Tibet

The imperial power has always made countless people crazy, especially the children of the royal family. Even Li Linfu dreamed that he could be favored by Wu Zetian and be made the crown prince when he was young.

So when all the ministers agreed that the current emperor must abdicate and a new emperor should be appointed, this news exploded in the royal family like a nuclear bomb. Almost all the children of the royal family could not calm down and were eager for this huge pie to fall on their heads.

Although everyone knew that this was paving the way for the regent, they held on to hope as long as the regent did not ascend the throne, even if this hope was very small, less than one in ten thousand.

But human nature is like this, just like buying lottery tickets, everyone knows how low the probability of winning five million is, but there are still so many people rushing to it.

More importantly, the regent ascended the throne and made these royal family members dissatisfied. Li Shuliang, the descendant of Li Shuliang, was not even the brother of Emperor Gaozu, but just a cousin, and was out of the fifth mourning.

Although these royal family members usually did not say anything, when it really came to the critical moment, these royal family members jumped out.

The royal family is divided into two factions, one is called the direct faction, and the other is called the second direct faction. Simply put, the descendants of Li Longji are called the direct faction, and the direct royal family members other than Li Longji are called the second direct faction.

There are five sons of Li Longji who are still alive, namely Yong Wang Li Lin, who was pardoned on the eve of the death of Emperor Li Heng and restored the title of Yong Wang.

Shou Wang Li Mao, Yang Yuhuan's first husband, has been living cautiously for so many years since his wife was taken away by his father.

Feng Wang Li Gong, he was once the Grand Protector of Anxi and Beiting, but was dismissed because of his close relationship with Yu Chaoen.

There are also Yi Wang Li Yu and Chen Wang Li Gui, the two of them followed the emperor to escape to Bashu, and later carried the coffin back to Chang'an, and have always been relatively low-key.

These five people formed an elder hall, under which there are hundreds of their nephews and nephews, even including the descendants of the former emperor Li Heng.

At night, the back hall of Prince Yong's mansion was brightly lit, and dozens of royal family members gathered together. At the top sat the five oldest princes: Prince Yong Li Lin, Prince Shou Li Mao, Prince Feng Li Gong, Prince Yi Li Yu, and Prince Chen Li Gui. In fact, they were all young princes who ranked later among Li Longji's many sons. They were not very old, only about fifty years old.

Among them, Prince Yong Li Lin sat in the middle. He was the heir to the throne designated by the emperor. He had the most experience and was the oldest.

Next to him was Prince Shou Li Mao. He was the most low-key and the richest. His mother, Concubine Wu Hui, left him a fortune of hundreds of millions. He was about fifty years old, but he was well maintained, with fair skin and a well-proportioned figure. He looked about forty years old. He held a fan in his hand. He was a military advisor and was responsible for making plans, but in fact, Li Lin was attracted by his money.

On the other side of Li Lin sat the Prince of Feng, Li Gong, who had a majestic appearance and was intimidating without being angry. He had served as the Grand Protector of Anxi Beiting and the Jiedushi for several years, so he had some military experience.

Below sat two rows of clan members on the left and right, with a total of more than 40 people, all of whom were the sons and nephews of the five.

Li Lin was asking the Prince of Jing, Li Qi, who was the seventh son of Li Heng and was only in his twenties.

"Why didn't your second brother come? What was his reason?" Li Lin's tone was very dissatisfied.

Li Qi's second brother was the Prince of Yue, Li Xi, who was currently serving as the Shaoqing of the Zongzheng Temple. He changed his previous absurdity and was humble and low-key, and worked seriously. He sent all his wives and concubines back home, and only stayed with his wife.

Li Xi's changes were gradually recognized by the Political Affairs Hall and the officials. The current Zongzheng Temple Minister Li Lin was in poor health and was just a figurehead. In fact, Li Xi was responsible for all the affairs inside and outside the Zongzheng Temple.

Therefore, Li Lin valued Li Xi very much, because Li Xi held the real power of Zongzheng Temple. If Li Xi supported him, he would have a better chance of winning.

Usually, Li Xi was polite and respectful to his uncle Li Lin, but unexpectedly, at the critical moment, Li Xi did not come, which really annoyed Li Lin.

Jing Wang Li Qi bowed and said, "My second brother said that the child is sick. He has to go to Fengtian tomorrow morning. He is accompanying the child to see a doctor and cannot come!"

"Nonsense!"

Li Lin slammed the table and said angrily, "It's clearly an excuse. He just looks down on me!"

Li Mao beside him hurriedly advised, "Brother, don't be angry. Everyone has their own ambitions. Don't force it. It's actually a good thing that he doesn't come. What if he has other intentions and runs to inform on others, wouldn't it ruin the big thing?"

Li Gong nodded, "Shibalang is right. Now we have to be careful of those internal guards. It's better not to bring in those people with other intentions!"

Helpless, Li Lin had to say, "The most urgent task now is to discredit the regent. The matter of the former crown princess is a good starting point. Everyone should go out and publicize it."

Li Lin wanted to use the matter of the former crown princess Shen Zhenzhu to discredit Li Ye, so that he would lose his reputation and dare not talk about ascending the throne again.

"Everyone, go! Follow my previous deployment."

Everyone stood up and left, leaving only six core figures in the hall: Yong Wang Li Lin, Shou Wang Li Mao, Feng Wang Li Gong, and their three sons.

"Shi Ba Lang, can you give me some more money?" Li Lin said to Li Mao.

Li Mao frowned and said, "I've already given 50,000 guan, isn't that enough?"

"There are 8,000 people in total, 50,000 guan is not enough! Give me another 50,000 guan."

Ruining Li Ye's reputation is just an excuse. They all know that no one will care about the former crown princess' pregnancy.

The former crown prince died a long time ago, and he was a deposed crown prince when he died. It is normal for his wives and concubines to remarry. Li Ye and the former crown prince have no blood relationship, so there is nothing wrong with him taking the former crown princess as a concubine.

Li Lin knew that using the former Crown Princess's pregnancy to mess with Li Ye would not have any effect, so he used this as a cover. His real means was still the 8,000 private army. As long as he could find a way to kill Li Ye, the court would eventually have to ask them to take the throne.

Li Mao had no choice but to sigh and said, "I can only take another 30,000 strings of cash at most!"

Li Gong next to him said, "I'll take another 20,000! If it's still not enough, we can only ask everyone to donate money and food together."

Li Lin nodded, "Send the money to the Huxian Manor tomorrow!"

While Li Lin was secretly negotiating in his mansion, in the Hanzhong County Prince's mansion, Hanzhong County Prince Li Yu was explaining something to several of his men in front of a map?

Li Yu was the leader of the royal family's direct second faction. He was the son of Emperor Li Chengqi and one of the most outstanding children in the royal family.

Although he had a good relationship with Li Ye, as he got older, his ambitions began to emerge.

During the reign of the eunuch party, he openly ignored the eunuch party's ban on leaving the city and left Luoyang for Gong County, which angered Li Fuguo and stripped him of all his titles.

But it also made Li Yu famous. He became the first core member of the royal family to resist the eunuch party, and he immediately became one of the leaders of the royal family.

After Li Ye wiped out the eunuch party, Li Yu regained his title. At this time, his ambition to ascend the throne could no longer be suppressed, and he began to secretly train his private army.

Like Li Lin, their private armies all came from the elite men selected from major manors, and training them required a lot of money and food support.

Although Li Yu had a little wealth, he could not afford the equipment expenses of 5,000 people.

He wanted to seek support from his family, but was rejected by his brother Li Lin.

Li Yu, who was in a state of panic, suddenly thought of the wealth left by his master Feilong. He knew that Feilong was the former emperor Li Dan, so the large amount of wealth and treasures buried in Qiaoling were actually ownerless treasures.

In his later years, Feilong had always wanted to open up the secret passage of Qiaoling and transport the wealth out, but he never got the chance.

So could he take advantage of this opportunity?