"What kind of temple name will I have after I die?"
When asked this question, Li Longji felt very sad.
He has been above all things in his life, claiming to be the being closest to God in the world. But in the end, not only has he lost his power, but he can't even decide his posthumous title and needs to be decided by others.
"If you hadn't usurped the throne, I would have abolished this bad habit of 'sons discussing fathers, ministers discussing kings'."
"Maybe." Xue Bai said, "Maybe it's because of me that you got a bad posthumous title."
"Cough cough cough cough."
Li Longji became angry and touched the wound, and blood overflowed from the wrapping cloth.
The specific posthumous title to be given is a matter for officials. Xue Bai is too lazy to think about it. This matter expresses an attitude, likes and dislikes towards Li Longji. And what Li Longji wants to determine is exactly what happens after Xue Bai inherits the throne.
Can he carry on his legacy?
What is his legacy?
——I am the only one who respects me.
He was high up when he was alive, and could not fall down after his death.
Xue Bai did not step forward to help press Li Longji's wound, but watched indifferently as the blood spread, gradually soaked in the wrapping, and began to drip down.
"despair."
The sound of blood drops pulled Li Longji back from his dream of immortality, and murmured: "Looking back on these years, I haven't treated you badly, right?"
"Yes." Xue Bai still admitted this.
"I have many descendants, and you are the one who is most like me. I have long thought that I would lose this time, but it doesn't matter if I lose. Due to an innate change, I eradicated Princess Taiping and truly took control of the power, thus creating the prosperous age of the Tang Dynasty.
.You really look like me... This is the last reward I give you."
Li Longji became the crown prince through the Tang Long coup, and then changed the power structure between him and the Supreme Emperor through the Xiantian coup, just like Xue Bai's step-by-step process of ascending to the throne.
Back then, he was as young and heroic as Xue Bai is today.
It does look like he is passing on the inheritance.
"That's enough." Xue Bai was fed up with Li Longji's arrogance, "This was never your reward. You just lost everything because of your ignorance and fatigue. There is no need to whitewash your incompetence."
"Am I incompetent?"
Li Longji laughed angrily.
He used his last bit of strength to struggle to sit up, which made his already aging face even more colorless.
"How dare you deny that everything you have is my reward."
"The blood flowing in your body comes from me. You can survive because of my forgiveness. Your mother-in-law committed such an unforgivable crime, but I still dragged you step by step from a slave to a prince."
"You are just a piece of fish meat on the sword, but you have forgotten how you survived, how you tried your best to please me, and asked me to reward you with a humble official position."
"All these favors and rewards come from my ignorance and fatigue? How ungrateful and unscrupulous are you to say this?!"
After saying this, Li Longji felt like he was coming back to his senses, a strange blush appeared on his face. He raised his finger and pointed at Xue Bai, once again exerting the majesty of the emperor for decades.
During those years when he was at the pinnacle of power, state affairs were entrusted to Li Linfu, and he was enshrined with the blood of the people in the world. The most beautiful Yang Yuhuan in the world was by his side. At that time, wasn't Xue Bai just like those sycophants?
He really could never get over that period of time.
Xue Bai still disagreed and said: "That is not a reward. The treasures and titles are all paid by the world. You are just distributing them on your behalf. However, you are unfair. You regard the world as private wealth and use the blood of the world to satisfy yourself.
You deserve it for your selfish desires."
Li Longji was stunned for a moment, looked at Xue Bai, and laughed dumbly.
"Isn't that what the emperor is like? The world is the emperor's private property! My unfilial descendants, including you, don't you want to grab my private property first? I am the emperor, I have the world, and I am rich all over the world.
Everything, every person, every piece of gold and silver in this ten thousand-mile territory belongs to me!"
It was a matter of course, but he didn't expect that he would be asked to teach Xue Bai.
"You don't even understand this, how dare you fight for my throne?"
"I only know that the world is for the common good." Xue Bai said: "The people are noble, the king is despised, and the one who wins the people will be the emperor."
"That's enough. I don't want to listen to these unnecessary words. You can wait until I die and chat with those pedantic scholars about your power to win people's hearts." Li Longji said: "But remember, you can become the emperor.
, not because you win the hearts of the people of Qiu, but because you are my grandson."
"I'm not."
"You dare to deny it?"
Li Longji was so surprised that he even forgot that he was dying.
After staring at Xue Bai with wide eyes for a while, he sneered and said, "You said that just to piss me off."
Xue Bai said: "There is no point in being angry with you. On the contrary, it is because you are about to die that I tell you frankly that I am not your grandson."
"It's useless if you don't admit it. It can't change the blood flowing in your body, nor can it change the fact that you have a secret relationship with your grandfather's woman... Hahaha, look, even what you do is so like me."
As he spoke, Li Longji laughed like crazy and didn't stop until he was exhausted.
After saying so many words, he could no longer support his body and slumped down on the couch.
If he died now, it would be a small way to vent his anger.
Xue Bai said: "You and I both know very well that I am not Li Qian, I am just a person with a foreign surname who wants to usurp the Tang Dynasty by any means necessary."
"So you don't even know that you are Li Qian." Li Longji lay there and murmured, "Although I don't want to admit it, this is the fact."
"You really thought that the restoration would fail, and you insisted that I was Li Qian. This was your way to deal with failure. You even made an idle move to make me believe that you deliberately told Zhang Ting and Gao Lishi in private.
You already knew that I was Li Qian, and you pretended to protect my son."
"Cluck cluck."
Li Longji let out a strange laugh and said: "It seems that you know all about Zhang Ting's plan."
But he was not ashamed and seemed very proud of it.
"They are all traitors. They confessed to you so quickly."
"It's a pity, I don't believe a word of it." Xue Bai said: "If you really wanted to protect my son, you wouldn't send Li Yan to the Forbidden Garden. You are too selfish to hand over power to Li Heng, and you are too cowardly to risk it.
Everything, trying to deceive yourself and others to cover up your sadness."
"Cough cough cough cough."
Li Longji's emotional ups and downs also affected his wounds. He kept hissing and moaning in pain.
A gray-haired, seriously injured old man lying there struggling was a rather pitiful image.
But in Xue Bai's eyes, this old age does not deserve his respect and sympathy.
All the beautiful and pure qualities that Li Longji had when he was young, such as his high-spiritedness, wisdom, brilliance, generosity and loyalty, were gradually soaked, corroded and finally disappeared by the intoxicating materialistic desires as he grew older. In the end, only selfishness was left.
arrogant.
He was lost in his desire for power and became worse as he got older.
"I have always known that I am not Li Qian, even people around me believe it. But that is just the drive of power. Power can change so many things in the world. It can not only make people become grandsons, but also make people become pigs and dogs.
. But I have come to this day to control power, not to be controlled by power."
Xue Bai said, walked closer, looked at Li Longji's struggle, and said: "After fifty years of emperor career, you are finally controlled by power."
"If you have the ability, tell the world that you are not Li Qian."
"good."
Li Longji's eyes were sarcastic, he shook his head despite the pain, and said with a smile: "You are so tough, you don't dare. No matter how presumptuous you are in front of me today, after you leave this door, you will still be my grandson."
"Don't worry, one day I will tell the world my name and let them know that I am not inherited from you. At that time, the world will find that my power comes from my contribution."
"Contribution? Fart." Li Longji spat: "You don't have to scare me, I won't believe a word of your lies."
"You knew I would do this."
"Who are you paying homage to? Tell me, what are the names of your fathers and ancestors? Xue Ling? Xue Xiu? Do you want to make them emperors and enshrine them in the Ancestral Temple so that generations of people will praise their achievements?"
Speaking later, Li Longji was even a little excited.
Sure enough, Xue Bai couldn't tell who he could pay homage to. He was an orphan without a father or a mother in this world.
In this world where family origin is the most important thing, the first thing every 'scholar' says when he introduces himself is whose descendant he is. Orphans are nothing and have nothing.
Li Longji believed that everything Xue Bai had was his reward. This was exactly the reason.
"You are my grandson, and you are the one who is most like me. You even have the same taste in picking women as I do. Just accept your fate, you can't change it."
"I'm different from you." Xue Bai said: "The so-called achievements you are proud of are just resting on the merits of your ancestors and following the advice of famous officials. The most remarkable thing about your life is that you were born
He is the emperor's nobleman, the most outstanding one among the brothers, nothing more. And what I am most proud of is that I have come from a humble beginning to this step little by little. I can't wait to tell the world...
Princes and generals, Xiang Ning has the guts to do so."
This last sentence inexplicably angered Li Longji.
Maybe it was his natural attitude that made him hate this sentence. Before Xue Bai finished speaking, Li Longji wanted to reach out and pinch his throat.
"Evil beast!"
Xue Bai calmly took two steps back.
Li Longji's upper body fell to the couch.
Xue Bai didn't help him, but said to himself: "You just think I'm crazy. But after I got rid of you all, this wish suddenly came up. I don't want to live by pretending to be someone else's name.
Even if I don’t have parents or relatives in the world, I still want to be myself. For the sake of power, I have done everything possible and made a lot of compromises, but I really want to try if I can let power compromise for me once. As I just said
Yes, I want to hold power, not be held by it."
These words he said were extremely sincere.
Damn it, Li Longji felt his sincerity and knew that he would really do it, or at least carry it out with this goal in mind.
Li Longji couldn't imagine how he would be judged if the Li clan was cut off from his family and given to a foreigner.
Wouldn’t he become the king of a subjugated country?
If Xue Bai was no longer his grandson, I'm afraid he wouldn't cover up his affair with Yang Yuhuan anymore.
Then wouldn’t he become a subjugated king who even had his women taken away?
From the Mingjun in the prosperous age, he fell to the Emperor Aizong of the Tang Dynasty in one step?
"You can't do it, and you won't do it."
It was the first time that Li Longji showed a pitiful look of begging.
"Li Qian, don't say that just to piss me off. In those years, you gave me dominoes and operas, and I favored you again and again. That was the happiness of our family."
"It's not to anger you." Xue Bai said: "It's just that what is the probability of being born as a noble person like Li Qian? One in a hundred thousand? One in a million? I'm not that lucky."
"But you are already, you are already Li Qian."
"We have different paths and we don't want to work together. The time is almost up. I will serve you here today."
Li Longji was stunned.
He couldn't listen to Xue Bai's meaningless remarks and thought that the other party was really crazy.
Seeing Xue Bai getting up to leave, he desperately tried to stop him. In the end, he got off the couch and crawled a few steps, leaving a trail of blood.
Despite this, Xue Bai still left the palace without looking back.
The palace door opened, and the bright sunlight dissipated the rotten smell.
Gao Lishi was standing outside the palace, requesting to visit the Supreme Emperor. When he saw the door of the palace opened, he was about to salute Xue Bai. Then he found Li Longji crawling on the ground, and rushed forward to help him regardless.
"Sanlang, get up quickly."
"You have to stop him." Li Longji said, "Tell him that he is Li Qian."
"As your servant knows, His Highness's life experience has long been revealed to the world. He..."
"I am Xue Bai."
Xue Bai, who was standing in the sun, turned his head and spoke loudly without restraint.
This is his name, the only thing he brought into this world to prove who he is.
After saying it, he seemed much more relaxed.
Li Longji and Gao Lishi were both a little surprised. In the end, Gao Lishi came to the rescue awkwardly and said: "Your Highness is joking."
I don’t know who explained it to.
As soon as the light from outside the hall shone in, the energy and blood in Li Longji's body darkened.
After returning to the light, his vitality was fading rapidly.
The next day.
When Xue Bai went to visit Li Longji again, he was already dying.
"Your Highness, the Supreme Emperor has always wanted to see you again."
Gao Lishi didn't cry, but there was an aura of decline all over his body.
It's like a dying tree. It can't be seen from the outside, but the trunk is already hollow.
"Li...Qian..."
Li Longji's face on the couch became even more ugly, giving people the impression that he had begun to develop corpse spots.
He struggled to raise his hand, but in the end he only raised it a little.
"Promise me...don't do that..."
Xue Bai did not agree, but said: "Besides this, what other last wishes does the Emperor have?"
Li Longji was unable to speak and could only look at Xue Bai with his eyes.
"Let's listen to some music." Xue Bai said, beckoning to make arrangements.
After a while, Fan Nu came.
She bowed down to Li Longji with tears in her eyes, without saying a word, waving her long sleeves and dancing in the hall.
Li Longji lay there on his back without turning his head to look, silently waiting for death to come.
Afterwards, Li Guinian arrived with a group of musicians, set out their instruments and started playing.
The music is lively, but the atmosphere is no longer the same as before.
Gao Lishi noticed something and leaned down to listen to Li Longji's final instructions.
"I...want to see Taizhen again..."
Gao Lishi understood Li Longji best and knew that what he wanted to see was not only Yang Yuhuan, but to return to that prosperous age.
This wish was not something Gao Lishi could make, so he turned back to look at Xue Bai.
Before he could speak, he followed Xue Bai's gaze and looked at Li Longji again, only to see that the Supreme Emperor had passed away suddenly.
"Saburo."
"The Great Emperor."
"The Emperor Yan is here!"
The musicians were very sad. For them, this was the end of an era.
They would never meet an emperor who was as obsessed with music as Li Longji and treated them with kindness.
But for Xue Bai and more people, a new era will begin.
~~
On this day, Daming Palace was particularly lonely.
After the Emperor and the Supreme Emperor died one after another, the palace became increasingly empty.
Under the verandah, Xue Bai personally supported Gao Lishi as he walked by.
Being able to support the prince who is about to ascend the throne with his own hands is an honor that few people after Gao Lishi can enjoy.
The old man and the young man walked away for a while, and then Gao Lishi slowly spoke.
"This old slave wants to be buried with the Supreme Emperor, please allow His Highness."
"Why bother?" Xue Bai said, "How wonderful it is to live."
"The old slave has made up his mind." Gao Lishi said: "And he has already taken the poison."
Xue Bai paused for a moment and said: "I still remember that night in the sixth year of Tianbao. It was General Gao who protected me, but I didn't have time to repay General Gao."
"This old slave should do things for His Highness. As long as Your Highness manages the Tang Dynasty well and stops saying stupid things, this old slave will rest in peace."
"Guo Suo was arranged by you, right?" Xue Bai said.
"no."
"Even if you tell lies, I can't tell."
Gao Lishi said: "If it was arranged by the old slave, Du Erniang must have found it long ago with her talent."
He sighed and said slowly: "At the beginning, His Highness really wanted to impersonate Li Qian, and also deliberately led the slaves to speculate in this direction. But after the old slaves investigated, they found that this matter was indeed true, and perhaps he had committed suicide secretly.
It must be God’s will.”
Xue Bai didn't say anything else, he just thought it was to repay Gao Lishi's previous kindness. There was no need for him to keep Gao Lishi from resting in peace before he died.
That matter is not simple in the first place, and it is not the right time to do it now. It will be done later.
"This old slave knows that His Highness will be a good emperor after he ascends the throne. This is enough. Looking back on the Lantern Festival that year, when I took action to protect His Highness, I really didn't expect that this day would happen. We old guys are almost too happy
It's better to die. If you die, the court will be safe..."
Gao Lishi kept talking along the way. He was an old man who had accompanied the Tang Dynasty for more than seventy years. If he really wanted to speak, he would have too much to tell.
It's a pity that he has been serving Li Longji for most of his life and can no longer adapt to the new life.
By the time the two of them reached the Hanxiang Hall, Gao Lishi's face had already turned a strange dark blue color.
When Xue Bai helped him sit down, he found that his hands were shaking badly.
"Your Highness, I can no longer witness His Majesty's ascension to the throne."
"Um."
Gao Lishi then closed his eyes and followed Li Longji away not long after.
Xue Bai stretched out his hand, unable to detect Gao Lishi's breath, turned around and walked out of the Hanxiang Hall.
~~
In the next few days, the ministers discussed various etiquettes and submitted petitions one after another to invite Xue Bai to ascend the throne.
For Li Longji, Li Cong's temple name was also decided.
Considering that Li Longji finally seized power through a coup, some officials guessed that Xue Bai must be dissatisfied and formulated the word "Kang".
In response, Xue Bai asked Yan Zhenqing privately whether the word "Kang" or "Xuan" was better.
Yan Zhenqing said: "The flow of origins is called Kang, the good years are stable and stable, it is called Kang, the enjoyment of happiness and neglect of government is called Kang, and the lack of moral integrity is called Kang. As for Xuan, it is called Xuan when it is bright in the front and dark in the back, and it is called Xuan in response to the Lord and God..."
Seeing that Xue Bai didn't understand, he simply said: "The word 'Xuan' means that it is not good to evaluate, and it means leaving it to God for evaluation."
Xue Bai said: "Then let God evaluate it."
He also thought about giving Li Longji a beautiful posthumous title, such as Daizong, but in the end, he found that he did not want to comment on Li Longji.
Presumably Li Longji doesn't really want to be judged by the world.
To fulfill his wish, it is not necessary for the son to judge the father, or the minister to judge the king, it is up to God to decide.
As for Li Cong, because his reign was short, the officials named him "Mu".
This is also the result of trying to please Xue Bai, which means that they all know that it was Xue Bai who accomplished the task of quelling the chaos and pacifying the situation.
Regarding this, what Xue Bai was thinking about was whether they would still be so loyal if he told them today that he was not of Li's blood.
Of course, he was still the same Xue Bai who would do anything for power. He didn't say anything and silently walked towards the throne.
This is the seventh day of May in the third year of the Yuan Dynasty.
Twelve years have passed since Xue Bai came to Chang'an.
In twelve years, he used countless conspiracies and tricks and killed countless people before he finally obtained the throne.
Before dawn, he put on Gong robes and worshiped God and Li Tang's ancestors again, and issued an edict to the world to grant amnesty to the world.
Yijia returned to Chang'an from the Temple of Heaven and passed through Zhuque Street. He heard the mountain calls of all the people.
I have to admit that Xue Bai felt extremely excited.
But he also told himself in his heart that the people were not cheering for him, but welcoming a new life.
When he was thinking like this, he saw the Zhuque Gate in front of him, and thought of Wang Wen who once caused trouble at the Zhuque Gate, and thought of An Lushan, Shi Siming, Li Heng, Li Chu, Li Lin... and all the people who had the same characteristics as him.
Ambitious person.
In a game of competition among heroes, he won.
But in fact, those people once thought they had achieved victory and were called lonely and ignorant.
Xue Bai will remember them.
After passing through the imperial city, he turned to the Daming Palace and climbed to the Danfeng Gate, where Xue Bai accepted the worship of officials and people.
Then slowly return to the Xuanzheng Hall to reward the meritorious officials.
It is worth mentioning that Yan Zhenqing insisted that Xue Bai confirm the crown prince on the day he ascended the throne, and formally submitted a memorial, writing down his request to establish "Li Zuo" as the crown prince.
This incident made many people think that this grandfather had selfish motives. Even a gentleman from a so-called Confucian family could sometimes be unable to restrain himself in the face of power.
Faintly, many people in the official circles of the Tang Dynasty began to guard against the excessive power of relatives.
But Xue Bai still agreed to Yan Zhenqing's request and said with a smile: "No matter what others say, I know that my father-in-law is out of public interest."
At that time, Yan Zhenqing said: "Your Majesty, you can change your name."
In the main hall, the long edict was read.
Xue Bai sat on the dragon chair and glanced at the ministers. He was a little uncomfortable, but he spoke slowly and forcefully.