The film and television world begins with the battle for the throne in Kowloon

Chapter 694 Wei Zheng's Action
"Sell the horse, sell the horse!"

At this time, a soldier wearing Tang army standard armor walked into the horse market, pulling a strong warhorse into the horse market, shouting as he walked: "Everyone come and take a look, a warhorse worth fifty gold coins, look at this unicorn belly, tiger chest, and tail like a hanging broom."

"This is the warhorse of the Flying Tiger Army. Normally, you can't buy it for a hundred gold coins. Today, I'm in urgent need of money. I can take it away for only fifty gold coins. It can be said that there is no such good horse in the entire West Market. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

"Don't miss it if you pass by, come and have a look!"

The soldiers' shouts instantly attracted the crowd's attention, and even many horse dealers gathered around. Some people reached out to touch the horses' bellies and legs, looked at their teeth, and immediately there was a constant stream of exclamations of praise.

"It is indeed a good horse, the best horse from the Western Regions."

But most people just watched. Although they praised the horses lavishly, no one paid for them because they were concerned about the other party calling them "Flying Tiger Army war horses."

This is a military horse!

On the one hand, it makes everyone jealous, but at the same time, some are afraid that it may come from illegal sources and cause trouble.

The commotion here immediately attracted the attention of Li Ke and Quan Wanji, who had been walking around for the whole morning. The two frowned and watched for a while. Quan Wanji's eyes turned dimly, and he encouraged with a gloating look: "Your Highness, look, the East Palace has trained so many soldiers that they even sold their war horses."

"If the emperor knew about this, I'm afraid the prince would be in big trouble."

Li Ke's eyes moved for a moment, then he shook his head and asked, "Wan Ji, how is Hu Lixian doing?"

"Your Highness, more than ten days have passed. The Flying Tiger Army has already recruited its full quota of soldiers and is now training in the Western Inner Courtyard."

At this point, Quan Wanji's face lit up, and he continued to talk: "That prince is really bold! Hu Lixian was actually appointed as the inspector of the Lieutenant Colonel, and the other four Zhou Yande, Liang Sijin, Luo Ensheng, and Liu Renzha were also Lieutenant Colonel."

"These people belong to the King of Wei, the King of Qi, Changsun Shunde, and the King of Lu. According to Hu Lixian's investigation, they all paid a lot of money to buy their positions. And their ideas are similar to the prince's. They sold the military positions of all sizes at different prices."

"If this matter were exposed, it would shock the entire court. It can be said to be the biggest corruption case since the founding of the Tang Dynasty. Even the Eastern Palace cannot cover it up."

At this point, Quan Wanji beamed with joy: "Your Highness, there is no time to hesitate. Since the East Palace has swallowed the bait, I suggest that it is time to raise the rod. I heard that Zhangsun Wuji will be back soon. He is a man with sharp ears and eyes. If he knows in advance, I am afraid he will find a way to resolve it."

Li Ke thought for a while, then a smug smile appeared on his face: "In that case, I will go to the Prince of Wei's mansion tonight. The grand court meeting will be held in a few days. Then I will invite Li You's people to make trouble together in the court, and strive to decide the outcome in one battle and drive my good brother out of the East Palace."

"However, before going to Prince Wei's Palace, we have to go to Wei Zheng's Palace and let him lead the way for us. Wei Zheng is an upright person with a strong character. If he takes the lead, the emperor will not suspect us."

"Well, I think we should start with the Flying Tigers' sale of war horses. Old Wei hates this kind of thing the most. If he learns about this, he will explode immediately and fire the first shot regardless of the consequences."

"Hehehe, Your Highness is wise!" Quan Wanji gave a thumbs up and said with a smile on his face.

An hour later!

The Commander's Tent of the Flying Tiger Army in the Western Inner Courtyard
"Wei Zheng, others may be afraid of you, but I, Duan Tong, am not." A loud shout came from the mouth of a sturdy, fiery veteran wearing bright armor.

Duan Tong stared at Wei Zheng, who was standing opposite him with an equally angry look on his face.

However, Duan Tong was obviously a little timid because he was lying on top of his son Duan Ping, who was tied up in military uniform and kneeling on the ground with a shameful look on his face.

Duan Ping's nickname was Duan Dabing, but this Dabing did not mean that he was brave and fearless in fighting on the battlefield. Instead, he relied on the support of his father Duan Tong, who was a bandit and had served as Li Shimin's guard, and had been eating, drinking, gambling, whoring, and bullying the weak on the streets of Chang'an since he was a child.

Especially after his four elder brothers died in the Battle of Bianqiao a few years ago while defending Chang'an City, Li Shimin was moved by the loyalty of the Duan family and took extra care of them. With the support of the emperor, Duan Dare acted even more recklessly, and every now and then he would be reported to the emperor by Jingzhao Yin for making mistakes.

Li Shimin personally came forward to exonerate him on no less than three occasions.

So this time Duan Tong was ruthless and asked the emperor to send Duan Dadan to the Flying Tiger Army, hoping to use the strict rules of the army to restrain Duan Ping and let his son get rid of his playboy style as soon as possible so that he could inherit the Duan family's legacy. Duan Dadan was unlucky. He met Li Shimin and Li Yan, who played a double act. The Flying Tiger Army was corrupt and had loose military discipline. There were no rules at all. In addition, many princes intervened, and it became a battleground for the princes to fight for the throne.

From the very beginning, the atmosphere was chaotic and corrupt. After only ten days, the barracks were in chaos with people drinking, gambling, fighting and making trouble all day long. They almost called the young ladies from the brothel to play in the barracks.

Duan Dabing was originally worried about the strict military discipline, which would make him have to work very hard, but he didn't expect that the famous Flying Tigers were like this. It was like a fish in the sea and a bird in the sky. They had a lot of fun all day long and completely forgot about military rules and discipline.

Li Yan, the Flying Tiger General, didn't care and only came to the military camp once every ten days or so. At the beginning, several Lieutenant Generals went to the East Palace every day to report the situation to the prince, but they went early in the morning every time, and only when the sun was high in the sky would Li Yan come out of the bedroom, yawning and looking sleepy, to perfunctorily report.

Every time he looked unhappy as if his sweet dreams were disturbed. Seeing that the prince was so indifferent, several lieutenant generals with ulterior motives followed suit and completely let themselves go.

Now only Liu Rengui was not affected. He performed his duties conscientiously and still went to the East Palace to meet Li Yan every day. No matter how late Li Yan got up, he would wait meticulously and report military intelligence.

The last time Li Yan came to inspect the situation, he found that Liu Rengui's rear guard of 2,000 soldiers was still in good shape, training from dawn to dusk all day long, while the other guards were in a mess, so he simply transferred Liu Rengui's rear guard to the front army to keep up appearances, guard the Flying Tiger camp, and show the military appearance to the outside world.

The other guards were left to their own devices, hiding in the back where no one could see them.

But how could such a cover-up fool outsiders? The inner workings of the Flying Tiger Army were probably known to the important officials of the court. However, the princes' men did not report it, and the others did not want to offend the prince, so they pretended not to see it.

Today, the King of Shu reported to Wei Zheng the matter that Duan Dadan gambled in the military camp and resold military supplies and horses after losing the bet.

Wei Zheng, who was upright in character, could no longer bear it and no longer cared about the prince's face. He took people to the West Market to catch Duan Dadan who was selling war horses. However, Duan Dadan relied on the support of Duan Tong and the emperor and did not take Wei Zheng seriously. He also mocked Wei Zheng for meddling in other people's business.

Wei Zheng became even angrier, and took Duan Dadan directly to the Flying Tiger Army's central military headquarters, demanding that the prince handle the incident.

In addition, Li Ke was not idle. After seeing Wei Zheng taking action, he sent someone to notify Duan Tong, the general of the Right Guard among the Sixteen Guards, in order to make fun of the prince.

When Duan Tong learned about it, he left his military duties and rushed to the Flying Tiger Army tent to rescue his son. After a few words, he started quarreling with Wei Zheng in the general's tent.

Duan Tong had been in the army for a long time, but he knew that gambling in the military camp would result in thirty lashes of the cane, and reselling military supplies after losing the bet was an aggravated crime, punishable by death.

Li Yan had known that this scene would happen today, and he came to the military camp early in the morning, which was a rare opportunity. Wearing the mighty armor of the Flying Tiger General, he was waiting in the commander's tent to listen to the work reports of several Lieutenant Generals. All the officials above the rank of Lieutenant General were in a meeting in the tent, and Wei Zheng and Duan Tong rushed in with Duan Dadan.

After some arguing, everyone understood what had happened.

Hu Lixian, the General of the Vanguard, was even more ashamed. Duan Dabing was one of his vanguard troops. Hu Lixian certainly knew how bad the Flying Tiger Army's discipline was now. This was all due to his own connivance. Except for Liu Rengui's rear guard, the situation of the other guards was similar.

Although he knew that something would happen sooner or later, since it happened in his own vanguard and in front of all the officers in the camp, the other three guards' generals also looked gloating. Hu Lixian did not dare to show up, and like the others, he stepped aside, giving the place to Wei Zheng and Duan Tong, pretending not to know Duan Dadaner.

Li Yan was sitting at the top, and when he saw this scene, he glanced at Hu Lixian meaningfully. The other quickly lowered his head, not daring to look at him directly.

Facing Duan Tong's intimidation, Wei Zheng glared at him fearlessly: "Duan, this is the Flying Tiger Army's barracks, not your private residence. It's not your turn to shout and scream here."

Wei Zheng glanced at Duan Tong coldly, then clasped his fists towards Li Yan and said, "Your Highness, I brought this person to you. According to the military law of the Tang Dynasty, gambling in the military camp is punishable by at least thirty strokes of the cane. If you lose and then resell military supplies, you will be sentenced to death. The emperor has given you the seal of commander, so how do you manage the troops?"

"Then how can we preserve the Tang Dynasty?"

Li Yan knew that Duan Tong was a weak man, and that he threatened Wei Zheng to show his strength and shock himself, so as to plead for Duan Tong. However, Wei Zheng was relentless, not only reprimanding Duan Tong, but also citing the emperor and the Tang Dynasty law, which showed his love for him.

He wanted to focus all the blame and hatred of Duan Tong on himself so as to prevent the Crown Prince from complaining. This was indeed a well-intentioned move.

Thinking of this, Li Yan pretended to be embarrassed for a while, then reached out to take the token on the table with a serious expression.
(End of this chapter)