Chu Suiliang was deposed as the governor of Tanzhou in September of the sixth year of Yonghui, which dealt a heavy blow to the Taiwei faction, and the Taiwei faction was unwilling to sink and launched a rescue operation.

In the process of abolishing Wang Liwu, Han Ying once wept and admonished, and kept echoing with Chu Suiliang, and after Chu Suiliang was demoted for half a year, Han Ying hollowed out his mind to write a discussion on the theory.

It is to the effect that Chu Suiliang is industrious and loyal, has forgotten his country, and has passed the cold and summer from being demoted to now, and has been punished for violating His Majesty's crimes, and asks for forgiveness to conform to human favors.

Li Zhi said to Han Ying after the imperial review: "I also know Chu Suiliang's situation, but he committed a disobedience, and I can't bear it, so I used the charge of resentment to confer him as the governor of Tanzhou, am I at fault?" Qing has said so much, and the emotions are so deep, I think too much! Han Ying retreated silently.

This rescue was fruitless, the Taiwei faction did not give up, and Han Ying continued to correspond with Chu Suiliang.

In March of the second year of Xianqing, Han Ying and Zhongshu Ling came to Jishang to invite Chu Suiliang, the governor of Yitan Prefecture, to Guizhou, in exchange for agreeing to the Li Yifu and Zhongshu Orders of the pro-military faction.

Tanzhou is located in Changsha, Hunan, the central capital governor's office, managing Chenzhou, Yongzhou and other 7 states, and Guizhou is located in Guilin, Guangxi, which is also the central capital governor's office, managing 12 prefectures such as Wuzhou and Hezhou, with beautiful scenery, and is the key point of the soldiers of the past dynasties. The transfer of Chu Suiliang to Guizhou seems to be a transfer at the same level, but it is actually an expansion of real power.

Li Zhi gave the Taiwei faction a face, and readily agreed to the invitation. After Chu Suiliang arrived in Guizhou, on the one hand, he traveled through the mountains and rivers of Guilin, relieved his chest for more than a year, and on the other hand, strengthened the governance of the state capital and repaired the garrison.

It is said that the success of the Empress Wu is due to the ventilation of the little people, so the Empress Wu attaches great importance to the cultivation of "eyes and ears", and does not hesitate to reward them heavily.

The Taiwei faction thought it was a plan, but unexpectedly, Empress Wu had already ordered Xu Jingzong and Li Yifu to secretly strengthen the surveillance of the Taiwei faction. Chu Suiliang's every move in Guizhou and his stagecoach exchanges with officials in the capital could be known in time after the martial arts, and he reported to Li Zhi when the time was ripe.

In the blink of an eye, in the middle of summer, Xu Jingzong's monitoring personnel intercepted the letters between Han Ying and Chu Suiliang and reported them to Empress Wu, who in turn reported to Li Zhi.

Li Zhi was overjoyed to see that he had the real evidence of the Taiwei faction, and combined with the materials collected before, he accused Han Yuan, Laiji and Chu Suiliang of uniting to plot wrongdoing, because Guizhou was a place to be used, so he deliberately transferred Chu Suiliang as the governor of Guizhou, thinking that it was foreign aid.

On this charge, Zuo granted Han Ying as the assassin of Zhenzhou, which is in Sanya, Hainan Province, and is the location of the end of the world, much farther than Guilin.

He also gave the Zhongshu Ling and the crown prince Zhan Shi to Jizuo to give Taizhou the history of the assassination, Taizhou is in present-day Zhejiang, and this punishment is relatively light. Because Laiji did not have a handle on letters, he assisted the crown prince Li Hong.

Then dethroned Chu Suiliang as the history of Aizhou, also known as Jiuzhen County, farther than the end of the world, in the northwest of Thanh Hoa, Vietnam. In ancient times, when transportation was inconvenient, it was really difficult to go through a lot of difficulties and dangers.

He also moved the Rongzhou Thorn Shi Liu Zheng to the left to the Xiangzhou Thorn History, and let him toss on the road. The backbone of the Taiwei faction was basically served in one pot here. And Xu Jingzong, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, was promoted to the rank of servant to show his appreciation.

Chu Suiliang set out from Guizhou, after a long journey to reach Aizhou, exhausted, and not adapted to the tropical jungle climate and mosquito bites here, often sick, even affecting his family, really unbearable, had to ignore the old face to beg for pity.

The gist of the begging table is to say that he once fought against Cen Wenwen and Liu Xun when Li Chengqian and Li Tai were fighting, and made great contributions to Li Zhi's entry into the East Palace, and supported Li Zhi when the first emperor was critically ill, and dealt with trivial matters of the court and government, so that the inside and outside were peaceful, which was also a merit, so he begged His Majesty to pity.

After the watch was played, it was the middle of winter, and the Empress Wu roasted the fire in Luoyang Palace, laughed at the watch, and threw the watch into the stove to start the fire. And Li Zhi personally wrote an edict to change Luoyang Palace to the eastern capital, and the rank of Luozhou officials was allowed to refer to the Yongzhou standard, and Heyang, Jiyuan and other places were placed under the jurisdiction of Luozhou.

The eldest grandson Wuji also received a letter of help from Chu Suiliang, and he couldn't help but plead with his nephew because of his feelings, but he had already been rude to his nephew, and he didn't worship the queen, how could he meet and plead?

It's embarrassing. It just so happened that Dr. Taichang reported that the "Xianqing Ceremony" was about to be completed, and the eldest grandson Wuji could take the opportunity to meet his nephew with the new gift.

On the fifth day of the first month of the third year of Xianqing, the "Xianqing Ceremony" was completed, with a total of 130 volumes and 259 articles. Originally, it was one volume and two articles, but because Dr. Taichang Xiao Chucai thought that the courtiers should not talk about the emperor's murder, and Xu Jingzong and Li Yifu agreed, so they burned the "National Shirt".

In the morning, Taiwei Changsun Wuji led the way to the Xuanzheng Hall of Luoyang Palace, and Xu Jingzong and Li Yifu then reported to Li Zhi on the repair of the "Xianqing Ceremony" and congratulated him on the completion. Under the rule of Li, the "Celebration Ceremony" was issued to the world and implemented at home and abroad.

The report was stolen by Xu Jingzong and Li Yifu, especially Li Yifu's mouth was like a river and gushing, describing in detail the shortcomings and deficiencies of "Zhenguan Li", praising the completeness and informativeness of "Xianqing Li", so that the eldest grandson Wuji forgot to intercede, and did not say a word for Chu Suiliang until the end of the meeting.

In the middle of spring, Li Zhi drove back to Beijing from the eastern capital, and returned to Chang'an Taiji Palace on February 21.

Soon, there was a military victory, Su Dingfang and Xiao Siye broke through the Western Turkic army, captured the Shabalo Khan Helu, harvested more than 400,000 Western Turkic population and livestock, and pacified the Western Regions.

Li Zhi ordered the establishment of the Mengchi Metropolitan Protectorate and the Kunling Metropolitan Protectorate in the Western Regions, and the Anxi Metropolitan Protectorate in the Qiuci Kingdom, with Gaochang's hometown as the Western Prefecture.

The territory of the Tang Empire has greatly expanded, and Li Zhi was happy and suddenly realized that this was the credit of the Empress Wu's eclectic talent reduction, and since the Empress Wu returned to the palace from Ganye Temple, his good luck was one after another, whether it was a family or a country, it was smooth sailing.

Li Zhi was so satisfied with his discernment, and decided that Empress Wu was his lucky star and a gift from God Haotian to him, so he naturally obeyed Empress Wu.

In the blink of an eye, in the middle of summer, Li Zhi sent Cheng Mingzhen, the governor of Yingzhou, and Xue Rengui, the general of the right leading army, to lead troops to attack Goguryeo, and received the good news of conquering Chifeng Town.

Compared with Li Wu's good luck, Chu Suiliang is much more pitiful, which can be described as bad luck.

Aizhou belongs to the tropical climate zone, high temperature, high humidity, and wind and rain, Chu Suiliang is old and weak, not suitable for this climate environment, often cold, and by mosquito bites and southern miasma trouble, infected with malaria, soon fell ill, passed away.

Because of the long distance, the news of Chu Suiliang's death did not reach Chang'an until the end of the year, when the imperial court was holding a grand funeral for Chi Jingde, the Duke of Hubei, and gave Chu Suiliang's death a cold treatment.

The Chinese book made Li Yifu have a restless heart, relying on his favor, and even mobilized the whole family to be corrupt, and his mother, wife, son, and son-in-law went into battle to sell their official positions together, and the court was like a market.

Du Zhenglun, who is also a Zhongshu order, is older than Li Yifu, and he wants to be ahead of Li Yifu when he stands on the waiting class and signs the meeting, but Li Yifu often argues with him and is unwilling to be under him, so there are contradictions.

Du Zhenglun saw that Li Yifu's whole family was corrupt and bribed, and he couldn't help but plot with Li Youyi, a Chinese scholar, to expel Li Yifu, and Li Yifu found out the news and told Li Zhi.

When he was in the last dynasty, Du Zhenglun criticized Li Yifu in front of Li Zhi, and Li Yifu also argued loudly, which was very similar to the posture of Chu Suiliang taking off his hat and admonishing him. Li Zhi was very unhappy, scolded the two to stop arguing, and controlled the court scene like a variety show host.

Afterwards, on November 6, Du Zhenglun was denounced as the assassin of Hengzhou, Li Yifu was the assassin of Puzhou, and Li Youyi was exiled to Fengzhou. Du Zhenglun died in Hengzhou soon after. The imperial court ministry can not be vacant, on the ninth day, Xu Jingzong was appointed as the secretary of the order, and Xin Mao, the secretary of Dali, will be the servant.

Originally, Empress Wu wanted to get rid of the Taiwei faction in the third year of Xianqing, but Li Yifu stabbed another leak and had to delay it until the next year.

In the first month of the fourth year of Xianqing, Empress Wu summoned Xu Jingzong to discuss how to get rid of the Taiwei faction.

Empress Wu thought that Sun Wuji, the eldest lieutenant, accepted ten carts of gifts but did not approve of the abolition of Wang Liwu, which was contrary to human feelings, and he was unwilling to worship the queen and lose the courtesy of a minister.

Xu Jingzong thought so, and also talked about his persuasion of the eldest grandson Wuji, persuading him to recognize the situation, put himself in the right position, and know the advance and retreat, the benefits and disadvantages, and the gains and losses, but he didn't listen, and reprimanded himself in person. So the two faced a common enemy and formulated a strategy of struggle.

Empress Wu also advised Li Zhi to recruit talents as reserves, so that when a group of officials were taken down, the reserve officials could be immediately put on top, so that the state institutions would not be shut down. Li Zhi also thought so.

In the middle of spring in February, when the imperial examination was completed and the list was released, and the people who were admitted became tributes, and they were immersed in joy, Li Zhi suddenly announced that he would conduct a strategic examination for all the people, and the emperor would personally invigilate the examination to select the talents needed by the country.

The examination was held in the largest Taiji Hall in the palace, a total of 900 people participated in the examination, and Li Zhi personally sat in the hall to invigilate the examination, only to test the policy. Officials of the Ministry of Rites are responsible for the roll call, scattering the papers, guiding the people to praise and salute, and then issuing the policy items, which are collected in the evening.

After Li Zhi and Empress Wu personally read the file together, five people, including Guo Zhifeng and Zhang Jiuling, were appointed to the top and became Jinshi, and they were ordered to wait for the Zhaohong Wenguan and worship them in battle. This is the first palace examination in the history of China.

Soon after the palace examination, Li Zhi received a letter of complaint from Li Fengjie, a native of Luoyang, accusing the prince of Xima Wei Jifang and the superintendent of the imperial history Li Chao for colluding with friends and acting in embarrassment.

Ladies and gentlemen, how did the emperor receive the complaint of the common people? How can ordinary people know the secrets of officialdom?

Obviously, this is the result of Empress Wu and Xu Jingzong operating behind the scenes. Their intelligence network is very well developed, and they know the secrets of officialdom, especially political opponents, so it is entirely feasible to ask a reliable civilian to copy the complaint and hand it in on their behalf.

After Li Zhi read the complaint letter, he keenly realized that Wei Jifang was an official of the Taiwei faction, and Li Chao was once under the command of Li Yifu, but now what did he want to do when he was co-opted by the Taiwei faction? So he ordered Xu Jingzong and Xin Mao to try the case.

This is in the hands of Xu Jingzong, and he learned from the operation methods of Princess Gaoyang's rebellion case and made a special case. Xu Jingzong sent people to try Wei Jifang and Li Chao day and night, of course, the focus was on Wei Jifang, constantly pointing out the relationship between Wei Jifang and the eldest grandson Wuji, and implying that Wei Jifang implicated the eldest grandson Wuji.

Due to the urgency of the interrogation and the use of torture tools, Wei Jifang was so frightened that he even stabbed himself with torture tools, but he did not die. Xu Jingzong instructed the medical workers to treat him, and then wrote a case file to report, saying that the purpose of Wei Jifang's collusion with friends was to unite with Changsun Wuji to frame the loyal relatives of the loyal ministers, so that the power would return to Changsun Wuji, and wait for the rebellion, and now the matter is exposed, so he committed suicide so as not to implicate more people.

After reading the case file, Li Zhi asked in surprise: "How can there be such a thing?" Uncle Yuan was separated by the villain, and Xiaosheng may be suspicious, how can he rebel? ”

Xu Jingzong said: "The minister carefully investigated the ins and outs of this case, and figured out the whole thing, not rashly, the eldest grandson Wuji's counter-case has been revealed, but His Majesty is hesitant, I am afraid it is not the blessing of the community!" ”

Li Zhichang sighed and cried and said: "My family is unfortunate, there are many different aspirations among relatives, in the past years, Princess Gaoyang rebelled against Fang Yuai, and now Uncle Yuan is like this, so that I am ashamed to see the people of the world." What should I do if this matter is confirmed? ”

When Xu Jingzong heard this, his eyebrows raised, and he knew that there was a play, but the emperor was difficult to make up his mind for a while, so he pinched the ivory wat and read the tips written on the wat, and said loudly: "Fang Yiai is a milky child, and it is impossible to rebel against a woman!" But the eldest grandson Wuji is different, he and the first emperor seek the world together, and the world obeys his wisdom; has been the prime minister for 30 years, and the world is afraid of his authority; If he is in trouble, who will His Majesty send to stop him? ”

Li Zhi motioned for the chamberlain to sit down, and Xu Jingzong sat down and continued: "Today, the spirit of the Zong Temple, the emperor is evil, because of a trivial matter, but he gets a great treachery and a great evil, it is really a celebration of the world!" After the ministers learned the news of Wei Jifang's self-assassination, he was embarrassed and conspired, and he shouted with him, and he gathered with evil, and he would be worried about the temple. ”

Li Zhi listened attentively, full of interest, Xu Jingzong paused for a while, and said: "In the past, the minister saw Yu Wenhua's father Yu Wenshu being favored by Emperor Yang of Sui, married and entrusted to the government. After Yu Wenshu's death, Yu Wenhua was in charge of the forbidden army, but he rebelled in Jiangdu at night, killing people who were not attached to him, and his father Xu Shanxin died at that time. The ministers Su Wei and Pei Juzhi saw the wind and the rudder, and they all danced under the horse's head, fearing that they would not be able to do so, so they killed Emperor Yang of Sui at dawn. The future is not far off, may Your Majesty decide as soon as possible! ”

Li Zhi secretly thought, this is clearly a metaphor for the eldest grandson Wuji in Yuwenshu, how can I be the second Emperor Yang of Sui? However, to punish the eldest grandson Wuji, he felt that the evidence was insufficient, so he ordered Xu Jingzong to investigate again.

The next day, Xu Jingzong played again: "Last night, Wei Jifang had already admitted that he was against the eldest grandson Wuji, and the minister asked Wei Jifang again: 'Wuji is a close relative of the country, tired of the dynasty's favor, what resentment do you want to rebel again?' Wei Jifang replied: "Han Ying once said to Wuji that Liu Zheng and Chu Suiliang persuaded Li Zhong, the king of Liang, to be the crown prince, and now the king of Liang is abolished, and the emperor is also suspicious of the prince, so the cousin of the Duke of Wai Changqing Gao is the governor of Yizhou. Since then, the eldest grandson Wuji has been worried and afraid, and gradually planned to settle down. Later, when he saw that Sun Xiang, the chief secretary of the Ministry of Labor, was released as the governor of Jingzhou, Han Ying was offended and even more uneasy, so he rebelled against Wei Jifang and other officials day and night. 'The ministers refer to the before and after the resignation, all of which are consistent, please accept the arrest law. ”

Li Zhi was secretly happy when he heard this, and praised Xu Jingzong for his quick work, but on the surface, he had to pretend to be sad and sad, showing the world a benevolent side.

Li Zhi rubbed his eyes and said with tears in his eyes: "If Uncle Yuan really does this, I will never bear to kill him." If you really kill him, what will the people of the world say about me? What will the future generations say about me? ”

Xu Jingzong seemed to have been prepared for this problem, and immediately cheered up and said: "Bo Zhao, is the uncle of Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Wen returned to the imperial court from Daiguo to ascend the throne, Bo Zhao also has merit, his crime is nothing more than killing a person, Emperor Wen sent hundreds of officials to wear plain clothes and cry and kill him, and people today say that Emperor Wen is the lord of Ming." Today's eldest grandson Wuji forgot the great kindness of the two dynasties and plotted to move Sheji, and his guilt is not the same as Bo Zhao! Fortunately, the treacherous state is spontaneous, and the rebels are subdued, what is Your Majesty still worried about? Don't make a decision sooner? The ancients had a saying: When the judgment continues, it will be chaotic. The opportunity for safety is not allowed to happen, the eldest grandson Wuji is the traitor of today, Wang Mang, Sima Yi and other figures, His Majesty is less and more delayed, and the ministers are afraid of becoming elbows and armpits, and they regret it! ”

Li Zhi was shocked when he heard this, and thought it was true, and no longer recruited the eldest grandson Wuji to question him in person.

On the twenty-second day of April, he issued an edict to cut off the eldest grandson Wuji Taiwei and Fengyi, and took up the post of governor of Yangzhou, and settled in Qianzhou, which was still supplied with quasi-first-class products. Sent Dali Zhenghou Shanye as an envoy to levy troops stationed along the way to send Changsun Wuji and his party to Qianzhou.

The eldest grandson Wuji praised himself and walked into Shu, walked to the side of the Bao River, Gu Ying felt sorry for himself, sighed and said: "This nephew will directly put Gu Ming's old minister in a nest and create his own new era, and then I am afraid that I will give the old man a three-foot white silk, good means, pheasant slave, uncle obeys you!" ”

A few days later, Xu Jingzong played again: "The eldest grandson Wuji conspired against him, which was formed by Chu Suiliang, Liu Zheng, Han Ying and other officials. ”

Li Zhi played the quasi-performance, issued an edict to posthumously cut down Chu Suiliang's official titles, removed Liu Zheng and Han Yuan, dismissed the crown prince and prince Yu Zhining's official position, and returned them to his private ranks.

The twelve sons of the eldest grandson Wuji, including the secretary and chief supervisor Sun Chong, the eldest son of Honglu Shaoqing, the eldest grandson of Shangyifeng, the eldest grandson of Shangyifeng, and the eldest grandson of Taichang Shaoqing, were all removed from the list and exiled to Lingbiao. Chu Suiliang's sons Chu Yanfu and Chu Yanchong were exiled to Aizhou, and killed them all on the way.

Shi Gao, the governor of Yizhou, fulfilled the left title of governor of Hongzhou, and soon was demoted to the history of Yongzhou assassination. Sun Xiangzuo, the governor of Jingzhou, gave Changzhou the history of the assassination, and soon found out the letter he wrote to the eldest grandson Wuji and hanged him.

After this battle, the Taiwei faction was expelled from the imperial court, and the pro-martial faction won a complete victory, but the military queen was still not satisfied, because the grass had not yet been cut and eradicated, and he was afraid of a resurgence.

On July 27, Li Zhi ordered Li Tao, Xu Jingzong, Xin Maojiang, Governor Ren Yaxiang, and Lu Chengqing to jointly review the case of Changsun Wuji and confirm that the Taiwei faction had plotted rebellion.

The imperial court sent the superintendent of the imperial history to Gaozhou to chase Sun En, the elder brother of the Wuji clan, to chase Liu Zheng in Xiangzhou, and Han Ying to Zhenzhou, and escorted them all to Beijing with shackles according to the law.

Xu Jingzong sent Yuan Gongyu, a member of the Zhongshu House, to take the guards to Qianzhou to try the rebellion of the eldest Sun Wuji again.

After Yuan Gongyu arrived in Qianzhou, according to the intention of the Empress Wu, he forced the eldest grandson Wuji to hang himself, and all the guards drew their swords around the eldest grandson Wuji, and shouted in unison: "Respectfully invite the governor of Yangzhou to ascend to heaven!" Please hit the road as soon as possible and prepare for a funeral! ”

The eldest grandson Wuji looked around in a hurry, and saw that he had become a lonely person, and suddenly remembered what Li Ke, the king of Wu, said before he died: "The eldest grandson Wuji steals authority and harms the good, the sect has a spirit, and the clan will be destroyed soon!" I couldn't help but sigh and said: "All sentient beings have karma, and the old man is now suffering from the retribution!" Then he hanged himself by the neck.

Li Zhi also ordered that Liu Zheng and Han Ying be captured and executed on the spot, without escorting them to Beijing.

After the supervision of the imperial history arrived in Xiangzhou, he killed Liu Zheng on the spot, and when he arrived in Zhenzhou, he found that Han Ying was dead, so he dug up the coffin, identified the body and returned. After capturing the eldest grandson in Gaozhou, he exiled him to Danzhou. There are no Liu Zheng, Han Yuan, and Changsun En, and their children and grandchildren are exiled to Lingnan as slaves.

At this point, the whole army of Taiwei was destroyed, and the Empress Wu was very happy, and sent someone to recall the Puzhou Assassin Li Yifu, and appointed him as the secretary of the ministry, and the three products under the same Zhongshu.