Tang Dynasty, my wife Wu Zetian

Chapter 329 Empress Wu's Two-Pronged Strategy
After the King of Yue left, the King of Han called over the chief clerk who was staying at the capital and asked him, "Has the King of Lu entered the capital?"

The chief clerk said, "Your Majesty, His Royal Highness the Prince of Lu arrived in the capital at the beginning of November."

King Han frowned immediately.

In previous years, Prince Lu Li Lingkui arrived in Kyoto later than him, but this year he was so impatient that he arrived in Kyoto in early November, which easily aroused suspicion.

"Go and ask him to come over."

The King of Lu had been waiting for the King of Han in the palace these days. When he heard that the King of Han had invited him over, he rode a fast horse to visit the King of Han's palace.

Li Yuanjia brought Prince Lu to the secret room and said in a deep voice, "Why did you come to the capital so early this year? Doesn't this arouse suspicion?"

Prince Lu snorted, "I also wanted to come and see what kind of chaos Chang'an would be in without the emperor. Hey, it's really disappointing."

Li Yuanjia glanced at him and said, "I heard two things on the way to Beijing."

Prince Lu said, "I know. You must have heard about the assassination of Zhangsun Wuji and the theft of the Eastern Palace talisman, right?"

Li Yuanjia said: "Yes, are there any follow-up to these two incidents?"

Prince Lu shook his head and said, "No, Zhangsun Wuji is still alive and well. After the incident at the Eastern Palace, Li Ji decommissioned all the stolen tokens and ordered the Chief of Works to create a new batch of replacements overnight. The efforts of those who stole the tokens were in vain."

Li Yuanjia asked, "Hasn't Li Ji been ill at home, ignoring government affairs? Why is he suddenly so active?"

Prince Lu snorted, "I heard that after the Emperor left the capital, he attended court every day and often went to the East Palace to give lectures to the Crown Prince. He's very energetic!"

Li Yuanjia pondered and said, "The emperor must have given him some instructions before leaving the capital."

Prince Lu said, "It's really strange. The emperor's reforms have violated the interests of so many people, but now that the emperor is gone, these people are still behaving well!"

Li Yuanjia said calmly, "Ever since Wang Liwu was deposed, the entire court has been in turmoil. Those who have managed to stay in Chang'an City are all powerful figures who can remain patient. Even if these people want to plot something, they won't easily reveal any signs."

Prince Lu's eyes lit up and he said, "You mean, they've been plotting in secret, but haven't acted yet?"

Li Yuanjia said, "I don't know. But in this situation, no matter who wants to do something, they must be very careful and not be easily discovered."

Prince Lu smiled and said, "That's true. Just like our plan, no one knows."

Li Yuanjia said in a deep voice, "That's not necessarily true. The King of Yue came to see me just now and noticed that Meng Lei was not with me."

Prince Lu was surprised and asked, "Will he not be aware of our plan?"

King Han said, "That shouldn't be the case, otherwise his temptation wouldn't be so mild."

Prince Lu hurriedly asked, "Brother, has Meng Lei sent any news? Has the emperor arrived in Hedong?"

King Han shook his head and said, "I don't know either. I didn't dare let him watch directly, for fear of being discovered by the Imperial Guards. I entrusted it to the Green Forest bandits to do it. After the work was done, they were all killed, so there would be no future trouble."

Prince Lu sighed, "You are always so cautious in your actions. I believe the Emperor has already passed Jingxing. Now it depends on whether he will go to Mobei."

After hearing this, the King of Han remained silent.

King Lu then asked, "Should we send people to the Eastern Turks?"

King Han said, "I have already sent them on my way to the capital."

Prince Lu was surprised and said, "Didn't we agree to wait until we were sure the emperor had gone to Hedong before sending people to find the Turks? Why are you in such a hurry?"

The King of Han said in a deep voice, "The King of Yue is watching me in secret. I am afraid that if I send someone to him after entering the capital, he will find out."

Prince Lu nodded, a hint of trepidation on his face, and said, "Brother, do you think the Turks will agree to take action?"

King Han said, "As long as the emperor goes to Mobei, I believe Wen Fu will agree. The Turks love adventure, and this man is ambitious. He will never let go of such a godsend opportunity!"

Prince Lu rubbed his hands and said, "That's good. As long as the emperor dies in Mobei, it will be much easier to deal with the little prince in Chang'an City!"

The King of Han was not so optimistic.

Even if the emperor went to Mobei, he would still be accompanied by Xue Rengui and more than 10,000 guards. Even if the Turks took action, they might not succeed.

Furthermore, even if the Turks succeeded, they would not necessarily kill the emperor, but would use him as a bargaining chip to negotiate with the Tang Dynasty.

The best case scenario is that the emperor died in the melee, but even so, there are still a group of ministers left by the emperor in the court.

He had tried to win over people like Li Ji, Cheng Zhijie, and Yuchi Gong, but to no avail.

These old ministers are content with stability and will definitely support the young prince, stabilize Chang'an, and will not let him take the throne easily.

Taking all these factors into consideration, his chances of success are less than 10% in 100.

This is the difficulty of seeking the supreme position. It is no exaggeration to say that it is a life-or-death struggle.

We have done everything we can. Now we can only take it one step at a time and see whether the emperor will go to Mobei.

……

After Li Zhi's patrol team left Jingxing, they camped near Yangquan County.

Yangquan County was called "Yangquan" in ancient times. As the name suggests, there are many springs here, many of which are hot springs, making it an excellent place for recuperation.

There is also a coal mine in Yangquan County, which is also the focus of Li Zhi's inspection. Therefore, after entering Yangquan County, he ordered to set up camp at the foot of Taihang Mountain.

Early that morning, Li Zhi took people to visit the coal mine, and only brought an official from the Ministry of Revenue with him.

The remaining officials gathered in a fairly large tent to deal with various reports sent from Chang'an.

Their task was to sort through various reports and select the news that needed to be presented to the emperor.

There were not many reports sent in today, which made Zhang Jianzhi feel a little worried.

It was almost the end of the year and the emperor was not in the capital, but Chang'an City was peaceful. This was too abnormal.

In recent years, the emperor has implemented various reform measures, which have infringed upon the interests of many people.

It is understandable that these people did not dare to act rashly when the emperor was in Chang'an because he had a strong hand.

Now that the emperor has left Beijing, it is unreasonable for these people to be so honest.

When Zhang Jianzhi considers things, he likes to think of the worst side.

If these people's target is not the prince in the capital, then they will most likely set their sights on the emperor.

Fang Yiai's case of rebellion happened less than ten years ago. It is possible that there will be some daring lunatic who will take advantage of the emperor's absence from Chang'an to plot a world-shaking change.

The national army was in the hands of a group of loyal veterans, and Xue Rengui led an army of 10,000 to provide protection.

Therefore, even if these people wanted to carry out an assassination, there was almost no chance of success.

After much thought, the only hidden danger is that these people are colluding with the Hu people.

Hedong Road is not far from where the Turks live. If the emperor continues westward...

Just as I was thinking about this, a voice suddenly came from the side.

"Zhang Shaoqing, we just asked, and His Majesty won't be back in the camp until the afternoon. We're planning to go to nearby Cuifeng Mountain to have some wine and chat. Would you like to come with us?"

Zhang Jianzhi turned around and saw that it was Xue Yuanchao who was speaking.

These officials really treated this trip as an outing.

"You guys go by yourselves, I have something else to do." Zhang Jianzhi said in a deep voice.

Xue Yuanchao laughed and said, "Why should we be so tense? Since His Majesty has not given any orders, why not let us relax a little?"

In fact, at the beginning, the officials were all honest and handled government affairs conscientiously.

Later, when the emperor visited mountains and rivers and famous springs along the way, he relaxed and began to enjoy the journey.

Zhang Jianzhi said nothing and picked up a memorial to read.

Seeing this, Xue Yuanchao shook his head and left with the others.

Zhang Jianzhi waited until they were far away before leaving the tent.

He first checked the daily material consumption account book, and then went to find the accompanying officials of the Shangche Bureau to check the daily routine inspection account book of the dragon chariot.

The Hedong Road is mountainous and dangerous. If the wheels of the dragon chariot become loose and lose control on the road, it could easily cause danger.

Zhang Jianzhi would check every day to make sure that the officials in the Shangnian Bureau were not slacking off.

Then he ordered someone to call over several clerks from the Ministry of Works and ask them about the recent earthquake in Hedong.

Hedong is the place with the most frequent earthquakes in the country.

Since he had arrived in Hedong, the emperor naturally had to avoid going to places where earthquakes had occurred to avoid natural disasters.

Just as he was discussing the earthquake with several clerks, a clerk suddenly came to report that Shangguan Yi had returned.

Zhang Jianzhi had an idea, put down the map, left the tent, and went to Shangguan Yi's tent to ask for a meeting.

After the announcement, I entered the tent and saw Shangguan Yi, who looked exhausted and was washing his face with hot water.

Zhang Jianzhi bowed and said, "Minister Shangguan, you have worked hard on the journey."

Shangguan Yi smiled and said, "It's my job, so it's not that hard. How are your Majesty and the noble lords?"

Zhang Jianzhi said, "Everything is fine. The imperial concubine was suddenly ill while crossing the Jingxing Road. Fortunately, the divine doctor Sun treated her and she is now well."

Shangguan Yi nodded and asked, "Is His Majesty in the camp?"

Zhang Jianzhi said, "He's out and probably won't be back until the afternoon. You can rest for a while and then see the emperor."

Shangguan Yi looked at him and said, "Zhang Shaoqing, do you have something to say to me?"

Zhang Jianzhi nodded and said solemnly, "Minister Shangguan, where do you think His Majesty will go after his inspection tour of Hedong Road?"

Shangguan Yi extended his hand to invite him to sit down and talk. After a moment's silence, he slowly said, "I think he will go to the Mobei region."

Zhang Jianzhi said, "I think so too. So I want to work with you to persuade Your Majesty not to go to Mobei."

Shangguan Yi was slightly stunned. "Why is that?" Zhang Jianzhi replied, "The Mobei region is vast and was recently incorporated into the Tang Dynasty. There are many Hu people within the region. I'm worried about your Majesty's safety."

Shangguan Yi laughed and said, "Young Master Zhang, you're worrying too much. General Xue is leading the troops, and the Yanran Protectorate will also send troops to accompany the emperor. How dare the Mobei barbarians attack me?"

The Tang Dynasty had two major protectorates in the Mobei region.

One is the Yanran Protectorate, located west of Mobei, which governs the Tiele people.

One is the Hanhai Protectorate, located in the eastern part of Mobei, which manages the Eastern Turks.

The Protector General of Hanhai was usually concurrently held by the Governor of Yingzhou. As the Turks had been behaving themselves in recent years, all Hanhai troops were transferred to Yingzhou by Liu Rengui to deal with the Liaodong states.

Therefore, when it was necessary to deploy troops in Mobei, it was usually considered to call upon the troops of Yanran Protectorate.

Zhang Jianzhi said: "Small tribes can't do this, but large tribes can."

Shangguan Yi's heart trembled, and he asked, "What do you mean?"

“Eastern Turks!”

Shangguan Yi frowned and said, "Ever since General Gao Kan captured Chebi Khan, the Eastern Turks have always been law-abiding. They probably don't have the guts to do that, right?"

Zhang Jianzhi said, "Minister Shangguan, the Eastern Turks were once law-abiding. Now, dissatisfaction with the Tang Dynasty is evident within the Eastern Turks."

Shangguan Yi asked, "Is this your guess, or is there any basis for it?"

Zhang Jianzhi said, "I have thoroughly read the records of the envoys from the Honglu Temple who came to Beijing to pay tribute since the first year of the Yonghui reign. Since the sixth year of the Yonghui reign, the number of Eastern Turkic chieftains who came to pay tribute, as well as the tribute they brought, has been decreasing."

Since Chebi Khan was captured, the Eastern Turks temporarily had no Khan and were divided into more than 20 states by the Tang Dynasty, with the governors being the chiefs of each tribe.

At the end of each year, these chiefs would come to the court in groups.

When Shangguan Yi heard this, his expression became more serious.

"Do you know why they are suddenly dissatisfied?"

Zhang Jianzhi said, "First, they are dissatisfied with Your Majesty's reform of the control policy. Second, they are dissatisfied with the Tang Dynasty's refusal to allow them to graze west of Mobei. Most importantly, they are slowly recovering."

Shangguan Yi was stunned.

Judging from Zhang Jianzhi's tone, as long as the Turks recover their vitality, they will be dissatisfied with the Tang Dynasty? This shows how much distrust he has for the Hu people!

Shangguan Yi said, "Even if, as you say, a few of their tribes rebelled, they wouldn't pose a threat to Your Majesty, right?"

Zhang Jianzhi asked, "What if all the Eastern Turkic tribes rebel against the Tang?"

Shangguan Yi's face turned pale: "How is this possible?"

Zhang Jianzhi said: "This is a matter of your majesty's safety. I think it is not an exaggeration to predict the worst!"

Shangguan Yi lowered his head and thought for a moment, then nodded and said, "Okay, I agree to help you persuade His Majesty, but I need to see someone first."

"Who?"

"General Xue Li!"

Li Zhi set out at 7:00 am in the morning, toured the coal mine, and did not return to his tent until 5:00 pm in the afternoon.

This trip was quite rewarding.

Nowadays, the government employs miners to mine. Although the wages are not high, there are additional benefits and coal is distributed to the workers.

Therefore, many people applied to work in the mine, and the coal mine was doing well.

The magistrate of Yangquan County was very smart. In order to save money, he submitted a memorial to the provincial government, requesting that a batch of coal be distributed to the miners.

The provincial government reported to the Ministry of Revenue, which sent it to the Secretariat. After discussion, the prime ministers agreed to the matter.

Because it was a trivial matter, it was not sent to Ganlu Palace, and Li Zhi only found out about it today.

This policy is not bad. In a cold and harsh area like Hedong, coal is a necessity. With this benefit, people can save money on buying coal.

In this way, the financial burden on the county government will be lighter.

Li Zhi made a note for the Yangquan County Magistrate in his little notebook and then left the mine. Xue Rengui also came back with Li Zhi.

Shortly after the emperor returned to the dragon tent, he ordered Shangguan Yi to meet him.

Xue Rengui accompanied the emperor for most of the day and took the opportunity to return to his tent to rest for a while.

Just as he was sitting in the chair twisting his neck, a soldier came to report that Zhang Jianzhi and Shangguan Yi wanted to see him.

Xue Rengui was suddenly surprised. Wasn't Shangguan Yi just seeing the emperor? Why did he suddenly come to see him?

He immediately waved his hand and asked someone to invite them in.

After the two men entered, Xue Rengui asked them to sit down and asked his soldiers to serve them hot tea. After the tea, he asked them why they came.

Shangguan Yi said, "General Xue, we two actually want to learn about the situation in the Eastern Turks from you."

Xue Rengui asked, "Eastern Turkestan?"

Shangguan Yi said, "Indeed, Zhang Shaoqing has consulted the Honglu Temple's records and believes that the Eastern Turks are restless. We are concerned that it would be unsafe for Your Majesty to travel to Mobei, so we have come to seek your advice."

Xue Rengui served as the Protector of Yanran for more than a year. The area he was in charge of was adjacent to the Eastern Turks, and he had a certain understanding of the situation of the Turks.

When he heard the two people say that the Eastern Turks were restless, he pondered for a while before speaking.

"As far as I know, the two largest tribes in the Eastern Turks are Ashina Fengzhi and Ashina Wenfu. If these two rebelled against the Tang Dynasty, they would indeed be a threat."

Shangguan Yi's eyes flickered as he asked, "Do you also think they might rebel against the Tang Dynasty?"

Xue Rengui said: "When I look at the Hu people, I don't look at whether they will betray me, I only look at whether they have the strength to betray me."

Shangguan Yi asked, "You mean, they already have the strength?"

Xue Rengui nodded and said, "Although General Gao Kan captured Chebi Khan, he did not weaken the Eastern Turkic forces. After nearly ten years of development, the combined male population of each tribe is now not much less than that of the nine Tiele tribes."

Shangguan Yi asked, "If they rebel, are you sure you can defeat them, General?"

Xue Rengui hesitated for a moment without answering.

If the emperor was not around, he would be fully confident of winning with these 10,000 elite Yulin Guards, plus the Qianniu Guards and Jinwu Guards.

But since the emperor was accompanying him, the top priority was not victory in the war, but the emperor's safety.

Shangguan Yi saw his attitude and made up his mind. He said, "General Xue, we are going to persuade His Majesty not to go to Mobei. Would you like to join us in persuading him?"

Xue Rengui frowned and said, "If Your Majesty really wants to go, even if we try to persuade him together, it will be useless."

Zhang Jianzhi asked, "Then what can you do?"

Xue Rengui pondered for a moment and said, "On the route of the imperial tour, there are only two people who can influence His Majesty's decision. If we want to persuade His Majesty, we must gain their support."

Shangguan Yi's heart moved, and he said, "Are you talking about Sun Fengyu and Her Majesty the Queen?"

"good."

Shangguan Yi and Zhang Jianzhi looked at each other, then immediately stood up and said goodbye, leaving Xue Rengui's tent.

After they left, Xue Rengui called over a personal soldier and instructed him, "Go to the Yanran Protectorate and have General Zhou pay attention to the movements of the Eastern Turks."

The personal guards took the order and left.

After Shangguan Yi and Zhang Jianzhi left Xue Rengui's tent, they first went to find Sun Simiao.

After explaining their purpose, Sun Simiao readily agreed to their request without asking any further questions, which surprised them greatly.

Zhang Jianzhi couldn't help but ask, "Lord Sun, do you also think that His Majesty shouldn't go to Mobei?"

Sun Simiao twirled his beard and smiled, "That's not my intention. It's just that Your Majesty's treatment is going very smoothly, and the headache is under control. Returning to Chang'an now is no problem. It would be better if we could avoid taking risks."

After hearing this, the two men nodded, and they felt more confident in persuading the emperor.

Then they came to see Empress Wu.

However, the queen was not in the tent. After asking, they found out that the queen had gone to the emperor's dragon tent.

The two were originally worried that the queen would stay in the dragon tent overnight, but fortunately, after waiting for half an hour, the queen came back.

The two men greeted each other in the tent. Empress Wu asked them about their purpose of coming, and they told her the situation.

Wu Meiniang glanced at the two of them and said calmly, "If His Majesty really wants to go to Mobei, wouldn't your persuasion disturb His Majesty's interest?"

Every time Shangguan Yi faced Empress Wu, he felt very guilty and dared not answer.

Seeing that he didn't speak, Zhang Jianzhi had no choice but to bite the bullet and said, "Your Majesty, we believe that Your Majesty's safety is more important."

Wu Meiniang asked, "Are you worried about the Eastern Turks?"

Zhang Jianzhi said: "Yes."

Wu Meiniang said, "Then send an order to the Hanhai Protectorate, ordering these Turkic chiefs to accompany the emperor. Wouldn't that solve the problem?"

After hearing this, both of them were stunned.

As long as these chiefs follow the emperor's orders, the Turks under them will not act rashly.

If these chiefs do not obey the order, it means they are plotting rebellion. The emperor will naturally not go to Mobei again, but will only dispatch troops to quell the rebellion.

Empress Wu came up with a solution that had the best of both worlds in an instant. Her sharp thinking made the two men admire her.

Zhang Jianzhi saluted and said, "I am stupid. Your Highness's idea is excellent. I will arrange this matter right away."

Wu Meiniang waved her hand, and the two of them took their leave together.

(End of this chapter)