Yang Fan smiled and said, "Then, we only need to seriously consider how to handle this matter. Why should we care about the final result? There is nothing in this world that is absolutely safe. "
Although his smile was serene, the lines at the corners of his eyes were somewhat stiff. He was very clear about the consequences of carrying out a military remonstrance. He understood what failure would mean. Although he also knew that at this point in time, he could only resort to force, and since a long time ago, when he controlled the thousand horsemen, he had been prepared for such a day, he still could not help but be nervous.
Princess Taiping's clear eyes were like pools of spring water. She deeply gazed at him and said in a low voice, "Will you help me?"
Yang Fan said, "From the very beginning, haven't we been standing together? When have we ever been opponents? "
The corners of Princess Taiping's lips slowly curled into a seductive and foxy smile, her eyes overflowing with a gentle and sweet smile. But her eyes only flashed, as if she had thought of something. She could not help but roll her eyes at Yang Fan and faintly said, "From the very beginning, have you really been standing together with him?"
Yang Fan said, "Of course I have … …"
Yang Fan paused and suddenly understood. He could not help but laugh and said, "Miss Lingyue, you must clearly distinguish between public and private affairs. Back then on the banks of the Luo River, I did not accept the 'embroidered ball' you threw at me, but that does not mean that I am not willing to stand on Li Tang's side."
"Hmph!"
Thinking of the grievances she had suffered in front of him, the tears she had shed, Taiping still felt that it was unfair. But she could not deny that regardless of whether or not Yang Fan accepted her personal feelings, in terms of politics, Yang Fan had always stood on Li Tang's side. But how many women could so clearly distinguish between public and private affairs?
The atmosphere between the two unwittingly became warm. Their gazes lingered for a long time as they sat facing each other. Finally, Yang Fan said in a low voice, "Carrying out a military remonstrance and killing Zhang Erzhang. If it fails, the consequences need not be said. If it succeeds, will the country be able to settle down? Have you ever thought about it? "
Princess Taiping slightly raised her eyebrows. She did not quite understand his words, but she only needed to think about it for a moment before she understood Yang Fan's meaning. Yang Fan's words were actually rather vague because what he really wanted to ask was how to deal with Wu Zetian. But Wu Zetian was Taiping's mother, so he naturally could not ask too clearly.
But he had to ask. If these princes, princesses, and nephews carried out a military remonstrance and killed Zhang Erzhang and still allowed Zetian to hold the great power, Yang Fan would stupidly wait for the Emperor's death before he handed over the reins to the throne. Yang Yang Fan., and would not participate in this. He would not to let them.
No one would be able to break into the Imperial Palace through his Black Tortoise Gate. Yang Fan's concerns were not baseless. No matter which faction Zhang Jianzhi connected to, in the end, was connected to Wu Zetian. The Crown Prince, the Prince of Xiang, and Taiping were Wu Zetian's own children, while the Wu clan was Wu Zetian's paternal family.
Out of filial piety, the Crown Prince, the Prince of Xiang, and Princess Taiping could not do anything too excessive to Wu Zetian, even if the military remonstrance was successful. Although Wu Zetian had not shown the slightest mercy to the Li Tang clan, the great mountain of filial piety was not something that Wu Zetian's children and juniors dared to touch.
The Wu clan's current status was entirely dependent on Wu Zetian. Although they wanted to kill the second Zhang, they were even less willing to exterminate Wu Zetian. Yang Fan did not dare to show the slightest contempt for this old woman, Wu Zetian. Even though she was already too old, like a fierce tiger on the verge of death, as long as she was given the slightest chance to catch her breath, she could still bite to death prey much smaller than her.
And in the territory of the Great Zhou, where could there be a colossus that could stand shoulder to shoulder with her? If Yang Fan did not understand the true intentions of these princes, princesses, and nephews, and recklessly followed them, even if their bones were broken and their tendons were still connected, the first to suffer would definitely be these shrimp soldiers and crab generals waving flags and shouting war cries, and when the time came, not even Princess Taiping would be able to protect him.
Princess Taiping understood Yang Fan's meaning. She also knew that this point could not be ambiguous. If she could not dispel this concern of Yang Fan, even if there was an affair between the two, Yang Fan would not put his entire family to accompany her to the military remonstrance.
She pondered for a moment and slowly said, "Killing the second Zhang and purging the side of the Emperor is in line with the righteousness, but this is the only way. The Son of Heaven is my mother, I cannot do anything unfavorable to her."
Yang Fan's eyes turned cold, but Princess Taiping followed up with another sentence, "After killing the second Zhang, you can quote the story of the Xuanwu School in the time of Taizong, do you think this is appropriate?"
Hearing this, Yang Fan's eyes suddenly brightened again. He was very satisfied with this answer.
Princess Taiping's answer was actually quite vague. It was an indirect hint, not a direct statement. After all, what she talked about was how to deal with her mother, and as a daughter, it was not appropriate for her to say it too directly.
But when she talked about the story of the Xuanwu School, she was also vague and refused to say it clearly, because she was the direct descendant of Li Shimin, and Li Shimin did not do it properly. He could use the supreme monarch's power to change the history books, so that people thousands of years later could not distinguish right from wrong, but he could not hide it from these people who had only lived for a few decades.
Princess Taiping was a taboo, so she had to be vague.
At that time, the whole world knew that Li Shimin coveted the position of Crown Prince, but Li Yuan was determined to choose the eldest son, and his attitude had never changed. Li Shimin refused to give up. Seeing that he had achieved great power, Prince of Qi Li Yuanji wanted to kill Li Shimin when Li Shimin went to his mansion to save the position of the eldest brother, but was strongly stopped by Li Jiancheng.
Later, Wei Zheng, a subordinate of the Eastern Palace, also tried to persuade Li Jiancheng to kill Li Shimin, and offered him many plans, but was rejected by Li Jiancheng. Perhaps Li Jiancheng did this because he was kind, or because he was already the Crown Prince and did not want to be the bad guy. Anyway, he was not willing to make a decision, and the result was that he was harmed by Li Shimin.
After Li Shimin killed Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji at the Xuanwu School, he immediately led his troops to the palace. He did not show up, but sent Yuchi Gong to see the Emperor. He played the bad guy, and used both carrot and stick to force Li Yuan to admit the reality and hand over the power. After Li Yuan reluctantly agreed, Yuchi Gong personally appeared, knelt on the ground, and cried, begging his father for forgiveness.
Speaking of Yuchi Gong, he was not the uncouth man in the historical novel. He was brave and resourceful. He was the one who persuaded Li Shimin to start the rebellion at Xuanwu School. He was also the one who killed Prince of Qi Li Yuanji, and threatened Li Yuan to hand over the power. He was the real planner and executor of the rebellion at Xuanwu School. As for Qin Qiong and Cheng Yaojin, they were only one of the participants.
After Li Shimin killed the Crown Prince and Prince of Qi, he put his father, Li Yuan, under house arrest. However, Li Yuan was still the ruler of the country in name. After some time, he finally abdicated the throne. He did this to avoid the bad reputation of usurping the throne, and to create an image of a father and son, which was justifiable.
Princess Taiping's reply to Yang Fan clearly meant that after the military remonstrance, she would imitate her grandfather Li Shimin's methods and exercise de facto control over her mother. After a period of time, she would abdicate the throne. This would ensure that the military remonstrance would be effective, and it would not be accused of usurping the throne.
Yang Fan knew how much influence Taiping had over her two brothers. Since she had said this, she would definitely be able to convince the Crown Prince and Prince of Xiang. In this way, they could avoid the possibility of Wu Zetian counterattacking after the military remonstrance. However, there was still one person that they could not avoid: King Liang.
Military authority was still in the hands of the Wu clan. If they wanted to use the military remonstrance, they would need the cooperation of the Wu clan. Would the Wu clan agree to this?
Taiping said, "I will act as a lobbyist for King Liang. The Wu clan is also deeply afraid of the Second Zhang. I believe that he will agree to use the military remonstrance. "
Yang Fan said, "But King Liang will only agree to execute the Second Zhang. He will not agree to do anything detrimental to the Son of Heaven."
Taiping said, "The Son of Heaven is the mother of the Crown Prince, the Prince of Xiang, and me. As children, we could never do anything disgraceful to her. As for having Mother hand over the reins of power, it seems that if not for the variable known as the Second Zhang, Mother's relinquishment of power would only be a matter of a year and a half. Wu Sansi is well aware of this. If we bring it forward a few days, what will he be able to hold out for? The imperial throne is already out of his reach. Does he not want to mend his relationship with our Li clan? "
Yang Fan thought for a moment, then nodded. "Mm, do your best on this matter. Only with the Wu clan's agreement can we tamper with the army. We must rope in this ally. To achieve this goal, we won't hesitate to promise them a few benefits!"
Taiping was deeply convinced. She nodded and said, "Should we rope in some people from the Second Zhang's side?"
Yang Fan thought for a moment, then shook her head. "That won't do. The Second Zhang's foundation is still shallow. They only have two kinds of people by their side. One is people of high status and authority, and these people are at a loss when they attach themselves to the Second Zhang. The other kind is people that the Second Zhang has promoted. These people have only risen to power for a short time, and some of them have not yet grasped any important power. Some of them have been placed in important positions by the Second Zhang, but they have only been there for a month or two. They cannot control the important departments and are of no threat to us, nor are they of any help. "
Princess Taiping thought it over and had to admit that Yang Fan's words were very reasonable. Now that she was about to carry out a military remonstrance, she couldn't help but think of her grandfather's mutiny at the Black Tortoise Gate and evaluate the gains and losses from that successful mutiny.
Back when Li Shimin had coveted the imperial throne, Crown Prince Li Jiancheng had not been willing to use extreme measures to deal with him, but he had taken precautions. On one hand, he had suppressed the development of the Prince of Qin's Residence and weakened Li Shimin's power. At the same time, like Li Shimin, he had tried to infiltrate and rope them in.
However, Li Jiancheng had tried to rope in Li Shimin's trusted generals, while Li Shimin had tried to rope in those lower-ranked subordinates of Li Jiancheng who wielded crucial power, such as General Chang He, who guarded the Black Tortoise Gate. As a result, Li Jiancheng had come up empty handed, while Li Shimin had succeeded time and time again.
Why was there such a huge difference between the two? It wasn't that Li Jiancheng was too arrogant and incompetent, but that their goals were different. Li Jiancheng was already the Crown Prince, and if he could successfully rope in the generals at Li Shimin's side, he could achieve his goal without shedding a single drop of blood.
But Li Shimin was not the Crown Prince, and Li Yuan had no intention of replacing the Crown Prince. He had no chance of using proper methods to ascend to the throne, unless he carried out a mutiny. What a mutiny required the most were the generals guarding the vital areas of the Imperial Palace. The two had different statuses and goals for roping in, so the methods they used were naturally different.
Right now, the Second Zhang's faction was mainly in the palace. If the Crown Prince, the Prince of Xiang, Princess Taiping, and King Liang joined forces, they could control the majority of the military and political forces, and then launch a mutiny. There really was no need to take the risk of roping in the people at the Second Zhang's side. If news of this were to leak out, the consequences would be far worse.
Princess Taiping's thoughts became clear once she understood the key to colluding with the Li family and the Wu family …
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