Lu Su's comment about "a most filial father and son" made everyone in the hall break into barely restrained laughter.
Zhang Fei instinctively tugged at his collar. Deep down, he felt that Li Shimin might be a great emperor, but his hobbies were… a bit too strange.
His mouth, however, did not slow down at all.
"Our Han emperors ascend the throne only after reporting to the ancestral temple, receiving the court, and proclaiming it to the realm."
"These Tang emperors have it easy. Just swing blades at Xuanwu Gate and that's that."
After delivering this very serious critique, Zhang Fei nodded firmly.
"I like it very much."
Kongming glanced at him sideways and sighed softly to himself. No wonder the Tang later suffered endless regional warlord disasters.
Li Longji raised blades at Xuanwu Gate twice. First to wipe out Empress Wei and her daughter. Second to eliminate Princess Taiping and seize imperial power.
On the surface, it looked like Li Longji was resolute and skillful. But warriors like Yide saw the truth by instinct alone.
Whoever controlled the Imperial Guards decided the throne.
So what if you could appoint chancellors at will? Once blades were raised, all of it vanished.
The Song dynasty's overcorrection of civil and military balance likely came from witnessing the Tang's warlord chaos, twisting too far and breeding hidden troubles.
These were only conjectures. Seeing Zhang Fei still sighing emotionally, Kongming teased him instead.
"By later generations' 'time travel' logic, if Yide were reborn as a Li clansman, you might actually fight for supremacy at Xuanwu Gate."
Everyone imagined an eight-foot giant charging on horseback, roaring at Xuanwu Gate.
I am Li Yide of Longxi. Who dares fight me?
The image was too beautiful.
Zhang Fei actually thought it over seriously.
"If Li Shimin were to become Big Brother's son, I wouldn't mind becoming the emperor's descendant."
"But forcing one's father? That I cannot do. Suckling and crying is even worse. No, no, I can't."
"I'd rather be my brother's vanguard, slaying enemies. And in my free time, drinking with Second Brother. That's true freedom."
Seeing the undisguised disdain on Zhang Fei's earnest face, everyone burst out laughing.
[Lightscreen]
[The Xiantian Coup ended in Li Longji's victory. Only then did Xuanzong's imperial authority finally become complete.
Only then, with Princess Taiping's forced death, did the shadow left by Wu Zetian truly fade away.
When Princess Taiping was young, she once dressed as a boy to amuse Emperor Gaozong. He even granted her permission to choose her own husband. Her marriage with Xue Shao was a rare case of lovers truly uniting.
As mentioned before, at that time Princess Taiping was remarkably obedient, devoted to her husband and children. Unfortunately, her mother Wu Zetian simply could not stop stirring trouble.
Picking faults with the Xue family and belittling the background of Xue Yi's two wives was only one example.
Remember Xue Huaiyi, the one who burned down the Mingtang in rage after falling from favor?
His original name was Feng Xiaobao. After Emperor Gaozong's death, through sheer coincidence, he became Wu Zetian's first male favorite and enjoyed immense favor.
Feng Xiaobao came from a humble background. To elevate her lover's status, Wu Zetian pulled a shocking move.
Using her daughter Princess Taiping's connection, she forced Feng Xiaobao to change his surname to Xue, merged him into Xue Shao's clan register, and ordered Xue Shao and Princess Taiping to call Feng Xiaobao their "younger uncle."
Thus, the former street hawker Feng Xiaobao transformed into Xue Huaiyi, his name written into the Xue clan genealogy.
For Xue Yi, the eldest son of the Xue family and child of a Tang princess, this was nothing short of unbearable humiliation.
So his resolute participation in Li Zhen and Li Chong's so-called rebellion was hardly surprising.
As for Xue Shao, Wu Zetian, out of what she called kindness, had him executed. This conveniently allowed her daughter to remarry into the Wu clan she supported, preserving wealth and honor.
After being manipulated by her mother's power like this, Princess Taiping's life took a drastic turn.
She learned from her mother and kept male favorites, even selecting the handsome ones to present to her mother.
She was no longer naive. She actively joined Wu Zetian's court decisions and gained thorough political training.
In 705, the Shenlong Coup ended the Wu Zhou regime. Luoyang was demoted from Divine Capital back to a secondary capital, and the court returned to Chang'an.
When leaving Luoyang, Princess Taiping, one of the coup's victors, showed little attachment. She only ordered her former husband Xue Shao's grave relocated to Chang'an, even though he had been dead for over sixteen years.
From there, Princess Taiping followed Wu Zetian's old path, gradually gathering power, until she collided with the more skillful Li Longji and ended with her family destroyed and her life lost.
Some believe her failure stemmed from the inherent disadvantages faced by female rulers.
But looking at the abrupt turns of her life, it felt more like a tragedy where a mother personally sacrificed her daughter upon the altar of power.
Princess Taiping's downfall became Li Longji's greatest achievement. To proclaim his ambition, he changed the era name from Xiantian to Kaiyuan after the coup.
And Xuanzong truly delivered.
He selected capable officials, developed production, restrained Buddhism, experimented with conscription, revitalized the examinations, promoted culture, established the Pavilion of Worthies, and restored the Tang's expansive borders.
For twenty-eight years of diligent governance, the Tang dynasty, through Xuanzong's hands, forged a second unprecedented golden age after the Wen and Jing era.
Wang Wei witnessed the grand Kaiyuan court assemblies and wrote:
The gates of heaven open wide to palace halls,
Ten thousand nations bow in jeweled crowns.
Later, during his wandering hardships, Du Fu dreamed of Kaiyuan's splendor and often recalled it upon waking:
I remember the full glory of Kaiyuan days,
Even small towns held ten thousand homes.
Rice ran rich with oil, millet white as jade,
Public and private granaries all filled to the brim.
How many true golden ages did ancient China have?
Even today, historians still debate it. Two, three, even five. As for those lists claiming ten, you can smile and move on. They are generous with the word "prosperous."
No matter the standard, Kaiyuan earns the title.
From this perspective, Li Longji certainly rode favorable winds, but his ability places him among the very top tier of emperors, difficult to criticize.
Of course, all this praise applies only to Xuanzong's youth-limited edition.
One more thing.
The Zhang brothers, Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong, who were killed immediately during the Shenlong Coup, were posthumously restored to office during the Tianbao era.
Why?
Because Zhang Yizhi had a very capable nephew.
His name was Yang Guozhong.]
Power. Tragedy.
These two simple words struck Li Shimin's heart, leaving him silent.
Later generations mocked the repeated Xuanwu Gate incidents, but at their core, they were all driven by power. He had long grown numb to that.
As later generations themselves said, he pacified the realm. Why could he not sit upon it? And even if he had waited to be slaughtered, could others have forged Tang's rise?
What unsettled him was Wu Zetian's treatment of her own daughter. It reminded him of how he once taught Li Chengqian.
Fairly speaking, from Wu Zetian's perspective, her actions toward Princess Taiping all stemmed from love.
Suppressing the Xue family could be seen as strengthening her daughter's voice within the clan. Later, forcing her to divorce and remarry into the Wu clan before usurping Tang was a cold calculation of interests.
But from Princess Taiping's perspective?
She truly was trampled again and again by her mother's power. A virtuous wife lost her husband. An infant lost his father. These were undeniable facts.
And so, the once obedient daughter eventually forced the palace against her own mother as a Tang princess.
Thinking of Li Chengqian's later madness and eventual rebellion, Li Shimin found himself dazed.
The Tang emperor fell silent.
The ministers, meanwhile, began chattering with emotion.
"The Kaiyuan era was not only a golden age for the people, but also for poetry," Wei Zheng said, his beard trembling.
Since entering Ganlu Hall today, this was the first time he smiled from the heart.
For a Confucian like Wei Zheng, this vision of ten thousand nations bowing to the central state was the very image of an ideal age.
Even seeing only fragments through the light screen and poems was enough to stir him deeply.
Du Ruhui smacked his lips without elegance.
"Tsk. Small towns holding ten thousand households. Rice rich with oil, millet white. If the world were like that, what could not be done?"
Fang Xuanling chuckled knowingly.
Last year, Li Jing was rewarded with the Ministry of War for capturing Jieli Khan. Du Ruhui, formerly Minister of War, was transferred to Minister of Revenue and concurrently Acting Zhongshu Shizhong.
Only after managing the household did one realize how expensive firewood and rice were.
After taking charge of the revenue ministry, Du Ruhui had grown busier than ever. Supervising agriculture, taxes, military grain transport. He often lamented that no amount of grain was ever enough for the army.
Seeing Kaiyuan's overflowing granaries now, his envy was only natural.
Seeing his old friend lose all decorum, Fang Xuanling comforted him.
"Last year, by His Majesty's order, the Yi Province fleet already sent envoys to Jiaozhou to obtain Champa rice."
"Millet white may be hard, but rice rich with oil is something you can look forward to, Keming."
Though the newly established fleet did not fare well attacking Yi Province, a trip to Jiaozhou should pose no difficulty. They only needed seeds.
Hearing this, Du Ruhui felt a surge of anticipation.
Seeing how later generations revered the seas, he too began to yearn for them.
Would there come a day when he could board a ship, cleaving waves and winds, patrolling the Tang's maritime borders?