In the twenty-fifth year of Kaiyuan, on the seventh day of December, Concubine Wu Hui died. Li Longji posthumously named her the queen of Zhenshun, mourned with great honor, and was buried in Jingling.

After all, after staying together for more than 20 years, Empress Wu Guanyue of Zhenshun has long been indispensable in Li Longji's life, and when she lost it, Li Longji felt that his life was empty. Although he didn't look like anything on the surface, Xiao Jiangyuan knew that he didn't really accept her death until Empress Zhenshun was buried.

Before that, Li Longji was often busy and in a daze, Xiao Jiangyuan asked, and he even asked: "How many days has it been, why hasn't Concubine Hui sent anyone to look for me?" ”

Xiao Jiangyuan also found that Li Longji's sideburns also had some gray hair.

Wu Guanyue's death is also a pity for Xiao Jiangyuan. After all, among the existing Wu women, only Wu Guanyue inherited some of the wisdom of Empress Zetian. After the death of Wang Jun, she even secretly hoped that one day Wu Guanyue's wish would come true, and she would be able to see the birth of a martial queen again.

She did see it, but it was after Wu Guanyue's death.

During the state funeral, the Quartet was vegetarian. With Li Linfu's assistance and substitution, Li Longji did not delay the slightest state affairs, but there are always some things that the courtiers can't manage, and Xiao Jiangyuan can't manage, such as the mourning of the prince and princess. This matter should have been taken care of by the prince, but the prince was deposed and died, and there was no new prince. The courtiers asked Li Longji to establish the prince of the country as soon as possible, but Li Longji ignored it and handed over the matter to his eldest son, King Qing, Li Cong.

Qing King Li Cong was hunting with Li Longji as a child, and was accidentally attacked by wild beasts for a while, which damaged his appearance, and he no longer had a chance with the storage position. Li Longji felt sorry for his eldest son and loved him for many years. Qing King Li Cong was also calm and calm, and since then he has learned from the king of Da Berning, loving his brothers and sisters, and never making mistakes, even the Sanshu people have respected him. It is precisely because of this that the three Shu people and the brothers jointly played the matter, and they didn't dare to let the eldest brother know at all, and even after Li Longji killed the three Shu people, he beat all the princes, except for the Shou King and Sheng King from Queen Zhenshun, only King Qing Li Cong was honored and favored.

In fact, there is another prince who is innocent, but because he has not been favored by Li Longji since he was a child, and he has never had a sense of existence when he grew up, Li Longji does not remember that he did not participate, and he was punished with him.

For this reason, Xiao Jiangyuan also specially visited him in the name of Li Longji.

When she returned to the diligent government affairs building, Qingwang Li Cong had just arrived. After the two compartments saw the salute, they entered the temple before and after.

King Li Cong first thanked Li Longji for his kindness, thanked him for returning the wife of the three concubines, and then hoped that he could give him the children of the abolished prince Li Ying to raise him for the sake of having no children.

The fact that the eldest son has no children has always been a heart problem for Li Longji. He didn't want to expand the affairs of the Sanshu people anymore, so he agreed to the eldest son's request: "Da Lang, if Gorou and Hachiro also have children, do you plan to go over together?" ”

Li Cong did not affirm or deny it, but said something else: "There is another thing, I can't do it accurately, and I still need Aya to give me an idea." ”

"You say."

"How are the brothers and sisters going to mourn for Queen Zhenshun?"

Li Longji thought for a while before he said: "Eighteen Lang, Twenty-one Lang, Xianyi and Taihua, three years of mourning, other princes and princesses ...... It doesn't have to be that way. ”

After Li Cong retired, Li Longji sighed lowly: "You said, Da Lang and Liu Lang are both sons of Concubine Hua, why are Liu Lang's heirs prosperous, and he has more than 20 children at a young age, but Da Lang not only has a damaged appearance, but even ...... heirs."

Xiao Jiangyuan didn't know why, she only knew that if this trend continued, Li Wan, the king of Liulang Rong, was likely to catch up with her family Ah Lang based on the number of children alone. Of course, she didn't say this guess, but asked: "Since the queen has been posthumously crowned, why don't you let all the princes and princesses mourn her together?" ”

Since the death of Empress Zhenshun, Li Longji has been depressed, and he loves to ignore everything, and he is lazy not to answer at this time. Xiao Jiangyuan didn't want to poke his sore spot again, so he didn't mention it again.

In fact, she heard everything that happened in the Jiaotai Hall that night, and Wu Su'er also heard it, and after the death of Queen Zhenshun, she immediately touched the pillar and was martyred.

Xiao Jiangyuan had no doubts, but Li Longji still had: "Have you seen him in the Ten Princes' Mansion?" ”

"Yes."

"Or is it like you're going to die?"

Where is going to die or live, it's just a little more silent, you reward him, punish him, he is just unfazed. King Shou is also silent, you still say that people are honest and sensible. Xiao Jiangyuan said while slandering: "King Zhong is quite flattered this time, and he is grateful. ”

"Oh?" Although Li Longji was surprised, he was quite useful, "Speaking of which, over the years, my San Lang is really indisputable to the world, and he is indeed a good boy." ”

This "San Lang" refers to Li Longji's third son, the loyal king Li Yu.

"Even when the abolition queen was still alive, King Zhong, as the adopted son of the queen, was also the most well-behaved among the princes. You can't be prejudiced against him just because when you were the crown prince, you were almost hindered by this child, after all, he is also everyone's biological son, and he is the upright prince of the Tang Dynasty. ”

Hearing Xiao Jiangyuan say this, Li Longji looked at the imperial case thoughtfully. Xiao Jiangyuan was curious, walked over to look, and saw that a letter asking for the establishment of the country was spread on the imperial case, and the names of Li Linfu, Niu Xianke and all the officials under the Zhongshu Sect were registered.

"Everybody...... Don't you want to make King Shou the crown prince? Seeing that Li Longji was silent, Xiao Jiangyuan said, "That's right, King Shou and Li Xianggong are too close." If the crown prince is too close to the prime minister, he may empty the imperial power, but if he does not establish the king of Shou, who can everyone appoint? ”

Although Li Longji has many princes, there are not many who can be seen and obedient and sensible, especially after the incident of the three concubines, only the eldest son King Qing, the third son Zhong Wang and the twenty-first son Sheng Wang are clean. The eldest son was disfigured and unorthodox, and the twenty-one sons were too young, except for the eighteenth lang, there was only the third son left.

The most important thing is that Zhongwang's biological mother Yang died early, and he had neither the support of his relatives nor the power of the DPRK and China.

But Li Longji really didn't know much about King Zhong, so even if he had a thought, he still hesitated, and after a long time, he became irritable. Lost his wife and children, the candidate for the crown prince has not been decided for a long time, what does it mean to be this emperor, and what does it mean to live?

I heard Xiao Jiangyuan say: "In ancient times, the prince was established, or he was a grandson, or a long, or a virtuous. In troubled times, virtuous, prosperous times are long, everyone has no grandchildren, then they will be pushed and stand, and they will not be able to say anything wrong with the world. ”

Li Longji suddenly became enlightened.

A few months later, he was fortunate to visit Princess Xianyi's house, and also rewarded the four children of Queen Zhenshun with many things, just when everyone thought that the crown prince was the right choice to lock King Shou, Princess Xianyi secretly cried.

The concubine Yang Xun was anxious to inquire, but he heard his wife say: "Aya is clearly reassuring us, he is giving us compensation in advance, and at the same time telling us that even if we make someone else the prince, we will always be his most beloved children." A-Niang is gone, Aya is not only Aye, but also a monarch. It seems that Eighteen Lang can only be the life of an idle prince in this life. ”

Yang Xun said: "Blessings and misfortunes, the whirlpool of national politics may be better off earlier than we did." ”

Sure enough, in the twenty-sixth year of Kaiyuan, on June 3, Li Longji announced to the world: Li Yu, the loyal king, was renamed "Heng" and became the crown prince.

Li Linfu has always been known for his suppleness, and He once opposed Li Longji's decision in person, although he was unexpected, he could only accept it for the time being, in order to have a future effect.

Just after the crown prince's canonization ceremony, the crown prince Li Heng came to meet Xiao Jiangyuan. Although it was a visit, it was three paces away, and he only bowed his hand and left without saying anything.

Xiao Jiangyuan felt that the prince was very interesting. Everyone was amazed by the changeable mind of the Son of Heaven, only he thought of her merits, not only came to thank her, but also took a good measure, and seemed to be a sensitive and delicate smart person.

Even after Li Longji found out, he felt that the prince could be so respectful to the eunuchs around him, and he was very filial piety, and he didn't even reject the prince's intelligence: "After all, the prince is the foundation of the country, and it is not a bad thing to be smart, I just hope that he is not a little clever, but a great wisdom." ”

Since the establishment of the crown prince, Li Longji has handed over most of the political affairs to Li Linfu to handle, and he has gradually become idle. He often sat in the main building of the government office all day, sometimes wanting to compose a new song, sometimes wanting to play a drum, and more often in a daze, such as cockfighting, polo and hunting, which he used to enjoy, he was not interested.

In order to comfort Li Longji, Xiao Jiangyuan often invited King Ning, Princess Yuzhen and King Ruyang into the palace to accompany him in the name of Li Longji. But no matter what Princess Yuzhen and King Ruyang did, they couldn't make Li Longji really happy.

Princess Yuzhen suggested: "As far as I can see, the third brother went because of Queen Zhenshun, and he has no confidant for a while, and he is lonely. There are so many concubines in the harem, in recent years, the flower and bird envoys have also selected some beauties from all over the country to send them to the court, and selected some of them are particularly good-looking and talented, and choose one day for the third brother, maybe one day there will be the right eye. When the third brother has a new person in his heart, he will be the same person again. ”

King Ruyang nodded again and again, while King Ning glanced at Xiao Jiangyuan before he said slowly, "You can give it a try." ”

Seeing that King Ning said this, Xiao Jiangyuan immediately started to do it, but he didn't want to think that a few days later, when she led the girls to Li Longji, Li Longji's face turned dark, and he picked a butterfly from the flowers, and said: "Whoever the butterfly flies to in a while, I will pamper who tonight, how?" ”

Xiao Jiangyuan couldn't help but be puzzled, could it be that she did something wrong, why was her Ah Lang not only not happy, but also angry?

As soon as Li Longji let go, the butterfly flew again, but instead of flying towards the fragrant girls, it floated and shook and landed on Xiao Jiangyuan's head.

The swan song of the Tang Dynasty