Chapter 434: Ten Days to Shake the World

[In 697, although the war in the north was not over, Wu Zetian met her true love again.

This time, her true love was introduced by her daughter Princess Taiping.

Although we often talk about Princess Taiping's wide range of male favorites, in fact, people have a process of change.

Around 680, Li Zhi allowed the 15-year-old Princess Taiping to choose her own son-in-law.

After much selection, she finally fell in love with Xue Shao, the second son of Princess Chengyang, and officially married the following year. In this marriage, Princess Taiping was law-abiding and there were no rumors.

It was Wu Zetian who was dissatisfied with this marriage, and the reason was also outrageous: she said that the two wives of Xue Shao's brother Xue 𫖮, Xiao and Cheng, were of humble origins and were a disgrace to the family, so it would be better to divorce them.

The Xue family was dumbfounded, and asked someone to mediate, saying that Xiao was from Lanling Xiao, and it was not a disgrace to the family. In the end, Wu Zetian let go of the matter on the surface.

Perhaps it was because of this incident that Li Zhen and Li Chong rebelled against Wu, and Xue 𫖮 was also involved.

After being defeated and captured, Wu Zetian beheaded Xue 𫖮 without hesitation, and arrested Xue Shao in the name of involvement and punished him with 100 canes, and "forgot" to release him, starving him to death in prison.

When Xue Shao died, the fourth child of Princess Taiping and Xue Shao was still in her infancy, and as compensation, Princess Taiping's food fiefdom was increased to 1,200 households.

However, at this time, it was already on the eve of changing the country's name. In order to prevent Princess Taiping from being implicated by cruel officials, Wu Zetian decided to remarry her to the Wu family again.

The old lady strongly recommended Wu Chengsi and Wu Fengxian, but Princess Taiping thought they were too old, and finally married Wu Youji.

After this marriage, Princess Taiping began to select male favorites widely and had many contacts with court officials. Finally, when her mother was unhappy, she introduced Zhang Changzong, the best male favorite in the palace, to the old lady, which gave Wu Zetian's downhill car another accelerator.

I would like to emphasize that this handsome man is called Zhang Changzong, not Zhang Zongchang, the warlord who wrote the poem "Cannons are fired to blast his mother, and he returns to his hometown with power throughout the country".

Please ask, how long does it take to go from selling your face to having power to move the world?

Zhang Changzong replied: Half a month is enough.

This handsome man made the old lady very satisfied just by the first meeting. On the day of the meeting, he was appointed as General Yunhui, performing the duties of the General of the Left Thousand Bull Guards, and in charge of the palace guards.

Zhang Changzong was also very satisfied and told the old lady: My brother's appearance is far better than mine, and he is good at refining medicine and has extraordinary abilities. Wu Zetian summoned him again immediately.

Zhang Yizhi was also appointed as the Shaoqing of the Wei official on the spot, and was rewarded with a house, servants, cattle, horses, camels, and property.

A few days later, Zhang Changzong was promoted to the rank of Silver and Green Guanglu Doctor, and participated in the government affairs. His father was posthumously recognized as the governor of Xiangzhou, and his mother Wei and Zang were recognized as the Taifu. Every day, the palace ladies asked about his daily life.

In order to please the old lady, the Wu family also had to see the faces of the two Zhangs, and rushed to hold the horse and pass the whip for them, and even gave the two brothers the names of Wulang and Liulang respectively.

Wu Zetian was very pleased, and promoted Zhang Changzong to the Right Sanqi Changshi. This official position was no longer a casual official since Emperor Gaozong, but an official under the third rank of the Ministry of Personnel, and its status was second only to the prime minister.

The Zhang brothers went from being a commoner to Sanqi Changshi of the Ministry of Personnel, and jumped 25 levels to the prime minister, which took less than half a month. It was a treatment that An Lushan would envy.

These two brothers were the first to be killed in the name of clearing the court in the previous Shenlong coup.

From this perspective, the historical significance of the Zhang brothers is probably that they finally united the "anti-Wu faction". 】

"True love..." Zhang Fei pondered over the two words that were said by later generations, and then he reacted and muttered:

"We are a group of short-lived people who are really not as good at enjoying life as the old lady."

This is not difficult to calculate. It has been mentioned before that the old lady was only 82 years old when the Shenlong coup took place.

So if we calculate it back, she is at least 75 years old at this time.

Look at this room again, there is not even one person who can live to 70...

Looking at Zhang Fei's pure and innocent eyes, Kong Ming's smile froze immediately.

This gaze then swept over Lu Su, Fa Zheng, and Pang Tong one by one.

Then the whole hall heard Zhang Fei muttering quietly:

"Military Advisor Zhuge is already very old."

Looking at the different expressions of the several think tanks, Liu Bei waved his hands helplessly:

"Just bury him."

After another lesson, Liu Bei rubbed his slightly painful palm and sighed:

"This mother is too worried about her daughter."

"But Zhang Zongchang seems to respect the emperor, but this poem is vulgar."

The matter of royal daughters marrying is not news. Those who marry princesses include heroes like Marquis of Changping and Han Guang who participated in rebellion and was executed.

But it is rare for the royal family to find fault with them after marriage. Liu Bei could only express sympathy for Xue Shao.

As for this poem, although it is a bit vulgar, it also reminds Liu Bei of the power of the trial gunpowder he saw in Chengdu:

"There is such a sigh only when there is the power to seize the sky, it is not too much."

The trial production of gunpowder in Chengdu Qingyun Temple can be said to be orderly, but the progress of the production of artillery is quite slow.

On the one hand, it was considered that Chengdu was not a place to stay for a long time, and on the other hand, compared with defeating the enemy in battle formations, this thing was more useful for opening up the mountains of Yizhou.

The first iron cannon produced after the gunpowder was made exploded violently, and Liu Bei realized how difficult it was to test the cannon.

Kong Ming thought: Even gold and iron could not stop the power of gunpowder, let alone rocks?

After changing his direction, Liu Bei had to admit that this thing was a good tool for opening up mountains, building roads and mining.

After all, although Yizhou has a large population, if you want to take coal, iron, copper and other things in the mountains, you have to take care of farming, and these people are stretched.

And seeing this poem today, Liu Bei's heart is itching again.

Imagine that when he goes west to Tongguan and fights Cao Cao on the battlefield, he will directly pull out a cannon and argue with Cao who is the hero...

Isn't it beautiful?

Kong Ming didn't know that Liu Bei had a lot of thoughts in his mind. He listened to his master's sigh and affirmed seriously:

"Gunpowder can destroy millions of enemies when advancing, and can stabilize the country and make the people live and work in peace and contentment when retreating. It is a gentleman's weapon."

He knew the hidden dangers of this thing, but it would not be wise to stop eating because of choking.

So after settling Guanzhong, Kong Ming also visited around Chang'an, hoping to find a place to set up a gunpowder workshop and set up a system to make gunpowder safe.

Pang Tong also agreed with this. If this thing is managed well, the fire of the Three Rejuvenations of Yan and Han will surely burn fiercely.

But if it falls into the hands of villains, it will be like adding fuel to the fire in the current chaotic world.

...

Changsun Wuji carefully calculated that if this is the case, Princess Taiping can be regarded as a bloodline of Changsun.

However... Changsun Wuji sighed immediately. Why should a person who was ordered to be hanged still consider these things?

He was executed for treason, how dare he kill his family.

However, seeing that His Majesty's brows were knitted tighter, Changsun Wuji felt a little relieved for some reason.

At the same time, there was a trace of disgust towards the Zhang brothers.

After all, he had contributed to the world, but it was used for such wanton pleasure. He could more or less understand His Majesty's feelings.

Seeing a face-selling person relying on currying favor with people of his grandmother's generation, disregarding the etiquette and laws, and gaining power in just over ten days, Changsun Wuji's experience can be summed up in two words: outrageous.

Wei Zheng's lips trembled a little, and Changsun Wuji knew without thinking that he was probably muttering something like the imbalance of yin and yang and the reversal of heaven and earth.

Even Fang Du and the other two looked a little absent-minded, and Changsun Wuji expressed his understanding.

After all, think about the heroic Wang Xuance who traveled far away before, and his achievements in the history books of later generations took a year to go through life and death, but he was only promoted to the fifth level.

In comparison, it is inevitable that people will be depressed.

However, Changsun Wuji was also slightly curious because of this. The world is still not in chaos after the rebellion. Is the legacy of Zhenguan so stable?

[The same year that the Zhang brothers opened the eyes of the whole world, Lai Junchen fell.

As a famous cruel official in the Wu Zhou period, Lai Junchen's downfall was inevitable.

After all, Wu Zhou had officially changed its title for six years. For such a cruel official, all the achievements that could be made were done. If the vicious dog did not bite, it would be easy for the owner to suspect whether it was old.

Lai Junchen gritted his teeth and decided to fight for a background that would allow him to retire peacefully after carefully figuring out his master's thoughts:

He accused the Wu kings and Princess Taiping, and falsely accused the heir to the throne and Prince Luling of rebelling with the North and South Ya.

In short, he wiped out the Wu and Li families at once. In the environment at that time, he really couldn't see himself clearly. After all, even the old lady had to tease the Wu family to give people a glimmer of hope. You wanted to go all in right away. How much did you drink?

The result was not too surprising. Before Lai Junchen had time to make a move, the Wu kings and Princess Taiping worked together to put Lai Junchen in jail without explanation.

Then the younger generation went to the old lady to cry. In the end, it was as it should be. Lai Junchen was killed by Empress Wu.

After all, from ancient times to the present, cruel officials are essentially the minions of the emperor. When Wu Zetian needs them, she can push out a dozen Lai Junchen at any time, and when she doesn't need them, she can naturally crush them to death.

After Lai Junchen was eaten alive in Chang'an and celebrated, Di Renjie, who was comforting the people in Weizhou, was summoned to Beijing by the old lady:

Wu Zhou has already decided, let you be the prime minister.

Although Wu Zetian had previously tried her best to demote Di Renjie to Pengze, the old lady's good nephew Wu Fengxian still asked for permission to kill Di Renjie many times, but was not allowed.

It was not until the Khitan rebellion that Di Renjie was re-employed, and he comforted the refugees and protected the people's livelihood with the official position of Weizhou governor. Di Renjie did a great job in this matter, and the local people erected a monument to praise him.

After entering Beijing, Di Renjie wrote a long memorial to the old lady in the posture of a prime minister, and the words were very sincere.

The main idea is just one: we should shrink our strategy.

Actually, this is not surprising. After all, anyone with a discerning eye can see that from Emperor Taizong to Emperor Gaozong, military expenditure has been steadily increasing.

It was even more serious during the Wu Zhou period. It took a lot of effort to pacify the Khitan. The defeat at Tianmenling made the Bohai Kingdom independent in fact, completely cutting off the Liaodong Corridor. The Andong Protectorate was already in name only. It would be better to abolish it and use the money saved to appease the people of Hebei.

The meaning behind the words is the same. Sister, this is not the Zhenguan period. 】