Back to the prosperous Tang Dynasty to be the emperor

Chapter 598 Confrontation (1)

It snowed heavily all night long, until Maoshi was approaching, and there was no sign of abating. The feather-like snow just kept falling, and the snow on the square in front of Tianmen was already as thick as a foot, and people stood in it. , they were already knee-deep, and when they were blown by the biting cold wind, they were really terribly frozen, but the time for the great dynasty was approaching, and the courtiers had nowhere to hide, they could only tremble Standing on the square bearing the power of heaven and earth, the military generals are better. After all, their bodies are strong and strong, and they can survive more or less, but the old and weak civil servants will be miserable. It was generally green, and no one was interested in chatting. There was a dead silence in the huge square, and the usual noise before the Great Court was completely gone. Only the north wind whistled wildly in the sky and the earth.

"Look, it's His Royal Highness!"

"His Royal Highness is coming!"

"Oh, it really deserves its reputation, it really has the legacy of Taizong, it's amazing, it's amazing!"

Just when the officials were numb to waiting, there was a rush of horseshoes, and Li Xian led his guards to the outer edge of the square on horseback, and the alarmed officials were in a panic After discussing endlessly, the original dull atmosphere was shattered in an instant, and the noise became one, especially those courtiers who had been promoted in recent years were so excited that they could hardly contain themselves. Now, he is the most popular candidate for the Eastern Palace. Once it comes true, he will be a half-lord. With Li Xian's ability, his enthronement as a great treasure should be just around the corner. If he can get on the line early, it will be the work of the dragon, of course. However, not all the courtiers were excited by Li Xian's arrival. Courtiers from Empress Wu's party, such as Jia Chaoyin, Ming Chongyan, and even Wu Chengsi, never cheered and discussed, but exchanged unintelligible eyes with each other secretly.

"Seventh brother, you are here."

The court hour was approaching, and all the courtiers were excited, but they didn't dare to walk out of the queue at will, but Li Xulun, the King of Wings, had no such scruples. It was an affectionate call.

"Eighth brother, good morning."

Li Xian has always been punctual, and he actually got up quite early today. He just took a trip to the Imperial Prison and was delayed for some time, so he arrived late. Fortunately, he finally caught up with the morning court time, and he felt comfortable That's right, seeing Li Xulun coming all the way to greet him, his already good mood improved a bit, and he exchanged greetings with a smile.

"Seventh brother, it's getting late, listen, everyone is shouting, you'd better hurry up."

After Li Xulun expressed his heart to Li Xian yesterday, he had already let go of the big burden in his heart, and he let it go in front of Li Xian, and blurted out the teasing words almost without thinking.

"Let's go."

For Li Xulun, the younger brother who has completely fallen for him, Li Xian has no guard against him, all he has is love and affection, so he doesn't care about the slight disrespect in his words, he just smiled indifferently, greeted him, and then He strode towards the place where the courtiers gathered.

"See Your Royal Highness, His Royal Highness King Yi!"

Seeing Li Xian and his brothers walking side by side, the courtiers did not dare to neglect them, and bowed and saluted one after another.

"You don't need to be too polite, the time has come, let's go to court."

Although Li Xian hadn't been to the court for more than six years, he never forgot the court regulations. When the call for court was heard, he didn't dare to delay any longer, so he smiled and bowed to each other, politely. After a sound, he took the lead and walked towards the palace gate. Seeing this, all the courtiers hurriedly followed behind and rushed all the way to the Deyang Palace, but Gaozong and his wife had not yet entered the palace. I can only stand quietly in the hall and wait. This wait is enough time for a stick of incense. The snowflakes on the heads of the poor courtiers have all turned into water marks at this time, and the official robes are all gone. Wet, sticking to the human body, it is as uncomfortable as you want, many senior ministers are already trembling uncontrollably, but no one dares to complain, they can only endure this hardship silently the chill.

"His Majesty the Emperor and Empress Dowager have arrived!"

Waiting and waiting, finally, with a high-pitched voice in the apse, the unbearable waiting finally passed. When the ministers were refreshed, they saw Gaozong and Empress Wu walking side by side from the apse. Walked out slowly.

"Your Majesty and the Empress Dowager will be kowtowed."

Although all the ministers were terribly cold, when they saw Gaozong and his wife show up, none of them dared to be negligent, and they paid their respects incessantly.

"All the ministers are exempt from courtesy, let's all be flat."

Gaozong's complexion was obviously not very good. After he walked to the big seat and took his seat, he kept a flat face and said nothing, but Empress Wu raised her hand gracefully and cried out in a peaceful voice.

"Thank you, Your Majesty Long En, long live my emperor, long live long live!"

Over the years, Emperor Gaozong seldom went to court, but whenever there was a big court, it was presided over by Empress Wu, and the courtiers had long been accustomed to the practice of being called by Empress Wu. Fen Wenwu retreated to both sides of the hall.

Heh, this old bastard is so majestic, does she really regard herself as the emperor?Although Li Xian has been far away in Hexi these years, he has not cut off his connection with the Eastern Capital. He knows about Empress Wu's coming to the court, but knowing about it is another thing. Seeing it with his own eyes is another matter. Seeing that Empress Wu has brought the rooster to the extreme, and the ministers and workers did not have the slightest intention of resisting, thanking each and every one so smoothly, my heart sank involuntarily, and there was a faint murderous look in my heart, but the city government Deep, without bringing it to the face, after thanking the courtiers together, he stood aside without saying a word.

"Qi Zou Your Majesty, Empress Dowager, I have a book to play."

Just as the courtiers took their seats, a civil servant in a purple robe flashed out from the side and reported loudly that this person was Wu Chengsi, Shangshu of the Ministry of Punishment.

"If Ai Qing has a book, just play it."

Seeing that it was Wu Chengsi who came forward to report the matter, Gaozong's face twitched involuntarily, but the corners of his mouth twitched for a while, but he didn't say a word, but Empress Wu who was sitting beside him opened the door first. mouthed.

"No! It has been 52 days since I presided over the Donggong conspiracy case. With the full cooperation of all departments, the whole case has been found out, and more than [-] people involved in the case have been detained in prison. According to the investigation, the abolished prince Li Xianquan wanted to influence his heart, was restless in the house, and conspired with the treacherous and treacherous people in the court, and rebelled against him. There was a rebellion in the room, on the ninth day of October in the first year of Yifeng,... Therefore, the minister thought that the abolished prince Li Xian was trying to usurp the throne and committed treason and injustice. He should be severely punished according to the laws of the Tang Dynasty, and the punishment canonical code should be used as an example. , I implore Your Majesty and Your Majesty to issue a clear edict to warn the world!"

Wu Chengsi obviously came prepared, and he spoke eloquently, not only presenting the facts, but also citing the laws of the Tang Dynasty and the practice of the previous dynasty as evidence, making it clear that he wanted to put Li Xian to death in one fell swoop, and he did not intend to give him any help. Others left little room for intercession.

"boom……"

Wu Chengsi hadn't finished speaking, but the chaotic discussion in the court had already started. It was not that there was something unclear about Wu Chengsi's words. In fact, so many days had passed since the case, and the inside information had already As the word spread, the courtiers were already aware of the case. What really surprised the courtiers was that Wu Chengsi revealed the intention behind the case with great fanfare at this time. Obviously, it was not just for the purpose of finalizing the case as soon as possible. Because of this, there must be something strange about one of them, and thinking of the news that Li Xian had been ordered to visit the prison just after returning to the Eastern Capital yesterday, all the courtiers could not help linking these two things together.

"Qi Zuo Your Majesty, Your Majesty, I think that Wu Shangshu's admonishment is very serious, and everyone will be punished for rebellious officials and thieves! I hope Your Majesty will judge!"

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, my humble minister seconded the proposal!"

"The humble minister also seconded the proposal!"

The unsuspecting courtiers were chattering aside, but the Empress Wu's party, which had already unified the guiding ideology, was full of enthusiasm. No, as soon as Wu Chengsi's words fell, Jia Chaoyin, Zhou Simao and other officials of Empress Wu's lineage had already There were more than forty people who stood up in a huff, and all of them shouted loudly and passionately. Under the crowd, there is really a menacing power.

Seeing so many courtiers stand up and yell for beating and killing, Gaozong's ugly face turned livid in an instant, but even so, he still didn't express his opinion, just sat on the big seat with a sullen face.

"What does Uncle Eight think about this?"

Empress Wu was also not in a hurry to make a statement, but pressed her hand to stop the commotion of the ministers, and threw the topic to Li Zhen, the king of Yue who was the first and assistant minister.

"Your Majesty has learned from you. The old minister thinks that this case has been judged. How should the judgment be based on its own laws? Everything will be decided by Your Majesty and the Empress. The old minister has no objection."

Li Zhennai is an old, treacherous and cunning person, so he can see the root cause of the big drama in front of him, and he also knows the intention of Empress Wu to bring up the topic at this time, but he doesn't want to express his attitude before the situation is completely clear, so this is a Bowing down, he gave the answer very tactfully, clearly sounding like he was agreeing with Wu Chengsi's judgment, but after careful consideration, he found that this fellow had no attitude at all, he was just It's just perfunctory.

"Well, since the eighth uncle also thinks so, the case should be judged according to the law. Do you have any objections?"

Empress Wu was determined to tie Li Zhen to her own chariot this time, how could she be perfunctory, so she took a topic out of context and unceremoniously put Li Zhen into a cover.

"After telling the mother, the child has something to say!"

Empress Wu has been acting as the Son of Heaven for several years, and her authority is growing day by day. Now that she has made a conclusion, even if the ministers and workers have different opinions, they dare not stand up to oppose at this time. For a while, the hall was dead silent, but here In the dead silence, Li Xian stood up boldly, causing all the officials to stare at him immediately, and the voice of private discussion became loud again.

(End of this chapter)