In early spring, February, the weather is like a girl in love, and her emotions are cloudy and sunny. The sky is covered with gray dark clouds. Yesterday was still golden, but this morning, a little drizzle fell from the sky.

A carriage was speeding past, the ground was moist, the wheels could not lift any dust, the air was fresh and cold, Li Qing pulled the curtain, whispered to his hands, rubbed his hands vigorously, and looked at the rain and fog outside the window with joy. He liked rain. Whether it was the flying rain or the dinging raindrops, they were like the notes of nature, smooth and soothing. The drizzle washed away the anxiety in people's hearts and made his heart return to tranquility. It was the warmth of parting of "the morning rain in Weicheng is also light dust, and the green willows in the guest house are new"; it was the lonely self-reflection of "the shadow of the wall behind the broken lamp, the sound of the dark rain hitting the window"; it was the frankness and open-mindedness of "a raincoat and mist and rain for life"; it was also the "live at night and listen to the wind and rain, and the iron horse and ice river come to dreams" worry about the country and the people.

Li Qing had just returned from Baisun Courtyard, and he had already returned the secret letter that made the prince worry about bedridden to King Guangping. Without any extra words, King Guangping did not thank him deeply, and the two knew it very well.

‘Squeak!’ The carriage suddenly stopped. There was Zhuque Gate in front. A carriage blocked his way and interrupted Li Qing's thinking. The coachman turned around and said, "Master! It seems that someone is looking for you."

Li Qing looked out from the window. A dozen steps away, Yang Guozhong walked towards him with a smile, and shouted from a distance: "Yangming, why didn't you come yesterday?"

Li Qing pushed open the car door and said lazily: "Does it take such a big disturbance to take a concubine? You are just trying to get both people and wealth. I will give you a gift today so that you can't forget me."

He jumped out of the carriage and saw that Yang Guozhong's official uniform was neat, he couldn't help but smile and said, "Why, I came to court when I was newly married, but I was beaten out by my sister-in-law?"

Yang Guozhong sighed with a bitter look on his face, but there was a sense of pride in his eyes, "I want to take three days off, but the emperor wants to summon me again, which is so annoying!"

He looked at Li Qing secretly, shrugged helplessly, and said, "No! Let's go to the court room to get some information first, so that the emperor can't answer when he asks me. Does Yangming have anything to tell the emperor?"

Li Qing smiled and said, "I'm all trivial matters, how dare I work with Brother Yang? If you go along the way, Brother Yang will definitely be inseparable from social engagements, so I won't waste your time."

Yang Guozhong touched the soft thorn in his hand, but was not annoyed. He just laughed and said, "Yangming said very well, there are too many idle people in the court, so I'll take a step first."

After saying that, he ran back to his carriage and went into the city gate first. Until he walked a little further, Li Qing sneered softly and ordered to the coachman: "Follow up and go back to the Ministry of Revenue."

It was already an hour later that Yang Guozhong rushed to Xingqing Palace. After three years of silence, he slowly made a comeback and was more valued by Li Longji than before. At this time, he was nearly fifty years old. After years of being in the officialdom, he no longer had the awkwardness of entering the officialdom. Moderate suppression made him gradually become smooth and experienced. Last year, he joined the Pei Party. After being the important task of Jingzhao Yin, he became one of the top backbones of Pei Party.

Today, Li Longji summoned him. He had known what was going on, but he pretended to go around the imperial city. The purpose was to eliminate everyone's suspicion about the emperor summoning him.

After entering the Qinzheng Hall, Yang Guozhong's laughter was gone, and his face gradually became serious. Under the guidance of the deacon and eunuch, he quickly came to Li Longji's imperial study room.

In the past few days, Li Longji's time in the imperial study room has gradually increased. Although he has lost his enthusiasm for handling national affairs, he has not relaxed at all how to preserve his throne. Just as Li Linfu and Li Qing guessed, Li Longji finally decided to change the ownership of the East Palace. This was something he had planned since the three years of Tianbao, and has been waiting until today. This is a long-distance layout. Starting from the eradication of Li Heng's right-hand man, Li Shizhi was dismissed, Huangfu Weiming was killed, Zhang Qiu Jianqiong and Fu Meng Lingcha, demoted Wei Jian, dismantled the princelings, and deprived the power of the East Palace. Step by step, it has been proceeding in an orderly manner.

But Li Heng had the biggest support, which made Li Longji reluctant to touch him. That was Wang Zhongsi, who had more than 200,000 heavy troops. The two deputy governors Wang and Dong Yanguang who arranged in advance were unable to subdue Wang Zhongsi, and eventually could not underestimate Wang Zhongsi, which forced Li Longji to find a new replacement. In the previous year, the sixth year of Tianbao, a battle for Shibao City broke out again between the Tang and the Turkish people. Wang Zhongsi's Hu general Geshu Han performed very well in this war and saved Shibao City. He also came into Li Longji's sight. Li Longji did not hesitate to remove Dong Yanguang, deputy governor of Longyou, and appointed Geshu Han as deputy governor of Longyou and governor of Hezhou.

In Wang Zhongsi's report on his work in Beijing, he was naturally the temporary governor of Geshuhan, which was the opportunity Li Longji was waiting for.

Three years were very short, but it left a deep mark on Li Longji. During these three years, he showed his old age, his beard was mostly white, his face was loose, and his old spots appeared on his arms and neck.

At this moment, the Emperor of Tang Dynasty, Li Longji, was lying on the dragon couch to read a top-secret report. The content of the report was the Jinmao incident in which several parties competed. Although his people did not participate, Li Longji's information was far clearer than the person involved. He seemed to be a condescending person, seeing the essence and overall problem. The content of the report was very detailed, and only a section of the Golden Maple competition on the first night was missing. Others, such as Li Heng's secret letter to Wang Zhongsi, Li Linfu, King Qing, and Li Qing, and the three parties' struggles. In the end, Li Fei Shouyu got the secret letter. Until two hours ago, Li Qing returned the secret letter to King Guangping, and the report was recorded in detail.

"Bang!" Li Longji threw the report on the table, turned around and said coldly to Gao Lishi: "Is this Li Qing going to ruin my major event again?"

Gao Lishi took a step forward carefully and whispered: "Maybe Mr. Li didn't see His Majesty's thoughts, because it was for the sake of protecting the prince."

Gao Lishi was very conflicted. He just sorted out this report. Although he had always supported Li Heng, he also understood that the situation was hopeless. He did not conceal or delete part of the content because of this, but reported to Li Longji truthfully that the prince would suffer losses to him, but if he lost the emperor's trust, it would be more than worth the loss.

Li Longji snorted softly on his nose, "Did he not see? Does the general really think so?"

"this....."

Gao Lishi looked embarrassed, and he smiled awkwardly and said, "The old slave has a good impression of this son, so when the emperor asked, the old slave said to the right place."

Li Longji's expression was slightly slower and he smiled slightly, "This is the truth. In fact, I have a good impression of him. He is young and promising, affectionate and righteous, but he is the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue. As long as he manages the finances and taxes, why bother with the prince's decree and establish a dilemma for me."

"Or why don't you let the old slave remind him?"

Li Longji pondered for a moment, shook his head, and said, "Don't ask about this matter, I have a plan."

At this time, Yu Chaoen quietly walked to the door and reported: "Your Majesty, Yang Zhongcheng is here, waiting outside!"

"Please give him an interview!" Li Longji quickly sat upright. Yang Guozhong would be the main force of his change of ownership in the East Palace. In his eyes, Yang Guozhong was no longer the reckless and troubled uncle three years ago. He had already taken the initiative and could slowly take Li Linfu and replace him.

"I am here to see Your Majesty!" Yang Guozhong strode into the study and kowtowed to Li Longji.

"Mr. Please sit down!"

Li Longji waved his hand slightly, "I am in poor health and cannot last long, so let's talk about it!"

He winked at Gao Lishi, who immediately retreated to the door and drove away all the eunuchs who were serving outside the door. At this time, only Li Longji and Yang Guozhong were left in the room. Li Longji pondered for a moment and said, "I believe you have heard of the prince's secret letter to Wang Zhongsi this time. What do you think of this matter?"

Yang Guozhong knew that some things could not be hidden from Li Longji, so he replied without hesitation: "Your Majesty, I learned about this from King Qing. Unfortunately, I did not get the secret letter and missed this opportunity. But I thought that since the prince had the first time, there should be a second time. As long as I seize the opportunity next time, I still have the possibility of doing it."

Li Longji was not angry about Yang Guozhong's collusion with King Qing. He just wanted to know whether Yang Guozhong was honest with him. Li Longji nodded in praise and said, "You are right. I know very well what kind of person he is. I am timid and cautious and ambitious. He will not write any letters anymore. If he puts some pressure on him, he should meet Wang Zhongsi secretly."

Speaking of this, Li Longji took out a secret decree from the case and handed it to Yang Guozhong and said, "Do as I told you, don't make any mistakes."

Yang Guozhong was flattered and accepted the secret order, and knelt down and thanked him: "Please rest assured, my Majesty, I will never let down your Majesty's trust."

"I have one more thing to ask you."

Li Longji walked a few steps in the imperial study with his hands behind his back, and said slowly in a lengthened tone: "This time the prince's secret letter was obtained by Li Qing, the assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue. I don't want him to participate in this matter. What are you going to do?"

Yang Guozhong shook his heart and burst into a hint of surprise, "Is the emperor going to attack Li Qing? No! No! Don't be impulsive," his palms sweat slightly, and he quickly balanced the pros and cons of the matter in his heart. "Now is not the time to fight on both sides." Yang Guozhong slowly calmed down and suppressed the idea of ​​taking the opportunity to frame Li Qing.

"I think this matter is very easy, so I can just transfer him out of the capital for a while."

"Not bad! Not bad! You have indeed made progress."

Li Longji patted the brother-in-law on the shoulder and smiled and said, "Some things can be done, some things cannot be done. As long as you can grasp this balance, you can become my right-hand man. Go! I have my own sense of Li Qing's affairs, so don't ask about it."

"I will do my business for Your Majesty now." Yang Guozhong accepted the secret order and left.
Chapter completed!