Princess Taiping sat down for a while, then took her leave, and Li Dan sent her out, and then ordered the eldest son to be called to his study.

"Close the door"

Li Dan commanded, Li Chengqi hurriedly stepped forward and closed the door, he stood in front of his father with his hands down, Li Dan glanced at him and smiled: "It seems that you don't want to talk about Gaofujun in front of your aunt today." ”

"Father, the child is just a little worried"

"What are you worried about?" Li Dan smiled: "We don't have to be taboo when talking between father and son, you can say anything directly, I won't blame you." ”

"Does my father think my aunt really supports us?"

"Why do you ask that, doesn't she support us, and she still supports your uncle? She didn't like your uncle since she was a child, and she had the best relationship with me, of course, if she turned to support your uncle, I wouldn't say anything, it was her choice. ”

"It's not like that"

Li Chengqi bit his lip and said, "The child has heard some rumors that my aunt wants to inherit my grandmother's inheritance-"

Without waiting for his son to finish speaking, Li Dan raised his head and laughed, laughing so much that Li Chengqi's face was flushed, "Does Father think the child's statement is ridiculous?"

Li Dan put away his smile and said seriously: "Of course I know that she has the ambition to inherit the unification, I can see it since I was a child, but ambition is ambition, my Datang will not have a second female emperor, your grandmother will be the only female emperor unprecedentedly, the reason why your grandmother was able to ascend the throne as the emperor is half of the credit is on your grandfather, this is a coincidence, I believe that Datang will not have such an opportunity again." ”

Li Chengqi didn't agree with his father's inference, but he didn't know how to refute it, so he had to lower his head and smile bitterly, not daring to say more.

Li Dan glanced at him, and said: "Your aunt is a very powerful magnate, if she can get her support, it will be very good for us in the future, so I want to win her over, I have to show trust in her, and make her feel that I have always been honest with her, so that she will support me wholeheartedly, so I asked you to report Gao Yanfu's affairs in front of her, but some things must be reserved, such as did Gao Yanfu say that the saint intends to make your uncle the crown prince?"

Li Chengqi nodded silently, he felt that what his father said was very reasonable, which made him suddenly enlightened, and he really wanted to pull his aunt and let her fully support his father.

"What am I asking you?" Li Dan reminded his son again.

Li Chengqi reacted at this time, and hurriedly said: "Gao Fujun said that he didn't know, and he also said that I was afraid that even the saint himself didn't know, he said that the last year or two was a critical moment to establish the crown prince, let my father be cautious, act in a low-key manner, and don't be caught." ”

"What a golden word," Li Dan let out a long sigh.

Two days later, Li Zhen and Di Yan finally returned to Luoyang, the capital of the gods, it was the middle of April, and in the late spring and early summer season, the weather was gradually getting hotter.

The polo tournament has been over for more than a month, and the craze has gradually faded, and no one in the inn talks about the polo tournament anymore, which makes Li Zhen feel a little unspeakable loss.

"You seem to be a little annoyed, what are you thinking?"

In the thriving Left Bank restaurant, Di Yan and Li Zhen sat in the old seats by the window on the third floor, Di Yan saw that Li Zhen was a little worried, she took a sip of wine and said with a smile: "Do you feel a little regretful that you didn't participate in the polo final?"

"It's a little bit" Li Zhen also laughed, "But it doesn't matter, you can still participate next year"

At this time, a drinker next to him shouted loudly, "I can bet with you, the Xingtang Society must still be there, Li Jingye and Luo Bingwang are not dead, they must be hiding somewhere in the Tang Dynasty, waiting for a comeback."

"I believe that Xingtang will exist, but I don't dare to agree with what Brother Wang said, even if Li Jingye and Luo Bingwang are still alive, they will be too old to walk. ”

Li Zhen was secretly shocked in his heart, how could he talk about the Xingtang Club in the restaurant?

At this time, the bartender brought them wine and food, and Li Zhen grabbed the bartender and asked: "We just came to Luoyang, how did we hear them talking about the Xingtang Society, as well as Luo Bingwang and others, didn't Luo Bingwang and Li Jingye die early?"

Li Zhen and Di Yan were wearing masks, the bartender didn't recognize them, he smiled bitterly, "Now the Tang Dynasty is talking about this matter, I don't know who spread the news, Li Jingye and Luo Bingwang are not dead, they are ready to make a comeback, and the government is not allowed to talk about it at first, but there are more and more people talking about it, and the government can't stop it, so it has to let them go." ”

"Oh I see, I don't know who broke the news?"

"This. I don't know, please slow down."

The bartender saluted, turned around and walked away quickly, Li Zhen was really a little strange in his heart, this must be the news spread by someone with a heart, creating public opinion about the Xingtang Society, forcing the imperial court and Wu Zetian to face this matter.

At this time, Di Yan lowered his voice and said: "I think this is either done by Lai Junchen, or Wu Sansiyu, in short, the person who spread the news has ill intentions, and he definitely does not want to promote the Xingtang Society, but wants to put the Xingtang Society to death." ”

After lunch, Di Yan went back to the house to visit her grandmother and mother, while Li Zhen returned directly to her home.

However, he did not meet his eldest sister Li Quan, and the housekeeper told him that his wife had gone to the manor in Lingzhou again, and had been gone for a few days, and even the children had been taken with her, leaving only a letter to him.

Li Zhen returned to his room, lay down on the bed, and opened the letter left by his eldest sister, who wrote three pages of the letter, all of which were trivial things, and became the best hypnotic agent.

He didn't wake up until the afternoon, he got up and walked to the yard, stretched his waist for a long time, and only felt exceptionally refreshed, at this time, Steward Lin hurriedly came to the door and smiled at Li Zhen: "Son, someone is looking for you outside the door"

Li Zhen walked outside the gate of the mansion, only to see a young man standing outside the door, thirteen or fourteen years old, with a smart face, Li Zhen knew him, he was a little eunuch who followed Shangguan Wan'er, named Gu Antai.

"Is it Shangguan Sheren looking for me?" asked Li Zhen.

The little eunuch hurriedly stepped forward and saluted, "Madame asked me to invite the commander into the palace."

Li Zhen was really a little puzzled in his heart, how did Shangguan Wan'er know that he was back? He knew that there were also two internal guard warriors in his mansion, who were responsible for protecting the safety of his eldest sister, but they had already gone to Lingzhou with his eldest sister, so who would report the news? Could it be that Di Yan also had any spies on his side?

Li Zhen nodded, "I know, I'll enter the palace immediately."

He went back to his room and changed into an official uniform, turned over his horse, and urged the horse to run towards the palace.

The palace is very lively, tens of thousands of craftsmen are busy building the new Ming Hall, Wu Sansi made a military order, the new Ming Hall must be completed before the end of the year, he is also very hard for this, most of the time every day on the construction site to inspect, urging the craftsmen to work overtime, even the empress Wu Zetian often comes to inspect the progress of the Ming Hall.

It was also a coincidence that as soon as Li Zhen entered Yingtianmen, he met a large group of eunuchs and palace maids surrounding Wu Zetian, Li Zhen hurriedly stood in the guard team and stood with his hands down, although he didn't want to be seen by Wu Zetian, but he was wearing the official uniform of the internal guard, which was particularly eye-catching, and Wu Zetian saw him at a glance.

Wu Zetian smiled and asked the palace maid to summon Li Zhen forward, Li Zhen stepped forward and knelt down on one knee to salute, "Weichen Li Zhen participates in His Majesty the Emperor"

"Where was Commander Li during this time?" Wu Zetian asked with a smile, but the corner of his eye fell on Shangguan Wan'er's face next to him.

Shangguan Wan'er was standing behind Wu Zetian, she looked a little nervous, for fear that Li Zhen would say the wrong thing, Li Zhen said unhurriedly: "Weichen was ordered to be public in Fangzhou, he has finished his official duties, and he just returned to Chang'an today. ”

"Is there a report?" Wu Zetian asked again.

"Your Majesty, the report can be handed in tomorrow. ”

"Well, I'd like to take a look at your Fangzhou report, too. ”

After Wu Zetian finished speaking, he no longer paid attention to Li Zhen, and moved to the chariot, sixteen guards raised the chariot, and everyone gathered around them, heading towards the Zhenguan Palace, Shangguan Wan'er gave Li Zhen a look and asked him to go to his court room to wait first.

Li Zhen then came to Shangguan Wan'er's courtroom, sat outside and waited, not long after, a ring sound came, followed by a strong incense breeze, Shangguan Wan'er had already appeared at the door, she glanced at Li Zhen meaningfully, and said lightly: "Come with me"

Li Zhen followed her into the courtroom, Shangguan Wan'er was obviously a little unhappy, and asked coldly, "How are you going to report your Fangzhou investigation results to the saint?"

Li Zhen was already prepared in his heart, and said with a smile: "I have already checked the facts, the King of Luling did not recruit an army, nor did he recruit warriors, although there were people in Fangzhou who recruited warriors among the victims, but that was done by the Goryeo Restoration Association, and the number of people was about 100, which has nothing to do with the King of Luling." ”

"Do you have any evidence?" Shangguan Wan'er's face softened slightly.

"Pei Shunqing, the county lieutenant of Xiangcheng County, is the evidence, and the shopkeeper of the Jishengtang Pharmacy, the humble position has been investigated, they are the people of the Goryeo Restoration Congress, and they have all fled after the failure of the assassination of the King of Luling, and the Jishengtang Pharmacy has been haunting Fangzhou for a long time in the name of purchasing medicinal materials, and they have done it to recruit samurai privately. ”

Shangguan Wan'er had already received Xie Ying's report and knew the truth about Fangzhou, she planned to let Li Zhen push the responsibility of the private samurai to the Wei family, but she didn't expect Li Zhen to find the scapegoat of the Goryeo Restoration Association, although there was no conclusive evidence, but it was barely reasonable.

Shangguan Wan'er pondered for a moment, then nodded, "Okay, you write me a detailed report first, including the details of Xiang Cheng County's assassination, the Holy Lord is more concerned about what happened to Xiang Cheng County, understand?"

"Humble Understanding"

The two were silent for a moment, and Shangguan Wan'er looked at him again and asked, "Did you shoot Yang Pei?"

"How could Shangguan Sheren think that it was me Yu?"

"Intuitively, I feel like it's you. ”

Li Zhen had made sufficient preparations before and after, even the shopkeeper and the guys of the inn didn't know about their arrival and departure, they didn't leave any traces, and no one saw them, unless it was speculation, so Shangguan Wan'er said that she was intuition, and it was also expected by Li Zhen.

Although Li Zhen could completely deny that it was his own doing, he weighed it repeatedly all the way, feeling that his wings were far from being hard, and he did not have any capital to confront Shangguan Wan'er, he pondered for a moment, then nodded and admitted: "Sheren is right, it is indeed a lowly act"

Shangguan Wan'er's face softened significantly, revealing a hint of a smile, Li Zhen's attitude was the key, and the dissatisfaction in her heart was immediately eliminated, and she said: "I asked Yao Xi to send you a letter, in fact, I hope you can rescue Yang Pei, I don't want you to kill him, is it Li Xian's order to you?"

Li Zhen shook his head, "King Luling didn't give me any instructions, I just said hello to Li Chongrun, and then went south with Di Yan, although I also wanted to rescue them, but I found that I couldn't do it, the opportunity was fleeting at that time, unless I killed him, I didn't have a chance." ”

Shangguan Wan'er sighed, "Although killing Yang Pei is also a good way, but Yang Pei is the backbone of the Xingtang Dynasty, I am worried that I will not be able to explain to Li Xian, and I can only refuse to admit that you killed Yang Pei, in addition to you and Di Yan, is there a third person who knows that you killed Yang Pei?"

"The one who gives up is the third person, and there is no fourth person other than that. ”

Shangguan Wan'er nodded, she took a few steps with her hands, and said to Li Zhen: "You wrote to me before that there is also a mysterious force in Fangzhou that attacked the officials of Dali Temple and Lai Junchen's men, I asked Shangqinglou to investigate this matter carefully, although there is no conclusive evidence, but I already know who did it, have you thought of it."

"The person who is suspected of being the king of the prime minister. ”

"You guessed right, the investigation results of Shangqing Lou are also related to Xiangwang, which is really unexpected."

The two were silent again, and after a long time, Li Zhen asked again: "Today, I heard a lot of people talking about the Xingtang Society in the wine shop, who will spread the news?"

"Besides Wu Sansi, who else will there be? This person is two-faced and three-stabbed, a few days ago at the court meeting pretended to publicly impeach Lai Junchen, but was reprimanded by the saint, he did not dare to find trouble with Junchen again, and turned around to deal with the Xingtang Society, although he and Lai Junchen have a conflict of interest, but in dealing with the Xingtang Society, the goals of the two are completely the same, they both want to eradicate the Li royal family, it seems that the Xingtang Society is going to intensify. ”

Shangguan Wan'er sighed lowly, the Holy Lord was unexpectedly concerned about the Xingtang Society, and it could be seen that her idea of replacing the Li clan with the Wu clan was still fixed in her heart, and she would not get rid of it for a while.

Shangguan Wan'er even suspected that Shengshang's relaxation of the suppression of Li Dan and Li Xian was actually a strategy to capture the old and indulge, the purpose was to lure out the Xingtang Society, and then kill the Xingtang Society in one go, Shangguan Wan'er felt very heavy in her heart, and she didn't want the Li clan to be replaced by the Wu clan.

Thinking of this, she said to Li Zhen: "The water of the Xingtang Society is very deep, you can watch it for the time being, don't be easily involved, you must obey my arrangement, this is for your good." ”

Shangguan Wan'er seemed to feel that it was inappropriate to say this, so she thought about it and said, "I will not sit idly by and watch the Xingtang Hui case, but we need to wait for the opportunity to come before making a move."

"Humble duty understood. ”

At this moment, Shangguan Wan'er's maid Xiao'e walked into the court room quickly, whispered a few words to Shangguan Wan'er, Shangguan Wan'er's eyes flashed a trace of surprise, and turned back to Li Zhen and said: "Lai Junchen is also back, and he is waiting outside the palace for the summons of the saint." ”