Datang: Just been appointed as the crown prince, the counterattack system is here

Chapter 414 Man Will Conquer Nature [Seeking Monthly Tickets]

"His Royal Highness!"

Lai Fu appeared silently at the door of Li Chengqian's study, bowed, and reported:

"News has come from Chu Suiliang's side that Liu Ji is preparing to report to His Majesty the 'crimes' you committed in Chang'an in the form of his confession!"

"In addition, he also induced Li Zong and Yuchi Huan to conspire to confess that you 'abused private punishment' to kill Chai Zhewei. He then informed the Duke of Qiao, Chai Shao, of this matter."

"Huh! You don't know how to live or die!"

Li Chengqian snorted coldly, his eyes flashing with a sharp, cold light: "Ignore him for now, let him do whatever he wants. I want to see how my father and that uncle will view these matters!"

As she spoke, she turned to look at Laifu and changed the subject:

"Has there been any news from Su Dingfang? Has Songtsen Gampo of Tibet not taken advantage of my return to Chang'an to invade our territory?"

Lai Fu recalled for a moment, then bowed and said, "Your Highness, I haven't received any news from Tibet yet, but there is a trivial message from Tuyuhun!"

"Oh? What trivial news?"

"It is said that Hou Junji's son-in-law is suspected of colluding with the Tibetans and has been captured by Murong Shun's men!"

Upon hearing this, Li Chengqian immediately laughed: "This is no trivial news! This is big news!"

"Huh?" Laifu looked completely bewildered.

But then Li Chengqian laughed and said, "I have always been puzzled as to where Hou Junji got his confidence. Even if he got some troops from Li Ji and used the pretext of pacifying Gaochang Kingdom, how could he mobilize troops to defend the king?"

"But how dare he attack me? Doesn't he know my record?"

"Now that I think about it, I realize he was trying to collude with foreign enemies!"

"Unfortunately, none of their plans went smoothly, which is why we're in this situation today!"

"Yes, Your Highness is truly wise and powerful. You foresaw that Hou Junji was suspicious and instructed Commander Su and Murong Shun to keep a close eye on him. Otherwise, they might have succeeded!"

Hearing Laifu's agreement, Li Chengqian nodded, then said in a deep voice:
"I will leave immediately after I have settled this mess in Chang'an, but I am still a little worried. So you will stay in Chang'an and contact the Empress Dowager and the others for me. If there is anything I need, you can directly contact the Crown Prince's residence and handle it for them!"

"promise!"

Lai Fu responded with a nod, then, as if remembering something, said:
"Does Your Highness still remember Zhao Deyan? He and Changsun Chong made a fortune in the Anbei Protectorate! It is said that they raised more than 100,000 sheep, 50,000 horses, and 30,000 cattle!"
Recently, I heard that they are contacting craftsmen in Chang'an to build wool processing plants and meat processing plants near the Anbei Protectorate, with technical support from the Academy of Sciences and the Medical Academy!

"Ha, it seems they've found the right direction! That's good!"

Li Chengqian smiled, seemingly quite satisfied.

But then Laifu continued, "In addition, in Jiangling, Chang Wei has now become Hilde's assistant and is learning about navigation. Hilde says he has a real talent for navigation!"

"There are many talented people, but few can use their talents in the right way. Tell Changwei to study hard and not let me down."

Li Chengqian pondered for a moment and said, "In addition, have Hilde expedite the construction of our warships. I want to decide the outcome of the Liaodong war!"

"Yes, I understand!"

Lai Fu bowed and quickly turned to leave.

A short while later, Pei Xingjian hurriedly walked in again:

"Your Highness, Yang Nannan is searching for the remaining guards and Hou Junji's cronies. On my side, we are also arresting court officials who colluded with the guards. The trial will be held tomorrow!"

"Okay, well done!"

Li Chengqian nodded and then asked, "Did you arrest Yin Zhihong?"

"You've been arrested! But His Highness the Prince of Yan is making a huge fuss, saying he's going to report you to His Majesty! He even said..."

"Alright, alright, I don't have time to listen to his nonsense. If he dares to be presumptuous, just lock him up in the Imperial Prison and let him calm down for a few days!"

"Yes!"

Pei Xingjian responded and was about to continue speaking.

Just then, a voice came from outside the door: "Your Highness, Princess Li Xueyan of Jiangxia, Su Wan, daughter of Secretary Su Tan, and Wu Huagu, daughter of Governor Wu Shiyue of Yuzhou, are requesting an audience outside the door!"

Li Chengqian raised an eyebrow and then gestured with his hand, saying, "Let them in."

Soon, the three girls entered the warm pavilion, led by a maid.

Although they had all washed up briefly, changed into clean clothes, and even eaten some food, their hair was still somewhat messy and their faces were slightly pale.

Clearly, they had gone through a lot of hardships and were still shaken.

"This humble woman greets Your Highness the Crown Prince!"

The three of them bowed down in unison, their voices trembling with the shock of surviving a calamity.

"No gift."

Li Chengqian spoke calmly, his gaze sweeping over them, and said directly, "You have suffered. I heard that you were kidnapped by bandits, and it is truly fortunate that you have returned safely. Do you know who did it and how you escaped?"

"This"

The three girls exchanged glances, and finally the most composed Li Xueyan spoke up: "Your Highness, the ones who kidnapped us were the bandits from the Shouzhulang! They have imprisoned us in an abandoned bell tower."

"An abandoned clock tower?"

Li Chengqian was stunned for a moment, then glanced at Pei Xingjian, which was the place where they had found signs of a struggle.

"Yes!"

Wu Huagu interjected, with a hint of lingering fear, "The place was gloomy and terrifying, heavily guarded. It didn't look like a temporary hiding place at all; it must be a stronghold of the Guardians."

"in addition."

As she spoke, she glanced at Li Chengqian without revealing her true feelings, and then said, "The reason we were able to escape was because of a Taoist priest who abandoned darkness and embraced the light!"

"What Taoist priest who abandoned darkness for light?"

Li Chengqian couldn't help but ask more questions out of curiosity.

Despite her fear, Su Wan spoke softly but clearly: "That Taoist priest was wearing a blue robe, and he was incredibly powerful! Those vicious guards were like weeds in his hands!"

Li Xueyan took a deep breath and added, "I heard the leader roar in a mixture of shock and rage: 'Yuan Tiangang! You really intend to betray me, the Guardian?!'"

Yuan Tiangang!?

This name struck Li Chengqian like a thunderbolt!

Sure enough it was him!

"and then?"

Li Chengqian's voice remained calm, but his eyes were sharp as knives.

"Master Yuan's voice was very calm and cold!"

Wu Huagu recalled, mimicking that cold tone: "He said, 'I once thought that only by following the so-called will of Heaven could the world be kept at peace, but now I understand that the so-called will of Heaven has always resided in the hearts of the people.'"

As she finished speaking, she couldn't help but glance at Li Chengqian again, and continued, "He also said: 'His Highness the Crown Prince has already triumphed over the will of Heaven and won the hearts of the people.'"

"Yeah!"

Li Xueyan quickly nodded and continued, "Then I said, 'Yuan Tiangang, are you really going to betray me, the Guardian?!' After that, he started fighting with several other people who suddenly appeared!"

"Did you see it?"

"No, we left through the secret door ahead of time under Master Yuan's cover. We could only vaguely hear some clanging of metal and muffled groans, but the fight must have been extremely intense!"

"So, you don't know the final outcome?"

The three women looked at each other again, then shook their heads blankly.

Li Chengqian frowned.

Yuan Tiangang's sudden defection was the most unexpected variable in this chaotic situation.

His statement, "Heaven's will has always resided in the hearts of the people," and his self-assessment of "conquering Heaven's will and winning the hearts of the people," stirred a ripple in Li Chengqian's heart.

This extraordinary person, who was knowledgeable about celestial phenomena and insightful about worldly affairs, ultimately chose to let go. Did he truly understand the so-called "destiny," or did he have other motives?

"His Royal Highness!"

Just as Li Chengqian was racking his brains, Li Xueyan bit her red lips and suddenly said, "Actually, before that Taoist Priest Yuan saved us, he said some things!"

"What did you say?" Li Chengqian was stunned.

But Li Xueyan hesitated and said, "He said... he said I would marry into Tibet and become a queen, and that Su Wan would become the crown princess, and Hua Gu would become the future empress!" Upon hearing the words "crown princess," Su Wan's cheeks flushed instantly, and she lowered her head, not daring to look at Li Chengqian.

Hua Gu raised her head, her eyes clear as she looked at Li Chengqian: "Your Highness, do you believe this absurd statement?"

Li Chengqian was taken aback, seemingly not expecting Yuan Tiangang to say these things to them.

Even more strangely, Yuan Tiangang was actually right.

Li Xueyan was Princess Wencheng in history, and she did indeed marry into Tibet, becoming the queen of Songtsen Gampo.

However, her ending was not good.

As for Su Wan, she was indeed the Crown Princess of Li Chengqian in history.

Finally, there is the future Wu Zetian, and the present Hua Gu.

Li Chengqian knew perfectly well what the future held for the three of them, but Yuan Tiangang actually knew it too?
This made him feel somewhat bewildered.

Although Yuan Tiangang's physiognomy skills were indeed unparalleled, could physiognomy really be that magical?

A huge question mark appeared in Li Chengqian's mind.

However, the truth of history had already been revealed, and he naturally had no way to hide it, so he could only vaguely say:

"I believe that fate is created by oneself, and appearance is a reflection of the heart. So-called divine will is nothing but the excuse of the weak and the chessboard of the strong. Whether you believe what he says or not is up to you."

He looked at Li Xueyan and smiled: "Whether my cousin Xueyan marries into Tibet depends on the strength of the Tang Dynasty and your own wishes, not on a prophecy."

"Moreover, the national policy of our Great Tang Dynasty is: no marriage alliances, no tributes, no ceding of territory, and no reparations!"

"But."

Li Xueyan opened her mouth, but hesitated to speak.

Li Chengqian turned his gaze to Su Wan and said calmly, "The position of Crown Princess is never determined by others, nor is it predetermined by fate."

Su Wan's heart skipped a beat upon hearing this.

Li Chengqian's gaze finally settled on Hua Gu, and he said calmly, "As for whether you will become empress? It is in the hands of millions of people, in the laws of the court, and never in the ambition or prophecy of any one person!"

"If you want to do something, you should not ask about fate, but whether your own heart is worthy of heaven and earth and worthy of the people."

Upon hearing this, Li Xueyan, who already felt that Li Chengqian was just making excuses for them, immediately became furious: "Your Highness's words are far too flippant!"

As she spoke, she looked up, her eyes still lingering with the shock of being kidnapped the previous night: "Who is Yuan Tiangang? From the end of the Sui Dynasty to the present, how many kings, nobles, generals, and ministers have risen and fallen according to his predictions?!"

"His claim that my daughter is to marry into Tibet is not unfounded!"

"Furthermore, the fact that the garrison commander dared to use my daughter as a pawn means he must have some leverage to force the Jiangxia Prince's Mansion to submit!"

She stood up, her skirt sweeping across the stool leg and creating a gust of wind: "I, Li Xueyan, am a princess of the Great Tang Dynasty, not a clay puppet to be manipulated by others!"

"If that day ever comes, I will die in Chang'an rather than set foot on Tibetan soil!"

As she finished speaking, her voice trembled slightly, but she stubbornly held her neck and refused to let the tears fall.

Su Wan shrank back in surprise at her imposing manner, her fingers twisting the hem of her skirt into several knots.

Li Chengqian's words, "The position of Crown Princess is not to be decided by others," had made her heart race like a rabbit, but Li Xueyan's anger had sobered her up a bit.

She timidly looked up and saw Li Chengqian's gaze fixed on her. She hurriedly lowered her head again, her voice as thin as a thread: "Your Highness, when the guards arrested me, they said they wanted me to 'witness the Crown Prince's downfall.' They said that as long as I died, they could end the Crown Prince's 'lucky streak.'"

When she said the word 'death,' her body trembled almost imperceptibly, her nose tingled, and tears rolled down her cheeks: 'I am not afraid of death, but I do not want to become a sinner who implicates the Crown Prince.'

Hua Gu sat there without moving, but her fingertips dug deeply into her palms.

When Li Chengqian asked her, "Do you think you can do it?" she almost blurted out, "Absolutely not," but she swallowed the words back.

She recalled her mother's words, "Women are of lowly fate, unlike men who can determine the fate of the world," and then she remembered Yuan Tiangang's eyes, which seemed to see through the ways of the world, when he said, "You will become an empress." A huge rock seemed to weigh on her heart.

"Your Highness!"

She raised her eyes, her gaze no longer showing the timidity of an ordinary young girl, but rather a hint of coldness: "Yuan Tiangang may not be sincere in letting us go."

“When he said ‘Heaven’s will is always in the hearts of the people,’ I felt that his gaze was unsteady. Perhaps he wanted to use us to distract him so that his real plan could get away.”

Hearing this, Li Xueyan's anger subsided somewhat, and she frowned, saying, "Are you saying that his saving us was a pretense, and that his real intention was to cover up for his accomplices?"

Hua Gu didn't reply, but looked at Li Chengqian: "The garrison commander has been planning for many years, and he would never start a war based on just a few prophecies. Their arrest of us may be related to a deeper conspiracy."

As she spoke, she clenched her fist, her knuckles turning white: "I don't believe in anything about overthrowing the Tang Dynasty or becoming a future empress. I only believe what I see with my own eyes. The fire on the city wall last night and the fighting at Anhua Gate were not things that could be created by prophecy."

Looking at the different expressions on the three men's faces, a hint of understanding flashed in Li Chengqian's eyes.

Li Xueyan's fierceness conceals the pride of a noble family's daughter; Su Wan's timidity hides a pure and kind heart; and Hua Gu's composure subtly reveals a keen insight into the ways of the world.

This is what it should look like after going through a life-or-death ordeal.

He tapped his fingertips lightly on the table and said in a deep voice, "Cousin Xueyan, rest assured, I will personally oversee the safety of the Jiangxia Prince's Mansion. If the guards dare to use the Prince's Mansion to threaten us, I will first destroy their stronghold."

Hearing this, Li Xueyan couldn't help but laugh, with a hint of relief: "Speaking of which, when I escaped from the bell tower last night, I was thinking that if I really had to marry into Tibet, I might as well just smash my head against the city wall and die. Now, after hearing what Your Highness said, I realize that I was just being stubborn."

She straightened her back, and the arrogance of a noble lady returned to her face: "Even if there really is a marriage alliance, I, Li Xueyan, will definitely fight for the dignity of the Tang Dynasty and will never let others manipulate me."

"I am relieved that you think this way."

As he spoke, Li Chengqian turned to Su Wan, his tone softening slightly:
"I believe that when your father was compiling the national history, he recorded the secrets of the founding heroes. The garrison commander probably wants to arrest you to force him to hand over those records. As for the claim of 'preventing one's noble destiny,' it's nothing but deceptive nonsense, so don't take it to heart!"

Finally, looking at Hua Gu, his gaze deepened: "Any deeper conspiracy will be shattered by me. Don't think too much about it. These matters are no longer within your reach."

After finishing his sentence, he changed the subject again: "In my opinion, the will of Heaven lies in the hearts of the people, and people will surely overcome Heaven."

Upon hearing this, Hua Gu raised her eyes to meet his gaze, her clear eyes showing no sign of backing down: "May I lend Your Highness a hand?"

"Heh, we'll see."

Li Chengqian's lips curled up slightly, and he waved his hand, saying, "You may all leave now!"

"This"

The three women hesitated for a moment, then reluctantly bowed and said, "Thank you, Your Highness!"

Soon, supported by their maids, they slowly left.

As soon as they left, Pei Xingjian stepped forward and whispered, "Your Highness! Yuan Tiangang, and the Bell Tower! Should we immediately send more men?"

“No need,” Li Chengqian interrupted him, walking to the window and gazing at the brightly lit sky. “If Yuan Tiangang wanted to hide, you couldn’t find him even if you searched the entire city of Chang’an. As for the Bell Tower…”

He paused, then said, "Clean it up thoroughly and document the traces. Those bloodstains might tell us more."

"Yes!"

Pei Xingjian responded.

Just then, Laifu ran in again and shouted, "Your Highness, General Li Jing sent a message saying that Hou Junji has been captured in Lantian and all the remaining accomplices of the guards who accompanied him have been executed."

Li Chengqian hurriedly asked, "Hou Junji has been arrested? Has Yuan Tiangang shown up?"

"Your Highness, according to the messenger, Hou Junji's main force has been routed, and Lieutenant Xi Junmai personally knocked him off his horse and captured him alive. As for Yuan Tiangang, his whereabouts are still unknown."

"Oh, I see."

Li Chengqian nodded and immediately said solemnly, "Pei Xingjian!"

"The general is here!"

"I hereby issue my order: Li Jing and Chang He, escort Hou Junji and his key generals into the city immediately! Send them directly to the Imperial Guard prison! I want to personally 'reward' this 'pillar of the nation'!"

"Furthermore, announce to the entire city: the rebel leader Hou Junji has been captured! The rebellion in Chang'an is now quelled! Order all departments to eliminate the remaining enemy forces, pacify the people, and treat the wounded!"

"Yes!"

Pei Xingjian and Lai Fu bowed in agreement, their voices filled with the exhilaration of the end of the great battle.

Li Chengqian stood up from his seat, glanced in the direction the three women had left, and then looked at the sky outside.

With Hou Junji captured, the final internal strife in Chang'an was essentially over.

And he can now begin new actions.

However, it's unclear how Li Er will react. Hopefully, he will wait until I have pacified Tibet before launching an attack against me.

Otherwise, it could really be a bit troublesome.

(End of this chapter)