After Li Zhi's death, the solemn funeral was carried out in an orderly manner under the support of a large group of people.

The emperor's funeral has a set of strict procedures and etiquette, the officials of the Ministry of Rites and the relevant personnel of the palace bureaus are doing their own duties, everyone is careful to do things, dare not make mistakes, at this time if something goes wrong, it must be heavily responsible.

From Li Zhi's death to the funeral, the time is not short, it takes a long time to be buried, during this time, the entire Chang'an City, and all parts of the country, must mourn for the emperor's death, and there can be no happy events, until the emperor is buried, can be removed.

According to the etiquette system, Li Zhi died, as the son of the crown prince Li Xian was filial piety for three years, according to the weekly rites for twenty-seven months, but the royal affairs were heavy, and the emperor could not do things without coming to the court for three years, so he used an alternative method, that is, one day instead of one month, so Li Xian only needed to keep filial piety for twenty-seven days, and after the expiration of the filial piety, he could remove filial piety.

During this period of Li Xian's filial piety, he stayed at Li Zhi's coffin every day to fulfill his filial piety, and the affairs of the court were handed over to the ministers to take care of, and after the expiration of the 27-day filial piety period, Li Xian returned to the palace to deal with court affairs.

Only three days after Li Zhi's death, an accident happened, as one of the four ministers appointed by Li Zhi before his death, and almost the most important minister, Pei Yan wrote to Wu Zetian, he said in the recital: "The emperor is still in the period of filial piety, and has not yet been in power, during this period, the empress dowager should temporarily take over the imperial power and deal with court affairs!"

Although Pei Yan's proposal was opposed by Pei Xingjian, and some other important ministers such as Zhang Da'an, Liu Renliang and Xue Yuanchao and many other ministers did not express their opinions, so Pei Yan's proposal was finally adopted, and Wu Zetian also temporarily assumed the position of emperor and handled all court affairs on his behalf.

Previously, when Li Zhi was in power, Wu Zetian had already handled most of the court affairs on behalf of Li Zhi, but it was because of Li Zhi's physical reasons that the court affairs were entrusted to Wu Zetian, and now the emperor Li Xian is in good health, and there is no situation where he cannot deal with court affairs due to physical reasons, many people believe that after Li Xian's filial piety period expires, the Empress Dowager Wu Zetian will transfer power to the newly enthroned emperor, but many people are also worried that Wu Zetian will take the opportunity to take charge of the court affairs, even after Li Xian's filial piety period expires, he will not let go of power.

There are many ministers who have such doubts, at least Liu Yi has this kind of doubt, but he can't talk to anyone about this doubt. During this time, in addition to guarding the spirit of Li Zhi, he also had to deal with a lot of military affairs, as the newly promoted secretary of the military department, he was not very familiar with the situation, Anxi was going on again, and the military department needed to deal with a lot of things, Liu Yi was a little busy.

According to etiquette, the emperor died, and all military operations outside the country must be suspended, and they can only be continued after the emperor's burial, and the military department will also urgently send the order of the armistice to Anxi. However, what is gratifying is that on the fifth day after Li Zhi's death, Anxi had an urgent report to Chang'an, Wang Fangyi, Li Zhishi, Tang Xiujing and other generals led tens of thousands of our army of sergeants to completely defeat the Western Turkic rebels near Atami. Presumably, after the armistice order sent from Chang'an arrived in Anxi, the war would almost be over.

The battle at the front is nearing the end, and the responsibility of the military department will be slightly lighter, but the dispatch of more than 100,000 horses, and the follow-up supply of weapons, war horses, grain and grass, still need to be responsible for the military department in conjunction with several other departments.

Liu Yi also knew that if it weren't for Li Zhi's deathbed instructions, and the instructions in the edict, it would be impossible for him to serve as the secretary of the military department, whether it is qualifications, ability, or military merits, it is not enough to be used as a minister's official position, especially the military department in charge of the military, which is a bit of a duck on the shelf, but this kind of situation is not uncommon in today's Tang Dynasty, at least Wu Sansi is such a figure. After studying the appointment in Li Zhi's edict and what he had instructed him, Liu Yi also believed that Li Zhi's final arrangement was largely aimed at balancing the forces of all parties, rather than that all these officials could take the responsibility of their positions.

Liu Yi also believes that the emperor will still make some moves after he is in power.

Liu Yi also did his job conscientiously, in addition to presiding over the affairs of the Yamen of the Ministry of War, he was also responsible for the duty tasks around the Xuanwu Gate, especially the night guard, and he had to go to Li Zhi's spirit every day to pay homage, which also made him stay in the palace all night during this time, and Princess Taiping could only meet when worshipping Li Zhi's coffin. Seeing Princess Taiping with a sad face and a thin expression, Liu Yi was also very heartbroken, and he could only persuade Princess Taiping not to be too sad, to take care of his body, and not to cry for the little thing that was about to be born in his womb.

The officials appointed in Li Zhi's edict also faithfully performed their duties in their respective posts, especially the four ministers who took care of their lives, and they were busy every day without a moment of leisure.

During Li Xian's filial piety, Wu Zetian also implemented a series of new policies, the most notable one is that Wu Zetian added the heirs of the Li family's royal family, including the sons of Gaozu Li Yuan and Taizong Li Shimin, such as Li Yuanjia and others in Zezhou. Also, according to Liu Yi's knowledge from various sources, Wu Zetian has thought about adjusting the candidates for the prime minister, but because these ministers in the prime position are all appointed in Li Zhi's edict, Wu Zetian still gave up the idea of adjusting the prime minister under the opposition of the vast majority of ministers.

Twenty-seven days of filial piety have passed, and Li Zhi has not yet been buried, but at this time, Li Xian has removed filial piety and officially exercised the power of the emperor.

On the first day of Li Xian's accession to the throne, he announced a series of new policies and personnel appointments, announced the cessation of all military operations, and the army that went out to Anxi to quell the rebellion temporarily stayed in Anxi, and split the Anxi Metropolitan Protectorate into two, with the Tianshan Mountains as the boundary, and set up the Beiting Metropolitan Protectorate in the north of the Tianshan Mountains, which governed the original Western Turkic Territory, and governed in Tingzhou, and the Anxi Metropolitan Protectorate was set up in the south of the Tianshan Mountains to the west of the Green Ridge, and the governance office was still in Broken Leaf City. Tang Xiujing, the head of the Shuanghe Road March, temporarily took over the duties of the Beiting capital, and ordered Fang Yi, the former protector of the Anxi capital, to escort the Western Turkic leaders who were captured by us back to Beijing.

Also on the same day, Li Xian issued an edict to make the crown princess Fang the queen and his eldest son Li Guangshun the crown prince.

At the court meeting on the first day of Li Xian's official accession to the throne, some personnel appointments were announced: Wu Chengsi was appointed secretary and supervisor, Pei Xingjian was appointed as the secretary and supervisor of the military department, Liu Yi was removed from the post of secretary of the garrison department, Liu Yi was appointed as the general of the Zuo Qianniuwei and the general of the right Yulin Army, Qiu Shenxian was the general of the left Jinwuwei, Wu Sansi was also the general of the right Jinwuwei, Hua Dazhi and Yang Xuanjian were the generals of the right Jinwuwei, and Li Jingjia and Li Xiaoyi were the generals of the left Jinwuwei... At the first official court meeting after Li Zhi's death, the newly enthroned emperor Li Xian had a tense face, without a little expression, and after the eunuch read out the appointment of this personnel, Li Xian stood up, walked to the steps of the palace, looked at the ministers of His Royal Highness and said: "My father and the emperor have died, and I am very sad... In the future, everything can be directly presented to the Queen Mother, and all matters in the court are subject to the will of the Queen Mother. When my father was alive, he loved me very much, and I still wanted to do my filial piety in front of my father's soul to thank my father for his love..."

Hearing Li Xian say this, the ministers in the palace were all shocked, and Zhang Da'an, the right servant of Shangshu and the third rank of the same book, immediately stood up, and said with a face full of anger: "The first emperor has died, now that Your Majesty's filial piety period has passed, the new monarch can officially start to deal with state affairs, and all matters in the court and China should be subject to Your Majesty's will, how can you please ask the Queen Mother for everything?" When the emperor was in power, his health has been poor, and some court affairs could not be handled in person, so he entrusted the queen mother to deal with it, and now His Majesty is young, in good health, and should be diligent in court affairs, not wasted, His Majesty thought that the first emperor guarded the spirit and shirked the court affairs, which was really a big unfilial piety, if the first emperor knew, he would definitely scold His Majesty..."

After Zhang Da'an finished speaking, Xue Yuanchao also immediately stood up, "During Your Majesty's wake, the court affairs were entrusted to the Queen Mother, which is understandable and reasonable, but now that Your Majesty has removed filial piety, she should fulfill the responsibility of the new monarch, and the Queen Mother should also return the power to handle court affairs to Your Majesty, and you can't break the etiquette because of Your Majesty's collapse... Now that my Datang is full of internal and external troubles, it is the time when His Majesty needs to deal with it diligently, and the ministers also ask Your Majesty to retract what he just said..."

As soon as Xue Yuanchao finished speaking, Pei Yan stood up, "The Queen Mother, Your Majesty, there is a will in the edict of the first emperor, if there is an undecided person in the military affairs, and the queen of heaven will be taken into account, Your Majesty will take the new throne, many court affairs must not be well understood, and how to deal with it also needs the guidance of the Queen Mother, so the minister thinks that even if His Majesty has removed filial piety and can personally manage state affairs, it is better to ask the Queen Mother about all matters, and when Your Majesty can personally handle the affairs of the court, the right to deal with the affairs of the court will be returned to Your Majesty, and the minister feels that this is very beneficial to the country and the family..."

As soon as Pei Yan's words came out, the palace was in an instant uproar, Zhang Da'an immediately stood up and accused Pei Yan of flattery, now His Majesty has been supervising state affairs several times when he was the prince, and the courtiers admired the courtiers very much by handling court affairs, how could they not understand the court affairs... Just when Zhang Da'an was making a generous statement, the ministers saw Wu Zetian, who was sitting behind the curtain, get up and walk away.

Seeing Wu Zetian go away without regard for his face like this, Li Xian, who had already sat back on the throne, had a pale face, and said with a little gritted teeth: "Ladies and gentlemen, this matter is still implemented according to what I just said, there is no need to discuss it again, disperse the dynasty..."

After Li Xian finished speaking, he ignored the shouts of some ministers and got up to leave the Xuanzheng Palace!

Seeing such an amazing thing happening in the court, Liu Yi, who was a little surprised, also sighed, although Li Xian is now the emperor, but the history is still somewhat strikingly similar...

(To be continued)