A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 1324: Cessation of Territory and Payment of Tribute
Amid the sound of firecrackers,
The new year was ushered in, and on the first day of the first lunar month, the reign title was changed to Yonghui.

Yonghui means eternal beauty. This reign title also tells the world that the policies of the Zhenguan period should be inherited, and the Tang Dynasty should continue to be governed according to the arrangements and directions of Emperor Taizong, so that the prosperous times will last forever.

On New Year's Day, the barbarians came to pay homage.

The Caliphate of the Caliphate also sent an envoy again. This time, the third Caliph of the Caliphate, Osman ibn Affan, sent his trusted ministers to present a lot of gold and silver to the new emperor of the Tang Dynasty.

The emperor specially invited Wu Huaiyu to the Daming Palace to participate in the negotiations.

Since the beginning of winter, there has been no snow in Chang'an, and the first month of the year was also sunny and exceptionally warm.

The negotiation took place in the Imperial Garden of Daming Palace.

This palace was originally planned by Li Shimin to be built for the retired emperor Li Yuan. After so many years of expansion, it is now known as the Palace of Thousand Palaces.
It is located on Longshou Mountain and borders the north of the capital city in the south.

The area is equivalent to three Versailles Palaces, four Forbidden Cities, twelve Kremlins, thirteen Louvres, and fifteen Buckingham Palaces.

Five miles from north to south and three miles from east to west.

To the north of Daming Palace is Taiye Lake, also known as Penglai.

There is an island in the pond, and on the island there are palaces, pavilions and terraces.

There are also a large number of palaces, corridors, and waterside pavilions along the coast, which are magnificent. The Taiye Lake is even more vast and misty, showing the exquisiteness of the Tang Dynasty royal gardens.

An envoy from the Arabs, claiming to be Muawiyah, the nephew of the Caliph.

An old man in his fifties wearing a white robe, very imposing.

Changsun Wuji was somewhat disdainful of this barbarian and was only concerned with talking to the Minister of Personnel, Chu Suiliang.

Wu Huaiyu came prepared.

This Arab delegation was sent to Chang'an by the current Persian Protector General Wu Huaiyi. He had already investigated the members of this delegation and informed his brother Wu Huaiyu.

Wu Huaiyu is still very concerned about things in the Western Regions.

"I didn't expect the Governor of Syria to come to Chang'an in person to negotiate. Aren't you afraid that you will end up like the Governor of Khorasan, never to return?"

Although Muawiyah claimed to be the nephew of the Caliph, he still used a false identity. He only said that he was a court general of the Caliph. He did not tell others that his real identity was the Governor of Syria, the most powerful official in the Caliphate.

"Did Wu Xiang remember it wrongly?"

"Hahaha, there is no mistake. I know your identity very well. You are the cousin of the third caliph. You and Caliph Osman are both from the Umayyad family. Your Umayyad family is the most powerful of the twelve branches of the Quraysh tribe, an Arab noble family in Mecca.

At that time, your father Abu Sufyan, as the leader of the Umayyad family, was famous for his resolute opposition to the Prophet. He forced the Prophet and his followers to migrate to Medina. This year was later called the first year of the era by the Crescent Moon sect.

But your cousin Osman was the earliest follower of the Prophet,
You followed your father in many battles against the Prophet. It was not until Mecca was captured by the Prophet that you and your son converted to the Crescent Moon religion under the persuasion of Uthman.

Twenty years ago, you participated in the Arab conquest of Syria and later became the governor of Damascus.

After the second caliph was assassinated, your cousin Osman became the third caliph. He was said to be nepotistic and promoted many members of your Umayyad family. As a result, you were appointed as the governor of Syria.

"I heard that you were forming a Arab navy under the order of your cousin, ready to fight the Byzantine navy. Why did you disguise yourself and come to Chang'an to negotiate peace?"

The translator told Muawiyah exactly what Wu Huaiyu said, which made him shocked. His trip was very secret, and even in the Arab country, only a few people such as the Caliph knew about it.

How did this Tang Dynasty prime minister know this?
Wu Huaiyu just looked at the other person with a smile. A lot of the information was not all given to him by his brother Huaiyi, but came from the memories of later generations.

The Arabs went through several periods.
After the Prophet, there was the period of the Four Caliphs.

The current caliph Osman is the third caliph. Osman married the two daughters of the Prophet successively. After the second caliph was assassinated, Osman succeeded as caliph and became the supreme leader of the Arab Empire.

Osman liked to appoint people based on personal connections, which later caused riots. Rebels from Iraq and Egypt surrounded Medina where Osman was located, and the eighty-year-old man was hacked to death by the rebels.

After his death, Ali, the Prophet's cousin and son-in-law, was elected as the fourth caliph.

Ali was an Arab hero who had never been defeated on the battlefield. The prophet gave him a sword and a message, "There is no sword except the Spine Sword, and there is no hero except Ali." He also married his daughter to him.

However, Ali, who came from another major family in Mecca, had always been at odds with the Umayyad family. Later, Muawiyah openly challenged Ali's position as caliph and provoked a civil war. After Ali was assassinated, Muawiyah became the new caliph with his powerful strength.
But from the very beginning, he destroyed the election system of the caliphate and instead made it hereditary through the descendants of Muawiyah. So, starting from Muawiyah, later generations called the dynasty he established the Umayyad Dynasty, or the White Caliphate, and called the four caliphs before him the era of the Four Caliphs, excluding him.

Western Europe now calls them the Caliphate or the Saracen Empire, but the Tang Dynasty has always called them the Dashi or the White Dashi.

Muawiyah could never have imagined that in Chang'an, the starting point of the distant Silk Road, there was someone who knew him so well.

The Prime Minister Wu on the other side not only knew that he was the Governor of Syria, but he could even say that he was training a navy to fight a decisive battle with the Byzantines at sea.
This time he came to Chang'an in person, in fact, it was related to his being the commander-in-chief of the northern front. Under the guidance of Caliph Osman, the Arab army was indeed invincible in recent years, but it encountered a strong opponent in Persia.

They took over the Caucasus and Cyprus, and had long since taken over Iraq, Syria, Egypt and other places, and almost took over the entire Persia.

But they could never take over the Khorasan region in northeastern Persia.
Not only have countless soldiers and generals been lost here in the past few years, but even most of the Persian areas that were previously captured are in danger of being lost.

The Arabs tried various methods and launched countless attacks, but they all failed in the end. Now they are unable to attack again and can only be forced to defend, and they are always beaten.

Muawiyah was the governor of Syria and the commander-in-chief of the northern front. His opponent was the Byzantines and his target was Constantinople.
Although the Eastern Romans were now weak, they had not collapsed as completely as the Persian Sassanids, especially since they used the sea for defense and the Arab army had always found it difficult to win.

Muawiyah needed more troops and more supplies.

He especially did not want the Tang army to attack from behind during the decisive battle with the Eastern Romans. Now the Tang Dynasty not only occupied Khorasan in eastern Persia, but also their vassal Khazar Khanate in the North Caucasus.

Muawiyah advocated peace talks with the Tang Dynasty and formally ceding Khorasan to the Tang Dynasty.

As long as we can get a peace agreement, even if it is only a ten- or thirty-year peace agreement, it will be enough.

Focus on destroying the Eastern Romans first, and then it will not be too late to turn around and declare war on the Tang Dynasty.

Even if they could reach a ceasefire with the Tang Dynasty and some trade cooperation agreements, it would undoubtedly provide a lot of supplements to the war-torn Arabs.

Since you can't beat him, stop pestering him.

The great battle last year exhausted all of Persia's strength. Even the Governor of Khorasan was taken prisoner. If the Tang army took advantage of the victory to counterattack, the entire Persia might be lost.

The Arabs could not bear such losses and had to seek peace.

In order to gain the agreement of domestic opposition parties, especially Ali's faction, Muawiyah even came to the Tang Dynasty in person.

But unexpectedly,

There was actually someone in Chang'an who knew him so well that he even knew their plan of naval attack on Byzantium. This made him sweat on his back.

The Tang Dynasty and the Eastern Romans have always been in an alliance.

Could it be that these top-secret information was told to the Tang Dynasty by Emperor Constans II of the Byzantine Heraclius Dynasty?
Muawiyah had a headache when he thought of the bearded emperor. He had attacked Asia Minor a few years ago and sacked Caesarea, but when he continued to attack Amorion, he was defeated by the bearded emperor's army. Since then, he has never been able to gain an advantage in Asia Minor.
Instead, Constans II took the opportunity to send troops to Armenia, and united with the Armenians to defeat and drive away the Arab army, and incorporated western Armenia into the Byzantine Empire.

Even in Egypt and Africa, Constans II never gave up and continued to fight with the Arabs.

After the wars in Asia Minor and Armenia, Emperor Constans II personally formed a new navy. The Arab spies also discovered that the Eastern Romans had equipped their navy with a mysterious weapon, Greek fire, which was said to be extremely effective in naval battles. This weapon most likely came from the Tang Dynasty.

Muawiyah was a little flustered, which completely disrupted his plans.

Wu Huaiyu still smiled as he looked at the obviously uneasy old man, Muawiyah, the future founding emperor of the White Caliphate.

Maybe I should detain him, or just let the Byzantines assassinate this guy.

However, this thought was quickly suppressed. This man had a very high status in the Caliphate. Not only was he the Governor-General of Syria and the Commander-in-Chief of the Northern Front, he was also the nephew of Caliph Osman and the heir of the Umayyad family.

If he died in Chang'an, whether it was assassinated by the Byzantines or something else, the Ottoman Empire would definitely blame the Tang Dynasty.

It is possible that the Arabs might have to adjust their strategic direction and stop fighting the Byzantines and instead fight the Persian Khorasan.

This result is very unfavorable to the Tang Dynasty.

The Tang Dynasty would rather see the Arabs and Byzantines fight to the death in the West, which is more in line with the interests of the Tang Dynasty. The Tang Dynasty can form an alliance with the Byzantines and cooperate deeply, but it is impossible to get too involved.

Controlling Khorasan is actually the limit.

Once we get deep into the Persian Plateau, we will be out of reach.

If the Arabs are really sincere in peace talks and offer some sincere conditions, the Tang Dynasty should accept them. This is why the emperor invited Wu Huaiyu to participate in the peace talks this time.
Whether it was Wu Huaiyi on the front line or Zhangsun Wuji in the court, neither of them was willing to continue fighting the Arabs to the death, as they felt it was meaningless.

The deal didn’t go through last year because the conditions offered by the other party were not acceptable.

First of all, it is impossible for the Tang army to give up the Persian territory it currently occupies.

In fact, many people, led by Zhangsun Wuji, just wanted a name. They wanted the Arabs to submit to the Tang Dynasty, regardless of whether this submission was only in name only. They just wanted the name. It didn't matter whether they paid tribute or not. They wanted this name.

Their attitude towards the Arabs is actually the same as that of the Central Plains towards the Mobei steppes in the past. No matter if you are Turks or Uighurs, as long as you become our subjects, everything will be fine.

However, the Arabs are now at their peak of power, expanding everywhere, invincible and victorious. Back then, they defeated the two old empires of Persia and Byzantium at the same time. It can be seen how ferocious these people are, and it is impossible to make them submit.

They would rather conclude a peace treaty in accordance with Western traditions and add a time limit, whether it be ten, twenty or thirty years.

It is impossible to make them pay tribute, unless you can really beat them. Otherwise, it is just like the Romans and the barbarians. The barbarians pay tribute to you, but you have to give them gold.
In the name of reward, it is actually protection money.

Wu Huaiyu remembered that Osman seemed to be killed a few years later, and Ali seemed to be assassinated after only being the caliph for five years.

By this calculation, Muawiyah would become the fifth caliph and establish the Umayyad dynasty in about ten years.

The negotiations officially began.
Zhangsun Wuji presided over the negotiations. He was full of disdain for these white-robed Arabs. He demanded the whole of Persia, and also wanted the Arabs to pay tribute, gold and silver every year, and also wanted them to marry their princesses.

The Arabs naturally refused.
Muawiyah kept his head down, thinking about something, and it was mostly his men who were doing the negotiations.

The first round of negotiations did not produce any results.

Muawiyah asked to talk to Wu Huaiyu alone.

Wu Huaiyu smiled and suggested that they talk about it here, and that several Tang Dynasty officials be involved.

Muawiyah felt powerless in the face of Wu Huaiyu's smile.

Although Muawiyah was not as good as Ali in commanding troops in the Caliphate, he was still a top-ranked general, especially since he had a large number of troops and was a high-ranking official, and was the heir to the Umayyad family.

But I didn't expect that in Chang'an, people would investigate it so thoroughly.

"We sincerely hope to conclude a treaty with the Tang Dynasty and coexist peacefully," said Muawiyah.

Wu Huaiyu poured him a cup of tea.

"The Arabs do not want to fight on two fronts, nor do they have the money to continue fighting with the Tang Dynasty. Choosing to cease fire with the Tang Dynasty is your only way out."

"I know you are building warships and training your navy, hoping to defeat the Byzantine navy and even directly besiege Constantinople.
I can only say that your idea is good, but as an ally of Byzantium, our Tang Dynasty will not allow you to succeed."

Muawiyah listened carefully to Wu Huaiyu's tone and looked at his expression. Although he did not understand, he still listened and observed carefully, and then listened to the translator's words.
"What conditions would the Tang Dynasty need to interfere in our war with Byzantium?" Wu Huaiyu tasted the teacup.

He said slowly, "Persian Sassanids had signed a friendly alliance with our Tang Dynasty. We had agreed to form an offensive and defensive alliance. You, the Arabs, invaded Persian Sassanids. The Sassanid emperor asked for help from our Tang Dynasty. Our Tang Dynasty sent troops according to the alliance.
Not only did you not stop your invasion, you also took the initiative to attack our Tang army. This is an active provocation and declaration of war against our Tang.
You are the ones who started this war."

Muawiyah said decisively, "We are willing to stop the war and cede Khorasan to the Tang Dynasty."

"These are not enough."

Wu Huaiyu asked someone to bring a map.

A map of the former Sassanid Empire. The Sassanid Empire was vast during its heyday. Wu Huaiyu drew a line on the map.
Half of the Sassanid Empire was taken away, and almost the entire Persian Plateau was included.

It almost reached the Mesopotamian Valley.

Muawiyah shook his head, finding this condition unacceptable.

So the two sides bargained.

Wu Huaiyu included the Khorasan Plateau in the north, the Sistan Basin in the south, and a large area in eastern Persia, all of which reached the sea in the south.

In the north, Wu Huaiyu also extends westward and directly connects to the southeast corner of the Caspian Sea.

Muawiyah looked at the irreconcilable line that Wu Huaiyu finally drew and fell into deep thought.

Khorasan is a very important place. It was once the place where the Persians rose to power and it is also the only way to Transoxiana, Tocharistan and other places.

If the Tang Dynasty were to occupy it, there would be no chance for expansion to the northeast in the future.

The other piece of land that Wu Huaiyu circled, the land below Khorasan, extends directly to the sea. This land is very desolate, dry and backward, but if it were to belong to the Tang Dynasty, it would undoubtedly make Khorasan more stable and at the same time block the possibility of future expansion to the east.

Of course, the piece of land protruding to the west of Khorasan that reaches the southeastern shore of the Caspian Sea is also very important. It may seem insignificant on the map, but in fact, this piece of land is very valuable.

It is also an important trade and transportation route.

The line drawn by this military minister actually blocked any possibility of the Arabs moving eastward or northward in the future.

"These lands are now all under the control of our Tang army."

"After the war last year, the actual control line of our Tang Dynasty was far beyond this. You know it very well."

Wu Huaiyu pointed on the map and said, "The South Caucasus can belong to you, including other lands of the Persian Sassanid Empire, but...

You have to pay 18,000 pounds of gold to the Tang Dynasty every year."

"Don't worry, this number is not too much." Wu Huaiyu said. You have to know that the Persian Sassanid Empire and the Byzantine Empire had been fighting for hundreds of years. The two sides had their wins and losses. The losing side had to pay money to buy peace. Sometimes the compensation was 30,000 to 40,000 pounds of gold, and sometimes it was only a few thousand pounds.

"We can first sign a thirty-year peace agreement with eighteen thousand pounds of gold per year."

This number is similar to the one that Persia and Byzantium paid in compensation back then, so they didn't ask for more.

But Muawiyah still couldn't accept it.

After another long round of bargaining, Muawiyah's final condition was that the Tang Dynasty and the Arabs signed a 30-year peace treaty, and the Arabs would pay a tribute of 11,000 pounds of gold to the Tang Dynasty every year.

The Caliphate and the Tang Dynasty divided the Persian territory. Khorasan, Sistan and the land in the southeast of the Caspian Sea were ceded to the Tang Dynasty, and the rest of the Persian land belonged to the Caliphate. The Tang army withdrew from the lands ceded to the Caliphate.

The treaty also stipulated that the Tang Dynasty would no longer interfere in the war between the Arabs and the Byzantine Empire, and would not provide any assistance, such as troops and weapons, to the Byzantine Empire. Even the Tang Dynasty's vassal states, the Khazar Khanate and the Tokharistan Khanate, were no longer allowed to provide troops, weapons, food and other support to the Byzantine Empire.

Muawiyah originally wanted the Tang Dynasty to ban trade with Byzantium, but Wu Huaiyu ignored him.

The Arabs and the Tang Dynasty developed more comprehensive bilateral trade, even offering tariff concessions. The Tang Dynasty not only opened up land routes and border checkpoints to Khorasan, but the two sides also strengthened trade along the Maritime Silk Road. Ports such as Jiaozhou, Guangzhou, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, Fuzhou, Wenzhou, and Luzon opened trade to Arab merchants and gave them tariff concessions.

According to the agreement, after Persia's first tribute of 11,000 pounds of gold was handed over to the Tang Dynasty, the contract would officially take effect and would be valid for 30 years, and could be renewed upon expiration.

These are the terms that are stated explicitly, and there are also terms that are not put on paper.

The clause that was not put on paper was Wu Huaiyu's promise that the Tang Dynasty would support Muawiyah and support him in succeeding Osman's position as caliph in the future.

Osman is already in his seventies and doesn't have many years left to live.

However, the strongest contender for the succession to the caliphate was undoubtedly Ali. Muawiyah was inferior in every aspect, but he was very ambitious.

Wu Huaiyu also noticed this, so he took the initiative to offer to support him in his future competition for the caliphate, and even said that if Muawiyah failed in the competition, he could support him in raising an army to fight for it.

Muawiyah was extremely excited by Wu Huaiyu's promises that were not put on paper.

If this peace treaty could be reached, the Tang army would no longer support the Byzantine Empire. Then Muawiyah would be confident that he could defeat the Byzantine navy in the next naval battle. Even if he could not capture Constantinople, as long as he could win this victory, it would bring him great achievements and reputation.

Furthermore,

As for Persia, it was originally the territory of Ali's clan, so there was no need to feel bad about ceding it, and it was Ali's clan that was weakened.

As for the development of comprehensive sea and land trade, Muawiyah naturally supported it. Think about the Hundred Years' War between Persia and Byzantium, which also involved the Western Turks, the Hadites, the Tocharians, etc. It was actually a fight for trade routes and huge trade benefits.

Now that the Arabs have destroyed Persia, the Arabs are naturally aware of the huge benefits of the Silk Road trade.

If the trade route was blocked due to war, the biggest loss would be to the Arabs.

Wu Huaiyu also reached a private agreement with Muawiyah to increase cooperation with the Umayyad family in subsequent trade.

To fight for the caliphate, not only troops are needed, but also money.

The ambitious Muawiyah felt that he had made the right choice this time. Although his identity was discovered, the result was unexpectedly good.

"I will return to Medina immediately and report the results of the peace talks to the Caliph, and I will definitely promote this thirty-year peace treaty."

Wu Huaiyu smiled and said, "Governor, you don't have to be so anxious to go back. It's not easy to come all the way here. You have to bring more things with you. There are so many good commercial goods in the Central Plains, such as silk, porcelain, tea, etc. Bring more. I can arrange the best goods for you at the most favorable price."

The collaboration starts now.

Muawiya was so excited that he wanted to call Wu Huaiyu brother.

The meeting ended and Muawiya left gratefully.
The officials who had been quietly recording in the hall were extremely shocked. They did not expect that Prime Minister Wu could easily make the governor's nephew of the Arab emperor agree to the terms of ceding territory and paying compensation, and they were just one step away from making the Arab emperor submit to the throne.

Eleven thousand pounds of gold a year as tribute,

According to the agreement between Prime Minister Wu and the Governor-General, the 11,000 pounds of tribute is actually equivalent to 110,000 taels of gold from the Tang Dynasty every year.

When Wu Huaiyu came to the Purple Palace to meet the emperor and told him the results of the negotiations,
Li Chengqian couldn't help but be surprised.

"One hundred and ten thousand taels of gold as tribute per year?"

"It's not much, actually. It's only worth 880,000 strings of Kaiyuan Tongbao coins. The imperial court's annual liquor tax now exceeds 1 million strings of coins, the domestic and foreign tea tax is several million strings of coins, and the salt tax exceeds 10 million strings of coins."

One hundred and ten thousand taels of gold, if it were personal property, it would indeed be a lot, but for the Tang Dynasty at its peak, it was not much.

The Tang Dynasty collected more than one million strings of cash from liquor taxes alone each year. The tea tax was at least three million strings of cash. As for the salt tax, it was over ten million strings of cash each year.

Other taxes such as commercial taxes, mining taxes, customs duties, etc., each of which is worth millions.

Not to mention the two taxes of the state.

In fact, Persia and Sassanid Empire had been at war for a hundred years. When they lost, they had to pay compensation, tens of thousands of pounds of gold. That was because for an old empire, this amount of money was not much, and the treasury could afford it. Byzantium was often attacked by various barbarians, and had no choice but to pay protection fees in gold.

The Caliphate was a new empire with a vast territory, stretching from the Arabian Peninsula to Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Persia and the Caucasus. They were much richer than the Sassanid Empire.

They could really afford 11,000 pounds a year, and according to the comprehensive trade agreed with Wu Huaiyu, the Arabs could gain huge profits from the trade and easily earn back the indemnity.

"If the Arabs can really cede territory, pay compensation and cooperate in trade according to this agreement, our Tang Dynasty will not lose anything. But, can this Muawiyah really get the Arab Caliph to sign this treaty?"

"Of course,"

Wu Huaiyu further explained Muawiyah's true identity and his promise to him.

Li Chengqian did not care about the promise Wu Huaiyu made to Muawiyah. In his opinion, this was just a strategy to divide and win over the enemy. This was what the Tang Dynasty liked to do to the Turks in the past.

"Then send this to the Political Affairs Hall."

After the agreement was sent to the Council of State, as Wu Huaiyu had expected, Zhangsun Wuji rejected it. After learning that the agreement was reached between Wu Huaiyu and the Arab envoys, he even openly accused Wu Huaiyu of losing power and humiliating the country, and suspected that Wu Huaiyu had accepted bribes from the Arabs.

Emperor Li Chengqian looked at the agreement rejected by his uncle with a gloomy expression.

He remembered some words that the late emperor had once said to him about the king's uncle. The late emperor had warned him that after he succeeded to the throne in the future, he should no longer use Wu Huaiyu and Zhang Sun Wuji as prime ministers, and also said that Zhang Sun Wuji was greedy for power.

But after the death of the previous emperor, Cheng Qian immediately recalled Wu Huaiyu and Zhang Sun Wuji to the court.

He once believed that

One is his uncle and the other is his teacher. With the assistance of these two capable and young veterans, the prosperous Zhenguan era will definitely continue.

He recalled his teacher Wu Huaiyu and his uncle Zhangsun Wuji, in fact, he also had the intention of balancing each other. With the addition of Li Ji, the court was headed by these three elders, plus his confidants Zhang Xingcheng and Gao Jifu when he was in the Eastern Palace.

It doesn't mean that he, the new emperor, will be sidelined.

However, what he did not expect was that after his teacher returned to the court, he was not willing to preside over the government affairs at the central level and behaved very indifferently. On the contrary, this uncle not only stretched out his hands to seize power everywhere, but also formed a clique to fight against dissidents.

Most importantly, he could not feel much of the emperor's supremacy from his uncle, but instead often felt that his uncle was overstepping his authority.
Again and again.

Li Chengqian had been dissatisfied with Chu Suiliang's affairs several times, and now he was becoming more and more domineering and showing no sign of restraint.

He couldn't help but look at another imperial decree on the imperial desk that had been rejected several times.
That was his decree to posthumously confer the title of empress on Wu Liangdi, and to posthumously confer the title of King of Zhou on Wu Liangdi's father.

In the past, a fire broke out in the Lizheng Hall of the Eastern Palace, which burned his favorite Wu Liangdi to death. Cheng Qian has always felt very upset about this matter. Now that he has become the emperor, he wants to posthumously confer the title of empress on this woman who understands and loves him the most, but unexpectedly, Zhangsun Wuji and Chu Suiliang repeatedly opposed it and refused to give in.

These national and family affairs,
Without the consent of the King's uncle, there is no way to proceed.

The emperor's decree is of no use.

Li Chengqian rubbed his temple, thinking that perhaps what the late emperor said was right, he should not let Uncle Zhangsun return to the court to be prime minister.

Why can't the emperor's uncle learn from the emperor's teacher? Why is he so greedy for power?

I had intended to balance the political affairs hall, but now it seems that I was totally wrong.

The contrast between the domineering and authoritarian Uncle Sun and the indifferent Master Wu made the emperor even more dissatisfied.

A long sigh.

(End of this chapter)