Emperor Li Heng has returned to the inner palace. The edict incident made him extremely uncomfortable. He always thought that although Li Ye was listed as a clan member, he was a side sect after all and was not orthodox in the Tang Dynasty. However, he did not expect that the Supreme Emperor would issue an edict to recognize Li Ye.
Ye has the legitimate right to inherit the throne.
In fact, all clan members have the right to inherit the throne, but no one takes this rule seriously.
What is a clan, that is, the descendants of Emperor Taizong. The descendants of non-Emperor Taizong can only be called royal clan.
But there are so many descendants of Emperor Taizong, so they have to be ranked first. The orthodox are generally the descendants of the emperor. This is a rule passed down from generation to generation. You can't say that the descendants of Emperor Ruizong's other son also have the right to inherit the orthodox throne. That would be
It's a mess.
Therefore, one must be the descendant of the current emperor to be called orthodox. However, if the Supreme Emperor has specifically designated it as orthodox, it can also be regarded as having the same right to inherit the throne as the descendants of the emperor.
For example, Li Lin was regarded as legitimate by the Supreme Emperor. Under the coercion of the Supreme Emperor, Li Heng had to confer Li Lin as the emperor's younger brother.
As soon as the emperor passed away, Li Heng immediately found an excuse to dismiss the emperor's younger brother.
Another person that the Supreme Emperor recognized as orthodox was Li Ye. Li Ye enjoyed the same right to inherit the throne as Li Heng's descendants.
But there are also many descendants of Li Heng, dozens of them, so there must be a priority, and the eldest son is generally given priority.
First, the eldest son is the prince. If the prince dies, it is the turn of the eldest grandson. However, if the prince has an extremely outstanding brother, he can also establish another son instead of the eldest grandson. Neither Li Shimin nor Li Longji is the eldest son.
Therefore, this order of direct eldest son is only relative, and it does not necessarily mean who is the successor.
As long as he is not the eldest son, everyone else is equal.
If there is a particularly outstanding and powerful person among the legitimate successors to the throne, then all officials can support this outstanding person to ascend the throne.
This is why Emperor Li Heng was angry. If he died, it would not necessarily be his descendants who would ascend the throne. With the edict from the Supreme Emperor, Li Ye could also ascend the throne.
"Your Majesty, did the negotiation fail?" Queen Zhang asked with concern when seeing her husband's angry face.
Li Heng shook his head, "The negotiations are still going on. I am angry because I just got the news that King Qi actually has an edict from the Supreme Emperor, and the Supreme Emperor recognizes him as the legitimate heir to the throne."
"What do you mean? Can King Qi inherit your Majesty's throne?"
Queen Zhang's eyes widened, "Who is he? He is a descendant of Li Shuliang. How can he inherit the throne of His Majesty?"
Li Heng said bitterly: "But he has an edict from the Supreme Emperor, which admits that he can inherit my throne."
Queen Zhang rolled her eyes and made a decisive decision: "The only way is for your Majesty to establish a prince as soon as possible to stop Li Ye's missing."
Li Heng nodded. This was the only way. However, there were too many differences between the parties on the issue of establishing the crown prince. Li Heng himself wanted to establish his second son, Li Xi, as the crown prince, but was strongly opposed by all parties.
The prime ministers of the Zhengshitang wanted to make the eldest grandson Li Shi the emperor's grandson. The Quanhuan group originally supported the Li line, but later they supported the thirteenth son born to Queen Zhang to make the king Li Dong the crown prince.
According to legal principles, when the prince dies, the emperor's eldest grandson should be named, and then the prince's brothers. However, Li Heng did not want to name the eldest grandson Li Shi. The reason was that Li Shi said something wrong. When Li Shi paid homage to his father's soul, he whispered
He swore that if he were the emperor, he would pursue it to the end and avenge his father.
This sentence happened to be heard by a young eunuch next to Li Shi. The young eunuch immediately reported it to Li Fuguo, who then reported it to the emperor Li Heng, which made Li Heng very angry. Although the eldest son died of illness, he also died indirectly at his hands.
First, Li Shi's intention was not to hold himself accountable and ruin his reputation after his death.
Since this incident, although the eldest grandson Li Shi often came to pay respects to Li Heng, the more Li Heng looked at him, the more uncomfortable he became, and the more he looked at him, the more he hated him. Therefore, prejudice is the most terrible thing. Once there is prejudice, the harder the other party works, the worse it will be.
People will be disgusted.
When Empress Zhang saw her husband being silent, she suddenly thought of something and was shocked. If she established a prince now, her son was only five years old, but there was no chance of winning. She had just ignored it.
Li Shi must be completely eliminated so that his son can have hope.
Empress Zhang further advised: "Actually, Your Majesty, don't be in a hurry to establish a crown prince. Even if your Majesty leaves a posthumous edict to establish a crown prince a hundred years later, it won't be Li Ye's turn. Li Ye is just wishful thinking."
"It's just that Li Ye's army is very powerful. I'm very worried that he will come to the city in the future and seize the throne by force."
"Then your Majesty, don't be anxious. Now your Majesty needs to work hard to make the army bigger and stronger. Why should you be afraid of Li Ye then?"
Li Heng nodded, "The queen is right, everything depends on strength. It's useless for me to be anxious!"
In the afternoon, Pei Zunqing hurried over to report the latest negotiation status to the emperor.
"Weichen proposed a plan to exchange Guanzhong and Guannai Road for Jiannan Road and Shannan West Road. Liu Yan stated that he would not make a decision until King Qi came back. Then Liu Yan also proposed their plan, and they still wanted to buy it with money."
Li Heng could also accept the plan of buying with money. For a dynasty that has been in financial dire straits for a long time, there is no condition more attractive than money.
"How much money do they plan to spend?" Li Heng asked.
"Liu Yan first proposed to spend 3 million guan to buy the governance rights of Guanzhong, and then mentioned the Guan Nei Road. He expressed his willingness to spend another 3 million guan to buy the Guan Nei Dao."
The Guan Nei Road is the barrier of Guanzhong and is ancillary to Guanzhong. If Guanzhong is lost, then the Guan Nei Dao will be of little significance to the imperial court. It is very simple. It is blocked by the Yellow River and cannot pass through.
Just like Anxi and Beiting, it nominally belongs to the imperial court, but the imperial court is simply beyond its reach and the army cannot get through. Therefore, Li Heng and Zhengshitang both agreed to exchange Anxi and Beiting for Jingxiang. In fact, the Guannai Road was also exchanged with Anxi and Beiting.
Same.
Li Heng was quite tempted, six hundred guan! It could cover ten months' military salary, and he could use this money to annihilate Li Xilie.
After pondering for a long time, Li Heng asked Pei Zunqing: "What is the attitude of Zhengshitang?"
"Reporting to Your Majesty, we all agree that it would be best to exchange for the two ways of Bashu and Bashu. If this is not possible, then accepting six million yuan as compensation is better than getting nothing at all."
Li Heng nodded, "That's what I mean too. Since King Qi still wants to do things according to the rules, I also welcome it. Let Bashu be the main one first. If the other party doesn't agree, then I'll accept their six million dollars."
At the same time when the emperor met Pei Zunqing, Empress Zhang was also secretly discussing with Li Fuguo how to deal with the emperor's eldest grandson Li Shi.
Li Fuguo's vagina: "The king of Yue Li Xi is a useless wimp. The emperor wants to make him the prince because he is useless, so there is no need to consider Li Xi. The key is Li Shi. Once the emperor is persuaded by the officials and wakes up, then
In all likelihood, he wants to establish Li Shi. We cannot give Li Shi time and opportunity. The only way to win is to eliminate him as soon as possible. We have to think of a way."