don't think about it!"
At this moment, the chamberlain came into the palace and announced: "Your Highness, the princess is here!"
The prince felt a little strange, but he still got up and prepared to greet his little sister.
Before he left the palace, he saw the little princess running in: "Brother Prince, Brother Prince, the empress is crying!"
The prince's expression changed: "What's going on?"
The little princess said: "I don't know, but the empress must have been bullied. Brother Prince, you have to help the empress!"
The prince nodded and said, "I'll go take a look!"
The princess came over and said, "I'll go with you!"
The prince shook his head slightly, looked solemn, and whispered: "Don't go, don't do anything else, just wait for me here!"
The princess watched the prince and the little princess leave in the chariot, with an uncertain expression on her face, and returned to the palace to wait.
After waiting for a long time, she finally heard the sound of the emperor's chariot falling outside. The Crown Princess immediately went out to greet him, and saw the prince slowly stepping down from the chariot.
The couple were together all day long, and even though the prince tried his best to hide it, the princess could tell that he was feeling uncomfortable and even a little lost.
The princess trembled: "What's wrong?"
The prince whispered: "The disaster from outside has spread to Chang'an. Chang'an is in chaos. All the rice shops have been robbed. The country must not be in turmoil. Someone must take responsibility..."
The Crown Princess understood immediately and shook her body: "How much effort have you put into the plan, and now something happens, and you have to take the responsibility? Are you a good person and deserve to be bullied?"
The prince hurriedly supported her: "You must take good care of your health. Mother also agreed. As soon as this matter is over, you will go to Luoyang immediately. Although it is already late, it is better than having all the officials still in Chang'an..."
Tears welled up in the eyes of the Crown Princess, and she shook her head repeatedly: "When will this matter end? No, we have to summon the ministers to discuss it, and you shouldn't be the one to step in!"
The prince said sadly: "The teachers are all locked up at home, and not many people dare to come to Shaoyang Academy now!"
The Crown Princess said: "You don't have to come to Shaoyang Courtyard. It doesn't hurt to discuss it with them. I'll ask Cao Zhen to take the letter and go to Duke Wei's Mansion quickly to ask Li Yuanfang what he wants first."
The prince immediately stopped him: "Absolutely not. Since mother has decided on this matter, she must be on guard against us. There must be many people watching outside Shaoyang Courtyard now. If your message is intercepted, Yuanfang will be harmed!"
The princess burst into tears: "What should we do?"
The prince's eyes turned red, he hugged her and murmured: "Don't cry! Don't cry! Let's endure it, endure it..."
…
The Duke's Mansion of Weiguo.
Li Yan looked at Xu Da: "Have the people who were keeping an eye on the various mansions come back yet?"
Xu Da went to confirm: "No!"
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Li Yan was a little strange: "Empress Wu summoned Wei Chengqing? Didn't she summon Doulu Qinwang?"
This time is no different from the time when Li Zhi was rumored to be testing medicine on the common people. He was really unjust, but this time Empress Wu was not unjust at all.
So the two methods of processing must be different.
Li Zhi first used Meihua Internal Guard to control the rumors in Shilin, and then ordered a thorough investigation of the Jiangnan case, and the truth came to light.
But this time the news in Chang'an City can no longer be suppressed. The ruler cannot make any mistakes. It depends on which minister is unlucky and gets sacrificed and takes the blame.
In Li Yan's plan, at least one of Wei Chengqing and Doulu Qinwang, the two most popular queens, would be unlucky.
However, after waiting around, no one from the palace came to announce the decree, and the two people did not go out of the palace.
Li Yan's face gradually turned ugly: "If we don't leave the responsibility to the ministers and follow the behavior of Empress Wu..."
"The blame-shifting prince?"
"The prince is presiding over the peace. Now that the disaster is serious, if the prince is pushed out to take the blame, the people's anger will immediately be pointed at it. Empress Wu can step back and use this turmoil to achieve her own political goals..."
After having the speculation, Li Yan did not act rashly and had to confirm it first.
He came to the backyard wall and began to observe the surveillance personnel outside.
During this period of time, someone outside the Duke's residence was constantly under surveillance, obviously someone from the palace, to determine whether he was at the residence and to prevent him from going to work in the imperial city.
Most of the internal guards are currently outside, and the one with the highest official position in the station is Doulu Qinwang.
But Doulu Qinwang came to power by stepping on the corpse of Cui Shouye, and was criticized by many people.
On the other hand, Li Yan was the face of the Imperial Guard after its re-establishment. If he went back, it was hard to say who the Imperial Guard would listen to, so Empress Wu would never allow it.
And these people who were monitoring may now become helpers.
It just depends on luck.
Li Yan walked around the wall, his nose kept sniffing, and then he suddenly stopped.
In this direction, the smell of eunuchs in the palace was the strongest. He listened carefully for a moment, and then his figure flashed out.
In the blink of an eye, he came to the building across the street and landed in front of a person.
The man was shocked at first, and then he breathed a sigh of relief: "Li Jiyi!"
Li Yan greeted: "Xu Neiguan."
This eunuch Xu was one of the three eunuchs under the command of eunuch Gao. He followed him all the way back to Chang'an and sympathized with the victims.
Eunuch Xu saluted at this time and said: "Li Jiyi, I have already brought the letter to His Royal Highness."
Li Yan raised his hand and said, "Thank you very much. How about you do me another favor?"
Eunuch Xu hurriedly returned the gift with a bitter look on his face: "Li Jiyi, it's not that I don't want to help you, it's really that I can't get into Shaoyang Courtyard!"
Li Yan said: "There is no need to reply to His Highness the Crown Prince. You only need to go back to the palace and take a look. Is the Shaoyang Courtyard more tightly guarded than the past few days?"
Eunuch Xu didn’t know anything about it, but there was no problem with this kind of thing: “Okay, I’ll do it immediately!”
When he brought back the exact news that the guards at Shaoyang Yuan were so strict that even a mosquito would fly in to check, Li Yan knew that the ruthless Wu Gou was really going to trick his son again.
"How disgusting!"
Li Yan hated this kind of hypocritical expression of parental kindness in normal times, but revealed his true colors at critical moments. He sighed and began to think about countermeasures.
He returned to his study, wrote a letter, and came to Li Derjian's house: "Sir, is Dai Pushe's residence also in Pingkangfang?"
Li Derjian has been out and about frequently in the past few days. He has been marginalized for too long, but no one paid attention to him. Hearing this, he nodded and said: "Yes, just southeast of Fang City."
Li Yan asked: "How about Dai Pu shooting this person?"
Li Derjian said: "He is the prince's teacher. His Majesty carefully selected him. Naturally, he is a famous Confucian with both ability and political integrity."
Li Yan asked again: "What about his personal relationship with His Royal Highness?"
Li Derjian thought for a while and said: "Since the death of Yang Sijian, the official of Zhongshe, Dai Pushe should be the minister who cares most about the prince. It is a pity that he has been punished to shut up and think about his mistakes this time. I am afraid that his position as prime minister is not guaranteed..."
Yang Sijian died of grief and anger because his daughter was humiliated by the former crown princess. Now Dai Zhide has also met the same end. The people around the prince are really bad.
Li Yan nodded and took out the letter: "Please come to me and deliver this letter to Dai Pushe personally."
Li Derjian looked solemn: "What are you going to do?"
Li Yan said coldly: "The disaster in the pass has caused a loss of lives. Now that the lid has been lifted, the truth can no longer be hidden. Empress Wu is ready to leave the responsibility to the prince!"
Li Derjian expressed his hatred: "The prince is the crown prince of the country, how can he be insulted lightly? This is really an act of chaos for the country!"
Li Yandao: "So we have to be the first to let her know that people's hearts cannot be bullied and public opinion cannot be violated!"