A few days later, Wu Zetian destroyed the reputation of the Tang Dynasty's concubine Xu Qing, Princess Xuancheng, and Princess Yiyang, thus destroying the reputation of the royal family.

The royalists dominated by the Li Tang royal family, meritorious families, aristocratic high lords and other vested interests are firm supporters of the emperor Li Zhi, and are also supporters of the crown prince Li Hong, because Li Zhi admires and trusts the prince Li Hong very much, and the prince is very filial to Li Zhi, and often reports to Li Zhi alone for important matters, which causes Wu Zetian's dissatisfaction, and is also one of the reasons why she is determined to abolish her own eldest son Li Hong's crown prince, another reason is that the prince is virtuous, humble and benevolent, and is deeply supported by the subjects of the Tang Dynasty, Wu Zetian is obsessed with power, worried that one day Li Zhi, who is not in good health, will abdicate and let Li Hong be the emperor, then she will not want to continue to listen to the government and take charge of the military and political power of the Tang Dynasty.

The family of Wu Zetian's mother and Wu Zetian's mother Yang's family, officials from humble backgrounds who benefited from Wu Zetian's promotion of the imperial examination and embarked on a career in official careers, as well as a group of cronies and ministers of civil and military affairs promoted by Wu Zetian by using the privilege of reviewing and approving chapters and official documents, are the main forces of Wu Zetian's party.

As a result, two seriously opposing factions were formed in the court, and the royalists and the latter party quarreled inextricably, and if it were not for the presence of Emperor Li Zhi and Empress Wu, I am afraid that they would have to fight in the solemn court.

Li Zhi couldn't control the situation, so he pretended to go to the toilet and asked his cronies and eunuchs to invite Xu Qing to come to the court.

After hearing the news, Xu Qing immediately abandoned his work and led a company of female soldiers to pretend to be maidservants and enter the palace. Xu Qing missed the time of the early dynasty, but he was a concubine, a general, and a confidant of Emperor Li Zhi, and the Jinwuwei soldiers guarding the palace did not dare to stop Xu Qing, Xu Qing let the female soldiers stay outside the Xuanzheng Palace, and handed over the sword to the female soldier company commander for safekeeping, and arrived outside the gate of the Xuanzheng Hall under the leadership of the Jinwuwei soldiers, and Li Zhi was passed on by the eunuch of Emperor Li Zhi's henchman. Li Zhi announced that Xu Qing was visited.

Xu Qing visited the emperor "sons and ministers see their fathers", did not visit Wu Zetian, who hid behind the curtain and listened to the government like other ministers, gathered his eyes and glanced at the party with a cold gaze, which made the party shudder.

Before Xu Qing's arrival, the emperor Li Zhi was so frightened that the six gods had no master, and he did not dare to make a sound, and the royalist party was leaderless, and the morale was greatly reduced, and only some loyal ministers who were not afraid of death and loyal to the emperor spoke against the abolition of the crown prince because of a trivial matter.

Xu Qing said to Li Zhi, who was sitting on the dragon chair: "Father, my sons heard the quarrel from a distance outside the palace, and I don't know what happened?" ”

Li Zhidao: "There are officials and ministers who impeach the prince, saying that the prince is going to visit the Qinglou with you, but is there such a thing?" ”

Wu Zetian planned to abolish Li Hong's position as the crown prince at the court meeting, seriously infringing on the interests of the royalists, Xu Qing was very angry, changed his original intention of making Li Hong not the prince, and decided to fight with Wu Zetian, glanced at the ministers and said: "There is no matter, which bastard made a rumor, stand up and confront this horse, and this horse beats his head!" ”

It was Wu Zhenghui who revealed that the prince and Xu Qing went to a brothel together. Wu Zhenghui and Xu Qing had the hatred of taking Xue Jiao before, and the hatred of taking the "rose" later, he had Wu Zetian to support him, and his father and uncle who held heavy troops to support him, and he was not intimidated by Xu Qing's momentum in the court, and stood up to confront Xu Qing, and said that he had a testimony - the boss of "Tianxiang Pavilion" had been secretly arrested by Xuanxuanmen and imprisoned in Wu Zetian's guards.

Wu Zetian ordered the boss of "Tianxiang Pavilion".

The owner of the "Tianxiang Pavilion" was quickly brought to identify the prince and Xu Qing as having visited his place, and Xu Qing also took the top courtesan "Rose" from the "Tianxiang Pavilion".

Xu Qing said: "The ministers heard clearly, this horse is the main master, this horse went to the Qinglou to listen to the music, and then brought the courtesan back without being blamed by anyone, the prince just accompanied me to listen to a few songs in the Qinglou, and did not do anything that people and gods are angry about, why should the spearhead be aimed at the prince?"

This is obviously a conspiracy, a conspiracy to overthrow the emperor's wise rule, and a conspiracy to overthrow the Tang Dynasty. Everyone knows that the prince is virtuous, filial to his father, humble to the ministers, benevolent to the people, deeply loved by his father, and loved by his subjects.

But some people don't like the prince, pick bones in eggs, I can pick bones if I want to pick bones, Wu Zhenghui is a minister's son, and he is also an official of the imperial court, go to the Qinglou to have fun, what kind of system does it become? The prince just listened to a few songs with me in the Qinglou, and I paid for the prince to listen to the music, but the prince didn't spend a penny, and Wu Zhenghui probably had to use a carriage to pull the money on the girls in the Qinglou. If the crown prince's behavior is to the extent of abolishing his crown prince, then Wu Zhenghui's behavior is to the extent of cutting off his head! ”

"Makes sense!" The ministers discussed a lot, and some centrist ministers felt that the Hou Party was making a big fuss, and the Wu family members in the Hou Party hurriedly retreated, fearing that if the matter went deeper, Wu Zhenghui would be beheaded, and Wu Zhenghui's father, Wu Chenghei, would have no way to teach his son, and he would be taken off his black gauze hat.

Wu Zetian saw that the situation had reversed, and it was no longer possible to abolish Li Hong's position as the prince, so he hurriedly played a round and put the responsibility on the boss of the "Tianxiang Pavilion", and said: "It's all to blame on this guy, he said that the prince had an affair with a courtesan in the 'Tianxiang Pavilion', and he was black and white, confusing the public, and even the palace was deceived by him. ”

The boss of the "Tianxiang Pavilion" shouted: "Wronged--the queen spares her life-" No one paid attention to him, and the two Jinwuwei soldiers pulled him out and cut him down.

The spirit of the royalists was greatly boosted, and those who were originally intimidated by Wu Zetian's momentum, and saw that Emperor Li Zhi did not dare to speak out, and did not dare to speak out against the abolition of the crown prince, all spoke one after another, expressing their support for the crown prince.

Li Zhi took the opportunity to say: "Queen, since the ministers all think that the prince's visit to the Qinglou to listen to music is just a trivial matter, and you were also deceived by the owner of the Qinglou, then the remarks on abolishing the prince will be invalidated, what do you think?" ”

Wu Zetian did not have the ability to abolish Li Hong's position as the crown prince, so he wanted to ease relations with Li Hong, and said: "Of course, but after this incident, the prince should pay attention to the cultivation of morality in the future, and don't let people talk nonsense." ”

The prince hated what his mother had done, but because of her power, he had to say respectfully: "The sons obey the teachings of the queen mother." ”

Li Zhi announced his retirement from the dynasty.

A struggle between swords and swords was skillfully resolved by Xu Qing, and Xu Qing's fame rose sharply and he became the leader of the royalist party. The crown prince Li Hong was grateful to Xu Qing, the emperor Li Zhi appreciated and trusted Xu Qing more, the centrist ministers respected Xu Qing more, and the people thanked Xu Qing for saving the prince, and they were also grateful to Xu Qing, Xu Qing suddenly became the embodiment of light and justice, and the nemesis of darkness and evil forces.