Chapter 40 Chapter Forty

The consequences of Xu Jingye's rebellion were very serious. Comrade Xue Zhongzhang, the left Sima of the Yangzhou rebel army, also had a special identity, that is, the nephew of Prime Minister Pei Yan. Pei Yan didn't have the noble character of Song Zhiwen, so naturally he couldn't do the thing of slashing Xue Zhongzhang's body twice.Pei Yan has a clean sleeve and is upright.Back then, when Wu Zetian's nephews Wu Sansi (son of Wu Yuanqing) and Wu Chengsi (son of Wu Yuanshuang) wanted to kill Han Wang Li Yuanjia and Lu Wang Li Lingkui (the most famous and most admired kings), Wu Zetian Nodding in agreement, Pei Yan insisted on arguing, the queen mother was displeased because of this, and Pei Yan also aroused the dissatisfaction of the Wu family.

Wu Zetian had no time to miss Pei Yan's contribution to abolishing Luling King Li Xian, let alone praise his deeds of punishing corrupt officials severely. She began to hate Pei Yan.Wu Zetian likes to kill people by the way, so this time Xu Jingye rebelled, she thought to herself, she might as well count Pei Yan as an accomplice and kill him. Wu Zetian is very smart, and to kill Pei Yan, of course he had to interview Pei Yan about his feelings. "How can all treason be quelled?" "The emperor is old and can't take charge of the government, so these rebels have an excuse to raise troops. If the queen mother returns to the government, the rebellion will be over!"

Cui Cha, the supervisory censor, said, "Pei Yan was entrusted by the late emperor and held great power. If there was no different plan, how could the queen mother be allowed to return to power?" Still false.The two brothers entrusted by Wu Zetian quickly completed the investigation, and Pei Yan was sent to prison.After being tortured, he was still unyielding in his words. The jailer was moved and persuaded him to say a few soft words, so that he might suffer less. Most of the people who associate with Pei Yan are righteous men, and many people are willing to risk being implicated to speak for him for Pei Yan.Li Jingchen from Fenggeshe jumped out first, but unfortunately he wanted to kill Pei Yan.

Li Jingchen proved convincingly that Pei Yan wanted to rebel, and also listed some of his abnormal behaviors.For example, he did not participate in the discussion of killing his own nephew, and let the queen mother abdicate.Empress Wu nodded slightly, expressing her distress. She said that she had sent someone to investigate, and it was indeed as Li Jingchen said, the evidence was conclusive, and Pei Yan could not regret it even if he wanted to. Out of public interest, Liu Jingxian (that is, Liu Qixian, who changed his name to avoid Li Xian's taboo, the prime minister) and Fengge servant Hu Yuanfan stood up and said: "Yan, the minister of Sheji, has contributed to the country and dedicated it wholeheartedly. Rebellion!" Empress Wu chuckled, and said, "Pei Yan's rebellion has evidence, but Ai Qing doesn't know about it."

Liu Jingxian blushed, "If what Pei Yan did was treason, then the ministers are also treason!" Empress Wu was silenced by the prime ministers, she didn't expect that someone would come to her to make trouble for others.She comforted them and said: "I know that Pei Yan is going to rebel, and I also know that you will not. (I know that Pei Yan is rebelling, Zhiqing and others will not.)" Facing the turbulent tide of intercession, Wu Zetian blocked his ears. A few days later, Liu Jingxian and Hu Yuanfan were imprisoned, Liu Jingxian was demoted, Hu Yuanfan was exiled to death, and all those who begged were killed or relegated.As for Li Jingchen, who contributed to the killing of Pei Yan, he was promoted to prime minister, and made peace with Fengge Luantai.Pei Yan is still rebelling. If you say you are rebelling, you will rebel. It is not rebellion or rebellion.

On this day, he was dragged to Duting.Before his execution, Pei Yan looked at his brother and said what he had kept in his heart for a long time. "I'm sorry for you. Your official salary is all earned by your own hard work. I didn't do anything. Today, Yan was framed by someone and left here. It's really sad. (Brothers and officials are all self-inflicted, and Yan has nothing Li, it’s so sad to be running around now!) I’m leaving, but I really miss you all!” Pei Yan, with a clean sleeve, died generously, causing a sensation in Luoyang. Wu Zetian ordered the family to be deprived of his family, and the officials in charge of searching Pei Yan's house came to Pei Yan's house. In the crowd's onlookers, he walked around, sealed the gate, and returned without taking anything.Pei Yan's prime minister's mansion was dilapidated, there was not a single decent thing in the house, and not a single penny of corruption was found.No, some items were also found, except for the official uniforms, which were clothes that had been patched countless times but were still washed very clean.

The Pei family took action. Pei Nixian, Pei Yan's nephew, child prodigy, young talent, served as the prime minister at the age of seventeen. After his uncle was beheaded, the child couldn't sit still anymore, so he wrote a secret letter and sent it to the Queen Mother.The queen mother looked at it, summoned her, and immediately shouted: "Mr. Pei, your uncle rebelled against me, what are you talking about with me?!" Pei Ni first said: "This is for your majesty to make suggestions, not to appeal for grievances! Your majesty is the daughter-in-law of the Li family. After the first emperor left, you monopolized the government, changed your heirs without authorization, demoted Li's family, and indiscriminately conferred military titles. The uncle of the minister was loyal to the country and was instead punished. False accusations will bring disaster to the descendants. I really regret what your Majesty has done! Your Majesty should return to the government as soon as possible, and rest in the deep palace, so that the clan can be complete; otherwise, if the world changes, it will be too late to regret it."

Empress Wu was furious and scolded: "Who do you think you are, dare to talk to me like that!" Pei Ni was pulled first, turned around and shouted repeatedly: "Listen to the minister, it's not too late!" Wu Zetian didn't want to beat the speaker on the spot, but this time, she was enraged by the child, and ordered to beat him a hundred times in the court hall until his flesh was bloody, and he was exiled to Changzhou, where he would never stand up again. (The empress dowager ordered one hundred of the court staff, Changliu Cangzhou.) The empress dowager and emperor Wu Zetian once comforted Liu Rengui who was in Chang'an, Xijing, and hoped that he could rest assured that Luoyang would never kill loyal ministers.

Of course Liu Rengui didn't believe it. On this day, a general named Jiang Sizong went from Luoyang to Chang'an. He was mainly in charge of going to Chang'an. Liu Rengui saw him. "Pei Yan is dead." Liu Rengui snorted, "What happened to him?" "rebellion." "Oh……" Jiang Sizong glanced at Liu Rengui, and suddenly there was a prophetic look in his eyes. He boasted, "Sizong has already noticed that Pei Yan is abnormal!" Liu Rengui agreed, and asked, "You really saw it a long time ago?" "Ok!" Jiang Sizong nodded firmly.

Liu Rengui patted him on the shoulder appreciatively, turned around, wrote a secret letter, and finally handed it to Jiang Sizong, "Rengui has something to play, and I just took advantage of the envoy's convenience to hand it over to the Queen Mother." Jiang Sizong called Liu Rengui politely, and suddenly felt His image has grown a lot.He hastily accepted the secret letter, guessing that this letter must be Liu Rengui's opinion of Pei Yan, and by the way, his affirmation of his ability to perceive in advance. Jiang Sizong was satisfied with his cool head, got on his horse and left.

A few days later, the letter arrived in the hands of the Queen Mother.There is a line in the full text of the table: "Sizong knew that Pei Yan would not speak. (Jiang Sizong knew that Pei Yan would oppose but did not say.)" At this time, Jiang Sizong was waiting for the Queen Mother to give him a look of approval, but Wu Zetian's expression changed drastically. Sternly, people dragged him out and hanged him in Duting. A few days later, Empress Wu Zetian ordered Li Jingye's ancestral kaoguan to be chased down, his grave was dug and his coffin was smashed, and his surname was restored to Xu. Li Ji worked hard to abide by his duties, humbly and forbearance, but in the end he was ruined. Liu Rengui could do nothing about this matter, he only saw Empress Wu vigorously suppressing dissidents, but he didn't see her abdicating power.He can't control it anymore, and he can't control it anymore.Three months later, Liu Rengui passed away. This hero who knew current affairs and the prime minister who made outstanding contributions to the first Sino-Japanese war died.Wu Zetian missed this court meritorious minister and stopped court for him for three days. Pei Yan's business is not over yet.Shan Yudao's appeasement ambassador, Zuo Wuwei General Cheng Wuting, the most feared frontier of the Turks.He had a good relationship with King Luo Bin and was very close to Pei Yan, so Pei Yan was imprisoned, and he wrote a letter to make a generous statement for Pei Yan. Empress Wu was furious and sent Luo Zhicheng Wu to plead the charge. In the twelfth lunar month of the first year of Guangzhai (AD 685), General Zuo Yingyang Pei Shaoye followed Wu Zetian's arrangement and found Cheng Wuting who was on duty. He couldn't help but dragged him out of the barracks and beheaded him.Wu Zetian decreed that he was not from Cheng Wuting's family and was charged with conspiracy.In those days, the Turkic people regarded Cheng Wuting as the god of war, and even built a temple for him. Every time before going out as a teacher, they must pray in front of the statue of Cheng Wuting. The Turks held a banquet to celebrate Cheng Wuting's death. Cheng Wuting died, and everyone was very happy. However, the Turkic people still couldn't be too happy, because the governor of Xiazhou, Wang Fangyi, was not dead yet, and this unpredictable general and strategist made them suffer a lot.Everyone bowed in the direction of Luoyang, and asked Wu Zetian to be extra merciful, and destroyed Wang Fangyi for the Turks.Wu Zetian nodded in agreement (she wanted to kill Wang Fangyi at first), and made Wang Fangyi guilty (because Wang Fangyi had worked with Cheng Wuting and was the younger brother of Queen Wang). State (Hainan Island). Turks and Tubo held a celebration banquet together, laughed and clapped their hands together. On February 13th, the first year of Chuigong (686 A.D.), the Empress Dowager ordered that Dengwen drums and lung stones placed in the court hall should not be guarded. (The grievance drums and lung stones placed in the court do not need to be guarded, and those who beat the drums and grievances will be accepted by the censor.) In March, Cui Cha, a doctor of Zhengjian and Tongping Zhangshi, was dismissed; a few days later, Wu Chengsi was dismissed; at the end of the month, the Queen Mother promulgated "Chui Gong Ge". On the seventh day of April, Jian Weiwei was demoted to Qingzhou governor, and Liu Yizhi was promoted to Taizhong doctor.The queen mother said: "You can't blame the monarch for evil deeds, and shoulder the responsibility for good deeds yourself. After all, the monarch and his ministers are one body!" On the tenth day of May, Su Liangsi, Dongguan Shangshu (the original Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry) was accepted. (Su Liangsi, the eldest son of Su Shichang, is known for his uprightness and courage to speak out.) On May 23rd, it is custom-made. Officials above the ninth rank or ordinary people can recommend themselves. In June, Wei Daigui (son-in-law of Li Daozong, Confucian general) was appointed as the third grade of Luantai in Tongfeng Pavilion by Tianguan Shangshu (Official Ministry Shangshu). On July 11th, Wei Xuantong, Zuo Cheng of Wenchang, was appointed as the servant of Luantai, and the third grade of Tongfengge Luantai; an imperial edict was issued to worship heaven and earth, and Tang Gaozu, Tang Taizong, and Tang Gaozong were seated together; the suggestion of Fengge Sheren Yuan Wanqing and others was adopted. ... In November, Guangna wrote a letter to seek good strategies for governing the country. (On how to "adjust vitality") Wu Zetian's change made everyone dumbfounded. Is this Queen Mother sitting on the court hall the previous murderous demon?How can a person's change be so sudden, and how can it be so unpredictable?Wu Zetian didn't seem to care about other people's opinions, she asked everyone to write a memorial, an article written by a young scholar of twenty-six years old, which caught the attention of the queen mother.The paper is full of loyal words, with awe-inspiring righteousness, brilliant writing, and sharp viewpoints.The Queen Mother slowly nodded approvingly, and she looked at the final signature again: The orthographic character of Lintai is Shehong——Chen Ziang. Chen Zi'ang, courtesy name Boyu, was born in Shehong, Zizhou (now Shehong, Sichuan). His Taizu, Gaozu, and Sixth Patriarch are all famous people in the world.When it came to his father, Chen Yuanjing, the family was still very rich. In the year of the famine, Chen Yuanjing bought ten thousand shi of corn with his own money, and gave relief to the village, and his reputation spread all over the world.As an excellent rich second generation, Chen Ziang especially doesn't like to rely on the glory of his ancestors to do things, so he practices martial arts.Because I hate studying, I know how to play every day. I didn't learn well, but I practiced martial arts well. He is kind and charitable, chivalrous and courageous, known as Ren Xia. At the age of eighteen, Chen Ziang still calmly declared that he would not study.But one day, while fighting cock and dog with a few friends, Chen Ziang suddenly got tired of playing. He said, I'm tired, I want to change myself.So, he entered the township school (local school), studied hard for six years, and in one fell swoop, he was admitted to the Jinshi of the Mingjing Department, leaving behind the people who played with him. Under the astonished eyes of everyone, Chen Zi swaggered into his official career. Before and after Tang Gaozong's death, there was a severe drought in Guanzhong, and Wen Linlang Chen Ziang wrote a letter.His unconscious actions won the sympathy of the Queen Mother, "There is a severe drought in Guanzhong, and the people can't live. The first emperor is kind, so he must not suffer the people. Then bury the coffin in Luoyang." Wu Zetian was very happy and summoned this appearance in the Jinhua Palace. A young hero who is elegant but still wild (Zi Ang looks soft and wild, less dignified). Pei Yan: I lack fire in the five elements, so the single name is "Yan", what about you? Li Dan: ...