Tang Dynasty, my wife Wu Zetian

Chapter 180 The Wu Sisters
The next afternoon, Li Zhi heard that Wu Ruyi had entered the palace. After all, he was worried, so he went to Lizheng Hall.

Wu Meiniang was waiting for her sister in the outer hall. She was quite surprised to see Li Zhi suddenly arrive and asked, "Your Majesty, why are you here?"

Li Zhi walked in with a smile and said, "I'm worried about you, so I came to take a look."

Wu Meiniang smiled and said, "I know Your Majesty cares about Ruyi, but if you are here, there are many things I cannot say."

"It's okay, I'll just listen inside." Li Zhi waved his hand and went straight into the inner room.

Wu Meiniang had no choice but to let him do as he pleased.

Not long after, Zhang Duohai brought Wu Ruyi to the outer hall.

After the greetings, Wu Ruyi smiled and asked, "Sister, why did you summon me to the palace?"

Wu Meiniang waved her hand, and Zhang Duohai left with all the palace maids and eunuchs and closed the door.

Wu Ruzhi saw that Wu Meiniang had a serious expression and looked a little surprised.

"Sister, what happened?"

Wu Meiniang walked slowly to the incense burner, extinguished the incense in the burner, and asked casually, "Ruyi, when you were in Bingzhou, did you find anything wrong with Guo Xiaoshen?"

Wu Ruyi's face paled slightly. "What do you mean, sister?"

Wu Meiniang still had her back to her.

"For example, does he often stay out all night?"

Wu Ruyi's face turned pale. After a long silence, she lowered her head and asked, "Sister, do you already know?"

This time it was Wu Meiniang's turn to be surprised. She turned her head and stared at her sister.

"Do you know she has a woman outside?"

Wu Ruyi muttered, "I also know that my sister doesn't allow him to take a concubine."

Wu Meiniang said coldly: "Did he tell you?
Wu Ruyi whispered, "I guessed it myself. Since he can't take a concubine, he can only keep women outside. I don't blame him."

Wu Meiniang was furious: "Are you blaming me?"

Just then, a cough was heard from the inner room.

Wu Ruyi was stunned for a moment and turned to look at the inner room.

"Sister, is there anyone inside?"

When Wu Meiniang heard Li Zhi speak, she suppressed her anger and coughed, saying, "Uh, there's an old eunuch cleaning the house inside. Let's not talk about this anymore. I want to ask you, what are you going to do in the future?"

Wu Ruyi looked up at her and said, "Sister, I want to ask you something first. Am I infertile?"

Wu Meiniang looked away and said, "Who told you that? Did he tell you that?"

Wu Ruyi whispered, "He didn't tell me. This was just my guess. Now I can finally confirm it." As she spoke, her voice choked with sobs.

Wu Meiniang sighed and said, "Ruyi, don't worry. My sister will send someone to have a child with Guo Xiaoshen and recognize you as the mother."

Wu Ruyi's face suddenly changed color. He looked up and stared at her closely, saying, "You, you summoned him into the palace yesterday to tell him these words?"

"Yes, he has agreed." Wu Meiniang said lightly.

Wu Ruyi said angrily: "Why did you treat him like this? Why can you be so cruel?"

Wu Meiniang raised her eyebrows and said, "I'm doing this for your own good!"

Wu Ruyi cried, "I don't need you to do good for me, and I don't need you to care about me anymore. Sister, please let us go!"

Wu Meiniang asked angrily, "What did you say?"

Just then, another cough was heard from the inner room.

Wu Meiniang glanced towards the inner room, took a deep breath, and said softly, "Ruyi, I'm just discussing it with him. If you don't agree, I won't force him."

Wu Ruyi looked at her with tears in her eyes and said, "Really?"

Wu Meiniang pulled her to sit beside her and said softly, "I just want to help you. If you don't want to, I won't force you."

Wu Ruyi wiped her tears and asked cautiously, "Then can you allow him to take a concubine?"

Wu Meiniang said in a deep voice: "Ruyi, if he takes a concubine and has a child, your position in the mansion will be unstable in the future."

Wu Ruyi said softly, "Don't worry, sister. As long as you don't force him anymore, I will have my own ways to consolidate my position in the family."

Wu Meiniang scrutinized her expression for a moment before she said, "In that case, I won't interfere anymore. If you have any requests in the future, just come to me."

Wu Ruyi said happily, "Thank you, sister!"

Wu Meiniang added, "Remember to remind him when you return not to associate with the Gu family anymore, to avoid getting into trouble."

Wu Ruyi was shocked and said quickly, "I will warn him."

"Then you go back." Wu Meiniang closed her eyes.

Wu Ruyi stared at Wu Meiniang and saw that she looked a little tired. Her heart ached and she suddenly hugged her tightly and buried her head in her chest. Wu Meiniang smiled and said, "What are you doing?"

Wu Ruyi whispered, "I just said something that was hurtful to me. I hope I won't be angry."

Wu Meiniang smiled and said, "It's okay, it's also my fault for being too impatient."

Wu Ruyi smiled sweetly at her, bowed, and left the hall.

Wu Meiniang hurried to the inner room, only to see Li Zhi lying on her couch, reading a book on medicinal food in his hand, looking very leisurely.

"Your Majesty, thank you for your reminder just now." Wu Meiniang walked over and sat down beside him, saying softly.

Li Zhi laughed and said, "Mei Niang, this is the first time I've heard you angry. I have to say, it's really scary."

Wu Meiniang said angrily, "Your Majesty is making fun of me again!"

Li Zhi sat up, hugged her in his arms, and said with a smile: "You dared to say that I am an old eunuch just now. You are very brave. I will punish you."

Wu Meiniang laughed sweetly and said, "What else can I say? I can't say that Your Majesty is a woman, can I?"

Li Zhi picked up Wu Meiniang by the waist, placed her on the couch, and began to undress, saying with a smile, "In short, I must teach you a lesson today."

Wu Meiniang lay on her side on the bed, her eyes as charming as silk, and said with a smile: "Then your majesty must hurry, Hong'er will be back soon."

The gauze curtain was quickly lowered, and soon, Wu Meiniang's voice begging for mercy was heard from behind the tent.

Three months later, the Dali Temple runners broke into the Gu Mansion and the Wang Mansion respectively, and arrested the Gu father and son and the head of the Wang family and took them to the Dali Prison.

In addition to them, a head of the Ministry of Revenue was also arrested.

Guo Xiaoshen was reminded by Wu Ruyi and did not get involved in this matter.

Originally, Gu Wenzhang wanted to use the mistress as a handle to force Guo Xiaoshen to submit, but he didn't expect that Guo Xiaoshen had already confessed to Wu Ruyi and was not threatened at all.

The Gu father and son had no choice but to find an official from the Ministry of Revenue and bribe him with money to cover up their business.

Because of this, the head of the Ministry of Revenue was also implicated.

……

Tianshan Mountains, the Uighur king's tent.

Bilidu was in a tent, watching his lynx fight a black wolf.

A Tiele general came into the tent and said in a deep voice, "Great Chief, we've found out that the group of Tang people who wanted to cooperate with us were captured by the Tang emperor, so they didn't come to collect the goods!"

Bi Li Du snorted coldly, "Useless! I knew they were unreliable!"

More than two months ago, some Tang people came to the Uighur headquarters and proposed to cooperate with Bilidu. The Uighurs would open a coal mine in the northernmost part, and the Tang people would be responsible for selling it to various regions, with the two sides splitting the profits 50-50.

In addition, there was also trade in furs, horses and gems.

Bi Li Du wanted to rebel against the Tang Dynasty, but he was very short of funds. Moreover, the other party was doing it without the knowledge of the Tang Emperor, which was exactly what he wanted. After being persuaded by one of his subordinates, he agreed.

Unexpectedly, the other party was caught just after the mine was mined, and all the work was in vain.

The Uighur general said, "Great Chief, the Sijie tribe has been delayed for two months due to mining. They are short of food this winter. Sijie hopes you can give his tribe 500 sheep and 300 cattle."

Bi Li Du sneered, "Initially, I didn't agree to trade with the Tang people. He persuaded me to do business with them and even rushed to mine. Now that the deal has failed, I haven't come to him to settle the score, and he still dares to ask me for cattle and sheep?"

The Uighur general laughed and said, "That's right, just ignore him."

At this moment, there was a sound of "woooo" and the black wolf was grabbed by the throat by the lynx. After struggling for a while, its body straightened and it became a corpse.

Bi Li Du said in a deep voice, "If those foolish Tang people are arrested, I'm afraid our illegal mining will be exposed. Order people to fill up the mining area."

The Uighur general said, "Yes."

Bi Li Du asked again, "By the way, have the people sent to Chang'an to investigate returned? Is Runpo really still in Chang'an?"

The Uighur general said, "Yes, but he seems a little wary. He always takes a few people with him when he goes out. I suspect he already knows that the entire tribe has pledged allegiance to you."

Bi Li Du said calmly, "After all, he has been the chief for several years. He still has some confidants in the tribe. It's not surprising that they secretly pass on information to him."

The Uighur general said, "We're afraid he'll report us to the Tang emperor."

Bi Li Du sneered, "He won't, unless he no longer wants to be the chief."

The Uighur general nodded.

If Runpo denounces Bilidu, he will be hated by the entire tribe. Even if Bilidu dies in the future, no one will support him as the chief.

Bi Li Du said, "That being said, it's still better to be cautious. Send a message to all tribes to prepare for war and prevent a surprise attack from the Tang people!"

The Uighur general said, "Great Chieftain, why don't we strike first? With the support of the Qarluk tribe, attacking from both east and west, can't we defeat the 20,000 Tang troops?"

Bi Li Du said coldly: "I told you a long time ago that before the Tang people and Tubo start fighting, we must be patient. Otherwise, even if we kill this group of Tang soldiers, more Tang soldiers will come!"

The Uighur general bowed his head and said, "Yes, I understand."

(End of this chapter)