Established a millennium family since King Wu defeated Zhou

Chapter 967: Final Death
Outside the capital city of God, the messenger came on horseback at a rapid speed, raising clouds of dust.

Following the messenger was a large delegation from the Yan State in Mobei.

The envoys all wore white, and anyone with a discerning eye could tell that they were in mourning.

It is obvious who the deceased is, as so many people have troubled to bring the funeral to the capital.

Naturally, it was the super-class prince, Prince Yan.

The first rank officials in the Tang Dynasty were the Three Dukes, and originally the Three Masters were also the first rank officials.

But there were too many first-rank officials in the Tang Dynasty. The three masters, three dukes, princes and princesses were all first-rank officials, and their statuses were different.

After the emergence of the six great princes, it became difficult to define these six princes who were chosen by Emperor Taizong to inherit the title forever and who ranked above ordinary princes.

So Wu Zetian promoted the three masters, the six princes and Li Zhijia's Prince of Wei to the rank of super first rank, which was commonly referred to as super rank.

The King of Yan died.

No.

The word "hong" should be used.

This was quite shocking news. To the common people, the Prince of Yan, who was thousands of miles away from Luoyang, was just a nobleman they had heard of when they were young. But to the imperial court, it was equivalent to removing a threat.

The powerful Yan State put too much pressure on the imperial court.

Now that Prince Yan is dead, the pressure on the court can be relieved by three points.

The Lifanyuan was the first to learn the news. The Lifanyuan commander immediately packed up his things and brought the chief envoy of the delegation into the palace.

The envoys of Yan State not only sent letters to the sacred capital Luoyang, but also to Qin State, Qi State, Wei State and other countries.

Although each country had different thoughts in their minds and had different attitudes towards the imperial court, for example, Wei was more loyal to the imperial court than other countries.

In the Qin State, Li Chengqian did not expect that Li Ke would die before him.

When he received the news, he was a little confused and even said something quite nonsensical in front of all the ministers, "I am the eldest son of my father, and I have had poor health since I was a child. How come I am still alive and well, while my younger brothers have died one by one?"

These words made the ministers laugh and cry.

But when you think about it carefully, what Li Chengqian said is really true. Because of the genetic disease, almost none of the Li family lived past the age of 60. Most of them died in their 50s, and many of them suffered deeply from illness.

But after Li Chengqian was enfeoffed from Chang'an, although he still fell ill sometimes, his life was never in danger. He is now already very old, and he has outlived all his younger brothers, which is almost unique in the Li royal family.

Seeing that all the ministers just smiled bitterly but didn't say anything, Li Chengqian knew that what he said was a bit off.

He looked from top to bottom. The people who had followed him out at the beginning had basically died long ago. Even their sons either had gray hair on their temples or their grandsons were standing here, inheriting their positions.

He suddenly felt bleak.

He waved his hand weakly and asked the ministers to leave.

The death of one person always leads to the death of a group of people. It has been like this since ancient times.

Li Chengqian was not particularly touched by Li Ke's death, but Luo Juncheng's sudden coma made him tremble with fear.

Is there anyone in this world who is more important to him than Luo Juncheng?
No.

Only Empress Changsun and Luo Xuanye can be compared with Luo Juncheng. Li Chengqian has known Luo Juncheng for seventy or eighty years. The feeling between them is so deep that it is far from enough to describe it.

Luo Juncheng slowly woke up and saw Li Chengqian sitting beside the bed. After seeing Luo Juncheng wake up, Li Chengqian's face was very calm, but his eyes were full of sadness. He said quietly: "Ah Cheng, the doctor said you are dying."

When he said the last word "了", there was a slight tremor in his voice, indicating that his heart was not as calm as he seemed on the surface. Luo Juncheng just nodded slightly.

Li Chengqian sighed slightly, "I knew you would have this expression, so I didn't cry.

I don’t have many days left to live anyway, so when we get to the underworld, we’ll still be brothers.

Everyone will die eventually. When you die, I will carve your majestic figure on the battlefield out of stone and place it in front of my royal tomb.

I will also write a memorial for you myself. No one else can write as good a memorial as I can for you. After all, they don’t know how outstanding you are.”

Li Chengqian kept on talking, and Luo Juncheng leaned over, smiling and saying nothing. After an unknown amount of time, Li Chengqian saw the person who brought the medicine come in, and then he said, "Okay, I'm leaving now. I'll come to pay my respects to you when you die."

Li Chengqian said it lightly, and Luo Juncheng was not annoyed. He smiled and said, "Then I will thank the king on behalf of my dead self."

Li Chengqian did not look back either. He waved his hand with his back to Luo Juncheng and left the room. He stepped over the threshold, the careless expression on his face disappeared, and a deep sadness emerged. His eyes were red, as if he was about to cry. He looked at the azure sky, hummed, and then left.

Luo Juncheng in the room took a few deep breaths. Although he was old, his ears were still sharp. He heard the footsteps suddenly stop at the door, and then the footsteps suddenly became slow and heavy. The smile on his face fell, "Cheng Qian, King Qin, the road ahead will be yours to walk alone."

The sun rose and the moon set, in the darkness before dawn, Luo Juncheng died suddenly in the Prince Zhou's Mansion. The whole Qin State was in grief, but Li Chengqian did what he had said. He did everything one by one.

But he overestimated his lifespan. Before the statue was carved, he died just twelve days after Luo Juncheng's death, and the Crown Prince of Qin inherited the throne.

Although there has been little contact with the Central Plains, but at this time, he still has to go to the Central Plains to request the enthronement. And because it is too far away and safety must be ensured, a delegation larger than that of the Yan State went to Luoyang, the capital of the Central Plains.

……

In the divine capital Luoyang, after Luo Su ascended to heaven, Wu Zhao's health deteriorated. There were many people in this world whose life trajectories were directly affected by Luo Su, and those who were not young at all began to die gradually.

When the Yan State delegation arrived in the capital, Wu Zhao was ill and did not receive them. Instead, it was the Crown Princess who received the delegation.

Taiping and Luo Qianqiu jointly received the delegation from the State of Yan.

The attire of these delegations was slightly different from that of the Central Plains, and was obviously more suitable for riding. Most people's faces showed the vicissitudes of years of running in the wind and frost, and had a sense of wildness.

The Yan State delegation reported the purpose of their visit to the court, and the rest of the etiquette was just a minor detail. The main purpose was to ask the court to confirm the posthumous title of Yan Wang Li Ke, and whether there were any additional titles to be conferred.

The second is that the court must formally add the name of the crown prince to the golden book so that the crown prince can officially inherit the throne. Although this is just a formality and the court will not refuse to approve it unless it has nothing to do, it represents the sovereignty of the suzerain state over the vassal state.

In addition, when the delegation came to Beijing, they had to report the affairs of the country to the emperor. Basically, they had to complete the tribute task that the princes of Zhou had done in the past.

This is the tacit understanding between the imperial court and these big countries. The imperial court does not delve into the operation of the country, and the big countries submit to the imperial court.

After Taiping and other ministers entertained the envoys from the State of Yan, the envoys were finally able to enter the palace to meet Wu Zetian. The visiting envoy this time was the son of the current King of Yan.

According to seniority, if he called Li Zhi the ninth grandfather, then Wu Zhao should be called the ninth grandmother.

The Lord Envoy was standing in front of the door of the inner hall, separated by a screen. Everyone in the entire Yan State must have complicated feelings about this person in the palace, especially the children of the Li family.

The relationship between the clan and the in-laws is always so complicated, and everyone is dissatisfied with each other.

A voice came from the inner room, "How has Yan State been doing in recent years?"

"In reply to your Majesty, thanks to your Majesty's divine light, the Yan Kingdom has been enjoying lush grass and lush horses in recent years, and is now in its prime."

"That's good. The Kingdom of Yan was founded by Emperor Taizong, and the King of Yan is a hereditary prince of the highest rank. This honor is hard-earned, and we must cherish it.

I have heard that there are some treacherous people instigating people in the State of Yan. I don’t know whether it is true or not. After you return to the country, tell your father that I am unwilling to believe those rumors and hope that the King of Yan will not let me down.

My fate is almost coming to an end. People say that a dying man speaks good words. I still don't want to see the imperial court and the vassal states go to war.

The title of King of Yan is hereditary, but the title of King of Yan may not always be worn by your lineage.

If you listen to slander and commit the crime of treason, the consequences will be disastrous. The fame and fortune accumulated by the late King of Yan will be destroyed in one day.

That's all I have to say. Please leave."

As the mastermind listened to the Queen Mother's harsh words, he was drenched in cold sweat. It was not until he walked out of the hall in a daze that he came to his senses.

In fact, the Queen's attitude was much better than imagined. It seemed that it was just as she said, that when a dying man is about to speak good words. Therefore, the Queen was much softer than before.

The Yan State delegation did not leave so quickly. Instead, they began purchasing large quantities of goods in Luoyang, preparing to bring them back to the grasslands to sell. No one knew whose idea it was, but there were a large number of merchants in the delegation.

This resulted in the Qin delegation arriving before Yan State even left its capital Luoyang.

When the Qin delegation arrived, the people in Luoyang were a little confused, and the officials in the court were also a little confused. If the prince was not dead, it would be fine, but why did he die and then come together?
Judging from the distances between Qin and Yan, the deaths of the King of Qin and the King of Yan should not have been separated by a month and a half, and might even be shorter. Moreover, Qin did not only bring news of the death of the King of Qin, but also the death of the Prince of Zhou. This time, Qin brought news of the deaths of two kings at the same time.

The officials of the Lifanyuan of the imperial court were very painfully aware that something that could have been completed if the King of Qin had died a month earlier, now they had to use almost the same process to do it all over again.

The most important thing is that the Lifanling Ling has to go to the palace again to discuss this matter with the Queen Mother.

The treatment of the Qin envoy was better than that of the Yan envoy. At least there was only a screen between them. The reason for this was that the Qin envoy was the great-nephew of Luo Junwei and the grandson of Luo Juncheng.

This time he went to the palace not only to meet the Queen Mother, but also to meet his great-aunt Luo Junwei. Except for special circumstances, Luo Junwei has always lived in the palace, which is known to everyone.

After Wu Zhao finished the routine greetings, she rested as she was not feeling well. Then Luo Junwei tiptoed with her nephew to the side hall.

"Did your grandfather have anything to tell you?"

"Reporting to my great-aunt, my grandfather only told me to bring a tablet back to the Central Plains, as a way of returning to one's roots. He has decided to be buried in the Qin State, where he fought for his entire life."

Luo Junwei was silent for a moment, and then slowly exhaled. Luo Juncheng didn't have much to say back. In fact, he just said that he had lived a good life in Qin during the years he went west, and things were also good in Qin. He also had no special thoughts about the Central Plains. Everything was stable and there was nothing worth explaining.

This is obviously a good thing, but Luo Junwei always feels sad in her heart. The generation of Jun in the Luo family is probably the one that has been separated the furthest.

The Xuan generation began to enter the Central Plains, but in the end, except for Luo Xuanzang who was buried in the Western Region Temple, the rest were buried in the Central Plains.

But the word "Jun" is everywhere. She and Luo Juncheng are siblings, but they have not seen each other for decades. Although there is the stigmata, it does not affect their relationship, but the longing still exists, and it is even deeper.

The so-called heartless people will not be hurt by longing, but those who are deeply in love are more likely to suffer.

With the passing of Qin Wang Li Chengqian and Yan Wang Li Ke, people suddenly discovered that all of Emperor Taizong's sons had passed away, and the Queen Mother was the last one among Taizong's sons and nephews.

Moreover, the three great kings appointed by Emperor Taizong have all passed away. The current King of Qin, King of Yan, King of Qi, King of Wei, King of Chu, and King of Song are all fourth-generation royal family members of the Li family.

It turns out that without us noticing, the Tang Dynasty has actually been passed down for four generations.

This feeling of being in another world makes people feel that time is passing by like running water. At this moment, no one in the world remembers what the former Sui Dynasty was like, and they can only look for it in piles of old papers.

Perhaps only the Zhenguan era remains in people's hearts, because in the Tang Dynasty there were too many books recording the words and deeds of the monarchs and ministers of that era as a warning to future generations.

It was an era that people yearned for greatly.

Wu Zhao reacted belatedly, and when she realized this, she looked even older.

A person lives with a breath of energy. When that breath is gone, it is time for the person to die.

After feeling her health was deteriorating, Wu Zhao finally transferred all power to Taiping, just as Li Zhi had transferred all power to her.

Wu Zhao stayed in the palace. Luo Junwei was in good health and often played the piano for Wu Zhao in the palace. Wu Zhao was also good at music, and the two of them got along well with each other.

"Weiwei, I heard that you recently accepted a female disciple, and she is Shangguan Yi's granddaughter?"

Wu Zhao asked curiously.

"Yes, she is a beautiful little girl who writes poems very well and is very talented. I plan to leave her to Taiping in the future. Qianqiu and I can assist her in the future, one in literature and the other in martial arts."

(End of this chapter)