Chapter 47: Arrangements in the Court
"Yes, Mu Jin understands." Zhang Mu Jin nodded.

"Also," Li Heng thought, "write a letter to Grandpa and tell him that my condition has stabilized and I will most likely return to Chang'an, and I also want to marry you."

"Ah?" Zhang Mujin was startled. "I still want to marry you" kept circling in her mind. Her face instantly turned red. She couldn't believe her ears at all. She said in a daze: "Your Highness, are you telling the truth?"

Seeing Zhang Mujin's big reaction, Li Heng smiled and said, "I'm not going to force you to marry me. Don't worry, your grandfather and the others won't agree."

"Why don't you agree?" Zhang Mujin asked anxiously.

Li Heng looked at the sky in front of him and explained, "You and your grandfather both know that I am pretending to be sick. If I return to Chang'an, it means that I am interested in competing for the position of Crown Prince. If I marry you, it means that I want to win over the Zhang family through marriage. But your Zhang family, headed by Prime Minister Zhang Jiuling, all support the eldest son to be crown prince, and have some complaints about my mother, so they don't want me to return to Chang'an to compete for the position of Crown Prince."

Hearing Li Ying's explanation, Zhang Mujin's eyes flashed with disappointment. She looked at Li Ying's handsome profile and said, "But if His Highness insists on coming back, insists on... marrying Mujin, my grandfather and the others can't stop him."

"If I really want to do this, this letter would not be written by you. I asked you to write it so that your grandfather and his family would understand that this is not my intention." Li Heng said, sighing, "I have gone through so much trouble to travel here, just because I don't want to get involved in the struggle for succession and cause trouble within the Tang Dynasty. This is good for me, your Zhang family, and the Tang Dynasty. So I asked you to write this letter because I want your grandfather and his family to help me."

Li Ying asked Zhang Mujin to write this letter, which was actually equivalent to negotiating with Zhang Jiuling.

Although Zhang Jiuling has been dismissed from his position as vice-chancellor, he is still the prime minister and in charge of military affairs. His words still carry a lot of weight in front of Li Longji.

Because he didn't want Li Heng to return to Beijing to compete for the position of crown prince, Zhang Jiuling certainly wanted Li Heng to stay outside for a long time.

So how do you stay outside for a long time?
Naturally, it was the governor of a town.

As long as he became a Jiedushi, Li Heng had to guard the border.

Compared with the position of crown prince, a military governor is just a drop in the bucket. Except for Li Heng himself, anyone would think that Li Heng had made a huge loss.

Therefore, Li Heng believed that as long as Zhang Mujin sent this letter, Zhang Jiuling would definitely recommend him to be the governor at the right time.

As for the other two prime ministers, one of them is Pei Yaoqing, whose greatest achievement in recent years was river engineering. But now his river engineering is a mess. Li Longji has lost confidence in him, and his words do not carry much weight.

The second of them is Li Linfu. Apart from fawning and speaking sweet words with a treacherous heart, he also did a good job in tackling the problem of redundant officials in recent years, which really saved Li Longji a lot of money. This was also an important reason why he was able to climb up quickly.

But after all, his ascension to the throne was due to the contribution of Concubine Wu Huifei, and now Concubine Wu Huifei is still in the limelight. As long as Concubine Wu Huifei agrees to let Li Heng be the governor, he will naturally support her.

Among the three prime ministers, except Pei Yaoqing, whose words carried little weight, Zhang Jiuling and Li Linfu would all support him, so that he would have some foundation in the court.

Zhang Mujin never thought that Li Ying was so thoughtful. She thought that Li Ying was wronged for the sake of "father's kindness and son's filial piety, brother's friendship and brother's respect", and said with emotion: "Your Highness is kind-hearted, and Mujin deeply admires you."

Li Heng said, "This is what I should do, but if I stay outside, you will have to stay with me for a while longer. I'm sorry to bother you."

"No grievance." Zhang Mujin immediately shook her head, "Mujin is willing to follow His Highness."

"Okay." Li Ying smiled and patted Zhang Mujin's shoulder. "If you like a boy in the future, tell me and I'll make the decision for you."

Zhang Mujin glanced at Li Ying, lowered her head, and said, "Mujin thanks your Highness."

"Okay, go and play." Li Ying lay down on the grass and said to Zhang Mujin.

"Yes." Zhang Mujin bowed to Li Heng, then walked away with her head down and a heavy heart.

Li Ying didn't notice Zhang Mujin's expression. He looked at the sky and thought about something.

Now that the preparations for the court were complete, he could set out for Anxi after waiting for Li Longji to appoint Gao Xianzhi and Feng Changqing. While waiting, he could relax.

As Li Heng was thinking, Yang Yuhuan came to his side and sat down.

Yang Yuhuan paused for a moment and whispered to Li Heng, "My dear, what did you say to Mu Jin? She seemed to be worried."

"Are you worried?" Li Ying was only concerned about whether Zhang Mujin was obedient and didn't notice her emotions. He immediately told Yang Yuhuan that he had asked her to pass a message to Doctor Zhang and asked, "I'm not forcing her to marry him. This shouldn't be a big deal. Is she just missing home too much?"

Yang Yuhuan was very perceptive and had already heard something. She smiled and said, "Maybe. It's okay. I'll go and comfort her later."

"Okay, thank you for your hard work." Li Ying turned his head and smiled at Yang Yuhuan.

"It's my duty." Yang Yuhuan also smiled.

It has to be said that since Yang Yuhuan found out that Li Heng was pretending to be sick for other purposes, she has been acting more and more like the mistress of the house.

She had already guessed Zhang Mujin's emotions about this matter, but she did not tell Li Heng because she knew that now was not the time to talk about this.

Given Li Heng's current situation, there are power struggles in the court above him and conflicts among local generals and officials below him. If he pretends to be sick, there is also the risk of being charged with deceiving the emperor at any time. Li Heng is now extremely worried.

Zhang Mujin, as a spy for the prince's party, can be close to Li Ying, but it is not yet time to marry her.

Because if Li Ying married Zhang Mujin, the prince would definitely take new actions, which would not only target Li Ying, but also Doctor Zhang.

If the time comes and the situation becomes urgent, Doctor Zhang will most likely not be able to withstand the pressure and reveal that Li Heng was faking illness.

So Yang Yuhuan chose not to tell Li Heng, so that Li Heng would worry less, and she went to calm Zhang Mujin's emotions first.

As for whether Li Ying will marry Zhang Mujin in the future, Li Ying has no other thoughts now and dotes on her very much, so he will consider it later.

And now, even putting aside emotions, Li Heng and her interests are the same.

Li Ying didn't know what Yang Yuhuan was thinking, so he turned to ask Yang Yuhuan: "What about you, do you miss home?"

Yang Yuhuan smiled and said, "Wherever my husband is, that is my home."

Hearing this, Li Heng sat up, took Yang Yuhuan's hand, and said, "It's the same for me. Wherever you are, that's where my home is."

"Yeah." Yang Yuhuan buried her head in Li Heng's chest.

At this time, the sound of horse hooves was heard, and Gao Xianzhi and Feng Changqing rode over on horseback.

Yang Yuhuan had no choice but to let go of Li Heng and stood up.

Gao Xianzhi and Feng Changqing came to Li Ying and Yang Yuhuan, dismounted, and saluted happily, saying, "Greetings, Your Highness, Princess."

Li Heng asked, "Why are the two generals so happy?"

(End of this chapter)