Thief Emperor

Chapter 963 Funerals and Weddings

The next day, Marquis Tianshun died.

Li Yun did not show up at the scene, but sent Jin Wangzheng to the scene to take full charge of the aftermath.

Normally, the death of a marquis did not require a royal family member of Li Zheng's level to handle it, but Wu Yuancheng was different after all.

He was a legitimate Son of Heaven, once recognized by the world. Moreover, although the world was in chaos in the last twenty years of the old Zhou Dynasty, after all, the court lasted for more than 200 years, and to this day there is still a small group of people who remember the old Zhou Dynasty in their hearts.

If Wu Yuancheng's funeral is not handled properly, it is very likely that someone will use this as an excuse to cause trouble, and there may even be conspirators who will take the opportunity to cause chaos.

Although the imperial court is not afraid, for a regime, or for a regime that wants to grow and develop, the most important thing is stability.

Li Zhengyi arrived at the marquis's mansion in person early in the morning to preside over Wu Yuancheng's funeral.

At this time, he had been in charge of Luoyang Prefecture for more than seven years. Naturally, he was no longer as awkward as before and could handle such small matters with ease. After he arrived at Wu Yuancheng's mansion, he quickly took over the situation and handled all matters in an orderly manner.

Wu Yuancheng's funeral invitation was sent out quickly. At noon, a few officials came to pay their respects. These officials were all quite old, and basically all of them were ministers of the old Zhou Dynasty.

They have now surrendered to the Xin Dynasty and continue to serve as officials in Luoyang.

After Li Zheng had dealt with the general matters, he came to the side hall of the Marquis' Mansion to rest. Not long after he sat down, a middle-aged fat man in mourning clothes walked up to him again and bowed to him: "Prince Jin."

Li Zheng had been busy for a long time and was just sitting down to drink tea. Upon hearing this, he quickly looked up at the person who was coming. After seeing clearly, he put down the teacup in his hand, stood up, and bowed in return: "Prince Wu."

The person who came was none other than Wu Yuanyou, King of Chenliu.

At this time, given Li Zheng's status, position and authority, he could have looked down upon Wu Yuanyou, or even ignored him. However, Wu Yuanyou had a good relationship with Jiangdong, so Li Zheng gave him some face, pulled him to sit down, and asked, "Wasn't Lord Wu in the mourning hall just now? Why did he come to me?"

Wu Yuanyou looked at Li Zheng, lowered his head and smiled bitterly, "My elder brother's departure inevitably caused many problems. There are some things I would like to consult with the prince."

Li Zheng looked at him and shook his head, saying, "We are already old acquaintances. There is no need to call me Prince all the time. It's too tiring. Brother Wu, just call me Sanlang."

Wu Yuanyou thought about it, took a deep breath, and nodded, "Then I won't be polite."

He looked at Li Zheng and said, "Sanlang, I have a few questions I want to ask you."

He paused before speaking: "The first thing is, after my eldest brother passes away, how will the court deal with his children?"

This is indeed a troublesome matter.

Because Wu Yuancheng is a very fertile person.

When he was a crown prince in his early years, he was probably focused on government affairs and was not very fertile. Before he became emperor, he had only three or four sons. However, he failed as emperor, especially after he hid in Xichuan for the second time, the last emperor entered a period of high productivity.

Including the years he spent in Luoyang, Wu Yuancheng already had thirteen or fourteen sons and seven or eight daughters.

This is very difficult to deal with.

Hearing this, Li Zheng lowered his head and drank a sip of tea, then smiled bitterly: "Brother Wu, this question really stumped me. His Majesty has not explained how to deal with it."

Wu Yuanyou thought for a moment and said, "I'm afraid your majesty won't express his opinion directly on this matter."

He looked at Li Zheng and said, "Your Majesty asked Sanlang to handle it, so this matter should also be handed over to Sanlang to handle, so I came to ask Sanlang what he would do..."

Li Zheng rubbed his temple and said, "Lord Wu Hou's daughters are easy to deal with. They can get married normally in the future. I will not stop them, and the court should not stop them either."

After all, this era is a patriarchal society.

People at that time did not recognize maternal blood ties very much, so Wu Yuancheng's daughters did not have too many taboos. Moreover, because of their bloodline, they might become popular commodities in Luoyang city in the future.

Just ask yourself, who wouldn’t want to marry the daughter of the Zhou emperor as a wife?
Of course, there are some risks in marrying these former "imperial princesses", that is, one has to worry about whether he will be held accountable by the current court.

All in all, Wu Yuancheng's daughters were not difficult to deal with.

But his sons were more difficult to deal with.

If the bloodline were to be spread out, it might be taken away by those with ulterior motives or those ambitious people and used as a banner.

Li Zheng touched his chin, thought about it seriously, and said, "I really can't make a decision on this matter for the time being. My personal opinion is."

"Brother Wu's nephews should not get married for the time being."

He looked at Wu Yuanyou and said slowly: "Live your life steadily."

Wu Yuanyou was silent for a while, then said, "Then my elder brother's title..."

"This will not affect anything. Your Majesty will naturally let Lord Wu Hou's son inherit the title in the future."

Li Zheng was stunned when he said this. Then he looked at Wu Yuanyou and shook his head, saying, "Brother Wu, I just said the wrong thing. Lord Wu's sons can get married normally. If they want to get married, they can get married. But there is one thing, Brother Wu, you have to remember."

Li Zheng said solemnly: "In the future, if any of the descendants of the Wu family plot treason, or if someone plots treason in the name of the descendants of the Wu family, the relationship between the court and the Wu family will end. When the king's law is enforced, the Wu family will be exterminated."

"Your Majesty's mercy cannot save you." Upon hearing this, Wu Yuanyou's face turned pale. He looked up at Li Zheng, then lowered his head again, his expression becoming a little flustered.

What Li Zheng said is entirely possible.

After all, after the new tax law was implemented, countless people in the world disliked Emperor Li, and countless people wanted to find an opportunity to rise up.

And restoring the country is undoubtedly an excellent name.

Even if no one of the descendants of Wu planned treason, and no one used the name of the descendants of Wu to plan treason, one day the Emperor Li became displeased with the descendants of Wu and randomly framed them for treason.

The Wu clan was also exterminated.

It cannot change the fate of the royal family that destroyed the country.

The more Wu Yuanyou thought about it, the more frightened he became. His face turned paler. After a long while, he whispered, "Don't worry, Prince Jin. I will keep an eye on my nephews."

He took a deep breath and bowed his head, saying, "There is one more thing. With the grace of your majesty, my family has some land, one of which I have designated as a mausoleum. I would like to ask if I can bury my elder brother first."

"From now on, all of us in the Luoyang Wu family will be buried there."

Li Zheng looked at Wu Yuanyou and said, "Doesn't Tianshun Hou have his own imperial mausoleum?"

After an emperor ascends the throne, he will begin to build his own imperial mausoleum. Wu Yuancheng is no exception. As early as before the Guanzhong Rebellion, his imperial mausoleum near Chang'an had already been completed.

Wu Yuanyou was so frightened that he shook his head repeatedly and said, "My brother is no longer the emperor, so naturally we cannot go beyond the rules. He should be buried with the rites of a duke or marquis, and we will never dare to use the imperial mausoleum in Guanzhong again."

Li Zheng looked at him and nodded, "Okay, I'll make a note of this. I'll ask His Majesty later."

He looked at Wu Yuanyou and said with a smile: "Brother Wu, there is no need to be so cautious. Our emperor is quite tolerant."

Prince Jin paused for a moment and continued, "If Your Majesty wants to kill someone, he usually kills them on the spot. If he doesn't kill them right away, he usually won't settle the score later."

"Aren't the Zhou family of Qingzhou and the Li family of Taiyuan now serving as officials in Luoyang?"

Prince Jin said sternly, "Wei Quanzhong and his son didn't live even a day longer."

Wu Yuanyou was silent for a while, then looked at Prince Jin and said, "The emperor is upright and aboveboard, and everyone knows it. I have never worried about our dynasty."

Li Yun's credibility is quite good, at least for now.

He has yet to break his word.

Even a man as thoughtful as Wu Yuanyou was not worried that his family would be liquidated in the Zhangwu Dynasty.

However, just because the dynasty has not been liquidated does not mean that it will be safe forever.

Hearing this, Li Zheng patted Wu Yuanyou on the shoulder and said with a smile: "In the future, you and I may not be around anymore. Why do you worry about our descendants, brother Wu?"

Prince Chenliu nodded and said, "Thank you, Sanlang. I'll make a note of it."

"The Wu family's affairs."

Wu Yuanyou whispered, "I will take care of it and will definitely not cause any trouble for the court."

…………

While the Wu family was holding the funeral, in Ganlu Palace on the other side, a tall man dressed in a military officer's robe was bowing respectfully to Emperor Li.

"Your subordinate Qian Zhong pays respect to the superior."

Li Yun smiled at him and said, "Get up and talk, get up and talk."

Qian Zhong responded yes and stood in front of Li Yun respectfully.

Emperor Li looked at him for a few times, then said with a smile: "I have asked you to guard Jiannan in the past few years. You have done a good job. Thank you for your hard work."

"From now on, you will stay in Luoyang and lead the Yingyang Guard."

Qian Zhong half-knelt down, bowed his head deeply and said: "Your subordinate, thank you very much!"

Emperor Li personally stood up and helped him up, then said with a smile: "I heard that you have a daughter who is fifteen years old this year. Have you brought her to Luoyang?"

After Qian Zhong stood up, he took a deep breath.

"Return to the superior, I have brought him back to Luoyang, but this woman..."

He lowered his head and smiled bitterly: "I grew up in Jiannan for the past few years, learned Sichuan dialect, and my personality has also changed..."

"It's a bit overbearing."

(End of this chapter)