While Li Xian was working hard to build momentum for himself, Empress Wu was not idle either. She was also trying various ways to strengthen her power. In addition to strengthening the power of the prime minister's group, she was also trying to win the support of middle and low-level officials.
, her approach is naturally to be generous to others, and enhance her prestige through large-scale conferrals, honors, awards, etc. In addition, she is also wooing the royal family and nobles in order to increase her power.
This included selecting a princess for her youngest son, Li Xulun, who had been renamed Li Dan in the second year of Yonglong. The candidate for this princess was first the granddaughter of Liu Dewei, the former Minister of Punishment, and the daughter of Liu Yanjing, the governor of Shaanxi Province. Later, Empress Wu saw that Li Xian was powerful
, and planned to remarry Li Dan to a wealthy family to help him fight against Li Xian.
So Empress Wu began to find various excuses to insult Mrs. Liu. Although Mrs. Liu accepted it, she still accused An of unfilial piety and ordered that Mrs. Liu be imprisoned in the women's prison of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. No servants were allowed to bring food or drink.
He gave the other party some lettuce and left him to fend for himself. Later, he sent guards to kill Liu in the prison.
Li Dan has been cowardly and meek since he was a child, and his character is not as strong as Li Xian. He would never dare to break into the palace to rescue his woman like Li Xian did. In the end, he had no choice but to
Go and seek help from Emperor Gaozong.
But he didn't expect that just when he was crying for Gaozong, Empress Wu arrived. Li Dan broke out in cold sweat and immediately did not dare to shed tears. At the same time, he tried his best to signal with his eyes not to let Gaozong talk about this to Empress Wu.
Emperor Gaozong was naturally aware of his wife's fierceness. Seeing his son's gesture, he really wanted what he wanted, so he obediently did not mention the matter.
More than ten days later, Li Dan was shocked to hear the bad news. His wife Liu died tragically in the palace. She was covered with maggots and her body was rotting.
Li Dan, who was shocked to hear the bad news, did not rush to see it at all. He could only hold back the grief in his heart and the tears in his eyes, pretending that it had not happened.
When the news reached the East Palace, Li Xian couldn't help but sigh, because a fate like Liu's should have happened to his wife Zhao Yinyue, but in the critical moment, he did not care about his own safety at all, and went straight in
During the ban, he took his wife back by force, but his younger brother Li Dan did not dare to do so, which led to this tragedy.
After Zhao Yinyue heard the news, she felt sad but at the same time she was very happy.
Because the same thing happened to me, if Li Xian hadn't saved him so bravely, he would have definitely met the same end as Liu now, or even worse!
Thinking of this, Zhao Yinyue couldn't help but look happy, and thought silently: "It's only by catching up with him that I can have the happiness I have today. If my man is as cowardly as Lao Ba, I'm afraid my bones will have rotted away."
, Alas, a woman’s greatest happiness in this life is that her man can be relied on and counted on. She can rely on him when she needs it most, even if it is just to give an idea or even just to say a word of comfort, we women are already very
I am satisfied, and someone like the prince who is not afraid of his own safety and bravely rescues him is the best in the world, a peerless good man who is rarely seen in thousands of years. But I have met such a good man. Isn't this the luck of my life?
Haha, this is the kind of warm man he often talks about, right?"
After Empress Wu had the Liu family killed, she took the initiative to betroth Dou Miaoxiang, the daughter of the Dou family in Henan, to Li Dan. This Dou family was the cousin of the great ancestor Taimu, the former Nayan, and the general Dou Kang of Zuo Wuhou.
Her great-granddaughter, her grandfather was Dali Qing, Duke of Shen State Dou Dan, and her father was Dou Xiaochen, Taichang Shaoqing. This Dou family was a Henan Dou family among the nobles of Guanlong and had a prominent family background. Empress Wu betrothed the Dou family to Li
Dan is equivalent to drawing the entire Dou family into his own camp, which can be described as a wonderful move.
However, Empress Wu did not know that his previous actions had actually planted a trace of hatred in Li Dan's heart. Although with Li Dan's character, this trace of hatred may not take root in his life, but that is because
There is no suitable environment, and Li Xian will create an environment for Li Dan's hatred to take root and germinate in the future.
In addition to appointing Li Dan for marriage, in order to balance the situation and contain Li Xian, Empress Wu also appointed Li Dan as the King of Yu, the right-wing general, the shepherd of Luozhou, the governor of the Bingzhou governorate, and in charge of the entire Luoyang garrison.
In this year, another big move of Empress Wu was to select a husband for Princess Taiping and hold a wedding.
At this time, Princess Taiping was already sixteen years old. She was beautiful and beautiful, and she was the most beautiful woman in the country. Eight years ago, Tubo Zanpu proposed to Princess Taiping for his son, but she was flatly rejected by Emperor Gaozong and Empress Wu. This was naturally because of the Tang Dynasty.
After a great victory over Tubo in the Battle of Dafeichuan ten years ago, there was no need for a humiliating marriage proposal in exchange for border peace. It was precisely because of Tubo's desire to marry that he was rejected by the Tang Dynasty.
Feeling very unsafe, they secretly supported the Turkic rebellion, which led to the great war two years ago.
However, after the great war two years ago, both the Turks and Tubo were seriously injured. Although Pei Xingjian was framed by Pei Yan and broke his promise to kill the captured Turk leader, which aroused new resistance from the Turks, there was no
With the support of Tubo, the fall of the Turks will happen sooner or later, and it is not worth mentioning at all.
And Tubo is now unable to pose a threat to the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, even if Princess Taiping gets married, Tubo is beyond its reach and cannot interfere at all.
As for Princess Taiping’s marriage, it is said that it was Princess Taiping who initiated it. It is said that one day Princess Taiping suddenly wore a warrior uniform and danced. Emperor Gaozong and Empress Wu were very surprised when they saw it, so they asked her: "You can't do it again."
Military Attaché, why are you dancing in samurai uniforms?"
But Princess Taiping said: "Although I can't be a military attaché, I wonder if it's okay to give this costume to my future prince-in-law?"
Empress Wu and Gaozong loved this little girl very much. When they saw her saying this, they knew that this little girl wanted to get married, so they smiled and said: "I didn't expect that our Yue'er has grown up and wants to find a consort, haha,
Don't worry, we will definitely find you a husband with a good family background, good character, and good looks, so that you will be satisfied."
"I want to choose by myself, can I?" Princess Taiping pouted and said coquettishly.
But she saw Empress Wu straighten her face and scolded with a smile: "Silly girl, marriage requires orders from parents. How can there be freedom of choice in the matchmaker's words? Don't talk about it anymore, I will find it for you."
A good husband will never wrong his precious daughter." (To be continued.)