Tibet

After a while, the little eunuch who delivered the letter came in and handed an express letter to King Qing Li Cong. Li Cong took the letter and looked at it carefully, his brows gradually furrowed.

He took ten taels of silver and sent the young eunuch away, and said to Zhang Tongru: "Yuan Gong's informant in the county government office said that when the government officials searched Bian Lingcheng's mansion, they found a Zhiwu waist badge, which was secretly given to Gao Feng Min by Feng Min. A strong man."

Zhang Tongru was startled, "Did the prince assassinate Bian Lingcheng? There is no reason! Bian Lingcheng and the prince had nothing to do with each other, so why did the prince attack Bian Lingcheng?"

Zhang Tongru was puzzled, but Li Cong no longer cared about the answer. His intuition told him that danger was approaching him step by step. He hurriedly said to Zhang Tongru: "Father told me very clearly that Li Ye can be arrested. But there must be conclusive evidence. I have thought about it for a few days and your plan makes sense. If there is no evidence, we can create evidence."

"What does the prince mean by this?"

"What I mean is that the secret room must be opened. Even if it is empty, we must put some evidence of rebellion in it."

Zhang Tongru thought for a while and said, "It can be done, but Li Ye also has soldiers, what should I do?"

"I need sir to give me some advice!"

Zhang Tongru thought for a while and said: "There are three prerequisites. First, Li Ye has the Shangfang Emperor Sword in his hand and must take it back; second, he must cooperate with Yang Guozhong and let Yushitai come forward to search the secret room; third, and most important At this point, His Highness must understand why he wants to deal with Li Ye?"

Li Cong sighed and said, "I'm just a little confused about the third point. I'd like to listen to my teacher's teachings!"

Zhang Tongru said slowly: "It has been almost two years since the prince made his debut, and it can be said that he has achieved nothing so far. The case of Cheng Qianli, which had the greatest hope of bringing down the prince, has not been successful. The prince has never thought about his status in the eyes of the emperor? "

Li Cong felt really harsh and said dissatisfied: "Are you scolding me for being incompetent?"

Zhang Tongru shook his head and said calmly: "I am just stating the facts. The second eldest son Li Ying can be the prince, and the third eldest son Li Heng can also be the prince. The emperor himself is the third son who became the emperor. This shows that all princes can be the prince, not necessarily The eldest son is required to inherit the throne. Didn’t the prince find out that the other princes rarely come here recently? "

Li Cong was startled. He suddenly discovered that several other princes had not come for a long time. Even his brother Rong Wang Li Wan had not come for a month.

"Could it be that they all have ideas?"

Zhang Tongru nodded, "The turning point is Cheng Qianli's case. If the prince failed to use Cheng Qianli's case to bring down the prince, other people would naturally want to participate in the seizure of the heir."

Li Cong was really frustrated and said: "What does this have to do with Li Ye?"

"This is what I said at the beginning. Your Highness must understand why you want to deal with Li Ye?"

Li Cong finally understood a little bit, "Sir, do you mean to use dealing with Li Ye to enhance my father's confidence in me?"

Zhang Tongru nodded slowly, "Li Ye is not a trivial matter. I underestimated him before, but now I know why the emperor would leave this matter to you. Li Ye is very difficult to deal with. Unlike Gao Xianzhi, he is a foreigner and an imperial edict." He was dismissed. Li Ye is from the royal family and is the grandson of Li Linfu. His father is still a high-ranking official in the imperial court. He has an extraordinary relationship with Gao Lishi. More importantly, he is now the son-in-law of the Dugu family and has the support of the Dugu family."

Li Cong took a breath of air. It was only now that he realized how difficult Li Ye was to deal with. No wonder even the emperor couldn't do anything to him and had to deal with him himself.

"How to deal with him? Sir, do you have any idea?"

Zhang Tongru thought for a long time and said: "You can't deal with him just by the prince alone. You must find an alliance. I know that Zhang Jun hates him very much. I can form an alliance with Zhang Jun and then look for pictures from his family. Li Linfu's eldest son Li Xiu also He hates both father and son very much, and Gao Xianzhi has declared his allegiance to the prince. He is Li Ye's old superior. He must really hope that Li Ye will fall and he will take over.

What's even more wonderful is that Li Ye is a common goal. In the process of dealing with Li Ye, the prince has attracted many people to his side.

Li Cong nodded, "You are right, very right. I should have done this long ago."

Zhang Tongru said calmly: "But just doing this is not enough. The key is that the prince himself needs to change."

"What do I want to change?"

"The first is to change his character. The prince's character is a little softer and he is not courageous enough. The last time Huang Xuan destroyed the stone house, the prince did not show up. Huang Xuan was beaten to shame by Li Ye's strength. Since he wants to fight with Li Ye, the prince must You have to go up to them and support those below."

Zhang Tongru said it more implicitly. In fact, he was criticizing Li Cong for being irresponsible and irresponsible. Li Cong didn't like others to accuse him. He looked slightly embarrassed, but he still restrained himself and listened.

"Then what?"

Zhang Tongru saw Li Cong's displeasure, and sneered in his heart: "The second is to get rid of the reckless and impulsive character. Consider everything carefully and make a decision before taking action. For example, the death of Cheng Qianli, if we think carefully, we should If you send someone to monitor secretly, the prince will not succeed so easily."

Li Cong's face turned red and he couldn't bear it anymore and said: "If sir had warned me in time, I would have sent someone to spy on you!"

Li Cong's implication was that he accused Zhang Tongru of not fulfilling his responsibilities as a staff member. Zhang Tongru said lightly: "If I criticize An Lushan like this, he will definitely reward me heavily!"

Li Cong was furious and glared at Zhang Tongru. Zhang Tongru was not afraid of him at all and said tit for tat: "If the prince can't even fight a young man in his twenties, then it's best not to have any evil thoughts and go to the East Palace to plead guilty. Look. Let’s see if the prince can spare your life for the sake of brotherhood!”

The last sentence struck a chord with Li Cong. He sat down slumped and said after a while: "I understand, I will definitely follow your advice!"

He suddenly realized that he had no way out and would die if he didn't succeed.

The first person Li Cong, King of Qing, visited was Prime Minister Zhang Jun. Zhang Jun heard that Li Cong invited him to deal with Li Ye, and he immediately agreed. Although his brother Zhang Bian was killed by Li Cong, Zhang Jun also vaguely heard some rumors. , but he hated Li Ye deeply in his heart and always wanted to find an opportunity to deal with him.

With a common goal, Zhang Jun and Li Cong hit it off immediately.

In the distinguished guest hall, Li Cong asked with a smile: "Does the Prime Minister have any ideas to deal with Li Ye?"

Zhang Jun said slowly: "I also asked about some things about him. Sima Zhonghui of the Hezhong Dudu Mansion was my disciple. He was not reused by Li Ye in Hezhong. He once wrote a letter to complain to me. The letter mentioned that Li Ye was He Zhong made a lot of money, secretly mined gold and silver mines, and exceeded his authority to reach various agreements with Sogdian countries. He has many problems, and I feel that as long as he implements a few of them, he can be convicted."

Zhang Jun was still more scholarly and thought of things too simply. Li Cong shook his head and said: "A trip to the river and back, plus various investigation times, will take at least a year. The emperor cannot wait for such a long time, and the road is too difficult and dangerous. , Li Ye sent someone to assassinate the investigator, and we don’t know. Although Xiangguo’s idea is good, it is not realistic."

Zhang Jun's old face turned red and he asked after a while: "Then what can the prince do?"

Li Cong lowered his voice and said: "It's very simple. Li Ye has a secret room in Taipingfang, which has not been opened until now. As long as we open the secret room, there must be various evidences of Li Ye's rebellion inside."

Zhang Jun suddenly realized, "Even if it doesn't exist, we can make it exist!"

The two looked at each other and laughed tacitly together.