Neon Clothes and Iron Clothes

Chapter 98 Injustice
Li Zhi was lying on the bed, he closed his eyes tiredly, and relaxed his body, the crescent moon outside the window was like a hook, like a sharp knife, the moonlight shone through the fine silk curtains, reflecting on Li Zhi's Wenxiu face, half was bright, half was dark .

In a trance, Li Zhi felt that he was in a maze and couldn't find a way out.Just as he was wondering, he saw a woman standing in front of him, with a bell hanging from her waist, luxuriously dressed, and a light veil on her face.Li Zhi stopped and asked, "Who are you? Do you know where this is?"

"Ninth Brother, you don't even recognize me anymore?" The woman chuckled twice, making it sound like a ghost.

"Ninth brother? Who are you?"

"Hehe!" The woman laughed twice, lifted the veil, and revealed her face: "Brother Jiu is now the emperor, he must have forgotten about me as a younger sister!"

"Seventeenth sister? Why is it you?" Li Zhi trembled all over: "You are not, have you already—"

"You gave me death, didn't you?" The woman sneered, "Aren't you surprised, Ninth Brother, there are still many people here who want to see you, there is one over there, look!"

Li Zhi took a look, and saw a young man in Chinese clothes standing on his right side, with eyebrows drawn into his temples, nose bridge straight, and heroic, he was looking at Li Zhi coldly.Li Zhi shuddered: "Third brother, why are you here?"

"It's not just me here!" The noble young master sneered, "Seventh Sister, Duke of Xiangyang, and Duke of Lu are also here."

"This, this—" Li Zhi has already waved his hands again and again: "You and others are not what I want, but Uncle Yuan wants to kill you, I have nothing to do!"

"Changsun Wuji?" The noble young master smiled: "Pheasant slave, you are still the same, anyway, Changsun Wuji is also here, let you two nephews and uncles make it clear for themselves!"

After all, he pulled out a man from behind, with a white face and long beard, and a mighty look, but he was Changsun Wuji. He didn't wait for Li Zhi to ask questions, so he grabbed Li Zhi's arm and shouted: "Pheasant slave, I will help you ascend the throne as emperor!" , but you forced me to hang myself and exile my descendants to Lingnan, have you forgotten what the late emperor said to you before his death?"

"Uncle Yuan, no, all of this was done by the queen, not by the widow!" Li Zhi turned pale with fright, threw his arms away and fled backwards, but was blocked by the woman and the noble son, surrounded by shadowy figures , pulled Li Zhi's clothes, and the eldest grandson Wuji said loudly: "Pheasant slave, I want to go with you to see the first emperor, and let him judge for you and me!"

"No, no, let me go, let me go!" Li Zhi sat up suddenly, only to realize that those were just Nankeyi Meng.He sat in a daze for a while, and then he let out a long sigh, showing a look of extreme pain.

It turns out that the "Nineteenth Sister" in the dream just now is the No.19 daughter of Emperor Taizong, Princess Gaoyang; the "Third Brother" is the third son of Emperor Taizong, King Wu Li Ke; The famous general Xue Wanche, these two also married Li Shimin's daughter and sister respectively.

The eldest grandson Wuji is the brother of Li Zhisheng's mother, the eldest grandson queen, that is, Li Zhi's direct uncle, and also the assistant minister left by Li Shimin to Li Zhi.These people had all been convicted and died at that time, and except for Changsun Wuji, the reason for the death of the others was the Fang Yiai conspiracy case that broke out shortly after Li Zhi ascended the throne.

At the beginning of the fourth year of Yonghui (653), Princess Gaoyang sued her husband Fang Yiai's brother Fang Yizhi for being rude to her. .

Since the princess was involved, Li Zhi asked Changsun Wuji to try the case.Unexpectedly, the eldest grandson Wuji actually involved a shocking case - Princess Gaoyang and her husband's bereavement contacted Xue Wanche (married Princess Danyang, the No. , the second son of Huo Guogong Chai Shao, who married the seventh daughter of Taizong, Princess Baling), planned to launch a coup to abolish Gaozong, and supported Jing Wang Li Yuanjing (the sixth son of Gaozu and the sixth younger brother of Taizong) as emperor.

Changsun Wuji took the opportunity to implicate Wu Wang Li Ke (the third son of Li Shimin) who had competed with Li Zhi for the crown prince. Li Yuanjing, Li Ke, Fang Yiai, Princess Gaoyang, Xue Wanche, Chai Lingwu, Princess Baling and others were all arrested. Killed, Jiangxia County King Li Daozong (Taichangqing, Libu Shangshu, Tejin), Prime Minister Yuwenjie (Shizhong, Prince Zhan Shi), Anguogong Zhishali (Consort Duwei, Zuo Xiaowei General), Qiao Guo Gongchai Zhewei (Anxi Duhu), Shangshu Fengyu Xue Wanbei and others were also exiled because of their involvement.

Both "Zizhi Tongjian" and "New Book of Tang" believe that the case is so implicated that Changsun Wuji took the opportunity to attack political opponents and kill innocent people indiscriminately. I intend to stand as the prince.

Changsun Wuji was very jealous of him, so during the interrogation he implied that the main culprit was Fang Yiai. Fang Yiai wanted to take the opportunity to avoid death, so he confessed to conspiring with Li Ke, and Changsun Wuji took the opportunity to execute Li Ke.

There is also Li Daozong, the king of Jiangxia County, who participated in the campaigns against Liu Wuzhou, Wang Shichong, East Turks, Tuyuhun, and Goguryeo when the country was founded. Ji and Chu Suiliang had a bad relationship and were exiled and so on.

In "Zizhi Tongjian", Sima Guang also used the mouth of Wu Wang Li Ke to scold: "Changsun Wuji steals authority and harms goodness. The clan society has spirit, and it will not be long before the clan is exterminated!" Li Ke's words became a prophecy, but A few years later, Changsun Wuji fell out of favor because he disagreed with Emperor Gaozong on the matter of abolishing the empress. In the fourth year of Xianqing (659), he was framed and murdered by hanging himself, and his children were also sent to Lingnan.

Obviously, whether it is the case of Fang Yiai's rebellion or the case of Changsun Wuji's rebellion, the real situation is not as simple as described in the history books. There are many hidden secrets behind the scenes, and Tang Gaozong Li Zhi is undoubtedly one of these Secret insiders and biggest beneficiaries.

Unlike the autocratic imperial power in modern times (namely the Ming and Qing Dynasties) that readers are more familiar with, the imperial power in the early Tang Dynasty, which had just entered the middle ages, was much weaker: there was no mature imperial examination system, and the scope for imperial power to select civil officials was very small; the manor system economy Under the current situation, the gentry masters had a strong economic foundation and political capital, and the imperial power had to make some concessions to them; before the establishment of secret service agencies such as the Jinyiwei and the Imperial City Secretary, they had to use cruel officials, which had great side effects. means to attack and eliminate dissidents and so on.

Its manifestation is that there were so many coups in the court throughout the Tang Dynasty, few emperors could inherit the throne through normal means, and many emperors became puppets of domestic slaves after the Anshi Rebellion.

(End of this chapter)