At this time, Luoyang was experiencing a bloody storm.
It turned out that after experiencing two defeats by Li Xiaoyi and Zhang Guangfu, Empress Wu finally realized that if she wanted to ensure her victory, she must find a way to eliminate Li Xian's cronies hidden within the imperial army. Therefore, on the advice of her nephew Wu Sansi
Next, Empress Wu launched a large-scale operation to eliminate traitors. After nearly two months of dormancy, Empress Wu finally took up the butcher's knife and began a killing spree.
Under the instigation of Wu Sansi and others, Empress Wu once again appointed Zhou Xing, Lai Junchen and others who had previously declared that they would never use them, and launched a large-scale unjust prison. In just a few days, countless officials were thrown into the Yushitai
Fortunately, the current imperial censor, Li Zhaode, was an upright man and managed to save some officials. However, many ministers still died "unjustly" in prison.
Most of these dead officials were members of the Li Tang clan, such as Taiwei, Han Wang Li Yuanjia, Kaifu Yitong Sansi, Teng Wang Li Yuanying, Prince Taishi, Lu Wang Li Lingkui, Prince Taibao, Ji Wang Li Shen,
Huang Guogong Li Zhuan, Dongguan County Duke Li Rong and so on.
Empress Wu even ordered people to quietly execute the former crown prince Li Xian, who was being imprisoned in Bazhou. The reason is said to be because Li Xian heard that Li Xian was deprived of power and wrote a poem about Huang Tai Gua, which angered Empress Wu.
In fact, the most important factor was that Empress Wu was worried that some people would use Li Xian's name to rebel, making her political situation even more unstable.
In fact, Li Xian didn't have a good impression of these clan members, because these people usually relied on their status to do whatever they wanted in the local area, bullying local officials, and even the emperor didn't pay much attention to them, and they also controlled them.
Military power, even if Empress Wu did not take action against them, he would do so in the future. Now it was just right to use Empress Wu's hands to cut off these forces, and at the same time, he could use this matter to arouse the world's dissatisfaction with Empress Wu. It can be said that it was a good plan that killed two birds with one stone.
It was a pity for Li Xian that he was escaped by the Yue King Li Zhen, and he soon raised an army with his son Langya King Li Chong and others, and even raised the banner of asking Li Xian to hand over power, but what Li Zhen did
Completely different from Li Jingye, he even sent troops to capture Jinling. Although on the surface he was coordinating Li Jingye, his evil intentions were obvious, and anyone with a discerning eye could see it at a glance, so Li Xian secretly asked Li Jingye to deal with the Yue King Li Zhen and his son.
Take precautions.
Among them, many upright officials were framed, and many of them were Li Xian's people. However, under the secret protection of Shangguan Wan'er, Wei Tuan'er and others, although these officials suffered some hardships, most of them were
Some of them were not in danger of their lives, and some of the important members were secretly rescued by Li Xian through ingenious tricks such as resurrecting corpses and escaping golden cicadas.
However, there were times when Li Xian was powerless, such as Princess Taiping's consort Xue Shao.
In fact, Xue Shao had no connection with the rebellion. However, at this time, Wu Chengsi was coveting the beauty of Princess Taiping and secretly proposed a plan to Empress Wu.
The attitude of cooperating with Empress Wu is very dangerous. We should find a way to execute Xue Shao, and then let Princess Taiping marry the Wu brothers. In this case, Princess Taiping will really belong to Empress Wu. With Princess Taiping's talents and the clan girls
His identity can completely eliminate the people's dissatisfaction with Empress Wu's massacre of the Li family. It can be said that it kills several people with one stone.
After hearing what Wu Chengsi said, Empress Wu was convinced, so she instigated Lai Junchen, who had been worshiped as the imperial censor Zhongcheng, to frame Xue Shao for rebellion. Lai Junchen then used the excuse that Xue Shao's brother Xue Xiang had written letters to Langya King Li Chong. It was pointed out that Xue Ji was involved in the rebellion, and at the same time, he falsely accused Xue Shao of being involved, and tortured Xue Shao. As a result, Xue Shao actually "committed suicide out of fear of crime."
Princess Taiping is really like "sitting behind closed doors, misfortunes will come from the sky". After marrying Xue Shao, she put down her dignity, respected her parents-in-law, raised her husband and raised her children, and lived an ordinary life without any interest in power. , but she did not expect that she suddenly encountered a misfortune, and her husband Xue Shao, who loved her deeply, was involved in a rebellion. Princess Taiping was shocked and rushed to Luoyang to plead with Empress Wu in person. However, when she saw Empress Wu, But I heard the sad news that her husband had committed suicide out of fear of crime.
After that, Empress Wu directly persuaded Princess Taiping to marry Wu Chengsi to achieve a marriage between the two families, and also hinted that after Princess Taiping married, she would be given full power.
Empress Wu had no idea what love meant to Princess Taiping. Although Princess Taiping had not participated in political affairs for several years, she was not stupid. She quickly understood Empress Wu's plan and guessed the death of her husband. Empress Wu could never be excused from the affair, and she even believed that Empress Wu was the mastermind of the matter.
At this time, Princess Taiping had only one thing left in her heart, which was to avenge Xue Shao. For this reason, she decided to seize power as much as possible, and then cooperate with Li Xian to overthrow Empress Wu's rule.
However, Princess Taiping disliked Wu Chengsi very much. Not only was she unwilling to be married to him, even face to face, she proposed that none of the children of the Wu family should marry him except Wu You.
Empress Wu thought that whether it was Wu Chengsi or Wu Youji, they were both her nephews, and there was no difference at all to her, so she happily agreed.
However, Wu Youji had his own wife, and he and his wife were very affectionate. After hearing what Wu Youji said, Empress Wu smiled lightly and said that the matter could be discussed carefully. As a result, the next day, Wu Youji His wife suddenly fell ill and died.
Wu Youji knew that his beloved wife was poisoned to death by Empress Wu, and he dared not speak out in his heart. He also felt a little resentful towards Princess Taiping. However, he did not dare to refuse Empress Wu's arrangement. Only seven days after Xue Shao's death, he Was ordered to marry Princess Taiping.
After Princess Taiping got married, Empress Wu couldn't wait to express her trust in her, let her participate in political affairs, and promoted many young officials under her advice. After hearing the news, many courtiers came to her service, but Princess Taiping was the most favored. He also behaved inappropriately and had unclear relationships with many ministers.
Under such circumstances, Princess Taiping's power grew rapidly like a balloon. In less than a month, Princess Taiping had already controlled two prime ministers and dozens of censors, as well as middle-level officials at all levels. Even Pei Yan, a low-ranking official and a huge force, turned his attention to him.
Li Xian was naturally not without information channels. After he heard about the changes that had taken place in Princess Taiping, his heart suddenly sank and he quickly wrote a letter to persuade her not to surrender. However, this letter was like a stone sinking into the sea. He didn't get any response until one day Princess Taiping sent someone to secretly deliver a message to him, saying that she had contacted the eighth brother Li Dan. As long as Li Xian said a word, he would immediately lead his army to respond and vowed to kill him. The various military officials and the sycophants in the court made the Tang Dynasty return to the Qingming Dynasty. (To be continued.)
