Wu Zetian did not show up for three days in a row, which attracted countless speculations from the courtiers, and the ministers did not dare to discuss it publicly, and they all talked about this rather strange incident in their own small circles.

Some people say that the saint is sick because of Wu Sansi's audacity, and some people say that the saint is disheartened by the martial arts family and rethinks her choice, but some people say that the saint still supports Wu Sansi, but he just waits for change, and finally let the matter go away.

But no matter which kind of speculation, it is inseparable from the factor of Wu Sansi, indeed, in the past few days, all kinds of unfavorable to Wu Sansi have surged like a raging wave, and the proverbs and proclamations have brought out Wu Sansi's various evil deeds, and the evaluation of the word 'virtue and evil' has been deeply rooted in Wu Sansi, plus the case of Wang Xiaojie's death, it turned out to be planned by Wu Sansi behind the scenes, which involves such a bigger crime as betraying the country.

In any case, the deterioration of Wu Sansi's reputation made many people who originally supported Wu Sansi begin to reflect, do they really want to support such a person to ascend to the Ninth Five-Year Honor?

On the fourth day, public opinion continued to ferment, and the voice of opposition to Wu Sansi was overwhelming, in the morning, a car drove to the front of the Zhenguan Palace, Di Renjie walked out of the car, and walked towards the main hall.

He had just received the will, and the Holy Lord was going to summon him, which was expected by him, after all, he was the head of the hundred officials, and it was impossible for the Holy Lord not to take into account the opinions of the ministers in the matter of establishing the crown prince.

In fact, Di Renjie did not have a way to oppose Wu Sansi to establish the crown prince, for example, as long as he ascended to the heights and called on hundreds of officials to resign and return to their hometowns in protest, at least more than half of the ministers would respond, even including the magistrates.

It's just that the cost of doing so is too great, it will drag Datang into the dark abyss, it will lead to the outbreak of civil war, and the prosperous era will sink from now on, which is not the result he Di Renjie wants to see.

Although Li Zhen's methods are not very upright and vicious, Di Renjie also has to admit that the cost of doing so is small, as the so-called fighting poison with poison, Wu Sansi died on top of the evil things he had done.

So Di Renjie didn't object in the end, he wanted to see the final effect.

At this time, a eunuch rushed out, bowed down and said, "Di Xiangguo, the saint is waiting in the Lotus Heart Pavilion." ”

Di Renjie nodded, and followed the eunuch to walk quickly towards the Lotus Heart Pavilion.

In the past few days, Wu Ze has not been sick, nor has she waited for change to procrastinate, so that the matter will not be resolved, she is indeed rethinking and weighing it repeatedly.

Of course, Wu Zetian knew that this was a fierce offensive launched by someone against Wu Sansi, for this kind of smearing behavior behind his back, Wu Zetian would not pity it before, as long as he found it together, he would inevitably be thunderous, but this time she couldn't get up, she knew very well in her heart that this was the Li royal family's counterattack against the Wu family, if she hit, she would definitely hurt her muscles and bones, but if she didn't strike, the Li royal family would inevitably be arrogant again, and finally threaten her throne.

Wu Zetian hopes to be balanced, and even more hopes to form a new balance after breaking the balance, but this time, she is a little confused, could it be that after breaking Li Wu's balance, she can no longer form a new balance?

At this time, a eunuch reported at the door: "Your Majesty, Di Xiangguo is here." ”

Wu Zetian nodded, "Xuan him in!"

After a while, Di Renjie hurriedly walked in, bowed down and said, "Old minister Di Renjie see Your Majesty!"

Wu Zetian sighed, "Di Xiangguo, I've had a really hard time these days!"

"Is Your Majesty bothered by that letter?"

Wu Zetian shook his head, "How can a letter make me so troubled, I am worried about Li Wu in the future, whether Li destroys Wu or Wu kills Li, it is the result that I don't want to see, frankly speaking, I consider Liwu as an heir, which is a balance that I have repeatedly considered." ”

Di Renjie pondered for a moment and asked, "What kind of balance does Your Majesty want to see?"

"I want to see Li Wu live in harmony for generations. ”

Di Renjie nodded, he knew that the Holy Lord would say this, and he had been thinking about it for the past two days, thinking about how to persuade the Holy Lord to change his decision, he said slowly: "May I ask Your Majesty, who is stronger or weaker than Li Wu?"

"Why bother asking, naturally Li Qiangwu is weak, so I think about helping the weak. ”

"The question is here, once the weak person grasps the unification, will it treat the strong well? In the past, Emperor Wen of Sui ascended the throne, and the Yang family was the weak, how did he treat the strong Yuwen clan?

Wu Zetian didn't speak for a long time, Yang Jian ascended the throne and killed the Northern Zhou royal family, only a hundred years apart, so far vividly, Di Renjie said: "On the contrary, the strong are on the throne, because there is no threat, it will treat the weak well and gain fame, this point, I believe Your Majesty is clearer than Weichen." ”

Wu Zetian walked to the window with his hands in his hands, silently staring at the sky in the distance, Di Renjie knew how to untie the last knot in the heart of the saint, and he persuaded: "Your Majesty is the aunt of King Liang, from ancient times to the present, no nephew will put his aunt on the highest part of the altar, on the contrary, King Xiang and King Luling are the sons of His Majesty, as sons, can they not respect their mother?

Wu Zetian was shocked, Di Renjie's straightforward words pierced her heart, she suddenly remembered that Wu Sansi imitated the imperial mausoleum to build a tomb for her father a few years ago, if Wu Sansi ascended the throne, I am afraid that a hundred years later, it is not herself who enjoys the honor of the imperial mausoleum, but Wu Sansi's father.

Wu Zetian was suddenly upset, her last bit of confidence in Wu Sansi also completely collapsed under Di Renjie's persuasion, Wu Zetian let out a long sigh, "It is my luck to have Di Qing as the prime minister!"

Di Renjie knew that Wu Sansi's matter of sealing the crown prince had taken a turn for the better, he was secretly happy in his heart, and bowed down and said: "The minister does not disturb Your Majesty, and the minister retires." ”

"Go ahead, let me think about it again. ”

Di Renjie retreated, Wu Zetian stood in front of the window with his hands in his hands, silent for a long time, I don't know how long it took, she felt something, and when she turned around, she saw Zhang Changzong standing at the door with his hands down, Wu Zetian smiled softly: "Why is Liulang here?"

"The minister has come to solve your majesty's problems. ”

Wu Zetian beckoned him to sit beside him, she hugged Zhang Changzong's waist and smiled: "What is Liulang's opinion?"

Wu Zetian has hesitated in the past few days, and similarly, the Zhang brothers are also discussing repeatedly, they have reached a consensus, they did make a mistake in the matter of Wu Sansi, they should not prematurely state that Wu Sansi should take the position, they should let Li Wu continue to fight, this is in their interests, let Li Wu fight and lose both, so that they can finally benefit.

So now we must not set up a prince again, we should let the position of the prince be bait, let Li Wu fight for it, and try desperately to please their brothers, Zhang Changzong and Zhang Yizhi have already made a decision, they want to use their special status to influence Wu Zetian.

Zhang Changzong said in a low voice: "The establishment of the prince is the foundation of the country, it is related to the survival of the society, it is indeed not easy to decide who to set up or who not to appoint, for example, Wu Sansi lost his morality but was almost made the prince, it is the biggest lesson, Gorou and I both think that Your Majesty should think about it carefully, and then observe carefully, and can not let Wu Sansi's lesson reappear, in fact, whether it is the Wu family or the Li family, it has nothing to do with our brothers, and the key is not to ruin Your Majesty's reputation for thousands of generations." ”

Wu Zetian nodded, the words of the Zhang brothers went up to her heart, she had realized that whether the Wu family was on the throne or the Li family was on the throne, it would cause a huge impact, and even war, she needed time to adjust the Li Wu conflict, and in the end, even if the Li family was on the throne, the Wu family must be properly arranged.

At this moment, Wu Zetian made up his mind to temporarily give up the idea of Feng Wu Sansi as the crown prince.

At this time, Zhang Changzong said again: "There is also the case of our brother's murder, and I also hope that Your Majesty can handle it properly." ”

One sentence reminded Wu Zetian that the Li clan had indeed gone too far this time, and if they didn't teach them a hard lesson, they wouldn't know what they would do next time.

And since Wu Sansi has been blocked from becoming the crown prince, it is also a balance to strike at the Li royal family and give the Wu family a little comfort.

Thinking of this, Wu Zetian immediately issued an order: "Spread my will, and quickly announce that Cheng Ji will come to see him in the imperial history." ”

The eunuch ran away quickly, and Wu Zetian smiled at Zhang Changzong again: "You and Wulang prepare well, we will drink at night and not get drunk!"

Zhang Changzong understood what Wu Zetian meant, smiled softly, got up and left quickly, as soon as Zhang Changzong left, Wu Zetian's face sank, his eyes were full of murder, and after a moment, Ji Ji hurriedly walked into the room, bowed down and said: "Weichen Ji Ji see Your Majesty!"

"Ji Zhongcheng, I gave you three days to investigate the murder of Zhang Jingxiong, and now that four days have passed, you should give me an explanation!"

Of course, Ji Ji knew why the Holy Lord summoned him, and he had been repeatedly investigating and verifying the details of Zhang Jingxiong's murder in the past few days, and more importantly, Princess Taiping had given him clear instructions, so he knew where the direction of this case was.

He took out a volume of documents and respectfully presented it to Wu Zetian, "Back to Your Majesty, this is the minister's preliminary investigation plan, because some details need to be verified, so I couldn't report it to Your Majesty in time." ”

The eunuch forwarded Ji Xuan's report to Wu Zetian, Wu Zetian opened it and looked at it, frowning slightly: "Are you really sure that Li Chongrun did it?"

"Back to Your Majesty, there is no evidence at the scene of the murder, but Wechen found some jewelry that was robbed at the same time in a jewelry shop in Nanshi, and after repeated investigations by Wechen, it was finally found out that these jewels were sold by a guard in the Luling Palace, and now the guard has confessed that he was involved in the murder of Zhang Jingxiong. ”

Wu Zetian pondered for a moment and said, "You mean that King Luling may also have been involved in this assassination?"

"Wechen has not yet reached that point in the trial, and now it can only be determined that Li Chongrun is related to this case. ”

Wu Zetian took a few steps with his hands in his hands, this investigation report came in a timely manner, and Li Chongrun also appeared just right, even if this matter was secretly instructed by King Luling, but she couldn't implicate the matter on King Luling, she needed to point it out.

Thinking of this, Wu Zetian said slowly: "No need to investigate any more, use Li Chongrun to close the case!"

At the beginning of May of the first year of Dazu, Wu Sansi was abolished for the crime of interfering in military affairs, demoted to the Duke of Liang Guo, and stopped his qualification as the heir of the emperor.

At this point, the uproar about Prince Wu Sansi finally died down, and there was no more follow-up.

But another gossip came out, Princess Taiping and King Xiang strongly asked the Son of Heaven to canonize Erzhang as the prince, but in the end without the consent of the Son of Heaven, Zhang Changzong was named Ye Guogong, Zhang Yizhi was named Hengguo Gong, and 300 households were given.

On the eighth day of the fifth month, a white banner was hung in Di Renjie's house, and Mrs. Di died at the age of 80.