Li Longji knew that the time had not yet come, so he never talked about any political intentions or anything like these people, but only learned about each person's temperament and background in detail. And Li Longji made a generous move, so it didn't take long for a circle to form around him, in addition to Liu Youqiu, who was already his confidant, he also included the aforementioned Xue Congjian, Zhong Shaojing, and Shangyi Fengyu (weaving officer of the palace governor's mansion) Wang Chongye, Liren Mansion Zhichong (commander of the conscription mansion) Ma Sizong, etc.

These middle-level officials were relatively restless and active, and Li Longji also paid special attention to observing whether these people were dissatisfied with Empress Wei and Wu Sansi's party, but in order to avoid leaking the news, Li Longji did not explain his plans to anyone except Liu Youqiu.

A year has passed in a blink of an eye, this year has been the fourth year of Jinglong (710 AD), on June 4, the imperial court officially released the news that the emperor Zhongzong Li Xian died of a sudden illness, the crown prince Li Chongmao ascended the throne, Wei Hou was the regent of the dynasty, and the prime minister Li Dan was the chief lieutenant, and Wei Wen, the elder brother of Wei Hou, was always aware of the internal and external guards to catch soldiers and horses, and controlled all the military power.

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Suddenly there was such a big change, Li Longji couldn't help but feel a little overwhelmed, so he immediately asked his henchman Liu Youqiu to discuss what to do next. Liu You begged Li Longji to send many henchmen to make every effort to find out the news, and then make a decision after understanding the internal and external conditions, and Li Longji agreed.

A few days later, after many inquiries, Li Longji grasped the whole thing. According to the news, the cause of the emperor's death was very suspicious, the day before was fine, the next day there was an emergency death, and the day of death was June 2, but Empress Wei blocked the news, and on June 3, the prime ministers were summoned to enter the palace, and 50,000 soldiers were mobilized into the Beijing division to guard, and the children of the Wei family were the generals, leading the forbidden army (including 10,000 cavalry guards) and the newly recruited government soldiers. In addition, there are garrisons on the periphery of the Prime Minister's Mansion, and the Prime Minister's every move is monitored.

Li Longji's cousin Xue Congjian also came to the house, and he angrily said to Li Longji that Princess Taiping had discussed with Zhaorong Shangguan Wan'er to draft Zhongzong's edict. The original content was that Li Chongmao, the king of Liwen, became the crown prince, divided the other princes, and ordered Empress Wei to listen to the government. The prime minister participated in politics together to assist the young lord. Unexpectedly, Wei's henchman Zong Chuke jumped out and said: "King Xiang is an uncle, the queen is a sister-in-law, and Gu Li's uncle and sister-in-law are not allowed to speak, if they are together with the government." It is not in line with etiquette, and the article of the auxiliary government of the king is canceled. And Wei Wen also asked to exempt the prime minister from the auxiliary government, and the prime ministers were afraid and had to agree.

After Li Longji heard the news, he was a little hesitant about whether to take action, on the one hand, the prime minister lost power, and although there was no immediate danger, he would be controlled by others, and his prospects were worrying. On the one hand, the Wei's children have already grasped the military power, and if they do it immediately, they will not have a high degree of certainty, so Li Longji does not dare to make a decision immediately.

Just when Li Longji was hesitating, two things happened, the first thing forced him to rise up and seize power, and the second thing made him see the hope of success.

First of all, Cui Riyong, the former military servant of the Wei Hou Party, asked the monk of Baochang Temple and Shang Purun to contact Li Longji and expressed his willingness to serve. revealed to Li Longji that the Wei party had conspired against King Xiang and Princess Taiping under the construction of Zong Chuke. After Li Longji heard the news, he didn't dare to confirm whether Cui Riyong was sincere or came to test him. After all, so far, the whole operation has been very low-key, except for Liu Youqiu and a few other henchmen, who doesn't know, so how did Cui Riyong know? Li Longji immediately asked Liu Youqiu to discuss it and asked Monk Purun about it. According to the monk Purun, Cui Riyong thinks that the members of the Wei Hou party are too mixed, and each has selfish intentions, and in the current situation of unstable regime, he does not think about how to stabilize the situation first, but he wants to get rid of King Xiang and Princess Taiping. As for why Cui Riyong found Li Longji? Monk Purun said: "Cui Riyong is in the military department, and he is very concerned about the movements of the forbidden army, and he found that the king of Linzi has a lot of contacts with the officers of the forbidden army, so it is expected that the king of Linzi must have a plan, so he sent Purun to contact." When Li Longji and Liu Youqiu heard this, they broke out in a cold sweat, they thought they were doing it very secretively, they didn't expect that there were already people watching their every move on Empress Wei's side, if Cui Ri didn't turn against each other to help, then they would be unlucky. Li Longji couldn't help but feel that he had a little luck, and he was more confident, and he was also deeply impressed by Cui Riyong's wit.

Cui Riyong's surrender has given Li Longji a clearer channel of information about the movements of the Wei Hou party, but it also shows that there is not much time left, and if he does not strike first, it will be difficult for the Wei Hou party to launch it again as soon as the conspiracy of the Wei Hou party is carried out. Li Longji had made up his mind, so he sent Liu Youqiu to the forbidden army to find Ge Fushun, Chen Xuanli and others to understand the situation, and wait for an opportunity to act. It is very difficult for Liu Youqiu to understand this operation, because although he usually has a relationship with these generals, it is a major event to launch a coup d'état, and the main force of the forbidden army, Wan Cai, and the leaders of the flying cavalry have been replaced by Wei Hou's men and horses, among which Wu Yanxiu is the son-in-law of Wei Hou, the husband of Princess An Le, and the other three generals are also Wei's children, in this case, whether Ge Fushun and Chen Xuanli are willing to take the risk to respond, Liu Youqiu is not sure, but the situation at this time is already very critical, and if it drags on, once the news leaks, the situation will be out of control. Liu Youqiu had no choice but to go hard.

Merriam-Webster made a stun move

Liu Youqiu found someone to make an appointment with Ge Fushun and Chen Xuanli to meet in the wing room of the restaurant, this is where they often go, Liu Youqiu sat in the wing room, and it was better to think about how to introduce the topic, but after waiting for a while, no one had come yet, Liu Youqiu was a little suspicious, and wanted to say that the forbidden army generally had no tasks except for the regular drills and the emperor going out of Beijing to accompany him, so Ge and Chen usually came by invitation, but they haven't come for so long today, is there something wrong with it? Just when Liu Youqiu was thinking hard and was in an uncertain mood, there was a huge sound of footsteps, and as soon as the door opened, he saw Ge Fushun and Chen Xuanli arrive, and he also brought another officer named Li Xianfeng who was also in the Ten Thousand Cavalry to come in together. Liu Youqiu saw that the faces of the three of them were all uneasy, so he said: "The generals have worked hard, I think it is because the army has been busy recently, and it is too late for you to arrive, so I will give you a glass first!" Dry! ”

The three officers drank the wine in one gulp, and Ge Fushun said, "Busy bird! It's nothing at all, it's not a newcomer to Wei Bo, this kid, relying on himself to be the queen's nephew, has never been a soldier, and he commands blindly when he grabs power. In such a hot weather, we were asked to conduct a live drill with the whole team of 10,000 cavalry, and several people were injured, and I couldn't see how many words I could say, but this kid actually said that I was disobedient and said that he would beat me forty boards. Fortunately, it was Brother Chen, Brother Li and others who knelt down and pleaded, so they first wrote down not to fight, this kid knows what bullshit. dared to be so powerful, Lao Tzu was unhappy that day, so he killed him to see if he could play again! ”

Li Xianfeng listened and said. "If you want to say that these ten thousand riders are now impossible, they really can't do it; We are the pro-army guarding the emperor, this kid from Gao Song (the leading general newly sent by Wei to Wancai) actually asked us to do hard labor and help build Princess Anle's mansion, which really threw us face, and if it goes on like this, Lao Tzu doesn't want to do it anymore, so he just leaves. ”

The three officers complained a lot like this, and I complained for a while, and after listening to it for a while, Liu Youqiu knew that Wu Yanxiu and Wei's children had arrived. Because he had never led the army, he was afraid that the officers below would be disobedient, so he came up with a bad idea, and if he had nothing to do, he would trouble these officers, and threaten to be dealt with by military law at every turn, and knowing that the forbidden army had always been unruly, he let them do hard labor to sharpen their spirit, thinking that in this way the army would be easy to lead, but it backfired, but it caused anger and resentment. This is a great opportunity. After listening to it for a while, Liu Youqiu thought about it and said, I am very sympathetic to your situation, but I am soft-spoken. I can't help you with anything, but we can find the king of Linzi, he has always been bold and enthusiastic, and you are also familiar with it, please go to the Linzi palace tomorrow, I ask the prince to help you think of a way. Luckily? “

These three people were all angry and unbearable, and when they heard this Jianyi, they all applauded, so they said that they would go to the palace tomorrow to see Li Longji.

Liu Youqiu returned to the palace and talked to Li Longji about the situation, and both of them were very excited, because they were originally worried that Ge, Chen and others were unwilling to take risks, and it would be difficult to move them to participate in the seizure of power.

The next day, Ge Fushun, Chen Xuanli, and Li Xianfeng arrived at the palace, Li Longji and Liu Youqiu had a banquet prepared, and after everyone was seated, these three people complained to Li Longji again, Li Longji asked the three of them, "Now that the situation is like this, what are your plans!" ”

The three of them, "Please also ask the prince to show you a clear way"

Li Longji smiled but did not answer, glanced at Liu Youqiu, Liu Youqiu understood, and said, "Generals, Wei is in power, Wan Qi is the core of the forbidden army, Wei must firmly control this army, the generals are the old officers of Wan Cai, and they are supported by the brothers in the army, the Wei clan will not be at ease with the generals, after changing the leading generals, the next will begin to gradually adjust the middle-level generals such as Du Wei and Guo Yi, the position of the generals and others may not be guaranteed, the king of Linzi intends to guide the generals on a clear road, I don't know if everyone dares or not!" ”

The three of them have been depressed for a while in recent days, and at this time, a few cups of yellow soup were in their stomachs, and they were provoked by Liu Youqiu, and their blood and qi surged, Ge Fushun shouted: "Why don't you dare, husband?" What instructions does the prince have, just say, I, Ge Fushun, will go to the soup and fight the fire, and I will not give up! The other two also said that they would definitely follow the prince.

Li Longji stood up, gave everyone a look, and said: "The Tang Dynasty is in danger, the Wei family murdered the former emperor (Zhongzong Li Dan), and falsely passed on the edict, which is an unforgivable crime. I, Li Longji, as a descendant of Emperor Taizong and Emperor Gaozong, are determined to raise troops to set things right, generals, since ancient times, wealth and wealth have been sought in danger, not to mention that we are fighting for the Tang Dynasty today, God will bless it! I, Li Longji, please help me, and we will punish Webster and restore the Tang Dynasty together! “

Liu Youqiu, Ge Fushun, Chen Xuanli, Li Xianyu and others raised their glasses and fell to the ground, shouting, "Punish Wei's and restore the Tang Dynasty!" “

Then Liu Youqiu explained the entire plan of action to everyone, in order to avoid too long a long time and a lot of dreams at night, he set the date for the day after tomorrow, that is, on June 20, and after making an appointment for the time and place of the meeting, the three 10,000 cavalry officers left. Li Longji and Liu Youqiu went to contact other officials involved, namely Xue Congjian, Zhong Shaojing, Wang Chongye, Ma Sizong and others, and Princess Taiping, Li Longji also contacted herself, and Princess Taiping also agreed and was willing to assist. Someone asked whether we should inform the king of the action, Li Longji said, "We are doing things for the sake of the Tang Dynasty, and if things are done, the great blessing will return to the king, and if it doesn't work, we will only die." Now report to the prime minister, if you get the consent, it is to involve him in a dangerous action, if he does not agree, it will ruin the plan, it is better not to report! Everyone agreed with Li Longji's analysis and did not report it.

Ten thousand horsemen take the palace

On June 20, when Li Longji and Liu Youqiu led their cronies to prepare to go to the Forbidden Garden, they found that the domestic slave king Mao Zhong had fled, and Li Longji was furious, but the matter had come to this point, so he had to take Li Yide and his cronies and go with Liu Youqiu. After noon, Li Longji, Liu Youqiu and others arrived at the Forbidden Garden, immediately changed their clothes and sneaked in, when they arrived at the door of the Forbidden Garden, Liu Youqiu knocked on the door and asked Zhong Shaojing to open the door to answer, this was originally agreed, but Zhong Shaojing was scared when the matter came to the end, regretted it and did not want to open the door, Li Longji suddenly became nervous, and asked Li Yide to knock on the door. Zhong Shaojing's wife is a wise woman, and when she saw this situation, she said to Zhong Shaojing: "Sacrifice yourself to save the country, God will bless you, and you have always had dealings with the king of Linzi and plotted to act, even if you don't respond today, once the matter is revealed, can you escape death?" Zhong Shaojing opened the door and came out to meet him, Li Longji saw Zhong Shaojing come out, and he put down his heart that was hanging for most of the time, and everyone entered the official residence together, waiting for other people to meet.

Soon after nightfall, Ge Fushun, Li Xianfeng, Chen Xuanli and other three people came to meet, everyone asked Li Longji to give orders, Li Longji said: "The second watch, please General Ge and others enter the Xuanwumen Yulin Army camp, kill several generals sent by Wei, and then lead the troops to the rendezvous, separate attacks on the imperial city, and meet in Lingyan Pavilion!"

At the time of the second watch, Ge Shunfu and others broke into the camp of the Yulin Army, because the generals were already asleep, and killed Wei Jun, Wei Bo, and Gao Song sent by the Wei family, cut off the heads, and showed them to everyone to see, and announced: "Queen Wei conspired to kill the first emperor, and the Wei henchmen controlled the government and did nonsense. The sergeants were stunned because of the incident, the second was Ge Fushun's usual brothers, taking the lead in supporting the coaxing, and the third was Wei Jun and the other three newcomers. (To be continued.) )