People in the early Tang Dynasty: I compete with Wu Zhao for the throne

Chapter 1498 Before Life and Death, the Emperor Cowardly
It was a quiet night, the snow fell silently.

When Li Xuan got up in the morning and opened the door, there was already a thick layer of snow outside.

Li Xuan's brows were tightly furrowed, looking at the white snow outside, the sadness in his eyes could no longer be concealed.

"What's wrong? It's so cold, why don't you close the door?" Liu Jinyu walked up from behind, looking past Li Xuan and directly outside the door, and subconsciously said, "Why is it snowing?"

Li Xuan shook his head slightly and said, "Nothing, His Majesty said that the edict of changing the era name today will be announced to the world at 9:00 pm, so there will be no hindrance from below."

"But it's snowing and cold, and your majesty's health..." When Liu Jinyu said this, he immediately realized that the emperor had dug a big hole for himself.

His body couldn't stand the wind, let alone the cold.

After the snow today, the temperature will inevitably drop sharply. If this happens, and he still goes to Chengtian Gate to read the edict of changing the era name, then his life will end in his own hands.

Li Xuan sighed softly, looked at Liu Jinyu, and said, "My wife is at home today, please take good care of the children. Also, write a letter to Chang'an to comfort my mother and remind her not to go out casually on snowy days."

"Don't worry, my husband. Sanniang will save it." Liu Jinyu lowered her head seriously.

Li Xuan turned sideways to look at the Lecheng County Mansion next to him and continued, "There is also Mr. Yue's place. Madam will go over to take a look later. Although there are many people taking care of the family, it will always be different if Madam goes there."

"Okay!" Liu Jinyu nodded again.

At this moment, Li Bi quickly appeared in front of the east courtyard gate.

Li Xuan waved at him, and Li Bi immediately walked over quickly and handed over the secret letter in his hand.

Li Xuan took a look at it, then handed it to Liu Jinyu and said, "My lady, take a look at how many people were restless and had secret meetings all night last night."

Liu Jinyu took the secret letter and took a look at it, his face was slightly stunned.

This secret letter records all the actions of officials above the fifth rank after the banquet ended last night.

Almost more than 60% of officials discussed with others until late at night.

At that time, this did not include all the prime ministers and ministers.

At least on the surface, they did not do anything last night, but it is hard to say whether they had made secret arrangements like Li Xuan did.

These old foxes have much more sophisticated methods than people think.

"Last night was the New Year's Eve. His Majesty issued an order to lift the curfew. Now it's a good opportunity for others." Li Xuan shook his head, looked sideways at Liu Jinyu, and said, "Okay, I will go to the study to put on my armor now. Although His Majesty will read the edict at 9:00 p.m., I, as the general of the Right Guard, still need to enter the palace earlier."

"Yeah!" Liu Jinyu nodded slightly, then watched Li Xuan leave, with a hint of worry in her eyes.

Today, the change of imperial power is imminent.

Throughout history, even the smoothest successions of imperial power have involved countless bloodbaths.

Especially at this time, they have already placed their bet and there is no room for regret.

Moreover, the bets they placed were the most correct.

Liu Jinyu looked up at the sky. In the gloomy sky, a ray of sunlight seemed to jump out from the dark clouds.

The emperor is about to die and a new emperor will take the throne.

The whole world will usher in a brand new chapter.

……

With a creaky sound, the study door was pushed open.

Li Xuan walked into the study calmly, took a look at the armor hanging on the wooden rack, then turned and walked towards the long spear standing beside him.

Gently stroking the cold spear blade, Li Xuan's mood quickly calmed down.

Raising his head, he looked towards the direction of the palace with indifferent eyes and extreme precision.

His hand gently stroked the sharp blade of the spear, which was extremely sharp.

My heart becomes calmer.

……

In the Zhenguan Hall, the stove was burning fiercely, and more than a dozen braziers were placed around the imperial couch.

The curtains were thick and heavy, and a figure could be vaguely seen lying on the bed, seemingly silent and motionless.

A dozen palace maids stood in the corner again, their expressions calm and their eyes solemn.

No one had any concerns about the emperor's imminent death, because if the emperor died, they would not be able to survive alone.

There was only one person standing in the corner of the curtain, staring at the emperor's every move.

At this moment, the emperor's breathing was extremely light, even intermittent, but it did not stop.

The emperor lay steadily, but his brows were deeply furrowed in heaviness.

In the dream, endless icebergs were looming in all directions, and countless heavy snowflakes were falling from the sky above.

But all of this was nothing compared to the coldness deep in the emperor's heart.

Standing on the iceberg, the emperor even felt a surprising warmth when snowflakes fell on his body.

But at this moment, the emperor felt extremely frightened.

Because he felt, protected deep in his heart, a chill born from the void instantly permeated his internal organs, and all his internal organs seemed to be frozen, leaving only his outer skin still retaining a trace of warmth.

It became increasingly difficult to breathe, and I felt more and more uncomfortable.

However, he had no solution at all.

The coldness deep in his heart was slowly draining away the last bit of vitality in his life.

The breathing gradually stopped...

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty!" A hurried call came from the sky, and Li Zhi was startled instantly.

Immediately, a warm feeling came from outside the body, and the whole person was instantly excited.

The next moment, as if it was the lowest level of resistance in life, a heavy breath came from the emperor's mouth.

As the warm air entered, the coldness in the body was instantly relieved. At this moment, the emperor was like a big fish jumping out of the water. In a very short period of time, he breathed rapidly and opened his eyes with difficulty.

……

The dim curtains came into view, and the burning brazier outside could be vaguely seen.

After a while, Li Zhi realized that he was sitting on the imperial couch. After a long sigh, Li Zhi turned around and looked at Wang Fulai who was supporting him. He nodded slightly, and Wang Fulai carefully put Li Zhi down.

Then, the medicinal soup that had been boiled overnight was brought in.

Wang Fulai personally fed the emperor the medicine soup, and the emperor gradually regained his strength.

Although he had completely woken up, Li Zhi knew that the coldness deep in his body had not yet disappeared and he still needed some time to calm down.

After a long time, Li Zhi spoke softly: "What's going on outside?"

"Reporting to Your Majesty." Wang Fulai bowed slightly, and then whispered: "The Queen Mother asked for an audience last night, but I followed your order and did not let her in. The Crown Prince followed behind the Queen Mother to ask for an audience, but I also blocked him. Today, as soon as the palace gate opened, the Queen Mother sent someone to wait for him, and the Crown Prince was waiting outside the palace in person."

Li Zhi nodded slightly. He remembered that after the banquet last night, he felt a little unwell and was taken back to Zhenguan Hall alone.

At the same time, he issued an order that no one else was allowed to enter the Zhenguan Hall without his permission.

Even the queen and the crown prince are the same.

It can be seen that Wang Fulai strictly followed his orders.

"Alas!" Li Zhi sighed and said, "It seems that they all have some associations in their minds."

Wang Fulai lowered his head slightly and said nothing.

The emperor suddenly changed the era name, and all the officials in the court immediately sensed that something was wrong.

In the first year of Qianfeng, the reign title was changed to the first day of the first lunar month.

During this Fengshan ceremony at Mount Song, all matters both inside and outside the court were discussed by all officials in the court, including the prime minister and the six ministers.

This includes the change of the era name, which is set on the first day of the first lunar month.

Now that the emperor has suddenly brought forward the change of the era name, people have to think more.

Maybe the emperor realized that he would not live to see the first month of the lunar calendar, so he changed the era name in advance.

This speculation lingered throughout the entire Luoyang City for a whole night, and until now, nothing has settled down.

There was no control in the palace. Wang Fulai did not do it, and the emperor and Empress Wu did not order it to happen.

Because the guesses made by the officials in the court were correct.

The emperor himself was the most clear about his own physical condition. No matter how unwilling he was to admit it, when he almost fell into a cold dream and was unable to wake up again and again, the true condition of his body was completely revealed to him.

When he sat on the bed, every time he tried to fall asleep, he couldn't help but ask himself whether he would be able to wake up normally tomorrow.

And every day that passed, when he faced this problem again, he became more and more insecure.

Sometimes, he even dared not to fall asleep.

I was afraid that I would never wake up again after falling asleep.

Last night was fine. After returning from the night banquet, the emperor felt extremely tired. He immediately refused anyone's visit and fell asleep in the blink of an eye.

Recalling the absurdity and powerlessness of that cold world in his previous dream, everything clearly told Li Zhi that his end was approaching.

No matter how much he didn't want to believe it or face this problem, it was already completely in front of him.

These days, the various medicines he took had gradually lost their effectiveness due to his serious illness.

The emperor now has only one medicine left, and that is the Zhonglu Yanming Pill.

Perhaps he could take a gamble and continue to endure until the first day of the first lunar month to take the medicine, but he would have to bear the fate of dying silently in his sleep.

At this moment, he was weak.

Or to be more precise, in the past few days, Li Zhi had been trying hard to hold on, and the more he endured, the less confident he became.

It was not until he finally decided to announce the change of the era name on the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month and then use the power of the change of era name to take medicine that his body suddenly relaxed a lot.

Even his illness disappeared silently at that moment.

However, after a good night's sleep, the disease came back violently again, and just now, it almost drowned him completely.

Now Li Zhi finally understood completely that he could no longer bear it and he had to accept this fate completely.

But fortunately, even if he didn't take the medicine during the meditation session on the first day of the first lunar month, the medicine would still be of great benefit to his body.

At least, he can hold on for a few more months.

Perhaps he could survive until the end of summer and return to Chang'an.

In Chang'an, there was a whole set of funeral interests.

If you are in Luoyang, you must keep things simple no matter what.

……

Li Zhi raised his head, nodded slightly, and said, "Let Sanlang come in."

"Yes!" Wang Fulai bowed slightly, then whispered towards the door: "Open the door."

With a creaky sound, the door of Zhenguan Hall opened.

Although Li Xian looked worried, he still walked in with the medicine jar and looked at the emperor.
Seeing the emperor turning his head and looking at him calmly, Li Xian's face immediately showed a happy smile.

"Father." Li Xian put the medicine jar aside, then knelt down with an extremely solemn expression.

"Stand up." Li Zhi nodded slightly, his voice very soft.

"Yes!" Li Xian bowed heavily again. Although the emperor's voice was soft, it was calm and continuous, and no difference could be heard.

Li Xian was completely relieved. He carefully poured out a bowl of medicine from the medicine jar, then carefully handed it to Wang Fulai before he stood up.

He had no idea that the emperor had already drunk a bowl of the same medicine before.

Even before going to sleep last night, the emperor drank a bowl.

The medicine had less and less effect on the emperor.

After drinking the medicine, Li Zhi sat up with the help of Wang Fulai, then turned sideways to look at Li Xian and said softly: "Last night, Luoyang City was very lively, right?"

Li Xian, who was standing on the side, felt icy cold in an instant.

(End of this chapter)