Chapter 9 The collapse of Vientiane Shrine

Since the beginning of the Wuzhou Revolution, Xue Huaiyi felt more and more that he was a genius. He not only personally supervised the construction of the two most sacred and politically significant buildings in the Great Zhou Empire - the Vientiane Shrine and the Heaven where Giant Buddhas are enshrined, but also single-handedly created the Buddhist Bible of the Wu Zhou Dynasty - "Dayun Jingshu" ".In his opinion, just relying on these few unprecedented great achievements, he is enough to go down in history and be famous forever.In the first year of Yongchang (689 A.D.), that is, the year before Empress Wu proclaimed himself emperor, the Khan of Gudulu from East Turkic invaded the bandits. Two hundred thousand went north to fight against the Turks.It was also because of his luck that he did not meet the main force of the Turks along the way, but only encountered some stragglers. Xue Huaiyi wiped out the small army of the Eastern Turks without any effort, and then marched all the way to Shanyutai, where he recorded meritorious deeds, and then led his troops Triumph.

When he was victorious and returned to court, Xue Huaiyi didn't mention how beautiful he was.Empress Wu not only greeted him with a smile on his face, hosted a banquet to celebrate his success, but also made him a general of the auxiliary state and a pillar state, and gave him two thousand pieces of silk.In the first year of Tianshou (690 A.D.), that is, the year when Empress Wu officially ascended the throne, he was granted the title of General of Youwei and the Duke of E State, which can be described as the most honorable favor. In the first year of Yanzai (694 A.D.), Khan Gudulu of East Turkic died of illness, and his younger brother Mochuo became Khan on his own, and once again invaded the bandits.Xue Huaiyi was also appointed as the general manager of the Shuofang Road marching. The two current prime ministers, Li Zhaode and Su Weiwei, served as his Sima and Changshi respectively. An extremely strong lineup for the Northern Expedition was formed; even the famous general Wang Xiaojie (the Minister of the Ministry of War and Prime Minister) who was powerful in the Western Regions and recovered the four towns of Anxi was also punished by him, which shows that Xue Huaiyi had a high status in the army at that time; Although the Prime Minister Li Zhaode is notoriously tough in the court, even Wu Chengsi and Lai Junchen are afraid of him, but Xue Huaiyi gave him a severe beating just because he went against his will when discussing matters with Xue Huaiyi Whip, Li Zhaode had no choice but to plead guilty in fear, not daring to complain.

All of this made Xue Huaiyi's self-confidence extremely bursting. But on the eve of the army's expedition, a battle report was sent back from the front, saying that the Turkic army had withdrawn to Monan. The Northern Expedition was cancelled, but Xue Huaiyi was quite proud of winning without a fight, because in his opinion, the Turkic people must have been intimidated by his reputation, so before he went to the expedition, he was so scared that the shit broke out and ran away. Regardless of whether Xue Huaiyi's idea is just a self-feeling or the fact, in short, this year, Xue Huaiyi not only reached the pinnacle of his personal career, but also became one of the few pillars of the Wu Zhou Dynasty (at least he I think so).

Building Mingtang, building Buddhist scriptures, conquering Turks, which one of these is not the most important and remarkable?Which one is not enough to become the capital for Xue Huaiyi to look down on the world and look down upon the world? So what Xue Huaiyi most wanted to say to the people of the world at that time was—— I'm not just a male favorite! Since Xue Huaiyi thought he had successfully realized his career transformation, he naturally didn't pay much attention to the job of "face-to-face" and his professionalism was greatly reduced.He stayed in the White Horse Temple most of the time, and he no longer ran to the palace at every turn like before, let alone rampaging and fighting in the street all day long.

Everyone will grow. Xue Huaiyi now feels that he is much more mature than before.Even if Emperor Wu sent someone to invite him into the palace, he would ignore it.When you encounter a good mood, you will deal with it, and if you are in a bad mood, you will immediately reject it. Seeing Xue Huaiyi's self-inflated self-inflated, Wu Zhao finally became angry. Could it be that you are the only man in the world?My old lady is now the son of heaven, and she is planning to recruit "harem beauties", so don't you come and drag her down!One more than you is not too much, and one less than you is not much!

Then another man quickly filled the vacancy left by Xue Huaiyi. He is the imperial physician Shen Nanqiu.As the saying goes, you get the moon first if you are close to the water. This young man who is facing the wind in the jade tree took advantage of the opportunity to recuperate his body for Emperor Wu, and went to bed in a tune-up.And Wu Zhao, who was nearly seventy years old, was as healthy as ever under the careful "conditioning" of the imperial doctor, and his skin was still as delicate and rosy as before.It is said that in the fall of the third year of Tianshou (AD 692), she unexpectedly "lost and regenerated", and a new set of teeth as white as jade grew back.For this purpose, Wu Zhao personally controlled the Zetian Gate, amnesty the world, and changed the name to "Longevity".

The number one face in the world began to lose power, and the courtiers who had been displeased with Xue Huaiyi immediately took action.The censor, Zhou Ju, said to Emperor Wu: "Xue Huaiyi has privately ordained more than a thousand little rascals as monks, for fear of conspiracy!" Wu Zhao originally wanted to kill this kid's arrogance, so he immediately ordered Xue Huaiyi to go Yushitai accepted the hearing. As soon as Zhou Ju returned to Yushitai on the front foot, Xue Huaiyi came riding a tall horse on the back foot.But Zhou Ju never expected that this kid didn't come to court at all, but to demonstrate.He rode his horse straight to the front steps of the hall, then dismounted and strode into the hall, and lay down on the bed of the chief officer of Yushitai, all over the place, bare chested and backless, and looked directly at the man with a provocative gaze. Zhou Ju.

Zhou Ju was so angry that he was so angry that he immediately ordered his left and right to take him down. Xue Huaiyi saw that Zhou Ju was not a coward, he didn't take advantage of the immediate loss, so he got up quickly, rode his horse and rode away.Zhou Ju had no choice but to report the truth to Emperor Wu.Wu Zhao shook his head and smiled wryly, and said, "This monk is crazy, you don't need to interrogate him, just deal with those little hooligans who were ordained by him." Later, Zhou Ju was ordered to exile all these more than a thousand wild monks to the border areas, and he himself was promoted to Tianguan (Official Department) Yuanwailang because of this.

This time Xue Huaiyi finally woke up - he realized that he had lost Emperor Wu's favor. In order to restore the former honor and favor, Xue Huaiyi decided to organize a unique celebration for Emperor Wu on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month in the first year of Zhengsheng (695 AD), that is, the night of the Lantern Festival, to show his respect for Emperor Wu. Emperor Wu's heartfelt affection. Xue Huaiyi did what he said, immediately rolled up his sleeves, brought a group of people into the palace, dug a five-foot-deep pit in the open space in front of the Ming Hall, buried a large Buddha statue, and then covered the pit with colored satin A colorful and magnificent "palace" was built.On the night of the Lantern Festival, when Emperor Wu came to the celebration site accompanied by civil and military officials, Xue Huaiyi gave an order, and the strong men who had already prepared pulled the thick rope wrapped in colorful satin together, so the giant Buddha in the pit rose slowly, All the way up to the palace above, the scene is magical and spectacular; Xue Huaiyi immediately announced loudly, saying that this is the auspiciousness of the Buddha statue "gushing out of the ground".

I thought that such a spectacle would definitely win Emperor Wu's favor and admiration, but to Xue Huaiyi's great disappointment, Emperor Wu just looked at it blankly for a while, and then left without looking back. Xue Huaiyi racked his brains to come up with this idea, and it took a lot of effort to put it into practice. Unexpectedly, he couldn't get a word of encouragement and a smile from Emperor Wu.Xue Huaiyi was depressed all night.But the next day he told himself - it must be because his sincerity is not enough, so he must not be discouraged, he should try harder! On the 17th day of the first lunar month, Xue Huaiyi asked his men to buy several cows, and then killed the cows for blood. With the blood of the cows, he painted a huge Buddha statue with a height of 200 feet, and finally hung it in the south of Tianjin Bridge; A fast banquet was held, and all the monks, nuns, officials, gentry and common people in Luoyang City came to admire his masterpiece; finally, he sent someone to report to Emperor Wu, claiming that he cut his knee and drew it stroke by stroke with his own blood.

On this day, in the south of the bridge in Tianjin, thousands of heads are moving, and the crowns are like clouds.But it is a pity that everyone has come, but the person Xue Huaiyi desires the most has not come. Poor Xue Huaiyi waited from morning to dusk, until the sun went down in the west, everyone dispersed, but still no sign of Yi Ren. Xue Huaiyi was desperate. As dusk slowly fell, on the empty and quiet Tianjin Bridge, the cold night wind blew Xue Huaiyi's wide monk robe, making him look like a tired bird that had forgotten to return to its nest.Xue Huaiyi looked up at the Buddha statue swaying in the wind, as if he saw a cold smile hanging from the corner of the Buddha's mouth. A terrible anger suddenly burned from Xue Huaiyi's dantian, and then rushed to the top of his head.Xue Huaiyi flew on his horse and galloped towards the palace... The fire that Empress Wu Zhao will never forget was ignited on this night. According to the recollection of the Forbidden Army soldiers guarding the palace gate afterwards, Xue Huaiyi broke into the palace gate like crazy that evening, and then galloped towards Mingtang on a fast horse.Because of his special status, no one dared to stop him.Not long after, the night sky in the direction of Mingtang turned bright red.When the imperial guards rushed over, the heaven where the giant Buddha was worshiped was already on fire. Huge logs spewed flames and fell from the sky one after another, and soon set the bright hall in front of them on fire.The people who rushed to the scene could only stand stunned and did not dare to go up to fight the rescue, because going up would only lead to death in vain. That night, Wu Zhao was awakened by loud human voices in her sleep. After waking up, she saw the night sky as bright as day for the first time.When he judged that the direction of the fire was the Vientiane Shrine, Wu Zhao suddenly felt dizzy.Later, she went to the scene of the fire in person regardless of dissuasion from left and right, and she was immediately stunned by the tragic situation at that time. Heaven and Mingtang are like two huge torches standing up against the sky, crazily erupting fiery flames to the surroundings and the sky.Even though the distance was so far, Wu Zhao still felt the skin on his hands and face was hot and painful. It was the biggest fire she had ever seen in her life, and it still burned in her memory long afterward.Wu Zhao remembered that the golden phoenix on the top of the bright hall had been struggling in the fire. First, its wings broke, then its body tilted, and finally it fell from the air.Later, Heaven and the Vientiane Shrine collapsed one after the other... It was not until several years later that Empress Wu Zhao told her most trusted assistant, Shangguan Wan'er, that she saw clearly that night in the firelight soaring into the sky. A hideous face. That was Xue Huaiyi's face. In the early morning of the next day, Wu Zhao came to the scene of the fire for the second time. She saw that the two most important buildings in her life no longer existed, and the sacredness and solemnity of the past had been reduced to rubble and ashes.White smoke billowed from the scorched ruins, and occasionally one or two suspended logs fell to the ground with a thud, and Wu Zhao's heart would suddenly tighten involuntarily, as if he had been stabbed severely by some kind of sharp weapon... When he turned to leave that day, Wu Zhao silently said to himself: Rebuild, I want to rebuild immediately. What God has given me, no one can take away! Many courtiers were extremely surprised when they heard that Xue Huaiyi was still in charge of rebuilding the hall and heaven.Because there are many signs that Xue Huaiyi set the fire.But Emperor Wu kept this secret, and never mentioned the matter of tracking down the arsonist.People felt that Emperor Wu's performance was very strange, and the only explanation was that Xue Huaiyi, the number one face in the world, was likely to gain power again. Of course Xue Huaiyi thought so too.Although Xue Huaiyi was slightly surprised when he learned that Emperor Wu had given him the task of rebuilding, he immediately came back to his senses. He believed that the most important person in Emperor Wu's heart was him.He believes that this fire has burned away the layers of haze that shrouded his head, and at the same time burned out the bright universe that he once had. Burn it right, this fire is so fucking right! Xue Huaiyi immediately devoted himself to the rebuilding of Mingtang and Paradise full of energy.On the dusty construction site, Xue Huaiyi is full of longing for the future.He knew that as the new hall and heaven rose from his hands, everything that belonged to him would be restored, as if the terrible fire had never burned. Or rather, it was just a nightmare.After waking up from the dream, the heaven is still the former paradise, the Vientiane Shrine is still the former Vientiane Shrine, and Xue Huaiyi is still the majestic Xue Huaiyi from before. However, something is always different. Not long after the rebuilding work started, Xue Huaiyi's heart began to fluctuate. What is the difference? Xue Huaiyi thought hard, and finally remembered.A few days after the construction of Xinmingtang started, Emperor Wu visited the construction site in person.Xue Huaiyi had been looking for an opportunity to talk to Emperor Wu that day, but she always avoided it intentionally or unintentionally.It was not until before leaving that Emperor Wu casually turned his head, took a long look at Xue Huaiyi, and then left without saying a word. At that time, Xue Huaiyi didn't understand the meaning of that glance in time. Later, Xue Huaiyi finally understood - those eyes were full of murderous intent! When he thought of this, Xue Huaiyi's eyes suddenly went dark, and he felt like he was about to collapse. I wish I was mistaken. Let's hope it's not murderous... However, Xue Huaiyi was not mistaken. That's the killer. Putting him in charge of the reconstruction work is just Wu Zhao's plan to slow down the troops. She needs time to think about how to deal with this man who is crazy about love. Wu Zhao is actually not opposed to men becoming crazy because of love, especially for her, because it will only make her experience another kind of conquest.In other words, there is no woman in the world who doesn't like a man to be jealous for her, especially a woman with an authoritative personality like Wu Zhao, who prefers a man to be jealous for her.Because a man's jealousy is sometimes like an indispensable seasoning, which will make her private life more colorful and wonderful.But what Wu Zhao never imagined was that Xue Huaiyi was so crazy that he burned down the Heaven and the Vientiane Shrine! That is the most precious thing in her life, it is the most important landmark building of the Great Zhou Dynasty, it is the sacred totem of Empress Wu Zhao who upholds the destiny to rule the people! But they turned to ashes overnight, how could Wu Zhao forgive Xue Huaiyi? After just a few days of thinking and hesitation, Wu Zhao finally made up his mind - get rid of this crazy man. In order to prevent Xue Huaiyi from taking advantage of the privilege of entering and exiting the palace to do crazy things, Wu Zhao specially found more than a hundred palace maids with strong bodies to form a "female special police team" to protect her safety. On the fourth day of February in the first year of Zhengsheng, Luoyang Taichu Palace and Yaoguang Palace. Yaoguang Temple is located on a small island in the middle of the lake, surrounded by water, and the scenery is very pleasant.When Xue Huaiyi first entered the palace, he often met with Empress Wu here, and spent many wonderful and ecstasy time together. In the early morning of this day, the sky was clean and blue, and the sun was a little glaring.Xue Huaiyi rode his horse and galloped on the long embankment leading to Yaoguang Hall.Surrounded by a wave of light, willows and flowers are red. Xue Huaiyi couldn't help feeling a lot of emotion when he revisited the old place after many years.He believed that the reason why Emperor Wu dated him here was obviously to relive old dreams and renew their relationship.Thinking that he had misread Emperor Wu's eyes, Xue Huaiyi smiled a little ashamedly. Xue Huaiyi quickly passed the long embankment and headed towards the main hall.Suddenly, a person slowly turned out from under a big banyan tree in front of him, and stood there squinting at him. Xue Huaiyi slowed down and walked a dozen more steps before he realized that the person was Jianchang Wang Wu Youning? Why is this kid standing here so early in the morning? Xue Huaiyi was full of suspicion... If Emperor Wu wanted to have a tryst with him, how could he let this kid be there? Suddenly, Xue Huaiyi seemed to understand something, and quickly turned his horse's head around. But it was too late.Wu Youning waved his hand lightly, and a group of big men in black with sticks jumped out from behind the surrounding bushes.Xue Huaiyi had just rode his horse and ran a few steps, when he was knocked off the horse with a stick, and then a dozen sticks fell straight down... Xue Huaiyi blocked it a few times, and wailed a few times.But under the raindrops of heavy blows from sticks, all movements and sounds soon ceased.His eyes were wide open, his seven orifices were bleeding, and his death was extremely horrific.Wu Youning then secretly transported the body to the White Horse Temple, and burned it according to the order of Emperor Wu, and then mixed the ashes into the soil, and built a pagoda with the soil.In the end, the imperial court exiled all the attendants and monks under Xue Huaiyi to the frontier, completely eliminating his influence in the White Horse Temple. Xue Huaiyi just died. The once hottest generation of male favourites just evaporated from the world, not even leaving ashes behind. From when Feng Xiaobao gained power in the palace to when Xue Huaiyi was burned and wiped out, there was a period of exactly ten years. If life could be started from scratch, would Feng Xiaobao still want to become Xue Huaiyi?Will he willingly follow Princess Qianjin into the carriage to the palace, and then madly fall in love with Empress Dowager Wu's bed, and fall in love with all the glory and wealth that he can't afford? Maybe such a question is pointless.Because, even if there is no Feng Xiaobao, there will be Zhang Xiaobao, Chen Xiaobao, Li Xiaobao... In short, in the historical drama of Empress Wu Zhao, there must be some characters like this to interpret the joys and sorrows of the world and the upside-down of the world of mortals. Two years after Xue Huaiyi's death, two male pets who were younger, more beautiful, more talented, and more obedient than him came to the Emperor Wu gracefully. They are brothers Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong. When the lotus-faced Erzhang accompanied the empress at a rare age in the palace of Taichu, ecstasy every night, under a certain pagoda of the White Horse Temple, green grass had already grown. Accompanying these green grasses are only the wind blowing from south to north, and the bells and chimes of the White Horse Temple all the year round...