Chang'an, Daming Palace.

The upright Praetorian Guards are like a forest of swords and guns in their hands, and the majestic palace is full of gold and jade, waving flags and waving flags, and the momentum is solemn.

Pei Yan hid a book of music in his sleeve, and under the gaze of the surrounding ministers, he slowly walked into the majestic Zichen Palace.

Walking into the hall, Pei Yan didn't look up, and bowed directly: "Minister, Pei Yan, the secretary of the Criminal Department, meet the Queen of Heaven, the Queen of Heaven Wan'an!"

"Flat." Wu Hou sat on the golden throne, waved his hand a little tiredly, and the chamberlain on his side immediately stepped forward and received the recital in front of Wu Hou to one side, and on the other side, a female official brought a cup of hot tea and put it in front of Wu Hou.

Empress Wu took a sip gently, her expression was a little soothed, she raised her head to look at Pei Yan, and asked softly, "How is the matter of the King of the East China Sea?"

Pei Yan's eyes tightened, but his expression was still calm and said: "After returning to the heavens, the Criminal Department has investigated most of the relatives in the Beijing sect, relatives, and all the descendants of officials in the palace of the Yin Tai back then, and nothing has been found out about the bad news, and nothing has been found out about the good news."

"You can talk." Empress Wu chuckled disdainfully, then waved her long sleeves and said, "This is not good news, nor is it bad news, the Hidden King has been dead for so many years, and who will miss him, not to mention that the truly capable people have already held important positions in various parts of the imperial court, and only those wastes will collude with the Hidden Queen."

"What the Queen of Heaven says is very true." Pei Yan nodded solemnly, and then said, "Chang'an and Luoyang are actively investigating, and the local government has also made some moves, but there is not much progress, only Yangzhou...... The king of Nanchang captured Li Huainian, the son of the late prince of Ankang County, in Yangzhou, but Li Huainian was killed in advance and did not make more progress, and in some places, the king of Nanchang seems to have missed something."

"Omission, what's missing?" Empress Wu's eyes drooped slightly, and her expression already brought a trace of anger.

"Although Li Huainian is dead, but for many years, he has served in Yangzhou, colluding inside and out, and has already woven into a huge network, if he can investigate in depth, he will definitely be able to achieve results, but the king of Nanchang seems to have remembered the feelings of the clan and has not dug deep into it, and the minister feels a little pity." Pei Yan's expression brought a trace of regret, as if he was in Yangzhou, he would definitely be able to dig it out.

"Pei Qing!" Empress Wu suddenly spoke, her voice was not low, but Pei Yan felt a chill inexplicably.

"The minister is here!" Pei Yan solemnly bowed his hand.

Empress Wu said with a hint of coldness in her eyes: "The responsibility of the king of Nanchang for this trip to the southeast, Pei Qing still remembers?"

"Remember!" Pei Yan's face suddenly sank, and then he quickly said: "The king of Nanchang is the deputy envoy of Jiangnan Province to raise troops on this trip, assisting the governor of Yangzhou Governor Shi Dou Xuande to recruit soldiers, renovate warships, and at the same time liaise with the Japanese state to deceive Silla, so that he miscalculates the strength and determination of our army, so as to facilitate the retreat of the army to the north."

"Since you understand, why do you want to be so arrogant, the king of Nanchang still knows the distinction between priority and subordination, you Pei Yan Pei Zilong, the dignified secretary of the criminal department, the central minister, do you really want the southeast to be in chaos now?" Empress Wu angrily picked up a book of music from the table and threw it towards Pei Yan.

With a "snap", the music smashed directly on the ground at Pei Yan's feet, and it almost smashed directly on him.

Pei Yan's face changed suddenly, and he couldn't help but take a few steps back.

In an instant, Pei Yan's face was already pale, because the few words on the cover of the chapter in front of him had already made Pei Yan couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat: Dou Dou, the ambassador of Chenjiang Jiangnan Province, and Li Zuo, the deputy envoy, raised two or three things.

Two or three things, two or three things written on the cover of the recital, but Pei Yan knew that in this recital, Dou Xuande and Li Xuan must have told all the things in Yangzhou in detail, including the matter about Li Huainian.

"Li Huai's matter, the king of Nanchang is already asking for a decree to deal with it, the prince of Shi'an County is a clan after all, and he is an elder, it is common for the king of Nanchang to be difficult to deal with, and everything is done very low-key, but you, you think you are smart, you have to put the prince of Shi'an under house arrest......

Empress Wu gritted her teeth and looked at Pei Yan: "Now that the entire southeast is restless, you still have to talk about framing, do you have to make the southeast chaotic, unable to help Anton, and in the end

The defeat of the army at the front affected the preparation of Tibet...... Do you have to make Datang uneasy and chaotic inside and outside, so you are willing to give up, right?"

Pei Yan immediately pulled the hem of his clothes and knelt down directly in the hall, his face full of fear, but he said very sincerely: "Queen of Heaven, you have wronged the minister, the minister is loyal to His Majesty and the Queen of Heaven, and he is even more dedicated to the Tang Dynasty, how can he have such an evil and vicious mind?"

"I hope you don't have it, but under the overall situation, don't start again with some careful thoughts that shouldn't be there." Empress Wu's voice suddenly became flat, and the resentment in her previous words disappeared without a trace in an instant.

"Your Ministers obey!" Pei Yan breathed a sigh of relief slightly, although he was flustered on the surface, and even sweat was dripping out, but his heart was quiet.

At this moment, Empress Wu continued to speak: "Empress Ben has already sent a decree to let the Duke of Shi'an County return to his home. Li Huai's matter has nothing to do with him, he is just looking at that unfilial son for his brother, and it has nothing to do with the king of the East China Sea."

"What the queen of heaven said is very true, it is the minister Meng Lang." Pei Yan bowed his hand slightly.

"You stand down," Empress Wu waved her hand directly, her face a little impatient.

Pei Yan immediately stood up slowly, didn't dare to say more, and retreated directly, his face couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief slightly, but just as he was halfway back, Empress Wu suddenly spoke: "The Forbidden Army Zhonglang transferred Li Xuansi to General Zuo Xiaowei. The right leader Wei Zhonglang will be Cheng Wuting, and he will be transferred to the rank of Zhonglang general of the forbidden army."

The general of the forbidden army, guarding the Xuanwu Gate.

Pei Yan suddenly stopped, turned to look at Empress Wu, bowed heavily, and then withdrew from the Zichen Palace.

After Pei Yan left, Empress Wu's face turned cold, and she cursed unceremoniously, "Waste."

In a word, the entire Zichen Hall was silent.

"The Queen of Heaven is angry!" A figure stood up from behind the gauze curtain and bowed slightly to Empress Wu.

Empress Wu waved her hand indifferently, but this time, the anger on her face had been reduced a lot, and she sneered and said: "It's not a bad thing to have ambitions, but if you are too ambitious, it's not a good thing, a person is a secretary of the criminal department, a fellow clan is a secretary of the Ministry of War, and an in-law is a secretary of the Ministry of Works, not to mention that he is watching the position of prime minister, and he is even eyeing the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, if he really wants him to succeed, I am afraid that even the queen will have to be afraid of him."

The position of the central prime minister of the court, although it is divided by several ordinary affairs, but the power in the hands of each prime minister is very great, even the emperor needs to use the six ministries and nine secretaries to carefully balance the power of the prime minister and maintain the stability of the court.

The position of each of the six departments and nine secretaries in the center needs to be carefully considered by the emperor again and again before it can be determined, but if a certain prime minister directly targets the position of a certain six books, and tries to push his cronies to the throne......

If this person is extremely appreciated by the emperor, and even the position of the future prime minister and the left minister, it is indispensable, but such a character is not what the Empress Wu likes.

Look at the current leaders of the three central provinces, Liu Renliang, Dai Zhide, Hao Chujun, which one is not around seventy years old, but Pei Yan, who is just over fifty, is already actively plotting for the position of prime minister, and even laying out the six provinces.

Such a prime minister is too ambitious and greedy too much, even if it is her own cronies, Empress Wu also dislikes it in her heart, she still likes those who know how to measure and know how to advance and retreat.

"The southeast needs to be quiet, but it also needs to find out all the remnants of Prince Yin, this is also a delicate job, especially now, it takes patience even more, Pei Yan is too anxious, he would rather hurt the innocent, but also get things done, he didn't take into account that this would hurt this year's autumn harvest, as well as next year's spring planting." Empress Wu shook her head in disgust.

"Queen of Heaven, although Pei Shangshu is a little anxious, he is still measured." The figure who stood up pleaded for Pei Yan again.

"Proportion, his measure is just to invite favors for himself." Empress Wu sneered, Pei Yan's little trick, she saw it clearly. Look at the book

If it weren't for this, just now, Pei Yan wouldn't have thought about walking out of Zichen Hall properly.

It is impossible for a criminal department secretary who does not have a view of the overall situation to become a prime minister.

In fact, Empress Wu knew in her heart that although Pei Yan was a little more selfish, he was still sure of the situation in the southeast, and he used the threat of the East China Sea King to suppress him

forced the major families in Jiangnan to take the initiative to clean the people and things related to the East China Sea King inside.

Then seize some evidence to suppress and co-opt, and at the same time control the situation in their own hands.

Pei Yan's idea is very good, but at the practical level, it is a little insufficient.

After all, it was not Pei Yan himself who really went to the southeast to operate, but his nephew Xue Zhongzhang.

Although Xue Zhongzhang looks good, in fact, he is procrastinating and easy to rush, especially by his side, there is a more obedient King of Nanchang.

Empress Wu could see through the development of the southeast ending almost at a glance, Xue Zhongzhang seemed to be hiding behind Li Xuan, secretly calculating something, but since he put Li Xizhi, the prince of Shi'an County, under house arrest, all the families in the entire southeast knew who to watch out for.

"Fan Qing!" Empress Wu looked up at Fan Lubing, who was silent, and there was a hint of coldness on her slightly chuckling face: "Another book of the King of Nanchang, what do you think?"

Fan Lubing arched his hand with a solemn face and said: "Queen of Heaven, what the King of Nanchang said is all speculation, there is no empirical evidence, it is not enough to rely on in the court, but ......

"There's no evidence, but it's a guess alone that the man is doing it, right?" A trace of coldness flashed in the depths of Empress Wu's eyes, back then, Xu Shan, the prince of Anlu County, faintly had the intention of taking refuge, but Empress Wu was just a little concerned, and Xu Shan died.

However, Empress Wu didn't care so much at the time, after all, Xu Shan was just an attitude at that time.

And Empress Wu was also a little suspicious at that time, that thing was done by the emperor, after all, no one would like a traitor.

But now, everything proves that the emperor didn't know about that incident back then, and now it suddenly broke out, which not only made Empress Wu a little embarrassed in front of the emperor, but more importantly, that incident made her miss a prime minister.

Xu Yushi, as long as he is transferred back to the center, will immediately be a prime minister.

Empress Wu took a deep breath and said coldly: "Let the Baiqi Division investigate it well and find the evidence, let them send it to the Criminal Department, if they can't find the evidence, then let Li Jing's family disappear completely."

"That's what Your Majesty meant."