"This wasn't about seizing the throne," Li Shimin sighed after a brief pause.
"It was about venting anger."
If this had been a rational coup, the first step should have been obvious.
Take Xuanwu Gate.
Seize the palace armory.
Lock down the inner palace and prevent the Imperial Guards from gathering armor and weapons.
Then rally elite troops, rush to "protect" the Son of Heaven, and the matter would have been settled in one stroke.
At that point, dealing with people like Wu Sansi would have been effortless.
And even if Li Chongjun himself was young and reckless, could the four Imperial Guard commanders around him truly not understand the importance of Xuanwu Gate?
Especially Li Duozuo.
Li Shimin remembered him clearly.
During the Shenlong Coup, this man had been stationed at Xuanwu Gate itself.
So there was only one explanation.
Li Chongjun harbored a hatred so deep toward Wu Sansi's abuse of power that he forced the Guard commanders to follow him in killing his enemy first, and only then attempted to act.
All of this passed through Li Shimin's mind in the time of a single breath.
But if he put aside strategy and spoke purely from the heart, even he could not help saying:
"Killed well."
Seizing imperial authority.
Defiling the inner palace and private estates.
Persecuting old ministers.
Bullying and humiliating the Eastern Palace.
Any one of these crimes was unforgivable.
That this descendant lacked overall planning was true.
But facing such a national parasite, drawing the blade and splashing blood three feet high was a revenge worth applauding.
When later generations compared this matter to the Xuanwu Gate Incident, the others present wisely kept silent to avoid suspicion.
Empress Zhangsun, however, had no such concerns. She smiled lightly and said:
"I fear that many loyal and righteous people at court, both inside and outside, share the same thoughts."
Li Shimin snorted softly, accepted the neither-soft-nor-hard praise, and then shook his head after some thought.
"This Li Xian has no long-term vision, and he remembers nothing of past disasters.
Foolish and cowardly.
With his wife and daughters wielding power, unspeakable things are bound to happen."
He spoke of his descendants as if it were only natural, and his tone showed no mercy whatsoever.
By seniority alone, Li Xian should have called him Grandfather or even Great-Grandfather.
Yet Li Shimin was already being restrained.
If Li Xian were standing here now, Li Shimin had no doubt he would resort to physical education.
For a brief moment, the Tang emperor even regretted that the light curtain did not connect to Li Xian's era.
If he could scold him directly, it would at least relieve some of the resentment in his chest.
Empress Zhangsun gently patted her husband's arm to ease his anger, then asked with mild curiosity:
"Surely it will not go that far? There is still the Prince of Xiang…"
Li Shimin sneered and shook his head, declining to comment on the Prince of Xiang, offering only a brief explanation.
"Li Chongjun was Crown Prince.
Though not Empress Wei's biological son, he was humiliated by her own daughter.
His position was already lost."
"And once you imitate the Two Saints ruling together…"
At this point, Li Shimin felt an ache in his stomach.
None of these descendants were reassuring.
"Then the thought of ruling from behind the curtain is only natural.
And perhaps they even dreamed of following in Wu Zhao's footsteps."
The mockery at the corner of Li Shimin's mouth was undisguised.
With your level of control, where the inner palace cannot even withstand a single blade from the Imperial Guards, you dare dream such dreams?
Still, while feeling satisfied at Wu Sansi's death, Li Shimin recalled a term the later generation had used.
"Warlords…"
Empress Zhangsun noticed her husband's distracted expression and knew his thoughts had drifted somewhere difficult to voice.
She patted the back of his hand and said gently:
"For now, let us see how Xuanzong cleans up this chaos."
Li Shimin had often complained to her about Xuanzong's later incompetence.
Yet looking now, Xuanzong in his youth seemed to possess the air of a capable ruler.
[Lightscreen]
[Wu Sansi and Wu Chongxun had been cut down by Li Chongjun in a life-for-a-life exchange.
But the storm did not subside.
In fact, it only grew worse.
After Empress Wu's fall, Li Xian had held power for less than a month when he stunned the court.
He issued an edict granting Princesses Taiping, Anle, Changning, Yicheng, Xindu, Ding'an, and Jincheng the right to establish their own offices.
Their status was to be treated as equal to princes.
To establish an office meant they could appoint their own officials.
Those officials could in turn recommend others to the court.
In other words, it was an officially sanctioned shortcut to office.
Yao Chong likely sensed the danger immediately from this edict.
He wept bitterly before Wu Zetian, then smoothly arranged an external appointment, successfully escaping the coming political storm.
With the Wu family's power center in the capital destroyed, their influence weakened.
But Li Xian's wives and daughters gathered together and quickly devised a new plan.
Why go out of the palace to smile and flatter others, forming cliques?
Wasn't directly selling offices faster and more profitable?
Without the Wu family acting as middlemen skimming profits, the imperial family became even more adept at selling posts.
Empress Wei handled sweet talk with Li Xian.
Shangguan Wan'er drafted edicts and decrees.
Princess Anle, relying on favor, could have Li Xian sign first and fill in the contents later.
That took care of the upstream.
Downstream, the princesses' estates with office-granting authority, Empress Wei's sister, Shangguan Wan'er's mother Lady Pei of Peiguo, Palace Matron Chai, Lady Helou, the shamaness Fifth Ying'er, Lady Zhao of Longxi, and others spread throughout Chang'an and beyond.
The entire supply chain was complete.
At the time, in Chang'an, if you could produce three hundred thousand coins, you could obtain an official appointment personally sealed by Emperor Li Xian.
If you were short on funds, three thousand coins could buy a monk or nun certificate, exempting you from taxes and corvée labor.
An absolute bargain.
Because these special appointments were processed through back channels of the Secretariat, and the imperial approvals were written in black ink rather than vermilion, people contemptuously called them "slanted-seal officials."
How many such appointments were issued under Li Xian is no longer knowable.
What is known is that Vice Minister Li Chaoyin was a hard man.
He personally blocked fourteen hundred slanted-seal edicts.
Less than a year later, Princess Anle kicked him out of Chang'an and demoted him.
By the time of Li Longji's Kaiyuan era, slanted-seal officials had become a chronic disease.
In the end, a single sweeping edict abolished more than four thousand of them at once.
With this money, Li Xian's daughters lived in unmatched luxury.
Princess Anle and Princess Changning built massive palaces in Chang'an, nearly matching imperial standards.
To build artificial mountains, they seized commoners' farmland.
The finished rockeries stretched eight or nine li.
When Chang'an residents glanced over, they thought Princess Anle had dragged Mount Hua into the city.
Empress Wei was more practical.
She merely increased the guards and households attached to the Boling Ancestral Temple.
Not many.
Only about five times the size of Emperor Taizong's Zhaoling.
After laying this groundwork, Empress Wei began cautiously testing her husband's limits.
In 707, she imitated the Zhou dynasty precedent and led a group to submit a memorial, saying His Majesty's achievements merited the honorific title "Responding to Heaven, Divine Dragon Emperor."
Li Xian was delighted.
Agreement made things easy.
A few days later, the same group submitted another memorial.
The Empress should receive the title "Heaven-Aiding Sacred Empress."
Li Xian waved his brush and approved it again, never once noticing that the abbreviated title was identical to Wu Zetian's former "Heavenly Empress."
The following year, rumors spread through Chang'an.
People swore, with great confidence, that five-colored auspicious clouds had emerged from Empress Wei's wardrobe.
Wu Zetian would probably have laughed herself breathless at such a trick.
But Li Xian's response exceeded all expectations.
He had the clouds painted, showed the image to his ministers, and happily declared a general amnesty.
In 709, Li Xian sacrificed to Heaven south of Chang'an.
The Director of the Imperial Academy suggested that the Empress should participate.
Li Xian agreed again and designated Empress Wei as the secondary officiant.
Did it feel familiar?
Like when Li Zhi performed the Fengshan sacrifices at Mount Tai and Wu Zetian acted as secondary officiant?
Empress Wei was reading straight from Wu Zhao's script, not even bothering to change a single word.
At the time, the situation was simple.
The Empress was busy usurping power.
The princesses were busy grabbing money.
At court, slanted-seal officials fought legitimate officials for space.
Outside the court, the people suffered years of drought, selling sons and daughters to survive.
Li Xian himself scolded officials who suggested moving to Luoyang.
"How could the Son of Heaven chase after grain!"
Then he turned around and prayed that the grain barges from Luoyang would hurry up and reach Chang'an.
Great Tang truly was thriving.]
Pang Tong fell silent.
Seeing Lu Su raise an eyebrow slightly, Pang Tong laughed.
"This Tang emperor serves his wife even better than his mother.
One could call it foolish devotion."
He apologized internally for his earlier judgment.
Comparing Sun Quan to Li Xian had been deeply insulting.
At this moment, he fully agreed with Zhang Fei's words.
Was Li Xian here to demonstrate the lower limits of being an emperor?
If this qualified as rulership, then who in the world could not claim the throne?
"Compared to Li Xian," Pang Tong added, "Sun Quan could even be called a capable keeper of the realm."
Lu Su nodded, then sighed.
"Those who suffer in the end are always the common people.
When the Son of Heaven lacks virtue, the people live in fire and water."
He had no illusions that Great Tang was truly flourishing.
The irony in that final remark was painfully obvious.
Pang Tong sighed as well.
"If Sun Quan were placed in this Tang, he could be called a preserver.
If placed in the Song, he would be called a wise ruler."
Then he looked at Lu Su.
"Have you heard the saying, 'To have a son, one should have Sun Zhongmou'?"
Lu Su raised an eyebrow again.
Was Pang Shiyuan mocking him?
Yet seeing the heavy expression on Pang Tong's face, he hesitated, then asked:
"What do you mean?"
Pang Tong was about to answer when Kongming rose from Zhang Zhongjing's side and cut in smoothly.
"Today should be a joyful day.
Why speak of such dispiriting matters?"
"And besides," he continued calmly, "we can surely work together so that the descendants of Huaxia avoid such disasters."
Pang Tong nodded in agreement.
"If one does not know, that is one thing.
But now that we do, we must find a way to sustain Han prosperity for centuries, stabilize the northern frontier, and pacify the eastern seas."
Lu Su wanted to protest.
What are you two even talking about?
Why does none of this sound like something I signed up for?
Kongming calmly stuffed several pages into Lu Su's hands.
"Zijing may examine the records of Jiangdong medical halls, identify deficiencies, and help refine the system."
If Kongming had directly assigned him administrative work, Lu Su might have slammed the door and left to preserve his integrity.
Well, after finishing watching the light curtain, at least.
But this was a request from a friend.
Lu Su accepted the pages.
After one glance, he could not look away.
On a single sheet of paper, he saw an entire world unfold.
"One barefoot doctor per village.
No need for deep medical theory.
Serve as medical clerks, treat common ailments with standard medicines.
Serious cases sent to county medical halls…"
"Barefoot doctors must know at least five hundred characters, and serve as literacy instructors for village children…"
The plan was clearly still a draft.
Yet even so, Lu Su could tell at once.
This was highly feasible.
Eagerly, he flipped the page, wanting to see the complete proposal.
The next page was blank.
Spotless.
Not a single word.
Lu Su stared at it in disbelief.
"That's it?"