OBS Chapter 886 Regicide
Chapter 886 Regicide
In June of the fourth year of Jinglong's reign, the heat in Chang'an Palace had become like a bone-deep sore, sticking to every inch of the vermilion palace walls.
Empress Wei pushed open the carved window of the Purple Palace and looked at the drooping sycamore leaves in the courtyard, her nails unconsciously digging into her palms - the eunuch had just reported that Li Longji, the eldest son of Prince Li Dan, had secretly met with the captain of the Ten Thousand Cavalry Battalion of the Imperial Guards last night, a force that Li Xian had personally assigned to her.
"Your Majesty, Princess Anle is here." The personal maid's voice was trembling.
When Empress Wei turned around, the golden hairpins on her temples made a crisp sound. She ran into her daughter who rushed in with her pomegranate skirt held up, and the smell of alcohol still on her face.
"Mother, look!" Princess Anle slammed a brocade box onto the table. Inside lay a mutton-fat jade seal. The four seal characters "Crown Princess Treasure" were glaring in the sunlight. "I forced my father to agree to this. He said... to announce it to the world after the autumn harvest."
Empress Wei stared at the seal, her fingertips turning bluish-white.
The look of Li Xian losing his temper in the imperial study three days ago was still fresh in his mind - he threw the memorial impeaching Princess Anle for seizing people's land to the ground and roared, "My world is not the private property of you and your daughter."
That was the first time he was truly angry with himself, and his hesitation in deposing Prince Li Chongjun became a thorn in his heart.
"Autumn Harvest?" Empress Wei sneered, reaching out to stroke her daughter's newly painted eyebrows. "Do you think your father will ever have that time?"
Princess Anle's smile froze on her face, and she was almost sober again. "Mother, what you mean is..."
"Yesterday, the imperial physician came to examine the emperor's pulse and said he's been suffering from heart palpitations lately, often waking up at night and calling out 'Chongjun's' name."
Empress Wei fished out a small, gilded porcelain bottle from the depths of her dressing table and pressed it into her daughter's hand. "This is the 'elixir of immortality' I begged from a Persian monk. It's colorless and odorless. Mixing it with cherries is the best way to make it."
The cool touch of the porcelain bottle climbed up along her fingertips. Princess Anle clenched it tightly, digging her nails into the winding branches on the bottle.
She recalled the time when she was ten years old and was banished to Fangzhou by Wu Zetian. Li Xian held her in his arms and ate moldy bread in a dilapidated temple, saying, "When daddy comes back, I will build you a palace bigger than the Chang'an Palace."
But last year when she wanted to use Kunming Lake as her private garden, the man frowned and said, "That is the water source for the people."
"If he doesn't agree to let me be the Crown Princess, wouldn't all my suffering over the years be in vain?"
Princess Anle suddenly raised her voice, the beads on her golden hairpin clattering and clattering. "Back in Fangzhou, if it weren't for him, how could I have been ridiculed by the country folk? Now that he's the emperor, he's hesitating like that old witch!"
Empress Wei raised her hand to hold her daughter's shoulder. She glanced at the palace maids standing in the corner of the hall and said in a very low voice, "Tonight, you and the people from the Ministry of Internal Affairs will guard the side hall. I will personally deliver the cherries."
"I have ordered the Ten Thousand Cavalry Battalion to guard the palace gates and not allow any prince to approach the Purple Palace."
The twilight was like cotton wool soaked in ink, filling the gaps in the palace little by little.
Li Xian sat on the dragon couch, staring at the "Daily Records" on the desk in a daze.
The few lines of ink still wet read: "Princess Anle wanted to succeed the throne as the Crown Princess, but the Emperor refused, and the dispute lasted for a long time."
He looked at Wei Wen outside the door and frowned.
Just as he was about to speak, he was seized by a palpitation and a sweet and fishy taste rose in his throat.
"Your Majesty, it's time for dinner."
Wei Hou later walked in carrying a gilded lacquer tray. She had a simple, elegant pearl hairpin at her temples. When she smiled, the fine lines around her eyes softened. "The Imperial Kitchen has just made your favorite yogurt cherries, with sugar from the Western Regions."
Wei Wen and his men cleared the way, allowing Empress Wei to slowly walk into the Liangyi Hall.
The cherries in the silver bowl were soaked in snow-white cheese, each one as plump as a blood bead.
Li Xian looked at the pearls on his wife's temples and suddenly remembered how she looked when he first saw her at the Shangyang Palace in Luoyang when he was fourteen years old. At that time, she was still a palace maid wearing a light green skirt. When she handed him a cup of cold tea, the tips of her ears were as red as this cherry.
He did not respond to Empress Wei's words, but just looked at her coldly.
"Why, do you want to attack me?"
"What's going on with the person behind you?"
"Are you trying to force the emperor to abdicate?"
"Where are the Jinwu Guards? Where are my Jinwu Guards?"
Li Xian shouted loudly, but there was no response from outside.
This made Li Xian's heart sink to the bottom.
He wanted to save Wei, so he might be desperate, but he didn't expect that his first wife would be so cruel that she wanted to force him to abdicate.
Hearing Li Xian's words, Empress Wei smiled and shook her head.
"Your Majesty, you and I are a couple who have been through thick and thin together. We have shared joys and sorrows in Fangzhou. Now, if you want to attack my Wei family, then I will have no choice but to strike first."
"The Jinwu Guards outside the palace have been controlled by my people. Li Xian, Li Xian, you are cowardly and unruly. You are not fit to be the emperor, nor to sit in this position. Compared to your mother, you are far worse."
"I'm telling you the truth. Since I dared to raise an army today, I'm not afraid to tell you that the cherries in my hand are poisoned."
"It's colorless and tasteless, but as long as you eat it well, then you can still be respectable."
"Tomorrow, I will announce to the entire court that Your Majesty died of a sudden illness."
"If Your Majesty wishes to preserve your dignity, please eat it obediently for the sake of this concubine."
Hearing what Empress Wei said, Li Xian looked at her in disbelief.
Only now did he realize what a vicious and cruel woman his first wife was.
This time she came not to force the emperor to abdicate, but to kill the king.
I regret not seeing through her vicious heart at the beginning.
"No matter how despicable I am, I am still the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty. How dare you usurp the throne and even commit treason?"
Li Xian was so angry that he laughed. Did the Wei family really think they could take over the Li family's world?
I am afraid that as soon as I die, this foolish woman will be attacked by people all over the world, and then the people will suffer.
Li Xian didn't want the people to suffer anymore.
"Your Majesty, this Chang'an City is under my control. I want you to be the Son of Heaven, and then you will be the Son of Heaven."
"As for regicide?"
Empress Wei smiled.
"From now on, no one will dare to accuse me of regicide, because I will be an emperor far better than you."
After hearing what Empress Wei said, Li Xian finally understood the influence his mother had on future generations.
She blazed a new trail.
His own daughter and his own wife actually have ideas about the chair under his butt.
Ridiculous, really ridiculous.
When people are speechless, they really laugh out loud.
Li Xian looked at the crazy woman in front of him and laughed helplessly.
"Stupid, stupid, stupid woman, extremely stupid. How could I, Li Xian, fall for such a stupid thing like you?"