Chapter 99 Are your three tribes wholesalers? (asking for monthly tickets)

Wang Yi didn't waste any time and directly directed his attack at the Eastern Palace.

The prince didn't know who was giving him the instructions, but his fighting power suddenly skyrocketed.

In addition, except for the people of the King of Wei and their faction, the court officials were either neutral or expressed support for the prince. It was obvious that there was no benefit in continuing to use the strategy of "being close to villains and distant from wise ministers".

As soon as these words were spoken, all the ministers looked at each other in surprise.

The guards of the Eastern Palace robbed the Yixing Zhou family? Could it be that the medical book of the Yixing Zhou family is some kind of treasure?
"Minister Wang, we should always pay attention to evidence." Changsun Wuji was the first to come out and said, "If you falsely accuse the crown prince, I don't need to remind you what the crime is, right?"

The final answer to the mystery certainly cannot be revealed now.

What Changsun Wuji wanted to do was to add fuel to the fire under Wang Yi's butt.

As Changsun Wuji was the prince's uncle and a staunch supporter of the emperor, it was not surprising for him to stand up to protect the prince at this time.

"Of course I am not making a false accusation." Wang Yi bowed and said, "The leader of that group of East Palace guards is called Hegan Chengji!"

"This Hegan Chengji first wanted to buy the medical book for 1,000 strings of cash, but Zhou of Yixing refused. So he broke into her house that night and forcibly snatched the medical book for 10 strings of cash. He also beat my brother-in-law severely. My brother-in-law wanted to pass the medical book down to his family, but he was robbed by the guards of the Eastern Palace. He fell ill in bed because of his anger!"

Upon hearing this, all the ministers were speechless.

No one expected that the guards of the Eastern Palace would be so arrogant and go to Jiangnan to steal other people's heirlooms.

Without the Crown Prince's instructions, the East Palace guards would never act alone.

The prince's party was speechless. They were not in the right to rob other people's heirlooms.

The people from the aristocratic families couldn't help but feel extremely proud, and immediately a group of imperial censors stood up and denounced Crown Prince Li Chengqian in unison.

In these words, Li Chengqian has been elevated to the level of Yang Guang, and if he goes a step further, he is almost approaching the level of Jie of Xia and Zhou of Shang.

Li Chengqian was not panicked, but just calmly looked at the imperial censors who came out to besiege him.

Du He, who was standing not far away, was almost dying of anxiety. My elder brother-in-law, please say something, elder brother-in-law! Are you just going to let them besiege you and remain silent?

He wanted to stand up and say a few words for Li Chengqian, but he didn't know where to start.

Wang Yi felt relieved and thought that it was time to let the King of Wei come out and deliver the fatal blow.

However, Cheng Yaojin suddenly said, "I am a little confused. What kind of medical book is that? He doesn't even want to sell it even at a high price of 1,000 strings of cash. Is your medical book made of gold, or written in gold?"

These words were quite disheartening and immediately interrupted the atmosphere in the hall.

Li Shimin almost couldn't hold back his laughter. This old fellow...

The choking interrupted Wang Yi's tearful outburst.

"Mr. Lu, you may not know that this medical book is the Treatise on Febrile and Miscellaneous Diseases written by Zhang Ji of the Later Han Dynasty." Wang Yi began to emphasize the value of this medical book: "This book is collected by my Wang family and has always been treasured. If my sister had not married into the Zhou family of Yixing, my Wang family would definitely not have included this medical book as a dowry."

"That's strange. What on earth did Donggong want to do by snatching your medical book?" Cheng Yaojin continued to speak.

Lao Cheng's political sense is extremely sensitive, and he smelled something unusual from the very beginning.

In fact, Li Shimin did not greet him first, but according to general experience, Li Shimin had already started to scold the prince at this time.

But now the emperor was sitting high on the Diaoyutai, and Cheng Yaojin immediately understood that either there was some hidden story behind this matter, or the emperor was biased towards Li Chengqian in his heart.

So what are you waiting for? If you don't help now, are you going to wait until the situation stabilizes before adding icing on the cake?
This is not Lao Cheng's style, and with Li Xiang around, Lao Cheng is willing to help Li Chengqian.

Seeing Cheng Yaojin's performance, Li Shimin was not surprised at all.

He knew this cunning old brother too well.

Wang Yi did not expect Cheng Yaojin to come out and make a joke. After all, Cheng's wife was the daughter of Qinghe Cui. Even if he did not support the Shandong gentry, he had to remain neutral, right?

However, his idea was a bit too simple. Cheng Yaojin only supported Li Shimin...

What is the Shandong gentry?

"Of course it's for..." Wang Yi gritted his teeth and said with determination: "Of course it's for the aphrodisiac prescription in it, for the prince's silver music!"

Damn it?

This news is explosive!

All the ministers present understood immediately.

All the ministers knew that the Crown Prince had gone to the pharmacy in the capital to get medicine some time ago.

Moreover, the Duke of England, Li Shiji, came to the pharmacy for help and the effect was quite good, which makes people think more.

This time, it’s confirmed.

"Oh? Then I, old Cheng, would be very puzzled. Why does the book 'Treatise on Febrile and Miscellaneous Diseases' record aphrodisiacs?" Cheng Yaojin asked, scratching his head.

This was not an act. He really didn't understand why there were aphrodisiac prescriptions in the "Treatise on Febrile Diseases".

But in fact, his focus is wrong. The focus of this book is not only on typhoid fever, but also on the "miscellaneous diseases" that come later.

"It's understandable that Duke Lu doesn't know this," Wang Yi looked at Cheng Yaojin with the eyes of an uneducated warrior. "In medicine, sexual problems are a type of 'arthritis'."

"Oh, I see." Cheng Yaojin nodded and said, "I'm not well educated, sorry to make fun of you."

Look at Mr. Cheng, he is honest and never pretends to know something he doesn’t. “Uneducated” means “uneducated”.

But in fact, he is quite educated. After all, military commanders also need to study these days...

Without waiting for Wang Yi to speak again, Cheng Yaojin asked again: "Then how do you know that the prince forced the purchase of the Treatise on Febrile and Miscellaneous Diseases in order to obtain a prescription for aphrodisiacs?"

Yeah, how did you know?

Old Cheng interrupted Wang Yi with another sentence: "Could it be that...Minister Wang has some insider information in the Eastern Palace, helping you to find out the secrets of the Eastern Palace?"

"Don't slander me!" Wang Yi became anxious. He would not dare to accept such a accusation even if he had several lives left.

To put it mildly, this is a disrespect to the crown prince; to put it seriously, you are planting an insider in the East Palace, what do you want to do?
Li Chengqian now looks at Cheng Yaojin with extremely pleasing eyes. He never expected that besides the delicious beef at his home, Old Cheng could also be so... eloquent?

Yes, Li Chengqian didn’t think that Cheng Yaojin was being unreasonable at all, he just thought he was eloquent.

Yuchi Gong suddenly interrupted: "If it's not, then how did you know?"

As a famous man of pleasure in the Tang Dynasty, Yuchi Gong would certainly not miss such a good opportunity.

What's more, it now seems that Li Shimin and Li Chengqian are digging a trap for the Shandong gentry. Yuchi Gong certainly doesn't mind standing up and kicking them from behind and kicking them into the trap.

Wang Yi was now caught between two odds. In order to avoid being accused of "sniffing at the secrets of the Eastern Palace", he could only say: "I heard that the Duke of Ying once asked the Crown Prince for a prescription for an aphrodisiac. Everyone in Chang'an knows about this..."

Li Shiji, who was eating watermelon nearby, suddenly turned pale.

Damn it, why are you dragging me into this?
That's just... just...

"Oh? Duke of England, is this true?" Cheng Yaojin looked at Li Shiji with a playful look.

"I don't know, I haven't, and I haven't heard of it." Li Shiji immediately began to deny three things in a row.

Just kidding, it's okay for some rumors to spread outside, but he will never admit it. Otherwise, what will happen?
A man should never let others tell him that he is incompetent, at least he should not admit it.

Those in the court who had asked Li Chengqian for aphrodisiac prescriptions all raised their heads and looked away.

They had all received "favor" from Li Chengqian, and they all felt "sympathy for each other", so they would never betray the prince.

The most important thing is that no one wants to admit in public that they are not good enough.

Some people even thought to themselves that it was a good and clever way to grab this book, and it was a great grab.

Otherwise, can it benefit us?

But this matter certainly cannot be spoken out, after all, forced buying and selling is not something that can be brought up openly.

At this moment, Li Tai, who had been silent all the time, suddenly stood up.

All the Shandong nobles were relieved. As long as the King of Wei stood up and launched the final attack on the prince, the overall situation would be settled.

This time, let’s see how the prince can escape from this dead end!

The ministers also looked at Li Tai, wondering in their hearts whether he was going to add insult to injury to the prince.

After all, the fact that Li Tai's goal was to become the crown prince was as obvious as lice on a bald man's head.

With such a good opportunity to deal a fatal blow to the prince, how could the King of Wei not seize it?
The ministers looked at each other, all of them worried. If the crown prince's position was shaken, the country would be unstable.

Whoever created the figurines has no descendants?

If both the first and second generation princes do not have a good end, it will set a very bad precedent for the Tang Dynasty.

But faced with this situation, no one could stop it and everyone felt a little desperate.

Could it be that the position of the Crown Prince of the Tang Dynasty is really cursed?

"Your Majesty, let's not talk about this matter for now. I have heard of a big event." Li Tai's voice was mellow.

"Oh? What did the King of Wei hear?" Li Shimin asked with raised eyebrows.

Li Tai looked at the ministers, especially Wang Yi.

Wang Yi was delighted. Could it be that the King of Wei knew something even more unfavorable to the Crown Prince?

Big things, big things are good!
After retracting his gaze, Li Tai said in a deep voice: "My mother, the late queen, suffered from respiratory disease and unfortunately passed away early. Recently, I heard that someone hid a prescription for treating respiratory disease at home, but kept it secret."

Wang Yi's heart skipped a beat. He originally thought that Li Tai was trying to take advantage of his misfortune, so why did he suddenly change the subject?

He suddenly had a very bad premonition, very ominous.

The ministers also looked at Li Tai in astonishment. They originally thought that Li Tai was out to target the prince. No one expected that Li Tai actually came to divert the topic.

It's not right. It's very wrong!

Those with a keen sense of smell, such as Cheng Yaojin, have already sensed something wrong.

This time, I'm afraid it's not just the emperor and the crown prince who are working together, even the King of Wei is involved...

"Oh? There is such a thing?"

Li Shimin sat up straight immediately. Since this matter concerned Empress Changsun, he had to appear serious.

He looked around at his ministers and asked solemnly, "If this is true, what crime do you think should be committed?"

Hearing Li Tai say this, Changsun Wuji's eyes suddenly turned red.

After all, she was his sister. Even if he didn't consider family affection, Empress Changsun was a barrier that protected his family from wind and rain.

He stood up and said righteously: "If this is true, he should be charged with murdering the queen and his entire family should be exterminated!"

Among all the ministers above the fourth rank present, who has not received the favor of Empress Changsun?

Although Li Shimin was not like Zhu Yuanzhang, who became angry and irritated after Empress Ma's death and no one could persuade him to calm down, Empress Zhangsun was the one who could ease Li Shimin's emotions.

If Empress Changsun had not made the remonstrance in court attire, Wei Zheng would have been demoted at the very least.

If I were to anger the emperor in the future and there was no one to calm him down, then...

"We think what Changsun Situ said is absolutely right!" All the ministers said in unison: "Hiding the prescription caused the late queen to die of illness. He should be charged with treason! Exterminate all three clans!"

At this point, Wang Yi finally sensed something was wrong.

How come they were targeting the crown prince but ended up targeting the late queen?
Could it be that you are here for me?

But I can't, I didn't hide the prescription for curing the queen...

As the saying goes, those who are involved in the matter are often the most confused. At the moment, he has not thought it through thoroughly.

Cui Mingan, who was originally standing behind him, had already taken a step back.

He understood all of this. The alliance with the King of Wei to attack the Crown Prince was nothing more than a conspiracy.

The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind. He thought the prince was the cicada, the King of Wei was the mantis, and he was the oriole. He never expected that there was a hunter like Li Shimin standing in the end.

And those fence-sitters who had initially sided with the "King of Wei" and the aristocratic families also began to regret their decision.

I thought the King of Wei was on the side of the aristocratic families and wanted to launch a general attack on Li Chengqian, but I never expected that - they were actually in the same group!

"Minister Wang, what do you think?" Li Shimin, looking down at Wang Yi from a high position, spoke in a solemn voice.

"I...I think what Changsun Situ said is...very true!"

Wang Yi broke out in a cold sweat. He knew that this move was aimed at him, but he had no power to resist.

If he dared to say no, Li Shimin would not have to take any action, as those in the court who had received the favor of the empress would surely be the first to step forward to deal with him.

Li Chengqian, who had been silent all this time, suddenly stood up and said, "Since Minister Wang also thinks that the person who hid the prescription should be exterminated along with his entire family, then I have someone I want you to meet."

When the ministers saw the prince, who had been accused and remained silent, suddenly stand up, they all understood.

It seems that all this was a trap set by the emperor.

And the prince is the bait.

The purpose was to make the Shandong gentry stand up and jump into the pit one after another.

"Oh? Where is the person the prince is talking about?" Li Shimin asked at the top.

"Your Majesty, this person is outside the hall. He is the Taoist master Sun Simiao." Li Chengqian reported in a very formal manner.

Li Shimin pinched his beard and his eyes flashed.

"In that case, summon Sun Simiao to the palace!"

(The third update is here. I overslept...)
(End of this chapter)