Chapter 122 Scattering
Of course the emperor did not ask him to change his name, but Li Min was still distracted when he returned home from leaving the palace. He immediately issued an order prohibiting anyone in the mansion from using any words related to Hong River water.

His wife Yuwen Eying saw her husband lose his composure and couldn't help but said angrily: "Even if His Majesty scolded you a few times, you don't have to be so cowardly as long as I am here."

Yang Lihua had only this one daughter, and she was raised with great care. Yang Jian and Dugu Jialuo also took extra care of their granddaughter because they felt guilty towards their daughter.

Although she has lost her identity as a princess, in fact, even a proper princess has to give her some ground.

Li Min came back to his senses and said: "It is a disaster. There is a folk rhyme that predicts that Li will become the emperor."

Yuwen Eying was stunned for a moment and said, "There are so many people with the surname Li, and there are three or four prominent people in the court, including Li Jiancheng. In terms of ability, it is not your turn, so what are you afraid of?"

"Pushan Gong Li Mi is not well-known, Tang Guogong Li Yuan and his son are in mourning, so I and Qin Guogong Li Hun are the only ones left in the court. But Your Majesty dreamed that a flood submerged Chang'an. I... I, Xiao Zi Ni, also knew about it!"

Yuwen Eying then sensed the danger and grabbed her husband by the collar, asking, "Is that what your majesty said?"

"Your Majesty told me to change my name and not to let anyone call me Hong anymore."

"That's fine."

"But I always feel..."

Seeing his cowardly look, Yuwen Eying was almost angry to death, and slammed the table: "Why are you still whining at this time!"

"I feel like the way His Majesty looks at me is not right. He doesn't look like he would let me go like this. Eying, go and plead for me."

Yuwen Eying was also afraid when she thought of Yang Guang. Before her mother accompanied the emperor on the western tour, she had warned her not to think that the current emperor would be grateful to her and her.

"I have little contact with Your Majesty, so I will send someone to get some information first, and then go and ask to see the Queen tomorrow."

After Yuwen Eying left, Li Min became more and more afraid, and felt that he could not be the only one to do this, so he sent someone to pass the message to the officials with the surname Li in the capital, hoping that if they all united, even His Majesty could not kill the Lis so wantonly.

…………

Li Jiancheng handed him the note he had written long ago, telling him not to rush and to wait until the emperor went on the expedition to Goguryeo before distributing it in the counties and prefectures, and he had to be careful.

It contains nursery rhymes and prophecies written by Li Jiancheng, such as "One piece of fire, two pieces of fire, a child in red clothes sits in the palace." It refers to the Pei surname becoming the emperor.

"Big centipedes, small centipedes, they are all poisonous insects caused by human karma. They can climb up to a height of a hundred feet, and if they were allowed to fly into the sky, they could eat dragons." This refers to the surname Wu.

Others include "Golden chariot, Banlan ears, Kaichang Gate, the emperor came out.

Don't chase the swallows, as they will fly higher and higher every day, flying high to the heaven's territory.

The golden toad squinted its eyes, overturned Caozhou and the whole world rebelled.

When Yang Gong first came to power, he was as graceful as a flying crow. When Yang Gong returned to Yangzhou, he rode a white horse with tassels in tow.

As for the many seemingly plausible prophecies, how to interpret them depends on how the emperor wants to think. In short, the best thing to do is to prevent him from focusing on the Li family.

Moreover, these families will not sit and wait for death. Once everyone takes action, the situation will become turbid and the emperor will not just close his eyes and kill all the people in the world.

…………

Yuwen Shu, who had a grudge against Li Hun for a long time, was overjoyed after hearing about Taoli Zhang. He summoned all his sons to discuss the matter together, including not only his biological sons but also many godsons.

When Li Mu, the Grand Tutor of the Duke of Shen, passed away, his title and family business were left to his eldest grandson, Li Yun. Li Hun was resentful and planned to get rid of Li Yun with the help of another nephew. But Li Hun would not be the one to inherit the family business, because he was the tenth son of Li Mu. Even if his elder brother died, his bloodline would still be passed down, and he could not continue to kill more than a dozen nephews.

So he found Yuwen Shu and promised that if he inherited the title, he would pay half of the state tax to the emperor every year.

Yuwen Shu was not very good at leading troops in battles, but if you asked him to take money to do things, that would be absolutely no problem.

Li Hun inherited the title and fiefdom as he wished, but he was reluctant to thank Yuwen Shu, so he took in more than a hundred beautiful women, all of whom were dressed in silk and satin, and lived a very luxurious life.

Yuwen Shu suffered a great loss but could not speak out. The title had already been decided, and it was impossible for him to let the emperor go back on his word, so he always wanted to take revenge on Li Hun.

He keenly realized that this was the best opportunity, so after discussion, he sent someone to encourage Li Hun and Li Min to meet for discussion.

At the reminder of Yu Wenzhi, they also sent people to incite Li Yuan or Li Jiancheng. In short, this father and son vowed to eliminate all the enemies of the Li family in one go.

.........

"Hurry up and tell your eldest master, we have something important to tell you, and there is no delay!"

"This concerns your husband, go quickly!"

According to Li Yuan's instructions, except for the imperial edict, the Duke of Tang's Mansion was closed to visitors and no one was allowed to come.

But these people refused to leave and kept making noise at the door. Besides, they were indeed friends of the eldest son, so the manager didn't know how to deal with them for a while.

After Li Jiancheng received the news, he went to the gate of the mansion in person. Those people looked like they had important matters to discuss, and they pushed open the door guard and tried to enter the house.

Li Jiancheng said expressionlessly: "I am in mourning, if you have anything to say, just talk here."

The men were helpless, and one of the taller ones leaned closer and whispered, "My dear, you haven't been out for a long time, so you probably don't know that disaster is coming."

Another person couldn't wait to recite the Peach and Plum Chapter: "It is a big taboo in all dynasties for names and surnames to be in accordance with prophecies. Now several Li families are secretly gathering in a pavilion outside the city to discuss countermeasures. You must not be left behind, otherwise you will be pushed out and framed by those families without knowing why."

After listening to what they said, Li Jiancheng knew that someone was setting a trap, but he couldn't guess who it was.

"Your Majesty is wise and powerful, and you have your own wise decisions. Moreover, as a minister, since I have a clear conscience, I should wait for Your Majesty's thunder and rain. How can I gather people to discuss matters in private?
I will not go there, you can go back."

"My dear, this... this is no small matter. It may bring disaster to the whole family."

Li Jiancheng wrote down their faces one by one and recalled their names in his mind. He had too many friends, including some who shared drinking buddies with him, so naturally he didn't know every one of them very well.

But since they were just drinking buddies, it would be fine if they just ate my food and drank my drinks, but how dare they frame me? Li Jiancheng sentenced these people to death in his heart, so he no longer concealed it and swept his cold eyes over them.

Those people were only familiar with Li Jiancheng, who was good at dealing with people and treated others with kindness. They had never seen him like this before. They couldn't help but feel terrified and couldn't speak clearly.

"I'm sorry to bother you all to come and tell me. I will always remember this kindness and will definitely reward you generously."

"No... I don't deserve it. We were just concerned for the moment. Please don't blame me if I was negligent."

Li Jiancheng nodded, then turned and walked inside. The door of Duke Tang's mansion was closed again, but the few people did not dare to knock again and left in a hurry.

………………

(End of this chapter)