Wang Wenzuo took the book and saw that on the yellowed silk paper, the names of the concubines, the place and time of the intercourse were written in neat small letters, which were very detailed. This kind of thing was a secret in the palace. Pei Judao was able to get it, obviously through himself Daughter's relationship. Pei Judao dared to be so sure that it was not his daughter who was in trouble for his heirs, but the emperor. It was certainly not without reason.
"Servant, are these women not pregnant?"
Pei Judao didn't speak, just nodded.
"Your Majesty has only been on the throne for eight months. Maybe the time is too short. In another six months or one year, the baby will be born! You don't have to be too impatient!" Wang Wenzuo said.
"I thought so at the beginning, just like the general!" Pei Judao nodded: "So I sent someone to investigate the situation when His Majesty was in the East Palace. At that time, His Majesty also had intercourse with the women around him, but none of them got pregnant. , His Majesty was already nineteen when he ascended the throne, he is not young at this age!"
Faced with Pei Judao's long-prepared second bombshell, Wang Wenzuo was finally speechless. Due to the generally long education time, busy work and independent women in modern society, most men have to wait until they are twenty-four or five years old, or even thirty years later, to have their own children. However, this is not because humans are physiologically mature and can give birth to offspring. normal age. Generally speaking, human males are sexually mature at the age of fifteen or sixteen, enough to have offspring with a female mate. And a royal child like Li Hong had a large number of maids around him. Under normal circumstances, he would have one to several illegitimate children before marriage, but Li Hong had none, which is very intriguing. (Historically, Li Hong did not have any heirs. Later, after Wu Zetian ascended the throne, she adopted the third son of her fourth son, Li Dan, to Li Hong.)
"General!" Pei Judao coughed: "If there is anyone in the world who most hopes that your majesty will give birth to a dragon son as soon as possible, it must be me. The wealth and honor of the whole family are tied to one body. This is probably what it means! So in this matter Regarding things, I won’t lie and it’s impossible for me to lie!”
Wang Wenzuo sighed. He now understood why Pei Judao uncharacteristically invited him to sit down and drink tea today. To put it bluntly, he and himself fought openly and secretly before for the power of the first minister in front of Li Hong's palace. But now that Li Hong is like this, it is impossible for the harem to give birth to a prince. A harem that cannot give birth to a prince is worthless. As the master of the harem, The queen is naturally even more so. The ground beneath Pei Judao's feet was crumbling, and he couldn't even bother fighting for power with Wang Wenzuo.
"General!" Pei Judao saw that Wang Wenzuo was silent and couldn't help but feel anxious: "What do you think of this matter?"
"Attendant! Wang is loyal to the emperor of the day. No matter whether he has children or not, this will not change!" Wang Wenzuo said coldly: "In fact, even if the emperor really has no heirs, at most he can choose one person from the younger members of the clan to succeed him. That is, it has nothing to do with us as ministers!"
"General, you can't say that!" Pei Ju said: "Yes, if the emperor is in trouble with his heirs, then he should indeed welcome someone to succeed him, but where does that come from? Or should we simply use His Royal Highness King Pei as the emperor's wife? younger brother?"
Wang Wenzuo frowned. What Pei Judao was resisting must be the latter. If it was the former, he would probably choose from among the descendants of several of Li Hong's brothers, because they have the closest bloodline to Li Hong, and they are also Li Zhihe. Wu Zetian's grandson. Li Xian and Li Dan are both young and have no heirs yet. After they give birth to children and enter the palace, they will most likely be raised by Queen Pei. In terms of etiquette and emotion, Queen Pei is his mother and has no influence on Pei Judao's power. Influence. The latter was different. If Li Xian, the king of Pei, was made the crown prince, it would be impossible for the young man to worship his sister-in-law as his mother, and the power of the Pei family would naturally become a castle in the air.
"Servant Pei, whether you succeed to the throne or establish His Royal Highness King Pei as the emperor's younger brother, it is all your Majesty's family matter. Of course I understand your difficulties, but those of us who are ministers must keep our responsibilities!" Having said this, Wang Wenzuo stood up and bowed his hands to Pei Judao: "Thank you for the tea. It's getting late. Goodbye!"
"It's not enough!" Looking at Wang Wenzuo's leaving figure, Pei Judao angrily swept the utensils on the table to the floor. His face was bruised and he looked particularly scary.
——————————————————————
Daming Palace, Qinghui Pavilion.
"So, your cousin's death was all your own fault? You just don't care?" Empress Wu said coldly.
"As an official of the imperial court, he had an affair with a businessman's wife. After dark, he and the woman engaged in sexual immorality on the streets of Chang'an. In the end, he was killed!" Li Hong's face was not good-looking: "I really don't know how to control the child. ? Is it possible to issue a document ordering all the states and counties to arrest that businessman? Where is the face of the imperial court? "
"These are all written by the courtiers below. Who knows whether they are true or false?" Empress Wu snorted coldly: "A mere businessman can kill your cousin with a knife in the crowd, and still don't realize that he has escaped without a trace. This Do you believe this nonsense?"
"If that's not the case, what does mother think?" Li Hong asked.
"What else can you do? Of course someone planned the murder!" Empress Wu sneered: "As the emperor, someone killed your cousin in the street, but you didn't know it. How is it different from being deaf and blind?"
Li Hong was a little annoyed when his mother said this: "My mother said that someone was plotting to kill my cousin, but he went to Qihuafang that night entirely out of curiosity. Who would know his whereabouts in advance? Let alone Design kills!”
"Of course it was the whore who did it. Most likely, your cousin's acquaintance with this whore was arranged by the person behind the scenes. All he had to do was bring that woman in and torture her, and then he would be able to catch them all! But you let her go in vain. At this point, Empress Wu slapped her belly angrily: "Why did you give birth to such a useless child? Could it be that the sins you owed in your previous life have come to your doorstep in this life!"
When Li Hong heard his mother say this, the veins on his forehead jumped. He suppressed the anger in his chest: "I don't know whether the child is the sin owed by the mother in the previous life, but if it is true as the Samana said, there is reincarnation in life, and I will ask my mother for the next life. There must be countless people who owe wrongs!" After saying that, Li Hong flicked his sleeves and left without even using the usual farewell ceremony. Empress Wu was so angry at Li Hong's actions that she stood up and rushed to the window. She pointed at Li Hong who was coming down the stairs and shouted: "Though Sansi is not named Li, I am connected by blood with you. If you don't avenge your brother, neither the gods nor the Buddha will bless you." you!"
Seeing her son's figure disappear into the night, Empress Wu returned to the house, her whole body shaking with anger, and tears welling up in her eyes. She has had a strong temperament since she was a child, especially compared to men. Although she has experienced various hardships since entering the palace, since she was established as queen by Li Zhi, she has had the power of life and death in her hands for more than ten years, and she has already developed a bossy temper. Later, Wang Wenzuo launched a mutiny and helped Li Hong ascend the throne, forcing her to abdicate and become the Supreme Queen. This caused a great mental blow to Empress Wu, making her irritable, irritable and suspicious. Even Li Zhi, who had been with her husband and wife for nearly 20 years, could not stand her and spent most of his time traveling in the Daming Palace. , and even went to sit with the two daughters Li Xiayu and Li Suwen. Empress Wu was often the only one left in the Qinghui Pavilion of Nuo University, and this made her feel abandoned and betrayed, as if she had been deprived of it in the first place. It was not his husband and wife who were driven out of power, but only him. The husband was happy to see this happen and took the opportunity to relieve the burden on his shoulders.
"His Majesty the Emperor!"
"His Majesty the Emperor!"
I don’t know how long it took, but there was a sound of communication outside. Empress Wu knew that her husband had come back. She felt increasingly depressed and turned her head with her back to the door, like a resentful woman guarding her boudoir alone. .
Li Zhi lazily walked in the door and found that the room was dark, with only a small oil lamp next to the desk. His wife had her back turned to him, and it seemed that she had not heard the sound of his return at all. He had been married to Empress Wu for more than ten years, so he didn't know his wife's temper. He quickly waved his hand to signal the maids and chamberlains to step back. He carefully stepped forward and patted Empress Wu on the shoulder: "Mei Niang, who else is there?" He who doesn't open his eyes, did he make you angry? Tell your husband to deal with him well!"
Empress Wu shook off her husband's hand with all her strength and said angrily: "Who else could it be? Isn't he your precious son? He's grown old, he has become the emperor, he has grown up, and he doesn't even recognize his mother. If he had known this, then he would have You shouldn't have to endure the pain of ten months of pregnancy to give birth to that boy!"
"Hong'er made you angry?" Li Zhi pretended to be surprised: "How is that possible? What exactly happened? Tell my husband to teach him a lesson when you come next time!"
"Stop playing tricks here to coax me!" Empress Wu turned around, her face already full of tears: "He is the emperor now, and there are a bunch of villains around him to coax him, how can he still listen to what we say?"
Li Zhi smiled awkwardly: "What is going on? If you never tell me, how can I speak for you?"
"What else can happen!" Empress Wu repeated what Li Hong had just said about Wu Sansi's murder: "I only have two nephews, and one of them was killed on the street for no apparent reason. Let’s just kill him! He also poured dirty water on his head, saying that he hooked up with a businessman’s wife and committed adultery on the street. Simply invite the husband of the adulteress and let me apologize to him and admit my mistake. After all, I think twice about committing adultery. It was your fault first!"
"Is there such a thing?" Li Zhi frowned: "Did Hong'er really say that?"
"What else can I say? I taught him a few words, saying that Sansi is also his cousin, connected by blood. Even though he is the emperor, how can he not avenge his brother? He was annoyed, turned around and left, as I said Look, Hong'er doesn't regard the Wu family as his relatives!"
When Li Zhi heard this, he gradually understood the real reason for his wife's anger. The reason why Empress Wu was so angry was not only dissatisfied with her son's handling of the murder of her nephew, but also the fear of being alienated. After Li Hong ascended the throne, although she could still live in the Daming Palace and her son could come to visit from time to time, as state affairs became more and more burdensome, the frequency and time of Li Hong's visits became less and less. It made her feel that she was getting further and further away from the center of power.
The case of Wu Sansi's murder this time became a flashpoint that triggered this emotion. In fact, it was not that Empress Wu was ignorant of the virtues of her nephew. It was not impossible for him to hook up with a businessman's wife at night, but in her opinion Come on, the son should not treat his nephew like this "fairly". There is only one possibility for Li Hong to do this - some people are trying their best to sever the relationship between themselves and their sons and drive themselves out of the center of power. This kind of The fear deep in her heart finally exceeded a certain limit, so that one of her emotional threads broke, and she burst out with those uncontrollable words before.
In a sense, Empress Wu's feeling was correct. Neither Wang Wenzuo nor Pei Judao wanted the emperor to maintain the close relationship with his power-hungry mother, and both regarded Empress Wu as a potentially unstable factor in the new political structure of the Tang Dynasty. Regarding Wu Sansi's death, both of them actually felt happy to see it come to fruition deep down. After all, no matter how incompetent the Wu Sansi brothers were, they were still very useful chess pieces in the hands of Empress Wu. Taking advantage of the situation to their advantage, they would cut down the number first. The chess piece in the hands of a potential enemy must be the right one. But in political struggles, feeling alone is not enough; a calm and correct response is also required.
"Mei Niang, maybe this is retribution!" Li Zhi sighed, with a sad expression, and whispered: "Do you remember Uncle Yuan? He is also my mother's brother!"
"Uncle Yuan?" After hearing this, Empress Wu's face suddenly changed. The Uncle Yuan in Li Zhi's mouth was Changsun Wuji. He also had the dual identity of the leader of Zhenguan officials and the wife and brother of Li Shimin. It was precisely because he was in Wei Wang Li Tai and Li Zhi chose Li Zhi, and Li Zhi could ascend the throne as emperor later. And it was he who disagreed with Li Zhi and Empress Wu on the matter of "deposing the king and establishing Wu", so he was exiled to the southwest by Li Zhi, and was forced to commit suicide midway. This was also the biggest worry for Empress Li Zhi and his wife. .
"That's right, but after thinking twice, you can't be as kind as Uncle Yuan and I, right?" Li Zhi smiled, with a bit of sarcasm on his face: "Perhaps as an emperor, he will be ruthless and unjust. If you think that If you have a close relationship with him or are kind to him, and want to blackmail him for retribution, you will most likely make him angry. Not only will you not get repayment, but you will be killed! This is the case with me, and the same is true with Hong'er! If others don't see clearly If you understand, then just put your head in a tiger’s mouth, and it’s not surprising that it will lead to death!”
Hearing this, Empress Wu was speechless for a while, and finally sighed: "Well, that's all it can do to think twice, but you said that Hong'er is also unkind and unjust, but I don't think so? He is very kind to Wang Wenzuo! "
"That's because Wang Wenzuo is self-aware!" Li Zhi said with a smile: "Didn't you notice? After Wang Wenzuo supported Honger to the throne, he gave up the head of the political hall to Pei Judao. What credit did Pei Judao have for Honger? Why? Side by side with Wang Wenzuo? How can Hong'er not be kind to him if he has such a humble heart?"
