Chapter 48 Section IX

The Shangyuan Festival in the fourteenth year of Yuanhe seems to be still in sight, and the new year in the fifteenth year of Yuanhe is coming again. The decades-long war to reduce the feudal clan came to an end last year.After defeating the Tubo invasion, the border was also calm.The crazy hustle and bustle of welcoming the Buddha's bone has long since dissipated, and the New Year of Yuanhe Fifteen Years was peaceful and peaceful, even a little deserted. Rest and recuperate, the entire Tang Dynasty is trying to understand and enjoy these four words. The emperor simply canceled the annual Yuan Day Grand Court Meeting. Although the reason was that there was no danger, it did not cause panic inside and outside the court at all.Because all the courtiers knew that the emperor's health was gradually improving after he stopped taking the golden elixir for more than a month.Even though the Yuanri court meeting was cancelled, the Yanying Hall call was held as usual, and everything was in order.

Gengzi day in the first month of the fifteenth year of Yuanhe.It was night, and the emperor ordered Concubine Qiu to leave Qingsi Hall.Concubine Qiu has been favored since she entered the palace, and she sleeps with her almost every night, so she was quite reluctant when she was sent away.But she understood the emperor's temper and did not dare to say anything. After Concubine Qiu left, the emperor sat alone in the palace for a long time before summoning his confidant Chen Hongzhi to present the dagger. That dagger refers to the pure hook that the emperor had been looking for for a long time but was finally brought back by Concubine Qiu by accident.

The emperor took the pure hook from Chen Hongzhi's hand, and ordered: "You step back." Chen Hongzhi disappeared behind the curtain as usual. After fifteen years, it was finally time to face it face to face.The emperor gritted his teeth and drew his sword out of its sheath. A cold light flashed across his eyes.Is it an illusion?The emperor seemed to see that the red candles in the entire palace were shaking violently under the cold light, and spots of red seemed to appear on the freezing autumn water in his palm—is it blood? impossible.Pure hook is not stained with blood. He still clearly remembers fifteen years ago today, when he pulled out the pure hook from his father's chest, there was indeed not even a drop of blood on it, it was as clean as a freshly tempered new blade.However, his own robe sleeves and skirt were covered with his father's blood, so he could only burn the whole suit in the end.

How did all that happen? At that time, the father had abdicated to the Xingqing Palace for several months.After ascending the throne, the emperor faced various internal and external troubles, but he was not worried about Xingqing Palace.What kind of threat can a paralyzed and aphasic emperor pose to the emperor?On the contrary, the emperor was more than willing to demonstrate pure filial piety to the whole world.Deep down in his heart, the emperor despised his father's weakness and incompetence, and didn't dare to compliment his father's actions in just six months during his reign, but after all, it was his father who abdicated the throne to himself.Without his father who has struggled to support the crown prince for twenty-six years, without him resolving King Shu's attempt to seize the heir with his forbearing wisdom, without him not hesitating to get rid of his opponent in those six months with methods that are not royally dignified, Today, I will definitely not be able to sit on the throne.So although I was busy with government affairs and couldn't often come to Xingqing Palace to ask about the medicine, the emperor never stopped his younger brothers and sisters from going.On the first day of the new year that just passed, he mobilized a large number of officials to lead a hundred officials to Xingqing Palace, and took the title of Supreme Emperor.

The Emperor Taishang was sick and could not see all the officials. The title of Shangzun was just a performance of the emperor's filial piety, but the emperor was very involved in the performance and moved himself.From an early age, the emperor's relationship with his father became increasingly discordant.Sometimes even he himself can't figure out what's wrong between their father and son.But after the Supreme Emperor abdicated, the emperors really wanted to improve their relationship with each other sincerely.In addition to being a good emperor, he also sincerely wanted to be a good son.

But it was also on the first day of that year that Tutu Chengcui secretly brought Luo Lingze back from Mingzhou and put him in Dali Temple.The October of the first year of Yongzhen that Pei Xuanjing read in the memorandum, Luo Ling, a mountain man, pretended to rebel and so on, all of them were fabricated.In fact, Luo Ling went to Mingzhou with Kong Hai, the Tang monk sent by the Wa Kingdom, and originally planned to board a boat to cross the sea together, but Luo Ling changed his mind at the last moment.Instead of boarding the ship, he embarked on his way back to Chang'an. The emperor sent Tutu Chengcui to chase after him, but stopped Luo Lingze halfway.Luo Ling endured the cruelest torture, pleaded not guilty to treason, and only asked to see the Supreme Emperor again.How could the emperor agree to his request?

At the same time when the emperor led all the officials to Xingqing Palace to take the title of Supreme Emperor, Luo Ling was beaten to death by Tutu Chengcui in Dali Temple.Later, in order to quell the rising rumors, Tutu Chengcui concocted a story of coercion and rebellion under the emperor's behest, and deliberately moved the time of the incident two months earlier to confuse the audience.In order to increase the sense of reality, Tutu Chengcui even recruited a so-called accomplice—Li Liang, the county magistrate of Pengzhou.Poor Li Liang, just because he was appreciated by Wang Shuwen and was briefly promoted during the Yongzhen period, he was inexplicably involved in this case, and his family was ruined.

Not long after returning from the honorary title of Xingqing Palace, the emperor received a report from Tutu Chengcui.The resentment that had been suppressed in his heart for many years erupted together, and the emperor rushed into the Xingqing Palace in a rage, and raged in front of the Taishanghuang's sick bed, yelling like a madman, asking his father to explain clearly what Luo Lingze wanted to do when he returned to Beijing! He still clearly remembered that after venting hard, he also felt out of control, went outside in a daze to calm down, and then heard Ju Wenzhen's cry from behind the screen.When he rushed back to his father's bed, the pure hook was already inserted into his father's chest.After the shock, his first thought was to cover up the truth.Ju Wenzhen was limp on the ground, so he could only pull out the pure hook from his father's chest, and in desperation, put it into Ju Wenzhen's hands.

Chungou didn't get a drop of blood, but his father's blood was on his hands, which couldn't be washed off for a lifetime. Holding the pure hook in his hands, the emperor uttered an extremely painful sob. He has had enough punishment.In the entire fifteen years, he has never been able to let go of a day.Because he always believed that it was Ju Wenzhen who guessed what he wanted to do, which meant that he should bear the crime of killing his father.Now, although the truth revealed by Pei Xuanjing helped him to get rid of the crime of killing his father, it made his conscience even heavier.

He asked himself over and over again, why did his father commit suicide? Maybe it's because of chronic illness; maybe it's to give up his son's position completely, and he won't give any evidence; maybe he wants to use this most extreme method to spur his son, urging him to go all out to realize the goal of "one family in the world, one heart under heaven" ambition.These may all be reasons, but the most critical reason that the emperor could not let himself ignore was: he had broken his father's heart.So isn't the death of his father to punish himself for his unfilial piety?

He saw his tears falling drop by drop on the pure hook, and then slipped down without a trace, as if it had never happened before. He couldn't figure out why his father raised a Taoist son and treated him so kindly as if he was his own, which even made the emperor hate him all his life.Now the emperor finally understood - it was for Yulongzi. His father was never the incompetent person he thought he was. In fact, his father planned well. From Jia Chang to Luo Lingze, from Jinxianguan to Yulongzi, he did everything he could to seek the throne.When the father found that he had more than enough energy, he resolutely decided to take the throne of Zen, handed over the throne he had spent his entire life to his son, and also entrusted the responsibility of ZTE to his hands. But for Wang Shuwen, Wang Ni, and Liu Zongyuan and Liu Yuxi, the old officials who had followed him for a long time, my father felt that he owed them, so he hoped that the emperor would leave a way for these people to survive, so that he, the old master, could have something to say.The emperor refused to even give this kind of favor.In the end, my father had to abandon all those people.Only Luo Lingze, his father asked him to take the jade dragon son to the east, was just to preserve the last part of the friendship of faith. The wish of such a humble and weak person was ruthlessly crushed by the emperor.He has occupied the supreme position, but he refuses to show a little sympathy to his father. But in the circumstances at that time, what can I do? The emperor wept heartily. Fifteen years later, when he finally realized the great wish of "one family in the world, one heart under heaven", he dared to cry so presumptuously, and dared to miss his father and mother so unreservedly. . He cried for a long time until he had a splitting headache and had to put the pure hook back on the case. The emperor froze suddenly. He remembered that the pure hook book was one of the precious blades collected in the palace, and it had been placed in the Hall of Supreme Harmony in Daming Palace.When the Taishanghuang moved to Xingqing Palace, he was already unable to move, so it was impossible to bring Chungou there by himself.Someone must have secretly brought Chungou from Daming Palace to Xingqing Palace. If it wasn't Ju Wenzhen, could it be Li Zhongyan?Or mother? More importantly, the Supreme Emperor was paralyzed in bed, even if he wanted to commit suicide, someone had to deliver Chungou to him! Who would that be? The emperor turned around abruptly: "What are you doing?" Chen Hongzhi trembled in fright, let go of his hand, and a golden elixir rolled to the emperor's feet.He immediately recognized the golden pill refined by Liu Bi, but he hadn't taken it for more than a month. Along with the golden pill, there is also a white porcelain teacup. The emperor stared at Chen Hongzhi: "Do you want to mix the golden elixir into the tea? Why?" He walked towards Chen Hongzhi step by step. Chen Hongzhi's face was already pale, and he just stepped back, his calf hit the corner of the desk, he couldn't stand still, and he grabbed the side with both hands. The emperor grabbed his front: "Say! Who told you to do it?!" There was a "buzz" in Chen Hongzhi's head, it's over!He closed his eyes in despair, and waved his right hand to the emperor, not knowing what he was holding. When the pure hook pierced the emperor's chest, he instinctively pushed away Chen Hongzhi's hand holding the knife.Chen Hongzhi was frightened out of his wits, his mind went blank, and he only knew to stab down with all his strength time and time again. One time, two times, three times... The blood splashed, and soon Chen Hongzhi's eyes were blurred, but he kept stabbing the emperor until the emperor collapsed to the ground, and he rushed over to face the lying on the ground. The body on the ground was stabbed fiercely, and I don't know how many times it was stabbed, and finally he couldn't even lift his arm, and Chungou slipped from his hand and fell into a pool of blood. Chen Hongzhi looked at the emperor through the bloody curtain.The emperor's eyes were still open, and there seemed to be a glimmer of light in them, staring at him. Chen Hongzhi stepped back, muttering vaguely: "No! Don't, don't blame me... Yes, it's all Concubine Guo... and the crown prince... They forced me to do it..." These words seem to have passed through countless springs and autumns, and passed into the ears of the emperor.In fact, the emperor fully understood what Chen Hongzhi wanted to say, but he really didn't care anymore. It didn't hurt that much, which made him feel a little comforted.His eyes were still wide open, but Chen Hongzhi and everything else had disappeared from sight.He saw a road with a dim light at the end of the road, and he knew that it was the underworld. He used to be so afraid of death because of the oath his mother made before his father's coffin: "If you are not as good as Huangquan, you will never meet again." He was afraid of how to face it when he had to stand on the road to Huangquan.But now he is not afraid, because he has seen the other side of Huangquan Road, where the light is, there is someone waiting. They forgave him.Yes, just like all parents in the world will forgive their children; just like one day, he will also forgive those who killed him today-his relatives. The only thing he regrets is that all this happened so quickly that he didn't have time to take another look at his Chang'an, his Great Tang. Chen Hongzhi sat next to the emperor's corpse, gradually regaining his sanity.He picked up the pure hook from the pool of blood, and was shocked to find that there was not even a drop of blood on the dagger.He hesitated, whether to give himself a knife, and it was over, and he didn't have to worry about it anymore. After thinking for a long time, he still put Chungou down. "Why should I die?" Chen Hongzhi thought that it was his brother's death that made him go to Fengling in the first place, and fell into Li Zhongyan's trap.But I survived in the end, others died along the way, but I lived better and better.In the past year, Li Zhongyan committed suicide first, it was God who helped him get rid of one of the most dangerous enemies.Then, he personally sent Song Ruozhao into the frozen Taiye Pool.He had been worried that Song Ruozhao would reveal the secret behind the fairy copper leak, and this hidden danger was also resolved.And what made Chen Hongzhi most proud was that when Pei Xuanjing left Daming Palace, he gave him the magical pen of Treading Xuecong.Even though he was only following the emperor's orders, Chen Hongzhi still felt refreshed and high-spirited when he watched Pei Xuanjing gallop away on a snow-treading horse.He had always been jealous of Pei Xuanjing, and now that she was gone, the emperor would be at his mercy. Unexpectedly, things took a turn for the worse later on. Not long after Pei Xuanjing left, the second and thirty-third images of "Tui Bei Tu" hidden in the golden cabinet changed back!When Chen Hongzhi discovered this situation, he couldn't believe it.The second image whose characters were changed was changed into the Golden Chamber according to Li Zhongyan's instructions. As for how the thirty-third image changed, only a genius knows.He handed over the second image of the original "Tui Bei Tu" to Li Zhongyan, and he must have been taken into the tomb together and never seen the light of day.The two "Tui Bei Tu" unexpectedly returned to their original state at the same time, which made Chen Hongzhi feel unbelievable and also aroused a deep panic.If it wasn't for the gods, then someone must have seen through their plot and countered it cleverly!Both parties knew the emperor's obsession with the fate of the Tang Dynasty, so they both made a big fuss about "Tui Bei Tu".Chen Hongzhi used to worry about Pei Xuanjing, but she had obviously left Daming Palace. After the two "Tui Bei Tu" were restored to their original state, the emperor's mental state also reversed.He gradually reduced the amount of golden elixir, left Liu Mi to hang in the Sanqing Palace, and never summoned him again.The golden cabinet where "Tui Bei Tu" was stored was sent back to Lingyan Pavilion by the emperor himself, and was guarded by heavy soldiers from the Shence Army. Chen Hongzhi could no longer do anything. The most anxious person is Concubine Guo. Ever since she coerced Liu Mi to poison the golden elixir, she has probably been counting the days of Emperor Bintian day by day.It's no wonder she couldn't wait, Tutu Chengcui has already won the support of most people in the court, and the exchange of reserves may happen at any time.Once the emperor takes the lead, she and Li Heng will die without a place to bury them.For Guo Nianyun, this is a life-and-death battle in which only victory is allowed but no defeat is allowed. However, Liu Mi has been looking for various excuses to procrastinate. When Guo Nianyun found out that the emperor started to give up the golden elixir, he felt even more crisis-ridden.The harem has always been under her jurisdiction. In the past, no matter which concubine was favored, she could exert influence on them and suppress them. But now, Du Qiuniang, whom she hates the most, has entered the palace and was conferred the title of Concubine Qiu, monopolizing the emperor's bedroom. It is very difficult for Guo Nianyun to even see the emperor. When she summoned Chen Hongzhi, she decided to put all her eggs in one basket.Without giving Chen Hongzhi any chance, she threw out all his crimes of murdering Wei Decai, Song Ruoyin and Song Ruozhao, completely baffled Chen Hongzhi.Only then did Chen Hongzhi know that Li Zhongyan had betrayed himself to Guo Nianyun before he died. How vicious!Li Zhongyan's painstaking planning must put the emperor to death.His layout is from Chen Hongzhi, Pei Xuanjing to Guo Nianyun, three guarantees but make sure nothing goes wrong, otherwise how could he die so happily! Chen Hongzhi once tried to have a good relationship between the emperor and Concubine Guo, but finally found that he had only one way left in Huashan—to completely rely on the Guo family and the prince and act as their killer. The original strategy was just to poison, since Liu Mi refused to do it, then Chen Hongzhi would do it.Although the emperor started to abstain from taking the golden elixir, the news that he got sick from taking the elixir had spread. If he died suddenly at this time, he could stop everyone's mouths by saying that he was poisoned by the golden elixir.Kill Liu Mi again, and when the dust settles, no one can turn the case over. But-- Chen Hongzhi looked at the pure hook in his hand and laughed maniacally.He thought of his parents who were still in his hometown, they were bullied all their lives honestly, they couldn't support himself and his elder brother, so they had to be sent to the palace for purification.If they heard that their son had actually killed the king with his own hands, they would probably have killed half their lives on the spot. No, he cannot die. After paying such a high price, committing a crime beyond redemption, and dying for no reason, wouldn't it be too unfair. The emperor passed away, and the crown prince ascended the throne, and he was the biggest hero!It's time for him, Chen Hongzhi, to enjoy his glory and wealth.Not only can he not die, but he also wants to get promoted and get rich, and he wants all his relatives to ascend to heaven, to honor their ancestors. Chen Hongzhi put the pure hook back into the sheath, and put it back on the shelf again. Fifteen years ago, it killed an emperor, but protected an eunuch; today, it killed another emperor, and will protect another eunuch. Eunuchs are the most tenacious creatures in Daming Palace, they are like mice everywhere, destined to live and die with this palace. Two hours later, the eunuch Tutu Chengcui hurried to Qingsi Hall. Above the sky, the stars and the moon have no light.An unprecedented heavy darkness covered the Daming Palace.Although he has lived here for most of his life, Tutu Chengcui still felt an inexplicable panic when he stepped on the imperial steps of Qingsi Palace.His footsteps stagnated involuntarily, and the words and phrases in "Xin Ping Shangxian" suddenly flashed in his mind. What are you thinking!He hurriedly drove away these ominous thoughts, and turned to think about the reason why the emperor summoned him urgently in the middle of the night.Have you finally made up your mind to dethrone the prince?Tutu Chengcui has been working on this for more than two months, and seeing that everything is ready, the emperor hesitates again.The emperor's health improved, making the abolition of the establishment less urgent.But that's just one reason.Tutu Chengcui believes that the more critical reason is that the emperor has softened his heart.Although in the eyes of everyone, the emperor has always been resolute and ruthless, only Tutu Chengcui understands that the emperor also has his feelings, but they hide them too deeply.isn't it?The emperor actually let Pei Xuanjing go, which made Tu Tucheng Cui slander endlessly. Tutu Chengcui thought to himself, this time he must help the emperor make a decisive decision.After finishing this major event, he will start to search for Yulongzi with all his strength.According to the speculation of the emperor and Tutu Chengcui, the former emperor handed over the jade dragon son to Luo Ling to sail eastward, but Luo Ling did not board the boat, but returned west to Chang'an and was killed.Tutu Chengcui thought about it, thinking that Yulongzi must still be in the Tang Dynasty. Tu Tucheng Cui stepped into Qingsi Hall absent-mindedly.Suddenly, he realized that something was wrong, the hall was pitch black, and the perennial ambergris could no longer be smelled, replaced by a strong smell of blood. He turned around abruptly, trying to run away. That's too late. Sharp knives slashed from all directions. "Everyone...!" The dying roar resounded throughout the Qingsi Palace, but there was only one sound.A moment later, Tu Tu Cheng Cui, the once powerful and powerful lieutenant of the Zuo Shence Army, turned into a mess of flesh and blood. On the fourteenth day of the first lunar month in the fifteenth year of the Tang Dynasty, Tang Xianzong Li Chun died in Chang'an Daming Palace at the age of forty-three. Six days later, on the 20th day of the first lunar month, Prince Li Heng ascended the throne.On the same day, the new emperor issued an edict, canonizing his mother Guo Nianyun as empress dowager. Soon, Empress Dowager Guo moved to Nannei Xingqing Palace.Those who had children in the former empress's palace lived separately in the prince's and princess's mansions with their children, and the rest of the unborn children moved into Xingqing Palace with the empress dowager Guo, where they would spend the rest of their lives.The rest of everyone's life is bound to be long or short, but one thing is the same.From now on, they don't have to wait for that meager luck to come. Old people go, new people come, the world changes back and forth, and the world remains unchanged forever. During this exciting relocation, a small carriage left the large team and quietly turned to the sixteen kings' residence in Changlefang. Du Zhongyang hugged the red sandalwood pipa tightly in his arms, staring indifferently at a certain position in the carriage.Ever since the first emperor passed away, she has almost always looked like this, neither crying nor making trouble, and never shed a single tear in front of others. According to Empress Dowager Guo's intention, she was supposed to be sent to guard the tomb after the former emperor was buried in Jingling in May.That day, when he heard Empress Dowager Guo say this, Du Zhongyang also looked indifferent, as if he was indifferent to his own fate. Seeing that it was about to be settled, the new emperor on the side said: "I have always heard that Du Zhongyang is very talented and learned. Liu'er's mother just passed away. I want Du Zhongyang to be Liu'er's adoptive mother and teach him poetry and calligraphy. literature." "This..." Empress Dowager Guo looked at her son in surprise, but said nothing. Only then did Du Zhongyang raise his head, and happened to see the new emperor smiling at him.For a moment, she was in a trance.The twenty-six-year-old new emperor is still very young, and he looks more like Empress Dowager Guo, but when she smiled brightly, she seemed to see "him" happy again. It was exactly the same, but it was only left in her memory. There are too few such moments. Yeah, it was too short.From her return to Chang'an, to the night when he ordered her to leave Qingsi Hall, and the eternal farewell, it was only a short three months, but she didn't even see him for the last time. All kinds of grievances came to his heart, Du Zhongyang raised his pipa and smashed it hard against the wall of the car. "Oh, this can't be done!" Zheng Qiong'e next to her hurriedly stretched out her hand to block it, but a pipa still hit the wall of the car, and the red sandalwood suddenly split. Zheng Qiong'e was very distressed: "I know you are sad, why bother to vent your anger on the pipa. Look, what a pity!" "It's not a pity." Du Zhongyang said with tears in his eyes, "Anyway, I will never play it again in my life." Zheng Qiong'e sighed softly: "...who knows." She checked the damage of the pipa, "It's okay, it's just a little bit broken. Eh, what is this?" A small fragment of jade glowed warmly between her slender fingers. "Is it embedded in the pipa?" Du Zhongyang was also uncertain, "It's strange, why didn't I notice it before?" Zheng Qiong'e said: "It's not the mother-of-pearl inlaid on the pipa? It seems to be broken from a whole piece of jade." She looked around, "I see...it looks a bit like a tail." "Tail?" "Well, it's a unicorn, a phoenix, or a dragon's tail." Du Zhongyang stared at Suiyu thoughtfully. Zheng Qiong'e said: "Put it away. Wait for a while, and then find a way to repair the pipa." Du Zhongyang leaned his head on Zheng Qiong'e's shoulder obediently.The carriage moved silently, heading towards the sixth prince's Zhangwang Mansion.After a while, Zheng Qiong'e heard soft sobbing, and soon, her shoulders were soaked with hot tears.She suppressed her tears and persuaded in a low voice: "Don't be sad, everything will pass." "I'm not for myself...it's for him...he's so pitiful..." Zheng Qiong'e was thinking: that person is dead, it's time for my Thirteen Lang to come back.