Chapter 660: Fishing for Big Fish (Part 1)

Early the next morning, Li Qing’an arrived at the Daming Palace to pay his respects to the Empress Dowager. Two eunuchs led him to the front of the Linde Hall and said with a smile, “Your Highness, please wait a moment while we inform the Empress Dowager.”
Li Qing’an nodded and stood there, gazing at the majestic palaces of the Daming Palace. He had been there many times before, but he had always been in a hurry and never taken the time to properly admire this magnificent structure. Even the Green Palace in Baghdad or the Golden Palace in Constantinople paled in comparison to this most grandiose palace of the Tang Empire.
He gently tapped the white jade railing beside him. He had never noticed before that the railing was carved with tiny white jade lions, each holding a stone ball in their mouths, looking utterly lifelike.
“Your Highness, the Prince of Zhao, the Empress Dowager summons you!” an eunuch whispered behind him.
Li Qing’an smiled, turned, and followed the eunuch into the Qilin Hall. Inside, the Empress Dowager Shen Zhenzhu sat on a cold throne. Her pale face and thin shoulders gave her an appearance of profound loneliness. Only when Li Qing’an’s tall figure appeared at the entrance of the hall did a glimmer appear in her eyes, quickly hidden again by her long eyelashes.
Li Qing’an stepped forward, knelt on one knee, and bowed, saying, “Your servant Li Qing’an pays his respects to the Empress Dowager. May she live for thousands of years!”
“Prince of Zhao, rise. Please take a seat.”
“Thank you, Empress Dowager!”
Shen Zhenzhu’s voice was very soft, and her eyes gradually became clearer. Finally, she mustered the courage to look at Li Qing’an. The caring smile on his face brought a sense of warmth to her heart, calming her nervousness.
She smiled slightly and asked, “When did you return to the capital, Prince of Zhao?”
“Your servant returned to the capital the evening before yesterday and rested at home yesterday,” he replied.
Shen Zhenzhu nodded. “You have been fighting abroad for years and have little time with your family. Now that you’re back, try to spend more time with your wife and children. After such a long journey, you must be very tired. You should have rested at home today instead of coming to the palace so soon.”
“It is my duty to pay respects to the Empress Dowager. I should have come yesterday, but I was unwell and unable to come. I hope the Empress Dowager will forgive me.”
“Then… has your health improved?” Shen Zhenzhu tried to control her emotions and asked in a calm tone.
“Thank you for your concern, Empress Dowager. My health has improved greatly. But I see that you don’t seem to be in good health either. I hope you will take good care of yourself. My wife also mentioned yesterday that you haven’t been feeling well lately. If you need anything, please let me know at any time.”

Shen Zhenzhu sighed secretly and said in a low voice, “Thank you, my lord. But for now, I have no particular needs. If you don’t object, I would like to invite the queen to visit the palace often to keep me company and talk.”
“I have no objections!”
Silence fell in the side chamber, the atmosphere becoming slightly awkward. Only Shen Zhenzhu herself understood the myriad emotions swirling in her heart. This powerful man—“powerful” was her own perception of him—a feeling she would never forget in her lifetime. Initially, their relationship was merely a deal, a deal for her to sacrifice herself so that her son and husband could live. But later…
It felt as though an invisible flame was tormenting her heart. If possible, she would rather shatter the throne beneath her and the golden crown on her head, but it was impossible. She was the empress dowager of the Tang Empire, a status that acted like a heavy shackle, preventing her from changing or shedding it for life. More importantly, she herself did not want to betray that identity—it was a tacit understanding between the two of them at some point.
When the silence became unbearable, Li Qing’an finally spoke up, “I came today first to pay my respects to the empress dowager. Additionally, I would like to discuss matters concerning Southern Tang with her.”
If there was anything that left a deeper impression on Shen Zhenzhu than Li Qing’an’s powerful presence, it was Southern Tang—her enemy, the one who had killed her husband and son, still sitting on her lofty throne, living in luxury. Her hatred had hardened into iron in her heart.
Shen Zhenzhu sat up straight immediately, her pale face flushing with excitement. She quickly asked, “Is Prince Zhao preparing to launch a campaign against Southern Tang?”
Li Qing’an nodded slowly. “I have uncovered the truth: Southern Tang has colluded with court officials to frame me. Their tactics are despicable and unbearable. I have decided to launch a campaign. Coming to see the empress dowager today is also to ask her to issue an order authorizing me to go.”
“I can issue the order!”
Shen Zhenzhu agreed without hesitation. “When does Prince Zhao need me to issue the order?”
“Wait another two days. Once the truth is revealed, there will be a series of decrees that need to be issued by the empress dowager.”
“Are there other decrees besides those related to Southern Tang?” Shen Zhenzhu suddenly understood the implication behind Li Qing’an’s words.
Li Qing’an nodded. “It concerns my safety and the long-term stability of the Tang Empire. I hope the empress dowager can understand my difficulties.”

Shen Zhenzhu gazed at Li Qingan for a long time, and Li Qingan also stared at her intently. Shen Zhenzhu understood what Li Qingan wanted her to do—it was something she didn’t want to do, but she had no choice. Her gaze finally softened, and she sighed softly, “Then promise me that you won’t cross my bottom line.”
“I swear to the Empress Dowager that I won’t harm women, children, or the elderly, nor will I recklessly kill former officials. I merely wish to make some adjustments to the positions of officials.”
“Don’t deceive me.”
“I swear on my honor that I will never deceive the Empress Dowager.”
Shen Zhenzhu’s expression gradually eased. “Very well! I promise you.”
“Thank you, Empress Dowager. I shall take my leave.”
Li Qingan slowly stepped back. Shen Zhenzhu seemed to want to call him back, but her lips moved without any words coming out; her gaze instantly dimmed.
Li Qingan took a few steps before stopping and turning to look at her, his eyes filled with a smile—as if he understood Shen Zhenzhu’s thoughts.
“Prince Zhao… is there anything else?” Shen Zhenzhu asked in a trembling voice.
“I have one more matter to consult with the Empress Dowager. In the future, I will pay more attention to state affairs. I will set up an office in Daming Palace and often stay there. That way, the number of guards in the palace will increase significantly. I wonder if the Empress Dowager approves?”
“I… have no objections!”
“Then I shall take my leave.”
Li Qingan left the side hall. Shen Zhenzhu watched his retreating figure. Her eyes gradually brightened, yet they were filled with deep conflict and helplessness.
…
The consequences of Pei Zunqing’s death still hadn’t resolved by then. The original seven prime ministers in the Council of State had become six after Pei Zunqing’s death. Soon, Cui Ping was appointed as the governor of Hedong Circuit, reducing the number to five. After Cui Ning became the Left Prime Minister, he went to Jianghuai to improve water transport. Additionally, Zhang Gao was appointed as the governor of Longyou Circuit and the chief secretary of the Anxi Military Governorate, becoming the highest administrative official in Anxi. As a result, only four prime ministers remained in the Council of State: Zhang Yun, Wei Tao, Lu Huan, and Wang Jin.
Among these four, Wei Tao and Lu Huan were part of the Wei faction alliance, Wang Jin was a moderate, and Zhang Yun formed his own faction. Thus, the Wei faction clearly held the upper hand in the Council of State. Among the six ministries of the Secretariat, the Wei faction controlled the Ministries of Works, Rites, and War, Zhang Yun controlled the Ministries of Personnel and Revenue, while Wang Jin held control of the Ministry of Punishments.

Although Li Qing’an had once hinted that Zhang Yun could get rid of Wei Tao, in the absence of an emperor and without solid evidence, Zhang Yun simply couldn’t touch Wei Tao. Even if Li Qing’an ascended to the throne, he couldn’t easily replace the prime minister at the beginning of his reign. Throughout history, only after a ruler had firmly established his position could he gradually replace the prime minister according to his own wishes.

So, if Li Qing’an wanted to rebuild the power structure as he saw fit, he had to arrange everything before taking power. Now was the time for him to start reorganizing power. Zhang Yun was a very stable pawn—he wanted to keep him in office for another year or two. Wang Jin was capable and eager for reform, so he also wanted to retain him. Besides these two, Cui Ning, Yan Zhenqing, Pei Min, Liu Yan, and Guo Ziyi were also capable officials he wanted to bring into the government. Thus, Wei Tao and Lu Huan became unnecessary—these two were not only prime ministers but also huge containers into which all ministers who opposed Li Qing’an and those who posed obstacles to his ascension could be packed and dealt with together.

Zhang Yun was still struggling to find an excuse to get rid of Wei Tao, but Li Qing’an had already found one—the sudden appearance of the auspicious omen case was the perfect pretext! Qi Xun sent by Southern Tang was the perfect trap to catch them all. As for the bait, Li Qing’an had already prepared a delicious shrimp—he believed Wei Tao and Lu Huan, those two big fish, would surely compete to swallow it.

…

After returning from Gaoling County, Zhang Bingguo showed no signs of anything unusual. After inspecting the Zhongbai Canal, Zhang Yun decided to expedite the reinforcement and repair of the canals in Guanzhong. As a result, the workload of the Water Management Bureau increased significantly. With half of the officials assigned to improve water transport in Jianghuai, the remaining officials had to work day and night to draft canal repair plans and estimate costs. Zhang Bingguo himself was extremely busy and couldn’t even go home at night; he stayed in the palace.

Despite his busy schedule, Zhang Bingguo was still called by Wei Tao during lunch the next day. Zhang Bingguo was part of Wei Tao’s faction, and because he was in charge of the Water Management Bureau, he became a key target for Wei Tao’s recruitment, gradually becoming a core member of his faction. It was normal for Wei Tao to summon him. The day before yesterday, Zhang Bingguo had accompanied Zhang Yun to Gaoling County without reporting to him first, which made Wei Tao slightly uncomfortable.

Wei Tao’s office was located within the Ministry of Rites in the imperial city. It was spacious and bright. Wei Tao was bent over, writing something. At sixty years old, he still had plenty of energy and sharp mind, and his desire for power had not diminished at all—instead, it grew stronger with age. Just as Zhang Jun wanted to get rid of him, Wei Tao was constantly thinking about how to eliminate Zhang Jun. There could be only one tiger per mountain; they were bitter rivals in the power struggle—one belonging to Wei’s faction, the other to Zhang’s. Almost the entire political landscape of Northern Tang revolved around these two men. In fact, Zhang Jun had many weaknesses. For example, his brother Zhang Jie was currently a member of the Southern Tang’s government council. With this alone, Wei Tao could fabricate evidence of Zhang Jun colluding with Southern Tang to bring him down. Unfortunately, Zhang Jun had the support of Li Qingan, making it difficult to overthrow him. Wei Tao himself entered the government council because Li Qingan wanted to remove Cui Huan at that time. But as his influence grew, he no longer wanted to be controlled by Li Qingan, especially since Li Qingan supported Zhang Jun, which angered him greatly. Li Qingan’s power was too great, making Wei Tao too cautious to openly oppose him. However, not openly opposing him didn’t mean he wasn’t opposed—he carried out a series of covert actions. Some nobles and officials who firmly opposed Li Qingan gradually joined his side, strengthening Wei’s faction. Wei Tao was well aware that if his family wanted to thrive in the long term, there were only two paths: either rely on Li Qingan or strengthen their own strength. Gaining Li Qingan’s favor wasn’t easy. The Wei family had suffered repeated setbacks and no longer had the strength of the Cui and Pei families. He himself was only mediocre, not as capable as people like Yan Zhenqing or Liu Yan. With such figures around, Li Qingan could no longer pay attention to him. The first path was clearly unfeasible, so he had to consider the second—strengthening his own strength and making Wei’s faction a pivotal force in the court. This way, even if Li Qingan ascended to power, he wouldn’t dare act against Wei Tao easily. By then, the Wei family’s members would be spread throughout the Tang government, making it hard to uproot them. With this in mind, Wei Tao neither cooperated nor opposed Li Qingan. Even to appease those in his faction who opposed Li Qingan, such as Li Kaifu, the vice minister of Works, and Miao Jinqing, the vice minister of War, he turned a blind eye despite knowing they were secretly colluding with Southern Tang to oppose Li Qingan. Recently, with the occurrence of the auspicious omen incident, he was well aware of the underlying circumstances. As Wei Tao wrote furiously, his clerk came in to report, “Minister Wei, Left Envoy Zhang is here, waiting outside!”

“Let him in!”
Wei Tao put down his pen. As soon as Li Qing’an returned to Chang’an, Zhang Yun became active, which made Wei Tao wary. Especially the day before yesterday, when Zhang Yun went to Gaoling County to inspect water conservancy projects and took Zhang Bingguo, the Left Minister of Water Affairs, with him, but didn’t bring Li Kaifu, the Deputy Minister of Works—this was highly unusual and filled Wei Tao with suspicion.
Recently, the imperial court had placed great emphasis on water transportation and water conservancy, and the Water Affairs Bureau had begun to receive more attention. Zhang Yun even proposed upgrading it to the third rank. Could it be that he wanted to win over Zhang Bingguo?
A moment later, Zhang Bingguo hurried into the chamber, bowed, and said, “Your humble servant pays respects to Minister Wei!”
Wei Tao laughed and said, “I’m truly sorry for bringing Left Minister Zhang here out of his busy schedule.”
With that, Wei Tao gave a signal to the clerk, who understood and left the room, leaving the two of them alone.
At that moment, Wei Tao’s expression darkened slightly as he asked calmly, “Why didn’t you tell me in advance about your trip to Gaoling County?”
Zhang Bingguo’s heart skipped a beat. He knew Wei Tao was starting to question him, so he quickly replied, “The trip to Gaoling County was very sudden. I had to prepare a lot of documents. I originally planned to tell Minister Wei during lunch, but Prime Minister Zhang moved things up suddenly, and we set off before even having lunch.”
“Hmm!”
Wei Tao nodded. What Zhang Bingguo said seemed true, and he could barely accept it, but there was still one thing he needed to clarify.
“I heard that Zhang Yun met with you alone in the evening. What did you talk about?”
This was what Wei Tao was most worried about. If it was about managing the Zhongbai Canal, the magistrate of Wu County should have gone too, but he didn’t. It was just the two of them. What could Zhang Yun have talked about with him?
Zhang Bingguo quickly replied, “It was mainly about the management of the rivers and canals in Guanzhong and the costs involved. Prime Minister Zhang was reviewing my report but had some doubts, so he called me over.”
“Nothing else besides the canal management?”
Zhang Bingguo hesitated for a moment and said, “Besides the canal management, he also asked about my family situation. He seemed to know quite a lot about it.”
So he really wanted to win over Zhang Bingguo. Wei Tao knew well Zhang Yun’s tactics. If he wanted to win someone over, he would first investigate that person’s family background. If he wasn’t interested in Zhang Bingguo, he wouldn’t care about the Zhang family at all.
Wei Tao stared into Zhang Bingguo’s eyes and slowly asked, “So what did you reply?”
“I said that Minister Wei cared deeply for me and thanked him for his kindness, then I took my leave.”
“Was that really what you said?”
“Yes!” Zhang Bingguo replied without hesitation.

Wei Tao stared at him and nodded after a long while. After pondering for a moment, he said, “Tonight is my grandson’s first birthday. I plan to invite some colleagues I’m close to. I know you’re very busy, but I still hope you can come.”

Wei Tao’s hosting of banquets was a secret known throughout the court—it was actually a gathering of key members of Wei’s faction. By using various excuses to host such events, he kept Wei’s faction firmly under his control. If Zhang Bingguo agreed to come tonight, it meant he hadn’t betrayed him; if he made excuses to avoid it, it meant he had already been swayed by Zhang Yun.

Wei Tao’s gaze was sharp; not the slightest change on Zhang Bingguo’s face escaped him. Seeing a hint of hesitation on Zhang’s face, he immediately grew displeased and said, “What, are you refusing to do me this favor?”

“No! That’s not it,” Zhang Bingguo quickly waved his hands.

“Then what is it?”

After hesitating for a moment, Zhang Bingguo said, “To be honest with you, Minister Wei, my cousin Zhang Bingqian arrived in the capital yesterday to handle some family matters and must return to Changzhou early tomorrow morning. We’ve arranged to have dinner together tonight.”

Zhang Bingqian was the chief official of Changzhou, with considerable experience and ability. Wei Tao had long wanted to win him over. Hearing this, he immediately smiled and said, “That’s fine. Invite Chief Zhang as well. I’ll have my staff issue a formal invitation later.”

Zhang Bingguo sighed inwardly and replied, “Thank you for your kindness, sir. There’s no need for an invitation. My cousin has family matters to attend to and can’t accept one. I’ll just bring him with me tonight.”

“Very well! I’ll be waiting for you both tonight.”

……

As dusk approached, Su Zhen, the deputy governor of Jingzhao, finished reviewing the last few documents and prepared to leave the court and head back to his residence. Just as he stood up to leave, Li Gan, the governor of Jingzhao, walked in slowly with his hands behind his back. “Deputy Governor Su, we might have important matters tonight. Tell everyone not to go home.”

Su Zhen was surprised. Li Gan had been called away by Prime Minister Zhang in the afternoon. Could Prime Minister Zhang have assigned him some task?

Su Zhen and Li Gan had a very good relationship, and Li Gan usually didn’t hide anything from him. Seeing Li Gan look worried, Su Zhen asked carefully, “Sir, what happened?”

Li Gan shook his head and said with a bitter smile, “Tonight, we’re going to arrest Qi Xun, the fake chief judge of the Southern Tang dynasty and the mastermind behind this incident of ominous signs.”

Su Zhen was confused. “Sir, I really don’t understand. This should be the job of the imperial guards or the intelligence department. Why should we go after him?”

“You don’t understand. If we were to do this tonight, the imperial guards and the intelligence department would never get involved. It has to be us, since we’re part of the court’s official bodies.”

Su Zhen was even more confused. He wanted to ask further, but Li Gan waved his hand and said, “Stop asking. There’s not much time left. Go and contact Chang’an County and Wannian County immediately. Order all their officials to mobilize and follow our commands. Gather at the gate of Fuxia Gate in one hour. Hurry up!”
Su Zhen left in confusion, while Li Gan stood with his hands behind his back, staring at the clouds gathering outside. He couldn’t help but sigh deeply, “Alas! Starting tonight, the imperial court will face turbulent times.”