Chapter 950: The Crown Prince’s Dark Cloud
Li Zhi felt that he was under a lot of pressure.
Because his father was like an insurmountable mountain, pressing down on him and making it hard for him to breathe.
Among the temple names, there is a top temple name, that is Gaozong, but this temple name has an implicit meaning, which is the decline from prosperity.
From the moment Li Zhi ascended the throne, he had to face a problem, that is, his father, Li Shimin, had done most of what could be done, and had reached the pinnacle of civil and military achievements among monarchs.
Although he always wanted to surpass his father, in fact, he knew deep down in his heart that it was basically impossible. All the territories that could be expanded had been expanded, and the internal affairs had been almost in order. The Tang Dynasty had reached its peak.
After the Tang Dynasty reached its peak, no matter how it went, it was all downhill.
It is very difficult for him to maintain the current empire, but if there is the slightest mistake, it will be his fault, so he lives in fear and is cautious in doing things, for fear that if he is not careful, he will become the murderer who destroys the peak Tang Dynasty.
After regaining the imperial power, he was unwilling to start a war or stir up internal disputes. This was the reason. Since Wu Zhao was so capable, let her do it. After all, he, Li Zhi, was the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, and now this prosperous Tang Dynasty was his country.
Under such circumstances, Li Zhi focused all his energy on training Crown Prince Li Hong. Except for military and national affairs, he would listen to Wu Zetian's opinions. For other matters, he had basically delegated all power to Wu Zetian. The center of the empire became the bedroom of the two, and national affairs were basically decided in the conversations between the couple.
With no one to strongly restrain her, Wu Zhao demonstrated outstanding ability in domestic affairs. She had an excellent grasp of the balance in the court and was very good at employing and identifying people.
After what happened in Qi, on the one hand she sent the imperial court to take over Qi's mess, and on the other hand she took this opportunity to quickly promote a group of young and promising officials, all of whom were selected from the imperial examinations, and half of them were from humble families. She was deliberately belittling the wealthy and powerful families and promoting the humble and common people.
In Wu Zhao's view, since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, the team of prime ministers has been too pure. They are either from the old Guanlong family that followed Li Yuan, or from great aristocratic families like Xiao Yu. Only a few people like Fang Xuanling and Wei Zheng, who came from humble official families, had relatively low status.
Fang Xuanling followed Li Shimin earlier than Du Ruhui, but in the end he surpassed him in status. This was because he was born into the Jingzhao Du family, a wealthy and prestigious family.
Wu Zhao did not forget why she was appreciated by the national teacher Luo Su, so after she took power, she immediately began to implement the plan that she had planned long ago.
The only person who might have an impact on Wu Zetian's power now is Crown Prince Li Hong. Wu Zetian holds power, but in fact it is Li Zhi who transfers the power to her. If Li Zhi is willing to break off relations with her, Wu Zetian will lose her power.
In an empire, only the power of the king is innate.
Li Zhi once had the idea of abdicating the throne to Li Hong and becoming the emperor emeritus, but he eventually gave up the idea. After all, although Wu Zetian was in charge of state affairs, he still had power. If he became the emperor emeritus, the ministers might really turn to Li Hong.
Husband and wife are one, but I have never heard of father and son being one.
As you grow up, you will feel that in a family, there is only one man who has the final say, that is, the head of the family. Usually, this head of the family is an elder like the father. But if the son grows up quickly and surpasses his father in terms of financial resources and power, family conflicts will arise, unless the father is willing to give up the power to have the final say at home.
It is the same in an empire. There is only one core of power. Li Zhi listed many ministers as Li Hong's subordinates in the Eastern Palace. This is very dangerous. Once Li Hong gets the title, Li Zhi will lose power from top to bottom.
In the Eastern Palace, Li Hong also felt a lot of pressure. Wu Zhao was an absolutely strict mother. She was very strict with her children, especially Li Hong and Li Xian. She felt that these two sons were incompatible with her and had very different ideas about them.
Li Hong opposed Wu Zetian's policies, largely because he was influenced by Li Xian. Li Zhi's children naturally married princesses from prominent aristocratic families, so they were naturally greatly influenced in this regard.
It was the same with Emperor Hui of Han. Empress Lü was also a strict mother, but at that time there was Luo Xin, King of Luo Wen, who mediated, so Emperor Hui of Han, Liu Ying, was in a relatively good situation later on. However, Li Hong and Li Xian did not have such a person.
What's even more ridiculous is that Li Zhi wanted to select a few daughters of the Luo family to enter the Eastern Palace for Li Hong, but in the end this plan was ruined by Wu Zetian. In fact, the Luo family was unwilling to enter Li Hong's Eastern Palace.
Because Luo family could not forget the prince that everyone thought was the most stable, Li Chengqian. Luo family had already set up a plan in the East Palace, but Li Chengqian went to Qin State and all the positions were cleared out. Now Li Hong's sickly body makes people feel uneasy at first sight.
If Li Hong was simply sick, then Luo could still treat him, but genetic diseases are simply incurable, and there are no specific medicines like antibiotics. Even in modern times, many diseases cannot be cured even if we know what they are, let alone in the Tang Dynasty.
For the Luo family, investing in Li Hong is not as good as investing in Li Xian, and investing in Li Xian is not as good as letting Wu Zhao maintain the status quo.
And who dares to say that they are definitely better than Wu Zhao?
In the current Tang Dynasty, to put it bluntly, Wu Zhao is already the most outstanding one in the Li royal family.
Moreover, because of Luo Junwei's relationship, Wu Zhao used the Luo family as her clan and in-laws, which just made up for her lack of strong clan support. The two sides were simply complementary.
Li Hong and Li Xian both had powerful clans and maternal families, as well as their wives' families and a large number of noble groups at their disposal, so naturally there would be less to be distributed to the Luo family.
The Luo family is now almost more prominent than during the time of Li Shimin. Luo Su is even a little worried that if the Luo family's status is too high, there might be some problems.
The situation around the Tang Dynasty was quite complicated, and the complexity of the center was even more difficult to understand. In this situation, a sudden piece of news ignited the spark in the hearts of the conspirators - Crown Prince Li Hong died suddenly.
The sudden death of the crown prince almost instantly detonated the entire Tang Dynasty political arena. Li Zhi was very sad. He had cultivated a crown prince for so many years, but he actually had to bury him before him.
Although this was a very sad thing, many people were actually prepared for it. After all, Li Hong's health was really too poor. But things soon changed.
There are rumors in Luoyang!
The rumor stated that Wu Zetian had killed Crown Prince Li Hong, and the rumor spread throughout Luoyang almost overnight. It has not stopped yet, as the rumor spread to all directions too quickly.
Everyone, whether it was Li Zhi, Wu Zhao, or the prime ministers, knew almost immediately that someone must be pushing this behind the scenes. This was another new round of anti-Wu movement. It was not clear who was pushing it, and the final purpose was also unclear. After all, in this situation, there were too many people who still wanted to overthrow Wu.
The old nobles of Guanlong who were abandoned in Chang'an by Wu Zetian, and the Shandong and Jiangnan gentry who were suppressed by Wu Zetian, may all be the driving forces behind this, and it is even possible that not just one group of people did this.
Li Zhi was gifted in power struggles and immediately realized the crisis. He thought for only a moment before decisively standing on Wu Zetian's side. At the grand court meeting, he announced to everyone: "The prince has had poor health since childhood, and now he has finally returned to the embrace of the emperor. The Queen Mother and I are very sad. There are some rumors now, I know, but they are just the spying of snakes and rats. The Queen Mother was beside me, grieving for the death of the prince. I saw it with my own eyes. The Queen Mother and I have decided to posthumously confer the title of emperor on Hong'er to commemorate him."
Li Zhi believed that it was not Wu Zetian who did it, because his cousin Luo Junwei had no conflict with his queen, and Luo Junwei would never agree to Wu Zetian doing such a thing.
But it doesn't matter who killed him. What matters is that this incident foreshadows a political danger, which will implicate him as the emperor. Wu Zetian has been silent throughout this matter. She has naturally prepared for the storm and taken countermeasures. However, Li Zhi's sudden appearance and tacit approach saved her from having to charge into battle again. After Li Zhi dealt with this matter, Wu Zetian proposed to make Li Xian the crown prince. Li Zhi agreed, and this matter was over in the court.
After the end of the core of the empire, Wu Zhao sent ambassadors to various countries to inform them of Li Hong's death, the posthumous title of Li Hong, and the canonization of Li Xian as the crown prince. These three things were meant to make those who had ulterior motives in their hearts restrain themselves.
The death of Li Hong cast a shadow on many people's hearts. He was the fourth crown prince of the Tang Dynasty who failed to become the emperor. Li Jiancheng, Li Chengqian, Li Zhong, and Li Hong. The position of crown prince in the Tang Dynasty seemed to be poisonous. Whoever came would get into trouble. If Li Chengqian had not had Luo Xuanye protecting him, he would definitely have been in trouble by now.
So will there be a good outcome for Prince Yong Li Xian, who has now ascended to the throne of Crown Prince?
Many people think so, especially Li Xian has always been famous for opposing his mother, which makes people sweat. It would be fine if Li Xian was really the perfect template of a king.
But Li Xian was not like that. He loved to have fun and had a stubborn temper. In political struggles, such a person who was not careful in thinking was prone to getting into trouble.
And many people know that Li Xian was Wu Zetian's least favorite son. This dislike did not exist from the beginning, but started with a rumor. This rumor has actually been circulating in the palace, that is, Li Xian is not Wu Zetian's son.
As we all know, Emperor Li Zhi and Empress Wu Zetian were very loving and had four sons: the eldest son Li Hong, the second son Li Xian, the third son Li Zhe (Xian), and the fourth son Li Dan.
Among them, Li Hong is apparently three or four years older than Li Xian, but in fact, because of the issue of months, their birth times are only two years apart. This does not seem to be a problem, but the problem lies here.
Between the two of them, Wu Zhao and Li Zhi had another child, Princess Anding. During these two years, Princess Anding and Li Xian were born successively. This is the reason for the rumors.
Rumors stop at the wise, but after Li Xian thought about it himself, he also had this suspicion, that is, he might not really be Wu Zhao's child, but the child of Wu Zhao's sister who was in the palace at the time.
Once the seed of doubt is planted, no matter what the truth is, it no longer matters. Even if Luo Junwei took the harem's daily records to tell Li Xian, he would not believe it.
Once it was confirmed that he was not Wu Zhao's biological child, all of Wu Zhao's motives became justified for Li Xian. It was because he was not her biological child that Wu Zhao treated him harshly.
As for Wu Zhao, she was almost going crazy. Any woman who was suspected by her own son of not being her biological son would probably not be able to hold back.
What's more, Wu Zhao gave birth to Princess Anding and Li Xian in succession, which was already a life-and-death experience. The damage to her body can be imagined. As a result, the son for whom she paid such a huge price did not recognize her. Simply describing her as heartbroken is probably not enough. Even Luo Junwei thought this matter was outrageous.
It takes only one mouth to spread a rumor, but it takes a lot of effort to refute it, and it may not be useful. In many cases, the truth is not important under the influence of the political situation. Li Xian and Wu Zhao stood in different political camps, and even if they were father and son and brothers, it would be impossible for them to reconcile. Even if they were enemies, they could cooperate temporarily if they stood in the same camp.
Li Xian allowed these rumors to ferment instead of trying to dispel them. This was also a statement to those around him that he and Wu Zhao had indeed drawn a clear line between themselves and that he would not retreat in this political charge.
"what to do?"
Wu Zhao threw the question to Luo Junwei. Her tone was calm but a storm was about to come. Luo Junwei knew her too well and knew that she was not asking how to deal with Li Xian's attack next. To Wu Zhao, Li Xian was too young. Wu Zhao had gone through so many struggles over the years and had almost never made any mistakes.
Wu Zhao never thought that she would lose. She was going to ask Luo Junwei how to deal with Li Xian. Luo Junwei hesitated for a moment and said, "King Li Tai of Qi passed away, and the great cause of conquering the three islands of Penglai was aborted. Our Great Tang Heavenly Army arrived in time and saved Fangzhang Island.
Xue Rengui, the commander-in-chief of the Qi army, wrote to say that the new King of Qi was not very capable and could not take on the task of pioneering.
Since Crown Prince Li Xian is so energetic and capable, let's send him to Qi State. Let Fangzhang Island be Qi State, and give Penglai Island and Yingzhou Island to the Crown Prince. This will be enough for him to torment for the rest of his life."
Wu Zhao was silent for a moment after hearing this and said, "It is enough to give Penglai Island to him. If he can conquer Penglai in his lifetime, it will not bring disgrace to my name."
In just a few words, Wu Zhao had already arranged Li Xian's future.
(End of this chapter)
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