The reason why Gaozong was angry and reprimanded Li Hong was just to play in front of the important ministers, in fact, he knew very well that this murder case was definitely not done by Li Duoqi.

Because it was his will to let Li Duoqi serve as Li Hong's personal guard, and Li Duoqi was the person he chose for Li Hong, so he knew Li Duoqi's character and ability very well, so he was also sure that Li Duoqi would never do such a thing.

But because of this, he can't be too obviously biased towards Li Hong and Li Duoqi, but has to pretend to be strict.

"Your Majesty is angry, Weichen thinks that he can't conclude that this is the work of Li Duoqi and the Iron Cavalry of the Right Prison Gate just based on the results of the autopsy made by Huaxian, and this matter needs to be sent to investigate in detail!" As a close confidant of Gaozong, Prime Minister Dai Zhide immediately spoke.

Wei Chen agreed with Dai Servant's opinion. Just as Dai Zhide's voice fell, the new prime minister Le Yanwei spoke, "The prince's right prison gate led the iron cavalry of the palace is the prince's own army, and he is strictly disciplined on weekdays, and Li Duoqi is the prince's personal guard general, and his style of action has always been rigorous. ”

Le Yanwei's righteous words are definitely in the style of a prime minister.

But when he didn't realize it, just as he opened his mouth to speak, although a smile of relief flashed on Gaozong's face, Empress Wu's face became a little gloomy. And just as he finished saying this, the rest of the prime ministers in the Xuanzheng Hall all bowed their heads and were silent, and no one spoke to echo him.

Li Hong knew that this was the result of Le Yanwei's ignorance of the rules of officialdom, or that his politically naïve performance angered Empress Wu.

Because among the prime ministers in the Xuanzheng Palace, Li Ji seems to be a person from Gaozong, but because he is an old oilman in the officialdom, he is good at judging the situation and knows better who has more power and who can give him more, so he is more inclined to Empress Wu, and Xu Jingzong and Dou Dexuan are hardcore Empress Wuhou Party, as for Jiang Ke and Sun Chuyue, they have just been promoted to the position of prime minister like Le Yanwei, they are soft-spoken, and they dare not express their opinions before Empress Wu, Li Ji, and Xu Jingzong.

Therefore, the current prime minister's group has a lot of power in the military queen, and Gaozong has only one close confidant Dai Zhide available.

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

Although Empress Wu didn't say anything about this, she didn't have no complaints in her heart!

Now Gaozong reprimanded Li Hong, Dai Zhide, who is a close confidant of Gaozong, naturally wants to act with Gaozong, and at this time, as one of the "two saints", the Empress Wu has not yet spoken, and Li Ji and Xu Jingzong, who are the heads of the prime minister, have not spoken, Le Yanwei, a new prime minister, hurriedly took the lead in speaking, and directly said that someone was framing the prince Li Hong.

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

How could Empress Wu not be annoyed by this stunned young man who didn't know the times, and Le Yanwei wanted to act as Gaozong's pawn in such a hurry?

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

Li Hong watched the scene in the Xuanzheng Hall with cold eyes, and now he understands what it means to be "two saints in the court", what it means to "know that the government is big or small, the power of the world, all return to the middle palace, dethrone, life and death, it is up to him, and the Son of Heaven is just giving it up". Judging from the current situation, Empress Wu does have a faint intention to overthrow Gaozong.

It's no wonder that Gaozong's previous move to abolish the queen became a farce!

Seeing that the atmosphere in the hall was a little cold, and his performance seemed to be about to be cold, Gaozong's expression was a little complicated, he snorted coldly, his eyes swept to the prime ministers in the hall, and saw Li Ji's eyes closed, looking like an old god was there, Xu Jingzong was bowing his head and pondering something, and finally fixed his eyes on Dou Dexuan's body.

Dou Dexuan noticed Gaozong's gaze and knew what Gaozong wanted him to do, so he glanced at Empress Wu next to Gaozong, and saw that Empress Wu had not paid attention to him, as if he was thinking about something, so he took a slight breath and said, "Your Majesty, Niangniang, Weichen agrees with Dai Xiang's meaning, we can't conclude that Li Duoqi and the Tieqi of the Right Prison Gate are the murderers of the Huaxian massacre just based on the results of the autopsy made by Huaxian. Moreover, the suspicion of this case is directed at the prince's pro-army, and it is not ruled out that someone wants to take the opportunity to frame His Royal Highness the prince, so this matter is very involved, and I hope that Your Majesty and Niangniang will find out. ”

"The old minister means to let the people of Dali Temple investigate in detail, if someone really wants to frame His Royal Highness the Prince, they must be severely punished." Xu Jingzong opened his mouth and suggested, "I don't know what Niangniang means? ”

"Since Li Duoqi is the general of the East Palace personally selected by His Majesty, this palace naturally doesn't think he will do this." Empress Wu said in a calm tone, and after a little thought, she continued: "Let Zhang Deyu, the Shaoqing of Dali Temple, go to Huaxian County to investigate it personally!" What does Your Majesty think? ”

Empress Wu did not ask the prime ministers what to do, but agreed to Xu Jingzong's suggestion with a decisive decision, and sent Zhang Deyu, the young secretary of Dali Temple, to investigate the case, and did not give Gaozong a chance to exercise imperial power at all.

Gaozong is also helpless about this, who said that four of the seven prime ministers in the Xuanzheng Palace are biased towards the Empress Wu? I could only say lightly, "Just do what the queen wants!" ”

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

Now he can be regarded as having truly seen the power of Empress Wu in front of the prime ministers, and sure enough, Gaozong has lost his rights in the decision of some things.

Since ancient times, the problem of the prince has been the major matter of the country, and now that the problem of the prince has been solved, the prime ministers in the Xuanzheng Palace are all relieved. At this time, I saw Jiang Ke, who was in charge of the military department, and said, "Your Majesty, there is news from the front that the Tubo mission has arrived in Songzhou, and it will definitely arrive in Chang'an City within ten days, I don't know how to arrange it then?" ”

"The Tibetan Mission?" Gao Zong snorted coldly and said, "Their speed is really fast!" ”

In the third year of Longshuo, Tubo invaded Tuyuhun, forcing the Tuyuhun Khan and Her Royal Highness Princess Honghua to lead thousands of Tuyuhun people to move to Liangzhou, and at the same time sent an envoy to Zhongcong to enter the pilgrimage to meet Gaozong, in addition to stating to him Tuyuhun's crimes, they wanted to ask for the original Tuyuhun Chishui Land as their grazing land, and wanted to continue to make peace with the Tang Dynasty, but Gaozong refused.

This time, Tubo sent a delegation to Chang'an again to meet him, how could Gaozong not know Tubo's thoughts?

"Your Majesty, since the death of Songtsen Gampo, his grandson Mangsong Mangtsen succeeded to the throne because of his young age and the power was sidelined, and the great minister Lu Dongzan was in charge of the state affairs, Lu Dongzan was very talented, he reformed and improved the official system of Tubo after taking over the real power of Tibet, and demarcated the field boundaries and implemented reforms, and now the national strength of Tubo has been very strong. And after Longshuo annexed Tuyuhun in the third year, their strength rose sharply again, and they already faintly threatened the towns of the Western Regions of my Tang Dynasty. At this time, Lu Dongzan suddenly sent a delegation to Chang'an to meet him, I am afraid that there are other intentions, and we have to guard against it. Xu Jingzong pondered for a moment and analyzed in detail.

"What Xu Xiang means is that this time the Tubo delegation came to Chang'an to meet us, in addition to continuing to state to us the sin of Tuyuhun, asking for Chishui Land as grazing land, and wanting to make peace with the Tang Dynasty, but also to test the attitude of the Tang Dynasty on the issue of the Western Regions?" Jiang Ke frowned and asked.

Xu Jingzong nodded slightly.

Gojong and Empress Wu are in the same place at the same time!

Because as Xu Jingzong analyzed, Tubo came to Chang'an to meet this time to test the attitude of the Tang Dynasty towards Tubo on the issue of the Western Regions, so how to receive the Tubo delegation this time has become a big problem!

"Your Majesty, Niangniang, at present, our war in Liaodong has entered the stage of counteroffensive, and the war with Goryeo and Baekje is imminent, at this time, Ludong Zan sent an envoy to Chang'an, and 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 for this reception of the Tibetan delegation need to be cautious!" Dai Zhide said with a worried face.

"This person can not be too weak, let Tubo see our real thoughts on the issue of the Western Regions in the past few years, and not be too rigid, so that he angers Tubo and asks them to immediately send troops to the Western Regions, but to stabilize the Tubo mission, so that they 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 to Xu Jingzong and asked, "Xu Aiqing, do you have such a candidate in mind?" ”

"This..."Xu Jingzong was asked, and just as he was about to speak, he was preempted by Le Yanwei, so he listened to Le Yanwei's righteous words, "Your Majesty, Weichen suggested that the crown prince should be appointed to this position." ”

Gaden!

When Li Hong heard Le Yanwei's words, his heart that had just breathed a sigh of relief rose to his throat again.

Li Hong really wants to scold Le Yanwei's mother in his heart, whose person is this? Why can't you get along with yourself? This is a thankless thing, if you do it well, you will have to do it, you will have errands, is this what you can do? Isn't this pushing yourself into the fire pit?

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

As soon as Empress Wu's voice fell, Li Ji, who had never spoken until now, suddenly said in a resolute tone, "The old minister agrees!" ”

Li Ji suddenly opened his mouth to agree with Le Yanwei's proposal, which made Li Hong a little surprised, he didn't know what Li Ji meant by doing this, everyone knew that this matter was a hot potato, Le Yanwei could speak without a head, but as the head of the prime minister, he shouldn't have nodded so easily!

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

Xu Jingzong was taken aback when he heard Li Ji say this, but he glanced at Empress Wu, and saw that Empress Wu was nodding slightly to him, he seemed to understand something at once, and his eyes flashed, so he said, "The old minister has no objections." ”

As the head of the prime minister, Li Ji and Xu Jingzong have no objections, and Dou Dexuan, the hardcore of the martial arts, will naturally not object.

Four of the seven prime ministers agreed, and the remaining two new prime ministers, Jiang Ke and Sun Chuyuo, did not dare to oppose it anymore. Dai Zhide glanced at Gaozong, and saw that Gaozong's face was calm and there were no emotional fluctuations, so he could only nod slightly to indicate that he had no objection.

"Hong'er, since all of you Aiqing think that you are competent in this matter, the queen mother and your father will hand over this matter to you, but it is very troublesome, you need to be cautious when getting along with the Tubo mission, well, let Honglu Temple and the Ministry of Rites assist you!" Empress Wu issued an edict to Li Hong, and this time she did not ask Gaozong's opinion at all.

Seeing that Empress Wu and the seven prime ministers had agreed to let him take on the task of receiving the Tibetan mission, what else could Li Hong do? He could only bow down and say, "The son obeys the order!" ”