Xiao Shoudao and the other three sat there awkwardly, not knowing what to say. The words they had prepared had already lost their meaning. Moreover, the affairs of the palace were originally the affairs of the royal family. It was taboo for them to meet with the King of Dai to ask for mercy.
"We thank King Dai for his magnanimity in saving our lives." Xiao Shougui suddenly stood up, bowed and said.
"It seems that there are still some people who understand, not all of them are so stupid." Li Hong thought to himself, he stood up, walked to Xiao Shougui, patted his arm, and said, "Get up, it's good that you understand. I don't let you say it because I don't want to be criticized. I can say it, but you can't say words of pleading, otherwise it will violate the taboo of the royal family. I will naturally keep this matter in mind, not to mention that Yi Yang and Gao An have always been good to me. I'm afraid that when I return to the palace, they will bother me."
"Prince Dai, this is a little gift prepared for you." Xiao Hui stood up and said, then Mangzhong was carried in by the servants of Prince Pu's Mansion after checking at the door.
Li Hong frowned as he looked at the large box that could hold two of him, and asked, "What is this?"
Xiao Hui smiled slightly and said flatteringly: "You will know when the prince opens it."
Li Hong motioned Xiao Han to open one of the boxes, and suddenly the room seemed to become bright and beautiful. As the fifth prince of the Tang Dynasty, he had never seen so many jewels piled together.
As I got closer, I saw that the top layer of the box was covered with pearls, jade, agate, jade and other precious items. I could vaguely see the glittering light of gold in a corner of the box.
Li Hong's brows furrowed even deeper. Xiao Hui and the other four people watched Li Hong walk to the box, and they all breathed a sigh of relief. No matter what, as long as King Dai was willing to accept it, it would be fine. Regardless of whether this matter succeeded or not, they were already on King Dai's ship.
...
...
Li Hong took out a piece of glittering gold from the corner of the box with great effort. He weighed it and found that it should be the heaviest gold ingot of ten taels among the common gold ingots of this era. In Chang'an at that time, it could not even be used as currency. Most of it was collected. Moreover, the shapes of gold ingots in this period were limited to a few limited shapes such as horseshoe gold, unicorn gold, gold cakes, and gold plates.
"How did you get these out of the palace?" Li Hong took a look 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 while, he said frankly: "This was shipped out of the palace before. Concubine Xiao Shu took it out of the palace for backup."
Li Hong glanced at the embarrassed Xiao Hui, and guessed that these things were used by Concubine Xiao Shufei to bribe officials in the court in her fight for the position of empress. She probably didn't expect to be demoted to a commoner before she could finish the bribery. However, 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 Shufei hasn't had time to prepare the dowries for Yi Yang and Gao An when they get married. Just keep these as their dowries. By the way, I'll keep this pearl necklace. I'll return it to Yi Yang in person when I return to the palace." Concubine Xiao Shufei really spent a lot of money to compete for the title of queen. She even took out the only pearl necklace that Yi Yang liked.
"Prince Dai, you can't do this. This is not Concubine Xiao Shu's idea. It was decided by the four of us. It is all for the lives of Princesses Yi Yang and Gao An as well as Prince Yong Li Sujie." Xiao Shoudao said hastily. Now he seemed to understand a little bit. These things that Concubine Xiao Shu prepared were probably not for her own life, but to prevent herself from failing in the fight for the throne, so that she could use these gold and silver treasures to save the lives of her three children.
Li Hong shook his head impatiently and said in a deep childish voice, "Take it back and keep it for the three of them. When will they be able to use it if they keep it in the palace? Give it to them after they get married. As for Li Sujie, give it to him after he gets his fiefdom. That's it. Xiaohan, see him off."
After saying that, Li Hong left without looking back, leaving Xiao Shoudao and the other three looking at each other, not knowing what to do. None of them had expected that the King of Dai, who had been smiling and gentle, would not show greed or joy after seeing such a huge amount of gold, silver and jewelry. Instead, he went against his usual behavior and ordered them to leave.
Xiaohan had already ordered the servants to cover the box again and carry it out of the front hall, urging the four people who were still a little confused to leave Prince Pu's mansion.
Wang Jing did not come alone, but came with his uncle, Liu Shuang, the Minister of the Secretariat, to visit Li Hong. The purpose of this was naturally to increase his bargaining chip in the heart of King Dai.
Liu Shuang naturally knew about the secrets between Wang Jing and the Kucha people in Ci'en Temple, and he was one of them. Without his help, after leaving Chang'an City, it would be difficult for them to pass the Tang Dynasty's thirty-mile inspection without any hindrance.
Li Hong had just sat down in the front hall with Liu Shuang and Wang Jing. In the Ganlu Hall of Taiji Palace, Yang Wu was reporting to Li Zhi about Li Hong's recent situation.
"Your Majesty, the Minister of the Central Secretariat Liu Shuang and Marquis of Jinyang Wang Jing have gone to visit the King of Dai." Yang Wu said with his head down.
"Oh, what's the matter that requires Liu Shuang to take the initiative to visit Hong'er?" Li Zhi asked curiously.
Yang Wu carefully selected his words and said, "When the King of Dai sent his maid to give you the crystal pendant, she was kidnapped on the way back. After a secret visit, the King of Dai determined that she was kidnapped by someone from Ci'en Temple..."
With a "bang", Li Zhi slammed his hands heavily on the table and shouted angrily: "What are you doing! Are all the people from Li Jingmen who secretly protected him dead? You can't even protect a palace maid!"
Yang Wu was so frightened that he knelt on the ground and said tremblingly, "Your Majesty, calm down. I deserve to die. I only told them to protect the safety of the King of Dai that day. I didn't think that anything would happen to the maid. Moreover, the kidnapper's method was clean and neat. If it weren't for the King of Dai's maid Bai Lu, who left some secret codes in a hurry, I'm afraid there would be no way to investigate this matter."
"Tell me the result!" Li Zhi snorted angrily.
"Your Majesty, last night the King of Dai sent people to secretly visit Ci'en Temple. Although they were unable to fully investigate, they are 70% sure that it was Ci'en Temple that kidnapped the King of Dai's maid."
"What's going on with Wang Jing and Liu Shuang?" Li Zhi asked as he gradually calmed down.
"Your Majesty, yesterday the King of Dai was looking for the secret code left by the maid Bai Lu. He encountered Wang Jing's carriage heading to the Ci'en Temple near the Ci'en Temple where the secret code disappeared, so the King of Dai met Wang Jing there..."
"But Wang Jing was disrespectful to Hong'er? So he invited Liu Shuang to apologize to King Dai today? That's not right. With Li Hong's unwillingness to suffer any loss, if Wang Jing dared to offend him, he would have made Wang Jing receive the punishment he deserved. Is there any other reason?" Li Zhi was smart and a very shrewd person. He keenly noticed from Yang Wu's words that there must be something he didn't know.
"Your Majesty, yes, the King of Dai suspects that Wang Jing is one of the people who kidnapped the palace maid Bai Lu, but he has not yet made a final decision. Liebao and Jingzhe are currently gathering information and investigating suspicious people in Ci'en Temple."
"But Li Hong has no evidence now, and he is afraid of alerting the enemy and ruining the life of the palace maid. And Wang Jing and Liu Shuang visited Li Hong to find out Li Hong's attitude? Is that so?" Li Zhi closed his eyes and thought for a long time, then slowly opened his mouth and said as a bystander.
"Yes, this is what the person I sent reported."
"You, the Li Jingmen, should be on high alert, Yangwu. Ever since I took over the Li Jingmen from my father, I have never asked about it. Do you know why?" Li Zhi said to Yangwu, who was kneeling on the ground and shrinking like a shrimp.
"I deserve to die. I have betrayed your majesty's trust. I will rectify the Li Jing Sect right away."
"Rectification is necessary. Does the Queen know that Li Hong's maid is missing now?" Li Zhi asked with a squint.
This is what he is most concerned about now. If Li Hong makes any mistakes outside, Wu Mei will probably peel off a layer of skin from her. Li Hong is Wu Mei's sweetheart! If Li Hong has any accidents, she will cry and make a fuss with her for several days before she stops, and Li Hong will not be able to escape punishment by then.
Originally, Li Hong should have returned to the palace after one month's deadline, but he once again privately approved Li Hong to continue staying in Chang'an City. If this crime was put to Wu Mei, it would probably be a good excuse for her to gossip. Thinking of this, Li Zhi felt a little chilly.
"The Queen hasn't been told yet." Yang Wu said while kneeling.
"Well, the Queen must not be informed of this matter. Send more people to continue to protect Li Hong secretly, and..." Li Zhi suddenly paused, stood up and walked back and forth in the palace, wondering whether he should intervene in this matter himself or let Li Hong solve it alone.
He believed that Li Hong could resolve the problem without intervening, but he was afraid that this kid had too wild a personality. What was originally a small matter might cause a big uproar in Chang'an. By then, he might not be able to hide it from the Queen, and the consequences would be unimaginable.
Li Zhi, who had made up his mind, kicked Yang Wu, who was still kneeling on the ground, and motioned him to stand up, then said, "Secretly order the Dali Temple Minister Duan Xuanbao and the Ministry of Justice Minister Liu Rengui to come to the audience."
"Yes, I will send someone to invite them to the palace right away." Yang Wu bowed and backed away. When he reached the door, he turned around and was about to send someone to notify the two to enter the palace.
Li Zhi shouted again in Ganlu Hall: "Come back."
Yang Wu had no choice but to walk into the hall again and watched Li Zhi thinking with his hands behind his back. Then Li Zhi leaned over the table, took out a paper and hurriedly wrote a few lines.
"Seal it with wax, and tell them to follow the orders of the King of Dai, or to act on their own according to the situation." After handing it over to Yang Wu, Li Zhi continued, "Inform Li Hong that if he has any difficulties, he can consult these two people, but he must not make a big fuss for me! Also, he must be severely warned...warn him...just say that his mother is very angry and be careful."
In the end, Li Zhi felt that he could not change his wife-dominated habit, but in order not to make Wu Mei angry, he still had to communicate with Li Hong. In this way, as long as they were of one mind, Wu Mei would be unable to do anything to them even if she was angry.
In Prince Pu's mansion, Li Hong said to Liu Shuang, "Although you are in the palace every day, this is the first time I see you. Under your management, the Secretariat has never been a burden for my father. He 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, plump, with kind eyes and a gentle manner. He stroked his beard and laughed, "Prince Dai, you are too kind. Although I am the head of the Secretariat, without your Majesty's guidance, support and support, I am afraid that I would not be able to run the Secretariat as usual and make plans for the Tang Dynasty. All this is thanks to your Majesty's great blessing."
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