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

Chapter 1510: Emperor changes, artifact changes hands

Outside the Zhenguan Hall, Li Xian was stunned when he heard the cries of Empress Wu and the people around him.

He raised his eyes blankly and looked towards the Zhenguan Hall. He could vaguely see Empress Wu lying on the imperial couch and crying bitterly.

Suddenly, he felt endless darkness pressing towards him.

The whole world suddenly became just him.

But he still kept looking up and forward, where there seemed to be a figure moving away quickly.

But at the last moment, she turned around, glanced at Li Xian, then smiled and walked away.

Li Xian saw clearly that it was his father, and his father was going to leave...

“Father!” Li Xian couldn’t help but scream in pain. He stretched out his hand, trying to grab the emperor, but he couldn’t grab anything. He froze in his tracks. The next moment, he felt a pain in his heart, and the whole world went completely dark…

Li Xuan knelt beside Li Xian with his head lowered. He first heard Li Xian cry out in pain, and the next moment, Li Xian's body trembled and he fell towards him.

Li Xuan quickly raised his hand and carefully supported Li Xian.

He turned his head to look at Pei Yan, and at the same time quickly pressed his hand on Li Xian's philtrum, and then pinched it hard.

At this moment, Li Xian finally took a deep breath and opened his eyes. Then, he couldn't help but look towards the Zhenguan Hall and shouted with a sad face, "Father."

"Your Highness, please accept my condolences." Li Xuan supported Li Xian, sighed softly, and looked towards the palace.

At this moment, Empress Wu's voice came from the palace: "Let the prince in."

"Your Highness." Li Xuan helped Li Xian up, then looked at him seriously and said through gritted teeth, "Your Highness, I'm sorry."

Li Xian trembled slightly and looked at Li Xuan with endless sadness in his eyes.

But fortunately, when he saw Li Xuan, the sadness in his eyes gradually subsided, and then he nodded sadly at Li Xuan, turned around and looked at Pei Yan, who also nodded.

Pei Yan and Li Xuan both bowed at the same time, and then knelt down respectfully again at the same time.

Li Xian sighed lightly, then turned around and walked towards the hall.

……

"Father!" Li Xian's crying voice came again from the hall.

"Okay, shut up. We still have a lot of things to do." Empress Wu's voice came, suppressing her grief. Then, Empress Wu's voice sounded again: "Come in, everyone."

"Yes!" Li Xuan kowtowed again, then slowly stood up.

As the cold wind blew, Li Xuan subconsciously gave up all resistance in his body and his whole body couldn't help but tremble.

Standing in place, Li Xuan slowly lowered his head, and tremblingly followed Pei Yan into the hall.

His face was full of pain.

As he stepped into the Zhenguan Hall, Li Xuan immediately saw Zhang Wenzhong and Qin Heming standing in front of the imperial bed.

The two men stood in front of the imperial bed, seemingly making the final confirmation of the emperor's body.

Although Empress Wu had confirmed that the emperor was dead, she was not a real doctor.

According to the imperial system, the emperor's life or death must ultimately be determined by the imperial physician.

To avoid any trouble.

What if the emperor just faked his death?

What if the emperor can still be saved?

Li Xuan glanced at Empress Wu who was sitting in front of the emperor's bed, and then shifted his gaze.

In fact, it might have been possible for Empress Wu to directly announce the emperor's death, but doing so would inevitably lead to rumors.

Zhang Wenzhong and Qin Heming both took a step back at the same time, bowed solemnly to Empress Wu and said, "Your Majesty, please accept my condolences."

Queen Mother, please accept my condolences! The Emperor is dead.

……

"Ah!" A scream suddenly came from behind the curtain of the side corridor.

Li Xuan, Pei Yan, Empress Wu, and Li Xian all looked over in surprise at the same time.

When Li Xuan and Pei Yan entered the palace just now, a group of Zhongshu Sheren, Jieshi Zhong and Zuo Shi also followed in.

However, the Zhongshu Sheren drafted the imperial edict, the Jieshi Zhong reviewed it, and the Zuoyou Shi recorded it in history books.

The emperor's death must naturally be recorded in history books.

But suddenly, at this moment, everyone who was supposed to record silently suddenly made a sound behind the curtain.

How is this going.

Before everyone could react, the left historian Miao Chuke had already walked over quickly and said with a sad face, "Please forgive me, Queen Heaven. The right historian Han Chubin fainted from heartache."

Empress Wu was slightly stunned, then she sighed, nodded and said, "Treat him well."

"Yes!" Miao Chuke immediately asked the imperial physician Li Qianzong to help treat Han Chubin.

……

The sudden incident eased the sad atmosphere in the hall.

Empress Wu took a deep breath, her face full of grief and expression was somewhat numb, but she still looked at Li Xian calmly and said, "Prince, I want to appoint the Minister of the Central Secretariat Pei Yan as the Minister of Funeral Affairs, and the Prince of Han Li Yuanjia, the Minister of Rites Wei Daijia, and the Minister of the Ministry of Rites Lin Renji to assist him. What do you think?"

Li Xian suppressed his pain and subconsciously glanced at the emperor on the imperial couch. Then he bowed to Empress Wu and said, "Everything is up to you, mother."

"Okay." Empress Wu's face became serious, and she looked to the side and said, "Pass on my order to summon the King of Han Li Yuanjia, the Minister of Rites Wei Daijia, and the Minister of the Ministry of Rites Lin Renji to the palace and ring the Jingyun bell."

Empress Wu spoke the last three words very slowly, as if she was biting off each word.

Li Xuan lowered his head with a sad look on his face.

After nine jingyun bells, the emperor passed away.

Wang Fulai stumbled out and bowed, saying, "Yes!"

Before, when the emperor took medicine and had a private conversation with Empress Wu, he was driven out of the palace. When he came back, the emperor had already died.

Seeing that Wang Fulai left quickly despite feeling uncomfortable, Empress Wu couldn't help but sigh.

Wang Fulai was the earliest eunuch to follow her and the emperor in the palace. Wang Fulai even knew Wu Zetian better than Li Zhi.

When Empress Wu was a talented woman, she was able to rely on Wang Fulai's care. But now things have changed, and it is the youngest emperor who has passed away first.

"Dong, Dong, Dong..." The bell rang nine times.

The clear sound of the bell echoed throughout the city of Luoyang, but after nine strokes, it stopped abruptly.

In Luoyang city, countless people were having trouble sleeping tonight.

But when the bell rang, everyone understood that the world had changed.

After the bell rang nine times, heaven and earth were silent.

The next moment, countless bells rang throughout Luoyang City.

The bell rang thirty thousand times.

When the emperor passed away, all the Taoist temples and monasteries in Luoyang rang their bells at the same time.

According to regulations, the total number of bells rung in all Taoist temples and monasteries in Luoyang City must reach 30,000.

Every temple and Taoist temple even has clear numerical requirements.

Endless bell sounds echoed throughout the entire Luoyang city.

All the people in Luoyang were awakened at this moment, and at the same time, they understood that the emperor had died.

The supreme ruler of the entire Tang Empire passed away.

The Queen has a will.

Under the gazes of countless hidden eyes, King of Han Li Yuanjia, Minister of Rites Wei Daijia, and Minister of Taichang Temple Lin Renji, without any hesitation, rushed directly to the palace after receiving the order.

……

Li Xuan stood at the side of the palace gate, looking calmly at Li Yuanjia, Wei Daijia and Lin Renji as they stepped forward to pay their respects to Empress Wu and the Crown Prince, and finally arrived in front of the imperial bed and cried three times.

Empress Wu calmly announced the appointments of Pei Yan, Li Yuanjia, Wei Daijia and Lin Renji.

The four of them immediately bowed and then gathered together to discuss the emperor's funeral arrangements.

Pei Yan was the Minister of Funerals, assisted by Li Yuanjia, Wei Daijia and Lin Renji.

But all this has nothing to do with Li Xuan.

Among the funeral officials arranged by Empress Wu and the Crown Prince, there was no position for Li Xuan, and he had no say at all. He even stood behind the palace gate.

Standing in front of Li Xuan was the imperial physician Du Wenyu, who had been a subordinate of the Imperial Pharmacist in Li Xuan's early years and was now in front of him.

On the golden steps above was the prince still kneeling in front of the imperial couch.

The emperor was dead, and without the emperor's favor, Li Xuan was not even qualified to approach the imperial bed.

Now, although he is still the prince's guest, the prince is about to ascend the throne and become emperor, which means that his status as the prince's guest has been abolished.

Now in the court, his only position is General of the Right Guard and King of Peng.

Without the emperor's summons, the General of the Right Guard could not mobilize many troops.

So the only thing that allows Li Xuan to stay in this palace now is his position as King Peng.

When Li Yuanjia was not around, Li Xuan stood beside Li Xian and could still represent the royal family. Now that Li Yuanjia has arrived, he can only lean back.

As for the Prince's Guardian, Li Xian had not yet ascended the throne and the prince had not been appointed, so there was no such thing as a Prince's Guardian.

Li Xuan glanced at Li Xian lightly, then lowered his head. Li Xian was still crying softly.

Now that there is no emperor, Li Xian will face tremendous pressure directly from Empress Wu.

Li Xuan didn't know if he could hold on.

Li Xian is like this, and so is Li Xuan.

In the past, when the emperor was around, Li Xuan didn't need to worry about doing anything wrong.

Because even if he is not so law-abiding and may be biased, the emperor will tolerate everything about him as long as he can see good results.

Now that the emperor is gone, Li Xuan needs to face Pei Yan, Li Xian and Empress Wu at the same time.

If he reacted slightly wrongly, Li Xian would turn against him, Pei Yan would be hostile, and Empress Wu would take action. Everything would be caused by too much hesitation.

The positions are different, even Li Xian may not agree with Li Xuan.

With his head lowered, the sadness in Li Xuan's eyes gradually faded away.

Li Zhi died of illness and Li Xian ascended the throne.

Li Xuan must first be prepared to deal with everything at any time, and he must even do his best to help Li Xian stabilize the throne.

At least that was the case until February.

Empress Wu, Pei Yan, aristocratic families, royal family members, etc., Li Xuan needs to help Li Xian stabilize the throne under the pressure of countless forces.

But he would not offend Empress Wu too much.

After all, Li Xian would not have enough power to protect him like Li Zhi.

And Li Xuan will have to stay in Luoyang City until February.

In February, following the order of the late emperor, Prince Peng left the capital.

Once he could leave Beijing safely, everything in the court would have nothing to do with him.

He did his best.

If Li Xian could not keep the throne, it would have nothing to do with him.

There is also Li Dan. Li Xian lost his throne and Li Dan ascended the throne.

Once Li Dan was unable to hold on to the throne, Empress Wu would eventually ascend the throne.

Then the throne will no longer have anything to do with Li Zhi's lineage.

Whoever seizes the throne from Empress Wu will inherit the position.

Endless sharpness flashed in Li Xuan's eyes.