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

Chapter 1802 Ye Fashan: The fate of the world has been returned to the emperor

Maoshan is beautiful, and the world is like clouds and mist.

The Shangqing Palace on Mount Mao is crowded with people.

Hundreds of Taoists in robes of various colors, holding ritual objects, spread from the foot of the mountain to the Shangqing Palace at the top of the mountain.

Headed by the emperor, the princess, the chief secretary of Yangzhou Grand Military Governor's Office, the Sima, the Governor of Muchou, the Governor of Huzhou, the Governor of Suzhou, the Governor of Changzhou, the Governor of Hangzhou, the Governor of Wuzhou, the Governor of Kuzhou, the Governor of Taizhou, the Governor of Yuezhou and all the officials of Yangzhou and Muzhou above the ninth rank went to Maoshan to offer sacrifices.

While offering sacrifices to the ancestors of Maoshan, people also prayed for the afterlife of Emperor Suzong.

Three years ago, Emperor Suzong Li Chongzhao, who sailed from Hailing County, Donghai, Yangzhou, finally got the exact news three years later.

There was a storm at sea.

The ship was broken into pieces by the storm.

Buried in the sea.

After three years of searching, the Silla people finally found some fragments on a remote coast somewhere in the southeast of Silla.

These things were confirmed to be the things of Emperor Suzong by Duan Baoxuan, the Chief Secretary of the Yangzhou Grand Marshal's Office, Li Shan, a doctor of Yangzhou Academy, Li Ai, the Governor of Suzhou and Prince of Fanyang, and Li Xu, the Governor of Wuzhou and Prince of Jiangdu.

It was finally confirmed that Emperor Suzong Li Chongzhao died at sea.

……

Li Xuan kowtowed solemnly to the Three Pure Ones in the Sanqing Temple.

His expression was solemn and his mood was heavy.

After a moment, he stood up and was welcomed into the backyard by Ye Fashan, the current headmaster of Maoshan.

Other court officials were led into a side hall to rest.

In the hall in the backyard, Li Xuan picked up the teacup and took a sip.

The aroma of tea overflows.

He then put down his teacup, looked at Ye Fashan and said, "Brother, I have sent people to Silla to look for more of Chongzhao's remains. If they can be found, they will be sent to Chang'an and buried in a cenotaph. If not, the cenotaph will be the only way to comfort the heavens."

Ye Fashan nodded slightly, looked at Li Xuan and asked, "Your Majesty, do you plan to bury Emperor Suzong's cenotaph in Qianling Mausoleum or Dingling Mausoleum?"

"Neither is necessary. After all, Suzong is the emperor, so we should follow the royal etiquette and build a separate mausoleum." After a brief pause, Li Xuan said, "If possible, in a few years, when Prince Wei and Prince Xiang grow up and have children, I will have someone from the royal family adopt someone under Suzong's name, and then Queen Mother Zheng will raise him."

"That's good. In this way, Emperor Suzong will have incense and sacrifices." Ye Fashan nodded with emotion and said, "Since your majesty ascended the throne, you have prioritized benevolence and kindness. Emperor Zhongzong and Emperor Ruizong both have healthy children. Emperor Jing is well. Emperor Xiaojing and Emperor Suzong also have incense and sacrifices. The only thing is that Prince Zhanghuai..."

"I need to discuss this with the Fang family." Li Xuan shook his head and said, "Others are easy to deal with, except for Prince Zhang Huai. Both his wife and parents are dead, and his children are gone. I don't even have anyone who can make the decision. I can only discuss this with the Fang family."

Li Xian was the most unfortunate among Emperor Gaozong's sons. He, his wife, and his son were all killed by Empress Wu, and there was no trace of any blood relationship between them.

Li Xuan won't go looking for the bloodline of the Fang family to inherit.

We will have to wait a little longer for this matter.

"That's the only way." Ye Fashan sighed softly.

"The tablet of Emperor Suzong will be placed in Mount Mao. I will ask the Yangzhou Grand Military Governor's Office to send people to offer incense every month." After a brief pause, Li Xuan bowed to Ye Fashan and said, "I am a stingy emperor. I may be more generous to the people, but I may be stingy with Buddhism and Taoism. I hope that my senior brother, Taoist Patriarch, don't be offended."

"Your Majesty, blessing the people is the greatest offering to the Taoist ancestor." Ye Fashan bowed lightly.

"That's great." Li Xuan looked at the sky, then turned to Ye Fashan and said, "I haven't seen you for many years. If you have time in the future, please come to Chang'an more often. Master Sima is already in Chang'an, so you won't feel lonely there."

"I will obey your order." Ye Fashan smiled gently.

Li Xuan stood up and said, "In that case, I will not bother you anymore, Senior Brother. I should go back to Yangzhou. I had planned to go back to Luoyang in the next two days, but it looks like I will have to delay for another two days."

Ye Fashan stood up and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty, during your southern tour, the people of Jiangnan suffered very little loss, and on the contrary, they gained a lot due to the arrival of the Western Regions merchant caravan. This is something that no other emperor could compare to. Your Majesty's benevolence and virtue are comparable to that of Emperor Wen in the past three generations."

"And Emperor Taizong." Li Xuan smiled indifferently, then walked out of the hall directly, taking Xia'er, who was also dressed as a female crown, and walked towards the front hall.

……

Standing at the foot of the mountain, Ye Fashan finally breathed a sigh of relief as he watched the emperor and his officials heading towards Muzhou.

Turn around and go back to the mountain.

Under the cover of night, a figure appeared in front of the door of the rear hall.

Ye Fashan sighed again and said, "Come in."

"Senior Brother." Tian Youyan, dressed in Taoist attire, walked into the hall calmly. Then, after Ye Fashan cleaned up the mess, he kowtowed solemnly to the ancestor in the hall.

Ye Fashan said calmly: "The emperor asked about you today, and I told him that you went into the mountains to collect herbs three days ago, and it would take another three days to return. The emperor then left with emotion."

Tian Youyan stood up and said, "Sorry to trouble you, senior brother. I just don't know how to face His Majesty." "Back in the East Palace, you were the Prince's Groom and the Emperor was the Prince's Junior Secretary. You both worked very hard for Emperor Zhongzong. How did it end up like this today?" Ye Fashan shook his head in confusion.

"Brother, why do you ask when you already know the answer? Of course it's about Emperor Suzong." Tian Youyan raised his head and looked at the image of the ancestor in front of him. He said with a serious expression, "Back then, the Queen Mother sent people to attack Yangzhou. Emperor Suzong used you as bait and traveled east alone. I knew it was inappropriate at the time, but I was unable to stop it. Now, everyone knows that it was a wrong move, but no one knows who gave Emperor Suzong this suggestion in the first place."

"You know." Ye Fashan turned slightly sideways.

Tian Youyan smiled bitterly and said, "How could Junior Brother know? If Junior Brother knew, I'm afraid he wouldn't be alive. But the beneficiaries of this matter..."

"You are possessed." Ye Fashan turned around and looked at Tian Youyan and said, "When Yangzhou was captured, the emperor was still in Lanzhou. How could he affect the affairs of Yangzhou? Moreover, at that time, it was in his best interest to keep Emperor Suzong alive. Otherwise, the empress would transfer all the troops to the west, and his pressure would increase immediately."

"Junior brother, I can't figure this out either." Tian Youyan shook his head and said, "The emperor faced Wang Xiaojie's army of 100,000 in Lanzhou, defeated them with the last blow, and then marched to Chang'an and Luoyang. He was unstoppable all the way, just like..."

"It's as if the fortune of the entire Tang Dynasty has fallen on him." Ye Fashan said the last sentence on behalf of Tian Youyan.

Tian Youyan fell silent, not knowing what to say, as if he had some doubts about the matter in his heart, but still didn't know what to say.

"You shouldn't blame the emperor for this." Ye Fashan turned around again, looked at the Daozu Dharma Image in front of him, and then said softly: "If the emperor was defeated in Lanzhou at that time, Wang Xiaojie would have directly attacked Changzhou and even Fanzhou, destroying all the foundations of the emperor in the world, and the empress would have firmly established herself in the world and dominated all directions.

At that time, Emperor Suzong died in Jiangnan, and the emperor died in Fanzhou. The whole world belonged to the Empress. If you want to blame someone, who do you want to blame?"

"It's the Queen." Tian Youyan nodded slightly.

Ye Fashan asked again: "Suzong is obviously the crown prince of Zhongzong, and he is living well in Chang'an. Who is chasing him and making him flee to Yangzhou?"

"It's the Queen of Heaven."

Ye Fashan finally asked: "Emperor Zhongzong was obviously a wise ruler. How could he be deposed and even killed, and even his own family was destroyed? Who was to blame for this?"

"It's the Queen." Tian Youyan said at last, and fell silent.

Ye Fashan nodded gently and said, "Look for yourself, everything is clearly in front of you. It is clear who to blame, so why should you blame His Majesty?"

Tian Youyan didn't say anything, perhaps because he didn't know what to say.

"In fact, what you really have in your heart is not Emperor Suzong, nor Emperor Zhongzong, but Emperor Gaozong." Ye Fashan sighed and said, "Emperor Gaozong is the only one in the world who appreciates you. Now that Emperor Zhongzong and Emperor Ruizong have passed away, the world should belong to their descendants, or even to the descendants of Emperor Gaozong, but..."

"Emperor Jing was harmed by Princess Taiping so much that he dared not see his ministers again; Prince Linzi was burned to death by Princess Taiping; Prince Xiang was afraid of the dangers of the throne and was unwilling to inherit it." After Tian Youyan finished speaking, he could not help but shook his head.

"The last news about Emperor Suzong has been revealed today. Now, even those who are interested will no longer think about Emperor Gaozong's lineage." Ye Fashan raised his head, looked at the image of the ancestor in front of him, and said softly: "The hearts of the people in the world have already belonged to the emperor. If there are still some, they are just ambitious people with their own selfish desires."

They were ambitious people who claimed to restore the throne for Emperor Gaozong's lineage, but what they actually did was to ascend the throne themselves after overthrowing Li Xuan.

Tian Youyan kowtowed heavily behind Ye Fashan.

"Go to the observatory on the back mountain and take a look." Ye Fashan sighed and said, "The throne of Emperor Gaozong is extinct, and the Tang Dynasty is now on the right track. The celestial phenomena show that the Tang Dynasty has flourished for 400 years. Even the catastrophe that was originally predicted in the celestial phenomena a hundred years later has disappeared without a trace. You understand what this means."

Tian Youyan lowered his head heavily, then kowtowed deeply to Ye Fashan.

After the light footsteps left, Ye Fashan looked at the image of the Taoist master in front of him.

In fact, Ye Fashan knew clearly that the succession of the throne of the Tang Dynasty had been plagued by hidden dangers since Emperor Taizong.

If Emperor Taizong could pass the throne to Crown Prince Li Chengqian normally, then their empire might have returned to normal, but Crown Prince Li Chengqian was deposed.

If Emperor Gaozong had chosen Crown Prince Li Hong as his successor at an early age, the world would not have been in this state.

Unfortunately, Li Hong was deposed, Li Xian was deposed, Li Dan was deposed, Li Chongzhao was hunted down, Li Chongjun was established and deposed, and then established and deposed again.

All of this has completely exhausted the morale of Emperor Gaozong's lineage, and people all over the world are eager for stability.

Li Xuan's succession to the throne was actually a disguised way of satisfying this stability.

Even if there were a few people who hoped to restore Emperor Gaozong's lineage, there would not be many people who would firmly support it in the end.

In the end, they will be easily defeated by the emperor.

So even the celestial phenomena finally chose to support the emperor.

Originally, astronomical phenomena showed that the Queen Mother would rule for twenty years, after which the world would return to the Li family, but the succession to the Li throne would still be turbulent.

Now that Li Xuan has ascended the throne, even the celestial phenomena have reached their peak.

Judging from the astronomical phenomena, the people all over the world have chosen Li Xuan.

Of course, Li Xuan also has hidden worries.

That was twenty years later, when the prince came to power.

At that time, how to smoothly inherit the throne became Li Xuan’s problem.

(End of this chapter)