Chapter 4 fourth quarter

A few days later, my mother arranged the marriage of Princess Yiyang and Princess Xuancheng. The sons-in-law she chose for the two princesses were two low-class soldiers of the imperial army. Princess Yiyang married Quan Yi, and Princess Xuancheng married Wang Suigu.The marriage of the two princesses became a joke in the government and the public at that time. The names of Quan Yi and Wang Suigu became a symbol of picking up gold on the road, and my two half-sisters went away with their husbands in the wild. It is impossible to speculate whether they are a blessing or a curse. Unpredictable is my mother. At that time, the world had already called her a queen, and people gave her mixed praise and criticism. Do I know my mother better than others?I don't know, sometimes I think her heart is a bottomless abyss.Half of my life is in my hands, and the other half is slowly falling in that chasm.Some unofficial biographies make my death so mysterious. In fact, poisoning and murder are the most common political methods used by all courts.I said that in the second year of Shangyuan, I found some omens. There were yellow and white chrysanthemums growing on the wall and open space of the East Palace for no reason. Not a good thing for me, maybe a bad omen.I think it's not a joke, it's my measure and grasp of my own life, which is of course unreasonable to Concubine Pei.

I was wondering if I had a chance to escape the night banquet in Hebi Palace, if I was in Chang’an instead of Luoyang on April 13th, if I had bid farewell to my mother’s night banquet after seeing the birdcage fall to the ground, would I have survived? go down?How long can I live?Concubine Pei knew that I was not interested in enjoying the delicacies that flowed like water at the banquet, but I never disobeyed the Queen Mother's wishes in the details. A eunuch hurriedly picked up the birdcage, I looked at the bird in the cage, why did you fall down?The eunuch said on the side, it may be the wind, or the hook may be broken.I thought about the birdcage and boarded the chariot to Hebi Palace.

Sitting at the banquet in the Hebi Palace were my father, my mother, and several court dignitaries who were flattered. I sat on the left side of my father, greeting those officials and accepting their congratulations on my recovery. On such occasions, I always It was a lack of appetite and a calm heart. I noticed that the mother at the banquet in the Hebi Palace, her graceful and luxurious costumes and quick and appropriate conversation made her glow with eternal brilliance. I just drank two glasses of light wine and ate a few slices of venison. I thought the problem must be with those two glasses of light wine. The dove poison might have soaked my glass.It is a well-known historical record that I uttered a terrible cry over tea after dinner, which is exactly the kind of cry that a poisoner waits for.

I did not walk out of the beautiful and chilling Hebi Palace. I want to tell my father, my younger brother Xian, Zhe, Xulun and my younger sister Princess Taiping, what made my face so desperate and so painful at the moment of dying, I saw that hand of my mother, that hand Wipe away the remnants of dove poison on Tianhou Phoenix Crown, and tell them that I saw my mother's hand. Tell them to trust an unfortunate undead, be careful of the Empress, be careful of her mother, and be careful of her poisonous hands. Zhaoyi Wuzhao The maids knew that the hat Wu Zhaoyi wore when she returned to the palace was given by the Queen. Concubine Xiao Shu relied on her arrogance and domineering arrogance, but the affairs of the palace were turbulent and changeable. Just as the ladies of the palace expected, that woman from the nunnery was by no means an idle person, and she would not be willing to be a pawn of the king and queen.Gaozong's infatuation with Wu Zhaoyi made the palace people's private conversations more interesting. Wu Zhaoyi wearing a hat really has a beautiful demeanor. Supervisor, Wu Zhaoyi's smile is also bright and friendly. Many court ladies have unexpectedly received a small gift from Wu Zhaoyi, a piece of silk or a stack of books, and what Wu Zhaoyi presented to the queen was a carefully crafted sachet. One side of the sachet is embroidered with the pattern of dragon and phoenix, and the other side is embroidered with the four golden characters of longevity and boundlessness.A court lady saw Wang and Empress looking lonely when she was storing the sachet. She held Wu Zhaoyi's hand and praised, what a dexterous hand, what a beautiful hand, and the embroidered dragon and phoenix can fly and dance.Wu Zhaoyi said shyly, I am used to leisure in the nunnery, and doing some female celebrities to pass the time, good or bad is all my respect for the queen.

This phoenix embroidery is alive, Queen Wang caressed the sachet, then her eyes moved to Wu Zhaoyi, staring at it for a long time, suddenly Queen Wang smiled shyly, she was afraid that it would fly away, die, and be driven away up. The court ladies saw Wu Zhaoyi's face suddenly change color, and Wu Zhaoyi knelt down and cried. If this sachet makes the queen feel sad, it will be my death penalty.If the phoenix on the sachet made the queen say such a bad word, I should cut off these five fingers by the roots.It happened when Wu Zhaoyi first returned to the palace. Once upon a time, the queen and queen regarded Wu Zhaoyi as a close friend behind the curtain. They worked together to alienate Gaozong's doting on Concubine Xiao Shu. Gaozong became increasingly indifferent to the beautiful and eloquent Concubine Xiao Shu. We heard Concubine Xiao Shu scolding Wu Zhaoyi in front of the prince Sujie, instead of going to the nunnery to save the heroic spirit of the late emperor, she ran back to the palace to be so exquisite?Concubine Xiao Shu said to Su Jie, her son-in-law, Su Jie, remember that Wu Zhaoyi is a harmful demon, please don't pay attention to that harmful demon.

The imperial physicians discovered that Wu Zhaoyi had been conceived before returning to the palace. Half a year later, Wu Zhaoyi gave birth to Emperor Gaozong's fifth son safely. Tired and satisfied, Zhaoyi's mother, who was waiting beside the delivery bed, burst into tears with ecstasy.The imperial doctors saw Wu Zhaoyi's hand gliding gracefully in the air, slowly holding mother Yang's hand.Take care of the prince for me, Wu Zhaoyi said to her mother, don't let outsiders approach him casually.The newborn baby boy was named Hong by Emperor Gaozong.The concubines talked about Wu Zhaoyi and her baby boy and her unique relationship with the emperor when they chatted over tea in the afternoon. They thought that no one in the harem would be luckier than Wu Zhaoyi.Queen Wang never gave birth, and the concubine Prince Zhong was only her adopted son.Everyone in the palace knew that Prince Zhong's biological mother, Liu Shi, was the maidservant who guarded the fire in the dining room of the East Palace. The clever and pungent Concubine Xiao Shu had been pestering Gaozong for many years to change Li Sujie to be the prince. , but anyone can understand this as Concubine Xiao Shu's covetousness for the queen, and the mother of the prince will eventually be the queen. This is self-evident.I don't know when it started, the struggle between one empress and one concubine died down, and the maids found that the empress and concubine Shu who were strangers to each other suddenly came and went frequently as guests, and the empress no longer walked hand in hand with Wu Zhaoyi in the back garden. Sensitive The ladies of the court realized that the battle of the harem had turned into twists and turns, and the original concubine and concubine teaming up had evolved into a rare pattern of empress and concubine against concubine.Everyone knows that Empress Wang and Concubine Xiao Shu now have a common goal, which is Gaozong's new favorite Wu Zhaoyi.

The empress and concubine Shu's slander of Wu Zhaoyi in front of Emperor Gaozong finally spread back to Wu Zhaoyi's ears. Zong himself.Emperor Gaozong spoke of empresses and concubines with disgust. He said, "I hate talkative tell-tale women. They remind me of hens scrambling for food bowls."Wu Zhaoyi asked, does Your Majesty think I am a hen fighting for food?Emperor Gaozong shook his head and said, no, according to my opinion, the two years of the nunnery taught you the way of women, and also let you understand the secret of making the emperor submit.Wu Zhaoyi smiled sadly, her hands gently kneaded the emperor's shoulders, what did I do?In fact, I didn't do anything. Empress Concubine Shu doesn't need to vent her anger on me. I just think about how to make His Majesty happy and healthy every day. I just gave His Majesty an extra son.Gaozong always stood by Wu Zhaoyi's side in the triangular battle between empress, concubine, and concubine. The palace people speculated that the reason was that Gaozong might have somewhat apologized to Wu Zhaoyi for her two-year nunnery career. It is no surprise to the gentle and kind-hearted Gaozong, but more people praised Wu Zhaoyi's appearance and knowledge, and they had a premonition that an extraordinary woman would be born in the Taiji Palace.The baby girl Princess Si died in the cradle on a spring day. The cause of her death was complicated and confusing, which also intensified the war of pink in the harem.Wu Zhaoyi's mother, Yang Shi, found that her daughter did not like her baby girl, who could not bring glory and hope to her mother like Prince Hong. Yang Shi understood her daughter's heart of favoring one another, but Yang doubted the dead baby that she accidentally saw that day The inside story is a nightmare, and Yang would rather believe that it is a nightmare than believe her own eyes.Queen Wang came to visit the newborn little princess. Queen Wang was always full of sadness but forced to smile. It was part of her daily life to visit the princes and princesses born to concubines. On that day, Wu Zhaoyi said that she was still ill. Went to the cradle to pick up the baby girl and teased her. The baby girl probably didn't like being caressed by strangers. She kept humming and crying. Yang Shi saw Queen Wang frowning from behind the screen and finally put down the baby girl. Twisting the baby girl's cheek, not knowing good and bad, Queen Wang scolded in a low voice and walked out angrily. Yang Shi saw a piece of her silk handkerchief slipping from her sleeve to the ground.

Then the secret door leading to Wu Zhaoyi's bedroom was gently opened, and Yang saw her daughter Mei Niang appearing flushed beside the princess's cradle. Bending down to pick up the silk handkerchief that the queen had left behind, she saw her strangle the silk handkerchief around the baby girl's throat in a sleepwalking gesture.Yang, who had experienced vicissitudes, swallowed her horrified voice. She suspected that her daughter was in a dream or she was in a dream, but the scene of her mother's infanticide made Yang faint behind the screen. After waking up, she heard her daughter Mei Niang's shrill and frantic cries, and heard the footsteps of the servants running around in panic. Some people said, how could it be, only the queen came to see the little princess just now.

Mother Yang kept silent except for crying with her daughter. She knew that this was a blow that her daughter spared no expense on the queen, but she was surprised that her daughter took such a horrible way of cutting flesh and throwing enemies.The frightened old woman recalled Yuan Tiangang's prophecy many years ago again in a trance. Is the prophecy beginning to show in her daughter Mei Niang?Almost all the palace people concluded that it was the Queen who strangled Wu Zhaoyi's baby girl.Gaozong also made a similar judgment. He looked at Wu Zhaoyi, who was sick and distraught on the embroidered couch, and his heart was full of love and affection, and his hatred for the queen was now fueled. Running to the queen's bedroom, Long Yan was furious, and he was very harsh on the queen's questioning.The maids around the queen saw the queen pleading for herself in tears, and finally threw herself into the arms of her mother Liu Shi because of excessive grief. The queen cried and said, I brought the fox into the palace, and I messed with myself. With all the coquettishness, I fell into Wu Zhao's trap.

The palace people saw that Gaozong finally threw a silk handkerchief at the feet of the queen and walked away. They were sensitively aware that the queen was in a dangerous situation.From then on, the East Palace was not in the spring, and the queen who fell out of favor lost her dignity again. She spent all day on the sickbed cursing the pink powder and the water to praise Si Daji. Someone in the East Palace secretly reported to Wu Zhaoyi about the empress' accusations. Those few palace people may be the first to predict the disturbance after the abolition And the wise man of Donggong Xinhou.Changsun Wuji and other important court officials discovered that Gaozong's desire to abolish the empress had become more and more urgent like an invisible spinning top.Whenever Gaozong talked about his thoughts of abolishing the empress in front of Changsun Wuji, Wu Zhaoyi's eyes fluttered in front of Changsun Wuji's eyes. The widow's derogatory remarks and a hint of caution, when Gaozong praised Wu Zhaoyi's virtues and talents to Wuji, Changsun Wuji noncommittally recalled the late emperor Taizong's death care. The palace has always abided by women's etiquette, why did His Majesty put the Queen into a serious crime?Emperor Gaozong said that the queen killed Zhaoyi's baby girl. Changsun Wuji said with a light smile that the matter of the harem skirt hairpin has always been a deep pool of deep water, and the depth of the water is unfathomable. After all, there is no real evidence for the queen's infanticide.Gao Zong's face was sullen, and he changed the conversation to talk about the floods in Hengzhou, Puzhou and Hebei since the summer, implying that the fate of the queen and queen brought disaster to the country.Changsun Wuji was amazed by the emperor's strange talk, he suspected that it was a pillow noise from Wu Zhaoyi's mouth.Changsun Wuji thought sadly that the heart of the Son of Heaven is as fickle as the clouds and sky in August, and the loyal words and advice of ministers and ministers are often inferior to the pillow noise of the pink lady.One day, the eldest grandson Wuji met Wu Zhaoyi on the grass of the imperial garden. Zhaoyi was playing with the three-year-old prince Hong Tiaozi. The eldest grandson Wuji noticed that Zhaoyi, who had lost her daughter not long ago, was pregnant again.Her pampered look is like an unstoppable spring, three points charming and seven points arrogant.The palace ceremony was in a hurry, and Changsun Wuji could not forget the dark and resentful gaze Wu Zhaoyi cast on him. In the following years, that gaze became a huge shadow on his crown of white hair.

A few days later, Changsun Wuji unexpectedly picked up the emperor at home. Gaozong brought Wu Zhaoyi and ten chariots of rich gifts to Changsun's mansion suddenly, and his intentions were clearly revealed.Changsun Wuji, while entertaining the emperor graciously, observed Wu Zhaoyi's words and deeds with cold eyes. He had to admit that this woman had developed some extraordinary skills in the palace for twenty years. Her smile, conversation and silence were all like exquisite Musician, she is a natural lotus flower beside Gaozong.It is said that Emperor Gaozong clearly told Changsun Wuji at the banquet at the grandson's house that he would depose the queen and make Wu Zhaoyi his queen, and the king of Changsun Wuji talked about him.But Wu Zhaoyi told Wuji with a smile before leaving that she had been ordered to compile "Nvrui", just like the Empress Changsun in Taizong's era compiled "Nvxue".Wuji understood the mysterious smile on Wu Zhaoyi's lips.He knew that everything was irreparable.Miracles in the palace are all knots, and Wu Zhaoyi's "Women's Rules" is a knot. When Emperor Gaozong talked to his courtiers one day that he wanted to set up another concubine on top of the four concubines noble, shu, virtuous, and virtuous, the courtiers They knew that it was not the emperor's whim, and they saw how Wu Zhaoyi's slender hands weaved these chain knots deftly.Changsun Wuji and his allies Zhong Han Yuan and Zhongshu Ling Laiji worked together to dissuade Gaozong's plan, but Changsun Wuji could not dissuade Wu Zhaoyi's hand. No one knew that Wu Zhaoyi's chain knot was accurate. Unmistakably caught the phoenix crown of Queen Wang.Perhaps it was the Queen herself who had bumped into a sharp, hot sword.The imperial family of the Tang Dynasty always hated the evil cult and witchcraft, so why did the queen and the queen go to secretly summon the witches to the palace to practice the magic that hates victory?Did Wang and Empress not realize the danger posed by this?The maid next to her later said that the queen had long been in a claustrophobic state of immortality, and only the dance of the witches and the incantation of the soul could make her face return to rosy, and it was her mother Liu who secretly and fanatically Let's talk about those techniques that are tired of winning.Wu Zhaoyi knew everything about the queen's palace well. One day she worriedly reported to Gaozong the news that the queen and her mother Liu were indulging in witchcraft. Gaozong was furious and sent several eunuchs to the queen's palace. Searching for evidence, the eunuchs found what they needed in a dark hall, white porcelain censer, clear water, rice wine, livestock skeletons, and more importantly, a paulownia figure full of iron nails.The eunuchs saw four words written in black paint on the Tongmu man: Zhaoyi Wuzhao.It is said that Queen Wang struggled to get up from the sick bed, slapped the leading eunuch on the face, and then passed out on the ground, while the Queen's mother, Liu Shi, scratched her face in anger, and she smeared the blood on the face. On the yellow robes of the eunuchs, they shouted, take this back and pay Wu Zhaoyi for a reward. Emperor Gaozong left room for the empress's punishment at first. He ordered the empress's mother, Mrs. Liu of Wei Guo, to be expelled from the palace. At first, he changed his post to Minister of the Ministry of Officials, and then was demoted by the empress to be the governor of Suizhou. Liu left Beijing to go to Suizhou. In the privacy of the palace, the angry Emperor Gaozong ordered Liu to turn around and relegate him to the more distant and desolate Rongzhou. Liu's sad journey was also a topic of discussion among courtiers and officials. Many people heard from it that the beauty of the harem was eclipsed, and only Wu Zhaoyi stood out. His fingers disturbed Gaozong's heartstrings.People are now waiting to see if Zhaoyi's hands can remove those thorns in their eyes one by one, such as the eldest grandson Wuji, the veteran minister Chu Suiliang of the Three Dynasties, and the servant Han Yuan and the new Zhongshu Ling Laiji, those who are called the Wuji sect The court forces, they are working together to resist Gaozong's plan to replace the queen, because they generally sympathize with the queen and regard Wu Zhaoyi as a troublesome woman around the emperor.The political opponents of Changsun Wuji found a breakthrough in the replacement of queens. Xu Jingzong, Li Yifu and others repeatedly petitioned the emperor to depose the old queen and make Wu Zhaoyi the queen. That was a bargaining chip in court factional disputes.Therefore, some people say that Wu Zhaoyi's dream of becoming a queen has also come true because of the favorable time, place and people, and it can also be said that it benefited from the strife and factional disputes among the court dignitaries.Concubine Xiao Shu went to the queen's palace to visit the queen who was under confinement one day, and the two sad people hugged each other and cried.Concubine Xiao Shu gritted her teeth when talking about Wu Zhaoyi, tears and anger alternately appeared in her eyes.She said to the queen, how can you let that lowly maidservant and slut look beautiful in all directions in the palace?I want to fight her to the death. But Concubine Xiao Shu's fighting method is undoubtedly clumsy and irrational.Concubine Xiao Shu sent her servant Zhu Er to bring a bowl of bird's nest soup to Wu Zhaoyi. When Wu Zhaoyi took the bird's nest, her expression changed. She examined Zhu Er's expression with a smirk. , I rewarded you with this bowl of bird's nest, Zhu'er really thanked you and stepped aside to drink the whole bowl of bird's nest.The maids watched helplessly as Zhu'er screamed and collapsed on the flower bed within ten steps, with a pool of black blood spurting out of her mouth.Standing on the steps, Wu Zhaoyi witnessed the whole process of Zhuer taking poison and dying. Her expression seemed as calm as water. An eunuch came to ask how to deal with Zhuer who was poisoned.Send her back to Concubine Xiao Shu.Someone hurriedly carried Pearl away.Wu Zhaoyi let out a faint sigh at this time, she said to the surrounding palace people, Zhu'er is stupid enough, pitiful enough, what kind of master orders what kind of slaves, this is absolutely true. That day, a wind blew from the foot of Zhongnan Mountain, disturbing the flowers in the garden and the wreaths under the eaves. In the wind, Wu Zhaoyi's skirt was fluttering, her eyes were far and wide, and she was playing with the red sandalwood ball in her hand as always. .Zhaoyi's mother, Yang Shi, stared at her daughter for a long time from behind the window, and saw that the bits and pieces on the red sandalwood ball were like dreams and dreams of the past and new dreams.Yang was in tears, she saw the dazzling light of the Taibai Venus passing over the Taiji Palace again, and she saw that her daughter was playing with that mysterious constellation. Gaozong's decree to abolish the empress caused an uproar inside and outside the court. The imperial decree said that the empress and concubine Xiao Shu violated women's morality and women's training, conspired to poison people with doves, and abolished them as ordinary people.The imperial decree also stated that the empress, her mother and brothers will all be expelled from the list and exiled to Lingnan.The eldest grandson Wuji and Chu Suiliang rushed to the queen's palace that day. The queen had already left according to the order, leaving behind scattered sundries and papers everywhere. The palace people hurriedly packed up the boxes and prepared to go their separate ways. The wails lingered in Liang, and he could only be relatively speechless.While the two old ministers shed tears of sympathy for the queen, they were also deeply hurt by a grim reality. From then on, the person who manipulated the emperor would no longer be them but an unpredictable woman. When the two old ministers stepped out of the Queen's Palace, they walked heavily and looked sad. Chu Suiliang thought of the strong smell of gunpowder in the war after the abolition, and couldn't help stroking his beards and sighing.The eldest grandson Wuji has been looking up at the sky of Taiji Palace, the clouds are floating in the sky, the old Wuji stretched out his left and right palms in the air, as if to support something, since ancient times, the disaster of pink powder is the stone that pierces the sky, Wuji sighed Three voices said, the sky of the Tang Dynasty worries me now.This autumn of the imperial palace belongs to Wu Zhaoyi. After she will eventually become a country, the remonstrance of the Wuji faction is like flies in front of Gaozong. Guanjue, it is said that another highly respected old minister, Sikong Li Shi, played a decisive role in the success of Wu Zhao. Li Shi jumped on the boat with great ease. The ministers left and right.It is said that Gao Zong Mao suddenly realized, and Wu Zhaoyi behind the curtain also shed tears of gratitude.The legends in the palace cannot be authenticated, but what can be authenticated is the edict of the emperor, which proves that the autumn of the sixth year of Yonghui really belonged to Zhaoyi Wuzhao.The Wu family followed Xunyong...only in the past can he be selected into the back court...Deguang Lanye.I am in Chu Er, Tehe is kind, and Changde's attendant... In the palace pot, I always bow to myself, and I never disobeyed my eyes among my concubines.The holy love is learned, and every time I admire and sigh, I bestow it on me with the Wu family, and serve as the same government.Can be made queen.In the morning of November 1, the sixth year of Yonghui, the frost was falling. Wu Zhao, the daughter of the former governor of Jingzhou warrior, got up at four o'clock to bathe and make up for the grand ceremony. After a night of chaotic dreams, now there is no trace of dreams. Wu Zhao vaguely remembers that she was in a dream She had seen the soul of her deceased father, and seen the soul of her deceased father hidden in the red sandalwood ball beside her pillow. She remembered that the red sandalwood ball would recite in her dreams, and the prophecy and aphorisms she recited were exactly Yuan Tiangang's words written twenty-eight years ago. prophecy.