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

Chapter 1691: The Emperor's Last Will: Rebellion against Wu will be replaced by Tang.
Wu Sansi stood beside the imperial bed, his fierce eyes slashing directly at Empress Wu's throat with the blade.

At this moment, a figure suddenly fell from above.

With a sweep of the extremely thin sharp blade, a deep cut suddenly appeared on Wu Sansi's wrist.

In an instant, blood splattered.

The sword fell to the ground.

There was a loud "clang" and Wu Sansi's terrifying scream. His wrist was almost cut in half and blood was gushing out violently.

The entire imperial desk was suddenly covered with blood.

"Shut up!" Empress Wu shouted coldly, looking at the black-clad female guard falling from above, and ordered: "Stop the bleeding for him."

"Here!" The female guard in black grabbed the handle of the knife and tapped Wu Sansi's armpit.

The blood from Wu Sansi's wound immediately decreased.

Empress Wu lowered her head and looked at the few drops of blood dripping on the imperial couch. She reached out and gently wiped them away before sitting down on it again.

She raised her head and waved her right hand, and the majestic Empress Wu returned immediately.

Empress Wu raised her eyes and stared at Wu Youji, Wu Youzhi, and the dozen or so Wu clan members in the hall, and shouted coldly, "Kneel down!"

"Clang..." The blades fell directly to the ground, and then Wu Youji, Wu Youzhi and a dozen others all knelt down with pale faces.

Empress Wu raised her head and looked at the four female guards in black who walked out from the corners of the hall, then calmly withdrew her gaze.

Empress Wu looked at Wu Youji, Wu Youzhi and the others again and said in a cold voice, "Pass the order down. Tomorrow, I will pass the throne to Prince Liang. Prince Liang will ascend the throne and I will be the Supreme Emperor, ruling from behind the curtain. Now, all of you go down and kneel in the side hall."

Wu Youji and Wu Youzhi looked up in surprise. They couldn't believe what they heard. Even after all this, Empress Wu still wanted to make Wu Sansi the new emperor. What was she thinking?
Two female guards in black walked up, and Wu Youji, Wu Youzhi and a dozen others did not dare to act recklessly and went to the side hall obediently.

At this time, Empress Wu looked up at Wu Sansi, who had a sharp blade on his neck, and said with an unpleasant expression: "Sansi, you are too stupid."

"Stupid?" Wu Sansi raised his head, gritted his teeth, looked at Empress Wu with hatred in his eyes and said, "I only regret that I can't kill you with my own hands to avenge my parents."

Empress Wu was stunned, and then she looked at Wu Sansi in sudden realization: "So it's because of this, 'Killing sister and slaughtering brother, murdering son and poisoning mother', a good article written by Wang Bo.

No, this is not enough. You will be the crown prince tomorrow, why don't you wait a little longer?"

"Wait, why wait?" Wu Sansi gnashed his teeth and looked at Empress Wu, cursing, "If I hadn't asked Wei Yuanzhong to find out the situation, I might have been deceived by you, rushed out to kill someone for you, and then never came back..."

"It turned out to be Wei Yuanzhong... It turned out that he had surrendered to King Peng." Empress Wu looked outside the palace and shouted coldly, "Come here, arrest Wei Yuanzhong immediately."

Qiu Huan appeared in front of the door in an instant, turned around, and walked quickly outside.

Empress Wu looked at Wu Sansi with emotion and shook her head: "Sansi, you have been deceived again. I'm afraid Wei Yuanzhong has been in collusion with Prince Peng for a long time."

"Ah!" Wu Sansi raised his head and looked at Empress Wu in disbelief. Then he shuddered, shook his head violently, and roared, "Don't try to deceive me. Although Tang Xiujing is Li Ke's man, he was implicated in Li Ke's rebellion and was not promoted for many years. He really hates the late emperor, but he is loyal to Li Tang after all. Moreover, the Zuo Xiaowei under his command are all former subordinates of Zhou Daowu, who is the son-in-law of Emperor Taizong. How could his people rebel against Tang?"

Zhou Daowu was the governor of Yingzhou and the son of Zhou Shaofan, the general of the Left Tunwei Army.

Zhou Shaofan died early, and Zhou Daowu was raised in the palace as the son of a meritorious official. He later married Princess Linchuan, the tenth daughter of Emperor Taizong of Tang.

For more than 20 years, Li Zhi had always appointed him as the governor of Yingzhou to guard the north.

After Li Zhi passed away, Zhou Daowu died of depression soon after.

Empress Wu did not appoint a new governor of Yingzhou, but instead used the chief secretary Tang Xiujing to be in charge of state affairs. Her purpose was to wait for a year or two until Tang Xiujing had enough experience before appointing him as the governor of Yingzhou.

Tang Xiujing did not have much good feelings towards Li Zhi, but he was not bad to Li Ke. Although Li Ke was dead, Li Ke's descendants were still alive, and Tang Xiujing took good care of them.

Under normal circumstances, he might have led the cavalry to defend the king, but after Li Xuan had already captured Luoyang and the imperial court had made the final decision on the fate of the country, how could he possibly come to Luoyang to attack?

Not to mention, he simply couldn't kill them all and he couldn't get through Jizhou.

Not to mention the 200,000 troops in Luoyang.

Five thousand people, it's just a joke.

It was because Wu Sansi saw through this that he was certain that Empress Wu was just trying to send him to his death.

"Sansi, you are really stupid. I will not benefit from sending you to die." Empress Wu looked at Wu Sansi with resentment. Seeing him suddenly turn his head away with a guilty conscience, Empress Wu suddenly understood something: "No, Sansi, you are not stupid. Not only do you want to sit on the throne of the emperor, you even want to take my head and Chongjun in exchange for your life... No, you are still too stupid. How can they let you go just because you killed me?"

Empress Wu saw through Wu Sansi's intention at a glance. Wu Sansi was planning to kill her and then use her head and Li Chongjun to negotiate with Li Xuan and others.

But he didn't think about how Li Xuan and others could possibly let him go.

"Why not?" Wu Sansi raised his head, looked at Empress Wu fiercely, and said, "I am avenging my parents and completely drawing a line between me and you. This way, even if I am exiled, I can still save my life. Not to mention, I still have my own children. I will fight for them and find a way out."

"Can't you wait a little longer? If you and I work together, it won't be that easy for King Peng to break in." Empress Wu was helpless.

With Wu Sansi's rebellion, the last bit of power in Empress Wu's hands is in danger of getting out of control, so she plans to pass the throne to Wu Sansi tomorrow.

"It's not that easy to break in? If it's really not that easy for King Peng to break in, why do you insist on letting me take the opportunity to break out tomorrow night?" Wu Sansi looked towards the Duanmen Gate and said helplessly, "Today, I don't know how many family members of the soldiers have come. The Bingzhou boys are fine, but the Luoyang boys are probably eager to open the city and surrender tomorrow."

Empress Wu fell silent.

Nowadays, although most of the generals in the army are from Bingzhou, most of the lower levels are from the local area or Chang'an.

If ordinary soldiers were unwilling to fight, they would lay down their weapons during the battle, or fire their crossbows into the air. There would be no difference between fighting and not fighting. "My aunt saw through this, and that's why she asked me to fight tomorrow so that I can escape." Wu Sansi gritted his teeth and looked at Empress Wu.

“Hehehe…” Empress Wu suddenly couldn’t help laughing, her laughter was four parts helpless and three parts desolate. She lowered her head, looked at Wu Sansi, shook her head and said, “Sansi, do you believe it or not, I have never thought of harming you like this?”

"Huh?" Wu Sansi was slightly stunned, raised his head and looked at Empress Wu in disbelief.

That’s not the case. Could it be that there are really five thousand cavalrymen coming to kill us?

"She really didn't intend to harm you like this. She just wanted to use you to ward off disaster." A faint voice suddenly sounded at the door of the side hall.

Empress Wu suddenly turned her head and looked towards the door of the side hall with an extremely cold gaze.

Then, Su Liangsi, dressed in a black nightgown, walked out from the side hall, followed by a man of ordinary build, dressed in black with his face completely covered.

The long knife in the black-clothed man's hand was dripping with blood, and he came from the side hall.

Just now, two female guards escorted a dozen or so Wu family members in.

Inside the Zhenguan Hall, the remaining three female guards in black immediately clenched the blades in their hands, murderous intent showing on their faces.

……

Su Liangsi calmly walked into the hall, stood at the foot of the golden steps, and looked at Wu Sansi with a half-smile, saying: "Prince Liang, Prince Liang may not know that the Queen's real trump card is not that you kill her, but that she makes you the crown prince, and that you can't help but imprison her, and then proclaim yourself emperor. Then she can push all the blame on you, saying that you are the mastermind behind the deaths of the two emperors. Then, you will die and she will live."

"This..." Wu Sansi looked at Su Liangsi in disbelief, then looked up at Empress Wu.

He proclaimed himself emperor and imprisoned her. Could it be that everything that happened today was all part of his aunt's plan?

Wu Sansi's face suddenly turned ugly.

Then, he suddenly came to his senses, looked at Su Liangsi and said, "King Peng will not let her go just like that."

"Prince Peng won't, but someone will." Su Liangsi looked at Empress Wu and said bitterly, "For example, the Zheng family. You don't really think that the Zheng family will let her die. By then, she will collude with the Zheng family and make Zheng the queen mother. In a few years, she will be able to control the government again."

Wu Sansi subconsciously looked at Empress Wu. Although he still didn't understand the meaning of Su Liangsi's words, he believed it.

"Prince Peng's move today has completely shaken the morale of the army. He only needs one strong attack to take over Ziwei Palace. The Queen is so smart, how could she not see through it? So she started looking for a way out, and you are her way out." Su Liangsi couldn't help but shook his head and said helplessly: "Even after all this, she is still unwilling to give up."

Wu Sansi didn't understand what Su Liangsi said, but if Li Xuan was here, he would be able to understand it completely.

Empress Wu lived for another twenty years in history. How could she just accept failure and die calmly?

He would seize any opportunity he got, not to mention the Zheng family.

Empress Wu was able to manipulate the Zheng family and Li Xuan into becoming enemies, and standing on the opposite side of Li Xuan. Naturally, the Zheng family had to hold on to Empress Wu's "thigh".

"The copy of Prince Peng's will is still in your hands, right?" Empress Wu spoke softly, staring at Su Liangsi and said, "After Prince Peng entered Luoyang, you didn't go to find him. Is it because his will didn't match the copy?"

Su Liangsi fell silent, but his silence spoke the truth.

Wu Sansi's face was suddenly filled with surprise.

Li Xuan's will was forged, and based on this alone, he was able to tear them apart.

In this way, the crisis will be resolved.

With a "slap", Empress Wu slapped Wu Sansi in the face and cursed coldly: "What's the point of taking out the copy of the will now? King Peng has an army at hand. He can deny everything at any time. At worst, he can ascend the throne by force. You are such a fool."

Li Xuan's ambition is extremely clear in the eyes of many people, but it is hard to say whether Li Xuan will eventually take that step.

But as long as this layer is not broken, it can be used to stir up people's hearts.

Once it's broken, it's useless.

This is also the reason why Su Liangsi appears here today.

"You want to rescue Chongjun, and then use your achievements in saving the emperor to counter King Peng." Empress Wu looked at Su Liangsi, shook her head slightly, and said, "It's useless, he won't give you this opportunity.

You might as well cooperate with me. I will pass the throne to Sansi tomorrow, and you can kill him, imprison me, save Chongjun, and then contact the Zheng family..."

"Please ask the Queen Mother to come to heaven." Su Liangsi interrupted Empress Wu with just one sentence.

"What did you say?" Empress Wu was stunned.

Su Liangsi leaned forward, gritted his teeth and said firmly: "Please ask the Queen to come to heaven."

Empress Wu's face suddenly turned ugly. She understood that Su Liangsi wanted her to die.

Empress Wu turned sideways, waved her hand, and said coldly: "Kill him!"

Two female guards in black immediately rushed towards Su Liangsi.

The man in black behind Su Liangsi also rushed out in an instant, with the long sword in his hand flashing.

In an instant, the heads of the two female guards in black fell to the ground.

At this time, Su Liangsi slowly pulled out an imperial edict from his sleeve, looked at Empress Wu with a sad look, and said hatefully: "The late emperor's will: Anyone who rebels against Wu and replaces the Tang Dynasty will be beheaded."

(End of this chapter)