Tibet

In Chang'an, Li Kui, the Minister of Punishment, received an express message from his cousin Li Qiu. The Liu family and his son were still publicly executed. Their pleas had no effect. They said that for the sake of the Li family's face, other personnel were released, but Confiscated all the Liu family's property.

How could an old bureaucrat like Li Kui not understand this? This was clearly Xiang Zhuang's sword dance, intended to kill Pei Gong, kill Liu Shengdian and his son to establish his authority, and more importantly, it was a warning to the Li family.

Therefore, Li Kui was very preoccupied in the past two days. Although various official matters were piled up on his desk, Li Kui had no intention to deal with them. He sat in front of the table in a daze for almost half an hour.

Suddenly, the sound of hurried footsteps in the yard pulled him back from his thoughts, and he heard someone shouting, "The Holy One has a decree. Li Kui, the minister of the Ministry of Prosecutions and Punishments, is here to see you!"

Li Kui hurriedly walked out of the courtyard. It turned out to be the eunuch Han Fengen. Li Kui quickly said: "I know, I will go to see you now!"

Li Kui followed Han Fengen to the Imperial Study Room in a hurry. After waiting for a while, Han Fengen came out and said, "Your Highness announces that you can come in!"

Li Kui quickly tidied up his clothes, walked into the imperial study, bowed and saluted, "The humble minister Li Kui is here to see your majesty!"

Emperor Li Heng asked with a smile: "Ai Qing, are you having a good New Year?"

"Thank you for your concern, Your Majesty. I am just reading at home, which is quite leisurely."

"How long has it been since you went back to your hometown?"

"About two years!"

Li Heng smiled and said: "I'm very curious, Aiqing is the aunt's house, right? The ancestral home should be in Liangzhou, why is Aiqing's hometown in Lanzhou?"

"Reporting to your majesty, this is just like someone whose ancestral home is in place A but lives in place B. In fact, Wei Chen has old houses and families in Liangzhou and Lanzhou, and they are relatively close to each other and often travel between them."

"I see!"

Li Heng nodded, "Has Aiqing considered my proposal last time?"

Li Kui's heart sank, as expected, this was the matter, and he asked the Li family to monitor Li Ye's every move for him, but he did not dare not agree to the emperor's request, so he had to bow and said: "Your Majesty has an order, and all ministers must obey it!" "

"Okay! Then let's report once a month! As long as it's about his situation, I want to know. You can arrange a disciple to do this."

"Wei Chen must do as he is told!"

"There's nothing else. There will be a lot of things after the New Year. Dear, please take care of your health and don't be too tired."

"Thank you for your concern, Your Majesty! I will take my leave."

Li Kui retreated, and Li Heng looked at his back with very gloomy eyes. He recently received news that Li Ye captured Liangzhou last year. As a result, he himself became the governor of Liangzhou and directly appointed the deputy governor and chief historian. This was tantamount to bypassing the official department, which made Li Heng very unhappy. He believed that he must closely monitor Li Ye.

The emperor generally has his own judgment standards. It doesn't really matter whether his subordinates will rebel. What the emperor cares about is whether you have the ability to rebel. As long as you have the ability to rebel, he will suppress you. As for your repeated expressions of loyalty, it is useless.

Just like Yue Fei of the Southern Song Dynasty, he was loyal to the emperor and would never rebel. Didn't Xiao Zhao know that? Of course I know, but what Xiao Zhao cares about is not whether Yue Fei will rebel, but whether Yue Fei has the ability to rebel?

Yue Fei did have it. He controlled Jingxiang and had 100,000 elite soldiers. He killed the Jin soldiers and called them father and mother. If Yue Fei separated and established his own country, Xiao Zhao had nothing to do with him, so Xiao Zhao took action in advance. He would rather kill the wrong one. Don't let it go either.

The same goes for Li Heng. An Lushan's lesson is here. How could he allow a second An Lushan to appear?

He began to think about how to weaken and split Li Ye again.

At noon, Li Kui went home for dinner. His residence was in Guangzhaifang, very close to Daming Palace. He would go home for lunch almost every day and then take a nap.

Today he returned home, but he had no intention of sleeping or even eating. He was just thinking about how to deal with the emperor's mission? If he does it well, he will definitely offend Li Ye and make the Li family follow in the footsteps of the Liu family. If he does it badly, he will make the emperor angry, so Li Kui is in a dilemma.

At this time, the study door opened, and his wife Zheng brought him a cup of hot tea.

"My husband has been very worried these past two days and has had trouble sleeping and eating. Is he sick? Do you want to invite the imperial doctor to take a look?"

Li Kui waved his hand, "I have a heart disease that the imperial doctor can't treat."

"Then what happened?"

Mrs. Zheng was very concerned. She had never seen her husband so worried.

Li Kui sighed, "The emperor wants the Li family to monitor Li Ye's every move for him and submit a report every month. That Li Ye is ruthless. He just killed the Liu family and his son to warn the Li family that if I spy on him again, I'm afraid my brother's life is in danger, but if we don't monitor him, the emperor can't explain it to me, so I'm in a dilemma!"

Mrs. Zheng laughed, "I thought it was some big deal! Why can't my husband handle such a simple matter?"

Li Kui said in confusion: "Tell me, I'm a little confused now and can't think of a good solution."

"My husband is a fan of the authorities. If you let Li Ye write this surveillance investigation report, wouldn't both parties be satisfied?"

It's really a good idea to wake up the people in the situation with one word. Let Li Ye write it by himself. He can do business without offending others. It's really the best of both worlds.

Li Kui suddenly became enlightened, nodded and said with a smile: "Madam, you are a bystander. I know what to do. I'm hungry. Let's go eat now!"

Although her husband was promoted to the Prime Minister again, Pei Sanniang was not happy. Every time her husband was promoted to the Prime Minister, there would be a lot of inexplicable guests at home, and there would also be a lot of ladies coming to please her. But once her husband quits the Prime Minister, these people would They disappeared without a trace, they were just a bunch of guys who followed the trend.

But in the past two days, Pei Sanniang found that her husband was a little strange. He came back at night every day. She said he was very busy. It was understandable that he was busy, but there was always a strange smell on his body, the smell of baby milk, which made Pei Sanniang a little suspicious. Did the husband raise another housewife outside and have an illegitimate child?

"Ma'am, drink tea!"

Daughter Xiaoyun brought a cup of tea to Pei Sanniang. Although this daughter was born to the concubine Jiang, Pei Sanniang still liked her very much. She was already twelve years old, very well-behaved and sensible, her features and eyes looked very much like her brother's, and she was very charming. She is beautiful, and old lady Dugu also likes her. In a few years, she wants to make her her granddaughter-in-law.

Pei Sanniang also fully understood that the more kisses, the more tightly the Dugu family and the Li family were bound.

"Xiaoyun, is your mother feeling better from her cough?"

Li Yun shook her head, "It's fine during the day, but I coughed badly at night!"

Li Yun's mother, Mrs. Jiang, was injured by an assassin's flying knife in Xiangyang that year. She may have injured her lungs and left the root of the disease. She had a severe cough in the winter. Even after searching for famous doctors, she could not be cured. She was also very thin. , it feels like it won’t be many years.

"I'm going to see your mother!"

Pei Sanniang stood up and pulled Xiaoyun towards the side courtyard.

As soon as I walked into the courtyard, I heard Mrs. Jiang's coughing, which was heartbreaking and heart-wrenching.

"Mom, aunt is here."

Xiaoyun ran into the house, and Mrs. Jiang quickly stood up to greet her, "Sister is here!"

Jiang was extremely thin, with no blood on his face, his cheeks were sunken, his eyes were bulging, his hair was withered and yellow, and he was as thin as a skeleton.

"Have you taken the medicine I gave you?"

Pei Sanniang was also a doctor. She used loquat leaves, lotus seeds, red dates, tangerine peel and skullcap to prepare a medicinal diet for Jiang.

Jiang nodded, "It still has some effect. I couldn't walk before, but now I'm a little angry."

"Are you still coughing badly at night?"

"I try my best to sleep sitting up at night. I can't lie down. I cough badly when I lie down."

Pei Sanniang comforted her and said, "Don't worry. You are not ill. You just injured your lungs, so you keep coughing. Aunt Mu used to cough at night, but you are much better now."

"How did you cure the aunt?"

"Auntie likes to eat fat meat, and by the way, it also keeps warm. I'll get you two quilts later, as well as a cotton-padded jacket and cotton-padded shoes. Although they don't look good, they are really warm."

"Thank you, eldest sister. Is there any news from the Dugu family?"

Jiang felt that she was running out of time. She was most worried about her daughter. If her daughter could marry well, she would be relieved.

"Don't think so much. With Ah Ye here, why are you worried about Yun'er?"

After saying a few words, Pei Sanniang left. Originally, she wanted to ask about her husband, but just now Yun'er told her that she had not seen her father for more than a month, so Jiang must not know about it either.

"Yun'er, take good care of your mother. If you need anything, let me know."

Li Yun nodded repeatedly, and Pei Sanniang said goodbye and left.

She thought that she still had to ask Liu Wutong about this matter. Coincidentally, as soon as she walked to the outer house, she met Liu Wutong.