The reason why Emperor Gaozong angrily reprimanded Li Hong was just to put on a show in front of important ministers. In fact, he knew very well that this murder case was definitely not done by Li Duozhao.

Because it was his decree to let Li Duozha serve as Li Hong's personal guard commander, and Li Duozha was the person he selected for Li Hong, he knew Li Duozha's character and ability very well, so he was sure that Li Duozha was the right person.

You would never do such a thing.

But precisely because of this, he could not be too obviously partial to Li Hong and Li Duozha, but had to pretend to be strict with them.

"Your Majesty, please calm down. We think that we cannot conclude that this was the work of Li Duozhao and Youjianmen's cavalry just based on the autopsy results of Huaxian County. We need to send people to investigate in detail!" As Emperor Gaozong!

Prime Minister Dai Zhide, a close confidant, immediately spoke out.

"Wei Chen agrees with Dai Pushe's opinion." Just as Dai Zhide finished his words, the new prime minister Le Yanwei said, "The prince's right prison gate leads the palace's cavalry. They are the prince's personal troops. They are usually very disciplined, and Li Duozhao

They are also the generals of the crown prince's bodyguard. They are always strict in their conduct. To say that they were responsible for the massacre of Liujia Village in Huaxian County, I think this matter is too strange. I also ask your Majesty to send someone to investigate in detail to find out the frame-up.

The prince must bring the true culprits of injustice to justice."

Le Yanwei's words were righteous and righteous, and he definitely had the demeanor of a prime minister.

But he never noticed that when he spoke, although Gaozong's face flashed with a smile of relief, Empress Wu's face became a little gloomy. And just when he finished speaking, in the Xuanzheng Hall,

The other prime ministers all lowered their heads and remained silent, and no one spoke to echo him.

Li Hong knew that this was the result of Le Yanwei not understanding the rules of officialdom, or that his childish performance in politics offended Empress Wu.

Because among the prime ministers in the Xuanzheng Palace, Li Ji seems to be from Gaozong, but because he is an old official in the officialdom, he is good at judging the situation, and he knows better who has greater power and who can give him more, so he is more

They tended to favor Empress Wu, and Xu Jingzong and Dou Dexuan were die-hard Empress Wu party members. As for Jiang Ke and Sun Chuyue, who had just been promoted to the position of prime minister like Le Yanwei, they were soft-spoken and did not dare to challenge Empress Wu and Li Ji.

, Xu Jingzong and others expressed their opinions before.

Therefore, Empress Wu is very powerful in the current group of prime ministers, while Gaozong only has one confidant, Dai Zhide, available.

Because of this, Emperor Gaozong urgently promoted Le Yanwei, Jiang Ke and Sun Chuyu to prime ministers within three months, just to restrain Empress Wu's power in the court.

Although Empress Wu didn't say anything about this, she was not without complaints in her heart!

Now that Gaozong was reprimanding Li Hong, Dai Zhide, who was a close confidant of Gaozong, naturally wanted to act with Gaozong. At this time, Empress Wu, one of the "Two Saints", had not yet spoken. Li Ji and Xu Jingzong, the chief ministers,

Without opening his mouth to speak, Le Yanwei, a newly appointed prime minister, hurriedly spoke first, and directly said that someone was framed by Prince Li Hong.

Which prime minister would dare to echo his reckless words and deeds?

How could Empress Wu not be angry with this stupid young man who was ignorant of current affairs and Le Yanwei's hasty attempt to act as Gaozong's pawn?

Suddenly, the atmosphere in Xuanzheng Hall became a little deserted.

Li Hong watched the scene in the Xuanzheng Palace with cold eyes. Only now did he understand what "the two saints came to the court" and what "politics, big or small, were heard about. All the power in the world returned to the central palace. Deposition, life and death were all decided by him."

"The emperor just surrendered his mouth." Judging from the current situation, Empress Wu indeed had a vague intention to evade Gaozong.

It’s no wonder that Gaozong’s previous move to depose the queen became a farce!

Seeing that the atmosphere in the hall was a bit deserted and his performance seemed to be about to end, Gaozong's expression was a bit complicated. He made a cold sound and glanced at the prime ministers in the hall. He saw that Li Ji had his eyes closed tightly and looked like an old god was there.

It seemed that Xu Jingzong was lowering his head and thinking about something, and finally fixed his gaze on Dou Dexuan.

Dou Dexuan noticed Gaozong's gaze and knew what Gaozong wanted him to do, so he glanced at Empress Wu next to Gaozong. Seeing that Empress Wu ignored him and seemed to be thinking about something, he took a slight breath and said, "Your Majesty,

Madam, I agree with Prime Minister Dai. We cannot conclude that Li Duozhao and the right prisoner's cavalry were the murderers of the Huaxian massacre just based on the autopsy results of Huaxian County. Moreover, the suspicion of this case directly points to the prince's soldiers.

, we cannot rule out the possibility that someone might want to take this opportunity to frame His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, so this matter is very closely related, and I hope Your Majesty and Your Majesty will investigate clearly."

"My intention is to ask people from Dali Temple to conduct a detailed investigation. If anyone really wants to frame His Highness the Crown Prince, he must be severely punished." Xu Jingzong suggested, "I wonder what your Majesty means?"

"Since Li Duozhao is the general of the East Palace personally selected by His Majesty, I naturally don't think that he will do this." Empress Wu said calmly, and after thinking for a moment, she continued, "Let Zhang Deyu, the young minister of Dali Temple, go to Hua County to investigate in person.

Come on! What do you think, Your Majesty?"

Empress Wu did not ask the prime ministers what to do, but unanimously agreed with Xu Jingzong's suggestion and sent Zhang Deyu, the young minister of Dali Temple, to investigate the case, without giving Gaozong the chance to exercise imperial power.

Emperor Gaozong had no choice but to think that four of the seven prime ministers in the Xuanzheng Palace were biased towards Empress Wu. He could only say lightly, "Just follow the Queen's wishes!"

"Thank you, father, and thank you, queen mother!" Li Hong thanked him hurriedly.

Now he could truly see the power of Empress Wu in front of the prime ministers. Sure enough, Gaozong had already lost the rights he should have in making decisions on some matters.

Since ancient times, the prince's problem has been a major national issue. Now that the prince's problem has been solved, the prime ministers in the Xuanzheng Palace breathed a sigh of relief. At this time, Jiang Ke, who was in charge of the Ministry of War, said, "Your Majesty, there is news from the front that the Tibetan envoys

We have already arrived in Songzhou, and we will definitely arrive at Chang'an City within ten days. I wonder how we should arrange it then?"

"Tubo mission?" Gaozong snorted coldly, "They are really fast!"

In the third year of Longshuo, Tubo invaded Tuyuhun and forced Tuyuhun Khan Hebo and Princess Honghua to lead thousands of Tuyuhun people to move to Liangzhou. At the same time, they sent envoy Lun Zhongcong to go to the Hajj to see Emperor Gaozong. In addition to stating to him the story of Tuyuhun,

In addition to the crime, they wanted to claim the Chishui land of the original Tuyuhun as their grazing land, and also wanted to continue their marriage with the Tang Dynasty, but Gaozong refused.

This time, Tubo once again sent a delegation to Chang'an for an audience. How could Emperor Gaozong not know Tubo's thoughts?

"Your Majesty, since the death of Songtsen Gampo and the succession of his grandson Mansong Mantsen, he has lost all power due to his young age. The Prime Minister Lu Dongtsen has been in charge of the state affairs. Lu Dongtsen is a very talented man. After taking over the real power of Tubo,

After reforming and improving the official system of Tubo, delimiting farm boundaries, and implementing reforms, Tubo is now very powerful. In the third year of Longshuo, after they annexed Tuyuhun, their strength increased again, and they have loomed as a threat to the towns in the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty.

"At this time, Lu Dongzan suddenly sent a delegation to Chang'an to meet him. I'm afraid he has other intentions, so we have to be on guard." Xu Jingzong pondered for a moment and analyzed in detail.

"What Mr. Xu means is that this time the Tibetan delegation came to Chang'an. In addition to continuing to tell us Tuyuhun's crimes, asking for Chishui land as grazing land, and wanting to make peace with the Tang Dynasty, it also wanted to test the Tang Dynasty on the issue of the Western Regions.

Attitude?" Jiang Ke asked with a frown.

Xu Jingzong nodded slightly.

Gaozong and Empress Wu were stunned at the same time!

Because as Xu Jingzong analyzed, Tubo's visit to Chang'an this time was to test Datang's attitude towards Tibet on the issue of the Western Regions. So how to receive the Tibetan delegation this time has become a big problem!

"Your Majesty, Madam, our war in Liaodong has now entered the counterattack stage, and the war with Goryeo and Baekje is imminent. At this time, Lu Dongzan sent envoys to Chang'an, he must have seen that it will be difficult for us to divide our troops to take care of the defense of the Western Regions.

, so the candidates to receive the Tibetan delegation this time need to be cautious!" Dai Zhide said with a worried look.

"This person should neither act too weak to let Tubo see our true thoughts on the issue of the Western Regions in recent years, nor be too tough to offend Tibet and make them immediately send troops to the Western Regions. Instead, he should stabilize Tibet.

The mission, let them mistakenly think that we are still capable of guarding the Western Regions, so that they dare not get involved in the Western Regions in the past few years. This really requires a talented person." Empress Wu nodded slightly and couldn't help but move her gaze.

Xu Jingzong asked, "Xu Aiqing, do you have such a candidate in mind?"

"This..." Xu Jingzong was stopped by the question. Just as he was about to speak, Le Yanwei preempted him, and he heard Le Yanwei speak righteously, "Your Majesty, I suggest that the prince should take on this responsibility."

Gaden!

When Li Hong heard Le Yanwei's words, the relief he had just felt rose to his throat again.

Li Hong really wanted to scold Le Yanwei's mother. Who does this guy belong to? Why is he always at odds with himself? This is a thankless thing. If it is done well, it will not work, and it will happen when doing errands. This is his fault.

Is there anything you can do? Isn’t this pushing yourself into a pit of fire?

But what is surprising is that Empress Wu did not object to Le Yanwei's proposal this time, and after General Le Yanwei finished speaking, she did not give everyone a chance to speak, and took the initiative to ask, "What do you all think?"

As soon as Empress Wu finished speaking, Li Ji, who had not spoken until now, suddenly spoke resolutely, "I agree!"

Li Ji suddenly expressed his approval of Le Yanwei's proposal, which surprised Li Hong. He didn't know what Li Ji meant by doing this. Everyone knew that this matter was a hot potato, and Le Yanwei could be clueless.

He spoke, but as the head of the prime minister, he shouldn't nod so easily!

Gaozong also frowned when he heard Li Ji's words.

Xu Jingzong was surprised when he heard what Li Ji said. However, he glanced at Empress Wu and saw that Empress Wu was nodding slightly to him. He seemed to understand something all of a sudden. His eyes flashed and he said, "I don't think so, either."

objection."

As the chief ministers, Li Ji and Xu Jingzong had no objections. Naturally Dou Dexuan, Empress Wu's loyal supporter, would not object.

Four of the seven prime ministers agreed, and the remaining two newly promoted prime ministers Jiang Ke and Sun Chuyue did not dare to object anymore. Dai Zhide glanced at Gaozong and saw that Gaozong's face was calm and without any emotion.

Fluctuating, he could only nod slightly to show that he had no objection.

"Hong'er, since all my dear friends think that you are qualified to handle this matter, the queen mother and your father will leave this matter to you. However, the trouble is very serious. You need to be careful when getting along with the Tibetan envoys. Well, let Hong'er

The Lu Temple and the Ministry of Rites will assist you together!" Empress Wu issued an order to Li Hong, but this time she did not ask Gaozong for his opinion at all.
Chapter completed!