"I want to go out for a walk."
"The doctor said that Ah Lang still needs to rest."
"The room is so stuffy …"
Miss Gu must have owed Yang Fan a lot of money in her previous life that she could never repay. Therefore, she had to repay her debt in this life. She could not resist any of Yang Fan's requests. Yang Fan's tone was only slightly pleading when a wheelchair was pushed to the front of Yang Fan's bed at the fastest speed possible.
The wheelchair was similar to a modern wheelchair in terms of structure and shape, but the wheels were not tall. This was because the wheelchairs in this era were not pushed by humans, but by others.
The wheelchair was padded with a thick mattress. Gu Zhuting rejected Ren Wei's kind offer of help and carefully carried Yang Fan to the wheelchair with her own hands. Then, she pushed him out of the door.
The mattress in the barracks was very smooth. Gu Zhuting pushed the wheelchair very slowly. The wheelchair was not bumpy, and Gu Zhuting heaved a sigh of relief.
As soon as Yang Fan stepped out of the door, the bright sunlight shone on his body. He squinted his eyes slightly and sniffed the fresh air. However, he did not dare to take a deep breath. He could only greedily taste the fresh air in small mouthfuls.
The blue sky was filled with white clouds. There were soldiers training in the distance, but they were very far away. Their shouts were so soft that they could not be heard. It was obvious that they were afraid of disturbing the general's rest.
There were a few trees nearby. The tender yellow of the new green was like fog.
The wheelchair was driven under a tree. The sunlight shone through the tree's shadow, creating a beautiful scene. On a mound overgrown with mugwort, Ban Dove and Gray Sparrow were strolling peacefully. They were enjoying the scent of spring with Yang Fan, who was sitting quietly under the tree.
In the distance, Maqiao, who was dressed in military attire, saw Yang Fan coming out and quickly walked up to him.
As Yang Fan's good brother, he had always felt that he was the one who should be by Yang Fan's side. Unfortunately, this right was taken away by Miss Gu. Not only could he not stay by Yang Fan's side, but Miss Gu, who was standing beside him, would look at him with a hidden bitterness when he visited Yang Fan for a long time.
Even Ma Qiao, who had always been careless, could not ignore the resentment on the beautiful woman's face. He could only shut his mouth and stop chattering. He clumsily found an excuse and then fled, leaving the time for them to be lovey-dovey.
After so many times, Maqiao was somewhat afraid to visit Yang Fan. Every time he went in, he would brace himself as if he had a guilty conscience. At this moment, it was rare to see Yang Fan come out to bask in the sun. How could Maqiao let go of such a good opportunity?
Yang Fan smiled as he looked at Maqiao, who was happily walking over. He turned to Ren Wei and said, "Because of my injury, we have to make some adjustments to our plan. Go tell Hu Qianxian and Director Chen that there is no need to rush to settle accounts with them. The imperial court will definitely make a move. Now is not the time to alert them. Tell Director Chen and Hu Qianxian to bluff to attract attention. The Dugu family will secretly gather all the information. Now … we are just waiting for the Emperor's Horse Slaying Sword! "
At this point, the sickly Yang Fan's eyes revealed a sharp glint, like the edge of a blade!
Ren Wei nodded and left quickly.
After Yang Fan was seriously injured, Ren Wei and the other guards had gained Yang Fan's full trust. They were officially his confidants and could participate in many secrets.
Yang Fan patted the back of Gu Zhuting's jade-like hand on his shoulder. He said softly, "Dugu Wentao is dead. You haven't shown up for a long time. Qiao Mu can't hold it anymore. Speaking of Li Hei, this person is quite a character. The problem is that he is not like Qiao Mu, who can only stand on our boat. He knows too little about us, so it is inevitable that he will have disloyalty. You have to go back to Ba immediately to calm people down.
You can ask Hu Qianxian and Chen Xuanlang to put pressure on Liu Qiantian and cooperate with you to send out the transport ships as soon as possible. The old fox surnamed Liu will not make things difficult for you anymore. Besides, this is also a great benefit for him. If Chang 'an's transport is affected again, his position as the prefectural magistrate will really come to an end. "
When Yang Fan asked Gu Zhuting to go back to Ba, her face was full of reluctance. But she dared not let Yang Fan see it. When Yang Fan said this, she had already obediently answered, "Yes." Her answer was very natural.
Yang Fan then said to Gu Zhuting, "How to fight in Chang 'an now depends on Luoyang and the emperor. It has nothing to do with Ba. But the transport of the water is related to the millions of people in Chang' an. It will also directly affect whether the emperor will move the capital or not. You must be careful. Go quickly!"
At this time, Maqiao had already approached. He raised his voice to greet Yang Fan, "Erlang, are you feeling better?" But his eyes were looking at Yang Fan's "housekeeper" with a hint of flattery.
…
On the Lovely Spring Stage, Wu Zetian looked at the memorial in her hands. Her heart was burning with anger. Assassinating an imperial envoy was simply lawless. Just thinking about the use of military crossbows was secretly frightening. Who was the one who used military weapons? How dare they use military weapons to assassinate an imperial court official? What did this mean?
This meant that the imperial power and the laws of the country had no restraints on these fugitives. The murderers had completely lost their respect for the laws of the imperial court and the authority of the imperial family. If they dared to assassinate an imperial official today, they would dare to assassinate the emperor tomorrow! Wu Ze had been assassinated before, so he was especially afraid of this kind of thing.
Looking at the memorial jointly submitted by Chen Dong, Hu Yuanli, Shi Yu, and Sun Wenyu, Wu Zetian immediately thought of Wu Yizong. Wu Yizong was the one who had the motive to commit the crime and the conditions to use a large number of people and military crossbows. Wu Yizong was the most suspicious.
However, Wu Yizong had already submitted a memorial to defend himself in time. The words in the memorial were sincere. He described in detail all of his actions after he arrived in Chang 'an. He was even not afraid of making a fool of himself. He took the initiative to confess that when Yang Fan first arrived in Chang' an, he deliberately invited the Chang 'an officials to a banquet in order to embarrass Yang Fan. Instead, he was humiliated by Yang Fan.
Based on Wu Zetian's understanding of her nephew, since he was even willing to talk about this kind of scandal, it was not very likely that he was the one who did it. After that, he and Yang Fan did not cross paths again. It was not very likely that he delayed until today to take action. Moreover, the murderer's original target was Chen Dong and Hu Yuanli. The person who had the biggest grudge with these two wasn't Wu Yizong.
If this still couldn't remove Wu Yizong's suspicion, then Wu Yizong's following request was enough to prove his innocence. He took the initiative to remove himself from the imperial envoy position to avoid suspicion. It didn't matter if the person who died was Yang Fan, Chen Dong, or Hu Yuanli. If he was the mastermind and asked to resign after the assassination, then the gains would not make up for the losses.
If he firmly denied it, Wu Zetian wouldn't be able to do anything to him because she didn't have any evidence in her hands. The reason he made such an extreme reaction was obviously because he didn't want to be a scapegoat for someone else. He didn't want to become the public enemy of the officialdom. If he was the murderer, why did he need to assassinate her back then when he had such a reaction today?
Judging from her experience, Wu Yizong wasn't the murderer. From her feelings, she also didn't want to believe that this lawless murderer was from the Wu family. However, she still had to show the proper attitude.
Wu Zetian thought for a long time and then ordered in a low voice, "Wu Yizong, as the General of the Jin Wu Guards, is now in charge of the security of Chang 'an. However, he allowed rebels to run amok and killed officials. Wu Yizong can't escape the blame. Immediately remove him from the imperial envoy position and transfer him back to the capital. Order Chen Dong of the Ministry of Justice and Hu Yuanli of the Censorate to immediately rectify the Chang 'an officialdom. No matter who is involved, those who use their power for personal gain, those who take bribes, those who fill their own pockets, and those who violate the law, no matter who it is, punish them all! Order Liu Qiantian to investigate the murderer and bring the murderer to justice! Also, I don't care how much trouble they make, but the Baishang Canal must start on time. If he doesn't do these two things well, he will be punished for dereliction of duty! "
Wan 'er memorized all of Wu Zetian's orders and respectfully responded.
Wu Zetian slowly stood up and raised her eyebrows. She laughed coldly and said, "If the Guannei Dao is rotten, I will cut out this rotten piece of meat! If the Ming Tang falls, I can rebuild it. I can also rebuild the Guannei Dao! If they think that I don't punish the masses and that I am afraid of harming the innocent, then they are gravely mistaken! "
At this moment, Zhang Changzong walked in with his sleeves fluttering in the wind. Wu Zetian saw her little lover and said to Wan 'er, "Go and draft the edict!"
Shangguan Wan 'er bowed and retreated swiftly. Zhang Changzong spread out his sleeves and bowed to Wu Zetian. He said, "Changzong greets the Sage!"
Wu Zetian put down the memorial and used a white jade paperweight to hold it down. She smiled at Zhang Changzong and said, "Liu Lang is slacking off again. Is the 'Pearl of the Three Sects' finished?"
Zhang Yizhi wanted to quickly expand his influence, build up his meritorious service, and increase his seniority. He was not good at martial arts, so he could only start with literature and education. Therefore, he asked the Empress for permission and gathered Song Zhiwen, Shen Wenqi, Du Shenyan, Zhang Shuo, Li Jiao, Wei Zhigu, Liu Zhiji, Cui Shi, and other famous scholars to compile a book.
This book would collect the poems of famous scholars since the early Tang Dynasty, as well as the scriptures of Buddhism and Taoism. Therefore, it was named 'Three Sects'. Writing a book was a shortcut for a scholar to become famous. Once the book was completed, he would be a great scholar in the literary world and would have the capital to compete with a group of famous officials in politics. This was also used by Wu Zetian when she was competing for the throne of the Empress.
Zhang Changzong said with a smile, "This matter has Wulang in charge and many scholars to help me. Changzong's talent is shallow, so why do I need to do this? When the book is completed, Changzong will follow all the scholars and just hang my name behind them. Changzong feels that accompanying the Sage is more important."
Wu Zetian laughed and said, "Xiaodong Xi, you have a sweet mouth. Come, sit beside me!"
Zhang Changzong walked to Wu Zetian's side and sat down next to her. Wu Zetian picked up the half-drunk fermented rice and personally fed him a few mouthfuls. The two of them whispered and laughed very intimately. They also touched each other's ears and temples. Only then did Wu Zetian remove the paperweight and start reading the memorial again.
Zhang Changzong sat on the side and gently massaged Wu Zetian's shoulders. The little servant tiptoed into the main hall and stood behind a huge pillar that was as thick as a person's arms. Zhang Changzong saw him and knew that he had something to tell him. He excused himself from urinating and left the main hall. The little servant quickly followed him.
As soon as he left the main hall, Zhang Changzong said impatiently, "Sneaking around, what's the matter?"
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