Established a millennium family since King Wu defeated Zhou

Chapter 950 The Prince’s Dark Cloud
Li Zhi felt that he was under a lot of pressure.

Because his father was like an insurmountable mountain, pressing on his head and making him breathless.

Among the temple names, there is a top temple name, that is Gaozong, but this temple name has an implicit meaning, that is, from prosperity to decline.

From the time Li Zhi ascended the throne, he had to face a problem, that is, his father Li Shimin had already done most of what he could do, and reached the top of the king in both civil and military skills.

Although he had always wanted to surpass his father, in fact, he knew deep down that it was basically impossible. All the territories that could be opened up had been opened up, and the internal affairs were almost tidy. The Tang Dynasty had reached its peak.

After Datang reached its peak, no matter how it went, it was all downhill.

It is difficult for him to maintain the current empire, but as long as there is the slightest mistake, it is his fault, so he lives in trepidation, looking forward and backward in doing things, for fear that if he is not careful, he will become the murderer of the peak Tang Dynasty.

After regaining the imperial power, he was unwilling to go to war and provoke internal disputes. For this reason, since Wu Zhao was so capable, let her do it. After all, the emperor of the Tang Dynasty was Li Zhi. The Tang Dynasty was his country.

Under this situation, Li Zhi focused all his energy on cultivating the prince Li Hong. Except for military and state affairs, he would listen to Wu Zhao. For the rest, he had basically delegated all power to Wu Zhao, the center of the empire. It has become their sleeping quarters, and major national affairs are basically decided in the chat between the couple.

With no one strongly restraining her, Wu Zhao has demonstrated excellent internal affairs abilities. She has excellent control over the balance of the court and is also very good at employing and recognizing people.

Li Hong's opposition to Wu Zhao's policy was largely influenced by Li Xian. Li Zhi's sons and daughters, who married princesses, were naturally from well-known aristocrats, so they were naturally greatly influenced in this regard.

As you grow up, you will feel that in a family, only one man can have the final say, that is, the head of the family. Usually, the head of the family is an elder like the father, but if the son quickly Growing up and surpassing the father in terms of financial resources and power will cause family conflicts, unless the father is willing to give up his power to have the final say at home.

Wu Zhao did not forget why she was appreciated by the national master Luo Su in the first place, so after she took control of the power, she immediately began to implement the big plan she had set long ago.

One of the more embarrassing things is that Li Zhi wanted to select some of the Luo family's sons for Li Hong to enter the East Palace, but in the end this matter was messed up by Wu Zhao. This actually meant that the Luo family was unwilling to enter Li Hong's East Palace.

If Li Hong is simply ill, Luo Shi can still treat it, but genetic diseases cannot be cured at all, and there are no specific drugs like antibiotics. Even in modern times, many diseases cannot be cured even if they know what they are. Not to mention the Tang Dynasty.

Husband and wife are one body, never heard of father and son being one body.

In the East Palace, Li Hong felt great pressure. Wu Zhao was a strict mother in the absolute sense, and was very strict with her children, especially Li Hong and Li Xian. She felt that these two sons were in harmony with each other. Her horoscopes are different, but her concepts are very different.

In the current Tang Dynasty, to put it bluntly, Wu Zhao is already the best among the Li family.

After the incident in Qi State, she sent the court to take over the mess in Qi State. On the other hand, she took advantage of this opportunity and quickly promoted a group of young and promising officials, all of whom were selected from the imperial examination. Among them The number of people from poor families has reached half, so she is deliberately belittling wealthy families and promoting ordinary people from poor families.

For Luo, investing in Li Hong is worse than investing in Li Xian, and investing in Li Xian is better than letting Wu Zhao maintain the status quo.

Regarding Wu Zhao's power, the only person who may have an impact now is the crown prince Li Hong. When Wu Zhao holds power, it is actually Li Zhi who transfers the power to her. If Li Zhi is willing to break up, Wu Zhao's power will lose.

Fang Xuanling followed Li Shimin before Du Ruhui, but in the end he came to the upper hand, not because he was from the Du family in Jingzhao, which was a wealthy and prestigious family.

And who dares to say that he will definitely be better than Wu Zhao?

Because the Luo family could not forget the prince who everyone thought was the most stable, Li Chengqian. The Luo family had already laid out a plan in the East Palace. As a result, Li Chengqian left the Qin Kingdom and cleared the country. Now Li Hong's sick body, It makes people feel uneasy just by looking at it.

Moreover, because of Luo Junwei's relationship, Wu Zhao treated the Luo family as a clan member and a relative, which just made up for her lack of strong clan support, and the two sides complemented each other perfectly.

Li Zhi once had the idea of ​​directly giving the Zen position to Li Hong and becoming the Supreme Emperor himself, but in the end this idea was canceled. After all, although Wu Zhao is in charge of national affairs now, he still has power after all. If he becomes the Supreme Emperor, The minister might really turn around and go to Li Hong.

In an empire, only the power of the king is inherent.

Emperor Xiaohui of the Han Dynasty was like this at the beginning, and Lu Pheasant was also a strict mother, but at that time King Luo Wen Luo Xin was mediating among them, so the situation of Emperor Xiaohui Liu Ying of the Han Dynasty was pretty good later, but Li Hong and Li Xian did not have this kind of situation. people.

In Wu Zhao's view, since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, the group of prime ministers has been too pure. They are either Lao Guanlong who followed Li Yuan, or they are big nobles like Xiao Yu, and there are only a few humble people like Fang Xuanling and Wei Zheng. He is from an official family and has a relatively low status.

The same is true in an empire. There is only one core of power. Li Zhi listed many ministers as Li Hong's East Palace vassals. This is very dangerous. Once Li Hong gets the title, Li Zhi will work from top to bottom. of losing power.

As for Li Hong and Li Xian, both have powerful clans and maternal clans, as well as wife clans and a large number of noble groups available, so there will naturally be less to give to the Luo family.

Now that the Luo family is about to become more prominent than when Li Shimin was, Luo Su is even a little worried about whether there will be any problems if the Luo family's status is too high.

The surrounding situation of the Tang Dynasty is quite complicated, and the complexity of the center is even more difficult to understand. Under such circumstances, a sudden news detonated a spark in the hearts of the conspirators - the sudden death of Prince Li Hong. The sudden death of the imperial prince almost instantly detonated the entire political arena of the Tang Dynasty. Li Zhi was very sad. The prince he had trained for so many years actually let him give away the white-haired man to the black-haired man.

Although this was originally a very sad thing, many people were actually prepared for it. After all, Li Hong's health was really bad, but things soon changed.

There are rumors in Luoyang!
Rumors firmly claimed that Wu Zhao killed Prince Li Hong, and this rumor spread throughout Luoyang almost overnight. It has not stopped yet. This rumor spread too fast to all directions.

Everyone, whether it was Li Zhi, Wu Zhao, or the prime ministers, knew almost immediately that someone must be behind this. This was another round of anti-military action. It was not clear who was behind it. The purpose is not clear. After all, in this situation, there are too many people who want to surrender.

The old nobles of Guanlong who were thrown into Chang'an by Wu Zhao, and the Shandong and Jiangnan gentry who were suppressed by Wu Zhao may all be the driving forces behind this. This may not even be a group of people who did this.

Li Zhi's outstanding talent in power struggle immediately realized the existence of the crisis. He only thought for a moment and decisively stood on Wu Zhao's side. At the court meeting, he announced to everyone: "The prince has been in poor health since he was a child." It’s not good. Now I have finally returned to the embrace of the emperor. I and the Queen are very sad. There are some rumors now. I know it, but they are just snooping by snakes and rats. The Queen is by my side for the prince’s sake. I have witnessed the grief of passing away with my own eyes, and I and the Queen of Heaven have decided to posthumously make Hong'er the emperor as a memorial to him."

Li Zhi believed that Wu Zhao did not do it, because his cousin Luo Junwei had no conflict with his queen. It was absolutely impossible for Luo Junwei to agree to Wu Zhao doing such a thing.

But it doesn’t matter who killed him. What’s important is that this incident foreshadows political danger, which will implicate him as the emperor. Wu Zhao has been silent during this incident. She is naturally ready to face the storm. She had prepared and countermeasures, but Li Zhi's sudden appearance and tacit understanding prevented her from charging into battle. After Li Zhi handled the matter, Wu Zhao proposed to make Li Xian the crown prince, and Li Zhi agreed. In the court, it is the end.

After the center of the empire was over, Wu Zhao sent ambassadors from various countries to inform them of Li Hong's death, his posthumous title, and the canonization of Li Xian's crown prince. People with ulterior motives should restrain themselves.

The death of Li Hong has cast a shadow over many people. This is already the fourth prince in the Tang Dynasty who failed to become the emperor. Li Jiancheng, Li Chengqian, Li Zhong, and Li Hong are the princes of the Tang Dynasty. It's like it's poisonous. Whoever comes will get into trouble. If Li Chengqian hadn't had Luo Xuanye to protect him, something would have happened by now.

Will King Yong Li Xian, who is now the crown prince, have a good outcome?
Many people are thinking this, especially since Li Xian has always been known to be opposed to his mother, which makes people even more nervous. What if Li Xian is really that kind of perfect king template.

But Li Xian is not. He loves to have fun and has a somewhat stubborn temper. In political struggles, such a person who is not careful can easily get into trouble.

And many people know that Li Xian is Wu Zhao's least favorite son. This dislike did not start from the beginning, but started from a rumor. This rumor has actually been circulating in the palace, that is Li Xian is not Wu Zhao's son.

As we all know, Emperor Li Zhi and Queen Wu Zhao were very loving and had four sons, the eldest son Li Hong, the second son Li Xian, the third son Li Zhe (Xian), and the fourth son Li Dan.

Among them, Li Hong is three or four years older than Li Xian on the surface, but in fact, due to the month issue, the two were born only two years apart. This seems to be no problem, but here is the problem.

Between the two of them, Wu Zhao and Li Zhi had another child, Princess Anding. In the past two years, they gave birth to Princess Anding and Li Xian one after another. This is the reason for the rumors.

Rumors stop at the wise, but Li Xian did his own calculations, and he also had this suspicion, that is, he might not really be Wu Zhao's child, but the child of Wu Zhao's sister who was in the palace.

Once the seeds of suspicion are planted, no matter what the truth is, it is no longer important. Even if Luo Junwei told Li Xian with the daily living notes in the harem, he would not believe it.

Once it was confirmed that he was not Wu Zhao's biological child, all of Wu Zhao's motives had suitable reasons for Li Xian. It was because he was not his biological child that Wu Zhao treated him harshly.

As for Wu Zhao, she was going crazy. Any woman whose son suspected that she was not her biological child would probably not be able to hold back.

What's more, Wu Zhao gave birth to Princess An Ding and Li Xian in succession. They had a narrow escape from death. The wear and tear on the body can be imagined. In the end, the son who paid such a heavy price actually disowned himself. Simply describing it as cold-hearted is probably no longer enough. , even Luo Junwei thought this was outrageous.

Spreading rumors and refuting them is a waste of time, and it may not be useful. In many things, under the influence of the political situation, the truth is not important at all. Li Xian and Wu Zhao stand in different political camps, even if they are biological father and son brothers, That's impossible to be good. Even enemies who are in the same camp can temporarily cooperate.

Li Xian allowed these rumors to ferment without trying to refute them, which was also a statement to those around him that he and Wu Zhao had indeed drawn a clear line and that he would not retreat from this political charge.

"What should I do?"

Wu Zhao threw the question to Luo Junwei. Her tone was as calm as a storm. Luo Junwei knew her too well and knew that what she asked was not at all how to deal with Li Xian's attack next. For Wu Zhao Li Xian was too young. Over the years, Wu Zhao had gone through many struggles and almost never made any mistakes.

Wu Zhao never thought that she would lose. Now she wanted to ask Luo Junwei how to deal with Li Xian in the future. Luo Junwei pondered for a moment, "Qi King Li Tai passed away, and the great cause of conquering the Penglai Islands collapsed halfway. I The Heavenly Army of the Tang Dynasty arrived in time and managed to save Abbot Island.

Xue Rengui, the general manager of Qi's national road march, wrote a letter saying that the new King of Qi was not very good and could not take on the important task of pioneering.

Since Prince Li Xian is so energetic and capable, let's send him to Qi State. With Fangzhang Island as Qi State and Penglai Island and Yingzhou Island assigned to the prince, it will be enough for him to torment for the rest of his life. "

Wu Zhao was silent for a moment after hearing this and said: "It is enough to give Penglai Island to him. If he can conquer Penglai in his lifetime, it will be regarded as not dishonoring my name."

In a few words, Wu Zhao had already arranged the future for Li Xian.

(End of this chapter)