Tang Dynasty, my wife Wu Zetian

Chapter 194 The Majesty of the Crown Prince

Wu Sansi walked among the ministers with a smile on his face.

He can chat with this person and that person, and can be said to be very versatile.

Among young officials, there are not many who can be so successful. He knows that most of his success is due to his good aunt.

But he also understood that his status as a royal relative could only help him enter officialdom. If he wanted to be granted a title of nobility or become a prime minister and leave his name in history, he would need to work harder.

Just as he was actively cultivating his personal connections, two short men suddenly came over.

"Abemaro, greetings to Takenaonaga." One of them said respectfully.

Wu Sansi glanced at the man and said with a smile, "You are the envoy of Japan, no need to be so polite." He returned a half-bow.

Abemaro introduced Tsu no Kyoshi to Wu Sansi, said three words to him, and then took his leave.

Although he spent a lot of effort to get close to him, Wu Sansi had a special status after all, and the two of them were only friends who could speak a few words to each other.

Wu Sansi continued to move through the crowd. Suddenly, he caught sight of a figure from the corner of his eye. After a slight hesitation, he walked towards the person.

"Isn't this the minister who answered your majesty's dream, Di Shaoqing?" He said with a hint of sarcasm. It was obvious that your position as a fourth-rank official was simply a coincidence that you appeared in the emperor's dream.

Di Renjie glanced at him and said nothing.

Li Yuanfang, standing by, crossed his arms and said calmly, "Isn't this Empress Wu's nephew, Wu Zhichang?"

This means the same thing. If you were not the queen's nephew, you probably wouldn't even be able to be a lieutenant.

Wu Sansi stared at Li Yuanfang for a while, then suddenly laughed and said, "The other Inner Guards are busy everywhere, catching spies and making meritorious deeds, but General Li, a Lang Jiang of the Inner Guards, is working as a follower of Di Shaoqing. I feel sorry for you."

Li Yuanfang glanced at him and said, "Whether I'm in the Imperial Household or the Supreme Court, I'm serving Your Majesty. There's no difference."

Seeing that he was not to be provoked, Wu Sansi snorted and turned away.

As soon as he left, Gao Youdao and the other two came over.

"Brother Di, how did you offend Commander Wu?" Gao Youdao asked.

Di Renjie shook his head and said, "Nothing, just a small matter."

Du Yijian knew that Di Renjie liked to keep everything to himself, so he turned to look at Li Yuanfang and said, "Brother Yuanfang, was it because of your impulsive temper that you started a fight with Wu Sansi?"

Li Yuanfang said, "If I had fought him, he would probably have been unable to get out of bed for months. But I did beat up his ball head."

Lu Zhaolin asked curiously, "Ball head?"

Li Yuanfang said, "A while ago, the Wu Mansion was expanded and renovated, so the polo field couldn't be used. So the polo players from the Wu Mansion went to the outskirts of Chang'an to practice, and ended up trampling a lot of crops."

"The victim went to Chang'an County to file a complaint, but the Chang'an Magistrate didn't dare intervene, so he pushed the matter over to Yongzhou Prefecture. Yongzhou Prefecture also didn't dare intervene, so it was pushed to the Dali Temple."

Du Yijian smiled and said, "I understand. Brother Di is as ruthless as a mountain and will certainly not tolerate such illegal activities."

Li Yuanfang said, "Di Shaoqing arrested the Wufu golfers. They were extremely arrogant and, relying on Wu Sansi's power, they caused trouble in the Dali Temple. I beat them all up with one punch each."

"Later, Wu Sansi came to pick them up, saying there was a football game coming up and we'd let them go to jail after the game. Naturally, we refused and didn't give him face. Wu Sansi has held a grudge ever since."

Gao Youdao snorted, "Just because you're the queen, you can do whatever you want? Brother Di, Brother Li, you did a great job on this!"

Lu Zhaolin was a little worried and said, "After all, he is the Queen's nephew. If I go to the Queen to complain, I'm afraid I'll get into trouble."

Di Renjie said, "Her Majesty the Queen is a sensible person, so there's no need to worry. Forget about Wu Sansi. I heard you all did well in your assessments this year. You're going to be promoted, right?"

Du Yijian smiled and said, "If anyone is to be promoted, it should be Brother Gao. After all, he is the top scorer in the imperial examination, which is different from us."

After a while of chatting and laughing, they soon heard the sound of bells and drums.

Cui Yixuan stood near the Suzaku Gate and shouted, "Enter the court!" So all the officials lined up to enter the Suzaku Gate, then passed through the Chengtian Gate and lined up in the Taiji Hall.

After the reading of the names of the ministers, they entered the palace. Not long after, the emperor arrived in his imperial sedan chair.

Li Ji was still in charge this year. The ministers congratulated the emperor on the New Year. After the procedure was completed, they followed the emperor to the Zhaode Hall for a banquet.

The banquet began soon. First, the ministers toasted Li Zhi, and then the envoys from various countries toasted Li Zhi.

After the toasts were over, Li Zhi asked everyone to drink to their heart's content without restraint, and then they sat down to enjoy the singing and dancing.

Li Zhi sat on the dragon throne, drinking wine and eating mutton while enjoying the Tuozhi dance performed by the dancers from the Shi Kingdom.

At this moment, Wang Fusheng came to his side and whispered, "Your Majesty, Wang Jishan has something to report and is waiting in the side hall."

Li Zhi had a bad feeling in his heart. Reporting things at this time is usually not a good thing.

He stood up and left the main hall and went to the side hall.

Wang Jishan, who was waiting in the side hall, bowed and said, "Your Majesty, an urgent report has come from the outer government of Liangzhou. In mid-December, a coup d'état occurred in Tubo. Deputy Prime Minister Mocha, under the order of the Zamp, has arrested Lu Dongzan and his son."

This was obviously due to the discord between the emperor and his ministers caused by the Suobei Rebellion.

Li Zhi hurriedly asked, "What happened next?"

Wang Jishan said, "Lu Dongzan led his troops into the palace, arrested Mocha and many officials, and forced the Zamp to punish them. Lu Dongzan won the coup, and now all the military and political power in Tubo is in the hands of Lu Dongzan and his son, and the young Zamp has become a puppet."

Li Zhi was not too surprised.

This is a foreseeable result. It is impossible to expect a Zamp who is less than ten years old to deal with Lu Dongzan.

Now Lu Dongzan has completely controlled the Tubo regime. Although it is not known whether he will rebel, no matter what plan he adopts in the future, he will have to face this person directly.

"Has Subi changed in any way?"

Wang Jishan said, "Lu Dongzan promoted Niangbo Jinniao to a higher rank and sent people to appease Dabo Wu. Subi is temporarily stable, but it is only superficial. Niangbo and Dabo are secretly forging weapons and armor."

Li Zhi smiled and said, "Once the seeds of suspicion are planted, they will eventually sprout. Have you told Lord Li about this?"

"Mr. Li already knows."

"How did he arrange it?"

Wang Jishan said, "Lord Li has ordered our people to continue their activities in Subi, using rumors, assassinations, bribes, and other means to sow discord between Niangbo and Luoshui City, and to intensify the conflict between Niangbo and Dapo."

Li Zhi said: "Very good, let's do it."

The Subi area is huge, and unlike Lhasa City, it is much more convenient to move around.

Even though Lu Dongzan knew that the Tang Dynasty was causing trouble, he could do nothing about it.

Of course, the main reason is that the Tang Dynasty was strong and Tubo was weak.

If Niangbo Jinniao senses that Tubo is unreliable, she will attack her and may defect to the Tang Dynasty at any time. The Su-Bi Rebellion is imminent, and preparations for war must be made.

This time Su Dingfang was recalled to Chang'an, and Li Zhi did not plan to send him back to Yingzhou to replace Yuan Shouli and take charge of the Anxi Protectorate.

When the time comes, as long as Tubo is in chaos, Xue Rengui can lead the Tang army and command the Qiang people to advance north from the Baron River.

Su Dingfang led another special force from Anxi to Wuhai and directly attacked the Tubo royal city.

Li Zhi returned to the main hall while planning his attack on Tubo.

At this time, the Tuozhi dance in the main hall had ended and was replaced by a dance music from the Tang Dynasty.

The Kangguo envoy suddenly strode out, kowtowed, and said, "Your Majesty, the Khan of Heaven, I am Kangna, the envoy of Kangguo, and I have something to report!"

Li Zhi raised his hand, signaling a pause in the dance, and said to Kang Na, "What does Envoy Kang want to say?"

Kang Na bowed and said, "Your Majesty, the Arab Empire has captured the capital of Tocharia, and the states of Dabolü and others have also submitted to the Arab Empire. I'm afraid it won't be long before the Arab Empire takes over Tocharia."

Li Zhi frowned slightly and asked, "Is the Arab Empire advancing so quickly?"

Kang Na said, "They used the Turkish cavalry as their vanguard, so they were invincible. The Tocharians couldn't even defeat the Turks, let alone the main force of the Arabs."

Li Zhi was silent for a while, then said, "The Turks you are talking about are the five Dulu tribes that migrated westward?"

Connor said, "That's right."

Li Zhi sighed. He had thought that by driving the Turks away, he could allow them to contain the Arabs, but he didn't expect that he would become the enemy's weapon.

He looked at Pei Xingjian and said, "Mr. Pei, you have been in the Western Regions for a long time. What do you think of this matter?"

Pei Xingjian had originally planned to find an opportunity to report to the emperor, but when he saw Li Zhi asking, he immediately stepped out.

"Your Majesty, it will take at least three years for the Arabs to completely annex Tokharistan. After three years, they will attack Kangguo and Shiguo!"

The tone was very affirmative.

The Shi Kingdom envoy hurriedly said, "Pei Duhu is absolutely right. Our Shi Kingdom is adjacent to Tocharistan. If Tocharistan is destroyed, we will be the next target. Our king worries about this every night!"

Li Zhi pondered in silence. Could he defeat Tubo in three years?

If they cannot deal with it, when the Arab Empire launches an expedition to the east, it will be a bit of a loss.

Around the hour of You, the banquet for all the ministers ended.

The envoys and officials from various countries all left the palace, but the royal family stayed to attend the royal family banquet at the hour of Xu.

Wu Sansi was not a member of the royal family, so he should have resigned.

However, he did not leave the palace towards Changle Gate, but headed towards Lizheng Hall, preparing to pay his respects to Empress Wu.

After arriving at the Lizheng Hall and being informed, he entered the hall.

"I, your nephew Wu Sansi, pay my respects to Her Majesty the Queen." Wu Sansi saluted Wu Meiniang in the main room across the curtain.

Through the gauze curtain, one can vaguely see Wu Meiniang sitting on the couch, holding a baby in her arms, who should be Li Xian.

"What can I do for you?" A cold voice came through the gauze curtain.

Wu Sansi hurriedly said, "Nephew, I have nothing to do. I just came to congratulate you on the New Year's Day."

"Well, you're kind enough. Back off."

Wu Sansi hesitated for a moment and said, "Aunt, I have something else to tell you."

"speak."

Wu Sansi whispered, "A while ago, Minzhi fell ill. My grandmother was extremely worried and sent for many good doctors. But then an ignorant peasant reported the matter to the Dali Temple. And Di Renjie, without knowing the truth, came to the mansion to question him."

"What do you want to ask?" Wu Meiniang raised her voice a little.

"They said we invited a doctor to our home. A family in Pingkangfang had a sick child and couldn't find a doctor. There was a curfew at the time, so they wanted to go to another district for treatment and needed an autopsy. They delayed too long, and the child died, and they blamed us for it."

Wu Meiniang asked, "Is he really dead?"

Wu Sansi sighed, "Yes, it seems like he has an acute illness. Alas, with this kind of emergency, even a doctor probably can't save him. But they're blaming us. Isn't that infuriating?"

Wu Meiniang was silent for a while, then said calmly, "Back off."

Wu Sansi was surprised and asked, "Aunt?"

"I told you to step back, don't you understand?"

These words were full of majesty, and Wu Sansi was startled, so he had to kowtow and leave.

After leaving the main hall, he was about to leave the palace when he heard someone behind him calling, "Cousin Wu."

Wu Sansi turned around and saw a little boy in a yellow robe walking towards him.

"Ah, it's His Royal Highness the Fifth Prince. Wu Sansi greets you." He said with a smile.

Li Hongdao said, "No need to be so polite, cousin. I heard everything you said to mother just now."

Wu Sansi smiled and said, "It's just a trivial matter, Your Highness, don't worry about it."

Li Hong urged, "I recently heard from the King of Wu that servants from the Wu Mansion were bullying the market in Chang'an City, and some players were trampling on crops. Is this true?"

Wu Sansi's face changed as he said, "This...I'm afraid that the young King Wu just heard it from someone else. It can't be taken seriously. The people in the Wu Mansion are very well behaved and never bully others by taking advantage of their power."

Li Hong blinked and said, "Then why did you say bad things about Di Renjie in front of mother?"

Children speak bluntly. Wu Sansi was choked and speechless for a moment. After a while, he smiled and said, "I was just mentioning my grandmother and Di Renjie in passing. I didn't mean to say anything bad about him."

Li Hong took out a booklet from his collar and handed it to Wu Sansi.

"Cousin, this is a book written by my mother. Please read it when you have time after you return."

When Wu Sansi took it and looked at it, he was shocked to find that it was the "Edict to Relatives by Marriage" written by Wu Meiniang.

I looked up at Li Hong, only to see him staring at me with his big eyes, clearly black and white.

At this moment, Wu Sansi actually felt a bit of the majesty of the crown prince from the fifth prince.

He respectfully accepted the Imperial Instructions and said, "I will study it carefully when I return home."

After bowing deeply, he left quickly.

(End of this chapter)