In ancient and modern times, the succession to the throne of any dynasty is a process full of bloody storms, as if it cannot be inherited happily without experiencing a bloody storm.

Except for the emperor's sons who will compete for the throne, the rest of the royal family members are also willing to compete for the throne as long as they have strength and prestige.

For example, Emperor Hui of Jin, the second ancestor of the Western Jin Dynasty, has already legally inherited the throne, but because his ability is too weak, all the members of the royal family below are uneasy, and he just made a rebellion of the eight kings, and the newly unified Jin Dynasty collapsed, so that the Han nation encountered an unprecedented crisis for the first time.

The Tang Empire is strong enough! But since the founding of the country, no emperor has become the emperor smoothly, Li Shimin made a change in Xuanwumen, his sons are also fighting for the head of the blood, the daughter-in-law even killed her own son, came to listen to the government, and wore countless hats to the old Li family.

Li Longji, who succeeded to the throne below, also carried out a lot of coups d'état, and finally had a stable Kaiyuan prosperous era, which has lasted to this day, and none of the four generations of emperors was inherited by the eldest son.

This is the case in all dynasties and generations in China, and the situation is naturally the same abroad, which empire's succession problem is not a bloody affair, and there are too few examples of peaceful coexistence.

As far as the current Aposian dynasty is concerned, al-Mansur and Abdullah are ambitious to succeed the caliphate.

And in order to successfully ascend to the throne, these two are also fighting openly and secretly, and they have tried every means to expand their power in order to finally obtain a big position.

Abdullah's forces controlled large swaths of land in the north and east and had their own place in Khorasan, while Mansur's forces controlled the south and west, and the elite cavalry deployed in Khorasan had always been the elite force of the entire Apos dynasty.

In addition, in the process of the establishment of the Apos dynasty, both of them established immortal feats and great prestige, so both al-Mansur and Abdullah had the conditions to compete for the position of caliph, and whoever ascended to the throne could get a lot of support.

Now it depends on Apos's opinion, after all, no matter how high the prestige of these two is, it is not as good as Apos, who ascended to the position of caliph with opinions, as long as Apos determines the heir before his death, then this confirmed heir will have a great advantage and can ascend the throne smoothly.

But even if the heir supported by Apos takes the throne, the loser will be dissatisfied, and the new successor will definitely cut his former competitor because he has obtained a higher position, if the competitor is weak, it will be easily cut off, and if the competitor is strong and prepared, it will be a long-lasting fight.

But in any case, being able to gain the support of Apos and successfully ascend to the position of caliph will always be the most important thing, which means that to be able to take the lead and win more support, military struggle can only be the last resort, and at the moment, al-Mansur and Abdullah are mainly fighting for de jure succession.

Apos was not much older than al-Mansur, and even younger than Abdullah, and of course he did not want these two to succeed him, but unfortunately his health was very weak, and he would soon die, and in order for the new Apos dynasty to survive smoothly, he had to let a person with authority and ability inherit the position of caliph.

And the more embarrassing thing is that Mansur and Abdullah's strength and merit are comparable, neither has an absolute advantage, when Apos is healthy, he thinks this is a good thing, as long as these two check and balance each other, he can sit firmly in his position, he has been creating this kind of opportunity, so that the two are evenly matched, and he never thought that he suddenly became seriously ill, and someone must inherit the right hand of the previous maintenance, and in this way, the original advantage plan became a disadvantage.

Apos, who was about to meet Allah, very much hoped that one of Mansur and Abdullah would take the initiative to withdraw from the fight for the position of caliph, but he understood that this was impossible, and with his wisdom, how could he not see that Mansur and Abdullah were both tyrants who were unwilling to live under the people for a long time, and let them both take the initiative to give up the power in their hands.

As a result, the Aposian dynasty was at risk of falling into infighting, and he had to find a way to weaken one of the forces and cultivate the other to ascend to power.

But Mansur and Abdullah are his relatives, the palms and backs of these hands are all flesh, he can't bear to attack anyone, and he is sick like this, how many of the people around him have been bribed by the two, and when their deadline is approaching, will they not be in a hurry to hug the thigh of the next caliph?

Apos himself is a ruthless and suspicious person, and when he is seriously ill, his suspicion also becomes even heavier, he suspects that the people around him who serve him have been bought by Mansur and Abdullah, he doesn't know who else is trustworthy, so even if he has a lot of ideas, he doesn't dare to say it casually, so as not to be known in advance by Mansur and Abdullah, which will cause them to rebel and make the situation of the dynasty worse.

The rapid rise and westward expansion of the Tang Empire greatly damaged the interests of the Apos Dynasty, and all the neighboring small countries in the east of the empire have all chosen to belong to the Tang Dynasty and have been protected by the Tang Empire.

For Apos, who has strong ambitions, the westward expansion of the Tang Dynasty is something he cannot tolerate, but the elite soldiers and horses under his command are not the opponents of the Tang Empire at all, and they are not at the same level at all, which makes him very helpless and can only be depressed in his heart.

Even though they are about to enter the ground, the depression in Apos's heart has not yet opened, he is still haunted by the rapid rise of the Tang Empire, and he is depressed that his soldiers and horses have been defeated by the Tang Empire.

I can't tie the knot until I die, which shows the strength of Apos's heart, which is simply hopeless.

Abdullah's opinion made Abdullah very moved, and he paced for a while, and suddenly said: "Nasser, what you said is very reasonable, Ziyad's sudden return to Khorasan is a precursor to Mansur's action against me!" No, Mansur not only attacked me, but also dealt with Apos, so that he could ascend to the throne smoothly. ”

"Sir, this matter is not too late, and you should go to the caliph now."

Nasser suggested.

Abdullah nodded, motioning for his servants to hurry up and prepare.

In a splendid palace, a noble old man was lying on a couch weakly, surrounded by a large group of servants, six women dressed in black, and a dozen men, and many guards in the outermost part of the world.

Although the whole room was resplendent and full of luxury, there was no warm feeling at all, and it was full of tension and murder, because many people died here, almost every day.

This dying old man, whose temper is becoming more and more eccentric, as long as there is the slightest dissatisfaction, he will take out his anger at the people who serve around him, and he will be killed with a cane in court, and the means are very cruel.

If people's hearts are under too much pressure, they must have a way to vent, such as scolding, exercising, eating, drinking, prostituting and gambling, etc., these are all ways to vent, and Apos's way of catharsis is only to kill people, maybe after killing someone, he can have less resentment in his heart.

Of course, Apos was already very sick, he couldn't do anything but let the guards kill, he was already tasteless from eating and drinking, it was difficult to move, he was powerless to play with women, and his heart was seriously twisted.

"Uh, ahem, ahem, ahem......"

Apos's heavy cough shattered the silence of the palace.

The people who were waiting beside them trembled unconsciously when they heard this heavy cough, how they hoped that Apos would die as soon as possible, so that they would be relieved, but Apos's cough was telling everyone that he was not dead, he was still alive?

Apos also knows very well in his heart that these people who serve him hope that he will die as soon as possible, but he does not fulfill everyone's wishes, he supports his weak body to the death, he wants to live as long as possible to arrange the future, and occasionally kill a few people who serve him, but also to vent his anger, because anger is not good for his body to accumulate in his heart, and occasionally venting it may allow him to live longer! At least, that's what Apos thought.

"Hmmm......"

Apos glared angrily at the man beside him and let out a long voice.

When the subordinates heard such a voice, they were all frightened, after this sound, it often meant that Apos was going to kill someone, and they didn't know who would be so unlucky, and they were a little helpless for a while.

"Help me up."

Apos said with all his might.

Where did the maids dare to slacken, all six of them went up, three of them were responsible for helping Apos, and the other three were helping by the side, to show that they had done their best.

Apos snuggled up on the soft cushion, his deep eyes looking ahead, obviously thinking, and as for what he was thinking, no one knew.

In fact, when it comes to this, what else can he think about, it is nothing more than the question of the heir of the caliphate, if this heir is not selected well, the Aposian dynasty that has been established with great difficulty is at risk of falling into chaos again.

He sometimes thinks of Mansour, sometimes thinks of Abdullah, these two people are the most prestigious, the empire is the safest only in their hands, but there can only be one heir, you must choose one of the two, according to age and relationship, Apos naturally wants to support Mansour, but in recent years, his uncle Abdullah's power has developed rapidly, if Abdullah can't give up the struggle for power, the consequences are unimaginable.

And if he supported Abdullah, al-Mansur would certainly not be convinced, which would also cause great trouble and plunge the Apos dynasty into turmoil.

As for finding a junior who does not have much prestige to inherit the throne and let Mansur and Abdullah assist him, it will be even more unworkable.

Apos is a powerful strongman, and he can naturally control Mansur and Abdullah with ease, making his position more stable, but if he is a junior who does not have much merit and ability, how can he control two highly meritorious figures.

Lao Zhu, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty in China, took this problem into account, he knew that his grandson was too weak to control those founding heroes, and letting these founding heroes live would seriously threaten the future rule of his grandson, and he himself could not live past these heroes, so there was no good way to kill all these arrogant founding heroes to pave the way for his grandson.

But the old Zhu family did this kind of thing to kill heroes when the country was stable, and the current Apos Dynasty is still in turmoil, and the founding time is not very long, so naturally he can't kill both Mansur and Abdullah, and Apos is now seriously ill, and he is uncertain whether his cronies are reliable, and he really has no ability to kill Mansur and Abdullah, and even, he now feels that he is in a state that he can no longer control these two, as long as these two people raise troops, he has no way at all, can only be angry to death.

"Caliph, your uncle Abdullah asks to see you?"

A subordinate with a higher status stepped forward and reported.

Apos stirred up his spirits, thought for a long time, and gently recruited him, and motioned for Abdullah to come in.

After Abdullah entered the palace, he was first shocked by the solemn atmosphere in the palace, and the relaxed feeling in his heart suddenly became nervous, and he was still more respectful to Apos, even though it was his nephew.

"Honorable Caliph, your complexion is much better than the previous day, and you will definitely get better."

Abdullah's respectful prayer.

Apos looked sideways at Abdullah, tried to make himself look more energetic, and said: "My body is not getting better, and it is a matter of time before I go to see Allah, but thank you for your kindness." ”

"Great caliph, you must take care of your health, your health is the future of the empire, if you have any three strengths and two weaknesses, some people with bad intentions will do nothing."

Abdullah spoke.

Apos frowned and said, "Ill-intentioned man, you mean Mansur!" Don't you have the same mind as al-Mansur? You are all eyeing the position of the caliphate. ”

"Caliph, no, I am your uncle, how can I covet the position of caliph? It's just that as the patriarch of the empire, I can't watch the empire being controlled by people with ulterior motives, and I am responsible for the great cause of the empire. ”

Abdullah said seriously, his voice very stubborn.