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

Chapter 1569: Mutiny and Heavy Blood

In Qianyang Palace, on the throne, Li Xian turned around and looked at Empress Wu in disbelief.

He could never have imagined that things would turn out like this in the end.

He also couldn't believe that his mother would come up with such a thing to slander him in order to deal with him.

Witchcraft cursing his mother, no matter how absurd Li Xian was, he had never thought of such a thing.

No matter who is charged with this crime, even if it is the emperor, he will be doomed to death.

Li Xian said in a bitter voice: "Mother, if you don't want Sanlang to sit on the throne, you can just say that your son will give up the throne. Why do you have to come up with these things? Not only do you slander your son's innocence, but you also shorten your own life span."

Empress Wu raised her head and said coldly, "Sanlang, I have always treated you well. You have been the crown prince for many years, so there have been many omissions. I and the late emperor have made up for it many times, and it has not been a big mistake. I didn't expect you to be so crazy today, cursing me and your biological mother with witchcraft. Li Xian, you are so unfilial."

Unfilial, unfilial.

The two words kept echoing in the Qianyang Palace and weighed heavily on the emperor's heart.

If Li Xuan were here, he would definitely understand that Empress Wu would stop at nothing to depose Li Xian.

In history, Empress Wu used various means to oppress Li Xian, with the purpose of making Li Xian say the wrong thing.

Sure enough, Empress Wu seized the opportunity to depose Li Xian by saying, "I would be willing to give the world to him."

It is the same now. Under the guidance of Li Xuan and others, Li Xian has become more and more wise. It is not easy to find his mistakes, so there is only one way, which is to slander and frame him directly.

The emperor cursed his own mother with witchcraft for the sake of power. How could such a crazy and unfilial person be the supreme ruler of the world and sit on the throne?

Empress Wu slapped the back of her chair fiercely, raised her head, and shouted in a cold voice: "Come here, arrest this unfilial and rebellious son and take him to the side hall."

"Yes!" Amidst the loud bang, countless heavy footsteps came from outside the hall.

Zhang Qianxu, dressed in red and golden armor, rushed in with a dozen guards holding long spears and in full military armor.

The sharp spear blade thrust forward and went straight to the bottom of the golden steps.

There was even a sharp cold light flashing in Li Xian's eyes.

"Zhang Qianxu, what are you doing?" Pei Yan immediately turned around, pointed at Zhang Qianxu with the tablet in his hand and roared.

He didn't expect that Zhang Qianxu would lead his men directly into the hall after Empress Wu gave the order.

You must know that Zhang Qianxu, the general of the imperial guard, was promoted by Pei Yan alone.

After all, it was he and Cheng Wuting who stabbed Pei Xingjian in the Turkic war that year, which gave Pei Yan the opportunity to become the Shizhong. However, Pei Yan did not expect that this person would do such a ridiculous thing today.

"This is Qianyang Palace, Zhang Qianxu, do you want to rebel?" Yao Lingzhang immediately stood up and pointed at Zhang Qianxu with gritted teeth.

What happened on the golden steps was the dispute between the emperor and his mother, Empress Wu.

But under the golden steps, Zhang Qianxu's rash joining the army was tantamount to mutiny.

Not only Pei Yan and Yao Lingzhang, but most of the court officials and military generals in the hall all looked at Zhang Qianxu coldly, as if they were looking at a dead person.

Zhang Qianxu looked at Pei Yan and Yao Lingzhang with cold eyes, raised his hand slightly, and the guards beside him stepped forward, raised the long spear in their hands heavily, and then smashed it hard on Yao Lingzhang's shoulder.

With a "bang", Yao Lingzhang was knocked to his knees on the ground by the powerful force.

Yao Lingzhang suddenly felt extremely painful, unable to speak or stand up.

At this time, Zhang Qianxu glanced at Pei Yan calmly, then turned upwards and said, "Your Majesty, I am here in compliance with your command."

The ministers' breathing suddenly became heavy.

Everyone knew that Zhang Qianxu's appearance here must be related to Empress Wu, but no one expected that they would be so direct.

Empress Wu nodded slightly, looked at Li Xian and said, "Sanlang, you were wrong about what happened yesterday. Please step back. I will discuss with the ministers how to deal with you."

Li Xian's mouth suddenly flashed with obvious sarcasm. He ignored Empress Wu and turned to look at Zhang Qianxu: "Mr. Zhang, if I remember correctly, I asked you to guard Xuanwu Gate, not to come to the front court. How did you get here?"

Zhang Qianxu did not answer Li Xian, but looked up at Empress Wu behind the pearl curtain.

Empress Wu nodded slightly, and Zhang Qianxu then spoke: "Your Majesty, what you want to ask is how I passed the Daye Gate and Zhulong Gate, right?"

Li Xian nodded lightly.

Zhang Qianxu said indifferently: "I am the general of the imperial guards. Li Ling cannot question the lieutenant general of the imperial guards. He cannot stop me from doing anything. As for Li Yi..."

With a "bang", a bloody head was thrown in directly from behind.

Looking at his face, it was none other than the Imperial Guard General Li Yi.

Zhang Qianxu said calmly: "Li Yi is still quite capable. He is forbidden to go inside and outside, but his time in the Imperial Guard is too short. Although he has some confidants around him, we have the Queen Mother's decree in our hands. His subordinates do not support him at all. If they resist stubbornly, they will only die."

Zhang Qianxu's words finally added a touch of blood to today's palace coup.

Li Xian shook his head calmly and said with emotion: "What a pity. Back then, my father personally transferred Li Yi back to the capital from King Peng to guard the imperial guards. I didn't expect that he was not even your opponent... Zhang Qing, I still don't understand. I treated you well, even better than Cheng Wuting. Why did you betray me?"

Zhang Qianxu fell silent.

Li Xian treated him more than just nicely.

In the past, the late emperor appointed Cheng Wuting and Zhang Qianxu as generals of the imperial guards. In order to check and balance Pei Yan, Li Xuan chose to choose one of them to win over. In the end, they chose Zhang Qianxu. After all, Cheng Wuting was much stronger than Zhang Qianxu in many aspects.

"Although Your Majesty treats me well, You Majesty has never regarded me as your confidant. Li Yi, Li Lingwen, and Qin Ming all hold a higher position in Your Majesty's heart than I do. I just want to find a loyal person who can fully accept me." Zhang Qianxu lowered his head slightly.

"If you don't give me your loyalty, how can I trust you?" Li Xian sneered. Zhang Qianxu was a selfish person. He did nothing but wanted others to completely entrust their hearts to him. How could this be possible?

Zhang Qianxu opened his mouth and wanted to refute, but he couldn't refute it no matter what.

Pei Yan on one side, as well as many court officials and many military officers on the other side, all looked at him with disdain. Zhang Qianxu raised his head and looked at Empress Wu, then bowed slightly.

Empress Wu nodded slightly, and then said: "Well, now that I have explained it clearly, Your Majesty, please move to another palace."

"Yes!" Zhang Qianxu immediately turned around, looked at Li Xian solemnly and said, "Your Majesty, please!"

As soon as Zhang Qianxu finished speaking, two imperial guards stepped forward and grabbed Li Xian's shoulders.

Li Xian did not even look at the two imperial guards, but just looked at Zhang Qianxu calmly, sneering softly: "Just you!"

Zhang Qianxu couldn't help but be stunned. The next moment, with a "swish", eight thick ropes dropped directly from the top of the hall. Before anyone could react, eight sharp swords had already fallen directly from above.

In an instant, eight streams of blood spurted out from the necks of the eight guards.

At the same time, eight guards in black clothes and black armor appeared behind the eight royal guards.

The long swords were drawn, and the eight guards landed on the ground at the same time. However, the moment they landed, the long spears that were originally in their hands had appeared in the hands of the black-armored soldiers.

The sudden change startled everyone.

Zhang Qianxu could not help but take several steps back, and the remaining guards around him immediately held long spears to protect him.

Not only that, Zhang Qianxu waved his hand behind him, and in an instant, more guards rushed into the Qianyang Palace.

The ministers could not help but look outside, and sure enough, inside Qianyang Palace, there were nearly two teams of guards standing at the entrance of the palace.

Not only that, outside the entire Qianyang Palace, more guards began to take over the defense completely.

This is also the reason why the Qianniu Guards and Jinwu Guards who were originally guarding the Qianyang Palace did not move at all.

The emperor does have people in his hands, but they are not enough.

……

Empress Wu sat behind the pearl curtain and looked at the eight black-armored guards who appeared behind Li Xian with some surprise. She frowned and asked, "When did you hide such a group of people?"

Li Xian turned sideways and looked behind him. Two black-armored guards had come to his side, one on the left and one on the right.

The sharp spear moved forward gently and aimed at Empress Wu.

Li Xian then bowed to Empress Wu and said, "Your Majesty, you should know that the first lesson I should have learned from Uncle Wang's treatment of me is that when a common man gets angry, blood will splatter five steps away."

Empress Wu frowned slightly and her eyes fell behind Li Xian.

Li Xian's secret guards have completely occupied the space above the golden steps.

Although Zhang Qianxu, who was further behind, had more soldiers, the emperor had the final say within a radius of five steps.

Empress Wu was within these five steps.

It was precisely because of this that Zhang Qianxu dared not move.

Because if he took action against the emperor, the emperor might also take action against Empress Wu.

Although killing one's mother is the most unfilial act in the world, Empress Wu had already gone to the extent of deposing the emperor, so why would Li Xian hesitate?

That’s right, it’s the deposed emperor.

Empress Wu had already accused the emperor of using witchcraft to curse her, so Li Xian had no other choice but to be deposed.

The other stuff about living in a side palace was just a trick used by Empress Wu to deceive people.

Everyone understood this, so once the emperor was reckless and killed Empress Wu, all of Zhang Qianxu's adventures and speculations would be in vain.

Empress Wu looked at Li Xian calmly and asked, "So you have hidden this group of people?"

"My uncle said that within five steps, one controls oneself; outside five steps, within the entire palace, one controls the court; within Luoyang City, the entire court controls the world." Li Xian bowed slightly, looked at Empress Wu and said, "I think this is the way of the emperor, do you agree, mother?"

The corners of Empress Wu's mouth twitched slightly and her eyes were solemn.

Li Xian was thinking from himself to the entire court and then to the entire world.

To put it bluntly, Empress Wu also used this method.

Looking around the world, all the court officials still support Li Xian.

The only place where Empress Wu could gain an advantage was Luoyang.

Even in the entire palace, the only thing Empress Wu can control now is the Qianyang Palace.

All the important officials in the central government of the entire Tang Dynasty are here.

Today, as long as these important ministers are in Wu Zetian's hands, then the whole world is in her hands.

The ministers in the hall looked up at Li Xian. They suddenly realized that the emperor, who was somewhat mediocre in their eyes, actually showed outstanding talent in governing the country and was extremely extraordinary.

……

Empress Wu looked straight at Li Xian and asked, "Now that the situation is like this, what do you want?"

Li Xian turned sideways and looked at Li Jingjia, the General of the Left Thousand Bull Guard, who was among the ministers, and said calmly, "Mr. Li, please lead your men out of the palace now and summon Qin Shandao, the General of the Left Jinwu Guard, and Qin Ming, the General of the Right Guard, to enter the palace."

"Yes!" Li Jingjia bowed without any hesitation, and without even looking at the sharp spear in front of him, he directly asked people to leave the palace.

At this moment, a cold dagger suddenly stabbed into Li Jingjia's lower back from behind.

Blood suddenly appeared.

(End of this chapter)