Zhongzong died, and no one went to find out the cause of his death, it didn't matter, what mattered was that after his death, where would the Tang Dynasty go.

The ministers all know that there are two major forces that are really influential at this time, one is the Hou Party headed by Empress Wei, and the core members include Princess An Le and Shangguan Wan'er; The other is the Li Tang clan headed by Li Dan, the prime minister, and the core members are Princess Taiping. The two groups are evenly matched, and neither can overwhelm the other.

Of course, Li Tao, the king of Lantian, should not be underestimated, but his time in Chang'an was still short after all, and he did not form his own power. In addition, others are not in Chang'an at the moment, so they are ignored intentionally or unintentionally. What should I do in this case? The most reasonable way to do this is for the queen and the clan to jointly elect a new emperor acceptable to both parties.

On the night of Zhongzong's death, the so-called edict of the first emperor was drafted. This edict consisted of three parts: first, the new emperor was held by Li Chongmao, the youngest son of Tang Zhongzong; second, the emperor was young, and Empress Wei listened to the government as the queen mother; Third, in view of the political situation of orphans and widows, the new emperor was assisted by his uncle, Li Dan.

This edict was drafted at a fairly high level. First of all, Li Chongmao, the emperor, was well chosen. He is the son of Tang Zhongzong, which is in line with the principle of succession between father and son. In addition, he was only sixteen years old, so he needed someone to help with the government, so it was acceptable to both parties. Secondly, the second and third parts of the edict took into account the forces of the Empress Wei and the power of the clan, which was a painstaking edict. Of course, this is also a legacy of unstable factors. Because the Empress Wei group and the clan group are on the same page, as the saying goes. The principle that one mountain cannot tolerate two tigers, the two sides will have to compete in the future, but. At least for the time being, this edict should last for a while.

But who didn't expect that as soon as this edict was born, it was fiercely opposed by the ministers of the DPRK and China, and it was not implemented, what is going on?

The day after the edict was drafted, Empress Wei submitted the edict to Zong Chuke. Zong Chuke immediately raised an objection: "It is not appropriate for the prime minister to assist the government; And to the Queen. My sister-in-law didn't ask, why was it polite to listen to the court? ”

His meaning was clear. Empress Wei and King Xiang are sister-in-law and brother-in-law, according to ancient etiquette, uncle and sister-in-law don't speak, how can they let Queen Wei come to the court. And let the prime minister assist the government? How did the two of them get along when they were listening to the court? Zong Chuke proposed. Since my uncle and sister-in-law didn't ask, I simply took out the Xiangwang Auxiliary Government and let Queen Wei directly weigh the system!

Empress Wei has also been in power with Zhongzong for several years, and she has promoted her own people, and as soon as Zong Chuke's proposal came out, most of the ministers supported Empress Wei, and most of them also echoed it. As a result, the content of the edict changed. There are only two left of King Wen Chongmao as the crown prince, and Queen Wei will weigh two in the dynasty!

Empress Wei also knew. After all, King Xiang is the son of Gaozong, and he has a high reputation for this alone, and he has enough capital to make himself afraid of him and not be too wronged by him, so he had to add an official to King Xiang, and decided to let King Xiang Li Dan be the prince and prince, a high-ranking but powerless position.

A few days later, Empress Wei officially appointed the sixteen-year-old Li Chongmao as the emperor, changed the Yuan Tang Long, and added the king of Xiang to the taiwei, and at the same time made the eldest son of the king of Xiang Cheng from the king of the county to the prince and named Song. Taiwei is one of the three dukes, and in fact he has no power at all, and this taiwei is not as good as his son's benefit from the prince of the county to the prince.

After revising the edict, Empress Wei urgently dispatched 50,000 soldiers into Chang'an, and together with the forbidden army, implemented military management over Chang'an. There are a total of six top military generals in the government and the forbidden army, and all of them are appointed by the children or sons-in-law of the Wei family. The supreme commander was Empress Wei's cousin, Prime Minister Wei Wen.

Empress Wei did this, obviously, and wanted to be the emperor!

Maybe when Zhongzong was here, she was just thinking about being the emperor, but now that Zhongzong is dead, the situation has changed. Although she knew in her heart that Zhongzong definitely did not die in her own hands, who would believe it? She made up her mind about this black cauldron, and coupled with Zong Chuke's constant instigation, she simply didn't do anything and went to the emperor's throne wholeheartedly.

Empress Wei is the emperor, who is most afraid? Of course it's the Li Tang clan! Back then, Wu Zetian was proclaimed emperor, and the Li Tang clan was killed, and now if Empress Wei comes like this again, Li Tang may be even more exhausted! Besides, Wu Zetian was called the emperor, after all, it was passed on to his son in the end and passed back to the Li Tang Dynasty; However, Empress Wei has no son, and if she really becomes the emperor, it is even more difficult to say who the throne will end up in!

If the clan doesn't want to be arrested, it has to save itself.

How can I help myself? The leader of the clan is undoubtedly the prime minister Li Dan. But Empress Wei is not stupid, she has already prevented this move, and she has already sent troops to "protect" the Prime Minister's mansion. In this way, the clan will have no leader.

"A wise man thinks a thousand times, and there will be a mistake." Empress Wei and her comrades made a lot of calculations, but they forgot to count the sons of the king.

Do you want to guard against the sons of the king? It's not like no one in Queen Wei's group has thought about this problem.

Prime Minister Li Qiaoren is old and sophisticated, he looked at the sons of King Xiang, and always felt that it was a hidden danger, and he reminded Queen Wei: Now that the situation is tense, hurry up and send the sons of King Xiang to the place. However, Empress Wei didn't listen to him. Maybe Empress Wei thought that it would never be their turn to be the emperor, so she didn't take them seriously at all.

Empress Wei tampered with the edict and wanted to be the emperor herself, this matter is related to the interests of every Li Tang clan, and she must not be arrested! But what to do? Li Longji grew up in a coup d'état environment of all sizes since he was a child, and he was used to it, and he didn't have to think about it to know that a coup d'état was imminent. At this point, the only way to do this is to carry out a coup d'état and get rid of Empress Wei. But how exactly did this coup work? Although with the help of Li Tao, Li Longji also has his own team, but to confront Empress Wei, this capital is obviously not enough.

Li Longji was most worried about Li Tao at this time, and in his opinion, as long as Li Tao was there, his chances of success would be greatly improved. He even sent someone to Lantian Wangfu every two hours to inquire if Li Tao had returned to Chang'an, but every time the news came, he was disappointed.

Empress Wei was in the Ming place, step by step towards the emperor's throne; Li Longji was in the shadows, intensively preparing for the coup. Both groups are in a race against time. Whoever takes the initiative will lead to success, and glory and shame are only one step away.

Dark clouds rolled over Chang'an City, and the sound of fighting seemed to come from afar. But among the common people, it is a faction of peace. Six streets and three markets, pedestrians are like clouds, bustling, talking and laughing. Although, the tall imperial city can be seen from every corner of Chang'an, the common people still feel that it is too far away from them. (To be continued......)