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

Chapter 1673: You vicious woman!

Dou Lu Qinwang stumbled into the Zhuangjing Palace, and seeing Li Dan and Dugu lying on the couch, he knelt down unconsciously and murmured, "Your Majesty!"

"Your Majesty!" All the ministers in the hall knelt down and kowtowed with choked voices.

It is a great event in heaven: the emperor has passed away.

However, except in the Zhuangjing Hall, no sound of crying or mourning could be heard in the entire palace.

Dou Xuande, Wu Sansi, and Yan Huaidan lagged behind, and finally walked from Daye Gate to the entrance of Zhuangjing Hall. They bowed heavily to Empress Wu standing in front of the door and said, "Empress of Heaven!"

Empress Wu stood there indifferently, and nodded slightly to the three people: "Go in and see the emperor for the last time."

"Yes!" The three of them bowed heavily and then entered the hall one after another.

Inside the bedroom, two white silks were hung on the beams.

Li Dan and Dugu were lying on the soft couch, with clear marks of ligatures on their necks.

Empress Wu said calmly, "Last night, I led people to see the emperor. He was already like this. No one knew why the emperor had to commit suicide."

The ministers bowed slightly, and some even turned sideways, not wanting Empress Wu to see the uncontrollable nausea on their faces.

Yes, it's disgusting.

Some things can deceive everyone once or twice.

After so many times, no one believes it anymore.

Emperor Xiaojing Li Hong, Emperor Zhongzong Li Xian, and Prince Zhanghuai Li Xian.

When a person died, some people suspected that it was related to Empress Wu, but it might be just a rumor.

When two or three people were harmed by Empress Wu, the impression could no longer be restored.

Now Li Dan committed suicide for unknown reasons. Who would believe Empress Wu when she said she knew nothing?

"May I ask the Empress?" Dou Xuande stood up with some difficulty and bowed to Empress Wu, saying, "The Emperor is like this, then what about the Empress?"

Li Dan’s queen, Dou, was from the Dou family.

The reason why the Dou family continued to fully support Empress Wu after she used Li Dan as a puppet was not only because Empress Wu promised to return power to Li Dan after three years, but also because they had the crown prince Li Chengqi.

Although Li Chengqi later fell into the hands of Li Xuan, in addition to hoping that the court could defeat Li Xuan and take Li Chengqi back, they also hoped that Li Dan and the queen could have another child.

After all, Li Dan and the Queen are still very young, so there is no problem in having another child.

Therefore, the existence of the queen is very important to the Dou family.

"Empress." Empress Wu looked at Dou Xuande calmly and said softly, "Dou Qing, the Empress is living in another palace. She has not been told about the Emperor's affairs."

"I would like to see the Queen." Dou Xuande looked solemn and bowed his hands in insistence.

The other ministers in the hall had fallen completely silent. They had vaguely understood Dou Xuande's thoughts.

Could it be that the Queen...

Empress Wu continued to shake her head and said, "The Emperor hanged himself. I am worried that this will make the Empress too sad, so I don't plan to tell her about this matter. There is no need for you to disturb her."

"I insist!" Dou Xuande raised his head, gritted his teeth, and said word by word: "Please see the queen."

"No." Empress Wu simply waved her sleeves.

"You vicious woman, you vicious woman!" Dou Xuande suddenly pounced on Empress Wu and grabbed her neck, but two guards immediately jumped out from behind Empress Wu, grabbed Dou Xuande, and dragged him back.

Even though Dou Xuande was being controlled, he was already dancing wildly at Empress Wu, shouting, "They are your sons and daughters-in-law, how could you do this, how could you harm them like this, God, how could there be such a vicious woman in the world... Your Majesty, I was wrong, I was wrong, I shouldn't have let the Prince of Xiang ascend the throne!"

"Take him away." Empress Wu shouted angrily, and Dou Xuande was taken away directly after his mouth was blocked by the guards.

……

Empress Wu suppressed her anger and turned to look at the other ministers.

For some reason, a trace of sadness appeared on the faces of all the ministers.

Empress Wu was stunned for a moment, and immediately remembered the last words Dou Xuande said.

Your Majesty, the Your Majesty he was referring to was not Li Dan, but the late emperor.

Empress Wu's expression changed slightly, and then her expression turned cold. She looked at the ministers and said, "The emperor's affairs... have come to this. He is my own son. How could I harm him? Especially now that the traitor King Peng is stationed outside the city, how could I do such a foolish thing?"

"Yes!" The ministers responded in a staggered manner, their voices were neither loud nor uniform.

A hint of anger flashed across Empress Wu's eyes, and the five fingers of her right hand began to move involuntarily.

"Empress!" Wu Sansi stood up from the side and bowed to Empress Wu, saying, "Empress, now that your Majesty has passed away, the country cannot be without a ruler for a day. May I ask, who in the palace is worthy of succeeding the throne?"

After Wu Sansi said this, all the ministers immediately looked up at Empress Wu.

That’s right, a country cannot be without a king for a day.

Li Dan died and a new one was appointed.

But no matter what, there must be someone on the throne.

Especially now, outside the city of Luoyang, there is Li Xuan who is eyeing them covetously.

If the people of Luoyang knew that Li Dan was dead, their morale would probably be shaken immediately. Then, as soon as Li Xuan attacked, the soldiers on the city would give up resistance.

"There are two people." Empress Wu spoke calmly, "One is Wei's second son, Prince Ping'en, and the other is Zheng's son, Xiao Bao'er."

These are the two sons of Emperor Zhongzong, and one of them was even a posthumous child.

All the ministers fell silent immediately. Empress Wu had taken the throne from Li Xian and given it to Li Dan. Now that Li Dan was dead, would the throne be passed back to Li Xian's son?
Of course, the two children were still young, so it was no problem for Empress Wu to rule the country from behind the scenes for ten years, but what about after ten years?

For many people, ten years is not a very distant period of time. After all, ten or twenty years ago are all right before our eyes. Ten years later, it will be nothing at all.

"Let's call it Zheng's son." Empress Wu calmly looked up and said, "At least he has no relationship with Wei. As for his name, let's call him Li Chongjun. Now go and meet our princes, and then the prince will ascend the throne tomorrow morning." "Yes!" The ministers bowed, but their expressions were extremely solemn.

What are these things?

When the emperor died, it was not the crown prince who ascended the throne, but the emperor's brother, the son of another emperor.

……

Outside Renshou Palace, the cry of a baby can be clearly heard.

Li Chongjun was only nine months old.

Empress Wu stood outside the palace with an indifferent expression, watching the ministers go in and out one by one. Some of them even had happy looks on their faces.

Zheng was the daughter of Zheng from Xingyang.

Since the dethronement of Crown Prince Li Jiancheng, the Zheng family finally has another grandson who has the opportunity to become emperor.

Many of the ministers have more or less relationships with the Zheng family.

After all the ministers came out one after another, Zheng came out of the palace with the help of her maid. She hugged Li Chongjun, knelt on the ground, and kowtowed solemnly: "Mother!"

"Yes!" Empress Wu nodded indifferently and said, "Tomorrow, Chongjun will ascend the throne. You will be the Empress Dowager and I will be the Grand Empress Dowager. You and I will rule the country together from behind the curtain."

"Your son...your son thanks you for your grace, mother. However, your son is uneducated and knows nothing about government affairs. You are incapable of taking on the responsibility of ruling from behind the curtain. I hope your mother will take charge of it." Zheng took a deep breath and kowtowed heavily to the ground.

She had not yet lost her mind.

Empress Wu nodded slightly and said, "Okay, Qiu Huan, prepare everything overnight."

"Yes!" Qiu Huan immediately stood up and bowed.

Empress Wu no longer looked at Zheng and turned around, walking towards the Qianyang Palace.

Li Xuan is now throwing fireballs towards Luoyang City every moment, and there are thousands of elite soldiers watching nearby. If anyone can't help but open the city gate, she will be finished.

Empress Wu will keep an eye on it personally.

……

It was late at night and the ministers left.

Empress Wu sat alone in the Qianyang Palace handling state affairs.

"Queen Wu, Duke Liang requests to see you." Qiu Huan whispered in Empress Wu's ear.

Empress Wu raised her eyebrows slightly and said, "Let him in."

"Yes!" Qiu Huan retreated carefully. Soon, Wu Sansi came in alone and bowed solemnly, saying, "Your Majesty, I have a memorial to report."

"Go ahead." Empress Wu nodded lightly.

Wu Sansi bowed earnestly and said, "Empress, in my humble opinion, it would be better to adopt Crown Prince Chongjun as the heir to the late emperor, and let the late emperor ascend the throne as the crown prince. This would avoid many etiquette contradictions."

"Sansi, you are doing a better and better job as the Minister of Rites." Empress Wu nodded with satisfaction. The late emperor that Wu Sansi was referring to here was naturally Li Dan.

It was definitely a very convenient thing for Li Chongjun to ascend the throne in the name of Li Dan's heir.

"Thank you for the compliment, aunt." Wu Sansi's expression showed a hint of joy.

"What about Chengqi?" Empress Wu looked up and said calmly, "Chengqi is in Chang'an now. We will have to bring him back in the future. What should we do then?"

Wu Sansi was slightly stunned, then he bowed and asked carefully: "If...if Chongjun is not at peace in the future, can we depose Chongjun and re-establish Chengqi?"

"If that's the case, why do we need to adopt him?" Empress Wu looked up calmly and said, "If we don't adopt him, there are many problems that can be solved by succeeding to the throne as the son of Emperor Zhongzong, such as the King of Peng outside the city.

Chongjun's succession to the throne is nothing more than a struggle for power by Sanlang's son. In this way, he can also be used to win over King Peng."

"It was my negligence." The corner of Wu Sansi's mouth twitched slightly.

"It's none of your business." Empress Wu waved her hand and said, "You are right. I'm afraid Chongjun will not be a quiet child in the future. Especially with the subordinates of King Peng under his command, trouble is bound to happen in the future. But isn't this just right? When we depose him and make Chengqi the emperor, then another group of people will come to power."

There is an emperor on the stage and he has a group of close people.

Once the emperor is replaced, a lot of positions will immediately become vacant.

Empress Wu could easily win over a large number of people.

Over the years, she has seen human nature too clearly.

"The Queen is wise." Wu Sansi lowered his head solemnly, but at that moment, he couldn't help gritting his teeth.

After a moment of silence, Wu Sansi couldn't help but stepped forward and said, "In that case, aunt, have you ever thought about sitting on the throne..."

"Sansi, you are so bold." Empress Wu slammed the table, stood up suddenly, and stared at Wu Sansi.

Wu Sansi immediately knelt down in a daze and said quickly: "I am guilty. I spoke nonsense."

"Humph!" Empress Wu snorted coldly and said unceremoniously: "Since ancient times, has there ever been a female emperor who ascended the throne?"

"Aunt, yes." Wu Sansi knelt down and took two steps forward, saying in a deep voice: "Not to mention long ago, thirty years ago, there was an Emperor Wenjia, Chen Shuozhen.

Earlier, there was Emperor Yuan of the Northern Wei Dynasty; even in ancient times, there was Nuwa who was also an emperor. "

"Chen Shuozhen is nothing but a traitor. Although Emperor Shang of the Northern Wei Dynasty was a woman, she pretended to be a man to ascend the throne, and was deposed on the day she ascended the throne." Empress Wu glanced at Wu Sansi with hatred, and then pondered: "As for the saint Nuwa, her deeds are too long ago..."

"Don't worry, aunt. I will take care of this matter overnight." Wu Sansi kowtowed solemnly.

Empress Wu looked at him deeply, waved her sleeves, and said, "Forget about him. We'll talk about this later."

Empress Wu stood up and walked straight towards the harem, but her steps were a little messy.

Wu Sansi, who was kneeling on the ground, finally smiled with relief.

(End of this chapter)