The Eastern Expeditionary Army in Dengzhou received the order and marched towards Beizhou. Hou Junji's army turned to the direction of Beizhou on the way to Dengzhou. The case-handling personnel assembled in Jizhou, under the leadership of Wang Huairen, a servant of the Criminal Department, also advanced towards Beizhou.

A catastrophe is quietly coming towards the thousand-year-old family of Qinghe Cui.

This operation against Qinghe Cui was planned by Li You.

The power of the gate lord clan is extremely huge, there are hundreds of large and small clans in the Tang Dynasty, and the five surnames and seven clans are just their representatives, and these clans also intrigue with each other on weekdays, but once the policies introduced by the imperial court hinder their interests, they will unite and advance and retreat together. This is the reason why dynasties have been helpless against them for thousands of years.

Now that the economic lifeline of the Tang Dynasty is in the hands of the imperial court, the royal family's ability to control the imperial court is relatively strong, and with a strong army as the backing, it is time to fight the gate lord clan.

Li You studied the lessons of the failures of the previous dynasties in their attacks against the gate lord clans, and found one thing in common, that is, the determination of the imperial court was not enough. Every time the suppression of the gate valve clan was menacing at the beginning, it was interfered with by various interest groups in the future.

There is a famous example in the Republic of China, on the eve of liberation, in order to save the fate of the defeat of the Chiang dynasty, the eldest prince of Jiang went to Shanghai to rectify the financial order.

However, Jiang Dagongzi's behavior violated the interests of the four major families, and the people sued Mrs. Jiang, and Mrs. Jiang went to Mr. Jiang to cry and complain, but Mr. Jiang ordered that Jiang Dagongzi had to open the net. His next action was called Fly Hunt and Not Tiger Fight.

The Chiang dynasty's efforts to rectify the financial order were in vain, which ultimately led to the defeat of the Chiang dynasty.

Li You learned from Huang Chao's treatment of the gate valve clan, and decided to start with the Qinghe Cui clan, which ranked first in the gate valve clan. In terms of tactics, this time it is only aimed at the Qinghe Cui family, and it will not harm the interests of other gate valve clans for the time being, so it will not cause nationwide turmoil.

Moreover, this time it was a thunderous method, using a huge military and political force, determined to bring down the Qinghe Cui clan in one fell swoop.

Early Dynasty, Taiji Palace.

Wei Zheng said: "Your Majesty, the Assassin of Ningzhou in Guannei Province has written a report letter, saying that Li Genglin, the Hou of Fengxian County, has disregarded the national law and acted domineering in the local area, and hopes that the Yushitai will send someone to verify it." ”

Li Genglin, the Marquis of Fengxian County, was a distant relative of Li Shimin, who helped Li Shimin when he was conquest of Liu Heitart, and was later made a marquis.

As soon as Wei Zheng's words fell, there was a lot of discussion in the hall, and the ministers, especially those who were close to the gate lord clan, looked at Li Shimin with some schadenfreude to see how he would deal with it.

Li Shimin's face was blue and red for a while, and he couldn't hold it back.

Cui Zixuan said: "Your Majesty, Li Genglin, the Marquis of Fengxian County, relied on himself to be a relative of the emperor, rampant in the township, and harmed the locality, and the minister suggested sending someone to investigate it strictly." ”

Xiao Qian said: "Your Majesty, the minister thinks that Lord Cui is reasonable, and the minister seconded it. ”

"The minister seconded the proposal." The ministers said one after another.

Li Shimin said: "Okay, I will send someone to investigate." ”

Seeing that Li Shimin was protecting Li Genglin, under Cui Zixuan's hint, a minister came out and said: "Your Majesty, Li Genglin, the Marquis of Fengxian County, is a relative of the emperor, and his behavior represents the royal prestige and reflects the royal decency. The minister believed that this matter should be strictly investigated, and only by severely dealing with it can the dignity of the royal family be maintained.

In view of the fact that Li Genglin is a relative of the emperor, it is difficult for ordinary people to investigate and deal with him, so the minister suggested that the investigation should be organized by Lord Wei Zheng of Yushitai. "Wei Zheng has always been fair and selfless, and they want to use Wei Zheng to fight Li Shimin.

"The minister seconded the proposal."

"The minister seconded the proposal." Ministers were in favor.

"This, okay, Wei Zheng, you can go and investigate this matter yourself." Li Shimin said helplessly.

"Obey. The minister will go to Ningzhou tomorrow. Wei Zheng took the order.

That night, the palace of the king of Qi.

Wei Zheng said: "Your Highness, the minister will go to Beizhou tomorrow, what other instructions do you have?" ”

He said that he would go to Beizhou, where the Cui clan of Qinghe was located, not to Ningzhou. It turned out that the so-called Hou Li Genglin incident in Ningzhou Feng County, which was in the court today, was just a cover. Wei Zheng's goal of leaving Chang'an was too big, and he had to find an excuse, so he and Li Shimin specially acted in a play to leave Chang'an in Ningzhou under the pretext of going to Ningzhou.

Li You said: "Lord Wei, I only emphasize two points, first, the focus of the breakthrough in handling the case is to investigate and deal with usury and land changes within three years, Beizhou and even Qinghe County are by no means monolithic, those victims of usury and peasants who have lost their land hate the Qinghe Cui clan, and with the firm support of the imperial court, they will definitely stand up and accuse the Qinghe Cui clan of crimes."

Second, we should not stick to the procedures for handling cases, but should adopt direct and effective methods to authorize case-handling personnel to extort confessions by torture, and would rather kill by mistake than let them go. ”

Wei Zheng said: "The minister understands. ”

Li You said: "When you set off tomorrow morning, I will send a detachment of the special combat team to escort you, and they will be responsible for protecting your safety throughout the entire case handling period." ”

"Your Highness Xie, the minister has taken his leave." Wei Zheng said.

After Wei Zheng left, Li You came to Xiao Wanyu's dormitory.

Li You kissed Xiao Wanyu, took the chubby son from her arms, and kissed him lightly on his little face, the son was pricked by the beard on the side of his mouth, and he was about to cry with a grin.

Xiao Wanyu said angrily: "Look at you, just hug your son, don't kiss him in the future." As he spoke, he took his son from Li You's hand.

Li You told Xiao Wanyu about Xiao Qian's recent performance, and Xiao Wanyu didn't know what to say, but felt a little worried. She said, "Brother You, why don't you talk about it, and communicate about something." ”

Li You said: "That's it, tomorrow you take the child back to your parents' house, and I will accompany you." ”

The next day, Xiao Mansion.

After Li You and Xiao Wanyu came to Xiao Mansion, Xiao Wanyu took the child to her mother Cui's place, and Li You, Xiao Qian, and Xiao Dongchang came to Xiao Qian's study to talk.

Xiao Dongchang saw that his father had repeatedly opposed Li Shimin recently, and he thought that Li You was here for this matter. He explained for his father: "Your Highness, my father is just talking about things, and he has no intention of going against the court. ”

Li You understood in his heart, knowing that Xiao Qian was dissatisfied when he saw the imperial court's suppression of the gate valve clan in recent years, but there was no need for him to expose this, he said: "I understand this, I believe that grandpa is impartial." I've got a letter here, can you take a look at it? ”