People in the early Tang Dynasty: I compete with Wu Zhao for the throne

Chapter 535 The emperor's decree, first come, first come

Under the majestic Danfeng Gate of Daming Palace, a servant in a green robe walked up to the officials waiting outside in small steps.

Glancing solemnly at all the officials, the servant in the green robe immediately preached loudly: "The Queen of Heaven has a decree, to see you at Zichen Hall, Prince of Nanchang County."

Dressed in a purple royal robe with five pythons and five chapters, and a black three-colored seven-beam crown on his head, the young and handsome Li Xuan took two steps forward, distanced himself from the officials, and then cupped his hands and bowed: "Minister Li Xuan complies Purpose."

The waiter in the green robe was in front, followed by Li Xuan, heading towards the Zichen Hall.

The noble officials waiting behind looked calm, and only those officials of the fifth and sixth ranks in the back looked around curiously.

Li Xuan lowered her eyebrows and followed behind the green-robed waiter solemnly and respectfully, without looking out at all.

……

There are three main halls in the Daming Palace, the Hanyuan Hall is the main hall of the Daming Palace, where major celebrations and court meetings are held; the north of the Hanyuan Hall is the Xuanzheng Hall, where the emperor listens to government; the Zichen Hall is located in the north of the Xuanzheng Hall. The place where the sun listens to the court and sees things is the inner court.

On weekdays, it is Empress Wu who handles government affairs here.

In the majestic hall, countless officers and soldiers of the forbidden army stood silently, and Empress Wu sat on the main seat of the hall, reviewing memorials.

Li Xuan raised her chest and raised her head, strode into the center of the hall and stopped, then cupped her hands and bowed: "I am the king of Nanchang County, the captain of Shangqingche, the doctor of Tongyi, don't drive in Wuzhou, the inspector Zuoqianniuwei Zhonglang , Li Xuan, Shaoqing of the Honglu Temple, inspecting the school, pays homage to the Queen of Heaven, and the Queen of Heaven is blessed and safe."

Li Xuan's voice was clear and powerful, echoing gently in the entire Zichen Palace.

Empress Wu raised her head in surprise, seeing Li Xuan's upright appearance, her expression lightened slightly, and she placed the Zihao jade brush in her hand on the table beside her, and then looked at Li Xuan: "Nanchang King!"

"The minister is here!" Li Xuan replied in a deep voice, solemn and solemn.

"You came back from Wuzhou, come and tell Empress whether Tianyin Sect has been pacified?" Empress Wu's sharp eyes seemed to see through all Li Xuan's thoughts.

Li Xuan didn't dare to hesitate at all, and immediately replied: "After returning to heaven, the Tianyin Sect has been flattened, and the people in Muzhou and nearby states no longer miss Tianyin, and Tianyin Goddess is gradually being replaced by the Taoist Taiyin Emperor and the Buddhist Moonlight." Bodhisattva, even if there are still rumors of the Goddess of Tianyin spreading in some corners that are not considered, they are slowly dying, unable to become a threat to the Tang Dynasty."

"By the way, the art of the age of the gods." Empress Wu was a little stunned, nodded, and said in agreement: "This is indeed a coup, King of Nanchang, can you tell this empress how you came up with the art of the age of the gods?"

"Don't dare. I have reported to the Queen of Heaven. I often read history, Jinshu, Former Hanshu, Later Hanshu, Shiji, Chunqiu, Shanhaijing, all dabbled in it. That day when I talked about Emperor Jun with Mr. Zi'an, I suddenly had this Thoughts." Li Xuan replied honestly.

Empress Wu laughed and said with satisfaction: "That's right, it's the truth. I thought you would say that this is the Taoist technique of destroying mountains and destroying temples?"

"The art of Taoism is open-minded, but this art of the age of gods is quite insidious. Although I use it, I don't like it." Li Xuan's face showed a trace of heaviness and fear.

"Are you doubting the history books?" Empress Wu immediately said what Li Xuan hadn't said clearly.

"After all, history books are the words of a family of historians. There is a saying that history pens are like iron, but sometimes there are history pens that are like knives. For example, in the historical records about General Wei Hussars, it is inappropriate to include them in the biographies of courtiers." Li Xuan looked solemn for a while.

"Wei Qing, Huo Qubing." Empress Wu sighed softly, then raised her head, looked at the young and handsome Li Xuan, smiled calmly, and said, "I forgot, the King of Nanchang is the same age as General Hushi, no wonder."

"I also have the lofty ambition to keep the wolf in the house, but it's a pity..." Li Xuan folded her hands and bowed her head, and couldn't help sighing.

"It's a pity that Duke Wei has already finished." Empress Wu finally couldn't help laughing.

After a while, she finally waved her hand and said, "Since the King of Nanchang said that the Tianyin Sect has been completely pacified, then let's pacify it completely, but the King of the East China Sea and the King of the Western Regions are still there."

Empress Wu's expression became completely solemn, and now Li Xuan finally understood the reason why Empress Wu asked so before.

It turned out that she was talking about the King of the East China Sea and the King of the Western Regions, no wonder she asked if the Tianyin Sect had been pacified.

"Reporting to the Queen of Heaven, the king of the Western Regions is Kumara, the Tubo national teacher. You only need to tell the world that Tianyin Sect is a traitor in Tubo, and you can attack him at the same time. The destruction of the Yin Sect has never appeared, which shows that the Tianyin Sect is no more than a pawn, and as the Tianyin Sect becomes more and more useless, the King of the East China Sea will completely abandon it."

Empress Wu nodded solemnly, and then asked, "King of Nanchang, who do you think is the King of the East China Sea?"

Facing Empress Wu's question, Li Xuan hesitated for a while, thought for a while, but still said: "Reporting to the Queen of Heaven, the name of the King of the East China Sea will inevitably lead people to be related to the clan kings. I once doubted King Yue, suspected Cao Wang, but in the end it turned out that the guess was wrong. As for the real identity of the King of the East China Sea, I have some doubts. The name of the King of the East China Sea is the smoke bomb he threw."

"King Yue, King Cao, it turns out that you have suspected the King of Hailing County." Empress Wu nodded slightly, and she had to admit that there was indeed some truth to this suspicion.

The land of Hailing itself is the land of the ancient East China Sea.

Coupled with the relationship between Hailing County King Li Yuanji and Taizong Emperor Li Shimin, it is not unreasonable for Li Xuan to link Hailing County King and Donghai King together.

"Yes, but after many battles, I didn't realize that King Cao and King Yue were involved in this matter. Moreover, according to my humble opinion, the empress may not have any connection with Emperor Taizong's descendants, so I turned my attention away. Arrived elsewhere." Li Xuan bowed slightly.

Empress Wu couldn't help frowning, and asked, "Where?"

"Chang'an!" Li Xuan said with certainty.

Firstly, he had already guessed the identity of the King of the Eastern Sea; secondly, Yun Hebi, the Yinji sect of the Demon Sect, once said that the Tianyin Sect inheritance ceremony would be held in Chang'an in half a year, how could Li Xuan let him go.

"I know now." Empress Dowager thought slightly, and then asked: "By the way, I heard that when you found Empress Dowager's body, you protected it immediately."

In an instant, Li Xuan felt a sharper gaze on him, and he hurriedly cupped his hands and said, "Reporting to the Empress, I have no choice but to do this because I received a secret decree."

As he said that, Li Xuan took out from his sleeve the playbook that the emperor sent through the East Palace channel, and the female officer Zheng Shi immediately stepped forward to take the playbook, and put it in front of Empress Wu.

Empress Wu opened the memorial casually, and while reading it, asked casually, "If you hadn't received the secret order, what would you do with Empress Wu's body?"

"Reporting to the Queen of Heaven, the imperial court has rules. After the traitor is punished, the Ministry of Punishment, Dali Temple, and the palace should handle her body together. The minister has no authority."

"Then assuming you have this authority, maybe, this queen, I will ask you this question now, how do you answer?"

Li Xuan took a deep breath in his heart. This was what he was most afraid of. He bowed his hands sincerely and said: "I believe that the body of the Empress Dowager should be kept in a safe place, and then I should choose a good place to bury it properly and erect a stone monument. One or two rewards will win the hearts of the people of Muzhou."

Empress Wu was surprised for a while, and said appreciatively: "That's right, it's true. It seems that the king of Nanchang has gained a lot from his tenure in Wuzhou!"

"I just applied what I learned in the past to the government affairs of the court." Li Xuan bowed again.

"It's a good thing to be mature and prudent. The empress is really afraid that if you say that you will destroy the empress's body in the first place?" Empress Wu looked at Li Xuan with a half-smile.

Li Xuan hurriedly cupped her hands and said: "I have indeed thought about this before, but under the imperial decree, I have no other choice."

"What if the empress orders you to smash the empress's body into ashes?" Empress Wu suddenly said, while staring at Li Xuan firmly.

Li Xuan hurriedly cupped her hands and said, "As long as the Queen of Heaven gives orders, I will obey them. Even if the Queen's body is completely destroyed, I will not dare to be negligent in the slightest."

Seeing Li Xuan looking up firmly, he could clearly see that his eyes were clear.

What Empress Wu said, what the emperor said, as long as there are laws and regulations, Li Xuan will act in accordance with the laws and regulations.

This is the best way he can think of to completely avoid the conflict between the two.

Empress Wu took a deep look at Li Xuan, and then said: "You are not bad, you have done a good job, but what if there is a difference between this empress and His Majesty's order?"

Empress Wu's words made the atmosphere in the entire hall extremely depressing.

Li Xuan was slightly taken aback, lowered her body heavily, and said: "The Empress Dowager and Your Majesty look up at the sky and the earth, and their eyes are naturally the same. There is no difference, it is nothing more than a slight difference. The minister is incompetent. He should act according to the order. As soon as the order comes, he will act immediately." .”

"Hahaha..." Empress Wu couldn't help laughing out loud, shook her head, and said, "Although the King of Nanchang is a little tricky, he still has rules, so I won't embarrass you, let's talk about the business."

Li Xuan let out a long sigh of relief, this test was finally passed, he hurriedly cupped his hands solemnly and said: "Please show me the Queen of Heaven."

"Since the Tianyin rebels are dead, then there will be Tubo after that. The Tang Dynasty and Tubo fought several times before, with victories and defeats." At this point, Empress Wu paused slightly, looked at Li Xuan and asked: "King of Nanchang, the Tang Dynasty If there is another war with Tubo, what strategy do you think should be adopted?"

"Luring the enemy deep, interspersed with movement, dividing and cutting, gathering and annihilating." Li Xuan immediately expressed his opinion without the slightest hesitation.

He had seriously thought about this matter. After knowing that the king of the Western Regions was Kumara, Tubo's national teacher, Li Xuan knew that the open and secret struggle between the Tang Dynasty and Tubo was more intense than he had imagined.

It is unavoidable that the two sides will go to war in the future.

"Luring the enemy deep?" Empress Wu didn't think about it at the first place, looked at Li Xuan with a surprised face, and couldn't help asking: "This is my attack on Tubo, how to lure the enemy deep... No, you said It is Tubo's tactics."

Li Xuan bowed deeply again, and said: "Tianhou, this method is feasible for Tubo, and so is our dynasty. If we lead the Tubo army down from the plateau and choose the battlefield under the plateau, our army will be able to use all our strength to annihilate them." , and then kill the Tubo Plateau and flatten it in one fell swoop."

Empress Wu's expression calmed down, she frowned slightly and said, "In other words, you don't agree to go to the plateau to fight Tubo."

Li Xuan looked solemn and bowed down again.

Empress Wu was thoughtful, and after a while, Empress Wu said in a deep voice: "The decree, the king of Nanchang, Nanchang Wang Jiance, has meritorious service, and a thousand households will be granted... The decree, the gentleman of Dechang County is gentle and virtuous, and he will be promoted to the monarch of Dechang County." Chao Yilang Liu Yuanlang taught women to be good, San Guan was promoted to a higher level, and was awarded Chao San doctor."

"My minister Li Xuan, thank you for your grace!" Li Xuan bowed her head heavily to the ground with an excited expression.

Empress Wu waved her hand to signal Li Xuan to stand up, and then said, "You are too young to be granted a seal, so I gave it to someone else."

"I understand, thank you for the grace of the Queen of Heaven."

"Okay, I will work hard for the court in the future, so let's step down."

"Here!" Li Xuan backed away slowly.

Empress Wu looked at his back, frowned slightly, lowered her head, and there was a memorial: "Chen Xueli played Tubo..."

(End of this chapter)