Thousands of miles of yellow clouds cover a hundred days, the north wind blows wild geese and snow one after another.
Li Zhi opened the window and looked at the snowflakes fluttering in the north wind. He could not feel happy. Was he finally going to make a move, Big Brother? The sky was changing.
A pair of jade-like hands slowly hugged Li Zhi from behind. Ever since Wu Mei Niang confessed that day, she was now like water in front of Li Zhi. She had no bones and was at Li Zhi's mercy.
"When the time comes, we'll do as you said and use that confinement method. If we don't kill your big brother, although he'll lose his title, he'll still have a life of luxury. Although there will be some future troubles, it's not a good thing for a deposed Crown Prince who failed to rebel.”
Li Zhi lowered his head and sighed a little sadly,""Don't worry, Mei Niang, I'm just a little sad. There's still too little familial love in the royal family, so little that it's chilling. Unfortunately, Hou Junji was a famous general, but ever since the coup of Black Tortoise Sect and the destruction of Gaochang, the hearts of the people had been thrown into disarray. They had begun to forget themselves and were destined to be like the snowflakes outside. Although they were beautiful, they were rootless duckweed. Once they fell, they could no longer fly.”
Pouting her lips, Wu Mei Niang's face was filled with disdain." They're just a bunch of fools. They can only end up in a tragedy."
Turning around, he suddenly picked Wu Meiniang up. Ignoring Wu Meiniang's screams, Li Zhi laughed and said,"I don't care if he's a tragedy or not. It's winter, so let's go to bed and warm our blankets. Hehe, I'll tell you the story of Journey to the West.”
"Ah... Husband, didn't you want to cause a ruckus in the Heavenly Palace?"
"Husband, am I not wreaking havoc in the Heavenly Palace now? Watch my Dragon Claw Hand!"
" Aiya, don't touch there. It's so itchy." The girl's coquettish voice sounded strong and weak in the warm room. It was long-winded and confusing.
He went crazy with Wu Meiniang. Although he didn't really eat her, this girl was very sensitive. In his previous life, he had practiced the technique under the guidance of Kaede Matsushima and Yui Hatano. He didn't even finish one set before he surrendered. At this moment, he was quietly leaning against Li Zhi's chest, his eyes closed, and his breathing was even.
Li Zhi couldn't fall asleep. He opened his eyes and stared blankly at the paintings on the ceiling, thinking.
Outside the window, the snow was still flying in Chang 'an City. In less than half a day, the entire city was covered with a thick layer of white winter clothes.
However, his big brother was playing with fire now. The road of burning was also getting farther and farther. Sometimes, Li Zhi wanted to pull this pitiful and sad big brother, but at this moment, someone was looking at him, and his heart was burning. Even the winter snow in Chang 'an could not hide it, could not hide it, and could not extinguish it.
He was Li Zhi's fourth brother, the King of Wei, Li Tai.
He carefully thought about the information he could still remember about his fourth brother and the information collected by the intelligence organization in the World Party over the years. Li Zhi shook his head and smiled lightly, but he could not help but sigh in his heart."Fourth brother, fourth brother, you're too anxious, so you're destined to be a tragedy in front of me.”
Speaking of which, although Li Tai was ranked fourth, he was the second son of a legitimate son (born to Empress Zhangsun). He was of the same mother as Li Zhi. Li Zhi was the same. Although he was the ninth son, he was the youngest son of a legitimate son. His status was different from those of a concubine.
In other words, if Li Chengqian was deposed, Li Tai would naturally be the successor. Of course, with Li Zhi's unprecedented popularity among the scholars, plus Li Shimin himself was not the eldest son, there was still hope. History had proved this point.
Li Zhi's fourth brother was born in the third year of Wude. He had been versatile since he was young and was deeply favored by Taizong. The second year of Zhenguan was the year Li Zhi was born. Even though Li Zhi was regarded as a child prodigy by the government and the people at that time, Li Shimin did not reduce his love for his fourth son.
That year, Li Tai, who was only nine years old, took the position of Governor of Yangzhou. After that, he also held important positions such as Yongzhou Mu, Zuo Wuhou General, Muzhou Governor, Xiangzhou Governor, and so on. When Li Zhi was eight years old, he was granted the title of King of Wei in the tenth year of Zhenguan.
Later on, as his elder brother Li Chengqian became increasingly depraved and unrepentant, Li Shimin became increasingly disappointed. In addition, Li Zhi deliberately kept a low profile and even defiled himself to go into business. Thus, Li Shimin's inner balance gradually tilted towards the King of Wei, Li Tai.
Because Fourth Brother liked literature, Li Shimin even allowed him to open a literature hall in the Wei Prince's residence, allowing him to recruit famous people from all over the world.
This was a big deal. Many of the more sensitive officials immediately realized that this was a political signal deliberately released by the emperor.
One had to know that Li Zhi's old man, Li Shimin, who was still the King of Qin back then, didn't he use the Literature Library to establish the Heavenly Policy Manor and become the Heavenly Policy General to recruit talents and establish his reputation before replacing Li Jiancheng as the Crown Prince and finally ascending to the throne of the Emperor?
Was Li Shimin doing this for the Divine Mother?
There were very few people who would send charcoal in the snow, but there was no lack of people in the world who would add icing on the cake. Of course, those who had intentions would flock to the King of Wei, Li Tai.
This was also the poetry gathering held in Fragrant Forest Garden that day. Even the eldest son of the Cui family of Qinghe, one of the seven sects and five surnames, attended. It could be seen that Li Tai's reputation was now very strong.
Because Li Tai was fat and couldn't move nimbly, Li Shimin was especially kind and allowed him to sit in a small sedan chair when he entered the palace. This kind of pampering was unique among all the officials and princes in the court. Sometimes, Li Zhi would think about it and feel a little jealous. They were both sons. Was there a need for that?
However, who asked him to pretend to be awesome and hide his strength to do business? Who could he blame?
That day at Fragrant Forest Park, it was not without reason that Li Zhi had brought Wu Mei Niang to congratulate Li Tai. Ever since his fourth brother, Li Tai, began to compile the Records of the Land, the amount of money and goods that Li Shimin had given to the Prince of Wei's mansion had increased year by year, month by month. The amount had far exceeded his eldest brother, Li Chengqian. Now, the amount of money and goods had reached a point where even Li Zhi was a little depressed.
Fortunately, after ten years of business, Little Li was already considered the richest man in the Great Tang. He did not lack that bit of money.
It was just that the son was a little dissatisfied with his father's favoritism.
Now, Li Shimin had ordered Li Tai to live in the Hall of Martial Virtue so that the father and son could communicate.
Chu Suiliang, Wei Zheng, and the others were deeply disturbed by these practices. They expressed their strong opposition.
Under the pressure of the ministers, Li Shimin had to restrain his rewards, especially when Li Zhi secretly revealed to Li Shimin that Li Tai had slandered him. This made Li Shimin withdraw his order to let Li Tai enter the Martial Virtue Hall and let him go home to reflect on his mistakes.
He reckoned that his fourth brother, who was as narrow-minded as a needle tip, was gnashing his teeth in hatred.
However, even though Chu Suiliang, Wei Zheng, and Li Zhi had begun to curb the momentum of his fourth brother's fight for the throne, he still had the Emperor backing him up. Therefore, Li Tai's popularity index in the imperial court kept rising. It had already broken through Mount Tai, through Mount Everest, and was about to break through the Earth. Who knew that Li Zhi would give him a hard kick and return home to stay?
Martial Virtue Hall? Don't even think about it.
Even though he was punished to reflect on his mistakes in seclusion today because of Li Zhi, which was a small blow to Li Tai's arrogance, many courtiers and dignitaries still approached him and went to his door to "send charcoal in the snow".
The former Yellow Gate Assistant Minister Wei Ting and the Minister of Works Du Chuke (Du Ruhui's younger brother) were now the main ministers of the Wei Prince's Residence.
These two people naturally became the spokesperson for the interests of the King of Wei, Li Tai. Although Du He was a member of the World Party, when the World Party was dormant, these two guys were now desperately trying to help Li Tai. They even bribed the nobles in the current dynasty with large sums of money, praising the King of Wei for his wisdom and saying that he was the most qualified heir to the throne.
In order to find a political backer in the future, the nobles were naturally willing to bet their chips on the King of Wei, who had a higher chance of winning. Among them was Chai Shao's son, the son-in-law, Chai Lingwu.
In just a few years, Li Tai had established a "King of Wei Party" with him as the core among the political higher-ups of the empire. His goal was very clear, and it was to fight for the throne.
His aura was so strong that it could even burn others. That was why Li Zhi sighed. This elder brother of his was really pitiful and sad. As the Crown Prince, he had no choice but to rebel in the end to protect his power.
However, there was no such thing as an impenetrable wall in the world. Paper could not keep fire in the end.
Now that Li Tai had secretly formed a clique, Li Shi Min would soon feel disgusted and alert.
In this matter, Li Zhi sometimes thought that his fourth brother was too rash.
No matter which dynasty or generation, if a vassal king showed too much desire for the throne, and in order to realize his ambition to fight for the throne, he would form cliques in the court and wantonly establish cliques, which made Li Shimin very unhappy. Even if Li Zhi himself sometimes thought about it, he would also be angry.
That was why Li Zhi had laid low for ten years. In these ten years, Li Zhi had not set his sights on the dragon throne but on something else. From the beginning, Li Zhi believed that no one else could sit on the dragon throne except himself.
Even though Li Shiming had always doted on his fourth brother and had the idea of letting him replace Chengqian, it wasn't the end yet. Li Chengqian wasn't crippled yet, not to mention that he still had his little brother Li. Why are you so anxious?
Moreover, after Li Shimin revealed his intention to abolish the throne, Wei Zheng, Chu Suiliang, Cheng clan, Fang clan, Du clan, Yuchi clan, Lan Ling Xiao clan, Li Jing clan, and Li Ji clan all supported him and strongly opposed, this also gave Li Shimin a lot of political pressure. After all, without the support of these important officials of the court, it was basically a certainty that the Emperor would become a puppet.
Therefore, starting from the second half of this year, Li Shimin's attitude had undergone a major change, and he gradually dispelled the idea of deposing.
This matter started with Chu Suiliang.
A few months ago, Li Shimin asked the ministers at a court meeting,""What is the most urgent matter in the country today?"
Chu Suiliang jumped out like a rabbit and immediately answered,""Now that the four directions are safe, only the crown prince and the kings should have a fixed position.”
The so-called "there should be a fixed score" was actually to advise Uncle Li Shimin to give up the idea of abandoning the elder and setting up the younger one, and put an end to the King of Wei's desire to fight for the throne. Only in this way could the world be happy.
Li Shimin agreed with him and appointed Wei Zheng as the Crown Prince's Grand Preceptor, making him wholeheartedly assist the Crown Prince.
As everyone knew, Wei Zheng was the most loyal and upright person among the officials of Zhenguan. At the same time, he was also the most staunch supporter of the system of direct succession. Sending him to be the chief teacher of the Crown Prince was, on one hand, in hopes of making Chengqian a qualified Crown Prince, and on the other hand, it was also an attempt to use this to 'remove the doubts of the world'.
In other words, he wanted Li Zhi's fourth brother, Li Tai, to give up on being the Crown Prince.
Even though Li Shi Min was not satisfied with the Crown Prince's actions over the years, he still did not give up.
If the Crown Prince could repent, Li Shimin still hoped to help him ascend to the throne.
However, Li Chengqian was ultimately a useless person. In fact, he was not even as good as a person. At least, a person had the political wisdom of " being happy here, not thinking about Shu " to save his life.
Just as Li Shimin changed his mind and gave up on the idea of deposing the prince, a scandal broke out in the Eastern Palace.
The matter originated from a music child called Chenxin.
The name " Chenxin " was given by Li Chengqian. As the name suggested, it was this boy that made Li Chengqian feel "satisfied".
To what extent?
She doted on him to the extent of "sleeping with him".
Li Zhi had seen this little guy before. He looked a little cute and was a standard little boy. However, when he thought of his elder brother raping the little guy's tender anus on the bed, Li Zhi felt a little nauseous.
Even when he looked at Wu Mei Niang's anus, he had a bad feeling about it.
In fact, in the history of China, Li Chengqian was not the only one who played out the plot of Brokeback Mountain. There was the story of Wei Linggong and Mi Zi splitting the peach, and the story of Prince Zhao of Wei and Duke Long Yang being close to each other. In recent dynasties, there had been the "gay" style of Emperor Ai of Han and Dong Xian, and the "strange talk of male queens" of Emperor Wen of Chen and Han Zigao. There were countless emperors and generals who had such homosexual tendencies and paedophile behavior.
Even Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty had a favorite catamite, Han Yan. The scholars and officials of the Ming Dynasty in the later generations thought it was elegant.
However, if one were to say a thousand or ten thousand, it would not be a problem for others to have ten satisfactions. However, as long as Li Chengqian had one satisfaction, well, he was done for.
Originally, this big brother of his was sitting on a volcanic crater, and the undercurrent of the fight for the throne was also surging and could erupt at any time. At such a critical moment, how could Li Chengqian's dirty dealings not be deliberately exposed by the opponent?
Very soon, someone reported the matter to Li Shiming. He was furious. Without another word, Li Shiming personally led his men into the Eastern Palace and arrested Chenxin. He also scolded Li Chengqian so badly that he wanted to cripple him immediately.
But sometimes, Li Zhi really admired his big brother's brainlessness. Not only did he not turn over a new leaf and repent, but he even built a mourning hall for Chenxin in the Eastern Palace and set up a statue. He burned incense every day and night as a memorial. If it was his son, Li Zhi would have slapped him to death.
What made Li Zhi the most speechless was that Li Chengqian was throwing a childish temper. He was out of temper and did not attend court for a few months. He danced and sang every day, causing his mother, Empress Zhangsun, to be filled with anger. She ran over to scold Li Chengqian fiercely.
Li Shimin couldn't tolerate his elder brother's actions anymore and repeatedly expressed his desire to depose him. Big brother probably knew that he had completely lost Li Shi Min's trust. In the end, he decided to stake everything on a single gamble and launch a coup.
Although he was unwilling to admit it, Li Zhi had to admit that his own fight for the throne was really not on the same level as the fight for the throne between the nine dragons in the later Braids Dynasty.
They were fighting so hard that they almost buried the entire Braid Dynasty. They might even be able to bring forward the Republic of China.
Just as he was lamenting, there was a sudden rush of knocking on the door. Li Zhi's heart moved inexplicably. He put Wu Meiniang down and covered her with the blanket. He got out of bed and put on his fox fur coat. After tidying himself up, he opened the door.
Li Zhi narrowed his eyes and the snowflakes outside the window hit him in the face. He turned his head to avoid them. He looked at the person in front of him. He was dressed in a coarse robe, 1.7 meters tall, in his thirties, and had an ordinary appearance. There was no light in his eyes, nor was there a tiger's gaze. No matter how he looked at it, he was a servant. There was no reason for him to stop.
However, Li Zhi's expression darkened slightly. He glanced at the middle-aged man and looked at the pond outside the house. There was a thin layer of snow covering the withered lotus leaves. He took a deep breath and exhaled heavily before saying,"Tell me, what is it?"
The middle-aged man bent his body and lowered his head. He said softly,"Your Highness, just now, the 'Snow Fox' of the Embroidered Uniform Guard's ninth squad, who was hidden in the Eastern Palace, sent a messenger pigeon.”With that, he handed over the note in his pocket.
Li Zhi took it, opened it, and glanced at it. There were no words on the finger strip, only some numbers, Arabic numbers. This was a code word that Li Zhi had made up himself. The meaning was very simple, just four words: The rooster crows. It's a big deal."
The rooster crowed, also known as the Desolate Chicken, the second hour of the twelve hours.。
It meant that something big had happened at around two in the morning.
Something big? What else could happen in the Eastern Palace? Other than a rebellion, what else could happen?
"In addition, Your Highness, the Cheetah of the Embroidered Uniform Guards '14th squad has sent a letter saying that His Highness the Crown Prince has secretly organized an assassination team of more than 100 people. The leaders are Feng Shijin led by the Left Guard, the assassin Zhang Shizheng, and Hegan Chengji. The Assassination Group's mission was to first kill the King of Wei, Li Tai, then wait for an opportunity to assassinate His Majesty, and finally His Highness.
In addition, in order to ensure the success of the coup, the Crown Prince had secretly contacted another group of officials, including the Han King Li Yuanchang, the founding father Hou Junji, Hou Junji's son-in-law, the Eastern Palace guard Helan Chushi, the Imperial Army general Li Anyan, and the Duke of Kaihua Zhao Jie. At noon, they made a blood oath and swore to live and die together. The middle-aged man then took out a piece of paper and handed it over.
Li Zhi didn't take it. The note in his hand fell to the ground, but Li Zhi didn't notice it. He just stared blankly at the lotus pond not far away.
You want to kill me? Big brother, you're really ruthless. You're much more ruthless than me. How many times has it been? You tried to assassinate me four years ago, and now you're doing it again?
After a while, Li Zhi nodded indifferently and asked,""Does Imperial Father know?"
"Your Highness, the 25th team of the Brocade Guard, the Goshawk, has reported that His Majesty had asked the Minister of Justice, Zhang Liang, to investigate the rebellion of King Qi a few days ago. Minister Zhang followed the law of the court and investigated his remaining party in Chang 'an. In the end, the matter implicated Hegan Chengji, the Crown Prince's subordinate. He had already secretly arrested He Gan Chengji and locked him up in Dali Prison, ready to be sentenced to death. He didn't expect that Hegan Chengji, who was about to die, had to take the initiative to report the Crown Prince's coup plot in order to protect himself. He had already reported it to His Majesty, and His Majesty ordered He Gan Chengji to redeem himself. He believed that His Majesty had already learned of the Crown Prince's plan to rebel. And the Crown Prince still thought that his plan was flawless.”
Li Zhi let out a heavy breath. He didn't want Li Shiming to be kept in the dark by his butterfly wings and lose his life in the end. After all, Li Zhi still had feelings for his deadbeat father, but he couldn't tell him directly. History had not deviated from its track. Li Zhi had been dormant for so many years to prevent himself, a butterfly, from messing up the original track. Who else could be an emperor but himself?
But now that it had really come to this, Li Zhi could not be happy. He was a little disappointed and waved his hand."Li He, you can leave. You can deal with those killers yourself.”
"Here."
After Li He bowed and left, Li Zhi closed the door again. He came to the bed and climbed back into it. He shrank into the blanket and hugged Wu Meiniang tightly.
Wu Meiniang woke up the moment Li Zhi got off the bed. Looking at Li Zhi's expression, Wu Meiniang's breathing quickened, but she didn't ask immediately. After Li Zhi got onto the bed and hugged her tightly, she asked tentatively,"Your Highness the Crown Prince?"
Li Zhi nodded and said in a low voice," Don't talk. Just let me hug you like this. I feel uncomfortable."”
Wu Meiniang nodded and hugged Li Zhi's head in her arms. Her eyes shone brightly,"The heavens are about to change. This vast land will ultimately belong to my husband.”
At this moment, Li Shi Min, who was sitting in Taiji Palace, felt like his heart was being stabbed by a knife after receiving the report from Hegan Chengji.
As for Zhangsun Wuji, Fang Xuanling, Xiao Yu, Li Shiji, Li Jing, and the other important officials standing in the hall, they sighed inwardly. The weather was about to change. Their thoughts were spinning non-stop.
The Crown Prince was already destined to lose. What was next?
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。