The Emperor Reigns Them All

Chapter 31 The Layout

Li Yan didn’t speak.

He didn’t know what to say.

After a long while, Li Ye finally asked a proper question. “The four high-ranking eunuchs didn’t already settle on Elder Brother?”

Li Ye answered, “Of course.”

Li Yan asked, puzzled, “Why?”

Li Ye said, “Because the Prime Minister has settled on the Eldest Prince.”

Li Yan was surprised. “It’s not possible if you get chosen by the Prime Minister?”

Li Ye nodded. “The four high-ranking eunuchs won’t settle on somebody who has been settled on by the Prime Minister.”

Li Yan was more confused. “Why is that?”

Li Ye said, “The eunuchs and the officials have opposed each other since ancient times. This is one of the reasons. If the Eldest Prince is settled on by officials, then when he ascends to the throne, he would put officials in an important position. Therefore, the four eunuchs would lose power. In order to maintain their power, they must settle on someone and help him ascend the throne.”

Li Yan shook his head. “I don’t understand.”

Li Ye said, “Think about how His Majesty ascended the throne.”

Li Yan thought about it and immediately fell silent again.

This time he was silent for a longer time.

When Emperor Xuanzong was in power, he didn’t appoint the Heir Prince. At first, Li Wen (who renamed Li Cui after ascending the throne) was not favored. Other princes lived in the Imperial Palace, but he lived outside the Imperial Palace. At that time, the officials were satisfied with the Prince of Kui, Li Zi. However, when Emperor Xuanzong died of illness, Wang Zongshi, the lieutenant of the Left Regal Guards, arranged everything and help Li Wen ascend to the throne.

For a long time, Li Yan looked up and there was a bright color in his eyes. “There really is hope for me?”

Li Ye smiled. “Who else but you can do it?”

Li Yan asked, “The four high-ranking eunuchs are satisfied with me? Why didn’t I know?”

Li Ye said, “They haven’t chosen you yet.”

Li Yan stunned for a while and said, “Then why bother talking so much?”

Li Ye answered, “They will choose you in the future.”

Li Yan understood. “What are we going to do?”

Li Ye said, “There is someone who can help you.”

Li Yan asked with hope. “What kind of person?”

Li Ye asked, “A eunuch.”

Li Yan was surprised, “Who?”

Li Ye said, “Tian Lingzi.”

Li Yan was disappointed. He said, “He’s just an attendant in my mansion.”

Li Ye continued. “He is the adopted son of the Lieutenant of the Regal Guards.”

Li Yan said with amazement. “Why didn’t I know?”

Li Ye said, “Because Tian Lingzi hasn’t been openly recognized.”

Li Yan was silent.

Li Ye’s meaning was already very obvious. Li Yan should ask Tian Lingzi to recognize the Lieutenant of the Regal Guards as his father. Then Li Yan should play up to the four high-ranking eunuchs with the help of Tian Lingzi so that they would support Li Yan to be the Heir Prince.

Li Yan suddenly asked, “Liu Xingshen and Han Wenyue, who are the Lieutenants of the Regal Guards, are deeply favored by His Majesty and their power is already extremely large. Will they recognize Tian Lingzi as an adopted son?”

Li Ye smiled and said, “Why not? It is precisely because their power is extremely large, which means they won’t want to lose this power. Therefore, they need to choose a prince and help him ascend to the throne in the future.”

Li Yan was hesitant. “His Majesty has so many sons. Why would Liu Xingshen and Han Wenyue choose to support me? My natural disposition is ordinary and I barely achieved Qi-refining. Besides that, His Majesty seldom favors me in daily life.”

Li Ye again gave Li Yan the sobering soup. He looked at Li Yan and said, “Because your cultivation is not high and His Majesty seldom favors you, so Liu Xingshen and Han Wenyue would support you. If you have been favored and have hope to become the Heir Prince, they will not support you. Originally, you would have no hope of becoming the Heir Prince, but in the end, they helped you become the Heir Prince. Would you be surprised? Would you be grateful to them and trust them?”

Li Yan became happy immediately when he understood. “As you said, isn’t this very simple?”

Li Ye shook his head and said seriously, “It’s not simple.”

Li Yan was not clear.

Li Yan sighed. “First of all, if Tian Lingzi is not good enough, he will not be liked by Liu Xingshen and Han Wenyue, and he won’t be able to approach them at all. If that happens, we needn’t discuss the following arrangements. But fortunately, Tian Lingzi’s cultivation is good, and it won’t be difficult to approach Liu Xingshen and Han Wenyue.”

Li Yan nodded and waited for Li Ye to continue.

Li Ye continued. “Secondly, although you meet the requirements of being supported by Liu Xingshen and Han Wenyue, this is theoretical after all. There still will be many variables when we carry out our plan. After all, there are many princes. They don’t have to support you. Therefore, this requires you to do something to make friends with them and let them notice you and follow you.”

Li Yan immediately asked, “What should I do?”

Li Ye said, “It’s not what you should do, but what I should do.”

Li Yan couldn’t figure out Li Ye’s words.

Li Ye was helpless about Li Yan’s stagnancy. He sighed and said, “There are two methods to make a quick connection with people.”

Li Yan immediately asked, “Which two methods?”

Li Ye said, “One is to cater to his or her pleasure; the other is to solve his or her problem.”

Li Yan was stunned again.

Li Ye took the initiative to explain. “The eunuchs and officials cannot live in peace since ancient times. According to reality, there are constant royal authorities. Most of the authorities are possessed by the Three Provinces and Six Departments of the imperial court. These authorities originally belong to officials. But once the eunuchs gain power and want to possess authorities, they can only grab them from officials. Now, the Regal Guards are controlled by the eunuchs, and the Privy Council decentralizes the power of the Military Department, not to mention there is the Xuanhui Council. And the eunuchs can also interfere with the appointment of the commissioners of the vassal state.”

“His Majesty favors the eunuchs so that he will ask the eunuchs instead of officials to work for him if there’s something that needs to be done. Therefore, the eunuchs can take the opportunity to invade the authority of the officials. The eunuchs will become powerful and will have the right to speak. Then the governor of the local state and county and the commissioner of the vassal state will bribe the eunuchs and fawn on them when they come to the capital instead of flattering the Prime Minister and the officials of Six Departments, which displeases the officials of imperial court...”

Li Ye saw that Li Yan couldn’t understand and was at a loss, so he knew that he couldn’t explain in detail. So he said simply, “Basically, the eunuchs are in conflict with the officials. The lieutenant of the Regal Guards, commissioners of Privy Council and Xuanhui Council also can’t get along with the Prime Minister and the officials of Six Departments. Liu Xingshen and Han Wenyue compete with Wei Baoheng for authority. If we can strike Wei Baoheng and his party, it would naturally please Liu Xingshen and Han Wenyue. That is to cater to one’s pleasure and solve one’s problem.”

Li Yan understood this time and quickly reacted. “Duke Xing is in the same team with Wei Baoheng. You originally decided to deal with Duke Xing and Wei Baoheng, does this kill two birds with one stone?”

Li Ye smiled and said, “Yes.”

Li Ye’s thoughts were actually not as simple as Li Yan had thought. After all, the situation in the imperial court was actually very complicated.

If Li Xian really died because of His Majesty’s suspicion and distrust, then it was difficult to say that no eunuchs contributed to the Battle of Bagong Mountain. And it was likely that the eunuchs and the officials had joined hands. After all, Li Xian was of high cultivation, had many trusted subordinates, and had great power, so no one could successfully kill him alone. Even if one succeeded in killing Li Xian, there would be many problems later.

Li Ye wanted to deal with these people. But it was impossible to do it overnight. He had to do it step by step.

Now the main problem and the opponents that needed to be resolved were Li Guanshu and Wei Baoheng.

At night, Li Ye talked with Li Yan. Li Yan was very excited and talked to Li Ye endlessly. It was not until the afternoon of the next day that he felt fatigue and went to rest.

Li Ye couldn’t sleep, so he asked a maidservant to prepare tea for him. Then he went to the pavilion to drink tea and meditate. There was a hill behind Prince An’s Manor, which was only about fifteen meters high and covered an area of about three acres. The pavilion was on this hill.

Li Ye called Shangguan Qingcheng to accompany him. Nowadays, Shangguan Qingcheng was his most trusted follower. He always brought her with him and didn’t keep any arrangements from her.

Listening to Li Ye’s brief account of the conversation between him and Li Yan, Shangguan Qingcheng was a little surprised. “Your Highness, you have already contacted Duke Wang, why did you still decide to make friends with the eunuchs?”

Li Ye asked Shangguan Qingcheng to sit down and gave her a cup of tea. He said, “At this point, Wei Baoheng is in charge of the whole imperial court. Duke Wang has little power and his position is not very stable. This is why he can’t wait to invite me to join him... In such a situation, I don’t dare pin all my hopes on him.”

Li Ye drank tea and continued. “So, I contacted Duke Wang because I wanted to successfully start my official career. For the long-term plan and in order to completely defeat Wei Baoheng, I contacted the eunuchs.”

Shangguan Qingcheng reacted faster than Li Yan. She quickly raised a question that Li Yan did not realize. “If the eunuchs are related to the Battle of Bagong Mountain, would Liu Xingshen and Han Wenyue contact you?”

“The Battle of Bagong Mountain is a secret. The truth is known to few people, and they are now all big figures. Among them, Li Guanshu and Kang Chengxun are prominent while the eunuchs are deeply hidden. As long as I don’t show too much interest in the Battle of Bagong Mountain and the death of my father, they won’t think too much.” Li Ye said with a deep voice.

Shangguan Qingcheng was still not relieved. “And if they think too much?”

Li Ye was silent for a moment, and suddenly smiled and said, “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. The two sides will fight against each other. If one side is more clever, then this side can deceive the other side. As long as Wei Baoheng falls and Prince Pu succeeds in ascending the throne, I won’t be afraid of them even if I offend them openly.”

There was one thing that Li Ye didn’t tell Shangguan Qingcheng and he also couldn’t say. According to his experience in the Last Life, Li Cui would die in the 14th year of Xiantong. Therefore he only needed to deceive the eunuchs for two years. If things went well, then Li Yan would ascend to the throne in two years.

Speaking of Li Yan, Shangguan Qingcheng had some doubts. “I didn’t want to say this. But Prince Pu is fond of pleasure; his temperament is simple and his wisdom is also ordinary. If Prince Pu ascends to the throne, I am afraid...”

Speaking of this, she looked at Li Ye and did not continue.

Li Ye knew what Shangguan Qingcheng wanted to say. She wanted to say that Li Yan would not be a wise emperor.

Li Ye knew that, but he had no other choice

Among the princes, only Li Yan was close to him, so he could only help Li Yan ascend to the throne.

Only when Li Yan ascended to the throne, would Li Ye be put in an important position because his relationship with Li Yan was good, and he helped Li Yan ascend to the throne. At that time, he would have the opportunity to prepare his Kalpa before the world become chaotic.

If Li Xian was murdered in Huainan really because of the emperor’s suspicion, then any other prince who ascended the throne would know the truth of the fighting in Bagong Mountain, and they would inherit the will of Li Cui and would not allow Li Ye to possess any authority.

What’s more, Li Yan ascending to the throne was also the choice of history.

“You go. Prince An’s Manor will not entertain guests in these few days. You just say that I’m cultivating.” Li Ye ordered.

After Shangguan Qingcheng left, Li Ye took out the Royal Seal of Prince An.

Wu Hongshan crowned him yesterday and handed him the Royal Seal of Prince An which had once been Li Xian’s.

Staring at the Royal Seal, Li Ye calmed down.

The Royal Seal of Prince An represented the title of Grand Prince of the Tang Empire and had some of the Luck of Tang Empire.

“Royal Seal... how much Luck do you have?” Li Ye held the Royal Seal in his hand and slowly closed his eyes, secretly mobilizing the Dragon Qi in his body.

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