Responsibility for execution, there are 6 departments below (official household rite soldier criminal work).

Some books (e.g., the Baiyang edition of Zizhi Tongjian) refer to the Menxia Province as a supervisory department, which is not very correct, and the main work of the Menxia Province is to deliberate, and inappropriate decrees are rejected and redrafted by the Zhongshu Province. The real supervision department in the Tang Dynasty was actually called "Yushitai", the prefect was called Yushi Dafu, and the deputy prefect was called Yushi Zhongcheng, and the interesting thing is that the loyal minister Song Jing served as Yushi Zhongcheng, and the traitor Li Linfu also served in this position.

Li Longji acted rashly and injured himself

Li Longji became the emperor as he wished, but his position is not very stable, the emperor is still in charge of major affairs, and most of the ministers in the court are still the henchmen of Princess Taiping.

And at this time, there was a person who was also very uncomfortable, and he was Li Longji's coup hero - Liu Youqiu. Liu Youqiu shot the right servant of the official seal Shangshu at this time, and he was ranked as one of the prime ministers, which was good. But sometimes people are afraid of comparing, at this time, the Shangshu Zuo servant shot (the ancient left was larger) happened to be Dou Huaizhen (that is, the one in charge of the family mentioned above), and the Zhongshu Ling was even worse, it was Cui Xiang ("three escort men", also mentioned above), these two people not only have a bad reputation, but also used to be regarded as Wei Hou's henchmen, at this time, they were all above Liu Youqiu, for Liu Youqiu such a proud person, it is really "bearable, which is unbearable?" "Liu Youqiu decided to change this situation, what about the method? It is still planning the rebellion of the forbidden army.

Liu Youqiu found Zhang Wei, the general of Yulin on the right, and the two planned to instigate the Yulin army to kill Princess Taiping and her henchmen, Zhang Wei then saw Li Longji and reported: "Princess Taiping's henchmen are plotting to frame Your Majesty, we must strike first, otherwise, once the incident happens, how can the Emperor Taishang rest assured, we are ready, please order your Majesty Xià to act." “

Li Longji agreed, but unexpectedly, Zhang Wei inadvertently leaked the news to Deng Guangbin, the servant. This Deng Guangbin usually walked very closely with Princess Taiping's henchman Dou Huaizhen, and as soon as Li Longji heard the news, he was suddenly deserted. He thought about it for a moment, and it might be too late to do it right now. And if the opponent is prepared, he may lose completely. Li Longji was ruthless, so he first wrote to the Emperor Taishang to take the initiative to expose the conspiracy of Liu Youqiu/Zhang Wei and others to separate the flesh and blood, and first vaccinated against him. This trick really worked, and Princess Taiping originally got the news. was ready to sue Li Dan, but Li Longji did this, and the lawsuit could not be done, so he wanted to at least destroy Li Longji's henchmen, so he asked Li Dan to order Liu Youqiu/Zhang Wei and others to be executed for the crime of dividing the royal flesh and blood.

Li Longji had no choice, he sued himself, but Liu Youqiu couldn't help it, otherwise it would be difficult to ensure that his people would not see the wind and turn the rudder, so he put on a mourning posture and desperately pleaded with his father. Li Dan thought. Liu Youqiu/Zhang Wei/Deng Guangbin were exiled to Fengzhou (Xinhui County, Guangdong), Fengzhou (Phu Tho Province, Vietnam), and Xiuzhou (Guiping City, Guangxi), all of which were very remote places.

Li Longji not only damaged the general this time, but I believe that Li Dan was quite dissatisfied with Li Longji this time, but because Li Longji was already the emperor at this time, it was impossible to use this reason to depose him, not to mention that Li Longji still had many supporters. So after thinking about it for a long time, Li Dan decided to let Li Longji inspect the frontier and localities, on the one hand, it was a punishment; On the other hand. It may also be thought that this will reduce the atmosphere of struggle between the two sides.

However, Li Dan still easily compromised, and after a while, the matter of inspecting the frontier and local areas was over, Li Longji continued to be his emperor, and Li Dan continued to be his emperor. Princess Taiping continued to install her people, and the father and son also went up to the city gate tower together to have fun with the people during the Lantern Festival. In private, of course, the struggle between Li Longji and Princess Taiping will not stop!

If the heavens want to die, they will make them crazy!

After Liu Youqiu was exiled to Fengzhou, Princess Taiping knew that Liu Youqiu was Li Longji's core strategist, and it was best to cut the grass and eradicate the roots, so she found Cui Yu and asked him to find someone to attack.

When Cui Xiang was a colleague with Liu Youqiu before, because of his bad reputation, he often had an inferiority complex, and Liu Youqiu had always looked down on him, and a wave of anger had already accumulated in his heart, and now he had a chance to take revenge, so he was naturally overjoyed, so he notified Zhou Lizhen, the governor of Guangzhou (commander of the Guangzhou Military Region), to find a way to kill Liu Youqiu on the way.

At this time, Liu Youqiu was walking to Guizhou (Guilin, Guangxi), Guizhou Governor Wang Jun learned in advance of Cui Xiang's conspiracy with Zhou Lizhen, he was Liu Youqiu's friend, so he left Liu Youqiu in Guizhou, and did not let him go to Fengzhou, Zhou Lizhen sent a document asking Wang Jun to send Liu Youqiu to Fengzhou as soon as possible, Wang Jun ignored it, Zhou Lizhen sent a document back to Chang'an, complained to the imperial court, Cui Xiang strictly ordered Wang Jun to send the exile to the place of exile, Liu Youqiu knew that Princess Taiping's comrades were determined to win it, and they were afraid that Wang Jun would be affected, so they said to Wang Jun:

"You refused the order of the imperial court and did not send me to Fengzhou, I know that you want to protect me, but in the end you may not be able to save me, and it will drag you down, I will let me go!"

Wang Jun replied: "The sin you have committed is not so bad that your friends are not allowed to associate with you, and even if I am guilty because of you, I have nothing to hate." So he continued to keep Liu Youqiu in Guizhou.

At this time, Princess Taiping gradually felt the pressure from Li Longji, although among the senior officials of the central government, Princess Taiping had an advantage, but Li Longji was the emperor at this time, and Li Dan gradually handed over the government to his son, Princess Taiping found that the difficulty of controlling political affairs gradually increased.

In terms of Liu Youqiu's matter, Cui Xiang proposed several times to impeach Wang Jun for not sending Liu Youqiu to Fengzhou, but the result was either that the chapter was detained by the emperor, or someone proposed that Liu Youqiu was sick on the road and could not walk, and he would be sent after the illness was cured.

Not long after, Li Longji appointed Guo Yuanzhen, the former secretary of the Ministry of War, and the third rank of the same Zhongshu Sect, that is, he has the authority of the prime minister, this Guo Yuanzhen is a hardcore Li Longji person!

Li Longji's idea is that although I can't replace your Princess Taiping's men and horses at once, I can gradually pull my people up and fight against you.

The more Princess Taiping thought about it, the more wrong she became, so she had the idea of launching a coup d'état and ousting the emperor from power.

Not long after, Princess Taiping summoned the five prime ministers she promoted (Dou Huaizhen/Xiao Zhizhong/Cen Xi/Cui Xiang/Lu Xiangxian) to hold a group meeting together, at the meeting, Princess Taiping once again proposed to her own people:

"King Ning (Li Chengqi, renamed King Ning at this time) is the eldest son, and he should not abolish his son-in-law and set up a concubine!"

None of the other prime ministers spoke. Only Lu Xiang jumped out first and said: "Now that the emperor can succeed to the throne, the princess should know the reason, right?" ”

Princess Taiping said: "Although the emperor has a temporary merit, but his moral character is not good, how can he not be wasted?" ”

Lu Xiang replied first: "The emperor succeeded to the throne because of his meritorious service." If you want to abolish him, there must be a clear and heavy charge, but now that the emperor has not heard of any great negligence, how can he be abolished? “

The atmosphere of the meeting was very bad, and Princess Taiping knew that Lu Xiangxian would not agree. So he didn't look for him, and began to secretly deploy with his accomplices.

Originally, although Princess Taiping liked to seize power, she had always acted cautiously and judged the situation more accurately, but why did she choose to take a risk at this time? I think there are two reasons for this:

One of them: power is an aphrodisiac, after Princess Taiping took power, she overestimated her ability, and the following group of sycophants made her lose herself, thinking that she could control the situation, but in fact she didn't think about it very thoroughly.

Second: In the past, when Princess Taiping went overboard, her second husband, Wu Youji, was one of the few people who could advise her. Among the members of the Wu family. Wu Youji has a quiet personality and does not have much ** for power, so he has not been involved in the political storm, with him, Princess Taiping may not go too extreme, but unfortunately he died the year before (712 AD).

At this point, Princess Taiping has no one around her who can dissuade her, and she is destined to embark on this road of no return.

I was a little curious when I wrote about Liu Youqiu's exile to Fengzhou, but he passed through Guizhou, because from the perspective of modern transportation. Fengzhou is in today's Jiangmen Xinhui (southwest of the Pearl River Delta, very close to Zhongshan and Zhuhai), and Guizhou (now Guilin) is in Guangxi. How did you get around to Guangxi?

Later, when I saw that the Qin Dynasty opened the Ling Canal in order to conquer Lingnan (today's Guangdong Province), I understood that in ancient times, Wuling was a natural danger that divided the Lingnan region and the Central Plains, and the transportation was not easy, especially when the war was fought, not only the army had to pass. To transport food supplies, Qin Shi Huang built the Ling Canal in the upper reaches of the Xiangjiang/Lishui River, along with Hunan and Guangxi, and then sailed along the Xijiang River to Guangzhou.

This route was also used by the Han Dynasty when it conquered the Lü Jia Rebellion in South Vietnam! It seems that it was still in use in the Tang Dynasty!

The engineering and technical level of the Chinese during the Qin Dynasty is really not to be underestimated!

plot

At the same time that Princess Taiping was in full swing to prepare, Li Longji's camp also felt the tension of the form, and his henchmen made suggestions to Li Longji to ask the emperor to take action.

Wang Ju, the squire of the Chinese book, warned: "The matter is urgent, we have to strike first!" “

Shangshu Zuo Chengzhang said that he sent someone to offer a saber to the emperor from the eastern capital Luoyang, which meant that the emperor should make a quick decision.

When Shi Cui Riyong, the mayor of Jingzhou (Jiangling County, Hubei Province), returned to Chang'an, he made a statement to Li Longji:

"Princess Taiping has wanted to rebel for a while, and in the past, Her Majesty was the crown prince in the East Palace, and to get rid of her, you must use force; Now that His Majesty has ascended to the throne, as long as there is an edict, who dares not to obey! If you don't take action, you will regret it once you succeed! “

Li Longji said: "What Qing said is reasonable, but I am only afraid of alarming the emperor!" “

Cui Riyong replied: "The filial piety of the Son of Heaven is different from that of Xiaomin, and the most important thing is to be able to stabilize the four seas. Today, if the traitorous party is allowed to achieve its will, the country's society will become a ruin, so can it still be said to be filial? I ask the emperor to first control the Northern Army (forbidden army), and then arrest the rebels, so as not to alarm the emperor. Li Longji agreed, and at the same time transferred Cui Riyong to the rank of servant and stayed in the capital.

On the other side, all the horses of Princess Taiping also began to gather, and there were really many people involved in the conspiracy! There are:

Zuo Servant Shot (Governor of Shangshu Province) Dou Huaizhen

Shizhong (the head of the province under the door) Cen Xi

Zhongshu Ling (head of Zhongshu Province) Xiao Zhizhong

Inspecting the school in the book order (acting head of the province) Cui Xiang

Prince Shaobao (honorific title) Xue Ji

Yongzhou Governor Shi (Secretary General of the Gyeonggi Command) Xinxing Wang Li Jin

Zuo Yulin General Chang Yuankai

Zhiyulin General Military (acting right Yulin General) Li Ci

Zuo Jinwu General Li Qin

Zhongshu Sheren (Zhongshu Provincial Intermediate Official) Li You

Jia Yingfu, a regular attendant of the right scattered cavalry (advisor of Zhongshu Province).

Hong Luqing (head of vassal affairs) Tang Jun

Monk Hui Fan

This list is really diverse, and it has everything!

So what did so many people come up with with an idea? Roughly speaking, there are two kinds, one is poisoning, they found a palace maid surnamed Yuan, and prepared to poison the medicine "red arrow powder" (that is, commonly known as gastrodia) taken by the emperor; As for the second? is to use troops, when Li Longji presided over the government, he led the Yulin Forbidden Army (Northern Army) to let Chang Yuankai and Li Ci rush into the Wude Hall (court meeting place) and kill Li Longji; Dou Huaizhen/Xiao Zhizhong/Cen Xi and the other three led the guards (Nanjun) soldiers in response in Nanya (that is, Nanya, the location of the main government offices).

The plan was set, ready to start implementation, and the first article was activated first, but it turned out that Li Longji's side had already raised its vigilance, and all the medicinal diets had been strictly checked, and the palace maid surnamed Yuan and Ben could not find a chance to poison.

Since the first plan doesn't work, let's plan the second one! After deliberations, it was finally decided to launch a coup d'état on July 4.

Princess Taiping was wiped out

Princess Taiping participated in the conspiracy with too many people and too many people, and the time dragged on for a long time, so the most trouble-prone part of the coup really happened, that is, leaking secrets!

It is no longer known how the secret was leaked, but Li Longji's man Wei Zhigu quickly got the news and immediately told Li Longji that Li Longji was a coup veteran, so he reacted quickly.

First, he gathered his own men, including:

Two elder brothers (Li Fan, King of Qi/Li Ye, King Xue, commander of the Prince's Praetorian Guard)

Guo Yuanzhen (just introduced above, the secretary of the military department and the prime minister)

Longwu General Wang Mao Zhong

The young eunuch in the palace (deputy head of the palace) Jiang Jiao

Taifu Shaoqing (Deputy Minister of Animal Husbandry) Li Ling asked

AMTD Fengyu (Imperial Horse Management Officer) Wang Shouyi

Internal Affairs (Secretary of the Eunuch Mansion) Gao Lishi

Guo Yi (Commander of the Civilian Conscription Office, Zhonglang will be the Commander of the Noble Conscription Office) Li Shoude

It seems that there are fewer people than Princess Taiping, but they know themselves and their opponents, and they win all battles, not to mention that these people in Li Longji are very practical and have mastered all the important places in the palace.

In addition, Princess Taiping also has a weakness, her people and horses have a relatively high official position, they are all in the open, and her personnel have long been figured out by Li Longji, Li Longji is the emperor again, as long as the decree is sent to find people, and then one by one arrested, it will be done. (To be continued.) )