Actually, Li Ting brought his whole family to Mingzhou this time for another important reason: to find out the cause of his uncle's death.
Ten years ago, my uncle was falsely accused of treason and was executed by the emperor in the southwest, along with his entire family.
At that time, Li Ting was completely loyal to Emperor Hui and had no suspicions about him. Now it seems that Zhao Yunwan had been encouraging Emperor Hui to wipe out the entire Li family all along, hadn't she?
In the first year of Yongding, Li Tingna's uncle, Li Peng, who lived far away on the southwestern border, was accused of "treason and collusion with the enemy," and "ironclad evidence" was presented against him. The then Prime Minister Zhao Guangyun strongly advocated that Li Peng be executed on the spot, along with his entire family.
The Southern Chen court was thrown into turmoil, with officials submitting memorials one after another, creating a heated debate. Some loyal ministers who cared deeply for the Southern Chen kingdom did not believe that Li Peng would betray the country, but some newly powerful figures thought otherwise.
Finally, disregarding the opinions of the crowd, the emperor issued an edict ordering the execution of Li Peng and his entire family on the spot.
Li Ting's parents died early, so he grew up with Li Peng and lived in the southwest for a long time. At the age of fifteen, he left the southwest to go to the capital to take the imperial examination. He won first place in the military examination and was directly appointed by the old emperor as a deputy general guarding the border, and was stationed in the northwest with Dong Qichang, the then border general.
Subsequently, Li Ting repeatedly performed outstanding feats. When Dong Qichang retired due to old age, Li Ting took over the Northwest Army. The Northwest Army had also been under the command of Li Ting's father, so it could be considered a succession of the father's business.
So, how exactly did this scandal of Li Peng's treason and collusion with the enemy come about? Xu Ningyou's secret agents from the Qianji Sect discovered that there was a good show behind it all.
Li Peng overstepped his authority, giving others a handle to use against him. The person who directed this was none other than Zhao Guangyun.
In the spring of the first year of Yongding, Emperor Hui ascended the throne. That spring and summer, the Sou tribe, located southwest of the Southern Chen Kingdom, established the Kaiming Kingdom. The Sou people were agile and skilled in warfare.
In the late summer of the first year of Yongding, the Kaiming Kingdom provoked the Nanchen Kingdom. Li Peng did not respond, and the Sou tribe became increasingly arrogant. Emperor Hui was furious and urgently transferred Zhao Yunchen to the southwest to take charge of the war against the Kaiming Kingdom.
Unexpectedly, Zhao Yunchen and Li Peng had a serious disagreement regarding their military strategy against the Kaiming Kingdom. Zhao Yunchen, driven by ambition, wanted a decisive battle to annihilate the Kaiming Kingdom in one fell swoop.
Li Peng was steady and advocated for a defensive posture, which would deplete the strength of the enlightened nation and subdue the enemy without a fight.
Neither side could convince the other, and finally Emperor Hui issued an imperial edict, temporarily handing over military power to Zhao Yunchen. Zhao Yunchen accepted the challenge, but due to his underestimation of the enemy and reckless advance, he lost 100,000 elite troops, and the Southern Chen Kingdom was utterly defeated.
Emperor Hui suppressed the news of the battle and did not announce it to the court.
At this time, the Enlightened Kingdom sent a 30-page letter, and it was from this point that Li Peng was accused of "colluding with the enemy and betraying the country."
After receiving the imperial letter, Li Peng did not immediately forward it to the court. Instead, he opened it and found that the lengthy contents contained many disrespectful words and a lot of boastful nonsense. He felt that if this thing were sent to the court, it would infuriate Emperor Hui.
Logically, this letter should have been given to Zhao Yunchen, who was temporarily in charge of the military in the southwest, but for some reason the envoy presented it directly to Li Peng.
So, in front of the envoy, Li Peng burned more than twenty pages of the letter, revised the remaining content, and then sent it to Emperor Hui. Of course, he also kept a complete copy, but the copy disappeared without a trace. As a result, Li Peng was later unable to defend himself.
After months of painstaking investigation and using various methods, the secret agents of the Qianji Gate finally obtained the copy.
However, the State of Nanchen has explicit regulations that border officials have no right to open official letters. How to treat official letters from the State of Kaiming is the responsibility of the prime minister and the emperor. Li Peng has overstepped his bounds and usurped the prime minister's authority, which naturally aroused the dissatisfaction of Prime Minister Zhao Guangyun.
Moreover, Li Peng had secretly corresponded with the ruler of the Enlightened Kingdom, proposing that both sides cease hostilities in order to achieve mutual prosperity.
This matter was brought to light, and the messenger who delivered the message confessed on the spot that he had been coerced by Li Peng.
Consequently, the officials impeached Li Peng, accusing him of altering state documents without authorization and of communicating privately with enlightened citizens. The most vehement among them was Chancellor Zhao Guangyun, who advocated for Li Peng's immediate execution.
When the Great Liang Kingdom invaded, Li Ting fought on the battlefield. By the time he repelled the powerful enemy, his uncle's entire family had been killed.
At that time, he even blamed his uncle for not considering the consequences of his actions.
However, the secret agents of the Qianji Gate discovered that the so-called correspondence with the ruler of the Enlightened Kingdom was not in Li Peng's own handwriting, but rather a forgery of his handwriting. The person who forged Li Peng's handwriting was Zhao Yunchen.
Qianjimen obtained all the letters exchanged with the ruler of the Enlightened Kingdom.
After examination using secret methods, the handwriting was determined to be from Zhao Yunchen.
This means that the Zhao family has been involved in Li Peng's affair from beginning to end.
What about Zhao Yunshu? Why didn't she notice this at the time?
Upon further investigation, it was discovered that Zhao Yunshu was not in the palace during that period.
Due to the floods in Jiangnan, Zhao Yunshu left the palace to personally stabilize the lives of the displaced people in Jiangnan.
After the floods in Jiangnan subsided and the people returned to normal life, Zhao Yunshu returned to the capital, but it was too late to save Li Peng.
Because of this incident, Zhao Yunshu once fell out with the Zhao family and almost gave up becoming empress.
But then, thinking of the earnest expectations of those who came before and after, and of the common people, he held back.
He berated Emperor Hui severely and warned him never to act rashly again. Although the Li family had made great contributions, they were loyal and trustworthy, employing people without suspicion and not employing those they distrusted.
Zhao Yunwan felt that this older sister was a real obstacle, so she took drastic measures.
Fortunately, Zhao Yunshu grew up in Qianji Gate and was raised by Xu Yushan and his wife with various rare medicines, which allowed her to survive for a period of time without being poisoned by Zhao Yunwan. However, even the best-laid plans can have flaws, and Zhao Yunshu was eventually poisoned by Zhao Yunwan.
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