Time flies so fast, and in the blink of an eye it has been more than a year.
In more than a year, many major events happened, and several of them revolved around the struggle for power between the emperor and the empress.
First of all, in March of the third year of Longshuo, the army led by Qibi Heli won a complete victory. To say that Qibi Heli could be regarded as a famous general, he was extremely brave. After being ordered to go on an expedition, he only led
Five hundred light cavalry galloped into the Tiele tribe. The Tiele tribe was shocked when they saw the captives. However, they saw Qibi Heli said: "The imperial court knows that you are my beloved men of the Tang Dynasty, but you are just here for some ambitions."
The family made a mistake, so I have been appointed as a pacifying envoy to persuade you to change your ways. The imperial court has issued an edict. The imperial court will only ask the culprit of this rebellion and will not listen to threats. As long as you lay down your arms, you will be forgiven by the imperial court."
After listening to Qibi Heli's words, the people of various tribes were overjoyed and took action one after another. They captured the fake Yehu and Teller and other 200 people appointed by the thieves. When they came back, Qibi Heli announced the crimes of these leaders and executed them.
He killed them and pacified the Tiele tribes.
Qibi Heli's meritorious service was naturally a great event for Empress Wu's family, but it was a heavy blow to Gaozong. At this time, Empress Wu's court included Xu Jingzong, Li Yifu, Wang Dejian, Yuan Gongyu, Hou Shanye and others. Wu Qibihe
The power of Li and other generals was vaguely comparable to that of Emperor Gaozong, and they were known as the two sages in the palace.
The powerful power possessed by Empress Wu aroused Gaozong's uneasiness, so Gaozong tried to deprive Empress Wu of her power. First, he tried his best to personally review the memorials and keep the power in his own hands. Secondly, he also focused on supporting the crown prince Li Hong.
When he visited the Eastern Capital in the fourth year of Qing Dynasty, he appointed Crown Prince Li Hong to supervise the country. Now he has delegated power to him. Some minor matters are directly handled by the Crown Prince without the need to report to the Eastern Capital. President Gao did this in order to cultivate the Crown Prince's rationality.
The second natural step is to cultivate the prince's political ability, in an attempt to use this to check the prince's political ability, so that he can take advantage of the situation.
This was not the end, Gaozong also decided to take action against Empress Wu's important ministers.
Originally, in October of the second year of Longshuo, Emperor Gaozong used the case of a shooting and murder by the son of left minister Xu Yushi to demote Xu Yushi and Yang Deyi and send them into exile. This dealt a heavy blow to Empress Wu and basically maintained the balance. However, he did not expect that Qibi could win so powerfully.
He was greatly rewarded by Empress Wu and ordered to take charge of the Nanya armies and garrison. At the same time, Li Yifu, the right prime minister, became more and more disrespectful of him. Even Li Yifu's son and son-in-law did something illegal a few days ago, and Gaozong carried out
After warning, this person ignored Gaozong's face and walked away. All this made Gaozong feel deeply threatened, so Gaozong decided to use Li Yifu as a breakthrough to deal a heavy blow to Empress Wu's power.
It happened to be such a coincidence that one morning in April of the third year of Longshuo, Li Yifu asked the warlock Du Yuanji to look at his energy. This incident happened to be caught by Li Xian who had gone out of the city early to practice Qinggong. Li Xian saw Du Yuanji pointing and pointing.
, what he said were all reactionary remarks, he quickly wrote down these things and sealed them up, and asked Zhang Wuchen to use his superb lightness skills to send them to the residence of Liu Xiangdao, the Minister of Punishment, Taichang Bo (the Minister of the Ministry of Punishment).
Liu Xiangdao was shocked after reading what Li Xian had written, and quickly reported the matter to Emperor Gaozong. At this time, Yang Xingying, Cao of the Youjin Wucang Army, also impeached Li Yifu to Emperor Gaozong, saying that Li Yifu had violated the imperial ban.
, asked Changsun Wuji's grandson Changsun Yan for 700 guan in preparation for granting him the post of Chief Supervisor.
When Emperor Gaozong heard about the case, he was furious and immediately issued an edict to imprison Li Yifu. At the same time, he ordered Liu Xiangdao to join Yushitai and Xiangxing Temple (Dali Temple) for a joint trial, and ordered Sikong Li Ji to supervise the trial.
Thirteen days later, the results of the trial came out. Li Yifu was exiled to Junzhou (Xichang, Sichuan) for a long time on charges of corruption. His eldest son and son-in-law were also exiled. Only the youngest son Li Zhan, who had served Li Xian for a long time and was not guilty of corruption, was able to retain his post. He stayed in the Zhou Palace.
In October of that year, because of the appearance of unicorn footprints (lin toes) in front of Hanyuan Hall, all the ministers thought it was a good omen. Emperor Gaozong even thought that he had eradicated the traitors and caused a good omen from heaven, so he immediately decided to change Yuan Linde in the next year. .
In the second year, the first year of Linde's reign, a major event occurred in the palace, which directly led to the irreconcilable conflict between Emperor Gaozong and Empress Wu.
It turns out that since Gaozong dealt with Xu Yushi and Li Yifu, Empress Wu felt that the emperor wanted to take away power. Although the power of the country itself should belong to the emperor, who was Empress Wu? Although she was a woman, her desire for power was No less than a man, especially after handling political affairs for Gaozong these years, she felt the benefits of power firsthand. Therefore, when faced with Gaozong's counterattack, she felt even more uneasy.
Just when Empress Wu was at a loss, suddenly one day, her personal maid Chunxiang handed her a sealed letter. Empress Wu opened the letter and saw that the writer was an acquaintance. His name was Guo Xingzhen, who claimed to be He has been practicing Taoism for more than two hundred years and worked as a Taoist priest in Dajiao Temple, the royal Taoist temple at that time. He met her when she went to the temple to pray for blessings. At that time, this man said that Empress Wu was born with a noble appearance and would be the ruler of the world in the future.
Empress Wu was naturally overjoyed when she heard this, and she secretly became her confidant. Later, she received help from Guo Xingzhen several times, and the relationship between the two became even closer. However, later, when Taizong died and Empress Wu became a monk at Ganye Temple, the two lost contact. Later, When Empress Wu returned to the court, she also secretly searched for Guo Xingzhen, but found that there was no news about this person. She thought that this person would never appear in her life again, but she did not expect that this person actually appeared again, and it was At the moment when you need someone the most.
Empress Wu immediately dismissed her attendants, calmly read the letter, and then burned it. The next day, she went to the Haotian Temple in Chang'an City on the pretext of praying for blessings, and then secretly met a Taoist priest. According to Li Xian's informant In return, the two talked freely for nearly an hour, but they knew nothing about what they talked about.
Li Xian then sent people to investigate the Taoist priest, but only found out the Taoist priest's name, but that was enough, because Li Xian knew that something big would happen in the court.
So Li Xian then mobilized his forces and stepped up surveillance of the palace, because although this matter had nothing to do with him on the surface, it had to be related to him because it involved an important person and an important family.
"It seems that I have to prepare a complete strategy in advance to avoid being caught off guard when something happens in the future." Looking at the secret report sent to him by his informant, Li Xian couldn't help but ponder and think about how to deal with it.
At this time, Empress Wu was also actively meditating. Today's conversation with Guo Xingzhen really touched her a lot, because if she didn't agree, she could only watch the power in her hands being destroyed bit by bit. If she is deprived of her, then she will have no choice but to be like a traditional queen, a woman living deep in the palace.
"No, I can never do this. After planning hard for more than ten years, how can I give up all at once because of this small setback? The words of the fortune teller are still in my ears. The heroine Wu Wangdai has the world's words. Guo Xingzhen is still in my ears.
The words are still ringing in my ears. My destiny comes from heaven. Even the original Taizong could not stop it, let alone Li Zhi who was far inferior to Taizong. Hehe, this Guo Xingzhen's plan is quite bold, but if it succeeds, it will definitely be able to save me once and for all.
Take charge."
There was a coldness in Empress Wu's eyes, and this coldness was exactly the same as the expression she had when she strangled her own daughter to frame Empress Wang, but she was not aware of this, or even though she was aware of it, she was not aware of it.
Don't care at all.
After that, Empress Wu mobilized her relationship and secretly invited Guo Xingzhen to enter the palace. After that, the two parties talked in secret for more than an hour, but this time their secrets were not kept.
At that time, Empress Wu and Guo Xingzhen were having a secret conversation in a side hall of the harem. Originally, the matter would not be leaked at all, but who would have thought that a young eunuch who had just entered the palace would accidentally break into this side hall in order to chase a cat.
Just when he was about to open the door and leave, he heard footsteps not far away outside. The young eunuch was so blessed at the time that he hid under the table curtain in panic. Unexpectedly, he heard a shocking scene here.
conspiracy.
It turned out that Empress Wu actually conspired with Guo Xingzhen to control the emperor through the art of hating victory, so that the emperor's mind would be blinded and he would completely obey Empress Wu. From then on, Empress Wu would take control of the court and completely control the power, and Guo Xingzhen was also promised to be granted the title of King.
The Duke and the Prime Minister were in charge of the world together with Empress Wu.
The young eunuch who heard this conspiracy was so shocked that he was sweating all over his body. Fortunately, he still maintained a trace of reason and did not dare to make the slightest move. It was not until a long time after Empress Wu and Guo Xingzhen left that he slowly came out from under the table curtain, and then quietly
He left the side hall and ran away in a hurry.
After the young eunuch returned to his residence, he immediately told his adoptive father Wang Fusheng the news. This was the most favored eunuch of the emperor, and it was also the best way to inform the emperor.
Wang Fusheng was shocked when he heard the news, but fortunately he had experienced decades of ups and downs in the officialdom and was a calm man. So after hearing the news, he quickly pulled the young eunuch aside and told him seriously that if he wanted to survive,
Don't tell anyone about this matter again, and then hurriedly find Gaozong and report it to Gaozong.
"Are you serious? This person is so bold and wants to murder me?" Gaozong was shocked when he heard this, and his face turned green with anger.
In fact, there is no need to think about this matter. How could Wang Fusheng, a little eunuch, dare to make fun of his life and falsely accuse Empress Wu, the master of the harem and the powerful one in the world?
"What should we do about this matter?" After confirming the news that Empress Wu was planning to rebel, Gaozong was so shocked that he lost all control and couldn't help but murmured: "Wang Fusheng, please tell me, what should be done about this matter?"
How to deal with it? Help me come up with an idea quickly. If you do it well, I will never forget your benefits and make you the Duke of the country."
"Your Majesty, I have heard that Shangguan Yi, the Minister of the West, is loyal and resourceful. Your Majesty might as well consult with this person. As for the traitor Guo Xingzhen, I will leave it to my servant and let him die quietly." Wang Fusheng
After getting Gaozong's promise, he suddenly became bolder, took Gaozong's hand and said.