In Princess Taiping's mansion, Zhang Changzong, wearing a golden crown and a bright robe, walked past Gao Jian with a strong scent.

He applied a thin layer of beard powder on his face, his lips were bright red, and his long eyebrows were extremely fine, making him look white and red in his face, and his romantic and elegant.

He quickly glanced at Gao Jian from the corner of his eyes, snorted coldly, and without saying hello, he raised his head and left.

Gao Jian looked at him walking away with a gloomy face. Since Princess Taiping began to favor Zhang Changzong, she has left him behind and hanged with this demonic man day and night.

Although Gao Jian comforted himself, it was a relief for him, he couldn't help but feel jealous when Princess Taiping thought of him.

He spat hard at Zhang Changzong's back, and quickly walked towards Princess Taiping's study.

When I walked to the study, I heard Princess Taiping’s anger coming from the room, "Do you think it is my responsibility? You obviously believed that the bastard and sent everyone to White Horse Temple, but you got nothing. You are incompetent and useless. Get out of here!"

Immediately afterwards, Wan Guojun retreated from the room with annoyance and cursed quietly. Gao Jian quickly pulled him aside and asked in a low voice: "What happened?"

Wan Guojun said indignantly: "The princess believed Cui Shaoying's information and sent me to Baima Temple to monitor Li Zhen. As a result, Li Zhen did not go to Baima Temple at all. He appeared in the palace again yesterday. The princess was angry and said it was my responsibility."

Gao Jian smiled and patted his shoulder, "When subordinates should be aware of taking the blame for their superiors at any time. If you are unwilling to take responsibility, will the princess take responsibility?"

"With that being said, she didn't listen to my explanation at all."

"What do you want to explain? Why don't you tell me and I'll tell you for you."

Wan Guojun also knew that Gao Jian was the military advisor of Princess Taiping. Princess Taiping often listened to his advice. Wan Guojun thought about it and said to him: "Cui Shaoying's information may not be wrong. He said that Li Zhen sent more than 20 people to dress up as a monk into the White Horse Temple. This did not conflict with him appearing in the palace. I think the princess has been a little impatient recently and was led by Shangguan Wan'er."

As soon as he finished speaking, he heard Princess Taiping yelling in the room: "Why haven't Gao Jian come yet? Go and urge him!"

Wan Guojun and Gao Jian looked at each other, and they shook their heads at the same time. Gao Jian turned around and walked towards the study.

In the room, Princess Taiping was walking back and forth with her hands behind her back, feeling upset inside. Although her mother hinted that she could do her best in Xue Huaiyi's affairs, she suffered repeated setbacks these days.

First, Zhou Ju impeached Xue Huaiyi and was unjustly unacceptable to her mother. Then yesterday, Xue Huaiyi was drunk and mad in the palace and was beaten and kicked out of the palace.

What Princess Taiping couldn't accept was that Shangguan Wan'er and Li Zhen also appeared there strangely, and in the end, Li Zhen subdued Xue Huaiyi. Princess Taiping thought this was not a coincidence.

But even if it was a coincidence, it made her feel extremely sad. She was like a headless fly, unable to find her target, and could not use any strength in Xue Huaiyi's affairs.

Of course, she would not think it was her own responsibility, but would put all the responsibility on top of the incompetence of her subordinates. Zhou Ju and Wan Guojun were both incompetent people.

At this time, Gao Jian walked into the room silently, standing there watching Princess Taiping, as if waiting for her to calm down. Princess Taiping turned around and said angrily: "What are you doing when you stand there like a ghost?"

"If you are going to quarrel with me, I won't be with you."

"you--"

Princess Taiping glared at him fiercely, had to sit down angrily, and asked angrily: "What are you doing recently?"

"I am studying hard and preparing for the imperial examination at the end of the month." Gao Jian said calmly.

Princess Taiping remembered the madness she had with Zhang Changzong these days. She felt a little guilty towards Gao Jian. Her tone softened again, "I'm very upset recently and I'm in a bad mood. I want to ask you to help me."

Seeing that she finally calmed down, Gao Jian slowly said: "Actually, the direction of Your Highness is not wrong. White Horse Temple is the foundation of Xue Huaiyi. If he wants to do anything rude, he cannot do without White Horse Temple. The decision to monitor White Horse Temple is completely correct. In addition, I think Your Highness doesn't know the Lord's heart very well."

"I don't understand my mother's heart?" Princess Taiping frowned. It was ridiculous that an outsider said that she didn't understand her mother's heart.

"Your Highness, the Supreme Lord hates Xue Huaiyi's misconduct very much and can no longer tolerate him. But have you ever thought about it? Xue Huaiyi is just a male concubine, with no power in the court, and there are not many people in the army to support him. It is easy for the Supreme Lord to get rid of him, and a few guards can do it. There is no need to make a big move. If she really wanted to get rid of Xue Huaiyi, she would have taken action long ago. Why didn't she take action?"

Princess Taiping fell into deep thought. She remembered that Xue Huaiyi had caused trouble yesterday after drinking and killed people in the palace with a sword. With this, Xue Huaiyi was still dead, but her mother still did not kill him. She just beat him hard and drove him out of the palace. This was enough to show that her mother did not have the intention to kill him.

"You mean...mother hasn't made up her mind yet?"

Gao Jian nodded, "Your Highness the Princess, why not ask how Shangguan Wan'er persuaded the emperor?"

Without asking, Princess Taiping knew very well that the woman actually begged for Xue Huaiyi and said that he was going crazy by drinking. Of course, this was just an attitude, but it also showed that the woman caught her mother's conflicted psychology.

Princess Taiping finally sighed. She had to admit that Gao Jian was right. She did not understand her mother's heart and made the mistake of asking Zhou Ju to impeach Xue Huaiyi.

"Then what should I do?" Princess Taiping asked Gao Jian for advice as if she admitted her mistake.

"Your Highness first needs to calm down. Don't rush to think about how to defeat Shangguan Wan'er. You should focus on the long term. Shangguan Wan'er has been planning to defeat Xue Huaiyi for a long time. From the Shen Nanmi incident, I advise the princess to retreat and build a net instead of fighting with Shangguan Wan'er on Xue Huaiyi's affairs, and prepare for the next battlefield."

"Who are you talking about?" Princess Taiping asked with bright eyes staring at him.

Gao Jian laughed meaningfully, "The cunning rabbit dies, the lackey is cooked, Who do your princess think I'm talking about?"

Princess Taiping nodded slowly, she knew who Gao Jian was talking about.

.........

As the saying goes, "The cunning rabbit has three holes." Although Xue Huaiyi is not a cunning rabbit, he at least has the instinct to protect himself. In addition to the White Horse Temple and Yaoguang Hall, there is also a large mansion covering an area of ​​more than 100 acres in Guandefang, Luoyang. There are countless servants and countless wealth.

Xue Huaiyi was beaten with dozens of sticks and lost seven lives. He was dying and was carried back to the mansion in Guandefang by his monks. Several doctors treated him overnight, and his injuries gradually stabilized.

This violent beating also interrupted Xue Huaiyi's last glimmer of hope for Wu Zetian. He remembered that when Li Zhen threw herself down, the emperor did not stop her. If it were in the past, she would never tolerate anyone being rude to her, but yesterday she looked at Li Zhen ruthlessly humiliating her.

Xue Huaiyi was so angry that he gritted his teeth. Since that old beggar was unkind, don’t blame him for being unrighteous.

Xue Huaiyi was lying on the sickbed and thinking a lot. At this time, a maid reported at the door: "Report to the Grand Chief Manager, Master Jingguang is asking for a meeting!"

Master Jingguang is Hanoi Lao Ni. She claims to be Jingguang Tathagata, who can predict the future and becomes Xue Huaiyi's right-hand man with Wei Shifang. Xue Huaiyi is interested in Wei Shifang's ability to make money, and he is interested in Hanoi Lao Ni because she has tens of thousands of believers.

Xue Huaiyi is now in a mess. He doesn't want to meet guests, but he is also about to send someone to find Hanoi Old Ni. She is just right, so Xue Huaiyi instructs the maid and said, "Pull a curtain for me and invite her in!"

Soon, Hanoi Old Ni walked into the ward. Xue Huaiyi had already pulled a curtain so that she could not see Xue Huaiyi's injury. She clasped her hands and bowed: "Amitabha, see the general!"

"I'm not a general now, sit down!" Xue Huaiyi said a little impatiently.

Hanoi Old Ni sat cross-legged, and she said anxiously: "General, the Dharma Assembly is not very satisfactory! He only received less than a thousand guan of donations."

"Didn't it mean that Dali Temple came to investigate some cases and affected the Dharma Assembly?"

"The Dali Temple came to investigate the case and did not affect the Dharma Assembly. We hosted it very well, and they did not make things too difficult, mainly because the believers refused to donate money."

Xue Huaiyi understood what she meant. She just came to ask herself for money. He said a little displeased: "The money in the underground palace is enough for you to support it for a while, use that first!"

"That money... is actually not much, it can only be supported for one month at most."

"One month is enough!"

Xue Huaiyi didn't want to talk about these trivial matters anymore, and asked in a stressful tone: "How many believers are you able to mobilize now?"

"Probably... more than 10,000 people!"

"There are only more than 10,000 people. Didn't you say there are 40,000 or 50,000 believers?" Xue Huaiyi asked in annoyance.

"The main reason is that it has been too long and the New Year is coming again. Many believers have gone home for the New Year, so—"

Hanoi Lao Ni explained guiltily, but in fact, she falsely reported the number of believers in order to deceive Xue Huaiyi's money. How could she have so many believers follow her? In fact, there are not even more than 10,000 people now, only two or three thousand people live near Luoyang, and she dare not tell the truth.

Fortunately, there was an end of the year, which made her find an excuse. Despite this, she was extremely guilty, fearing that Xue Huaiyi would see through her scam.

"Only more than 10,000 people!"

Xue Huaiyi murmured to himself. It took him a while before he said to Hanoi Old Ni, "There is not much time left. You will go and call the believers today and wait for my orders."

But Hanoi Old Ni was quickly thinking about how to take away the money from the underground palace. She asked carefully: "When will the General plan to act?"

"What's the hurry! I'm so seriously injured, what can I do?"

Xue Huaiyi scolded her impatiently, and then felt a little out of control. Now he was still using people and could not turn against her. Xue Huaiyi comforted her again and said, "Don't worry! When the big thing is done, I will not treat you badly, so that you and your disciples can all enjoy the glory and wealth."

Hanoi Old Ni knelt down and kowtowed, excitedly saying, "Thank you for your care, I'll set off tonight!"

.........

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Chapter completed!