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

Chapter 1581 Li Xuan takes action to lay out the world
On May 23rd, at the beginning of the Si hour, outside Chunming Gate in Chang'an.

White banners stood in the air and yellow paper was scattered all over the ground.

The air was filled with incense and funeral music was playing.

Countless guards were dressed in white, holding white banners, with swords slung across their waists, looking solemnly forward.

All officials above the ninth rank in Chang'an were tied up in silk ribbons and stood outside the city gate, waiting for the arrival of Emperor Gaozong's coffin.

Liu Rengui stood at the head of all officials with a blank expression.

Before, he was called the late emperor, but now even the word "late emperor" has become extremely embarrassing.

Less than half a year after Emperor Gaozong passed away, Emperor Zhongzong was forcibly deposed and killed.

Nowadays, there is no definite answer as to whether the term "late emperor" refers to Emperor Gaozong or Emperor Zhongzong.

The hasty palace coup made everything seem unreasonable.

That’s right, it’s neither right nor justifiable.

Although Li Dan ascended the throne as the son of Emperor Gaozong, the reason given by the palace for the death of his elder brother, Emperor Zhongzong Li Xian, was that he died suddenly due to witchcraft.

In this case, after Emperor Zhongzong's sudden death, the one who ascended the throne should have been Crown Prince Li Chongzhao, not Prince of Xiang Li Dan.

Only after all of Emperor Zhongzong's descendants had died did it come to Prince of Xiang Li Dan's turn.

This is the most awkward part of the whole incident.

If Li Xian died suddenly and Li Chongzhao ascended the throne, the Wei family would still serve the in-laws, and people like Yao Lingzhang, Li Xuan, and Su Liangsi would still serve the new emperor wholeheartedly. Now is the legitimate order of succession to the throne.

However, Empress Wu chose Li Dan to ascend the throne, which clearly told the people of the world that the emperor's death was in doubt!
With Empress Wu's intelligence, she could naturally see this, so she hurriedly sent Zhang Qianxu back to Chang'an to capture Li Chongzhao.

If the heir Li Chongzhao fell into the hands of Empress Wu, then at that time, all she would need to do was kowtow to Li Dan to show her submission and give up the throne. Then Li Dan's accession to the throne would be justified, and the awkwardness in the middle would no longer exist.

However, Li Chongzhao escaped, Zhang Qianxu broke into the Eastern Palace, and Crown Prince Li Chongzhao escaped.

It would have been fine if Li Chongzhao had died, and it would have been fine if Li Dan's legitimate opponent had been gone, but Li Chongzhao not only did not die, but disappeared without a trace.

Even though Zhang Qianxu searched the entire Weiqu, he could not find Li Chongzhao.

This means that once Li Chongzhao appears somewhere and ascends the throne with their support, the Tang Dynasty will have two emperors.

A civil strife is inevitable.

Zhang Qianxu, who caused all this, will naturally not have a good ending.

Liu Rengui glanced at Zhang Qianxu sideways, then looked to the other side.

Prince of Han Li Yuanjia, Prince of Huo Li Yuangui, Prince of Shu Li Yuanming, Prince of Teng Li Yuanying and others also stood to one side with a blank expression.

They also couldn't imagine that they had just returned to their post, but when they came back, the emperor had changed.

After learning the news, they were trapped in the palace for seven days.

I'm afraid they have never experienced such a thing again, except for the Xuanwu Gate Incident that year and the later Fang Yiai's rebellion.

In addition, there was the Secretary of the Secretariat, and Fan Lubing, a third-rank official under the Secretariat.

The new Minister of War Duan Baoxuan, Minister of Rites Wei Daijia, Minister of Works Huang Rensu, and Minister of Honglu Temple Yuan Ming.

The newly appointed Vice Minister of Rites Wu Sansi, Vice Minister of War Cen Changqian, Vice Minister of Justice Li Zhaode, the Chief Water Conservancy Commissioner He Yiqiu, and more than a dozen other officials were all waiting.

General Cheng Chubi of the Left Jinwu Guard and General Wang Guo of the Left Wei Guard stood beside Zhang Qianxu. They could feel the endless strangeness in the eyes of the ministers and Zhang Qianxu.

In this coup, they were obviously accomplices as well.

Soon, mournful music sounded in front of them, and all the ministers present burst into tears at the same time: "Oh, the late emperor!"

Yellow paper leads the way, and white banners stand in rows.

Escorted by countless soldiers and palace maids dressed in white linen mourning clothes, the coffin of the late Emperor Gaozong Li Zhi finally returned to Chang'an City.

The Minister of the Central Secretariat Doulu Qinwang and the General of the Left Thousand Oxen Guard Xue Guwu marched forward on both sides.

After meeting Liu Rengui and whispering a few words, the ministers immediately dispersed into two rows.

Under the command of Xue Guwu, many military generals guarded on both sides of the coffin.

Before he knew it, Zhang Qianxu had fallen behind.

Behind the coffin came the new emperor Li Dan, dressed in white linen mourning clothes and walking in front. Li Dan walked among the crowd with tears on his face, followed by Wang Dezhen, Dou Xuande, Duguqi, Wei Xuantong, Miao Chuke, Pei Judao and others.

The kings who stayed in Chang'an looked at their new emperor Li Dan with sad faces, but also a hint of doubt.

The Queen Mother did not accompany him, and the new emperor held all the power.

So what role did their new emperor Li Dan play in this palace coup?

After this group of people passed by, the ministers quickly joined the queue and returned to Chang'an City with the coffin of the late emperor, crying.

No one noticed that at the end of the group of ministers, the General of the Left Jinwu Guard, Ma Sizong, had quietly separated from the group of ministers and headed towards the armies of the guards around Chang'an.

……

Xiyu Tower, in the underground secret room.

The sound of light footsteps was heard and Li Xuan slowly opened her eyes.

He raised his head and looked at the smooth walls, then breathed a sigh of relief.

Su Lianyu, wearing a green and red-belted chest-length skirt, walked lightly into the secret room and bowed gently to Li Xuan: "My Lord."

Li Xuan breathed a sigh of relief and asked, "What's the matter?"

Su Lianyu bowed and said, "My Lord, the new emperor has carried Emperor Gaozong's coffin back to Taiji Palace. All officials above the ninth rank in Chang'an have gathered at Taiji Palace to mourn and pay homage to the late emperor."

Li Xuan nodded and said with emotion: "Isn't this another difficult time? I wonder how many people can't get through this difficult time?"

Li Dan returned to Chang'an. Although he was surrounded by Dou Lu Qinwang, Dou Xuande, Dugu Qi, and Fan Lubing, to be honest, he was still just a puppet in the hands of others.

In fact, his every word and action was under the control of Empress Wu.

One is Li Dan, the other is Zhang Qianxu.

The two people were the targets of the court officials' concentrated fire this time.

Li Xian is dead, someone must take responsibility.

Li Dan could not be the one who took the biggest responsibility, but he was the one who benefited the most besides Empress Wu. Naturally, he also had to face the questions of the court officials.

Chang'an is not like Luoyang.

In Luoyang, Empress Wu used Li Yi's head, Li Xian's blood, and people like Yao Lingzhang who were thrown into death row to shock the ministers.

At the same time, he used lavish rewards to force all officials to temporarily submit.

But now in Chang'an, this is the base camp of the Longxi family.

When Li Xian ascended the throne, he had the support of many Longxi families.

There will inevitably be many people rushing out to ask Li Dan how Li Xian died.

This is inevitable.

If this matter is not handled properly, countless people will lose their lives immediately.

What followed was that the local families behind these officials began to become alienated from the imperial court.

Taxes and soldiers were soon out of supply and were intercepted, making it difficult for the central government to control the situation in the local area.

Finally, the whole country was in chaos and the Tang Dynasty fell apart.

Of course, before that, Empress Wu would establish the Wu Zhou Dynasty and use the power of the Wu Zhou Dynasty to fight against disobedience.

The world will gradually fall into the hands of Empress Wu, and then she will grow old and the world will return to the Li Tang dynasty.

Li Xuan sat there, and the future situation flashed through his mind in an instant.

He then shook his head lightly. Now that he was there, such a future would never happen again.

But he had never thought of using a change of dynasty to increase his control over the world.

Retracting his thoughts, Li Xuan looked at Su Lianyu and asked, "In Chang'an City, how is the prophecy of 'Tang will last for three generations, and Wu will replace Tang' spreading now?"

"Sparks are everywhere, but they are all in the dark." Su Lianyu looked at Li Xuan solemnly.

Ever since the heavenly fire fell on the Da Ci'en Temple, the nursery rhyme "Heavenly fire descends upon the earth, the emperor is reborn" has spread throughout the world with the help of the attention of the entire Chang'an City.

What followed was the news that Emperor Zhongzong had passed away and Prince Li Dan had ascended the throne.

For the common people, the death of Zhongzong and the ascension of Li Dan to the throne had little to do with them, after all, they were both sons of Emperor Gaozong.

Of course, in the eyes of all officials, the confusion of the inheritance and the whereabouts of Crown Prince Li Chongzhao who was in the middle made them feel extremely uncomfortable.

Just at this time, news came out that "Tang lasted for three generations, and Wu replaced Tang", which made the people in Chang'an even more uneasy.

Of course, there is more than that, especially during the reign of Emperor Taizong, there are still many elderly people alive today.

After all, even those born in the last years of Emperor Taizong's reign would only be around 40 years old now. The chaos of "Tang lasted for three generations, and Wu replaced Tang" eventually led to the unjust death of Li Junxian, the governor of Huazhou.

There were also several times when Wu Zetian was clearly mentioned, including Zhangsun Wuji, Shangguan Yi, and Hao Chujun. Although the mentions became more and more obscure, they still existed.

Today this sentence has risen again, and it really makes people feel that the Tang Dynasty is approaching.

"Very good." Li Xuan nodded, and then said: "Go and do three things."

"Yes!" Su Lianyu immediately became serious.

Li Xuan said softly: "The first thing is to spread this prophecy widely in Bingzhou Taiyuan Prefecture, especially around Bingzhou Wu Family and Taiyuan Wang Family."

"Yes!" Su Lianyu responded without any hesitation.

Li Xuan smiled softly, and then said: "There are prophecies in Chang'an and Taiyuan, my hometown, which are enough to make Wu Sansi tempted."

Su Lianyu's expression became serious.

Li Xuan's face instantly turned cold: "Keep an eye on all the secret guards who come out of Taiyuan to Luoyang to deliver messages, and kill them all in the mountains of southern Shanxi."

"Yes!"

Li Xuan's expression softened instantly, and he said softly: "Remember, only kill those who are heading to Luoyang. Don't worry about Chang'an, Jizhou, and the north."

"Yes!"

A clear map of the northern border appeared in front of Li Xuan's eyes.

Yongzhou, Bingzhou, and Jizhou.

Further north is the grassland.

"The second thing." Li Xuan raised his head and said softly, "The emperor has already arrived in Chang'an, so there is no need to cover up anything. Let the prophecy explode in the foreigner-populated areas of Chang'an."

"Yes!" Su Lianyu looked extremely solemn.

"Dangxiang, Tuyuhun, Turks, Persia, Fanzhou, Silla, Japan, etc., let them all know that a palace coup has taken place in the Tang royal family." There was a deep calculation flashing in the depths of Li Xuan's eyes.

Not only Empress Wu, he has begun to think about things further.

"Yes!"

"Send a message to Li Gu to immediately cut off the communication between Eastern and Western Tuyuhun." Li Xuan's expression was stern.

Li Gu, the defender of Delingha city in Eastern Tuyuhun.

Li Xuan pushed him step by step from a young Tuyuhun general to a key figure in the defense of Delingha city.

It is also the key for Li Xuan to truly control Eastern and Western Tuyuhun.

Even if Murong wanted to replace him, he couldn't.

In a sense, Li Gu had already become a local lord.

Once Li Xuan's secret in Delingha is revealed, even Cheng Wuting will be extremely surprised.

Now, it's time to reveal everything.

"Let Tuyuhun Murong clan also sense the opportunity." Li Xuan's eyes were filled with deep sarcasm.

"Yes!"

"The third thing." Li Xuan took out a black box from behind, looked at Su Lianyu and said, "Li Dan has already entered the palace, so the soldiers surrounding the kings' homes will be withdrawn immediately, and the guards of the kings' homes will also focus on outside the homes, so you go there in person and put this box in the study of King Han's home."

"Yes!"

(End of this chapter)