Chapter 385 The final contest (Part 1)

The news of the assassin appearing in the governor's mansion immediately caused a sensation in the city. Although the envoy behind the assassin could not be found, many people guessed that this matter was probably related to what Zhang Huan did in Jiangdu. This was obviously a retaliation murder case. Without any clues, many people unconsciously turned their eyes to the Ten Kings House, where countless royal families who were hit hard in the "Jiangdu Incident" lived, and they were the biggest suspects.

At dusk, a carriage was parked in front of the Luo Palace. Li Mian bowed his head and came out of the carriage. A guard quickly ran up the steps and bowed to the doorman and said, "Please tell the prince, Li Shangshu is here to visit!"

Before the guards finished speaking, the family members who were guarding the door had already left. The Luo Palace was the house of Li Qiu, the minister of Zongzheng Temple. Since the outbreak of the Jiangdu incident, Li Qiu has not been to court for several days. He was angry and hated and fell ill.

The reason for his illness was the same as that of all the royal families. His three shops in Jiangdu were sealed off, and his losses were extremely heavy, much heavier than any royal family.

He had a cellar in Jiangdu's shop. All the 300,000 taels of gold that he had not had time to transport back were detained. This was the income of his mansion for three years, including more than 30 farms and 100,000 hectares of grain for several years. In recent years, he had transported more than 3 million guan to Jiangdu and exchanged it for gold. He originally planned to transport it back to Chang'an last year, but the war broke out in the Central Plains. Just when he was preparing to start the fortune next month, the Jiangdu incident suddenly broke out. One or two taels of gold contained in nearly a hundred boxes was dragged away, and there was no receipt left. How could Li Qiu not be angry?

Li Qiu lay straight on the bed, staring at the tent with dementia. His fat body shrank sharply like his wealth in the past two days. Three hundred thousand taels of gold were gone. His heart was in pain like a knife and a sword pierced. "The cunning rabbit dies, and the lackeys cook!" This is a sentence he always kept on his lips these two days.

"Zhang Huan!" Li Qi gritted his teeth and cursed: "You are thousands of times worse than Cui Xiaofu!"

At this time, a slight footsteps came from outside, and his butler whispered at the door: "Master, Shangshu Li is asking for a meeting."

"Which Shangshu Li?" Li Qiu was very slow in his mind. He couldn't remember who the Shangshu in the court was.

"It is Lord Li Mian, Minister of Rites."

"Li Mian?" Li Qi sat up, and there was a dizziness in front of him. He waited for the dizziness to disappear, and immediately said to his subordinates: "Please invite Shangshu Li to my inner study room, don't neglect it."

Li Mian sent someone to send him a message the night before yesterday, inviting him to go to the house to have a party yesterday, but he didn't go because he still had some old love for Zhang Huan. In fact, he had no affection for Zhang Huan at all, but he just wanted to use him to teach Cui Xiaofu a lesson in killing her son. Unexpectedly, he failed to use it, and the backbone was broken by someone.

This is why he refused to go to Li Mian to attend the party. He wanted face. He didn't want others to know how much he lost. The 300,000 taels of gold was taken away. Wouldn't it make those princes who usually talked coldly to him laugh out loud?

But Li Mian came to the mansion in person to see him differently. He was eager to take revenge on Zhang Huan. Fortunately, he didn't know about the assassination case of Zhang Huan's mansion, otherwise he would have laughed a few times and drank a few pots of old wine to celebrate in one breath. Li Qi put on a coat randomly and walked towards the inner study with the support of several concubines.

Li Mian was led to Li Qi's inner study room and looked at the most expensive and most debaucherous study room in the Tang Dynasty with his hands behind his back. The furniture was all red sandalwood, and the bed of the imperial concubine that Yang Guifei lying there was placed on the corner of the wall. On the table, Emperor Minghuang of Tang used a Ruyi pen to paint Yang Guifei's eyebrows, but Li Mian was not looking at this, but several calligraphy and paintings on the wall.

On the wall is Wu Daozi's "Ten Fingers Zhong Kui Picture", with a vigorous pen tip. This is Wu Daozi's original origin. During the Anshi Rebellion, he was snatched from a scholar by Li Qiu with twenty coins. Next to it is the original work of "Jiangjinjiu" written by Li Bai and Zhang Xu's "Champion Post" were hung next to it. These are rare treasures, but unfortunately they were obtained by Li Qiu, the idiot.

To be lewd refers to the way Li Qiu keeps warm in winter. He doesn't like to smell the charcoal fire, so he ordered twenty-six concubines to take off their clothes and sit around him in a circle, using popularity to keep warm, the beautiful name is the meat screen, the place is right on the couch of the imperial concubine beside Li Mian.

If it weren't for the overall situation, Li Mian would never have come to visit Li Qi. Li Mian sighed and tried to sit far away from the dirty spring couch.

He wanted to drink a little tea, but his hand suddenly shrank back. Even the tea cup in front of him was dazzling, and it was covered with diamonds as big as fingers.

"Does Li Shangshu like this teacup? If you like it, I'll give it to you."

Suddenly, Li Qi's muffled sound came from behind him, as if he had a cold and had a blocked nose. Li Mian quickly stood up and bowed and smiled, "This teacup is worth at least, how dare I ask for it?"

Li Qiu sat down with his eyes narrowed, his eyelids swollen, and only a thin slit was exposed. He shook his head gently and said, "Zhang Huan took me 300,000 taels of gold in Jiangdu. If he could avenge this, what is a tea cup?"

"Three hundred thousand taels of gold." Li Mian's eyes suddenly widened. He heard that Li Qi had lost three stores, but he didn't expect it to be 300,000 gold. Li Mian looked at Li Qi incredibly. What does 300,000 taels of gold mean? The official price is 3 million guan and the black market price is nearly 5 million guan. This is the annual fiscal revenue of the Tang Dynasty!

No wonder some people say that King Guangwu is the richest, but King Guangwu says that his money is not worth a finger of Li Qiu, and it is indeed not worthy of false reputation.

"It's 300,000 taels of gold. This is my income for three years, and it's gone in one go." Li Qiu didn't seem to feel the complexity of Li Mian's mood. His teeth suddenly chewed, and his fist punched the table hard. His squinting eyes suddenly opened, revealing the red bloodshot inside. He growled like a beast: "Tell me! How do you want me to help you? I have money, and I have people too!"

Li Mian didn't expect victory to come so easily. He couldn't use a lot of speeches he prepared. He shook his head gently, took out a booklet from his arms, and pushed it to Li Qiu and said: "This is the signature of ninety-seven royal families, including me and the Queen Mother. We unanimously decided to change the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty immediately. There are now three shortlists, one is King Guangwu Li Chenghong, one is King Xingyang Li Shen, and the other is Your Highness, you."

"Emperor of the Tang Dynasty!" Li Qiu's heart seemed to stop beating suddenly. This was the holy object he had dreamed of since childhood. It may be a desire for power for others, but it has extremely special significance for Li Qiu.

Li Qiu's biological father was Li Ying, the first prince of Emperor Xuanzong Li Longji. He was deposed in the 25th year of Kaiyuan and was killed immediately. Li Qiu was adopted to his sonless uncle Li Cong. After Li Ying's death, he was supposed to be the eldest son Li Cong to succeed the throne, but his third son Li Heng broke out and took away the throne, which was later Suzong. Therefore, whether it was his biological father or adoptive father, Li Qiu had two chances to ascend the throne, but his fate played a cruel joke, pushing his youngest son to the throne, and then disappeared.

But now Li Mian suddenly proposed to be the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty, and his eyes became blank. After a long time, he swallowed and asked, "Li Chenghong and Li Shen are both popular, why do you want to find me?"

"You three are equal in the prestige in the royal family, but Li Chenghong is already seventy years old. I am worried that he will not be the emperor for a few years, and Li Shennian is good at being strong. But he is only the prince now. He must be promoted to prince before he can ascend the throne. There is no time to go up, so he can only consider Prince Luo."

"I'll do it!" An electric current rushed through Li Qiu's brain, his face flushed and he frowned without hesitation: "I'm willing to take over as the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty."

He had been thirsty for too long, and had been hungry and food, so he didn't care about any consequences.

A trace of undetectable smugness flashed in Li Mian's eyes. He nodded solemnly and lowered his voice: "Then we will make a decision. The location of the clan meeting is in Taimiao, and the time is acquired..."

Li Mian left, Li Qi paced back and forth in the study with his hands behind his back. Although he had calmed down a little, he did not regret agreeing to ascend the throne. Of course, Zhang Huan would be furious. At worst, he could give him power. Li Qi didn't want to work hard all day long. All he wanted was an emperor's false reputation. Zhang Huan wanted power, and he wanted name. The two did not conflict. Could it be that Zhang Huan would kill the monarch for a useless emperor?

What he really cares about was the credibility of what Li Mian said to have made him ascend the throne. After all, Li Mian came very abruptly and was determined the day after tomorrow. Time was very rushed. He was very worried that this was a conspiracy between Li Mian and Cui Xiaofu, which made him happy in the end.

Li Qiu thought for a whole hour and said that it was the most suitable for him to ascend the throne. On the one hand, his bloodline was the most pure and the most prestige among the royal family. Moreover, he had the Zongzheng Temple. If he wanted to succeed in the Taimiao, he would have to nod. In addition, his financial resources were also extremely strong, with 100,000 hectares of land and 40,000 slaves in his hand. After thinking about it, no one could be more suitable for being the new emperor.

Li Qiu was about to leave the study room, but he suddenly found a letter in the place where Li Mian had just sat, which seemed to be lost by Li Mian. He picked it up curiously, and saw the six words "His Royal Highness of Luo" written on the letter. Li Qiu unfolded the letter, but was stunned for a moment. It was actually an apology letter written by Cui Xiaofu to him.
Chapter completed!