[Lightscreen]
[Di Renjie's words were, by any reasonable standard, flawless within the political reality of Wu Zhou.
Unfortunately, Wu Zetian did not listen.
To the old lady, the Western Regions represented the majestic splendor of the Zhenguan era she had personally witnessed under Emperor Taizong, while Liaodong was the single achievement Emperor Gaozong had been most proud of in his entire life. Abandoning either was unthinkable.
In the end, the Anxi Protectorate remained firmly in place. The Andong Protectorate was downgraded to the Andong Governorate, but at least its military functions were preserved, which allowed a certain future Emperor Xuanzong to breathe a quiet sigh of relief.
Truth be told, Wu Zetian did not enjoy hearing Di Renjie talk like this at all. Still, compared to others who endlessly harped on her extravagance with the Mingtang, Paradise, and Heavenly Axis, Old Di had shown restraint.
And her reason for recalling Di Renjie was actually very simple.
She had indulged her fill of being emperor.
Now it was time to think about how to end it.
How to end it?]
Wei Zheng trembled his beard, closed his eyes, and said calmly,
"In the end, establish a Li heir."
For once, Wei Zheng felt a faint sense of relief that he had not lived in that era.
Li Shimin sighed as well. To him, Wu Zhou looked less like a dynasty and more like a game gone off the rails.
The succession was left unresolved. Peace talks were pursued unilaterally.
Add to that a pile of "wonders" that could not kill a single enemy and the Mount Song fengshan rites, and it all felt like feathers scattered across the ground.
In the end, Li Shimin shook his head.
"That Longji fellow didn't have it easy in his youth."
After the An Lushan Rebellion, Fang Xuanling, while compiling records, had back-calculated based on reign lengths and ages and determined that Li Longji ascended the throne in what later calendars marked as the year 712.
The Shenlong Coup occurred in 705, only seven years earlier. And Li Shimin still remembered the earlier mention of Princess Taiping's failed bid for power.
Between those events lay the Tanglong Coup, carried out jointly by Li Longji and Princess Taiping. Those seven years were a mess of shadows and blood.
The restoration of the Li dynasty after Shenlong had clearly not been smooth sailing. That Li Longji managed to fight his way out on top was proof enough of his capability.
Thinking this, Li Shimin let out another sigh.
"What a pity…"
Struggling to the limits of human effort and still failing invited a helpless sigh. But this kind of muddled, near-delusional governance was simply unbearable to watch.
At his side, Empress Zhangsun misunderstood his mood and gently comforted him.
"Your Majesty now has pillars of the realm among your ministers, and beams already being carved into fine timber."
"When Di Renjie enters service, governance will surely surpass that era and live up to his talents."
Li Shimin smiled without explaining further, nodded, and said,
"Without doubt."
While warmth lingered on one side, Du Ruhui, on the other, rare as it was, offered a word of praise for Lai Junchen's audacity.
"Fabricating charges against the Wu clan, the Li clan, and Princess Taiping all at once?"
"Has this man gone mad after too many years as a cruel official?"
If those three forces joined hands, even the old lady herself would have to think twice. For a mere imperial hound to act like this was courting a bloodbath at the palace gates.
He had built himself a road straight to death.
Still, in the end he was only a cruel official. Du Ruhui quickly lost interest and instead grew curious.
"The Wu clan flatters the Wu empress, yet exterminates those favored by her. How does that make sense?"
The projection had been brief, but Fang Xuanling had already thought it through.
"Perhaps Di Renjie favored the Li clan, yet did not oppose a Wu woman ascending the throne. Thus, only the Wu clan bore him secret resentment."
Du Ruhui pondered this and concluded,
"A man who actually gets things done."
That assessment alone was enough.
Elsewhere, Yuchi Jingde's brain, for once, connected properly. He leaned toward Qin Qiong and asked in a low voice,
"If His Majesty forms a naval force, wouldn't Liaodong become impregnable, with the northern tribes resolving themselves?"
These days, the two of them spent every day at the Ministry of War, running battlefield simulations on sand tables based on frontline reports. When summoned by the emperor, they almost did not want to come.
In the end they did come, but Yuchi Jingde found most of it boring—until the loss of the Liaodong Corridor was mentioned.
During breaks in the simulations, they had even modeled naval offense and defense based on sea charts. The conclusion was unanimous: the advantage of the sea far surpassed that of land routes.
A fleet departing from Laizhou would enter the Bohai Sea, from which the entire Liaodong Corridor could be reached within days. Heading east along the Silla route toward Baekje allowed surprise strikes from behind Goguryeo while dramatically reducing transport and supply costs.
After all, records of the Sui campaigns against Goguryeo were easy to find. Everyone knew how treacherous the mountain paths and swamps of the Liaodong Corridor were.
Qin Qiong replied quietly,
"A fleet could indeed sweep Liaodong and bring it under Tang rule. But if the inhabitants are all barbarians, it would still not truly be part of the Central Plains."
"Only advancing by land and sea together is the proper way to open the frontier."
Li Shimin, hearing this, looked up and felt deeply gratified.
Old comrades unwilling to fade, veteran generals refusing to grow old—this was a blessing.
[Lightscreen]
[What Wu Zetian faced was exactly what had been mentioned before: the inherent disadvantage of ruling as a female emperor.
When she killed Lai Junchen, she also casually eliminated the Inner Historian Li Zhaode. Li Zhaode had been a staunch supporter of the Li faction and was originally brought in to counterbalance the cruel officials.
Beyond abusing favor and power, some believed his death stemmed from striking a raw nerve.
Before Wu Fengxian was stripped of the title Prince of Wei, he had repeatedly encouraged others to petition for his appointment as heir. After Wu Zetian rejected one such attempt, Li Zhaode, as a hardline pro-Li figure, stepped forward to remonstrate.
"I have never heard of an emperor establishing a temple for her nephew. Would Your Majesty agree?"
Di Renjie later said something similar, but even Old Di dared not repeat Li Zhaode's next line:
"Your Majesty received the realm by mandate entrusted from the late emperor. If Fengxian is established, I fear the late emperor will receive no sacrificial offerings."
That line left the old lady completely stuck, unable to respond. She could only pretend to fall asleep and let the matter pass.
Really, it was obvious why. At the time, the Heavenly Axis had not yet been completed, and the Mingtang and Paradise were still unfinished. She was in the middle of her fun. Saying such things then was simply asking for trouble.
Only four years later—after all the playing was done, with internal and external pressures mounting, and the nearly eighty-year-old woman growing exhausted—did she finally run out of tricks. When even the coincidence of New Year's Day and the winter solstice prompted an empire-wide amnesty, it was clear she had reached her limits.
When Li Zhaode's words were repeated once more by Di Renjie, the old lady finally began to consider them.
But asking directly would cost face, so she contrived a dream interpretation instead, claiming she had dreamed of a great parrot with both wings broken.
What did it mean?
At that moment, Di Renjie was blunt. The parrot represented "Wu." The two wings were Wu Chengsi and Wu Sansi. Establishing an heir would let the Wu clan's wings spread once more. This scene has been dramatized countless times in later film and television and needs no further elaboration.
In short, persuaded by Di Renjie, the old lady secretly recalled Li Xian and his son. After arrangements were made, she announced that the throne would be passed to her biological offspring. The Wu clan fell into despair, and in September Wu Chengsi died of grief and rage.
With the new emperor settled, the old lady formally began wrapping up this ridiculous farce. Since the restoration of the Li dynasty was inevitable, she decided to add an extra layer of insurance to ensure stability and preserve everyone's wealth and status.
In April of 699, Wu Zetian summoned the Crown Prince, the Prince of Xiang, Princess Taiping, and Wu Youji to the Mingtang, where they swore an oath, recorded on iron certificates and stored in the imperial archives.
Those certificates were lost long ago, and their contents cannot be verified. But given the identities of the four, it was clearly meant to reconcile the Wu and Li clans and guarantee the old lady peace in her final years.
Soon after, large-scale intermarriage between the Li and Wu families began. In practical terms, she likely hoped to use blood ties and marriage to turn hostility into harmony.
Beyond that, the old lady, dragging her eighty-year-old body, made one last trip to Mount Song, the site of her earlier fengshan rites.
This time, however, she clearly lacked the strength to climb. In the end, she entrusted the Daoist Hu Chao to cast a golden tablet into the mountain gate.
The inscription on the tablet was simple enough:
"The ruler Wu Zhao yearns for immortality. I cast this golden tablet, beseeching the Three Officials and Nine Bureaus to absolve Wu Zhao of her sins."
The homework, at least, was done thoroughly.
That golden tablet now resides in the Henan Museum as a prized national treasure. Those with the chance may go and see it for themselves.]