Chapter 263 Night Mooring

In early February of the eighth year of Tianbao, Suzhou Cabinet suddenly caught fire. Hundreds of houses in the entire Cabinet were burned to white ground, nearly 100 people were burned to death, and 100,000 taels of official silver in stock disappeared mysteriously. The situation was serious. Suzhou Governor Cui Huan immediately wrote a letter to Li Longji, asking the court to send people to intervene. Li Longji immediately appointed Li Qing as the Jiangnan East Observer and Censor, and went to Suzhou to investigate the case urgently.

"Bang!" A memorial fell hard in front of Yang Guozhong. Li Longji's eyes looked like ice and asked him coldly: "You said! Did you send someone to do the arson case in the Guifang?"

This afternoon, Li Longji received a second memorial from Suzhou Governor Cui Huan, saying that there was a severe drought in the Taihu Lake Basin and hoped that the court would send officials to appease the prefectures and counties. This was the excuse that Li Longji ordered to transfer Li Qing away, which immediately surprised Li Longji. The fire in the cabinet shop was not set up by Cui Huan, but it was indeed arson damage. Li Longji immediately summoned Yang Guozhong, and he was the most suspected of this matter.

Li Longji was almost furious in his chest, kicked him hard, and said, "Hundreds of lives, 100,000 taels of silver, you are so good at it!"

Yang Guozhong was so scared that he kowtowed repeatedly, "I dare not. This matter has nothing to do with me. It was only three days between the time when the emperor summoned the humble minister to the arson case. If it was done by me, it would be too late to go to time. Please give me a clear review."

After hearing Yang Guozhong's words, Li Longji was slightly relieved. He himself was not considering this matter. It happened coincidentally and it happened to be under the jurisdiction of Li Qing. He thought that Cui Huan was acting according to his own wishes and transferred Li Qing away, but he did not carefully consider the inconsistency in time. Although Li Longji had already understood that it was his own mistake, how could he admit his mistake in front of his ministers? He couldn't help but snorted coldly: "Of course you won't admit it. I have no evidence now. When I find out that it was really what you did, I will never forgive you easily. Get out of here!"

Yang Guozhong was so frightened that his legs were weak and his muscles were numb. He got up and left, but Li Longji stopped him: "Come back!"

"Yes! Yes!" Yang Guozhong turned around tremblingly, stood by the wall with his hands down, and did not dare to speak out.

Li Longji glanced at him and said lightly: "Put your heart to the important things these two days, don't miss my major affairs."

Yang Guozhong understood the emperor's meaning, and the implication was that Li Heng would have had some movement in the past two days. He couldn't help but get excited, bowed deeply to Li Longji, and responded in a deep voice: "I will never let Your Majesty down!"

After Yang Guozhong left, Li Longji immediately wrote a secret decree and handed it to Yu Chaoen, saying: "Send someone to catch up with Li Qing and give him my handwriting, so there must be no mistake!"

Let’s talk about Yang Guozhong leaving Xingqing Palace and did not go back to Jingzhao Yinshiya directly, but turned to the Qing Palace to question the crime. Although the Suzhou Guifang was not done by him, Yang Guozhong, he knew that this case must have something to do with King Qing. In the Jiangnan area, King Qing and King Yong both had strong strength. King Yong had no grudges with Li Qing, which was unlikely, but King Qing fell on the Guifang three years ago and lost 100,000 yuan in money.

As the saying goes, "A person feels happy when he is happy." This sentence is most appropriate for King Qing. In the past few months, everything goes well. First, he received the full support of the Yang family, and then his father gradually forgives him. Now he has signed a covenant with Li Linfu, using his guarantee of the prosperity of the Li Linfu family to exchange for his support for his entry into the Eastern Palace.

At this time, the eldest son of the emperor Li Cong was at its peak. The royal family, inner palace, foreign relatives, and court officials all expressed their opinions, hoping that he could take another step and have everything in mind, and only the east wind was missing. Now, Li Heng was the only one who could move out of the East Palace.

At this moment, Li Cong was sitting by the pool in the back garden fishing. The breeze blew, and the willows had sprouted tender green buds. A group of red carp was swaying around Li Cong's golden hook, dragging the hooks away from time to time, but Li Cong seemed to be unintentional and let the fishing rod shake left and right, but his eyes were staring at the water in a daze. The day before yesterday, Li Xiangguo told him that the emperor's abdication might be just a cover. The real purpose might be to attack the Eastern Palace and ask him to prove this from Yang Guozhong.

If the prince is really deposed this time, will he or Yong Wang be the next one to enter the East Palace? Li Cong is silently balancing the advantages of himself and Yong Wang. Now he is far superior to Yong Wang regardless of his financial resources, connections, and reputation. Moreover, he is the eldest son of the emperor, and his advantage is obvious.

The only disadvantage is that the father seems to be more inclined to King Yong, which is the only advantage of King Yong, but also the most important advantage.

"Your Highness, Uncle Yang is here. My subordinates have made a decision without authorization and invited him to your study!"

Military Commander Wang's report interrupted Li Cong's thoughts, "Is Yang Guozhong here?" Li Cong couldn't help but feel excited. He was looking for him for something!

"You've done a good job, I don't blame you."

He threw the fishing rod to his entourage and ran to the study excitedly. At such a critical moment, Yang Guozhong must have brought good news to himself. Unexpectedly, as soon as he saw Yang Guozhong, he asked: "I'm here to ask you, did you send someone to do the Suzhou Guifang case?"

Yang Guozhong's tone of questioning made Li Cong feel extremely uncomfortable. After a long time, he said coldly: "What did I do? So what if I didn't do it? You have made it clear."

"It seems that I'm not wrong. It's really what you did." Yang Guozhong's fire "Teng!" broke out. He shouted with a thick throat: "I think you are such a fool. When is it now? Don't you want to enter the Eastern Palace? The emperor just asked me about this matter, and he was very annoyed. If Li Qing found out that it was yours, you will be done. There is no hope. Do you understand?"

Yang Guozhong's words immediately made Li Cong panic. He hurriedly pulled Yang Guozhong down and then whispered to him: "This matter is actually the order of Li Xiangguo. A few days ago, he ordered me to attack Suzhou Guest House. I followed his words and sent his son Li Qiu to Suzhou to do things in person, but he did not expect to alarm the emperor."

Yang Guozhong sneered secretly, that's right. It seems that Li Linfu also thought of this step and transferred Li Qing away first. However, Li Linfu could not let him go to the cabinet shop. At most, let him cause some trouble. The fire cabinet shop must have been done by King Qing without authorization. He suddenly had an idea in his mind, since Li Linfu was involved, why didn't he take advantage of this opportunity to leave a backup plan?

Moreover, King Qing actually sent his son to Suzhou. It seems that this matter would not be that simple. Yang Guozhong glanced at King Qing, and saw that his eyes were obviously anxious. He knew it in his heart, so he smiled kindly and said, "Your Highness tells me the truth, are you still planning to kill Li Qing directly in Suzhou?"

King Qing had no choice but to smile awkwardly, as if he had agreed to this matter, but he hurriedly explained: "Although he wanted to kill him, it was not ours, but the power of others. Even if the emperor found out, it had nothing to do with us."

"If you want to do it, just do it harder and don't leave a tail like you did in Yangzhou last time."

Yang Guozhong took a sip of tea, stood up, and smiled sinisterly: "Even if I didn't hear this, I will do my best to deal with Li Heng and let Your Highness enter the East Palace as soon as possible. I will say goodbye."

Let’s talk about Li Qing’s plan to board the boat from the Wei River as planned and go to Suzhou by canal transportation. The water route is much slower than the land route. It took three days to arrive in Shanzhou (Sanmenxia today). That night, the boat was about to sail out of Tianbao Canal, and Li Qing ordered the boatman to stay here for the night.

A row of large ships slowly landed. This was the canal transportation distribution center. The large and small grain transport ships raised sails like clouds, densely packed and unobstructed. There were granaries built on the shore for several miles, and heavy troops were stationed.

Jiang Jingyue was white, the wind pushed the water waves and gently patted the river surface, and the boat was rising and falling with the waves. Li Qing slowly walked to the bow of the boat with his hands in his arms, staring at the black river surface. He had been away from the capital for three days, and he didn't know what happened in the Eastern Palace? Li Heng had any handle and was caught by Li Longji. Wang Zhongsi should return immediately. I just hope that Li Heng remembers the lessons of the Wei Jian case and does not meet Wang Zhongsi in Taibai Building again, but was caught by Li Longji.

There is also Zhang Qiu Jianqiong who insists on impeaching Li Linfu now. Didn’t he know that when the prince was defeated, Li Linfu, Yang Guozhong and others were wearing pairs of pants? He didn’t listen to his own persuasion, so why couldn’t he wait until the conflict between Li Linfu and Yang Guozhong began to become sharp before impeachment?

All kinds of unpleasant things made Li Qing very upset. If the finances do not improve and the national treasury is not full, perhaps Li Longji will still pay more attention to people's livelihood and political affairs, but now.

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Li Longji is addicted to singing and dancing and enjoying pleasure. Do he also have certain responsibilities? ‘Born in distress, defeated in peace’, this is true!

Li Qing sighed. He felt that his power was insignificant at this time. He knew that the Anshi Rebellion would happen in a few years, but he was powerless. Land annexation caused a large number of peasants to flee north, bringing abundant troops to An Lushan. Moreover, this person was very good at observing his words and expressions. He sent a lot of money to the inner palace of the powerful ministers every year. He took the initiative to be in Chang'an. He wanted to please Li Longji in various ways, and he was good at using his skills to fight against the Khitan and stopped and remained untouched, making the court feel that he could not suppress the Khitan. He was already full of wings, but he never forgot to express his loyalty to Li Longji. Li Longji sent Fu Meng Lingcha as the deputy guardian of Anton. His intention was to monitor him, but he sang praises to An Lushan. If he had not known what would happen in the future, he would never believe that An Lushan would rebel. Perhaps An Lushan at this time in history had no intention of rebelling, but just wanted to protect his territory.

Li Qing looked at the bright moonlight and exhaled a long breath of white breath. The biting cold made his thoughts extremely clear. Li Heng, Li Linfu, and An Lushan seemed to be a mirror, allowing Li Qing to vaguely see a path. Even if he became the prince, what can the prime minister do? Will he be slaughtered on the chopping board at any time?

Li Longji transferred himself to the ground today because he could bring him a lot of money, but once he lost his value, would Li Longji still be so easy to talk to?

Lian'er is right. No matter who succeeds to the throne, he will not be careless. Even if King Guangping ascended the throne, would he forget the revenge he shot Li Heng in one arrow?

Li Qing's heart gradually became clear. Since the fact of local separatism could not be changed, why didn't he learn from An Lushan and hold the military power in his hand, and no longer look at people's faces. Arsenic is poison, but it is also a good medicine. It only depends on where he is used. After thinking about this section, Li Qing's heart suddenly became clear.
Chapter completed!