Chapter 209 Anyone who dares to raise an army shall be executed! May you be victorious!
In fact, as early as the beginning of the year, the Ministry of Rites had many discussions, or rather, controversies, about the ceremony on the Emperor's birthday.
It took nearly half a month for the Ministry of Rites to come up with a rough draft internally, and the Minister of Rites took the draft to Emperor Wu.
Emperor Wu read it once and found it uninteresting, and was very dissatisfied.
However, she didn't directly say it was no good or unacceptable to his face. Instead, she summoned the ministers of the other five ministries and the three prime ministers, and discussed with them for an afternoon in a side hall next to the Xuande Hall where Emperor Wu was reviewing memorials. It could also be described as a small council hall.
Even as dusk fell, the dozen or so people still hadn't come up with a suitable and satisfactory set of rules.
With curfew approaching, Emperor Wu didn't even leave them a meal, simply dismissing them and telling them to wait until they had discussed the matter before submitting a memorial to her.
And so this whole thing started at the beginning of the year and we've been arguing on and off until the Mid-Autumn Festival.
After much difficulty, a draft was finally produced, which satisfied the bigwigs of the Three Provinces and Six Ministries. However, when it was presented to Emperor Wu, he was very dissatisfied.
Emperor Wu slammed the memorial on the table and said angrily to Lou Shide, "Zongren, I am only fifty years old. How can I be so old and decrepit that I need to ride in a carriage?"
Emperor Wu was furious. He walked to the table again, picked up the memorial, and said, “Zongren, listen to this, listen to this.” Emperor Wu read aloud the words on the memorial: “The Sage left the Daming Palace and rode in a carriage to the city tower.”
Emperor Wu slammed the memorial onto the table again, "Haha, the distance from Daming Palace to the foot of the imperial city is less than five thousand feet, and they actually want me to ride in a carriage?"
Lou Shide stood there, not uttering a single word, quietly listening as Emperor Wu launched into a tirade for a quarter of an hour about the Ministry of Rites' decision to allow her to ride a palanquin instead of a horse.
After Lou Shide saw Emperor Wu sit down and Wang Da Dang served him tea, he bowed and said, "Your Majesty, please calm down. If Your Majesty is not satisfied, I will come to consult Your Majesty again after the Ministry of Rites has made the necessary changes. In that case, I will take my leave."
When Emperor Wu heard Lou Shide address himself as "your subject," he understood that Lou was probably dissatisfied with his request to ride a horse. So he smiled and said, "Lou, what's the rush? It's almost lunchtime. Stay and eat with me."
Lou Shide rolled his eyes inwardly, but bowed again on the surface: "Yes, thank you for the food, Your Majesty."
Then, Lou Shide went back and told the Minister of Rites to hurry up and change the emperor's mind, as he wanted to ride a horse instead of a carriage.
Thus, Emperor Wu rode a horse from the Daming Palace to the foot of the imperial city.
Then, to make matters worse, Emperor Wu demanded that since they were already on horseback, they should go out of the city gates to see his Chang'an.
How could these ministers possibly agree to Emperor Wu's somewhat outrageous request? From the three prime ministers down to the six ministers, they all quoted classical texts, from ancient emperors all the way back to the time of Emperor Gaozong, saying things like "a gentleman should not stand under a dangerous wall" and "a good emperor should not be willful."
Given the diverse population in Chang'an at that time, everyone unanimously disagreed with Emperor Wu leaving the capital. Standing on the city wall to receive the homage of the people and the various small states was already sufficient; they absolutely refused to allow Emperor Wu to take such a great risk by riding out of the capital.
Even Xue Yao, who was standing at the very end, had some disagreement.
You should know that the matter of the Temple Gate is not over yet. Who knows if their mad saint son will make a big move during the birthday celebration?
Xue Yao didn't even need to guess; he knew that the Holy Son was definitely going to cause trouble during the days of the Emperor's Birthday.
The question is, what kind of trouble will he cause?
This is already quite difficult to guard against.
If Emperor Wu had encountered any trouble in Chang'an after leaving the capital that day, it would have been a responsibility and consequence that no one could bear.
Emperor Wu felt a little embarrassed when he heard them mention Emperor Gaozong.
But who is Emperor Wu?
The first centralized ruler in history to rise from a female to the position of first in heaven, second on earth, and third in power—would she compromise because of these words?
Emperor Wu immediately asked Yao Chong, the Minister of War, "Yuanzhi, do I still have to be careful when riding my horse in Chang'an? Isn't Chang'an my Chang'an? Aren't I the ruler of the Tang Dynasty?"
Emperor Wu's three questions were truly difficult for those present to answer. Lou Shide took the lead in kneeling down and said, "Your Majesty, please calm your anger."
As Lou Shide knelt on the ground, he thought to himself, "These ministers have probably forgotten how many people were beheaded on the high platform built in Zhuque Square when Emperor Wu ascended the throne."
Even after a heavy rain, a faint, lingering smell of blood remained.
Emperor Wu has been in power for so many years, and she has become more lenient, but that's only because she herself wants to be lenient; she's not forced to be lenient because she's controlled by her subjects.
The entire hall was completely silent; it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
Suddenly, a loud "thud" rang out as a general kneeling behind Yao Chong shouted, "Anyone who dares to raise an army shall be beheaded! Victory! Long live the Sage!"
After saying it once, the man didn't stop there; he shouted it out again.
Anyone who dares to raise an army shall be executed!
Victory!
Long live the Sage! Long live the Sage! Long live the Sage!
Then, the rest of the Ministry of War, not wanting to miss out on trouble, all clenched their right fists and pounded their left breastplates, and started shouting. With these burly men shouting like that, and the doors of the main hall already open, how could the Imperial Guards standing guard outside not hear them?
When the third shout rang out, the dozen or so Imperial Guards standing outside the door joined in the shout.
Anyone who dares to raise an army shall be executed!
Victory!
Long live the Sage! Long live the Sage! Long live the Sage!
In this way, the shouts spread from the Imperial Guards at the entrance of the main hall to outside the hall, and then to the entire Daming Palace.
It was a grand and extraordinary event.
In this situation, who could say that Emperor Wu should not ride out of the capital on his birthday?
Who would dare not let Emperor Wu see her Chang'an, her Tang Dynasty?
Who dares?
Whoever is the enemy of the Tang soldiers!
Lou Shide's head hit the ground, and he kept rolling his eyes inwardly, thinking to himself, "These bunch of roughnecks in the Ministry of War, it's just a matter of some disagreement between a subject and the monarch, why are they shouting the slogan of going to war? They're crazy."
Therefore, a few days after the Mid-Autumn Festival, the Ministry of Rites finally submitted a version of the process that was somewhat satisfactory to Emperor Wu.
However, if Emperor Wu were to actually leave the capital on his birthday, ride his horse through Zhuque Avenue to Mingde Gate, and then inspect the soldiers at Shili Slope, the workload of the Ministry of War, the suburban camps, the Jinwu Guard, and the Imperial Guards would increase considerably along the way.
Not to mention, after the inspection, they had to return to Chang'an and receive gifts from the people on the imperial city tower.
They need to do even more work here.
Of course, no one else should be idle either, since a luncheon will be held at the Taiji Palace later. Emperor Wu will have to accept gifts from princes, nobles, ministers, and envoys from various countries at the head of the table. Only after all the formalities are completed can they finally watch the performance and have a meal.
In short, nobody gets to sit idle!
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