Chapter 952: The Country Has No Crown Prince

Outside Luoyang City, it was noisy and desolate.

When Crown Prince Li Xian went to Penglai, the Emperor and the Empress did not show up. Instead, they asked the Prime Minister and Minister of Personnel Luo Junwei to see him off. Luo Junwei was Li Zhi's cousin and Li Xian's aunt.

The imperial edict stated that this departure was an honorable matter, and many people in the city cheered and celebrated, but for officials in the court, this was nothing less than exile, which would ruin Li Xian's political future.

It's not right to send a gift, and it's not right not to send a gift. Saying sad words seems like slandering the court. Saying congratulatory words is even more disgusting. Congratulating someone when he has lost his position as the crown prince.

Under the willow trees, Li Xian's face showed no joy. He was a man of strong character and could not hold back. He looked at Luo Junwei and asked directly, "Cousin, why?"

Why? This is what Li Xian wanted to ask. He had too many whys, such as why his father, the emperor, gave up on him, and why the Luo family watched a normal prince being exiled without speaking for him. He had too many questions.

A breeze blew by, blowing up the corners of Luo Junwei's clothes. Looking at the unwillingness and confusion on Li Xian's handsome face in front of her, Luo Junwei said seriously: "Because you, the prince, are out of place, nothing in this world can escape the world, you are not good for the world, so you have to leave."

Li Xian was even more confused. "I am the legitimate eldest son of the Li family. Why would I be detrimental to the world?"

Luo Junwei did not answer any more questions, but said calmly: "Then you need to figure it out yourself, Prince. If you can't figure this out, then you are still far from the answer."

Upon hearing this, Li Xian looked at Luoyang City, the world-famous divine capital, for a long time. Then he turned around and left without saying a word, leaving this capital that carried countless memories of his. Luo Junwei's expression relaxed a little.

"Benefiting the world? What is beneficial to the world?"

Being the legitimate eldest son of the Li family is not the same as being beneficial to the world. As the imperial system has come to this point, what is actually needed is a monarch who is not only capable, but most importantly, has a sense of responsibility and is willing to take the world as his own responsibility.

Among the kings of this world, those who are both capable and responsible are of the best quality, those who are capable but selfish are of the lowest quality, and those who are incompetent but responsible are of the middle quality. It is still a distinction between virtue and ability.

There is no need to say much about those who are both talented and virtuous. As for those who are talented but not virtuous, or virtuous but not talent, the Luo family has always believed that the latter is more important. If this is true for ministers, then it is naturally even more so for the center of the world.

A king with virtue but no talent will only lead to the decline of the country. The worst that can happen is that the country will have to wait for the next king. However, a king with talent but no virtue will be a real disaster to the world, and will cause endless harm.

Generally, incompetent rulers can only bring disaster to their time, and are indeed a great harm to their time, but their influence on history can basically be ignored. Compared with Emperor Li of Han, he caused basically no harm to history.

In terms of having talent but no morals, even Emperor Li of Han is not a typical example.

Yang Guang was a person without talent or virtue, and was not within the scope of discussion.

No one in this world has experienced this. From Ji Zhao's perspective of having experienced thousands of years in his previous life, there are one and a half emperors who can best be described as having talent but no morals.

This half is Emperor Wanshou, Jiajing, who had a clean family. He was truly talented, and he was able to implement the new policies in the early period of his administration very successfully. However, he was too selfish. Not only did he not care about the world, he even didn't care about the Zhu family's kingdom. As long as Yan Song could get money for him to enjoy, he would indulge himself. Fortunately, he was only indulgent, and he only destroyed the political situation at that time, which had no impact on later generations.

Ji Zhao always believed that the most important one was Emperor Qianlong. If there was a list of historical criminals, he must be at the top of the list, even surpassing Sima Yi and others, and even surpassing those who massacred the city.

This person is one of the very few sinners who can single-handedly cause a civilization to regress, and one of the very few people who can single-handedly make the world's slaves powerful.

The destruction and modification of books is enough to make people hate them.

What's even more disgusting is the literary inquisition. And unlike his father and grandfather who really carried out anti-Qing literary inquisition, Ma Zi and Yongzheng were serious opponents, which was a normal means of controlling public opinion in all dynasties.

In fact, Shiquan was not afraid of anti-Qing sentiment. He ruled by means of literary inquisition. He had no standards in dealing with literary inquisition. He would deliberately let some people go to show that he was not stopping people from speaking. Then he would kill people in large numbers to tell everyone that anyone who dared to speak would be seeking death.

It can be said that the weather is so unpredictable that people feel that the power of heaven is unpredictable. The result is that poets do not write poems, writers do not write essays, civilization regresses, and the harm is endless.

The rule that Shiquan maintained was not the rule of Lao Aijia, but he himself lived a comfortable life. In this respect, he was the same as Emperor Wanshou. He had a kind of "after I die, who cares about the flood" attitude. Such a person who neither cares about the world nor the family, but only cares about his own enjoyment, can be said to be a sinner for all ages.

But who can say that Shiquan was incompetent? He ruled the world for sixty years, and the power had never fallen into the hands of others. He played with his subjects to the point of ecstasy, and was regarded by the West as the most typical monarch in "The Prince".

The harm of having talent but no morals can be seen from this.

…

Luo Junwei returned to the palace to report and told Wu Zhao that Crown Prince Li Xian had left. Wu Zhao was not too sad about Li Xian's departure. The friendship between them as mother and son had been greatly eroded by Li Xian's actions. Now Wu Zhao only hoped that Li Xian would realize his mistakes one day.

"Weiwei, who do you think should be the next crown prince of the Tang Dynasty?"

As expected, after hearing this, Wu Zetian asked this question directly. Although Li Xian was only sent out for military service, his position as crown prince was still there and he had not been deposed. But everyone knew that it was only a matter of time. Unless Li Zhi died suddenly and Li Xian came back to succeed to the throne, his position as crown prince would soon be deposed.

If an ordinary minister was faced with Wu Zetian's question, he would certainly not answer it, or he would directly say that the third legitimate son Li Zhe should take the throne, which is in line with the tradition of establishing the eldest legitimate son as the heir.

But Luo Junwei and Wu Zhao never said such polite words to each other, and Wu Zhao didn't want to hear such polite words from Luo Junwei, so Luo Junwei said directly: "Don't choose a crown prince, let the position of crown prince remain vacant for the time being."

"oh?"

When Wu Zhao heard Luo Junwei's rather shocking words, she had no other reaction, but instead asked a meaningful question.

Luo Junwei said in a serious tone: "King Ying, Your Majesty, you are also very clear that he does not have the ability to be a prince, at least not now. Let's ask the ministers to teach him first. Yin Wang Li Dan is still young and has not shown any talent.

Since His Majesty ascended the throne, three crown princes have already gotten into trouble. As the saying goes, two is fine, but not three. Now even the third has failed, so there must not be a next time. If another crown prince is deposed, the impact will definitely be significant."

There are three crown princes, Li Zhong, Li Hong, and Li Xian, plus Li Jiancheng and Li Chengqian. If another crown prince is deposed, then people will never be able to feel at ease with the crown prince in the future. The frequency is too high. In fact, this situation is already the case now. Even the Luo family does not want to invest in the future crown prince. From this, we can imagine what people in the world think.

Wu Zhao nodded slowly and said, "Yes, we can't just pick a random prince to calm people's hearts. The next Tang Dynasty needs an heir with noble character and outstanding ability to serve as the crown prince.

I will mention this to the emperor. Anyway, there are only two brothers left in Chang'an, so we have to choose one of them."

Luo Junwei could not deny this, but suddenly said: "Your Majesty, I have something to tell you. Three months later, on my birthday, my ancestor will pass on the family head ring and the family magic staff to me. Will Your Majesty come to the Princess's Mansion to attend the ceremony?"

"What?"

Wu Zhao, who had been calm and composed just now, stood up suddenly and instantly took Luo Junwei's hand, and said in shock and joy: "The Imperial Master wants to pass on the Luo family's Patriarch Ring and the family magic staff to you at the same time?

Do you really want to give you the family head ring as well?"

Luo Junwei smiled and nodded, and then said in a gentle voice: "The ancestor said that I should be the real first female head of the Luo family, instead of the half-head like the previous ancestor Lingjun. At that time, we will invite all the families to witness it together."

Many people know that in the Luo family, there is a family heirloom, which is the ring worn on the head of the family's hand. It has been passed down for more than a thousand years, since the ancient Zhou Dynasty. It is said that it is a divine object bestowed by King Su after the death of Duke Wen, and it has not been damaged at all for thousands of years.

This ring was passed down from generation to generation in the hands of the monarchs of Luo State. When Ji Lingjun became Duke of Luo Yin, this ring was also worn on the hands of her brother Luo Jin, symbolizing the identity of the head of the family.

There is also a family heirloom in the Luo family, which is the magic staff. It was a prop used by the Luo family to worship King Su in the ancient Bang Zhou period. Later, it was passed down from generation to generation in the hands of the high priest.

If Luo Su handed the magic wand to Luo Junwei, it would be reasonable. After all, Luo Junwei was the eldest daughter of this generation. Although she was old now, it would not be a problem for her to hold the magic wand.

But if she was given the family head ring and became the family head, that would be a big deal. Now the Luo family has flourished everywhere, and in the eyes of the world, the real family head lineage was originally transferred to the lineage of Prince Zhou. After all, the lineage of Prince Zhou was the most prominent. Later, because Prince Qin Li Chengqian went out of town, Prince Zhou Luo Juncheng followed Li Chengqian and left, and the family head lineage was transferred to the lineage of Duke Yong, the only one left in the capital.

But neither the lineage of Prince Zhou nor the lineage of Duke Yong actually has the ring. Although it is not a big problem, there is always something missing. Now Luo Su is going to give both the ring and the magic staff to Luo Junwei. Then Luo Junwei will become the first woman in the history of the Luo family to own two inherited treasures at the same time. This will make history.

Wu Zhao was excited for Luo Junwei at first, but her political sense was so sharp that she quickly realized that when the Luo family would pass on its throne, it would be widely announced. Even in the Zhou Dynasty, when the monarch succeeded to the throne, many people would not be invited. Generally, only the monarchs of a few friendly countries such as Qi and Jin would be present.

Doing this now is obvious propaganda. Thinking of this, Wu Zhao asked doubtfully: "Does the Imperial Master have any plans?"

After asking, she reacted and immediately frowned deeply. She looked at the smiling Luo Junwei and frowned even deeper. At this time, Luo Junwei stepped forward and gently stroked her brows, "Your Majesty, don't be anxious. Take your time to look at it and think about it. God will guide everything."

“Will God guide everything?”

Wu Zhao murmured.

…

Li Xian left Luoyang and headed all the way to Liaodong, then crossed the peninsula and arrived at Fangzhang Island, where he met Xue Rengui, the chief military commander of Qi State, and Luo Junjun, the Duke of Liao, who were preparing for the handover.

The two have received an imperial edict that Crown Prince Li Xian will take over the defense. This time when Li Xian goes out of town, he naturally brings a large number of followers and officials with him. The political future of these people is tied to Li Xian, so they have to come here whether they are willing to leave their homes or not.

Xue Rengui and Luo Junjun had become quite familiar with each other in recent days. After seeing Li Xian, they knew what had happened at a glance. Without making any extra expressions, they handed over the defense to Li Xian as usual, and then took the soldiers from the Central Plains and started sailing back to Liaodong, and then took a large ship directly to the Jiaodong Peninsula.

It is still risky to go to the Jiaodong Peninsula more often. It is impossible for the Luo family's artifacts to be placed on the sea all the time. Even if there is a huge amount of luck, it cannot be consumed. The development of navigation technology cannot be completely accurate even in modern times. Most of them still go back by land from Liaodong. They can also plow the land of the peninsula along the way and kill those who have rebellious minds while the army is passing through.

They walked all the way to the Liao Kingdom, where Luo Junjun stopped to say goodbye to Xue Rengui. Xue Rengui was quite envious of him. Although both of them were chief military commanders, Luo Junjun's title was higher than his.

Seeing this, Luo Junjun smiled and said, "General, you have made great contributions in this expedition to Penglai and have become famous all over the world. What is there for me to envy?

When you return to Luoyang this time, your Majesties will surely be promoted to higher positions and rise rapidly from now on, becoming pillars of the country like the late Duke of Ying. If there is a day when we can fight side by side in the future, I would like to see your style again."

Xue Rengui's anger was swept away when he heard this, and he laughed loudly, "Thank you for your praise, Duke. The soldiers are eager to return home. I will return to Luoyang to report to Your Majesty."

After the two said goodbye, Xue Rengui led the army back.

In Luoyang City, Li Zhi and Wu Zhao were discussing the matters concerning Li Zhe and Li Dan. Under Wu Zhao's persuasion, Li Zhi agreed to not appoint a crown prince for the time being, but to wait and see first. At the same time, the two of them also began to prepare for the title of king for Li Xian.

Fangzhang Island was the State of Qi, which was the title of Li Tai's line. This time when Li Xian was leaving the town, he had to re-ennoble a vassal state. After thinking about the name of the great country in the Spring and Autumn Period, Li Zhi said, "Why not ennoble it as the State of Wei? The other great countries are basically ignored."

King Wei.

Wu Zhao muttered a few words and nodded slowly, "Okay."

(End of this chapter)