Chapter 86 Before leaving

Two officials of the Prince's Chongwenguan, Wu Xiaojie and Xu Shide, killed each other, shocking the court and the public.

Later, someone revealed that Wu Xiaojie had once served as an aide to the King of Yue.

Within a few days, Crown Prince Li Xian was frequently summoned to the palace by Emperor Wu Zetian and reprimanded.

Even in public court meetings, Wu Zetian was furious and accused Li Xian of knowing that Wu Xiaojie had been an aide to the King of Yue but not reporting him and instead shielding and harboring him, which was sinister.

Li Xian knew he was in the wrong and was too afraid of Wu Zetian, so he was speechless in court and could not defend himself, but just kept asking for forgiveness.

Seeing that Wu Zetian was intending to use the situation to depose the crown prince, many old officials who were loyal to Li Tang stood up to plead for the crown prince.

In the end, Li Xian himself was not severely punished, but Wu Zetian took the opportunity to demote several officials of the Eastern Palace, and the old ministers who pleaded for Li Xian were also affected.

Wu Zetian also announced that she would go on a tour to the south, and after the tour, she would bring all the court officials back to the capital Luoyang.

A large number of ministers had just been demoted. Under such prestige, no one dared to oppose Wu Zetian's return to Luoyang.

Wu Zetian's return to the divine world was an obvious political signal.

Chang'an was the capital of the Li Tang Dynasty, and it was also the place where the Li family had the greatest influence and the deepest roots.

Once the emperor and the court left Chang'an and went to Luoyang, it meant that Li Xian's position was shaken.

After Wu Zetian's series of moves, the momentum of the restore Tang faction in the court and the country was greatly reduced, and no one dared to mention returning power to the Li Tang Dynasty.

Li Xian was in trouble, and Wu Sansi and other members of the Wu clan became rampant for a while, jumping up and down, trying to instigate Wu Zetian to completely abolish Li Xian.

However, Wu Zetian turned a deaf ear to this and did not take any action against Li Xian again.
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Of course it was Xu Shide who informed the emperor. Zhao Ji only answered truthfully when Wu Zetian asked about the situation and also reported Xu Shide at the same time.

At this time, Wu Zetian's political goal had been achieved, and she was very pleased. She transferred Zhao Ji back to Qianniu Guard, and his rank was raised from the fifth rank to the fourth rank, and he was promoted to the rank of Inspector of the Qianniu Guard, a barely promoted one level.

Zhao Ji had just met Wu Zetian and came out of the Purple Palace, talking with Shangguan Wan'er.

Shangguan Wan'er shook her head regretfully and said jokingly, "Alas, General Zhao, you were beaten to the punch by Xu Shide again this time. Do you regret it? If you were more active, you would probably be a legitimate fourth-rank lower-level general by now."

Zhao Ji had a blank expression on his face, not caring about Shangguan Wan'er's teasing: "I don't think so. Gains blind one's mind, merits and demerits always go hand in hand. I don't seek merits, not having demerits is merit."

Now that the Crown Prince is in trouble, I don't know how many people in the court are implicated. As a general in the Eastern Palace, a promotion to a higher rank is already conspicuous. If I get promoted like a rocket, how will the government and the public view me?

He would certainly be regarded as a corrupt official who framed the prince, and his reputation would be ruined, which would be tantamount to overdrawing his political life.

Shangguan Wan'er sighed softly and said, "Alas, Chengyuan is so careful about his reputation, so I'm afraid his career will not be smooth sailing."

Zhao Ji didn't take it seriously and said sarcastically, "How high is the official position? Others can climb up by criticizing the prince, but I can't. I can't let Di Gong down. Besides, I didn't lie to your majesty. I just told you the truth. What's wrong with that?"

Shangguan Wan'er felt a little unhappy when she saw that there was a hint of sarcasm in Zhao Ji's words and his tone was strange.

Her eyebrows seemed to be frowned, and she said with a slight frown: "What do you mean by that? It's as if I'm instigating you to frame the prince."

Zhao Ji glanced at her sideways, did not answer, just rolled his eyes.

Seeing Zhao Ji's carefree attitude, Shangguan Wan'er was not surprised, but talked about business: "Your Majesty sent you to Huzhou this time, do you know what you are going to do?"

Zhao Ji took a deep breath and his face became serious: "I understand what your majesty means. This trip is not only to investigate Xu Shide's secret actions, but also to eliminate Li Gui and other remnants of the King of Yue to ensure that this matter does not affect the prince." Shangguan Wan'er nodded in agreement: "Yes, recently your majesty used the matter of Wu Xiaojie to dismiss a group of old ministers who pleaded for the prince, but the prince himself did not receive too severe a punishment."

"Prince Liang and his men petitioned to depose the crown prince, but Your Majesty turned a deaf ear to it. This shows that Your Majesty wants to maintain a balance between the crown prince and the Wu clan."

"Some time ago, the old ministers of Li Tang were making a fuss, so they had to be suppressed. Now that the prince is weak, we can no longer suppress him, but instead we have to protect him."

Zhao Ji smiled and exaggeratedly cupped his hands and said, "Don't worry, sister. Chengyuan understands!"

However, Shangguan Wan'er still had a worried look on her face: "But your mission this time is secret. His Majesty did not give you an imperial decree, only a verbal order. You are only taking two subordinates to Huzhou. How should you proceed?"

Zhao Ji did not answer directly. His eyes were fixed on Shangguan Wan'er, with an elusive smile on his lips.

This was obviously a very rude thing to do. Shangguan Wan'er wanted to be angry, but when she saw Zhao Ji's half-smile on his face, she didn't know why she couldn't get angry.

After a long while, a faint blush appeared on her pretty face from cheeks to ears, and she said, "Why are you looking at me?"

"Sister, were you concerned about me just now?" Zhao Ji asked with his head tilted.

When Shangguan Wan'er heard the word "sister", she suddenly covered her mouth with the back of her hand and chuckled, her eyes curved like crescent moons.

She said coquettishly, "Sister? Who is your sister? Is this the first time I care about you? I've never seen you so attentive before."

Zhao Ji smiled like a spring breeze and said, "Before, Zhao Ji was of low rank and position, and my sister showed too much favor to me, which made me feel ashamed. Besides, I am not a wooden man. My sister is such a beautiful woman, but every time we meet, she either talks about things that are taboo and will cost you your life, or talks about official business, which is really a downer."

Shangguan Wan'er quickly stopped smiling, but the blush on her face had not yet faded: "Oh? If you don't want to talk about business, then you still want to talk about love and sex?"

Zhao Ji shook his head and sighed, "How dare I. I just feel sad that I have been back in Chang'an for several months. It's like living with a tiger. The intrigues are exhausting. My sister has been like this every day. You can imagine how difficult it is."

Shangguan Wan'er glanced at Zhao Ji and said, "I am not as cunning as someone else. As long as she has no second thoughts about Your Majesty, how can she be so scary?"

Zhao Ji nodded and said, "Sister is right."

But he didn't agree with it in his heart.

When the Shenlong coup took place in history, Wu Zetian did not realize what had happened until the Changsheng Palace where she lived was surrounded and Zhang Jianzhi and others led people into the palace.

None of the palace maids, eunuchs, and guards went to report the news, so whose credit should be given?
Of course, it was Princess Taiping and the beauty in front of them. Because of this speculation, the two of them not only did not suffer from liquidation, but became even more prominent in the reign of Emperor Zhongzong.

Shangguan Wan'er didn't know what Zhao Ji was thinking, so she pressed on, "You haven't answered the question just now. What are you going to do when you get to Huzhou?"

Zhao Ji responded confidently: "Don't worry, sister. I have my own way. Qiao Tai, the new governor of Huzhou who took office a few months ago, is a good friend I met in Youzhou. We have a deep friendship and he will lend me a helping hand."

There is another thing that Zhao didn't say, Di Pangpang and Yuan Fang will also help.

Shangguan Wan'er saw that Zhao Ji was so confident, so she didn't know what to say. She just gently reminded him, "In that case, be careful on your way."

Zhao Ji bowed and said, "Thank you, sister. Please be careful around His Majesty. I'll take my leave now."

　Huzhou is not a county name, but a state name. I really don't know what Director Qian was thinking. In the Han Dynasty, it would be similar to the place name Jingzhou County, which is abstract.

　　Lake is a proper noun, while state and county are common nouns. State became part of a proper noun only after the state was no longer used.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)