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

Chapter 1583: Spring and Autumn Writing Style, Shameless

Duan Baoxuan's roar echoed throughout the Taiji Hall, and Li Dan, who was sitting on the throne, couldn't help but turn pale.

For a moment, he didn't know how to refute.

Ma Sizong and Xu Zhou at the palace gates on both sides had been staring at Duan Baoxuan, with Qianniu Swords in their hands, waiting for the order to capture Duan Baoxuan immediately.

The ministers in the hall, those who were kneeling lowered their heads even more, while those who were standing gritted their teeth even more and became more and more angry.

If it was the prince sitting on the throne at this moment, everything would be different.

Absolutely different.

Li Dan's eyes swept lightly over Fan Lubing, and Fan Lubing, who had been keeping his head down, finally raised his head.

Yes, it's him.

Now he is the one in charge of everything in Chang'an.

Even since Li Chongzhao took over as regent in Chang'an, Liu Rengui was assisting in the administration on the surface, but the person who was watching everything in secret was always Fan Lubing.

At this point, even with the new emperor Li Dan, and people like Dou Lu Qinwang and Dou Xuande, as long as there is Fan Lubing, the North Gate Scholar whom Empress Wu trusts the most, everyone else has to stand aside like Liu Rengui.

Fan Lubing raised his head and was about to stand up. At this moment, a familiar voice suddenly sounded at the palace gate: "Let this old minister explain this issue."

All the ministers in the hall turned around in surprise at the same time, and then saw Pei Yan, dressed in a purple robe, walking in from the door with a tablet in his hand.

Liu Rengui stared in amazement at Pei Yan who suddenly appeared.

Compared to a few months ago, when he was in power and full of vigor in Luoyang, Pei Yan is now obviously much older.

Although his back was still straight, his head was much lower than before.

……

Under the attention of all the ministers, Pei Yan, who was supposed to be in Luoyang, walked into the Taiji Hall with a solemn expression and stood in front of the ministers.

"Your Majesty!" Pei Yan bowed solemnly and said, "I set out from Luoyang yesterday on the orders of the Queen Mother and rushed to Chang'an in one day and one night. If I am a little late, please punish me, Your Majesty."

Li Dan breathed a sigh of relief and raised his hand, saying, "It is a blessing that Pei Qing can come here. Why would you want to punish him? Stand up."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Pei Yan bowed deeply, then stood up and turned to look at Duan Baoxuan.

Duan Baoxuan's face darkened instantly, and his eyes were full of anger and hatred as he stared at Pei Yan.

Duan Baoxuan, Wang Jishan, and even Xue Yuanchao, there was only one person they were truly loyal to, and that was Emperor Gaozong.

Emperor Gaozong appointed Pei Yan as regent to assist Emperor Zhongzong Li Xian in governing the country. Duan Baoxuan and Wang Jishan both gave their full support.

However, when Duan Baoxuan left Luoyang and went to Daizhou to pick up Xue Rengui's body, Pei Yan lost Li Xian's throne and even lost Li Xian's life.

Li Xian died, and Li Chongzhao lost his throne.

Li Dan is now in power. No matter how he explains or argues, the fact that he conspired to usurp the throne cannot be denied.

As for Pei Yan, he was incompetent and cowardly, and even after his death he was not worthy of going to the underworld to see the late emperor.

Pei Yan just glanced into Duan Baoxuan's eyes, and in an instant, endless emotions rushed out of Duan Baoxuan's eyes.

Pei Yan was breathing rapidly due to the shock, and even had difficulty breathing.

Pei Yan turned his body slightly to look at Li Dan, and said solemnly, "Your Majesty, please allow me to answer Minister Duan's question. Since Minister Duan wants to know why the Queen Mother made Your Majesty the emperor, then there is no need for me to cover up the truth about the death of the previous emperor."

Li Dan frowned slightly, then he said with a relaxed look: "In this case, I'll trouble Pei Qing."

"Yes!" Pei Yan stood up, then looked at Duan Baoxuan and bowed, "Brother Duan."

"Speak!" Duan Baoxuan responded with just one word, and his eyes became indifferent.

Pei Yan took a deep breath and said with a sigh, "In fact, most of what Your Majesty said just now is correct. It's just that in some details, they were slightly modified and concealed for the sake of the deceased. Now that Brother Duan wants to know the truth, then I, Pei, will tell you."

"Tell me!" Duan Baoxuan was already getting a little impatient.

Pei Yan turned to look at Li Dan, and said with a folded hand, "That day, the final decision was indeed to demote Concubine Yang to a commoner, imprison her in the palace, and exile her father and brother, but Your Majesty nodded in agreement.

But no one expected that after learning that His Majesty was going to depose her as a commoner and her father and brother were going to be exiled, Yang suddenly slandered him, saying that it was His Majesty who had ordered her to practice witchcraft, and that the one who was cursed was not the Queen, but the Queen Mother.

"Ah!" The ministers in the hall who had not experienced what happened that day were suddenly in an uproar.

However, those who knew the truth of that day, while lowering their heads solemnly, could not help but wonder, did Pei Yan really want to make the truth of what happened that day public?

Pei Yan took a deep breath and continued, "Of course, it wasn't that your Majesty cursed the Queen Mother. Your Majesty is kind and filial, so how could he curse the Queen Mother? It's just that at that time, for some reason, your Majesty was extremely emotional and even pulled out a sword from under the imperial desk, demanding... demanding that the Queen Mother return to the harem and no longer attend court."

Li Dan, who was sitting on the throne, was confused. What Pei Yan said seemed to be true. His royal brother did ask his mother to return to the harem and no longer attend court.

As for the secret guards under my brother, they all use the same sword, so there doesn't seem to be any problem.

and many more……

Li Dan reacted immediately.

Yang Bin did once slander her brother for practicing witchcraft and cursing the Queen Mother, but when she was in Qianyang Palace, Yang Bin had changed her words.

It was the Queen Mother who forcibly slandered the Emperor's brother for practicing witchcraft, so the Emperor's brother asked the Queen Mother to return to the harem.

Li Dan sat on the throne, looking at Pei Yan with a hint of disdain in his eyes.

After all, Pei Yan eventually became his mother's dog.

Today in this hall, the main blame was still placed on Concubine Yang, and then it was said openly that his royal brother was innocent, but in fact, it was implied that his royal brother had gone too far.

After all, when his father was dying, he explicitly allowed his mother to rule from the beginning to the fifteenth day of the lunar month. By doing so, his brother was already violating his father's will.

Therefore, it is reasonable that it was abolished.

Many people in the hall had already understood. Even Dou Lu Qinwang, Wang Dezhen and others showed a hint of disdain when they looked at Pei Yan.

Pei Yan's expression remained calm. He looked at Li Dan and bowed, saying, "Emperor Zhongzong did something wrong. The Queen Mother was furious and ordered him to live in another palace. Then she discussed with me and other ministers how to deal with him. However, when the Imperial Guard General Zhang Qianxu wanted to take Emperor Zhongzong away, Emperor Zhongzong used his sword to defend himself. After his sword was knocked away, he hit his head on the blade of a lance under the Imperial Guard General Zhang Qianxu's command and hanged himself to death."

Pei Yan used the Spring and Autumn style of writing to the extreme.

It is obvious that Li Xian was slandered and forcibly deposed by Empress Wu, but here it is said that he was emotionally agitated, did wrong things, misjudged the situation, and finally committed suicide.

The ministers kneeling on the ground couldn't help but turn their heads away, not wanting to look at Pei Yan's villainous appearance.

The ministers who were standing were all convinced by Pei Yan's seemingly reasonable statement.

Many people even looked at Zhang Qianxu, as he appeared quite frequently in Pei Yan's last sentence.

Smart people will naturally hear the problem. Pei Yan’s words are not flawless, but in the end, he has pointed out the problem.

Imperial Guard General Zhang Qianxu.

Zhang Qianxu was kneeling at the back, his breathing already becoming heavy.

He knew very well that Pei Yan was deeply resentful of him.

Pei Yan helped him a lot to get to where he is today, but in the matter of Li Xian, Zhang Qianxu stabbed Pei Yan in the back.

After Pei Yan's words today, all the officials in the court, whether from Luoyang or Chang'an, would look at him with strange expressions.

……

Pei Yan turned around and said to Duan Baoxuan, "Later, the palace found more witchcraft in Yangpin's bedroom, including one that cursed Emperor Zhongzong and Empress Tian. With these, Emperor Zhongzong's stupidity in the palace can be explained."

Duan Baoxuan looked at Pei Yan, his expression still cold.

No matter how good Pei Yan's writing skills are, or how much he tries to conceal his faults and exaggerate his achievements, how could he hide it from the eyes of a former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and former Minister of Justice?

Naturally, Pei Yan had also served as the Minister of Justice, so this lie was so easy for him to make up.

Duan Baoxuan knew without even looking that many people in the hall had already agreed with Pei Yan's explanation, leaving only one last question.

"Emperor Zhongzong has passed away, and the world cannot be without a ruler for a day. However, Emperor Zhongzong was related to witchcraft after all, so for the sake of the future, the Queen Mother appointed the current emperor to rule the world. Since the current emperor is not familiar with the court officials, she will mourn for Emperor Gaozong for three years. During these three years, the Queen Mother will show mercy, and after three years, Your Majesty will rule the country."

Pei Yan bowed deeply to Li Dan, then looked at Duan Baoxuan and said, "As for the matter of the crown prince, it was because the Queen Mother wanted to avoid any changes in the world that she asked the Imperial Guard General Zhang Qianxu to bring people back to Chang'an to temporarily control the crown prince. But who knew that he would actually attack the East Palace and massacre everyone. Therefore, we obey the Queen Mother's order."

Pei Yan turned around completely, staring straight at Zhang Qianxu, and said word by word with gritted teeth: "In compliance with the order of the Empress, from now on, the Imperial Guard General Zhang Qianxu will be confined to self-reflection, and the Imperial Guard General Li Lingwen will be in charge of the Imperial Guard, with the assistance of the Imperial Guard Lieutenant General Xu Zhou."

Zhang Qianxu suddenly looked up and looked at Pei Yan in horror.

Pei Yan shouted coldly, "General Li, take people to escort General Zhang back to the palace."

"Yes!" A calm voice came from outside the hall.

Then, Li Lingwen, dressed in red and golden armor, strode into the hall with two trusted men.

With a wave of his hand, his two trusted confidants grabbed Zhang Qianxu from the left and right.

Zhang Qianxu was about to open his mouth to stop him, but he saw that Li Lingwen's right hand was tightly gripping the sword, with veins bulging on his hand.

He immediately understood that if he was caught making the slightest mistake, Li Lingwen would kill him without hesitation.

So in an instant, Zhang Qianxu stopped resisting and was obediently taken away by Li Lingwen's men.

The ministers in the hall, especially those kneeling on the ground who had returned from Luoyang, were filled with endless pleasure when they saw Zhang Qianxu being dragged out.

You have today too.

This matter was not over yet. Everyone could see that Empress Wu was planning to use Zhang Qianxu as a scapegoat.

Since Zhang Qianxu no longer had Empress Wu's trust, the power of the imperial guards fell into the hands of Li Lingwen...

Many people's breathing became heavy.

……

"Everything is done." Pei Yan turned to look at Li Dan, knelt down heavily and said: "I have fulfilled my mission. I pay my respects to Your Majesty. May Your Majesty live a long life."

Li Dan nodded slightly, breathed a sigh of relief, and looked at Liu Rengui, Duan Baoxuan and others who were standing there.

For a moment, all the ministers in the hall looked at the people standing there at the same time.

The people who were standing turned their eyes to Liu Rengui.

Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, Liu Rengui slowly knelt down and said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, I am Liu Rengui. May your Majesty live forever."

The ministers were stunned.

At this time, Liu Rengui spoke again: "Since Emperor Gaozu, I have served Emperor Taizong, Emperor Gaozong, Emperor Zhongzong, and now Your Majesty. I have served for five dynasties and am too old to bear it. Therefore, I would like to retire. I hope Your Majesty will grant my approval."

"Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you. May your Majesty live forever." Duan Baoxuan knelt down with Liu Rengui without waiting for everyone to react, and said, "I have served four dynasties since Emperor Taizong's reign. I have been through many wars and my health is not good. Therefore, I would like to retire. I hope Your Majesty will grant my consent."

Immediately, one by one, the officials who were standing knelt down and said, "Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you. May your Majesty live forever. I am too old, so I would like to retire. I hope your Majesty will grant my consent."

Li Dan on the throne was completely shocked.

(End of this chapter)