Xiao Shoudao and the other four sat there awkwardly, not knowing how to speak. The words they had originally thought of had lost their meaning now. What's more, the affairs in the palace were originally the royal family's own business. It was already a taboo for me and others to visit the king and plead for mercy.
"I would like to thank you for your magnanimity on behalf of the king and for saving your life." Xiao Shougui suddenly stood up and bowed.
"It seems there are some people who understand, not all of them are so stupid." Li Hong thought to himself, got up, walked to Xiao Shougui, patted his arm, and said, "Get up, just understand, I won't let you say it out loud, I just don’t want to be offended, I can say it, but you can’t say anything to plead for mercy, otherwise it will violate the royal taboo. I will naturally take this matter to heart, not to mention Yiyang and Gaoan have always been good friends with me, I’m afraid When I return to the palace, they will also bother me."
"On behalf of the king, this is what I have prepared for you." Xiao Hui stood up and said, and then saw Mang Zhong checked at the door and then carried in by the servants of Prince Pu's Mansion.
Li Hong frowned and looked at the big box that could hold two of him, and asked with a frown: "What is this?"
Xiao Hui smiled slightly and said, "You will know when you open it on behalf of the king."
Li Hong motioned to Xiaohan to open one of the boxes, and suddenly the room seemed to become bright and bright. As the fifth prince of the Tang Dynasty, he had never seen so many jewels piled together.
As I approached, I saw that the top layer of the box was covered with pearls, emeralds, agates, jade and other precious items. You could also faintly see the shining light of gold exposed in a corner of the box.
Li Hong's frown deepened. Xiao Hui and the other four people watched Li Hong walk to the box, and they all breathed a sigh of relief. In any case, as long as the King Dai likes it and is willing to accept it, no matter whether it succeeds or not, From now on, they are sure to sit on the ship of the Queen.
Li Hong laboriously took out a piece of shining gold from the corner of the box and weighed it. This should be the heaviest twelve gold ingots among ordinary gold ingots in this era. At this time, Chang'an could not even be used as currency, and most of it was for collection. Moreover, during this period, the shapes of gold ingots were still limited to a few limited shapes: horseshoe gold, linton gold, gold cakes, and gold plates.
"How did you get these out of the palace?" Li Hong glanced at the official seal on the gold ingot, then threw it back into the box, took out a pearl necklace and looked at it and asked.
"This..." Xiao Hui looked a little unnatural. After thinking for a moment, he said frankly: "This has been transported out of the palace before. It was brought out by Concubine Xiao Shu for use."
Li Hong glanced at Xiao Hui, who was embarrassed. He estimated that these things were used by Concubine Xiao Shu to manage the affairs between the officials in the court when she was competing for the position of queen. He probably didn't expect that she would be deposed as a commoner before the arrangements were completed. . But it is also possible that she used these things to save the lives of her three children in the future.
"Take it back and keep it. I'm afraid Concubine Xiao Shu hasn't had time to prepare the dowries for Yiyang and Gao'an's future marriages. If you keep these, they can be regarded as their dowries. By the way, I will keep this pearl necklace. When I return to I will personally return it to Yiyang in the palace." Xiao Shufei really spent a lot of money to fight for the queen, even taking out the only pearl necklace that Yiyang liked.
"You can't act on behalf of the king. These are not Concubine Xiao Shu's wishes. They were decided by the four ministers and others after discussion. They are all for the lives of the two princesses Yiyang and Gao'an and King Yong Li Sujie." Xiao Shoudao said hurriedly. Now he seemed to be a little worried. I understand, the things that Concubine Xiao Shu kept aside were probably not for her own life, but to prevent herself from losing the fight and use these gold and silver treasures to save the lives of her three children.
Li Hong shook his head impatiently and said in a childish voice: "You take it back and keep it for the three of them. When can they use it in the palace? Distribute it to them after they get married. As for Li Sujie, wait until he arrives in the fiefdom. Just give me more. That’s it, Xiaohan sees you off.”
After saying that, Li Hong left without looking back, leaving Xiao Shoudao and the four of them looking at each other, not knowing what to do. None of them expected that after seeing such a huge amount of gold, silver and jewelry, the King Dai, who was always smiling and gentle, instead of showing greed and happiness, went out of his way and dealt with them forcefully. Expulsion order.
Xiaohan had already ordered his servants to cover the box again and then carried it out of the front hall. He urged the four people who still didn't know what to do to walk out of Prince Pu's Mansion.
Wang Jing did not come alone, but came to visit Li Hong with his uncle, Liu Shuang, the Zhongshu Province Zhongshu Ling. The purpose of this was naturally to increase the bargaining chip in Dai Wang's heart.
And Liu Shuang naturally also knew about the intrigue between Wang Jing and the Qiuci people from Ci'en Temple, and he was one of them. Without his help, after leaving Chang'an City, Tang Sanli Yiyi would have checked them. It would be difficult to pass them all without hindrance.
Li Hong had just sat down with Liu Shuang and Wang Jing in the front hall. In the Ganlu Hall of Tai Chi Palace, Yang Wu was reporting to Li Zhi on Li Hong's current situation during this period.
"Your Majesty, Zhongshu ordered Liu Shuang and Jinyang Marquis Wang Jing to visit the king." Yang Wu said with his head lowered.
"Oh, why do you want Liu Shuang to take the initiative to visit Hong'er?" Li Zhi asked strangely.
Yang Wu considered his words and said carefully: "When Daiwang sent his maid to give you the crystal pendant, it was kidnapped on the way back. After a secret visit by Daiwang, it was determined that Ci'en Temple had robbed it..."
With a "bang", Li Zhi slammed his hands on the table and said angrily: "What do you do for a living! Are the people in Li Jing's family secretly protecting him dead? You can't even protect a palace maid!"
Yang Wu was so frightened that he hurriedly knelt on the ground and said tremblingly: "Your Majesty, please calm down. This servant deserves to die. I just told them to protect the safety of the king that day. I didn't think that something would happen to the palace maid. Moreover, the kidnapper's methods were clean and neat. If not, Bai Lu, the palace maid of the acting king, left some secret codes in a hurry, so I’m afraid this matter won’t be investigated.”
"Tell me the result!" Li Zhi snorted angrily and said angrily.
"Your Majesty, the king sent people to secretly visit Ci'en Temple last night. Although they were not able to fully detect it, we are 70% sure that Ci'en Temple abducted the maid of the king."
"What's going on with Wang Jing and Liu Shuang?" Li Zhi gradually calmed down and asked.
"Back to Your Majesty, yesterday the king was looking for the code left by the palace maid Bai Lu. Near Ci'en Temple where the code disappeared, he met Wang Jing's carriage going to Ci'en Temple, so the king met Wang Jing there..."
"But Wang Jing was disrespectful to Hong'er? So he invited Liu Shuang to apologize to the king today? That's not right. With Li Hong's character, if Wang Jing dared to offend him, he would have given Wang Jing the due treatment. "Is there any other reason for the punishment?" Li Zhi is smart and a very knowledgeable person. From the lines of Yang Wu's words, he is keenly aware that there must be something he doesn't know about.
"Your Majesty, yes, the king suspects that Wang Jing is one of the people who kidnapped the palace maid Bai Lu, but it has not been confirmed yet. Cheetah and Jingzhe are currently inquiring about information and suspicious people at Ci'en Temple."
"But Li Hong has no evidence now, and he is afraid of stirring up trouble and ruining the life of the palace maid. Wang Jing and Liu Shuang visited Li Hong because they wanted to find out Li Hong's attitude? But this?" Li Zhi closed his eyes and pondered. After a while, he slowly opened his mouth and said clearly to the bystanders.
"Yes, this is how the people sent by this slave repay you."
"You Li Jingmen should be more vigilant, Yang Wu. Ever since I took over the Li Jingmen from my father, I have never asked you about it. Do you know why?" Li Zhi looked at the people kneeling on the ground, as if they were shrimps. Yang Wu, who shrank up, said.
"This slave deserves to die. This slave has betrayed His Majesty's trust. This slave will straighten out the Lijing clan."
"Rectification is necessary. Now does the queen know that Li Hong's maid is missing?" Li Zhi asked with a sideways glance.
This is what he is most concerned about now. If something goes wrong with Li Hong outside, Wu Mei may be able to peel off a layer of her own skin. Li Hong is Wu Mei's darling! If something unexpected happened to Li Hong, he would have to cry and quarrel with himself for several days before giving up, and Li Hong would not be able to escape punishment by then.
Originally, Li Hong should have returned to the palace when the one-month deadline had expired, but he had once again privately approved Li Hong to stay in Chang'an City. Putting this crime on Wu Mei, I'm afraid it would be a good excuse for her to chew her tongue. Thinking of this Li Zhi felt a little shuddering.
"I haven't told the Queen yet." Yang Wu said on his knees.
"Well, the queen must not know about this matter. Send extra people to continue to protect Li Hong secretly, and..." Li Zhi suddenly paused, got up and walked back and forth in the palace, thinking about whether he had intervened in this matter. , let Li Hong solve it alone.
He believed that Li Hong could solve the problem without interfering with him, but what he was afraid of was that this boy had such a wild personality, and if something that was not a big deal in the first place caused uproar in Chang'an, he might not be able to hide it from the Queen. The consequences are unimaginable.
Li Zhi, who had made up his mind, kicked Yang Wu who was still kneeling on the ground, motioned him to get up, and then said: "Secret orders are given to Duan Xuanbao, the minister of Dali Temple, and Liu Rengui, the minister of the Ministry of Punishment, to appear in court."
"Yes, I will send someone to find them to enter the palace." Yang Wu bowed and retreated. After retreating to the door, he turned around and sent someone to notify the two of them to enter the palace.
Li Zhi shouted again at the Manlu Hall: "Come back."
Yang Wu had no choice but to walk into the hall again, watching Li Zhi thinking with his hands behind his back, and then Li Zhi leaned over the table and took out a piece of paper and wrote a few lines in a hurry.
"The fire paint is sealed, and they can obey the orders of the king, or they can do it themselves according to the situation." After Li Zhi handed it over to Yang Wu, he continued: "Inform Li Hong that if there is any difficulty, he can consult these two people. , but you must not let me cause trouble in the city! Also, you must give him a serious warning... warn him... just say that his mother is very angry and act carefully. "
In the end, Li Zhi felt that his strict control over his wife could not be changed, but in order not to make Wu Mei angry, he still had to communicate with Li Hong. In this way, as long as the father and son are of the same mind, Wu Mei will have nothing to do with them no matter how angry she is.
In Prince Pu's Mansion, Li Hong said to Liu Shuang: "Although you are in the palace every day, this is the first time Li Hong has seen you. Under your rule, Zhongshu Province, my father, has never worked hard. However, my father has always been proud to have a loyal minister like you to assist him in governing the country."
Liu Shuang was about fifty years old, fair and plump, with kind eyes and a whiskered beard. He chuckled and said: "The king has given me the reward. Although I hold the position of high official in Zhongshu, without your majesty's guidance and support, I am afraid that I will not be able to survive." I can't go up and down the secretariat and make suggestions for our country. All of this is thanks to your majesty."
(End of chapter)