Struggle in the early Tang Dynasty

In the 20th year of Jingyun, Li Dan passed away, and Li Longji ascended the throne as emperor, with the year name Kaiyuan, and the country was flourishing.

In the 25th year of Kaiyuan, Li Longji brought Yang Yuhuan, the concubine of the longevity king Li Mao, into the palace. Hu Tian and Hu Di were criticized by the world.

Three years later, it was changed to Tianbao.

In the fourth year of Tianbao, Li Longji took Yang Yuhuan as his concubine and loved her to the fullest.In order to win the favor of the beauties, although Li Longji did not reach the level of the princes of Fenghuo Opera, he was not much worse.

Not only did he try his best to be satisfied with property, but he also sealed all Yang's family as officials.

Yang Guozhong was originally a scoundrel in the capital, and because he was Concubine Yang's cousin, in just a few years, he rose to prominence and became the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty.

Li Longji devoted himself to having fun with Yang Guifei, and entrusted all the government affairs to this person. In the end, the government affairs were darkened, the people complained, and most of the military power was concentrated in the hands of the barbarians.

An Lushan, the envoys of Fanyang, Pinglu, and Hedong, took advantage of the emptiness inside the Tang Dynasty to launch a rebellion, and captured Chang'an City in less than a year.

Li Longji fled hastily, and the army marched to Maweipo that day.

"Kill the demon girl! Execute Concubine Yang!"

"Execute the Yang family, and give me back the great Tang Dynasty!"

"Your Majesty abdicates, and the crown prince ascends the throne!"

Amidst the shouts of the soldiers, General Chen Xuanli of the Forbidden Army Longwu walked into the station, knelt down on the ground, and said, "Long live my emperor, long live, long live!"

Li Longji looked gloomy, and said: "General Chen, even though I am sorry to the world, I treat you well. Unexpectedly, you also turned against me!"

Chen Xuanli said calmly: "It is true that I deserve death. But when I ask myself, I don't think that today's choice is wrong. The state affairs have fallen into such a state, and it is all caused by Yang Guozhong. I killed him for the sake of the common people in the world. There's nothing wrong with that."

"Hmph, for the sake of the common people, why don't you just kill Yang Guozhong? Yuhuan has lived in the deep palace for a long time and has not made friends with outsiders. What's wrong with her? Why do you have to kill her? Besides, what's the matter with asking me to abdicate as the crown prince? What do you think?" I have no selfishness, who would believe me!"

Chen Xuanli said: "The soldiers have already killed Yang Guozhong, and Concubine Yang Gui is his cousin, so she must be dissatisfied with the generals. If she does not die today, I will worry about her revenge afterwards, and I will feel uneasy. I hope Your Majesty will do it!"

"Then how can I explain my abdication?"

"You were forced by the soldiers to kill the woman you love the most. Can you feel better? I waited for this to protect myself. Your Majesty, you should abdicate as the Supreme Emperor and let the crown prince ascend the throne!"

"This..." Li Longji was speechless after being refuted, and finally heaved a long sigh, saying: "I can agree to abdicate, but Yuhuan is innocent, can he spare his life?"

Chen Xuanli kowtowed his head and said, "It still doesn't work. Your Majesty has been on the throne for [-] years, and there are many people who are devoted to you. Wei Chen and others are worried that there will be repeated changes in the throne. Therefore... Concubine Yang Gui must die."

"I can swear to God."

"God's will is insignificant, I dare not believe it."

"You..." Li Longji was furious, and said, "General Chen, don't bully me too much!"

Chen Xuanli kowtowed again and again, and said, "I hope Your Majesty will make it happen."

Li Longji said coldly: "Then what if I don't agree?"

Chen Xuanli said threateningly, "Of course I dare not force His Majesty. But there are many soldiers outside who are rough people. If you get anxious, you will inevitably do something rude. I'm afraid Your Majesty will regret it later!"

"you……"

Yang Yuhuan, who was behind the screen, had already heard their conversation clearly. Seeing that Li Longji could no longer protect himself, he had to turn out of the screen.

She prostrated herself prostratingly, and said: "Yuhuan has sinned deeply, today I will bid farewell to His Majesty forever!"

Li Longji's heart was twisted like a knife, and two lines of tears rolled down, saying: "I am incompetent! I didn't expect that I would fall to such a point that I couldn't even protect my own woman! My concubine, I can only feel wronged now... "

cough~

A light cough sounded, and Gao Lishi stepped forward, saying: "Your Majesty, this servant thinks that the matter has not reached that point, and the imperial concubine must die."

Chen Xuanli, Li Longji and Yang Yuhuan all looked stunned, and said in unison: "What do you mean by that?"

Gao Lishi said: "If your Majesty wants both the country and the beauty, then the servants will be powerless. But if you only want Concubine Yang to live, it's fine."

Chen Xuanli said: "That's impossible, the soldiers will not agree."

"General Chen, don't worry, listen to me. The reason why you have the courage to force the palace today is because His Royal Highness is standing behind you?"

"Of course not, we are for the people of the world!"

"Come on!"

Gao Lishi curled his lips, and said: "Let's water thieves cross the river, don't use dogs to dig, who doesn't know who? Without a prince, just a few thousand people like you rebelled, how will it end afterward? Are you not afraid of being wiped out by loyal officials and righteous men of the court? The world The well-being of the people is not as important as your own life, right?"

"Uh... so what if the prince is the chief envoy?"

"It's the crown prince's idea, so it's easy to handle. Think about it, everyone, your majesty was forced to abdicate by you, can this be a good thing? Don't talk about the people loyal to your majesty in the Tang Dynasty, just talk about the overseas vassal states. The lord of the country is related to His Majesty..."

"Could it be that the prince is not related to the feudal states?"

"Yes, of course. But don't forget, His Majesty was forced to abdicate. In other words, the crown prince was not in the right place, and those vassal states had an excuse. Will they take advantage of the weakness of my Tang Dynasty to attack? Does the crown prince want to be a King of Subjugation?"

Chen Xuanli sneered and said, "Even if we let Concubine Yang go, His Majesty will be willing to abdicate? Who will believe it!"

"No... that's not what I meant." Gao Lishi smiled slightly and said, "I have a plan. The soldiers are not worried about Yang Guifei's revenge, and the vassal state has no excuse to interfere with my Tang Dynasty."

"What plan?"

Gao Lishi said: "More than 100 years ago, His Majesty Taizong also acted in a stupid way. At that time, Guo Ye, the king of Qin, and the ministers secretly discussed the side of the Qing emperor. In the end, they had a dispute over how to deal with the aftermath. Have you ever heard of this allusion, General Chen?"

Chen Xuanli thought about it: "In the end, they seemed to want to build a yamen called 'Parliament'. State affairs are discussed by the ministers. The emperor's status is respected, but he doesn't interfere in political affairs. It's just that something happened later, and this plan was not implemented."

"It's the parliament." Gao Lishi smiled slightly, and said: "Your Majesty abdicates, the prince ascends the throne, and establishes a parliament. In this way, no matter whether the throne is repeated or not, Concubine Yang Guifei will be powerless even if she wants to retaliate. Because the power of the court has fallen into the hands of the courtiers." , the emperor has a name but no power."

Chen Xuanli hesitated and said: "But... the parliament also has its drawbacks..."

Li Longji has true love for Yang Yuhuan, he is willing to do anything to keep her alive.What's more, he can't be the emperor himself, and of course he doesn't want that unfilial son to get it.

He said: "What's the disadvantage? It's just that the decision-making efficiency is not high enough. So what? Thinking that it was a blessing for the country to hand over all the state affairs to Yang Guozhong?"

Chen Xuanling explained: "I don't mean that. It's just that Anlu Mountain is powerful now, and the court will form a council again. Regarding the chaos..."

Li Longji said: "Although I have lost Chang'an, the bandit army is only temporarily proud. Most of the territory in the world is still in the hands of the imperial court. Strictly speaking, the Anlu Mountain Rebellion is just a disease of scabies. Enough to quell the rebellion."

"This... is true, but Wei Chen still feels..."

Li Longji continued to persuade: "The reason why my Tang Dynasty has fallen into the current situation is mainly because I favor Yang Guozhong. But if there was a parliament back then, how could I have made such a big mistake? General Chen, do you want to see Yang Guozhong in the future? The matter of national loyalty reappeared in Datang?"

"Of course not."

Gao Lishi hit the iron while it was hot: "General Chen helped the prince ascend the throne. He might be grateful to you at the beginning. But no emperor would trust a traitor, right? How are you going to deal with yourself in the future? But with the parliament, it will be completely different. Where do you go? General Chen must think carefully."

These words seemed to hit Chen Xuanli's mind, his eyes lit up and he said: "In this case, I should discuss it with all the officers and men."