On the fourth day of December in the first year of Emperor Gaozong's reign, Emperor Li Zhi of the Tang Dynasty died in the eastern capital luoyang.
On his deathbed, Li Zhi summoned Pei Yan, the attendant, and left a testament.
There is a key sentence in this testament: "There are indecisive people in the major affairs of the military state, and they will also take the heavens and the end of the world." ”
The so-called Queen of Heaven was Wu Zetian, who was called the Second Saint with the emperor in the Gaozong Dynasty.
This testament reflects Emperor Gaozong's great trust in Empress Wu, but the word "concurrent" also shows that Li Zhi is not absolutely at ease with this wife who is difficult to be ambitious.
Therefore, Emperor Gaozong gave Wu Zetian the power to continue to control the government, but did not give her all the power in the world.
However, Pei Yan said in the seventh month of the first month that the edict should not be announced before the crown prince officially ascended the throne, and if there was really an important matter, it was recommended that the empress dowager order zhongshu and men to implement it.
Pei Yan's move actually helped Empress Wu gain supreme power, even surpassing Emperor Zhongzong Li Zhe, who was about to become the new emperor of the Tang Dynasty.
Soon after, Pei Yan was rewarded handsomely.
On December 11 of the first year of Hongdao, Li Zhe ascended the throne as Emperor Zhongzong of Tang, and Empress Wu took the throne.
Two days later, Pei Yan became the Zhongshu Ling of the Tang Dynasty.
At this point, the rhythm has actually been normal, but something abnormal is about to happen.
Because Emperor Zhongzong was ready to start dying, and it was a great death!
Emperor Zhongzong Li Zhe was the seventh son of Emperor Gaozong and the third son born to Empress Wu.
Born rich and noble, he did not have the talents of his two elder brothers, nor did he learn any lessons from the experience of his two brothers.
After Emperor Zhongzong ascended the throne, he did not have time to govern the country well, but he wanted to promote Wei Xuanzhen to be a servant.
The reason was none other than that Wei Xuanzhen was Li Zhe's elder brother-in-law.
However, this was unreasonable, Lao Wei had only joined the army in a small Jiupin Prefecture a few years ago, and suddenly became a heavy minister of the imperial court, which was obviously inappropriate.
Zhongshu made Pei Yan object repeatedly, but Emperor Zhongzong ate the scales and even released words: "Why should I not treat Wei Xuanzhen with the world, but pity the evil in the service?" ”
Pei Yan is not a vegetarian, small sample, I can't cure you, but you wait for me, there are people who can cure you!
That person was the emperor's mother.
So Pei Yan made a small report to Empress Wu, and Wu Zetian resolutely decided to depose Emperor Zhongzong after hearing this.
Just on the sixth day of the first month of February, Wu Hou gathered hundreds of officials in the Qianyuan Palace, and Pei Yan and Yulin's general Cheng Wuting brought troops into the palace, and Xuanwu Hou ordered.
Emperor Zhongzong was deposed as the King of Luling, and was soon sent to Junzhou, and later moved to Fangzhou, where he spent fourteen years.
I have heard a lot about the pit father, and the pit son-in-law has heard about it for the first time.
The next day, Empress Wu made her fourth son Li Dan emperor, Emperor Ruizong, while he continued to reign supreme.
Poor Emperor Zhongzong, even with his head and tail, was only a puppet emperor for more than fifty days.
But no one thought that Wu Hou's ambitions were far more than that.
She appointed her nephew Wu Chengsi as chancellor, just as empress Lü of the Han Dynasty had done, giving Zhu Wu great power.
Even although Pei Yan was still Zhongshu Ling, he could not integrate into this circle that truly held the lifeblood of the Tang Dynasty.
Twenty-fifth days after Emperor Gaozong's burial, the Tang Dynasty was renamed Yuan Guangzhai .
At the same time, the eastern capital was changed to Shendu, Shangshu Province to Wenchang Province, the Six Ministries to the Six Officials of Heaven and Earth, the Spring and Autumn and Winter, the Menxia Province to Luantai, and the Zhongshu Province to Fengge.
Empress Wu posed as a change of dynasty, and then Wu Chengsi came forward and asked the empress dowager to posthumously crown her ancestor as king and establish the Seven Temples of the Wu clan.
The Seven Temples are the Temple of the Seven Dynasties, and since the Han and Tang Dynasties, only the Son of Heaven can establish the Seven Temples.
By this time, Empress Wu's ambitions had become apparent.
More precisely, Takego released a tentative balloon.
However, at this time, Wu Hou could not be solipsistic, and there were not many people who opposed her.
Even Pei Yan, a close confidant of Empress Wu, also proposed that he would not see the defeat of the Lü clan?
It can be said that at this time, even Pei Yan, the head of the nominal Hundred Officials, was extremely dissatisfied with the monopoly of power by Empress Wu and the reuse of the Wu clan.
The first wave of opposition to Wu Zetian soon arrived.
In September of the first year of guangzhai, Xu Jingye, Luo Binwang, Du Qiuren, Wei Siwen and others met in Yangzhou, and at the behest of Kuangfu Luling, they rebelled against the war.
Xu Jingye began to have a strong momentum, but it soon calmed down, like a pool of clear water falling into a stone, although it stirred up some waves, but it could not turn over any big waves.
And the most miserable situation after this war was actually Zhongshu Ling Pei Yan.
When Wu Zetian asked Pei Yan what to do, Pei Yan replied: "The emperor is old and does not care about political affairs, so Shuzi can resign, and if the empress dowager returns to the government, she will not seek peace." ”
Pei Yan, you are learning to die from Emperor Zhongzong, for the sake of the power of the world, Even the empress dowager can kill her son, let alone Ruhu?
Pei Yan regarded Wu Hou as an obstacle to his own monopoly of power, and Wu Hou also felt that Pei Yan would be a roadblock for him to control the world.
So before the war was completely over, Pei Yan was beheaded at the Luoyang Capital Pavilion.
After beheading Pei Yan, when Emperor Ruizong was deposed, Cheng Wuting, a great general of Zuo Wuwei who had made great contributions, was said to be conspiring with Pei Yan, and Empress Wu also sent people to kill him in the army.
After quelling Xu Jingye's rebellion, Empress Wu summoned her courtiers and said, "Emperor Xian has been emperor for more than twenty years, and the world is worried about the world. Gongqing is rich and noble, all are decayed with it, the world is happy, the longevity of the emperor, and the former emperor abandoned the group of subjects, to the world to care for the decay, do not love the body but love the people, now as the head of rong (referring to Pei, Xu, Cheng), all from the general, the group of ministers He Negative Yuan's deep also ... These three people, people look forward to it, it is not conducive to decay, and they can kill it! Qing and others can pass these three, immediately, otherwise, when the heart of the revolution, there is no laughter for the world! ”
Wu Zetian's words were very harsh and direct, and the sentences were permeated with cold killing intent, which frightened the group of courtiers into silence.
When Empress Wu saw this scene, her heart couldn't help but be overjoyed, in her eyes, this magnificent world seemed to be one step closer to me!
To be continued!