Chapter 36 Wu Zong ascended the throne

After the death of Prince Li Yong, Wenzong did not register a new prince for a whole year, and one person finally couldn't bear it. She is Concubine Yang Xian. Although this woman is very scheming and resourceful, it's a pity that her stomach is not up to snuff - she has been married to Wen Zong for so many years, but she is still barren.In the competition for favor in the harem, a woman without an heir obviously has no advantage.Therefore, in order to preserve her wealth for the rest of her life, Concubine Yang Xian got very close to Wen Zong's half brother, King An Li Rong long ago.

For a long time, the reason why she spared no effort to frame Prince Li Yong was to support King An, who had a close relationship with her. In the winter of the fourth year of Kaicheng, Concubine Yang Xian frequently urged Wen Zong to enshrine Li Rong, the king of An. However, Wenzong never agreed. Because he already has another candidate. On October 18th in the fourth year of Kaicheng (839 A.D.), Wenzong suddenly issued an edict, making Li Chengmei, the son of Jingzong and King Chen, the crown prince. Concubine Yang Xian was very frustrated - she didn't expect that after all the tricks she had done, she ended up making a wedding dress for someone else.

One year after the death of Prince Li Yong, the empire finally established a new crown prince, and a heart that was hanging by the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty was finally let go.After a whole year, the suspicion of the prince's death has long since faded from people's memory.However, on the second day after the establishment of the new crown prince, a small incident triggered a fierce reaction from the emperor, making people suddenly realize that the pain of the emperor's bereavement had never disappeared, but was only deeply hidden by him. On this day, Wenzong Li Ang came to Huining Hall to watch acrobatic performances, one of which was a boy performing a climbing pole.What surprised Li Ang was that when the boy was performing on it, a man kept walking back and forth under the tall pole with an anxious expression on his face.Li Ang asked the left and right: "Who is this?" The left and right replied: "It is the boy's father."

At this moment, the emperor burst into tears. He choked up and said: "I am the emperor, but I can't even save a son!" On the same day, Wenzong ordered people to arrest four people including Liu Chucai from the Jiaofang (court song and dance troupe), and ten people including the court lady Zhang.These people used to be close to the prince.Wen Zong pointed at them and reprimanded: "You guys are the ones who killed the prince. Now that the new prince has been registered, do you still want to do this?" Two days later, the furious Wenzong beheaded all these people. Needless to say, the emperor's killing spree is obviously suspected of venting his anger on others and hurting innocent people.Even if these people were indeed the chief culprits who seduced the prince to indulge in sensuality, they were not guilty of death.To put it bluntly, these little people are just tools for the emperor to vent his anger.

However, for Wen Zong Li Ang, who was left behind in power, he knew that his son died unexpectedly, but he dared and was unable to investigate the truth. Apart from venting on these people, where else could he vent his grief and anger? A few days later, Li Ang fell ill amid unrelenting depression and grief. The young emperor gradually had an ominous premonition. He felt that his limit would not be too far away. In the deep winter of this year, Li Ang's condition suddenly improved.The courtiers even saw a long-lost blush on the emperor's face. However, no one knows that this is just a reflection of the emperor.

On November 27th, Zhou Chi, a Hanlin scholar who was on duty at the Hanlin Academy, suddenly received a summons, saying that the emperor invited him to the Sizheng Hall to ask questions.When Zhou Chi hurried into the hall, the emperor had already ordered people to prepare wine.Seeing the emperor smiling and beckoning him to sit down, Zhou Chi couldn't help being a little apprehensive. Today's emperor seems to be in good spirits and in good spirits. He is giving him a seat and a drink. What exactly do he want to talk about? After a while, Zhou Chi heard the emperor speak. "Xianqing, do you think I can be compared with the former monarch?"

When Zhou Chi heard this nonsensical question, he hurriedly got up and replied, "The emperor is a monarch like Yao and Shun." The Son of Heaven shook his head and smiled: "How dare I compare myself to Yao and Shun! The reason why I ask you this question is because I want to know how I compare to King Nan of Zhou and Emperor Xian of Han?" Hearing these words suddenly, Zhou Chi broke out in a cold sweat.King Nan of Zhou and Emperor Xian of Han are both famous kings of subjugation in history!Why did the emperor say such words suddenly?Zhou Chi hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed, and said in a trembling voice: "They are all kings of subjugation, and they must not be compared with the emperor!"

The emperor shook his head again and smiled wryly. There were tears in his smile. Immediately afterwards, Zhou Chi, who was lying on the ground, heard the voice of the emperor suddenly filled with an indescribable vicissitudes.The emperor said: "King Nan and Emperor Xian are only controlled by the princes, but I am controlled by my slaves! According to this, I am even worse than them..." Before he could finish his sentence, the emperor Li Ang was already sobbing. I don't know whether it was due to excessive nervousness or being infected by the emperor's sadness, tears burst out of Zhou Chi's eyes.

He didn't know what to say, so he could only kowtow and weep with the emperor. This is a winter day with heavy snow.A ray of sunlight was weakly passing through the window lattice, and quietly sprinkled on the tearful faces of the pair of monarchs and ministers who were weeping at each other. The sun stayed on their faces for a long time, but they never felt the slightest warmth. On such a day, perhaps even the sun is cold. The first month of the fifth year of Kaicheng (840 A.D.) was the fifteenth and last year of Tang Wenzong Li Ang's reign. Li Ang, who was on the sickbed, sadly looked back on his fourteen-year career as an emperor, feeling that it was a complete tragedy.

The vassals and towns were divided into regimes, factional disputes, and eunuchs chaotic politics. These are the three incurable diseases on the body of the empire, and they are also the tragedy trio belonging to Li Ang.These three tragic plots add radiance to each other and play hand in hand to jointly interpret Li Ang's tragic life of ambition to rejuvenate but unable to return to heaven. What will the empire of tomorrow look like? Right now, Li Ang was unable to think.In fact, everything in the future has nothing to do with him.This spring, Li Ang was so tired that he had to use all his strength to breathe...

When the emperor was dying, the eunuch group would naturally not be idle. In fact, as early as last winter when Wenzong was ill, lieutenants Qiu Shiliang and Yu Hongzhi of Shence had been planning the future of the empire.To be precise, Qiu Shiliang intends to find a new crown prince for the empire. The current prince, Li Chengmei, was not supported by Qiu Shiliang, so he made up his mind very early on, planning to abolish Li Chengmei, and set up Li Ang's half-brother, Ying Wang Li Yi (the fifth son of Mu Zong). On the second day of the first lunar month of the fifth year of Kaicheng, Wenzong knew that he was unpredictable, and urgently summoned Yang Sifu and Li Jue into the palace, intending to order them to assist the prince and at the same time order the prince to supervise the country.Qiu Shiliang and Yu Hongzhi received the secret report, and immediately said to Yang and Li Erxiang: "The prince is still young, weak and sick, and is not suitable for succession. You should change Li Ying, the king of Ying, as the emperor's younger brother, and order Li Chengmei to remain the king of Chen. " Of course Yang Sifu and Li Jue disagreed: "The title of the crown prince has been decided and cannot be changed midway!" However, in the view of Qiu Shiliang and Yu Hongzhi, apart from their will, anyone's decision in the current Datang Empire can be changed, even the emperor Li Ang is no exception. They immediately issued an imperial edict in the name of Wenzong: Li Yu, King Ying, was appointed as the emperor's younger brother, and he was in charge of the military and state power.On the same day, Qiu Shiliang and Yu Hongzhi personally led troops to the Sixteen Houses to welcome Li Zhen into the palace, and went to the Sixian Hall to receive the audience of all officials. The fate of the empire was once again in the hands of the eunuchs, and everything was exactly the same as when Wenzong ascended the throne.Yang Sifu, Li Jue and other ministers were inexplicably sad and indignant, but there was nothing they could do. On the fourth day of the first lunar month, Tang Wenzong Li Ang died in the Hall of Supreme Harmony at the age of thirty-two. On the sixth day of the first lunar month, Qiu Shiliang forced Li Zhen to order that Concubine Yang Xian, King An Li Rong and King Chen Li Chengmei were all put to death.Afterwards, all the close ministers and attendants whom Wenzong favored during his lifetime, even musicians, were all executed or exiled, and were wiped out by Qiu Shiliang within a few days. On the fourteenth day of the first lunar month, the twenty-eight-year-old Li Zhen ascended the throne as Tang Wuzong. Although Li Zhen, like his elder brother Li Ang, was supported by eunuchs, Li Zhen at this time was more than ten years older than Li Ang at the time, and his experience and knowledge were obviously much deeper.Moreover, it is said in history that Li Chen was "deep and determined, and his happiness and anger are not visible." (Volume 246) It can be seen that Li Chen is more courageous and powerful than Li Ang, who came to the throne as a young man. That being the case, people seem to have reason to expect that the Datang Empire, which has been dying from the three major political diseases, may be able to glow with a glimmer of life in the hands of this new emperor.