Early Tang Dynasty: forge ahead

Chapter 532 Hate

Li Zhi hated Empress Wu at this moment. Her ambition destroyed all his plans of many years.

Compared to most emperors who were afraid of death, Li Zhi was very open-minded in this regard. This was mainly because he had been weak and sickly since childhood, and he knew that he would not live long, so he was mentally prepared. Therefore, after his condition worsened, he did not show too much panic, but faced the situation very calmly.

Then he would perform the Fengshan ceremony in advance to avoid lifelong regrets due to unexpected situations, just like his father.

Just as in history, Li Zhi had already paved the way for the future of the Tang Dynasty very early on.

It’s just a pity that he didn’t make proper arrangements for the future in history, and the same is true in this era.

The reason why Li Zhi failed to arrange his funeral affairs is very funny. Historically, it was because he lived too long, but now it is because he did not live long enough.

The biggest problem with Li Zhi's illness is that he is uncertain when he will die.

He had no way of controlling the time of his own death, so there would be many unexpected events in his arrangements, such as Li Hong's sudden death, and the balance point he set, which gradually became unbalanced because he had not been alive, so he had to suppress the power he had supported to maintain the balance.

So from the perspective of Kaitianyan, Li Zhi was like a lunatic in the last ten years of history. Sometimes he supported the Wu family, sometimes he supported the peace faction, sometimes he supported the crown prince, and then he turned around and suppressed the Wu family, suppressed the peace faction, and made things difficult for the crown prince.

He had never expected that he would live so long, even longer than Li Hong and Li Xian, and somehow he survived for twenty years.

Even so, the political situation left by Li Zhi was still very stable. He just didn't expect that Pei Yan, whom he valued highly, would be blinded by greed at a critical moment, leading to the rise of Empress Wu.

Now, with the appearance of Chen Qingsi, he corrected the serious strategic deficiencies of the Tang Dynasty, which certainly made the Tang Dynasty more powerful and made the prestige of the Tang Dynasty far surpass that of the previous dynasty. However, it inevitably increased the economic burden on the court...

As the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, Li Zhi naturally felt the pressure.

In history, Li Zhi began to arrange his funeral affairs after Fengshan. In order to live longer, Li Zhi spent a huge amount of money to build the Daming Palace...

However, due to the appearance of Chen Qingsi, several more necessary wars were necessary, which resulted in the court not having extra financial resources to build the Daming Palace.

Taiji Palace was designed by Emperor Yuwen Kai of the Sui Dynasty and was located in a low-lying area, which was hot and humid. It was hard for ordinary people to bear it, let alone Li Zhi who was suffering from rheumatism and many other diseases.

But for the future of the Tang Dynasty, Li Zhi did not build large-scale buildings as in history. He still lived in the Daji Palace, and the number of times he went to Luoyang also decreased significantly.

These are the influences brought by Chen Qingsi...

With the existence of Chen Qingsi, Li Zhi's health is not as good as his real self at the same time in history, especially recently, with the Tubo making trouble and the unprecedented powerful enemy, the Kingdom of the Arabs, eyeing him covetously.

Li Zhi was under enormous pressure. On top of that, Li Hong suddenly became weak. The idea of ​​changing the Crown Prince arose, and the case of Empress Wu colluding with former Prime Minister Li Yifu was implicated, so the whole plan fell through.

Li Zhi's already weak body could no longer withstand the repeated blows.

Li Zhi knew that he had no time to redeploy and could only make changes based on the existing situation.

Now the war in the Western Region is at its most critical moment. Changes in the court and replacement of the emperor will cause changes in the morale of the troops on the front line.

Only Chen Qingsi can pacify the internal and external forces, support the new king to stabilize the court, and also have the ability to pacify the war in the Western Regions.

only……

"Alas! I don't know whether this decision is a blessing or a curse."

Li Zhi muttered to himself that he had no choice but to make this decision.

Nowadays, most people think that Chen Qingsi will definitely become the regent of the Tang Dynasty, assist the new emperor, and become a famous prime minister. But in fact, in Li Zhi's heart, Chen Qingsi has never been the choice of regent.

The reason is simple: Chen Qingsi is too powerful.

A man of letters can stabilize a country, and a man of military force can protect the nation. Allowing such a person to be a prime minister will only result in the loss of power to the emperor and the expansion of power to the prime minister.

Will Chen Qingsi rebel? How loyal is he?

All of this was not within Li Zhi's consideration. Even if Chen Qingsi was like Zhuge Liang, who devoted his life to the Tang Dynasty and died for it, what would it matter?

It is true that Zhuge Liang was a loyal minister throughout the ages, but he was indeed a powerful minister, but this powerful minister was more inclined to be praised. No matter what people think, as long as it will lead to this result, Emperor Li Zhi will not choose it.

After all, the Shu Han at that time could not do without Zhuge Liang, but the Tang Dynasty would not stop moving because of one more or one less person.

Of course, Li Zhi had no intention of killing Chen Qingsi. Although Li Zhi was treacherous, he was not bloodthirsty. His idea was to demote Chen Qingsi to Jiangnan and let him open up Jiangnan when he could control the situation. When a new emperor ascended the throne and sat firmly in the court, he would show favor and recall him to the court. Or if something major happened, Chen Qingsi's existence would be the purple gold beam that could support the Tang Dynasty.

In Li Zhi's opinion, such an arrangement was much better than the uncontrollable situation brought about by letting Chen Qingsi serve as regent.

But now it has to be done.

In this case, the unknown risks must be seriously considered.

Li Zhi had no intention of resting. Although he knew he was physically tired, he decided to finish his work so as not to fall asleep.

Li Zhi dragged his sick body and wrote two secret letters, one to Li Ji and one to Cheng Huaimo. After thinking for a while, he wrote another letter and signed it with Chen Qingsi.

After writing three letters in one breath, Li Zhi seemed to have used up all his strength and fell asleep on the couch.

Tonight is destined to be a sleepless night.

This is true for many people.

The young and sickly Li Hong, faced with the death of his mother and the serious illness of his father, forced himself to fulfill his duties as the crown prince.

Li Jingxuan, who has become the top leader of the Eastern Palace, has a bit of greed in his eyes, but more of madness for his own beliefs and ideas.

As a member of the prince's party, Li Jingxuan had been looking forward to Li Zhi's death for many years.

If Li Zhi hadn't died, how could these officials in the Eastern Palace rise to power? ? ?

Finally, this day has come, but...

"Chen Qingsi!"

Li Jingxuan gritted his teeth. His world was either black or white. In his subjective consciousness, Chen Qingsi was the kind of person who only cared about making a name for himself and didn't care about the lives of ordinary people at all.

Let such a person become the regent, and the only regent.

Is there anything better in the world?
"If he is allowed to assist in the administration, the Tang Dynasty will surely fall at his hands."

This thought flashed through Li Jingxuan's mind, but he felt a panic in his heart.

He regarded Chen Qingsi as an enemy, and instinctively thought that Chen Qingsi thought the same and also regarded him as an enemy.

If he continues to assist in the administration, he will surely die.

At almost the same time, Pei Yan was also unable to sleep.

"The only regent!"

"only!"

After Chen Qingsi went to war, Pei Yan became Li Zhi's most capable assistant, and the significance of his cultivation was obvious.

Pei Yan always thought that he would become the regent to check and balance Chen Qingsi, but in the end he was just the other party's helper.

He angrily tore up the copybook of Yu Shinan's calligraphy that Chen Qingsi had given him when they first met. If it weren't for this copybook, he wouldn't have recommended Chen Qingsi to Li Zhi...

Chen Qingsi should remain unknown in Tongguan Village.

(End of this chapter)