After Xiao Fubao's life was stolen, he became the favorite of everyone in the capital

Chapter 502 End of text

After Gu Mingda left the palace, the old prime minister was retained by the emperor.

"If Your Majesty cannot decide on a candidate for the time being, why not ask those royal family members who are just wasting their time to get out of the school first?" said the Prime Minister.

The emperor shook his head.

"I already have a candidate in mind."

The Prime Minister did not ask any further questions after hearing this, but only said: "Your Majesty has a unique vision. The person you value must have his merits."

The emperor did not keep the secret. He always trusted the Prime Minister and said directly, "Li Xuan."

The Prime Minister was stunned when he heard this.

The emperor continued, "You have a strong mind and noble character. I can trust you with everything, whether it's the vast country or anything else."

The Prime Minister wondered what "something else" was, but he didn't think much about it. Instead, he said, "Your Majesty has really made up his mind?"

The emperor nodded, his face full of fatigue: "No need to watch it, it's him."

Three days later, the news that Li Xuan was named Prince Ding spread throughout the country.

However, other members of the royal family did not receive such grace and were even sent out of the palace.

Niu Niu, who had originally dropped out of school, suddenly went back to school.

She no longer studied with other young girls, but attended a small class. There were more than a dozen teachers in the whole class, but only two students, Niu Niu and Li Xuan.

Some of the masters started to make a fuss.

"Your Majesty, how can a little girl study with Prince Ding? This is absolutely ridiculous!" The elderly Lord Sun was so anxious that he was fuming in the Wuji Palace.

The emperor said casually: "This is not an ordinary little girl, but the future crown princess, or even the future queen."

"A woman's virtue lies in her lack of talent..." said the old man.

When the emperor heard this, he looked at the old man in confusion and said, "I vaguely heard that a woman's virtue lies in her lack of talent. 'bian' is the same as 'bian', which means that even if a woman has no other talents, being able to distinguish right from wrong is also a virtue."

When the old man heard this, a look of embarrassment flashed across his face.

The emperor was not too polite to him and said directly: "Lord Sun is not well-versed in his skills and should not mislead the students. It is better to let someone else teach Prince Ding."

When Old Lord Sun heard this, he immediately became anxious. Prince Ding was the only member of the royal family who remained, and from his title one could tell that the outcome had already been decided.

Originally, he became the teacher of the crown prince, and with this face and favor, he would be able to bring benefits to his family in the future.

But he lost the credit that he could have gotten without doing anything.

The emperor had made up his mind and would not allow anyone to change it. He didn't want Niu Niu to study before because he thought she didn't need to study with him around. Now he allowed Niu Niu to study because he thought that if he was not the one protecting Niu Niu, she would need more skills to gain a foothold in the palace.

After dismissing one teacher, it was like killing a chicken to scare the monkey. Others who also had objections to Niu Niu's female identity did not dare to say anything more. They could only accept it and teach both children together.

Although the emperor had chosen the future crown prince, he was not close to Prince Ding. Even though he interrogated Prince Ding very carefully, he seldom summoned Prince Ding.

What followed was the rapid aging of the emperor, who seemed to be drained of his life force and became increasingly weak.

In the third year of Niu Niu's study as the future Crown Princess, the twelve-year-old Li Xuan was issued an imperial decree by the Emperor, determining him to be the future Crown Prince.

Concubine Shun was named Queen, Li Xuan was adopted as the Queen's legitimate son and was given the title of Crown Prince. The Emperor also issued an imperial decree to grant the marriage, ensuring that Niu Niu's status as the future Crown Princess would be unshakable.

After Li Xuan began to participate in government affairs as the crown prince, the emperor gradually transferred power to lower levels. During these three years, the emperor also showed extraordinary trust in Gu Mingda. Gu Mingda was like a cheat, and his official position was steadily promoted. After the former Minister of Personnel retired, Gu Mingda was promoted to Minister of Personnel and entered the cabinet.

Half a year later, the Prime Minister retired and Gu Mingda was promoted to the position of Prime Minister, second only to the emperor in the court.

The Queen Mother was already very old, and she became seriously ill in bed after catching a cold.

Even if Niu Niu went to the palace to take care of the patient personally, the situation was still difficult to reverse.

There were also some clever people in the court who suggested that the Crown Prince and the Crown Princess get married early to bring good luck to the Empress Dowager, but all of them were rejected by the Emperor.

Three months after the empress dowager passed away, the emperor, immersed in the grief of losing his mother, fell seriously ill.

His body withered quickly like a dried-up riverbed. The last time Niu Niu saw him, he looked like a dry old tree in winter.

When the emperor was dying, he took one last look at Niu Niu with his cloudy eyes, and then he died completely.

"The Emperor dies!"

With this howl, the emperor who had ruled the country for more than 20 years passed away, and the country welcomed a new ruler.

The thirteen-year-old Li Xuan already had the status of a crown prince, so it was legitimate for him to succeed to the throne. With the support of all the civil and military officials in the court, Li Xuan successfully ascended the throne to become emperor.

He had already had a year of experience in politics, and with the Prime Minister Gu Mingda taking the lead in surrendering, the power transfer was smooth.

There were occasionally a few stubborn officials among the other court officials who wanted to take advantage of the emperor's youth and deceive him easily, but after several examples of killing chickens to scare monkeys, there were no more such voices in the court.

After the three-year national mourning period was over, the emperor prepared for two years before marrying his queen with the highest standards.

The new emperor was different from the old one. Even though they had been married for five years and had no children, the new emperor still had no intention of taking concubines.

Even with Gu Mingda's presence, all the civil and military officials in the court were still haunted by the shadow of the previous dynasty, fearing that the new emperor would be like the old one, spending half his life just to have a daughter.

The new emperor's harem was empty, and each family was anxious to squeeze their daughters in. They submitted memorials every day asking the emperor to hold a beauty contest to recruit new concubines.

But they were all rejected by the emperor.

The court officials then put pressure on Gu Mingda.

Gu Mingda was well-known for doting on his daughter, and he retorted on the spot: "The Queen has no children, the Queen is not anxious, His Majesty is not anxious, and the Queen Mother is not anxious either, but you are anxious?"

When the court officials heard this, they still raised the banner of "national foundation" and said: "The continuation of the royal family's offspring is the most important thing. The queen is the mother of the country and a role model for all women. How can she delay national affairs because of her own selfish desires?"

Their words were righteous, but Gu Mingda's tongue was not for nothing: "Lord Chen, if you have time to worry about whether His Majesty and the Queen can have children, you might as well worry more about your own useless child. Your Sanlang bullies men and women, and everyone in the capital knows it. Now someone has died. Let's see how you will end it?"

Lord Chen, who had been shouting "the country's foundation", was immediately speechless.

An imperial censor reported the matter to the emperor on the spot, and the theme of the court meeting was changed from selecting concubines to reporting the matter. The so-called dispute over the foundation of the country came to an end immediately.

When the court was about to end, the new emperor lightly threw out a bomb.

"I want to follow the old example of the Li Tang Dynasty and have two emperors rule the country. What do you think, my dear ministers?"

When the court officials heard this, their heads were buzzing with confusion. "According to the old rules of the Li Tang Dynasty, two emperors ruled the country." Why should the emperor learn from anyone else instead of following the example of Emperor Gaozong of Tang and praising Wu Zetian?

"Your Majesty, this is absolutely not possible!" The wails of the courtiers were more sincere this time. No one dared to talk about taking a concubine into the harem anymore. They only begged the queen not to come to the front court.

(End of text.)
The main text is finished, and there are several extras that will be updated successively.