Not long after Li Xiangang left, Yan and Liu walked out of the small cubicle. They saw Li Hong, who was sitting a few feet back, with his face changing from green to red. It was obvious that his inner thoughts and
The struggle was so intense that the two of them did not dare to disturb them at will, so they could only wait aside silently. It was not until Li Hong raised his head and looked over that Yan and Liu hurriedly bowed and called out.
"Well, you heard everything. Let's talk about what you think." Li Hong nodded indifferently and said in a calm tone.
"Your Highness is aware that this matter may not be as dangerous as what His Highness King Zhou said. His Majesty's dragon body is not in good condition. It seems reasonable for the Queen to mediate the affairs of the court on his behalf. Your Majesty is only suffering from an itchy ear and will be fully recovered in a few days.
There is no danger of the world being turned upside down. In the opinion of the veteran, His Royal Highness the King of Zhou has a strong intention to take advantage of the fire, so Your Highness should be careful." Yan Liben was also extremely disgusted with Empress Wu's frequent interference in court affairs, but in his heart he did not think that Empress Wu could become something big.
, in his opinion, Empress Wu was just relying on the power of favoring the inner palace. Although she could be proud for a while, she could not achieve anything big in the end. On the contrary, Li Xian, the unpredictable prince, was even more worrying.
After hearing what Li Hong had seen and heard, Yan Liben did not hide his opinions and analyzed the whole story.
"Well." Li Hong was not in a hurry to express his position. He just said noncommittally, frowned slightly, looked at Liu Xiangdao, who was bowing his head and said nothing, and asked in an indifferent voice: "Mr. Liu, what do you have to say about this?"
What?"
"Your Highness, it's all the old ministers who deserved to be brought into trouble for Your Highness..." Liu Xiangdao trembled, and instantly bent his waist a little lower. He opened his mouth with useless nonsense, which made Li Hong frown immediately.
The wrinkles became a little deeper.
"That's it, the matter has already happened. Let's talk about what those people are doing. Let's talk about how to deal with this situation." Li Hong was in a bad mood and was impatient to listen to Liu Xiangdao's nonsense without waiting for him to finish his words.
, raised his hand unceremoniously, interrupted Liu Xiangdao's words, and asked in a cold voice.
"Your Highness clearly knows that the mistakes committed by the old minister should be borne by oneself. The old minister will come here to resign and ask Your Highness to accept it." Although Liu Xiangdao and Yan Liben were both important ministers in the prince's line, they were not the same thing.
Firstly, it had not been long since he had taken refuge with the prince, and he was not sure that Li Hong would go to great lengths to protect himself. Secondly, when he first interrogated Li Yifu, Liu Xiangdao was one of the chief interrogators, and he had already offended Empress Wu severely.
, this time it fell into the hands of Empress Wu. He thought that he could not escape the fate of being dismissed from office, and he really didn't want to go to the court again and suffer the humiliation, so he lowered his head and replied in a loud voice.
"Brother Tongshou (Liu Xiangdao's name) cannot give up on himself. According to Yan, there is still room for improvement. Furthermore, even if brother Tongshou resigned at this time, the Queen and the Empress can still gather together in the name of agreeing on a replacement.
Ministers, if this happens, not only will Brother Tongshou suffer for nothing, but His Highness will also get into a fight with the villains in the court, what will be the benefit?" Before Li Hong could express his stance, Yan Liben had already spoken from the side,
Although he never said it explicitly, he actually made it clear that he was unwilling to cooperate with Li Xian.
"Well, what Mr. Yan said is reasonable, and we still have to fight. How can I sit back and watch the villain run rampant like this? If things are not harmonious, I will ask my father to seek justice. I cannot let Mr. Liu suffer." Li Hong.
After thinking about it, I felt that it would be extremely inappropriate to give up Liu Xiangdao without fighting for it. Not to mention that it would chill the hearts of his ministers, but that it would not be easy to control the Minister of Civil Affairs again. Li
Hong Ke didn't believe that Li Xian would cooperate so honestly.
"Your Highness, Holy Ming!" Yan Liben had been fed up with Empress Wu's anger and wanted to have a good fight with those shameless villains. Now when he heard what Li Hong said, he was greatly inspired and hurried
Then he praised him.
"Old minister, I would like to thank your highness for your kindness. However, the current situation in the court is strange and unclear. Your highness needs to take precautions in advance. If the old minister resigns, it is inevitable. I hope your highness will make a decision soon." Liu Xiangdao was not as confident as Yan Liben. He was worried that Li Hong would act out of his own whim.
But I missed the overall situation, so I had to give a reminder.
"Well, is it possible that Zhao Renben is qualified?" Li Hong's original intention was to take the middle strategy proposed by Li Xian, but he couldn't say it clearly in front of Liu Xiangdao. Now that Liu Xiangdao mentioned it himself, Li Hong asked in a follow-up manner.
One sound.
"Shilang Zhao is mature and prudent, so he should be the best candidate."
Zhao Renben is currently the Minister of Rites and was Liu Xiangdao's deputy. The relationship between the two has always been good. Liu Xiangdao originally intended to recommend him. Now that Li Hong mentioned it himself, there was no reason why he should not respond.
"feasible."
Although all ministers are of the same rank, in terms of prominence, the official department is the leader. Yan Liben originally planned to recommend himself. Unfortunately, before he could express his intention, Li Hong on the other end had already said something. Yan Liben himself
It was difficult to say more, so I could only echo the sentiment.
"Well, this matter has been settled. When it comes to the court meeting, all the princes still need to work together to do it. Let's inform them first. I don't want anything to go wrong in this battle!" He looked at the two close confidants.
There was no objection. Li Hong secretly breathed a sigh of relief, waved his hand and said firmly.
"I will obey your orders, Your Highness, you can rest assured. I and the traitors are incompatible with each other!"
"I'll take my leave."
Yan Liben expressed his stance with confidence, while Liu Xiangdao just resigned. Obviously he was not very optimistic about the battle at the court meeting, but he did not say anything more and left the study together with Yan Liben, and went to arrange a meeting.
The courtiers who were close to the prince were ready to challenge him.
"Why……"
After Yan and Liu retreated, Li Hong sat alone in silence for a long time. Then, with a long sigh, he stood up and walked out of the study. However, his steps were obviously much slower than before, and his back was also hunched over...
Penglai Palace, formerly known as Yong'an Palace, is located on the Longshou Plain on the northeast side of Chang'an City. It was built in the eighth year of Zhenguan. It was originally built by Li Shimin as a summer palace for the Supreme Emperor Li Yuan, which was also a summer palace. The palace had not yet been completed.
, Emperor Li Yuan died of illness in Da'an Palace in May of the following year, and the construction of the Summer Palace was stopped. So it was renamed Daming Palace in the first month of the ninth year of Zhenguan. Later, in the second year of Longshuo, Emperor Gaozong renamed the palace Penglai Palace.
It was greatly expanded and became a large palace that was more than twice the size of Taiji Palace. Whenever Emperor Gaozong got sick, he would hide in this palace to recuperate. Especially the Penglai Palace adjacent to Penglai Pond was the most visited palace by Emperor Gaozong.
In the palace of check-in, at this moment, Gaozong was lying in an airtight room in Penglai Palace. On a hot day, he was still covered with a thick blanket and a hot towel on his forehead. Even so, Gaozong's
The body was still shivering badly, and the face was as pale as paper. While he kept shouting that he was cold, he was sweating profusely, causing all the eunuchs and maids waiting on the side to mess up their hands and feet, wiping off the sweat and adding blankets.
They are also busy non-stop.
"Everyone, step back."
Just when everyone was busy waiting, Empress Wu in full attire turned in from the screen at the door of the room, raised her hand, and followed closely behind Yan Desheng, the eunuch of Yide Hall, immediately shouted knowingly. The people who were busy working non-stop did not dare to neglect. They all bowed and agreed, put down their work, and all left the room.
"Your Majesty, in this chapter, Prime Minister Xu impeached Liu Xiang, the Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, for making arrogant remarks and making unreasonable comments about the affairs of the princes. This is a crime of great disrespect. When I heard about this, I was deeply aware of the importance of the matter and did not dare to take charge of it myself. I came here to invite you. Your Majesty is in charge of the overall situation." After everyone had retreated, Empress Wu walked to the couch gracefully, took out a piece of white silk from her sleeve, and gently wiped Gaozong's sweaty face while reporting in a low voice. .
"The queen can do whatever she wants, and I can't take care of that much," Gaozong said in a trembling voice as he was feeling uncomfortable at the moment. He mumbled back, his tone full of impatience.
"Your Majesty, this matter involves a high-ranking official in the court. If I were to deal with it easily, I'm afraid it would be bad. Can you discuss it with the court before making a decision?" Empress Wu ignored Gaozong's patience and impatiently, while wiping Gaozong's hands. With the sweat on his head and face, he continued to ask a question reluctantly.
"The queen will do whatever she wants, that's right, I don't have any objection." Gaozong was originally henpecked, and he had a splitting headache. He really had no intention of politics. No matter what Empress Wu said, he would agree with it.
"In this case, I have no choice but to do it. It's just that without your Majesty's will, I don't seem to be able to discuss matters in court. I would also like to ask your Majesty to give me an edict so that I can do things more easily." Empress Wu's voice became gentler. He begged in an extremely well-behaved manner.
"Okay, okay, okay, I'll give it, I'll give it. Isn't that enough? The queen just goes to find Prime Minister Xu to come up with the charter." Some of Gaozong's sons yelled angrily, but unexpectedly, they lost their temper and coughed desperately. When I got up, my face instantly turned purple from suffocation.
"Come here, hurry, call the imperial doctor!"
When Empress Wu received the imperial edict, she felt happy at first, but when she saw that Gaozong was in great pain, she couldn't help but became anxious and shouted loudly. The eunuchs and maidens waiting outside were all busy and crowded around. A group of old doctors with gray beards rushed into the room in a hurry and were busy trying to cheer Gaozong. After a long time of fussing, Gaozong finally came over, but his breath was short of breath. When I got up, the heavy breathing sound kept ringing like a bellows. It lasted for nearly half an hour, and then I fell into a deep sleep.
"Wang Yizheng, how is your majesty's dragon body?"
Finally, Gaozong's servant fell asleep. Empress Wu was already out of breath from exhaustion, but she didn't care to catch her breath. She hurriedly summoned the doctor Wang Qi to her side and asked with a solemn expression.
"Your Majesty is slightly ill. He will recover after a few more days of rest. The veterans have already prepared a prescription and asked the empress to take a look at it." Wang Qi was an old imperial doctor, so he knew that Gaozong's illness was difficult to treat and was an intermittent disease. , it would happen every once in a while, but in front of Empress Wu, she didn't dare to say it openly, so she could only talk about it lightly.
"That's good. Thank you for your hard work, Doctor Wang. You must ensure that His Majesty is in good health and pass on my decree. Without my decree, no one is allowed to disturb the Holy Majesty. Have you all remembered it?" said Empress Wu. Hearing that Gaozong's life was not in danger, his anxious heart immediately dropped. He did not take the prescription from Wang Qi's hand, but kept a straight face and issued a ban.
"My slaves and servants obey the Queen's decree."
Empress Wu was a person who spoke her truth in the harem. Once she spoke, no one dared to disobey her. Although many people had doubts about her will, no one dared to stand up and say "no".