The eunuch replied: "Prime Minister is not willing to see him but he refuses to leave. He is probably still pestering you outside the east gate."
Li Zhaode was overjoyed: "Quickly go and see if he is still there. If he is, bring him into the palace immediately. I want to bring him to see the Emperor!"
The little eunuch did not know why the Prime Minister had suddenly changed his mind, but since he had already given the order, he still obeyed and ran toward the east gate. After a while, he led a young man wearing a round-collared Confucian robe and a soft-legged turtle on his head. That man had a big turtle on his head, and he followed behind the little eunuch, escorted by two imperial bodyguards. His behavior looked very ridiculous.
Li Zhaode was already impatient. When he saw him arrive, he did not wait for him to bow and thank him. He said impatiently: "Go, go, go. Hurry up, I will bring you to see the Emperor!"
In order to wait for this person, Li Zhaode delayed a bit and ended up being one step slower than Wang Qingzhi. By the time he arrived at Wu Cheng Hall, Wang Qingzhi had already arrived in front of Wu Zetian.
Wu Zetian looked at the somewhat nervous Wang Qingzhi and lightly asked: "Dan is my son so he was made the Emperor's heir. You have gathered a crowd to petition me to abolish the Crown Prince and make him the King of Wei. What is the reason?"
Wang Qingzhi swallowed his saliva and controlled his nervousness. He bowed and said: "Your Majesty, there is an ancient saying: 'Gods do not worship those of the same race; people do not worship those of the same race.' To worship the ancestors, one must first confirm the bloodline. Otherwise, the ancestors and spirits will not enjoy the ceremony and the people will not recognize their ancestors. The current Emperor's surname is Wu but he has the Li family as his heir. Isn't that ridiculous? "
Wu Zetian snorted: "The Crown Prince has already changed his surname to Wu!"
Wang Qingzhi said: "Your Majesty, the fact that the Crown Prince has changed his surname to Wu does not escape the fact that his surname is Li. Since ancient times, the country has always been passed down to the descendants of the Emperor. How can it be passed down to someone with a different surname? The Crown Prince was originally surnamed Li. When he changed his surname to Wu, he was already an adult. Once he ascends the throne, how can he not be Li Tang? At that time, where will Your Majesty's country belong to? "
"This …"
When Wu Zetian heard this, she couldn't help but hesitate. At this time, Eunuch Little Hai bowed and reported, "Reporting to everyone, the Assistant Minister of Phoenix Pavilion, Tong Feng Pavilion's Luan Tai Ping Zhang, Li Zhaode, requests an audience!"
Wu Zetian raised her brows and said, "Is Prime Minister Li here? Invite him in!"
A moment later, Li Zhaode stepped into the main hall, followed by a person. This person was wearing a round collar Confucian robe and was about 30 years old. He was refined and had a handsome appearance. However, there was a huge turtle on his head, which made him look neither fish nor fowl.
When Li Zhaode saw Wu Zetian, he bowed and said, "This subject Li Zhaode greets Your Majesty!"
The Scribes with the turtle on his head bowed as well.
"Prime Minister Li, you may dispense with the formalities. Please have a seat!"
After Wu Zetian finished speaking, she curiously looked at the man with a big turtle on his head and asked, "Why did Prime Minister Li come to see me? Who is this person? What does he do? "
When that person heard Wu Zetian's question, he bowed again and tried his best to squeeze out a smile. The big turtle on top of his head suddenly poked its head out and looked left and right with its bean-sized eyes. Suddenly, it saw Wu Zetian and seemed to be frightened by something. With a whoosh, it retracted its head and four of its claws back into its shell. Looking at it now, it looked like that person was carrying a turtle shell on his head. At the side, Shangguan Wan 'er, Yang Fan and all the palace maids and eunuchs were somewhat unable to restrain their laughter.
Li Zhaode calmly replied, "This person has an auspicious sign to offer to Your Majesty, so this subject brought him here to see you. In my hurry, I did not have time to ask his name. "
As he said this, he coldly glanced at that person and said, "Your Majesty is asking you a question, answer it yourself!"
That person hurriedly said, "Yes, yes, yes, this subject is a scholar from Xiangzhou, Zhou Xiaoyu, greets Your Majesty!"
Wu Zetian said, "You are a scholar from Xiangzhou? Why did you come to the capital to see me? "
Zhou Xiaoyu hurriedly explained. Because he was nervous at first, he was still stammering, but towards the end, he was beaming with joy.
This Zhou Xiaoyu was a scholar from Xiangzhou, but this scholar was not a scholar of the later generations. In the early Tang Dynasty, the requirements to become a scholar were very high, and their rank was even higher than that of a scholar. In a year, more than thirty scholars could pass the examination, but not one scholar appeared in ten years. It was even rarer than being the top scholar among the scholars.
After Zhou Xiaoyu passed the examination, his scholarly rank basically stopped there, because the imperial examinations in the Tang Dynasty were not easy to pass. At that time, the imperial examinations in the world only accepted thirty people at most, and most of these places were taken by the nobles. Even if there were talented scholars among the common people, it was difficult for them to pass the imperial examinations, not to mention that Zhou Xiaoyu's talent was only ordinary.
Therefore, Zhou Xiaoyu took a different approach and thought of offering auspicious signs, hoping to use the auspicious signs to win the Emperor's favor and become an official. In the end, he conjured up a 'divine turtle'.
According to Zhou Xiaoyu, this divine turtle was a drought tortoise that he found by chance in the mountains. In the beginning, he did not think that there was anything special about this turtle, but later on, he accidentally discovered that on the shell of the turtle's abdomen, there were the words' Ten Thousand Years of the Son of Heaven '. This made him curious, so he went to the capital to present this divine object to the Emperor.
Wu Zetian happily said, "Minister Zhou, quickly present the divine turtle, let me see it!"
Wang Qingzhi's passionate speech was interrupted by Li Zhaode's intrusion. In the beginning, he was still standing there, putting on a dignified appearance, standing tall and straight. In the end, the turtle on Zhou Xiaoyu's head stole his limelight. Everyone in the palace was looking at the turtle, no one paid attention to him. It was too tiring to stand with his head held high, so he quietly slumped his shoulders and body, standing there to look at the western scenery.
Zhou Xiaoyu took the turtle down from his head. Little Hai and another eunuch rushed forward and took the turtle with both hands. They carried it to Wu Zetian's imperial table and turned the turtle over. The turtle's belly was facing the sky, and it stretched out its head and limbs in surprise. When it saw that there were people in front of it, it quickly shrunk back.
Wu Zetian fixed her eyes on it and saw that on the back of the turtle, there really were five bright red words, "Ten Thousand Years of the Son of Heaven". She couldn't help but click her tongue in wonder and loudly said, "Aiya, I didn't think that there would be such a divine object in this world. Ten Thousand Years of the Son of Heaven, haha, auspicious, it really is auspicious. Minister Li, quickly come and take a look, there really are words on this turtle's belly!"
Li Zhaode didn't believe in supernatural things at all. When he received Zhou Xiaoyu's gift, he knew that it must be fake. At this time, hearing Wu Zetian's words, he couldn't help but sneer and said, "Your Majesty, this kind of divine object, Your Majesty wants, this subject can make as many as Your Majesty wants!"
Wu Zetian was startled and said, "What does Minister Li mean?"
Li Zhaode stood up and walked in front of the imperial table. He looked left and right and saw Yang Fan standing to the side. He said, "This general, I'll have to trouble you to help me!"
Yang Fan looked at Wu Zetian and seeing her nod, he walked in front of Li Zhaode, cupped his hands and said, "I don't know what instructions Minister has for me?"
Li Zhaode rolled up his sleeves and pressed down on the turtle. He said to Yang Fan, "General, please draw your saber and scrape the words on this turtle's belly!"
Hearing Li Zhaode's words, Zhou Xiaoyu's expression immediately changed.
Yang Fan understood Li Zhaode's meaning. If one said that there were some patterns on the turtle that looked like some words, he felt that it was not impossible. However, there were five big words neatly carved on the turtle's belly, he didn't believe it either. He immediately drew his saber and used the tip of the saber to scrape the turtle's belly.
Yang Fan was originally worried that the words wouldn't be easy to scrape off. Who would have thought that wherever the tip of the saber passed, there was a creaking sound and the red words were actually scraped off bit by bit. Li Zhaode pressed down on the turtle and said to Wu Zetian with a cold smile, "Your Majesty, if these words are made by heaven, how can you use a saber to scrape them off? It's clearly this crafty commoner's trick to deceive Your Majesty!"
The expression on Wu Zetian's face was very awkward. She waved her hand and said, "Take the turtle away and throw this person out of the palace!"
Li Zhaode said, "Your Majesty, this person deceives the Emperor and disobeys his superiors. He should be severely punished. How can he be thrown out of the palace! Your Majesty should hand him over to the Ministry of Justice and punish him severely! "
Hearing this, Zhou Xiaoyu was so scared that he knelt on the ground and kowtowed repeatedly to beg for mercy.
Wu Zetian said embarrassedly, "'The Son of Heaven will live for ten thousand years'. Hehe, although this divine object is fake, it is not some bad intention. Forget it, just throw him out!"
When Zhou Xiaoyu heard this, he was afraid that Li Zhaode would say something to punish him again. He quickly kowtowed and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your great kindness!" Then he scrambled out of the palace.
Li Zhaode originally did not come for him, so of course he was too lazy to pay attention to him. He only said, "Your Majesty is benevolent and unwilling to punish this unruly commoner. That's fine, but you must be on guard against this kind of person! This Zhou Xiaoyu's' The Son of Heaven will live for ten thousand years' was not sincerely to bless Your Majesty. Instead, it was a pretense of blessing Your Majesty for his own personal gain! "
He coldly glanced at Wang Qingzhi and said with a double meaning, "This kind of person, this kind of matter, it's not impossible that there is no one in the imperial court. Your Majesty must not ignore it."
At this point, he slowly walked back to his seat and glanced at Wang Qingzhi as if he had just seen him. He casually asked, "This seems to be Hongwen Scholar Wang Qingzhi? Why have you come to the palace today? "
Wang Qingzhi hurriedly puffed out his chest and repeated his request for Wei Wang Wu Chengsi to be the Crown Prince. Without waiting for him to finish, Li Zhaode burst out in laughter. Wu Zetian curiously asked, "Why is Minister Li laughing?"
Li Zhaode cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, your subject heard Scholar Wang's absurd words, so I laughed."
Wu Zetian said, "Oh? What's wrong with Wang Qingzhi's words? "
Li Zhaode said, "Your Majesty, as the Son of Heaven, should pass down the foundation of ten thousand generations to your descendants. How can there be a house full of children and grandchildren but a nephew as the heir? Your subject has never heard of a nephew becoming the Son of Heaven and being able to welcome his aunt into the Imperial Ancestral Temple! How could a nephew be closer to an aunt than a biological mother and son? "
Wang Qingzhi was extremely exasperated and said, "Your subject does not agree with Minister Li's words. There is an ancient saying, 'Gods do not care about those of the same race, people do not worship those of the same race.' The current Son of Heaven's surname is Wu, how can the Li family be the heir?"
Li Zhaode did not even bother to look at him and only said to Wu Zetian, "Only the sacrifice of one's own children can be enjoyed by the ancestors. If Your Majesty has a son, he will be worthy to enjoy the Imperial Ancestral Temple for thousands of years and have endless inheritance. If you have a nephew, who will sacrifice blood for Your Majesty after thousands of years?"
Hearing this, Wu Zetian could not help but be silent. Only she, the Female Emperor, would encounter such a difficult situation. Since ancient times, no Emperor has encountered such a problem, so she did not have a precedent to follow.
Her surname is Wu. Only by having a son with the surname Wu can her empire be passed down. But she is a woman, so her son cannot have the surname Wu. But if she does not pass it down to her own children, how can she be worthy to enjoy the Imperial Ancestral Temple after death? Only the sacrifice of one's own children can be enjoyed. If the empire is not passed down to one's own children, wouldn't she become a hungry ghost in a hundred years?
Seeing that the Emperor was moved by Li Zhaode's words, Wang Qingzhi knelt on the ground and cried out, "Your Majesty, your subject has been wholeheartedly thinking for Your Majesty! Li Zhaode cannot forget Li Tang and has evil intentions. Your Majesty cannot trust him. Your Majesty is the ruler of Zhou, how can you have a heir of the Li family? "
Wu Zetian was silent for a long time, then said in a deep voice, "The proposal to replace the Crown Prince is groundless. There is no need for you to say anything more. Leave!"
Wang Qingzhi threw caution to the wind! Li Zhaode, the current Prime Minister, had already been scolded by him. If he could not convince the Emperor, Wu Chengsi would certainly not be satisfied. At that time, would he still have a way out? The only thing he could do now was to walk this path to the end!
Wang Qingzhi kowtowed until his head was dripping with blood. He begged with his death and refused to leave. Seeing this, Wu Zetian couldn't help but sigh. She picked up a brush and wrote a few words. She had someone use the jade seal and said to Wang Qingzhi, "I know your loyalty. This piece of paper is for you. If you want to see me in the future, you can use it to come and go without fear! Go! "
Hearing that Wu Zetian had relented, Wang Qingzhi was afraid that going too far would be as bad as not going far enough. Now that he had this piece of paper, Wu Chengsi could be considered to have an explanation. Only then did he kowtow to express his gratitude. Holding the paper, he retreated with blood on his forehead.
Li Zhaode had come for Wang Qingzhi today. Seeing that he had left, he also said goodbye to Wu Zetian and returned to the Hall of Governmental Affairs to work.
After the two of them left, Wu Zetian's face darkened. She slammed the imperial desk with hatred and said, "Everyone, don't let me have peace!"
The palace maids and eunuchs serving in the hall all knelt down and said in unison, "Everyone, please calm down!"
Wu Zetian said angrily, "Get up, all of you. What can you help me solve my troubles?"
Wu Zetian brushed her big sleeves and turned to look at Yang Fan. Her expression softened a little. She asked, "Yang Fan, are you going to get married in the next few days?"
Yang Fan braced himself and said, "Yes! Thanks for Your Majesty's concern. In three days, it will be … my wedding day! "
"Hmm! Good, good! Xiaoman has been by my side for a few years. This child is a good girl. You two can become husband and wife. I am very satisfied, haha … "
As Wu Zetian said this, a smile gradually appeared on her face. She said, "It will be your wedding day in three days. Such a joyous event, why are you still on duty in the palace? You really don't know how to be a person. How about this, you don't have to go to the palace to work these few days. Go back and prepare for the wedding. Prepare to be your groom. "
Yang Fan didn't dare to look at Wan'er. He only knelt down on one knee and said to Wu Zetian, "Yes! I thank Your Majesty for your grace! "
Wu Zetian then said to Wan'er, "Wan'er, in my life, this is the only marriage I have set up. You have to make good arrangements. Don't look shabby and lose my face."
Wan'er's heart darkened. She slightly lowered her head and said in a low voice, "Your Majesty, how could Wan'er dare to be careless? I have people carefully preparing. When the time comes, Wan'er will personally arrange for Xiaoman to marry into Yang Lang Jiang's family. I will not lose the face of the royal family. Your Majesty, please don't worry! "
Wu Zetian smiled and said, "That's good! These days, I have too many things to worry about. It's rare to encounter a joyous event. I am very happy! Hahaha … "
Yang Fan took this opportunity to sneak a glance at Wan'er. Both of them were afraid of losing their composure, so they simultaneously lowered their heads. They could only hear the happy laughter of "Yue Lao" …
…
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