noffsinger Chapter 871 My family, my Li family!
Chapter 871 My family, my Li family!
Wu Zhao looked at him, and the atmosphere in the hall suddenly dropped to freezing point.
She had been in charge of government for more than thirty years and had been emperor for ten years. She had long been accustomed to everyone bowing their heads in front of her. Even her own children would tremble in fear when they saw her.
But this half-grown child in front of her, who had broken into her court and disrupted her meetings, showed no fear on his face. His eyes were surprisingly bright, as if they contained stars and a sharp edge that should not be underestimated.
"Are you guilty?"
Wu Zhao's voice was low, but filled with her usual authority. "You have trespassed into the Mingtang and disturbed the court meeting. According to the laws of the Great Zhou, how should you be punished? Do you understand?"
Li Longji raised his head, met Wu Zhao's gaze, and said calmly, "Grandson knows. But I've caught a cold and have been bedridden for a while. I haven't seen you in a long time, and I miss you so much. I heard you were here for a meeting today, so I wanted to come and see if you were okay."
"In a moment of impatience, I colluded with the imperial guards and disturbed the court meeting. I beg Grandmother to forgive me."
He spoke frankly, without any concealment, but with a bit of childish innocence.
Wu Zhao looked at the childishness on his face and recalled his emaciated appearance during his illness. Last winter, influenza was rampant in the palace and the child had a high fever that wouldn't go away. Li Dan and his wife were extremely anxious. It was only after she sent the precious medicinal materials from the Imperial Hospital that the child was able to save his life.
When she went to visit him, she saw that he was delirious with fever. He even pulled her sleeve and called her "Grandma" in a soft voice. There was no trace of his stubbornness today.
The anger in my heart caused by being offended inexplicably faded a little.
Throughout her life, she had suppressed her son and killed her relatives for the sake of power, and had long been accustomed to wrapping herself in a hard shell. However, faced with this genuine "miss you", her heart, which had long been hardened by power struggles, seemed to be gently bumped by something, and a long-lost warmth emerged.
Just at this moment, a rogue in black clothes walked quietly to the side of the hall and whispered a few words to the female official beside Wu Zhao.
After listening to this, the female official whispered in Wu Zetian's ear - it turned out that when Li Longji was stopped by Zhang Wei outside the palace gate, he not only did not retreat, but pointed at Zhang Wei's nose and scolded him, saying that he was just a minister of the Li family and why did he stop the descendants of the Li family from seeing their grandmother.
After hearing this, Wu Zhao was stunned at first, and then she burst into laughter.
The laughter echoed in the silent hall, with a sense of cheerfulness, relief, and complexity that others could not understand.
All the officials were frightened by her laughter, and Zhang Wei buried his head even lower, almost touching the ground.
"Well, what a great descendant of the Li family!"
Wu Zhao smiled and waved her hand, "Zhang Wei, please stand up. This is not your fault. It's my grandson who is so bold that he even dares to contradict you, the 'Great General of Jingwu'."
Zhang Wei felt as if he had been pardoned, but he still didn't dare to look up. He bowed and stepped aside.
Wu Zetian looked at Li Longji again, the majesty on her face dissipated a lot, with a rare gentleness on her face: "Grandson, come, come to grandma, let grandma see you."
Upon hearing this, Li Longji showed a hint of joy on his face, but he still maintained his composure, walked up to the Danbi with his head held high and chest puffed out, and stood next to Wu Zhao's dragon throne.
He has grown taller than last year, and the contours between his eyebrows and eyes are clearer, especially his eyes, which are clearly black and white and reveal a sense of cleverness.
"He is indeed a handsome child."
Wu Zhao reached out and gently touched the top of his head. Her fingertips touched his soft hair, and her heart softened again. "Zhang Wei has been a general in the Imperial Guard for ten years. He has a tough personality and ruthless methods. The whole court has to give in to him. And you, at such a young age, dare to scold him. Your courage is amazing."
She paused, as if remembering something, a flicker of nostalgia in her eyes: "Back then, when I was in Emperor Taizong's harem, I saw that he had a fierce horse named 'Lion Stallion'. It had a violent temper and no one could tame it."
"Emperor Taizong asked who could tame it. Everyone else was helpless, but I stood up and said, 'To tame it, you need three things: an iron whip, an iron hammer, and a dagger. If it doesn't obey, whip it with the iron whip. If it still doesn't obey, hit it on the head with the iron hammer. If it still doesn't obey, cut its throat with the dagger.'"
At this point, her tone was filled with some of the heroic spirit of the past: "In the end, that wild horse was tamed by me. Now it seems that your temperament is somewhat like my youth."
As soon as these words were spoken, all the officials in the hall reacted immediately and began to agree.
"The prince is young and promising. It is a blessing for our Great Zhou!"
"Your Majesty has a keen eye. The Prince of Linzi possesses extraordinary courage and insight. He will surely become a great figure in the future!"
"Look at this demeanor, he is indeed worthy of being the grandson of His Majesty!"
For a time, all kinds of praises came one after another, and the flattery was overwhelming.
Li Longji just raised his chin slightly and accepted the praise. There was no pride on his face, but rather a calmness that was inconsistent with his age.
Wu Zhao looked at him like this and liked him more and more. She asked again, "What did you say to Zhang Wei outside the palace gate just now? Tell me again."
Li Longji straightened his chest even more when he heard this. He turned slightly to the side and said loudly to the officials below, as if to the entire Mingtang, "I told him that this is my family's imperial palace. He is an outsider, why is he stopping me?"
The moment the words fell, the entire hall seemed to be muted.
The noisy praises that had just come to an abrupt end. The smiles on the faces of all the officials froze. They were all stunned and forgot to even breathe.
Zhang Wei's face turned pale in an instant, his legs softened, and he fell to his knees with a plop.
The smile on Wu Zhao's face disappeared instantly.
She withdrew her hand from Li Longji's head and slowly sat up straight. Her eyes, which had been gentle just now, now seemed frozen. She stared at Li Longji coldly, and the coldness in her eyes was almost enough to frostbite people.
"What did you say?" Her voice was soft, yet it carried a sense of impending doom. Every word seemed squeezed between her teeth. "Whose imperial palace?"
Li Longji was frightened by her sudden majesty, and the pride he had just felt disappeared in an instant, leaving only inexplicable fear.
He subconsciously wanted to retreat, but then he remembered that what he said was the truth, so he gritted his teeth, raised his head again, met Wu Zhao's cold gaze, and said seriously: "My family, our Li family!"
"How dare you!" Wu Zhao slammed the armrest of the dragon throne, and the jade sceptre fell to the ground with a clang and broke into several pieces.
She suddenly stood up, her dark dragon robe unfolding behind her, carrying an all-consuming aura. "Li Longji! Look carefully, who is sitting on this dragon throne! This world belongs to my Great Zhou, it is my world! When will a young boy like you get to say irresponsible things?"
Her roar echoed in the hall.
Li Longji was frightened by her and trembled all over. Only then did he realize that he had said the wrong thing. Looking at his grandmother's ashen face, his lips moved, but he couldn't say a word, and his eyes turned red instantly.
The officials in the hall could no longer sit still. Someone immediately stepped out, knelt on the ground and said sternly, "Your Majesty! The words of the Prince of Linzi are extremely treasonous and clearly show contempt for the imperial authority. He must be arrested immediately and strictly interrogated!"
The person who spoke was Wu Sansi's confidant, who had always taken it as his mission to suppress the Li Tang royal family. Now that he saw an opportunity, he naturally would not let it go.
As soon as he finished speaking, several members of the Wu clan immediately echoed him, "Your Majesty, think twice! Such remarks are definitely not something a child would casually make. There must be someone behind this. If we don't punish them severely, disaster will ensue!"
"Your Majesty, the remnants of the Li Tang dynasty are still determined to survive. This action of the prince is clear proof of this!"
For a time, the court was filled with murderous shouts, directed directly at Li Longji, and also vaguely at the Li Dan lineage behind him.
At this moment, an old but powerful voice rang out: "Your Majesty, calm down!"
Everyone looked in the direction of the voice and saw the old minister Pei Yan trembling as he stepped out of the procession. He was an old minister from the time of Emperor Taizong, having served through three dynasties. Although his hair and beard were now white, his back was straight. "The Prince of Linzi is only thirteen, still a child. His words are innocent, so why take them seriously? He has lived in the palace for a long time and rarely seen the court. It is possible that he made a slip of the tongue."
"Besides, he mentioned the 'Li family' only out of consideration for blood ties, not intentionally offending Your Majesty. I beg Your Majesty to show mercy and spare the prince this time."
Immediately afterwards, several old officials of the Li Tang Dynasty stood up and said, "Master Pei is absolutely right! The prince is young and doesn't understand the rules of the court. Your Majesty is always kind and will not bother with a child."
"Yes, Your Majesty and the Prince are grandfather and grandson, and are connected by blood. Why should we hurt the relationship over a joke?"
The court was instantly divided into two factions. One faction was mainly composed of members of the Wu clan, who advocated severe punishment.
One group, led by Li Tang's old ministers, begged for forgiveness.
The two sides exchanged sharp words and argued endlessly, and the originally solemn Mingtang became a battlefield.
Wu Zhao watched all this coldly, with no expression on her face, but her heart was already in turmoil.
How could she not know that what these people were arguing about was not a single word from Li Longji, but whether the world should be ruled by the Li or Wu surname.
She reigned for ten years and implemented numerous new policies, reduced taxes, and rectified the administration of officials, which made the national strength of the Great Zhou flourish. However, in the eyes of these old ministers of the Li Tang Dynasty, she was ultimately a "thief of the country". Whenever they had the chance, they wanted to pull her down from the throne and restore the rule of the Li Tang Dynasty.
Li Longji's words "Li family's court" hit everyone's sore spot and tore apart the hypocritical calm in the court.
Her gaze fell on Li Longji again. The young man had lowered his head and his shoulders were trembling slightly. He was obviously frightened, but his spine still did not bend.
This stubbornness is very similar to myself when I was young, and also very similar to those members of the Li Tang royal family who would rather die than surrender.
Wu Zhao took a deep breath, suppressed the anger in her heart, and spoke slowly, her voice unable to detect joy or anger: "A twelve-year-old child can say such words. Who would believe it if she said there was no one behind it?"
She paused, her eyes sweeping over the old ministers who were pleading for Li Longji, her eyes icy, "Come, take the Prince of Linzi back to the palace. He is not allowed to leave without my order."
"Also, thoroughly investigate today's incident and find out who is behind this. He dares to stir up trouble right under my nose. I will make him pay!"
"Your Majesty is wise!" The Wu family members immediately echoed.
Although Li Tang's old ministers were unwilling, they dared not argue anymore. They could only watch as the guards came forward and took Li Longji away.
When the young man walked out of the palace, he looked back at Wu Zhao. In his eyes, there was fear, grievance, but also a trace of stubbornness that had never been extinguished.
Wu Zhao turned her head away and stopped looking at him.
The broken jade sceptre was still lying on the ground next to the dragon throne, like an ominous omen.
She knew that today's turmoil would never end. The struggle between the Li and Wu families in this world had just begun.
And her daring grandson Li Longji may become the most unexpected variable in this struggle.