Volume 1 Princess Taiping Grows Up Chapter 32 Listening to the News
As expected, Li Zhi became ill due to anger. He had a splitting headache and his eyes seemed to be blind, unable to see anything.
He lay on the bed in Yanying Palace, gasping for breath in his underwear.
Liu Shenwei was squatting beside the bed giving him an acupuncture injection on his head. Wu Zetian and Li Yuechen each held one of his hands and whispered comfort to him.
"Your Majesty, what is the current condition?" Liu Shenwei asked after giving the last injection.
"It hurts... my head hurts..."
Li Zhi gasped for breath and answered incoherently, "I can't see anything..."
"Don't worry, Your Majesty, I'm here." Wu Zetian held his hand and comforted him.
Li Yuechen also advised: "Grandpa, don't be impatient, calm down!"
With his wife and favorite daughter by his side, Li Zhi's emotions gradually calmed down.
It seemed that he didn't want his daughter to see his manic state, so he forced himself to take deep breaths to calm down.
Li Yuechen knew very well that he was angry because of the failure of the war, so the best way was to resolve this matter.
But this kind of thing cannot be done in a hurry, so now we have entered a vicious cycle.
Liu Shenwei's silver needles pierced all over his head, which relieved his pain a lot, but it still couldn't cure it.
After about an hour, the situation gradually eased.
According to Li Zhi himself, when he had an attack, he felt a swelling and pain in his head, chest tightness and shortness of breath, and numbness in his limbs... These are typical symptoms of high blood pressure.
Because the director of the orphanage where Li Yuechen worked also had the same symptoms.
Add to that the unknown existence of tumors and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases...the situation is very grim.
Li Yuechen knew that this disease had the characteristics of rapid onset and high mortality rate. Given Li Zhi's condition, there was really nothing that could be done in this era.
In fact, the best thing Li Zhi should do now is to abdicate as soon as possible, let Crown Prince Li Hong take over, and then he can become the emperor emeritus and enjoy a peaceful life.
In this way, maybe you can live a few more years. Otherwise, if you continue like this, the condition will become more and more difficult to control.
But Li Yuechen didn't dare to say that, as it was taboo. All she could do now was to look at the father who had raised her for many years with a distressed look on her face, just like she did to the director of the orphanage back then.
When Li Zhi began to see again, the first thing he saw was the worried expressions on his wife and daughter's faces.
Especially the daughter, her big watery eyes revealed heartache and guilt.
"Why is Chen'er looking at me like this?" Li Zhi grinned weakly, "Did you make a mistake and are afraid that I'll know?"
Li Yuechen shook his head: "Chen'er only hates that he is powerless and cannot share the pain for Grandpa."
"Silly girl, even if you can, I will not allow you to do so!" As he said that, Li Zhi raised his hand and touched her head.
Seeing that he seemed to want to sit up, Wu Zetian beside him quickly helped him sit up straight, holding a cloth cushion for him to lean on: "Zhi Nu, do you feel more comfortable?"
Li Zhi nodded: "Much better..."
"Liu Shenwei, can't Taoist Sun come?" Wu Zetian turned her head and asked.
Liu Shenwei looked embarrassed: "My queen, I am not boasting. I have completely inherited Master's medical skills. If I can't do anything, Master may also..."
"How can you be sure?" Wu Zetian asked with wide eyes.
"this……"
Li Zhi patted the back of her hand and said, "Forget it. Taoist Sun also personally examined my old illness. Is it not possible to solve it?"
"Can……"
"Okay." Li Zhi stopped her from continuing, "Isn't it all right now?"
Although he looked indifferent, there was reluctance and loss in his eyes.
However, as the old illness makes the doctor, he now has a deep understanding of his own body and knows that there is little hope .
"Liu Fengyu!"
Li Yuechen, who was kneeling beside Li Zhi, turned around and asked: "Grandpa's disease, how can we prevent it from recurring in the future?"
"Your Highness, you should be less angry and focus more on calming your mind and nourishing your energy," Liu Shenwei replied.
"Grandpa, please don't get angry in the future." Li Yuechen turned his head, "If you encounter troubles, Chen'er will definitely accompany you."
"Okay, I won't be angry anymore!" Li Zhi agreed with a smile.
But how much can be achieved is another matter...
After Li Zhi's symptoms improved, he immediately ordered Jiang Ke to be the commander-in-chief of the Liangzhou Road to prevent the invasion of Tubo.
In the court, although Pei Xingjian, his teacher Liu Rengui and others believed that the possibility of Tubo invading the Tang Dynasty was small.
But even so, we have to be on guard, so this order was issued.
…
Li Yuechen has recently started to care about what's happening in the court.
But...it's just concern.
As I said, she is just a child now and can't do anything.
On the first day of September, after discussing with his court officials, Li Zhi felt that drought and famine were frequent in Guanzhong, so he decided to tour the Eastern Capital in the first month of the next year.
Li Yuechen really wanted to give some advice that staying here at this time would make it easier to appease the people.
But after thinking about it, I gave up.
Soon, it was the Double Ninth Festival, the legal holiday for officials of the Tang Dynasty court.
In fact, officials appointed by the imperial court have quite a lot of holidays. Although they usually have a ten-day break, they have different holidays for New Year's Day, Winter Solstice, Cold Food Festival, Qingming Festival and various solar terms.
Once when Li Yuechen was feeling bored, he did some calculations and found that all the holidays each year added up to about one hundred and thirty days.
If we include the home visit leave once every three years, it would be probably more than 150 days.
However, the first day of most holidays must be celebrated with the emperor, and the Double Ninth Festival is no exception.
On the Double Ninth Festival, Li Zhi would usually hold a banquet for his ministers at the Da Ci'en Temple, and at the same time climb the Big Wild Goose Pagoda to miss his mother, Empress Changsun.
Li Yuechen didn’t go in previous years, but after receiving the notice this year, she also wanted to go.
On the Double Ninth Festival, Li Yuechen and Li Zhi and his wife sat in a luxurious carriage and went to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda together.
Although on the surface she was chatting happily with Li Zhi and his wife, she felt extremely helpless inside.
What's so special about that lousy Big Wild Goose Pagoda? Isn't it just a place where Tang Monk translated Buddhist scriptures?
More than a thousand years later, you can get there in less than ten minutes by riding a motorcycle . As for why people ride a motorcycle instead of driving... it's because the traffic there is terribly congested at night!
Although he felt helpless in his heart, he still smiled and tried to make Li Zhi and Wu Zetian happy.
The couple now only brought their most beloved youngest daughter with them, and their other sons were all in the accompanying carriage behind.
…
The emperor's carriage stopped at the gate of Da Ci'en Temple, and Li Zhi got out holding his little daughter.
The ministers who had been waiting here for a long time all bowed to greet him. Li Zhi put Li Yuechen down and raised his hand slightly: "My dear ministers, please don't bow. Follow me in."
Li Yuechen looked up, huh? The ninth floor?
I counted carefully and made sure I was not mistaken. It turns out that the Big Wild Goose Pagoda at this time had nine floors?
And the exterior wall looks different from the future, as if they are two different buildings.
But it’s normal to think about it. After all, it has been more than a thousand years, which is enough time for a lot of things to happen.
Before the banquet, Li Zhi first took Wu Zetian and Li Yuechen's hand into the tower.
As he climbed up level by level, Li Yuechen also saw a large number of scriptures, Buddha statues, and even relics and the like.
After climbing to the top floor, Li Zhi's expression became much more serious, after all, he was missing his mother.
Li Yuechen stood obediently beside him and closed his eyes with him, observing a moment of silence for the soldiers who had died in Dafeichuan some time ago.
After a long time, Li Zhi took the sake handed over by Zhang Chengxin, raised his hand to toast, and then poured it on the ground.
Seeing his daughter mourning in a solemn moment, Li Zhi patted her head and said, "If grandma were still alive, she would definitely like Chen'er very much."
"Yeah." Li Yuechen nodded very obediently.
…
Ministers had three days off for the Double Ninth Festival, and the palace was also idle.
These days, after practicing every day, Li Yuechen went to Yanying Palace to accompany Li Zhi and his wife, and also called a few brothers to come and play together.
After the party became lively, Li Zhi was very happy, but Wu Zetian, who was reviewing memorials beside him, was annoyed and had to look up from time to time to ask them to be quiet.
Li Zhi also felt that it might be too annoying, so he actually left Wu Zetian behind and took the children to play in the side hall.
He and the children sat in a circle and played a game called "Shuanglu", also known as Wushuo.
It is somewhat similar to chess, in that it also involves two people on either side, using black and white pieces to form a formation.
Then they throw dice to each other to move the pieces. If they encounter enemy pieces, they can also "hit" or "eat".
This thing is still quite popular in this era, but it is essentially a gambling game used for gambling.
Li Zhi and Wu Zetian often played it when they had nothing to do. In that era, it had a wider audience than Go.
It has even become a game used to test intelligence, and those who are not good at playing backgammon are generally looked down upon for their IQ.
Li Yuechen couldn't be called an expert at this kind of strategy game, but he wasn't bad either, and he fought back and forth with Li Zhi and his brothers.
However, she thought this kind of game played by only two people was quite boring, and she thought that she could come up with mahjong when she arrived in Luoyang next year.
It is much more fun when four people play than when two people play. Then I can play with Li Zhi and his wife, as well as Princess Qianjin.
Now Li Zhi and Wu Zetian are no longer suitable for playing strenuous sports such as polo. It would be better for them to play more brain-exercising sports.
…
Li Zhi has been in a particularly good mood recently, so his condition is quite stable.
However, after his condition stabilized, the couple began to perform some tricks in the court.
At the end of September, the Queen submitted a petition requesting to abdicate due to the prolonged drought!
In the side passage, Li Yuechen raised his eyebrows behind the screen. This was probably all a show for the court officials.
Putting aside the question of how many people would believe it, the key point is that there is a severe drought. Can the problem be solved if the queen resigns?
Besides, the ministers are not stupid. The emperor is in poor health now, and they are the ones who review the memorials on military and national affairs. How could they resign at this time?
Although all the civil and military officials in the court were dissatisfied with her behind-the-scenes rule, they did not dare to stand up and express their support for her resignation at this time.
So they submitted memorials one after another, stating that the empress was a woman of both talent and virtue, and was truly a wise empress throughout history, and that this must not be allowed!
Li Zhi also "went with the flow" and rejected the queen's resignation application.
Then, within less than a week, it was announced that his deceased grandfather Wu Shigui would be enthroned as the Grand Marshal and King of Taiyuan, and his grandmother Yang would be enthroned as the Queen.
Based on this set of fancy operations, Li Yuechen behind the screen made some reverse reasoning, which was probably to elevate the status of his mother Wu Zetian.
Although there were no clues and he couldn't figure out the reason for doing this for the time being, Li Yuechen knew that this must be a duet between the couple.
Now that Li Yuechen has nothing to do, he will come and listen to the government affairs, just like listening to the news.
Maybe we can find something within our capabilities to do, which can also be regarded as bringing some benefits to ordinary people of this era.
Li Zhi and his wife didn't care about her. She now treated the court like she did the vegetable market. She could come and go as she pleased.
However, she always remembered her principles. She would listen but would never express any opinions.
Even if Li Zhi and Wu Zetian occasionally asked her jokingly, she would fool them by acting silly and cute.
In short, he knows everything but participates in nothing, pretending to be ignorant even though he knows the whole story.
Recent government affairs are still basically centered around the drought. After all, no one knows how long the drought will last.
Li Zhi, sitting on the dragon throne, listened to the ministers' discussion below. He kept in mind Liu Shenwei's medical advice, took deep breaths continuously, and told himself not to get angry.
However, judging from the health ball spinning rapidly in his hand, he was also worried about the drought.
Among the ministers who were discussing, Li Yuechen suddenly heard the voice of his master Liu Rengui.
"Your Majesty, I think it would be better to let the people in the drought-stricken areas go to the various states to get food on their own."
Li Zhi stopped the health ball in his hand and nodded slightly: "In fact, I have also considered this method... I wonder if you have different ideas?"
When asked for their opinions, the ministers began to talk about the methods they had just discussed.
But to Li Yuechen, each one sounded inferior to the other.
Some more pedantic ministers directly said that people should not leave their registered places without permission, but when asked how to solve the drought, they hesitated and could not give an answer.
Others said that last year's idea was a good idea. Li Yuechen, who was behind the screen, couldn't help laughing when he heard it.
This year's drought has affected dozens of states. How many fish do we have to catch to get enough?
Not to mention that in this era, not only is fishing inefficient, but countless people would have starved to death by the time the fish were caught, smoked, and then transported.
Of course, this approach was quickly suppressed by the objections of other ministers.
Then they started discussing in groups of three or five.
Finally, Li Zhi leaned back slightly, leaned on the dragon throne, whispered a few words with Wu Zetian behind him, and nodded slightly.
Then he waved his hand slightly, and the ministers below stopped discussing and looked over.
"The drought is severe and we cannot afford to delay. Since there is no better way, let's follow Liu Aiqing's method!"
After the emperor spoke, the ministers below said nothing.
After all, the Tang Dynasty during this period had a system of multiple prime ministers, and Li Zhi held the imperial power in his hands.
The emperor at this time still had the ability to have the final say!
If the emperor says it is decided, then it is decided. It is useless for the ministers to object.
