The incident of the Cui family of Boling was soon exposed. Several important members of the family lost their positions and their property was confiscated and they were executed. Although they were seriously injured, the Cui family of Boling still retained their status and still had a place among the major families. Of course, they no longer had the same glory as before.
Although the other major families were not affected by this incident, they were also frightened by Li Shimin's swift and decisive action. That night, the major families were still in contact with each other. If Li Shimin really wanted to uproot the Cui family of Boling, once the Cui family of Boling asked them for help, the major families were still discussing how to provide assistance.
But now, several days have passed, and the Cui family of Boling has not asked them for help. They have to face this problem all by themselves. Although they have lost several important positions in the court, at least most of the family has been saved. Of course, how much they have lost privately, probably only the head of the Cui family of Boling knows.
Qinzheng Hall.
"This brat is actually capable of getting things done. Following his plan, we were able to easily obtain one-third of the Bo Ling Cui family's assets without causing any disturbance. This is truly remarkable. Of course, Xuanling, you also deserve the most credit."
Li Shimin said very happily. There was no one else here except Fang Xuanling, so Li Shimin spoke casually. The matter that day was very tricky. Li Shimin didn't know what to do. Some royal family members also didn't know what the next steps would be. Unexpectedly, Li Xiang resolved it with just a few words.
"I'm just doing my job. All the methods were thought up by His Royal Highness. In fact, His Royal Highness is indeed better than some elders in understanding people's hearts. The Cui family of Boling doesn't want to sacrifice their entire family because of these people. As long as they still have the desire to survive, they must agree to the terms proposed by the court."
Among all the civil and military officials in the court, there were few people Fang Xuanling admired, but now there was one more person, Li Xiang.
The five surnames and seven clans are closely related and deeply rooted in the Tang Empire. Any change in their influence would have a huge impact on the entire body. Without long-term planning, it would be impossible to cut flesh from them. However, since Li Xiang's rise to the present, in just a short period of time, almost all the major families have fallen at his hands. This time, Li Xiang was able to take down the Cui family of Boling, and he had to take at least half of the credit for that.
"That brat still needs experience. You can't praise him to the skies. After this is over, let's stop for now. The major families have been quite vigilant lately. If we continue to push hard against them, it might backfire. Let them lick their wounds for a while, and we can strike again next spring."
Li Shimin squinted his eyes and said that he had suffered too much at the hands of the major families over the years. When he ascended the throne, the major families did not show enough submission, which made Li Shimin, who was very proud, feel ashamed. Now he finally found an opportunity to take revenge on you, and Li Shimin would never let it go.
"Your Majesty is right. Even if we don't take action now, they are not united. Previously, the Qinghe Cui family was the first to withdraw from the salt issue, which caused a huge rift within the group. Now the Boling Cui family hasn't asked for help from other families. They are all speculating about what agreement we have reached with them. Now they are full of suspicion and mutual distrust. Nothing will be accomplished."
Fang Xuanling also sent people to collect enough information. The five surnames and seven families used to advance and retreat together, but now after Li Xiang's series of attacks, the internal rifts are huge. The major families do not trust each other, but they have no way to disclose these contents. For example, the Qinghe Cui family, although they are the largest family, on the surface Li Xiang cannot hold them, but Li Xiang has held them. Not only the major families are speculating, but Li Shimin is also speculating about what is going on.
Compared with other aristocratic families, the Qinghe Cui family is even more different. They have almost no weaknesses in all aspects, so if you want to deal with them, it will be several times more difficult than other families. But Li Xiang just asked Mr. Cui San to go out of the city, and the matter was accomplished.
"Is there any news about that matter? What exactly were they discussing outside the city?"
Li Shimin was still confused. Although he could understand the situation by calling Li Xiang, it would be extremely embarrassing for a grandfather, especially an emperor, to not understand such a small matter in front of his grandson. So Li Shimin could only suppress his curiosity and let his men conduct an investigation.
Fang Xuanling has been very attentive in this matter. Although Li Xiang's money house was very heavily guarded, Fang Xuanling's men also entered it during several crisis events. Apart from slaves and food, they did not see anything useful inside. In fact, the biggest secret was the food, but Fang Xuanling's men's observation point was not there. If they had taken a few more glances, they would have known that the food in the fields was different.
The wheat fields at Li Xiang's place were several times denser than those outside, but the spies didn't even bother to take a second look. In their opinion, how could those things make the Qinghe Cui family change their minds? Li Xiang must have something more powerful.
So it’s not that these people’s investigation abilities are poor, but that they took the wrong path from the beginning. When you take the wrong path, no matter how you want to investigate, you will not be able to get real results in the end, so you can only go further and further on the wrong path.
Seeing Fang Xuanling shaking his head, Li Shimin also sighed. This grandson really had too many secrets. Some secrets could be solved by tracking him, but some secrets would only leave a bunch of question marks in the end even if he was followed all day long.
"The auxiliary machine has been on leave for the past two days."
Fang Xuanling looked at Changsun Wuji's position. There was no rush to find out the secret of Li Xiang now. We could wait until later if we couldn't find out the secret for the time being. But one thing was imminent.
Two groups of messengers had already arrived from Tubo. Because a large number of Tubo's accompanying personnel had been captured, the Tubo King Songtsen Gampo was worried about Lu Dongzan's safety and asked him to return to Tubo as soon as possible. However, this guy was devoted to Zhangsun Pingting and had no intention of leaving. So the Tubo King could only write letter after letter to Li Shimin...
