When he arrived at the door and knocked, the door opened not long after. A gatekeeper of the residence poked his head out and said, "Fang Xiang, what brings you here?"
Fang Xuanling said, "I'm here to visit Commandery Prince Hejian."
The gatekeeper said, "His Highness is resting."
Fang Xuanling shook his head and said, "It doesn't matter. Even if Commandery Prince Hejian is resting, I can come and visit him. By the way, I have something to say to the princess. "
The gatekeeper's expression changed slightly.
Fang Xuanling saw this scene and felt that something was wrong. He said in a low voice, "I'm here on His Majesty's order. You can go and inform him directly. There's no need to say more."
The gatekeeper suddenly froze.
Fang Xuanling walked in directly and said in a low voice, "Tell me, what's going on?"
The gatekeeper murmured, "They're gone. His Highness and the princess are gone. All the important people in the mansion disappeared overnight. I'm the only one left to guard the door. I also want to leave, but I don't know where to go. So, I stayed in the mansion. The rest of them have already left. "
Fang Xuanling's expression suddenly changed.
Li Xiaogong's departure was a big deal.
He went straight into the mansion.
Fang Xuanling knew where Li Xiaogong lived because he had been to the Commandery Prince Hejian's mansion last time. He went straight to Li Xiaogong's place. However, when he entered the courtyard, he found that it was empty. Everyone had already left the place.
Many people in the mansion had also left.
The entire Commandery Prince Hejian's mansion was empty. There was no one left.
Fang Xuanling's mood was even heavier.
It was similar to Li Jing's situation. All of a sudden, everyone disappeared. Obviously, this disappearance must be caused by Du Qi. It was Du Qi who arranged for people to take Li Xiaogong and his family away.
Only Du Qi had the power to do that.
Fang Xuanling turned and left. He left the Commandery Prince Hejian's mansion and hurried into the palace. Fang Xuanling sighed again when he saw Li Shimin with a smile on his face.
The situation in Suzhou in the Western Region was in a deadlock, which was good news for the Tang dynasty. But he didn't expect that Li Xiaogong and his family would suddenly leave.
You won't let me have a break!
Seeing that Fang Xuanling did not speak, Li Shimin took the initiative to ask, "Xuanling, why are you in such a hurry to enter the palace?"
Fang Xuanling said, "Your Majesty, Prince Hejian has disappeared. All the important members of the Prince's Mansion had disappeared. When this subject went to visit, only the gatekeeper and a few people were left. These people stayed behind because they had nowhere else to go. That's why they stayed behind.
Shua!
Li Shimin's expression suddenly changed.
In his mind, he immediately thought that this was the result of Du Qi's plan. It must have been Du Qi's men who took Li Xiaogong and his family away.
Only Du Qi had the ability to do so.
Li Shimin said in a deep voice, "Tang Zhen, you go and inform the bad guys who are in charge of monitoring the Hejian County Prince's Mansion to come and see me."
"Yes!"
Tang Zhen immediately went to pass down the decree.
After Li Shimin made the arrangements, he looked at Fang Xuanling and said in a deep voice, "Xuanling, Li Xiaogong's departure has reduced the number of people we have to restrict Du Qi. At this point, Du Qi had already taken away his father, as well as Li Xiaogong's family. Du Qi has made it clear that he wants to cut off all the constraints. "
Fang Xuanling said, "Your Majesty is wise. In fact, Li Xiaogong's presence has been of great help to us. Especially when the situation has reached an uncontrollable stage, Li Xiaogong's presence can play a big role. But now, everything has changed. "
"The current situation is not a good development for us. First, there was Su Dingfang, then Li Jing, and now Li Xiaogong has been taken away. It can be seen that there is a group of Du Qi's forces in Chang 'an City. "
"This is like an invisible hand that can manipulate the situation."
Fang Xuanling said, "In the worst case, Du Qi can arrange for these people to assassinate our officials and even create chaos in Chang 'an."
Li Shimin said, "Since Li Xiaogong has escaped, it's definitely impossible to catch him. After all, we can't tell when he left or even which way he left. So now, the only thing we can do is to set up a plan to dig out all the spies Du Qi placed in Chang 'an and kill them all in order to stabilize Chang' an. "
Fang Xuanling said, "Your Majesty is wise."
Li Shimin said, "What do you think we should do about this?"
Fang Xuanling was silent for a moment, then said, "Your Majesty, if we really want to do this without leaving any loopholes, we can only capture all the businessmen under Xia Xia and interrogate them one by one. As long as they are Du Qi's men, they will all be eliminated. In this way, we can follow the clues and try to take down all of Du Qi's spies. There is no other way. After all, all of Du Qi's men are hidden in the dark. We have no chance to take them down. "
Li Shimin was a bit embarrassed.
It must be known that the merchants of the State of Great Xia were also part of the Great Tang's business. These businessmen paid a lot of taxes every month. Once they were eliminated, it would easily cause unrest. Moreover, the reduction of taxes would also cause losses to the imperial court.
This was where Li Shimin was in a dilemma.
Not long after, the delinquents in charge entered.
This person was called Xu Qing, the person in charge of the delinquents in Chang 'an arranged by Li Shimin. When he saw Li Shimin, he looked panicked and knelt on the ground to salute.
Li Shimin said, "Tell me, why did you suddenly lose contact with Li Xiaogong?"
Xu Qing said, "Your Majesty, our people have indeed been keeping an eye on them. They've been keeping an eye on them since morning until night. Even after dark, there were people watching him. From the beginning to the end, Li Xiaogong never went out. "
After a pause, Xu Qing continued, "We even arranged people to pretend to visit Li Xiaogong from time to time so that we could understand his situation. Who knew that Li Xiaogong suddenly disappeared. "
"Trash!"
Li Shimin scolded.
Xu Qing even prostrated himself on the ground, looking panicked.
He was just a lowly official in charge of a group of delinquents. He said, "Your Majesty, we are indeed keeping a close eye on the Hejian County Manor. Li Xiaogong never came out. I don't know how Li Xiaogong disappeared. "
Li Shimin waved his hand and said, "Men, drag Xu Qing away and flog him 30 times as a warning to others."
The soldiers directly entered and dragged Xu Qing away.
Xu Qing didn't speak from beginning to end.
Because Li Shimin didn't kill him and kept him alive, which was quite a good result.
Li Shimin was silent for a moment. His sharp eyes flashed with a sharp light. He looked at Fang Xuanling and said in a deep voice, "There's nothing to hesitate about. Kill those who should be killed. If anyone dares to stand out and oppose the public opinion, deal with them one by one. Fang Xuanling, go and arrange for the Supreme Court, Ministry of Justice, and the delinquents to jointly deal with this matter. "
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
Fang Xuanling responded and immediately left the arrangements.
As soon as Fang Xuanling's order was passed down, the investigation in Chang 'an began. Those who stayed in Chang 'an under Du Qi's control were arrested and sent to the Ministry of Justice for interrogation.
When the news came out, it caused a storm in the city.
The news also spread quickly.
In Chang 'an, the news of the government arresting a large number of Xia Kingdom merchants had spread to Suzhou. When Du Qi received the news, he was furious because Li Shimin's actions had already crossed his bottom line.
This was wantonly arresting people.
Du Qi immediately summoned Li Jing and all the people in the cabinet to the tent and directly told them about Li Shimin's arrest of the businessmen of Xia Xia. Then he said, "What Li Shimin did has crossed the bottom line. The Tang Dynasty dares to do such a thing, so they must be prepared to bear our revenge. What do you think we should do in this battle? "
"An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, of course."
Shangguan Yi immediately said.
He had always been in the pro-war faction, and his attitude towards the Tang Empire was especially tough. He continued, "Your Majesty, if Li Shimin captures countless merchants from the Xia Kingdom this time, and the Xia Kingdom doesn't respond, then the Xia Kingdom will be in trouble. Then I'm afraid Li Shimin's next step will be even more cruel. Then he will not only target the businessmen of Xia Xia in Chang 'an, but also other businessmen of Xia Xia in the Tang Dynasty. "
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