Chapter 383: The trapped beast still fights (middle)

At noon, the Changle Gate of Tai Chi Palace opened. A group of eunuchs who went out to do business all squeezed into the palace gate, holding the approval form signed by the lieutenant on duty, clamoring to go out. The soldiers guarding the palace gate were lazy and spiritless. The little eunuchs waved in front of them with the approval form. The soldiers only glanced at the randomly, and waved their hands to let them go out. No wonder, they were really bored when staring at the empty palace day after day.

Seven or eight eunuchs went out in a row. It was the eunuch Feng Endao's turn. This was his second time leaving the palace today, and he was a little nervous.

"Why are you leaving the palace again?" asked the lieutenant who walked from the side today with a smile.

Feng Endao quickly explained: "My family is sick, the queen mother is allowed to leave, so I'll visit her."

"So that's it." The captain smiled and waved his hand and said, "Let it go to my father-in-law."

Feng En said thanking and hurriedly walked out of the palace. The captain looked at his hat from behind and sneered slightly. At this time, Li Dingfang, the general in charge of guarding the Tai Chi Palace, walked over slowly. He glanced at Feng Endao's back and suddenly asked, "Has he changed his hat again?"

The captain was shocked and saw that it was the general coming. He quickly saluted and said, "Report to the governor, this is the third hat he has changed today."

Li Dingfang shook his head, looked at the hat on Feng Endao's head and said disdainfully: "Even the details of the hat are not thoughtful, what else can they do?"

Then he asked the captain again, "Have you sent someone to keep an eye on him?"

"The Internal Affairs Department has already watched him."

Seeing that two people were riding a horse and following Feng Endao's carriage, Li Dingfang said to the lieutenant: "From today on duty, we will change from two wheels a day to three wheels a day. Let me tell my brothers that no one is allowed to slackew."

Speaking of Feng En's departure from the Imperial City, he was not in a hurry to go to Wubenfang opposite the Imperial City. Instead, he walked east along Chunming Street and changed a carriage in a shop in the East City before returning to Wubenfang. After a while, it took half an hour to go. Feng Endao had already gone to Wubenfang with complete confidence, but he didn't know that there were two horses who followed his carriage tightly.

Since he first found Li Mian for Cui Xiaofu after leaving the palace for him more than 20 days ago, he knew that Cui Xiaofu was determined to have a fight with Zhang Huan. At this time, he no longer persuaded Cui Xiaofu, but did his best to do everything for her. At worst, he would just die for his master.

The meeting place was not in Li Mian's mansion, but a teahouse near Li Mian's mansion. Here, Li Mian specially arranged someone to meet him. Feng Endao went up the second floor and found a elegant room to sit down. The person who met him immediately ran to inform Li Mian.

Feng Endao ordered people to cook a pot of tea, and waited with some restlessness. This morning he came to find Li Mian and got the news that Zhang Huan created the "Jiangdu Incident" in Guangling. Cui Xiaofu immediately realized that this was the opportunity. She immediately instructed Li Mian to seize this opportunity. For this reason, she specially wrote a handwritten book, calling on the royal family to fight for the dignity of the Li family dynasty.

Feng Endao had only had a cup of tea, and the sound of rapid footsteps came from outside the door. Then the door of the Yashi Room was pushed open. Li Mian hurriedly walked in and saluted Feng Endao, "Let Eunuch Feng wait for a long time."

"I dare not!" Feng Endao quickly stood up and bowed, "It was me who disturbed Shangshu Li. It was important. The Empress Dowager attached great importance to it and ordered me to reply to Shangshu."

As he said that, he took off his hat, pulled out the live thread above, pulled out a handwritten book from the interlayer of the hat, and handed it to Li Mian, saying, "The Queen Mother ordered me to wait until the reply from Shangshu Li today before returning to the palace."

Li Mian carefully locked the door. He spread the white silk on the table and read it carefully. His brows suddenly frowned. Cui Xiaofu ordered him to seize the time to contact the victims of the "Jiangdu Incident" and to change the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty before Zhang Huan returns to Beijing to prevent Zhang Huan from taking office. At the end of the edict, Cui Xiaofu wrote two new candidates for the throne, one was Li Mian's second son Li Yue, and the other was Li Chenghong, King Guangwu. However, Cui Xiaofu was obviously different when writing these two names. The word "Li Yue" was re-printed with thick pen, while King Guangwu Li Chenghong still had the original fine pen. This means that Cui Xiaofu tended to Li Yue ascend the throne.

Li Mian's second son Li Yue is the biological father of the current young emperor Li Miao. There seems to be no precedent in history, but it cannot be said that it is absolutely not possible. Li Mian sighed slightly. If he had known that today, why would he have made his grandson the emperor?

If it were in the past, Li Mian would have chosen his son as the emperor without hesitation, but today he hesitated, and he had to consider that his son would face Zhang Huan's force in the future. The role of this emperor was only to prevent Zhang Huan from ascending the throne, which was no different from the former Emperor Xian of Han.

After pondering for a long time, he took out a hat from his arms and handed it to Feng En and said, "Please tell the Queen Mother and let me consider her choice again. I will definitely reply to her tomorrow at the latest."

Feng Endao changed his hat and bowed to Li Mian and said, "Okay, at this time tomorrow, I will wait for the arrival of Shangshu Li on time."

The first person who got the "Jiangdu Incident" was a royal family member who opened a shop in Jiangdu, but this matter soon spread in the court and the country. In the afternoon, almost all the officials in court knew about the store closure incident in Jiangdu. Unexpectedly, most officials agreed with this matter. This not only greatly improved the current situation of the court's financial difficulties, but because of financial difficulties in recent years, the court officials have not been able to raise their salaries for three consecutive years.

The officials complained, and everyone was counting on Zhang Huanxin to consider the welfare of the officials after taking office. Even if there is no salary increase, there should be subsidies such as winter charcoal, carriage and summer vacation expenses! There should also be a little annuity for retired officials, but whether it is a salary increase or a welfare, the prerequisite is that the court's finances must be slightly more abundant. Now, he must have exploited a sum of money from Jiangdu. In this way, there will be hope for a salary increase and there will be hope for welfare.

From another perspective, the officials of the court, especially those middle and low-level officials who were from professional backgrounds, were generally dissatisfied with the Tang Dynasty royal family. This was a typical group of parasites. They never shared the worries of the country, and they were drunk and dreamed and died of nothing all day long. They also tried their best to extract wealth, annex land, and brutal exploitation of tenants, and there were many princes who had more than 10,000 slaves. They gradually shook the foundation of the Tang Dynasty. The number of self-cultivated farmers in the entire Guanzhong area is less than 10% of the Zhenguan period. This is the fundamental reason why the Guanzhong area will be hungry if there is a slight disaster.

Whether Cui Yuan was in power or Pei Jun was in power, their attitude towards the royal family was based on tolerance, and it seemed that they used wealth and interests to exchange for concessions from the Tang Dynasty's royal family to the aristocratic government.

Therefore, when Zhang Huan's iron-fisted methods in Jiangdu were spread to the court and the opposition, not only were few officials frightened, but more officials secretly called for pleasure. In today's world, there are many haters of the rich and more people who hate unevenness.

As the bell rang out of the court, the Danfeng Gate was soon filled with officials returning to the mansion. Everyone greeted each other and made an appointment to go to the restaurant for two drinks. Cui Yu politely declined the warm invitation from several subordinates, and he rushed to Xuanyangfang impatiently.

He had a strong intuition that the Jiangdu incident may be the fuse of the Tang Dynasty's change.

"Sit!" Cui Yuan asked him to sit down with a smile, "What good news did you bring to me?"

"Brother, I heard about the Jiangdu incident!" Cui Yu asked anxiously.

"I knew it last night." Cui Yuan pointed to a pigeon letter on the table and smiled faintly, "Did you forget? Our Cui family also opened a porcelain shop in Jiangdu."

Cui Yu was stunned. He said in surprise: "Has the Qinghe Hall of our Cui family also been sealed?"

"Not only our Cui family, but also the Mingzhufang and Baiyutang of the Pei family were also sealed off. It can be said that the officials and businessmen in Jiangdu were beaten up this time. Zhang Huan's move was obviously planned. I didn't expect that he had this move."

Cui Yuan did not regret that the Cui family store was sealed. On the contrary, he supported Zhang Huan's move. He had been in power for ten years and was well aware of the negative impact of officials and businessmen on the court's finances and the obstacles to the recovery of the Tang Dynasty's national strength. However, he did not have the courage to eradicate this cancer. Zhang Huan took action before he actually took office, which surprised Cui Yuan and was also very pleased that he had not misjudged the person. He was indeed a courageous king.

Thinking of this, Cui Yuan was excited. He straightened his waist and asked Cui Yu with a smile: "What do you think of this Jiangdu incident?"

Cui Yu thought for a while and said, "I think this time he went south to Guangling to play hard to get. He wanted to get but couldn't find an excuse for a while, so he took the initiative to create opportunities for Li Mian. He was worried that Li Mian's power was not strong enough, so he created an incident of seizure of officials and businessmen in Jiangdu, which forced some royal families toward Li Mian."

Speaking of this, Cui Yu sighed, "If I guess correctly, I'm afraid a bloody storm will happen."

Cui Yu thought that Cui Xiaofu might not be spared in this storm, and a trace of gloomy expression appeared in his eyes, but Cui Yuan seemed to have not considered Cui Xiaofu at all. It was no wonder that when Pei Jun attacked the Cui family, when she thought about her elder brother, the three brothers and sisters of the Cui family, Cui Yuan, Cui Qinggong, and Cui Xiaofu, had already parted ways in the cruel power struggles.

"You're right. Zhang Huan's move is a sign of his impending rise. However, if you just think this way, you might be a little underestimated."

Cui Yuan also sighed slightly, "The real intention of his move is to use iron-fisted means to change some of the deep shortcomings of our Tang Dynasty as soon as possible. This Jiangdu incident can be said to be just a test. His idea of ​​making the Tang Dynasty strong is good, and the direction is right, but I am very worried that he will be too hasty and will backfire in some things."

Cui Yuan's concern for the future of the Tang Dynasty Cui Yu did not take much care of Cui Yu. What he cared about was what he should play in Zhang Huan's ascension to the throne this time? Last time, the elder brother also said that he had the greatest contribution to support, so how can he surpass Pei You? This is what he thought about day and night. Cui Yu unfolded the pigeon letter and read it carefully, pondered for a while and said: "The incident in the Jiangdu incident means that the matter of the Chu family has been resolved, so he should return to Chang'an. Li Mian's actions should be in the past few days. So what should we do? Please make clear."

"Do nothing, just watch coldly!" Cui Yuan replied without hesitation.

"Watch?" Cui Yu was shocked, and he said anxiously: "But last time"

"The situation was unclear last time, but now the situation is clear."

Before he could finish his words, Cui Yuan waved his hand and interrupted him, "If he had not made any arrangements until today, then he would not be Zhang Huan, but he did not give us any tips to the Cui family until today. This clearly shows that he does not want the Cui family to participate in this coup. If we participate, he may not be grateful for this, but will become suspicious. We will not be pleased with it, so the best way is to wait and see."

Cui Yu nodded silently, and he stood up and saluted Cui Yuan, "Then I won't disturb my brother's rest, I will say goodbye first."

After saying that, he slowly retreated out of the door and retreated to the door. He turned around and was about to leave, but he heard the eldest brother's instructing, "Second brother, we should not always think about the front of us, we should look at it longer, and we should think about the century-old plan of our Cui family."

Just when the Cui family decided to remain silent in the upcoming palace coup, the Pei family was actively engaged in activities. Pei You had received a secret letter from Zhang Huan. As the future relative of the empress of the Tang Dynasty and as the most influential family, Pei You will play a major role in this incident as the right prime minister of the Tang Dynasty.
Chapter completed!