Tang capital Chang'an, Penglai Palace, Xuanzheng Palace.

Gaozong looked at the Empress Wu who was sitting side by side on the throne with him, looked at the solemn ministers in the hall, and slowly spoke: "Ladies and gentlemen, this morning, I and you only discussed one thing, that is, the matter of conquering Goguryeo, you also know, Quangai Suwen died, the sons were separated, and his second son and third son male property joined together to expel the eldest son and boy, which violated the law of etiquette and was not tolerated by heaven. Therefore, I decided to send the army deep into the northern Xinjiang to fight against the Jingjing, and planned to use the British Duke and Sikong Li Ji as the general manager of the Liaodong Road march, in charge of the wars in Liaodong, I don't know what the Qing Qing wants? ”

As soon as Gaozong finished speaking, he heard the officials of the emperor and queen who had been intrigued and clearly distinguished, and they shouted in unison for Emperor Shengming, if they didn't know, they still thought that the court was still ruled by Gaozong.

In fact, this time Li Ji was the head of the conquest of Goguryeo, which was actually the result of a compromise between Gojong and Empress Wu, because now the two camps of Gojong and Empress Wu are facing each other, and there is a clear distinction, only Li Ji strictly abides by neutrality, but he can get the trust of Gojong and Empress Wu, and his qualifications, prestige, and ability are also enough to do the job, and it is precisely for this reason that after a long quarrel, the emperor and queen each gave in and finally agreed to take Li Ji as the chief person in charge of the conquest of Goguryeo.

"Since you Aiqing have no objections, it is so decided, with Li Qing as the general manager of the march of Liaodong Road, in charge of the wars in Liaodong. In addition, in order to boost the morale of the whole army, I also decided to order the crown prince to supervise the country, personally go to Goguryeo to interrogate Naquan Nanjian, and ordered him to bow down and admit defeat and never dare to rebel. As he spoke, Gaozong stood up, suddenly said this decision, and saw the stunned expressions of the ministers, and couldn't help but be excited, and his spirit was high.

But he didn't expect his decision to be immediately opposed by the ministers, only to see that Xu Jingzong bowed down first and said: "Your Majesty, this matter must not be, Your Majesty is the monarch of the upper state, the body of ten thousand gold, how can you surrender your identity and come to the small country of the lower state in person?" What's more, Your Majesty's health is not very good, if you go to that bitter cold place, once your condition worsens, wouldn't it be a great misfortune for me to Datang? Wei Chen's loyal and straightforward words will inevitably collide, and I ask Your Majesty to forgive you. ”

As soon as Xu Jingzong said this, Wang Dejian, Yuan Gongyu, Hou Shanye and other members of the Wuhou Party also echoed it, and those who were too radical even hit the ground with their heads and kowtowed to the ground.

Of course, Xu Jingzong is not only concerned about Gaozong's health, but also cares about whether Gaozong will take the opportunity to control military power after he arrives in Liaodong, so he tries his best to dissuade Gaozong.

And then something even more amazing happened, Liu Xiangdao and others of the imperial party also dissuaded Gaozong, they were not only worried about Gaozong's physical condition, but also worried that after Gaozong left, Empress Wu would take the opportunity to deal with them, so they also echoed Xu Jingzong's opinion and desperately dissuaded.

For many years, the hundred officials of the imperial court have never been so unanimous in their opinion as they are today, and twice in a row! Such a scene is definitely making history.

Under the unanimous opposition of the ministers, Gaozong's high-spirited expression was finally dispelled, but he was still a little unwilling, and planned to go his own way, but he didn't expect Empress Wu to also admonish him in person, and listed a lot of reasons, such as Gaozong's poor health, such as the imperial driver's personal expedition specifications are too high, Goguryeo is not worthy, such as the emperor's presence is easy to interfere in military and political affairs, which is not conducive to war, etc.

Regardless of whether these reasons are far-fetched or not, in short, Empress Wu's attitude has been clear, and the ministers are all in the attitude that Gaozong will not give up if he does not agree to cancel the imperial conquest, Gaozong can't help but sigh, and his heart begins to waver, but he is still a little unwilling, so he asked Li Ji, who has been silent: "Li Aiqing, Yi'er said, should I personally conquer Goguryeo?" ”

But he heard Li Ji slowly stepped forward, bowed down and said: "Weichen thinks that what Her Royal Highness the Queen and your colleagues said is good, Your Majesty is a body of ten thousand gold, and it is really not suitable to go to Goguryeo, but Weichen also knows Your Majesty's intentions, and comes to the north in person with the holy car to boost the morale of the army. ”

"Aiqing is reasonable, that's how it is decided." Seeing that Li Ji had found the best step for himself, Gaozong naturally agreed, but he immediately asked, "But which one should I send to Northern Xinjiang?" Is there a candidate for Li Qing? ”

Li Ji bowed slightly and said: "King Xun Sujie has always been smart, and he is His Majesty's own son, and the minister heard that he recently wrote "On Loyalty and Filial Piety", and if he wants to be loyal, it is better to send King Xun to Goguryeo on behalf of His Majesty, I don't know what Your Majesty wants?" ”

Li Sujie, the king of Xun, is the fourth son of Gaozong, and his mother is Concubine Xiao Shu, who is the most hated by Empress Wu among the sons of Gaozong.

Sure enough, as soon as Li Ji finished speaking, he heard Yuan Gongyu, a member of Xitaishe, step forward and say: "Your Majesty, the old minister thinks that this matter is impossible, the old minister Xiang Wen Xun King is not in good health, and His Majesty took care of King Xun some time ago, so that he does not have to enter the palace frequently to see him, so that King Xun's illness should not be light, even so, how can he go on behalf of His Majesty?" ”

"In that case, how about King Qi's gold?" Li Ji pretended to frown, and then brought up Gaozong's other son and asked Gaozong.

So far, Gaozong has given birth to a total of eight sons, of which the eldest son Li Zhong was executed, the second son Li Xiao died of illness, and the rest is the third son Li Shangjin is the largest, but because it is not from the Empress Wu, it is very disgusted by the Empress Wu, although this son's physical fitness and ability can take on the heavy responsibility of replacing Gaozong this time, the people of the Hou Party will never agree, because if this person takes advantage of this to grasp the military power, wouldn't it be the Empress Wu to lift a stone and shoot himself in the foot?

Therefore, Li Ji's proposal was naturally unanimously opposed by everyone in the Hou Party, and even Empress Wu personally came forward to veto it, for the simple reason that Li Shangjin was not Gaozong's concubine and could not achieve the desired effect.

The ministers saw that Gaozong's only two surviving sons were all denied, so the rest were the four sons-in-law born to Empress Wu, and among the four sons-in-law, Li Hong was the crown prince, so it was naturally impossible to take this risk, and Li Xulun, the king of Yu, was really young, so he could only choose one among Li Xian, the king of Pei, and Li Xian, the king of Zhou.

In the eyes of most ministers, this time it must be Li Xian, the king of Pei, who was sent to the northern frontier to fight in place of the emperor, after all, Li Xian has had the reputation of virtue since he was a child, and he is two years older than Li Xian, so it is relatively more suitable.

So this time, without waiting for Li Ji to say more, a minister recommended Pei Wangxian, and this recommender was Liu Xiangdao, the head of the imperial party.

This is not that Liu Xiangdao hates Li Xian, but from an objective point of view, he thinks that Li Xian is a little young and not very suitable, and at the same time, he also knows that Li Xian and Empress Wu have a bad relationship, so he wants Li Xian to take the opportunity to control part of the military power to restrain Empress Wu's ambitions. Moreover, Liu Xiangdao had been the governor of King Pei's mansion in the past, and he had a very good relationship with Li Xian, thinking that after waiting for this matter, he took the initiative to contact Li Xian and unite with the prince to jointly balance Empress Wu, perhaps he could curb Empress Wu's ambitions and make Gaozong feel better.

But who is the Empress Wu? How could she watch the power fall into the hands of Li Xian, who had always been at odds with her? Therefore, he signaled Xu Jingzong to take the lead in opposing it.

Xu Jingzong is the confidant of the Empress Wu, and naturally knows the meaning of the Empress Wu, so he took the lead in objecting: "Weichen thinks it is impossible, although King Pei is virtuous, but his temperament is too strong, and he may not be hindered in the battle, but this time the conquest of Goguryeo must be used to suppress and appease, mainly to soothe, to suppress for use, King Zhou's temperament is soft and easy-going, which is more suitable." ”

"Not really." Liu Xiangdao immediately retorted: "Although Xu Xiang's words are reasonable, the king of Zhou is also very virtuous and intelligent, but the king of Zhou is still young, and he does not read much, I am afraid that it will be difficult to take on this important responsibility. ”

At this time, he saw the Zhenghou Shanye of the Detailed Punishment Temple sneering and said: "In this way, does Duke Liu think that King Zhou is young and his literary skills are not good?" However, Liu Gong didn't know that although King Zhou was young, he was seven feet tall, half a head taller than King Pei, not only outstanding martial arts, but also extraordinary literary talent, how could he not go to Northern Xinjiang? ”

"Hehe, is it hearsay? I heard that King Zhou has only known how to dance guns and sticks in recent years, and he doesn't like to read, and he doesn't know how to read or write history. Liu Xiangdao has always looked down on Hou Shanye, who got rich and noble by slapping horses, but now when he saw that the other party actually criticized himself with such a ridiculous question, he couldn't help but laugh dumbly and refuted.

But seeing Hou Shanye said with a disdainful face: "Xia Guan originally thought that Liu Xiang, as the chief minister, must know all the major events in the world, but now it seems that he is really not worthy of the name." ”

"What do you mean by that?" Liu Xiangdao didn't expect that he was so despised by the other party, so he couldn't help but become angry, and asked in a deep voice.

I saw Hou Shanye laugh and said: "Liu Xiang used to be the chief of Pei Wang's mansion, and now he is trying to find a way to make more credit for the old master, and the lower officials also understand, but Liu Xiang can't slander King Zhou at will because of this, Liu Xiang doesn't know, a few years ago, King Zhou was only seven years old, and he made a poem, this poem is strict, the language is natural and fluent but neat, the lyricism of the writing scene is perfectly blended, and the artistic conception is complete, which can be called a swan song. ”

"Oh? I don't know what kind of poem it is? was so recommended, but he wanted to be taught. Liu Xiangdao had long been accustomed to seeing the face of this sycophant, so he naturally didn't believe it, so he asked with a sneer.

But seeing that Hou Shanye was not annoyed, he slowly recited: "The poem says, leaving the grass on the plain, one year old and one withered." Wildfires burn inexhaustibly, and spring breezes blow and regenerate. Yuanfang invaded the ancient road, and the clear green connected the deserted city. and sent the madman away, full of farewell. ”

Liu Xiangdao was stunned when he heard this, and then laughed and said, "What are you talking about? Haha, it's ridiculous, this poem is a masterpiece that has recently become popular in the literary world, it is said that it was written by a prodigy, and you actually pushed this well-known poem to the head of King Zhou, and I don't know if it fulfilled King Zhou or harmed King Zhou? ”

But Hou Shanye also sneered: "I'm afraid I don't know this song Liu Xiang, this poem was made by King Zhou when he teased a madman, but at that time, King Zhou was visiting with micro-service, which was troublesome, so he did not reveal his identity. ”