Chapter 36 Section VI

On the twentieth day after the amputation, Pei Xuanjing was summoned by the emperor, left the cell, and stood in broad daylight again. Early in the morning, a servant girl came to help her wash and change her clothes.Except in the Xingqing Palace, Pei Xuanjing had never encountered such an elderly palace maid with silver hair. She was very skillful in serving people, silently helping Pei Xuanjing clean up.Finally, the old palace maid raised a bronze mirror and asked Pei Xuanjing to take a picture of herself. Heh, is the woman in the mirror still her?Pei Xuanjing looked at the face in the bronze mirror with strange eyes.After the wound healed, there was almost no change in the contours of the facial features.The newly put on snow-white Taoist robe made her face more crystal clear and flawless, and those bright eyes that had always impressed people became deeper and deeper, like two pitch-black pearls in the dim bronze mirror.

"My lady is so pretty." The old Gong'e didn't say the first sentence until this time. Pei Xuanjing glanced at her in surprise.The old palace maid lowered her head again. Walking out the door, I saw the lonely altar on the large open space in front of me.Pei Xuanjing had already been to Chang'an's three major colleges. She was used to the splendor and splendor, but she was also saddened by the dilapidation.However, this large piece of desolation with no grass growing in front of him is unique among the three imperial palaces. If it weren't for the several Shence soldiers still standing in front of the altar, it would be impossible to believe that this place belongs to the imperial palace.In fact, the dungeon under the Jitiantai is already empty, and there is no need for guards at all.Those Shence troops were specially in charge of Pei Xuanjing.

After being tortured, Pei Xuanjing was sent to the Taiji Palace and imprisoned in the house of the remaining low-class servants next to the Sanqing Palace.Except for the guards of the Shence Army who watched from afar, there was only one prisoner, Pei Xuanjing, in this narrow strip in the west corner of Tai Chi Palace. Obviously, the emperor didn't want anyone to see Pei Xuanjing again, so he made this arrangement. She felt very at ease. Pei Xuanjing got into the carriage, raised the curtain, and saw the old palace maid hunched over and headed south. To the south is Yeting Palace. The Yeting Palace is filled with the lowest rank of maidservants, many of them are the wives of offenders, and there are also maidservants who made mistakes and were punished, and even concubines who were thrown into the cold palace.Not entering the Yeting Palace means being a slave for life. Few people can come out of the Yeting Palace, and the Yeting Palace is their final destination in life.Therefore, Shangguan Wan'er, who broke the convention, was called a leader among the people.

Pei Xuanjing stared at the back of the old palace maid—why didn't she enter the court?What was the reason that she was selected from Yeting Palace to dress up Pei Xuanjing?Also, why did she say that? Pei Xuanjing's thoughts were interrupted by the spring breeze blowing on her face.After not going out for nearly a month, the world has changed.The warm wind was warm, poplar flowers and catkins danced in the air, making her nose itchy slightly. spring is coming. Only the Hall of Qingsi remained in the severe winter.The aroma of ambergris blends with the cold air emitted by the ice cubes, the fragrant one is more fragrant, and the cold one is colder.

Pei Xuanjing knelt down in the hall, and after a long time, he heard the emperor say: "Song Ruozhao's body has been found, and it's in the Taiye Pond." She looks up.As if meeting for the first time, they all looked at each other with new eyes.Pei Xuanjing could hardly recognize the emperor anymore. We haven't seen each other for twenty days, the emperor is ten years old, and the frost on the big jade plate in Khotan seems to have condensed on his temples.What shocked Pei Xuanjing especially was that his demeanor changed.In Pei Xuanjing's impression, the emperor was the most arrogant person she had ever met.This is not surprising at all, because he is the Son of Heaven, so he can look down on the world.But when Pei Xuanjing met the emperor for the first time, he saw a kind of courage and determination to be the first in the world from his arrogance.His arrogance is aggressive, and it is the great ambition of those who have the country in mind.It was this particular arrogance that made the emperor look rather young.

He is really not like a conservative monarch, but more like a warrior who expands his territory.What he did also proved that this is an emperor who never stops "fighting the country".How could such an emperor be old?Even if you die, you can only die on the battlefield. When seeing "Mr. Li" for the first time in Jia Chang's small courtyard, Pei Xuanjing sighed at his arrogance and vigor.Since then, Pei Xuanjing has always held conflicting feelings towards the emperor.She hated him for treating people in the world as worthless and ruthless without mercy, but she also admired him for his persistence in his mission.It was this conflicting emotion that led to her contradictory behavior in the face of his lust.She resisted him but obeyed him because she respected him and hated him at the same time.

Today, the moment Pei Xuanjing stepped into the Qingsi Hall, even the moment she heard him say "Song Ruozhao died in Taiye Pond", she firmly believed that this contradiction no longer existed.For the emperor, now she only has hatred in her heart, nothing else. But no, why did the emperor become like this?What about his arrogance?What about his toughness?What about his tenacity? Pei Xuanjing was horrified to find that when the emperor lost his fighting spirit, he seemed to have lost the foundation of his life.The things that made her both hate and respect disappeared at the same time, and now sitting on the imperial couch is almost an old man.When seeing the emperor for the first time, Pei Xuanjing couldn't believe that he was forty years old; when seeing the emperor today, Pei Xuanjing couldn't believe that he was not yet forty-five.

What happened? Didn't he have everything under control and eliminated the last threat? The emperor said: "I have something that I want to show you." Behind the mica screen, the emperor opened the golden chamber and signaled Pei Xuanjing to come forward. On the top is the second image of "Tui Bei Tu". Pei Xuanjing's eyes stopped on the seven-character poem, the two red characters were particularly distinct and could not be ignored. "See clearly?" Pei Xuanjing nodded. "Song Ruozhao showed you the whole "Tui Bei Tu"?" Pei Xuanjing nodded again.

"Then do you know what the second image indicates?" Pei Xuanjing looked at the emperor. There was a wry smile on his lips: "Ever since "Tui Bei Tu" was written, the content predicted by the second image has been unspeakable, because it represents the Tang Dynasty's Guozuo. No one dares to interpret it The second image, and no emperor dared to let people interpret it, even Emperor Taizong himself. In fact, its implication is self-evident. From the first day I ascended the throne, the second image of "Tui Bei Tu" is The source of my confidence." He asked Pei Xuanjing, "Do you still remember how the second elephant's prophecy poem was originally written?"

Pei Xuanjing remembered. But the emperor didn't wait for her response. Although he was speaking to Pei Xuanjing, he was actually talking to himself: "The original prophecy is written like this: 'The carp in the river has three or six sons, and there are many sources and springs. There are two or nine children and grandchildren, and there is one less generation in three hundred years.' It is too easy to interpret this poem. What is more important is that the throne has been passed down from generation to generation among the descendants of the Li family, maybe twenty-nine generations, maybe eighteen generations. As for "one period less than three hundred years", it is better to explain. Three hundred years refers to the generals of the Tang Dynasty There is a country that lasts for three hundred years, and one less century may mean one year less than three hundred years, or it may be one month less, one day less, or one hour less..." He stopped, pondered for a moment, and then said , "I don't know other people's opinions, but I have always explained the second image of "Tui Bei Tu" in this way, and I firmly believe in it!"

Pei Xuanjing understood: why the emperor said that the second image of "Tui Bei Tu" gave him confidence.Because according to his interpretation, Datang Guozuo is nearly three hundred years old.Whether it is one year less than three hundred years, or one month less, or one day less, Datang will have at least one hundred years of Guozuo from now on!The inheritance of the throne in the third sentence of the prophecy also supports this speculation.From the beginning of Emperor Gaozu to the present, if the Empress Zetian of Wu Zhou is not counted, then the current emperor happens to be the eleventh monarch of the Tang Dynasty.Regardless of whether the throne of the Tang Dynasty will be passed down to twenty-nine or eighteen generations, it is still in its infancy. When everyone thought that the Tang Dynasty was already in turmoil, the emperor almost held up the entire country with his own strength, precisely because he had the firmest belief: the day when the Tang Dynasty fell apart was still far away!And his own position in the sequence of emperors also happens to be in the middle, bearing the heavy responsibility of a turning point. If counting from now on, Datang still has no less than a hundred years of Guozuo, then all the emperor's efforts are meaningful.Because he is bringing an empire out of the abyss and back to the top.The situation of continuous decline started from the Anshi Rebellion can be reversed in his hands. Only in this way can Datang be reborn from the ashes and last for another hundred years! "But it has changed!" The emperor pointed to the second elephant in the golden chamber and said hoarsely. Yes, the prophecy has changed.From twenty-nine people to twenty-five people, from three hundred years to two hundred years! too terrifying.Pei Xuanjing completely understood the emperor's despair.Twenty-five people can be interpreted as twenty-five emperors, but what if it is interpreted as ten generations of inheritance?And three hundred years turned into two hundred years, it is more straightforward and persecuted too much.The current prophecy poems are equivalent to saying: The Tang Dynasty will perish, and it will perish in the present! "You and Song Ruozhao investigated the vision of Lingyan Pavilion together. She said that everything was the power of ghosts and gods, including the changed characters in "Tui Bei Tu". Do you think so? Do you?!" The emperor's question was still like He was as aggressive as before, but Pei Xuanjing clearly felt his panic and weakness. She looked straight at him. The emperor was still muttering to himself: "Song Ruozhao is dead, and a sword pierced through her chest, just like the carp in the second image... How could she die like that? Could it be the power of ghosts and gods?" He stared Looking at Pei Xuanjing, "If the vision of Lingyan Pavilion is really entrusted by ghosts and gods, it is for people to discover the change of the thirty-third phenomenon. Then, Song Ruozhao died like a carp in the second phenomenon, and it is also to make me notice the change of the second phenomenon. Is there a change in the elephant?" Pei Xuanjing lowered her eyes, unable to bear to look at the emperor again. He growled at her: "Didn't you hear my question? Answer me!" She had to look up again.But the emperor waved his hands again and again and said: "No, you can't answer, I was wrong, wrong. You go, back down."