Tang Dynasty, my wife Wu Zetian

Chapter 344 Xu Jingzong's Request
In early February, the weather was still chilly.

The spring breeze blows from the south, and the willows on the roadside dance in the wind.

In recent years, many small trees have been planted along the roadsides in Chang'an City.

Many of these small trees have grown up, adding a bit of vitality to this bustling city.

It’s a pity that the people in Xu’s house felt not vitality at this moment, but the shadow of death.

The Dali Temple runners rushed into Xu's house like wolves and tigers, and locked up everyone in the house with iron chains. Even the servants' rooms could not escape the disaster.

Outside the Xu Mansion, a large group of people gathered to watch the fun, and everyone was pointing and talking.

"Oh, it's really pitiful. Such a high-ranking official was also implicated by his son and ended up like this."

"Pity? After all, they've enjoyed decades of wealth and prosperity, which is infinitely better than the lives of you and me who work like slaves. Why should you feel pity for them?"

"What good does it matter if he's rich? His entire clan has been wiped out, his roots cut off. Who knows what his ancestors are cursing him like in the afterlife?"

"Where's Xu Jingzong? Is he that hunchbacked old fellow?"

"How is that possible? That should be the old servant of the Xu Mansion! I heard that the Saint showed leniency to Xu Jingzong, so he should still be in the house."

"No way! His son committed the heinous crime of treason, and the Saint actually pardoned him?"

"Hehe, I heard that Xu Jingzong went insane, so the Saint spared his life. This shows that our Saint is kind and benevolent."

"That's true. All his family and servants have been arrested, and he's insane. At his age, he probably won't live long."

"Well, that's not certain. Who knows if it's real or fake?"

Li Jingxuan stood in the crowd, listening to their discussions, his heart filled with sadness.

I still remember that when Changsun Wuji was powerful, those who opposed him had already secretly arranged their affairs and prepared for the destruction of their families.

Now Changsun Wuji and Chu Suiliang have been overthrown, but Li Yifu has been demoted, Xu Jingzong's entire family has been implicated, and Yuan Gongyu, Hou Shanye and others have also died and their families have been destroyed.

He was confused as to who won.

Among the pro-military elders today, he is the only one left standing in the court, and he was able to escape this disaster thanks to the help of Xu Jingzong.

At the beginning of last year, Xu Jingzong actively planned and was able to accompany the emperor on tour.

At the court meeting at the beginning of the year, his actual official position was still the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, but his rank was promoted two levels, and he also escaped the disaster in Chang'an City, all thanks to Xu Jingzong.

Now that he saw Xu Jingzong end up like this, how could he not feel sad?
In fact, after Xiao Siye died yesterday, the Dali Temple was ready to close the case, and the court also discussed the handling of the Xu family.

Although the emperor pardoned Xu Jingzong, other male members of the Xu family would still be sentenced to death according to the Yonghui Law.

Li Jingxuan pleaded for the Xu family at that time, hoping that the Xu family would be shown leniency.

Unfortunately, most officials, led by Li Ji and Yu Zhining, felt that Xu Jingzong had already been pardoned outside the law and that no one else should be pardoned, otherwise there would be no way to deter those with evil intentions.

Therefore, Xu Yanbo and others still could not escape the disaster.

Soon, all the members of the Xu family were taken away, leaving only an empty mansion.

The door was open, and through the door, one could see that the Xu Mansion was in a mess. Even the spring breeze could not blow away the desolate atmosphere in the Xu Mansion.

After watching the excitement, the people around went home to do their work, and it soon became quiet outside the door.

Li Jingxuan took a deep breath and entered Xu's house with his entourage. After crossing the gate, he ordered his entourage to close the door and tidy up the yard.

He walked towards the backyard alone.

Li Jingxuan often came to Xu's mansion and was very familiar with it. He walked towards Xu Jingzong's bedroom with ease.

As I was walking, I suddenly saw a figure in the courtyard.

He was a young man of about twenty years old, who was picking up the debris that had fallen on the ground.

Li Jingxuan was very surprised.

How could there be anyone else in Xu's house besides Xu Jingzong at this time? Why didn't the Dali Temple take him away?

Li Jingxuan strode towards the young man. When the young man saw him, he looked at him calmly.

Seeing this man's calm demeanor and extraordinary bearing, Li Jingxuan became even more curious and asked, "Who are you?"

The young man said proudly, "Who are you?"

Li Jingxuan smiled slightly and said, "I am Xu Jingzong's friend."

The young man stared at him for a moment, then bowed and said, "My humble self is Luo Binwang, and I pay my respects to Lord Li."

Li Jingxuan was stunned for a moment, then laughed and said, "How do you know my last name is Li?"

Young Luo Binwang said slowly, "Although Lord Xu has many friends, only Li Jingxuan would come to see him during his time of hardship. Therefore, I would venture to guess that you are Lord Li Jingxuan!"

Li Jingxuan smiled and said, "Yes, I am Li Jingxuan. Now it's my turn to ask you, who are you and why are you here?"

Luo Binwang said: "I was originally a member of the Daowang Palace, but was later expelled from the palace. Now I am a guest in Xu's Palace, just to participate in this year's imperial examination."

Li Jingxuan showed a look of sudden realization and said with a smile, "You are the young man who was ordered to show his talents at the banquet of Prince Dao's Mansion but refused to do so. I have heard of you."

At the end of the year before last, Prince Dao Li Yuanqing held a banquet in his mansion to entertain several friends, including Xu Jingzong.

During the banquet, someone mentioned Wang Bo, the child prodigy of the Wang family of Taiyuan.

After hearing this, Prince Dao smiled and said to everyone, "There is also a child prodigy in my mansion. And this child prodigy is different from Wang Bo's child. He is already an adult and serves as a clerk in my mansion."

After hearing about this, all the guests were very interested in this person.

King Dao ordered his men to call the child prodigy over and ordered him to demonstrate his talents in front of all the high-ranking officials.

The child prodigy was Luo Binwang.

If anyone else could show off their literary talent in front of so many high-ranking officials in the court, it would be a blessing.

However, Luo Binwang came from a humble background, had a sensitive personality, was aloof and self-admiring, and was ashamed to show off, so he refused King Dao's request.

Although Prince Dao did not say anything at that time, after the main day, when Prince Dao returned to his fiefdom with his men, he left him in Chang'an and made him the steward to guard the palace.

Prince Luo Bing could not bear it any longer, so he left the Dao Palace and wandered to Chang'an.

He was of noble character. Although he had literary talent, he was unwilling to bow to the powerful. Therefore, he lived a very poor life and could only live in a temple.

He originally wanted to take part in the imperial examination last year, but because he had not eaten enough for a long time, he fainted from hunger in the examination room and was therefore eliminated.

Forced by life, he had no choice but to sell calligraphy and paintings on the street, where he was seen by Xu Jingzong who happened to be passing by.

When Xu Jingzong was in the Prince Dao's Palace, he was very interested in Luo Binwang. He immediately invited him into the palace, appointed him as a guest, and asked him to teach Xu Yanbo to read.

On weekdays, Xu Jingzong treated Luo Binwang with great courtesy, but Luo Binwang was polite but cold.

Apart from teaching Xu Yanbo, he spent most of his time not in Xu's house, but in the temple studying, and seemed to look down on Xu Jingzong.

For this reason, Li Jingxuan knew many guests in the Xu Mansion, but he had never seen Luo Binwang, and only knew about this person from Xu Jingzong.

The other Qingke were extremely dissatisfied with Luo Binwang, thinking that he was too ungrateful and often bullied him.

However, when Xu Jingzong was really in trouble, the other guests all avoided him and cut off ties with the Xu family.

Luo Binwang went to Xu's house every few days. Today, when the government came to search Xu's house, he did not shy away and stayed in Xu's house.

The Dali Temple arrested people according to the list, but because he was just a retainer of the Xu Mansion and was not on the list, they did not arrest him. This is how Li Jingxuan encountered him.

When Luo Binwang heard Li Jingxuan mention the matter of the Daowang Mansion, a look of displeasure appeared on his face. He bowed and said, "Mr. Li, you are here to visit Mr. Xu, right? I will take my leave first."

Li Jingxuan refused to let him go and asked, "Can you take me to see Brother Xu?"

Luo Binwang frowned and said, "Mr. Xu is in his bedroom, Mr. Li can go by himself."

Li Jingxuan smiled and said, "Please lead the way, Mr. Luo. I have something to ask you."

Luo Binwang was a soft-hearted person, so seeing his attitude, he stopped refusing and took big strides to lead the way.

After a while, the two men came outside the house. Luo Binwang was about to push the door open, but Li Jingxuan stopped him.

"Mr. Luo, there are some things I want to ask you first."

Luo Bin Wang said, "Mr. Li, please ask."

Li Jingxuan pondered for a moment and said, "Have you been visiting Brother Xu often recently?"

Luo Binwang said, "I don't come here often, only once every two or three days." Li Jingxuan asked, "Since Brother Xu became epileptic, is there anyone who takes care of him on weekdays?"

Luo Binwang said, "I heard from the people in Xu's house that Lord Xu is very crazy. If there are people around, he will scream and say that they are trying to harm him. That's why he doesn't keep anyone in the house and only waits outside."

Li Jingxuan nodded and asked, "Have you hired a doctor?"

Luo Binwang said, "As far as I know, the Xu family has hired many doctors, including many famous ones. However, Mr. Xu is uncooperative and even spit at them."

After listening to this, Li Jingxuan looked thoughtful.

Luo Binwang suddenly asked, "You ask these questions because you suspect Mr. Xu is feigning madness, right?"

Li Jingxuan was slightly surprised. He didn't expect this boy to be so sharp and ask directly.

"What do you think?" Li Jingxuan asked back.

Luo Binwang said bluntly: "In my opinion, Mr. Xu may be pretending to be crazy."

Li Jingxuan asked, "Then why do you think Brother Xu is pretending to be crazy?"

Luo Binwang was silent for a while, then whispered, "It should be to save his life, right?"

Li Jingxuan smiled slightly and said, "Then you are wrong. Brother Xu did this for the sake of the Saint."

Luo Binwang was stunned and said, "Please give me some advice, Lord Li."

Li Jingxuan said slowly: "Think about it, if the Saint wants to deal with Brother Xu, he can deal with him regardless of whether he is crazy or not."

"But if the Saint considers Brother Xu's past contributions and wants to show leniency, the ministers will surely oppose it, which will cause the Saint a headache."

"So Brother Xu's outburst gave the Saint an excuse to pardon him. Seeing his fate, the ministers will stop pressing him, and the Saint will also gain a reputation for benevolence."

Luo Binwang said: "But many people outside have already guessed that he is faking insanity."

Li Jingxuan said, "That would only damage Brother Xu's reputation, but would not harm the saint's reputation for benevolence."

Luo Binwang was stunned and speechless.

Just then, a hoarse voice came from the room.

"Brother Li, Mr. Luo, both of you come in."

Li Jingxuan said these words to Luo Binwang for Xu Jingzong to hear, to let him know that he had understood everything and there was no need for him to pretend to be crazy anymore.

The two men pushed the door open and entered, and a pungent smell of medicine came from the room.

There were a lot of medicine residues on the ground. These were left behind when people in the Xu Mansion wanted to force-feed medicine to Xu Jingzong and he broke the medicine bowl.

Xu Jingzong sat on the bed, his hair disheveled and in a disheveled state, only his eyes were calm.

Xu Jingzong looked at Luo Binwang and sighed, "I never thought that after I fell into trouble, it was Luo Langjun who stayed by my side. Luo Langjun is so righteous, and I will never forget him."

Luo Binwang subconsciously wanted to refute a few words, but when he saw Xu Jingzong's expression at that moment, he could not speak. He bowed and said, "I am just repaying a favor."

Xu Jingzong looked at Li Jingxuan and said, "Brother Li, what do you think of Mr. Luo?"

Li Jingxuan said: "Although I haven't seen his talent, his noble character is very lovable."

Xu Jingzong sighed, "Such a good seedling, I originally wanted to keep him for myself and take him in as my disciple, but now I can't keep him, so I can only give him to you."

Li Jingxuan bowed and said, "Thank you very much."

When Luo Binwang saw that the two people spoke so highly of him, he was secretly delighted.

Xu Jingzong said, "Prince Bin, you go ahead. I want to have a few words with Brother Li."

Luo Binwang bowed and took his leave.

After he left, the expression on Xu Jingzong's face changed, and his eyes were so cold that they seemed to be able to freeze people.

"Jingxuan, is Xiao Siye dead?"

Li Jingxuan looked at his hateful eyes, sighed, and said, "He has passed away due to illness."

"Where are the other members of the Xiao family?"

Li Jingxuan whispered, "The Dali Temple has found no evidence. In my opinion, Your Majesty is not sure whether it was him who did it. Now that Xiao Siye is dead, Your Majesty should not pursue the matter further."

Xu Jingzong suddenly swung his fist and slammed it hard on the bed several times.

Li Jingxuan was surprised and said, "Brother Xu, you..."

Xu Jingzong gnashed his teeth and said, "This traitor deliberately died of illness to make Your Majesty and the court and the people feel pity for him and not pursue the Xiao family. This is the same tactic he used to report his clansmen when the Xiao family rebelled!"

Li Jingxuan said in a deep voice: "This person is indeed terrifying. He even used his own death to make a fuss. But since he is dead..."

Xu Jingzong glared at him and said, "So what if he's dead? Xiao Siye has ruined my family. I won't be able to rest in peace until I get revenge!"

Seeing his expression, Li Jingxuan sighed and stopped trying to persuade him.

Xu Jingzong took a few deep breaths, his expression gradually calmed down, he looked up at Li Jingxuan and said, "Jingxuan, do you want to be the Minister of Rites?"

Li Jingxuan was slightly startled and asked, "Brother Xu, what do you mean?"

Xu Jingzong narrowed his eyes and said, "As long as you want to do it, I can let you take the position."

Li Jingxuan is now the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel. Because he was dismissed from his post as prime minister, it will be extremely difficult for him to get promoted in the future.

If he could be promoted to the Minister of Rites, his bleak future would be filled with hope.

"Of course I want a promotion, but..."

Xu Jingzong narrowed his eyes and asked, "Do you think I am no longer able to help you?"

Li Jingxuan hurriedly said, "That's not what I meant."

Xu Jingzong waved his hand and said, "I don't blame you for thinking this way. But think about it, I've been the Minister of Rites for ten years. Would I not have a backup plan?"

Li Jingxuan's eyes flashed.

Xu Jingzong continued, "Over the past ten years, I have been carrying out internal reforms within the Ministry of Rites. Each of my actions has been small, and no one has noticed. Therefore, no matter who takes charge of the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry will inevitably fall into chaos within the first three months."

Li Jingxuan couldn't help but show admiration. Just based on this skill, he was far inferior to Xu Jingzong.

Xu Jingzong said, "I will tell you in detail about the current situation of the Ministry of Rites. In this way, you are the only one who can restore stability to the Ministry of Rites in the court."

Li Jingxuan bowed and said, "Thank you, Brother Xu."

Xu Jingzong raised his hand and said, "This alone is not enough. You need someone to recommend you before you can have the opportunity to display your talents."

Li Jingxuan frowned again.

Xu Jingzong was implicated in treason, so his connections were no longer useful, and no one in Li Jingxuan's own network could recommend him for the position of Minister of Rites.

Xu Jingzong narrowed his eyes and said, "It's true that I've had some bad luck recently, but it's not all bad."

Li Jingxuan said thoughtfully: "Brother Xu, are you saying..."

Xu Jingzong said slowly, "Have you noticed that after the Saint returned to Chang'an this time, he seemed to treat the Queen differently. The Queen left the palace to look for me once, and also went to the Dali Temple, but the Saint said nothing."

Li Jingxuan nodded and said, "Yes, I noticed when I accompanied His Majesty on his tour that the relationship between His Majesty and Her Royal Highness the Queen has become closer."

Xu Jingzong said, "This is beneficial to us. Her Highness the Queen was reluctant to contact us before because she was afraid that His Majesty would be suspicious. Now she no longer has this concern."

Li Jingxuan hesitated and asked, "But after so many years, is Her Majesty the Queen still willing to help us?"

Xu Jingzong smiled and said, "That's because you don't understand the Queen. She has always been clear about gratitude and resentment, and is good at forbearance. She will not forget those who have offended her even after twenty years. Conversely, she will also remember those who have done her a favor."

Li Jingxuan took a deep breath and said, "Brother Xu's words make sense."

Xu Jingzong took out a letter from his sleeve and handed it to him.

"Tomorrow, take this letter to see the Queen. As long as she reads it, you will have a fifty-fifty chance of becoming the Minister of Rites."

Li Jingxuan was overjoyed and reached out to take the letter, but Xu Jingzong did not let go.

"Brother Xu, what are you doing..."

Xu Jingzong stared at him and said, "Jingxuan, I have something to ask of you."

(End of this chapter)