Niu Xianke, who became the prime minister for the first time, naturally bowed down to Li Linfu.

Zhang Jiuling's resignation is undoubtedly of epoch-making significance, because the era of Li Linfu has quietly come. This also became a turning point for the Tang Empire to change from political and clear to political and dark.

Li Linfu was in power for 16 years. This period undoubtedly became a critical period for the Tang Empire to turn from prosperity to decline.

Although the economy continues to develop, the social gap between the rich and the poor is increasing day by day, so that "Zhumen wine and meat stink, and there are frozen bones on the road". While culture continued to flourish, self-preservation and flattery became the mainstream.

Don’t wait for prosperity to care for the things important to you. Power is the master of destiny. Holding power is not only in control of one's own destiny, but also in the destiny of others.

Zhang Jiuling, who has lost power, is like duckweed drifting in the wind and waves.

In the early summer of the second year, Zhou Ziliang, the superintendent of the imperial history, wrote to Li Longji, and Niu Xianke was not the material for the prime minister at all.

To deny Niu Cyclamen is to deny Li Longji's employment policy.

The angry Li Longji actually killed Zhou Ziliang for this.

Li Linfu took the opportunity to say that Zhou Ziliang was just a chess piece in Zhang Jiuling's hands. Zhang Jiuling is the mastermind of this political incident.

Zhang Jiuling was demoted out of Beijing and reappointed as the governor of Jingzhou, which is really "the tree wants to be quiet and the wind does not stop".

Zhang Jiuling left with infinite regret and sorrow, and never came back.

The panicked prince Li Ying felt the pain of his skin.

Although the coldness of winter has been swept away by the bright sunshine, the crown prince Li Ying does not feel a trace of warmth, because from now on, he will face the sinister political situation alone.

The doom of the crown prince Li Ying soon came.

Concubine Wu Hui recruited the crown prince Li Ying, the king of Hubei Li Yao, and the king of light Li Ju to wear armor and enter the palace to arrest the thieves on the grounds that there were thieves in the palace.

When the three of them entered the palace as promised, Concubine Wu Hui framed Li Longji for entering the palace in armor and plotting against them.

Li Longji hurriedly sent his henchmen and eunuchs to check, and sure enough, it was as Concubine Wu Hui said, so Li Longji was convinced of Concubine Wu Hui's words.

This account in the New Tang Dynasty is quite doubtful. Sima Guang, a famous historian of the same era as Ouyang Xiu, the author of the New Tang Dynasty, also disputed this.

After the last turmoil, the contradiction between the prince and Concubine Wu Hui has become clear and intense. The crown prince and others will definitely be cautious in their words and deeds, and they will never be so gullible to believe Concubine Wu Hui's words and make such an obviously inappropriate and inappropriate move as wearing armor to enter the palace.

Despite this, it is a fact that Concubine Wu Hui framed the crown prince Li Ying for conspiring and rebelling with Li Yao, the king of Hubei, and Li Ju, the king of light.

Last time, Concubine Wu Hui framed the three of them for being dissatisfied with Li Longji and attempting to murder their mother and son, but this time Concubine Wu Hui's framing has escalated!

Concubine Wu Hui accused the three of them of being dissatisfied with Li Longji, and she had to take action.

Will Li Longji believe it?

Yes! The emperor and the crown prince have long been not a simple father-son relationship, but have been alienated by power, suspicious of each other and guarding against each other.

Enraged, Li Longji hurriedly convened the prime minister to discuss how to deal with the matter, because the abolition of the crown prince was a major matter for the empire.

The cunning Li Linfu said that this is His Majesty's family matter, and it is inconvenient for Weichen to express his position!

Li Linfu had already guessed from Li Longji's angry expression what he would do with his three sons, and his failure to express his position was actually adding fuel to the fire!

The crown prince Li Ying, the king of Hubei Li Yao, and the king of light Li Ju were deposed as concubines at the same time, and they were soon given death.

"Shenzi" recorded: "A rabbit walks the street, hundreds of people chase it, accumulate rabbits in the city, and those who pass by ignore it." ”

Once the attribution is determined, people have to stop in front of **.

The crown prince's throne suddenly became vacant, and a fierce battle began.

After the crown prince Li Ying was deposed, Li Mao, the longevity king born to Concubine Wu Hui, undoubtedly became the most popular candidate for the crown prince, because he was the most favored imperial concubine and the most powerful prime minister jointly recommended the prince candidate.

Concubine Wu Hui originally thought that the position of the crown prince would naturally fall on Li Mao, but naturally things suddenly became less natural.

Even many historians are puzzled by this, so there have always been different speculations.

Although Li Longji is no longer the hard-working monarch at the beginning of his accession to the throne, he is not a mediocre person after all.

He may have temporarily lost his mind due to anger, but he still remained calm and sober enough in the face of serious problems, because the choice of the crown prince is not only related to the stability of the political situation, but also to the future of the empire.

Shouwang Li Mao has been favored by Li Longji since he was a child because of his beautiful appearance and gentle deference, but as he grew older, Li Longji found that Li Mao was gradually distancing himself from his expectations.

The reason why Li Ying's crown prince position was shaken was because he was neither the concubine born to the queen nor the eldest son of Li Longji, but only because his mother was once favored and ascended to the crown prince. Naturally, this is not convincing to the public!

Although Concubine Wu Hui enjoyed the status of the actual queen in the palace, she did not ascend to the throne after all, so Shouwang Li Mao naturally did not enjoy the status of a concubine, so he, like Li Ying, was canonized as a prince just because his mother was favored.

Li Ying's tragedy may continue to play out.

Of course, Li Longji didn't care much and sometimes even ignored the life and even personal life and death of the prince, but the resulting imperial political disputes were something he had to consider.

In fact, there is an unspeakable reason hidden in the depths of Li Longji's heart. After Li Longji's original match, Queen Wang, was deposed, the position of queen has been vacant. He also had the idea of putting Concubine Wu Hui on the throne of the queen, but he was opposed by the ministers.

This is because Concubine Wu Hui has a special identity. Her aunt and grandmother are Wu Zetian, so the ministers are worried that Wu Zetian's usurpation of power will be staged again.

In the midst of everyone's opposition, Li Longji had to think deeply about the possible negative impact of this.

Wu Zetian usurped Li Tang Jiangshan and massacred the political scars of the Li Tang clan, and the scars are still faintly painful. Li Longji's mother was once summoned into the palace by Wu Zetian for no reason, and in the end, not even a single bone was found.

After experiencing Wu Zetian's usurpation of the Tang Dynasty, Empress Wei's dictatorship, and Princess Taiping's interference, women's interference in politics undoubtedly left a heavy and indelible shadow in Li Longji's heart.

Just when Li Longji was hesitating about the issue of the heir to the throne, Concubine Wu Hui, who couldn't afford to be sick, could never wait for the day when her son was canonized as the crown prince.

In the dead of night, the empty and dim dormitory would make Concubine Wu Hui feel infinite horror, because every dim corner hid the fear that made her tremble!

The bloody faces of the crown prince Li Ying, the king of Hubei Li Yao, and the king of light Li Ju often appeared in her nightmares. She figured it must be their hauntings.

Don't do bad things, don't be afraid of ghosts knocking on the door. In fact, the real ghost is not in front of you, but in your heart.

The fate of scheming women is mostly tragic. They are not willing to be just mothers and wives, because their desire for power makes it difficult for them to endure a dull life.

For them, either they become the winners of the game or become the victims of **.

Wu Zetian also suffered from nightmares after Wu Zetian designed to force Queen Wang and Concubine Xiao Shu to death, but she successfully exorcised the entanglement of demons with her firm will and strong nerves, but Concubine Wu Hui was not as strong as her aunt and grandmother, and even the Taoist priest who exorcised demons did not help her get rid of the entanglement of "ghosts".

In December of the twenty-fifth year of Kaiyuan (737 AD), the thirty-nine-year-old Concubine Wu Hui ended her short life in panic.

At this time, it was only eight months before Li Ying and others were given death, and it was really "too clever to calculate the agency, but it cost Qingqing's life".

Concubine Wu Hui's death undoubtedly made Li Longji even more entangled. Li Yu or Li Mao? This has become a problem that Li Longji has to choose for a while, but he must face.

The eldest son, Li Cong, was scratched in the face by a hunting beast while hunting, so the disfigured prince actually withdrew from the competition. Because the second son Li Ying has been given to death. The third son, Li Yu (later Emperor Suzong Li Heng), became the eldest prince in the crown prince's ranks.

At this time, the emergence of a key figure made the wavering Li Longji finally make up his mind. This man is Colliers!

The real Colliers is actually very different from the image of the eunuch in our minds who is weird and psychologically dark.

Unlike the vast majority of eunuchs from poor backgrounds, the eunuch Gao Lishi, who was born in a famous family, even had royal blood, because his ancestor Feng Hong was once the emperor of the Northern Yan Kingdom during the Sixteen Kingdoms period, but when Gao Lishi was born, more than two hundred and fifty years have passed in this glorious history.

Although the family has experienced countless twists and turns in the past two hundred and fifty years, it is still a famous family that everyone envies. His great-grandfather Feng Ang was named the Duke of Geng Guo, the Governor of Gaozhou, and the Governor of the Eighteen Prefectures of Guang and Shao by the Tang Dynasty.

Gao Lishi's grandfather and father inherited the history of Panzhou, but such a wealthy family was completely destroyed by a ruthless political storm.

The Wu Zetian period was an era of rampant cool officials. The cool officials were like a pack of wolves that had lost their bonds, and they were biting wildly. They made something out of nothing and framed them; Small things become big, and innocents are harmed; abuse of punishment and torture into confessions; Bloodthirsty and murderous.

Luo Weaving Sutra. The Melon Scroll reveals their despicable purpose. "It's not a big deal, it's not amazing. The case is not as good as the public, and the merit is great. To seek peace, not to invite pets. Its injustice is inherent, and it is inevitable. ”

They stepped on the corpses of countless people, asking for merit and reward. They have shed the blood of countless people, and they have begged for relocation.

The young Colliers were unfortunately caught up in this bloody storm. He was castrated and sent to the court. The young master, who was originally waiting for others to serve him with clothes and food, was reduced to a slave who served the emperor in an instant.

Gao Lishi is one of the few eunuchs who is both civil and military. His literary talent is definitely outstanding among the group of eunuchs with a generally low level of education, and what is even more commendable is that he is a general who can lead troops to fight.

For example, in April of the 11th year of Tianbao, Xing Wei colluded with the Longwu Wan cavalry army to plot rebellion.

After the matter was revealed, Wang Ji and Yang Guozhong led their troops to suppress it, while Xing Wei led the people to resist stubbornly and retreated to the southwest corner of the imperial city.

In the face of the rebels who were still fighting, the officers and soldiers were helpless for a while.

At this time, Gao Lishi led 400 soldiers of the Flying Dragon Forbidden Army to arrive, behead Xing Wei, and put down the rebellion.

Li Longji once said with appreciation: "Colliers is on duty, and I can sleep at ease." ”

Because he was nurtured by his family since he was a child, Gao Lishi had an extraordinary sensitivity to the development of the political situation, so Li Longji often asked Gao Lishi's opinion when he was hesitant.

Facing Li Longji, who was depressed and unhappy, he asked the reason with concern.

"You've followed me for so many years, don't you still understand my mind?"

"Is Your Majesty worried because the prince is undecided?"

Li Longji nodded with satisfaction.

"Why bother about this? Who would dare to have an opinion on the appointment of an elderly prince? ”

"King Lizhong, I'll see it!"

Although Colliers spoke out to help at critical moments, it was not because of the intimate personal relationship between Colliers and the loyal king Li Yu.

Even after Li Longji abdicated, Gao Lishi still stayed by his side, instead of defecting to Li Yu, who had become the new master of the empire.

Under the primogeniture system, there are grandchildren and no grandchildren. Although it is not a scientific system, it has an inherent rationality for more than a thousand years, because only blood and origin cannot be changed, and once other standards are used, they will fall into endless disputes.

Many people will think that "standing energy" is more appropriate, but there is no unified standard for the level of ability, and there will be controversy if there is disagreement, and then it will lead to fighting.

After the loyal king Li Yu became the new crown prince of the empire, he was about to change his name again. Li Longji is keen to change the names of his sons.

Li Yu's name at birth was Li Sisheng, and he changed his name to Li Jun when he changed his title to King Zhong, and later changed his name to Li Yu. He was canonized as the crown prince and immediately changed his name to Li Shao, and later changed his name to Li Heng because he had the same name as the crown prince of the Song Dynasty during the Northern and Southern Dynasties.

Li Heng was completely in a state of passive acceptance throughout the name change process, and it is estimated that even he himself did not know why his father changed his name again and again.

This can't help but remind us of a sentence from Xiao Shenyang. "I've lived with you for so long, can't I change my name if I can't change someone?"

The world's accusations of Colliers' interference in politics are endless, because scholars who have read poetry and books can hardly tolerate a eunuch pointing fingers at the imperial policy, but Colliers's many policy proposals are far-sighted, strategic, and contemporary, because he deeply loves Li Longji and the Tang Empire.

Gao Lishi completely cut off the hope of King Shou becoming the crown prince, and perhaps King Shou never had a longing for the throne at all.

In the whole process of the abolition of the crown prince, there is not a single word about the activities of King Shou and Princess Yang Yuhuan to fight for the position of the crown prince, but the mother of King Shou, Concubine Wu Hui, has always been very active, perhaps King Shou is just a chess piece for his mother to realize his political ideals.

The strongest relied on his mother and left.

The crown prince has also drifted away from him. This series of blows followed, but what he didn't expect was that the bad luck had just begun.

At this time, An Lushan was only an audience of the changing political situation. Although this qiē seems to be out of reach of An Lushan, it has a profound impact on his future path. (To be continued.) )