Chapter 48: I Thought Emperor Taizong Was Beating Emperor Gaozong
Page 1 of 3
Chapter 48: I Thought Emperor Taizong Was Beating Emperor Gaozong
The third year of the Shenlong era, on the outskirts of Chang’an.
Li Qing, who had crossed into this world, and the three generations of the Li family had arrived beside Zhaoling Mausoleum.
With the imperial court restored to the Li family, ancestral rites for the Li clan had once again resumed. Watching the offerings at his own tomb continue without end, Li Shimin found the sight rather peculiar, but was nonetheless deeply satisfied.
“Brother Li, did you know?”
Li Qing slowly opened his mouth. Before Li Shimin could reply, Li Zhi felt a chill creep up the back of his neck.
Whenever Uncle opened his mouth, it was probably nothing good.
“What do you mean, dear brother?”
Li Shimin came to himself and cast Li Zhi a meaningful glance.
“Actually, your sacrifices were not always conducted on such a grand scale. During the Great Zhou, the Imperial Ancestral Temple enshrined seven ancestors of the Wu family who had been posthumously honored.”
“Your father, you, and Zhinu were all thrown out of the Imperial Ancestral Temple by Wu Meiniang.”
“Thinking about it, that makes perfect sense. In Empress Wu’s eyes, this was the Great Zhou of the Wu family. What standing did a man surnamed Li have? What made you think you deserved to enter the same ancestral temple as her?”
“However, since most of the officials at court were still ministers of the Great Tang, Wu Meiniang could not go too far. So she symbolically placed the spirit tablets of the three Tang emperors in the Temple of Enjoyed Virtue. The name meant that you were ‘enjoying the grace of the Great Zhou,’ which carried more than a little implication of charity.”
Li Qing had merely remembered that he had never told Li Shimin about this matter, so he recounted it in the simplest terms. He swore he had not embellished a single detail.
Yet that one speech earned him several thousand emotional points from Li Shimin and Li Zhi.
Li Shimin, whose emotions desperately needed an outlet, turned toward Li Zhi with bloodshot eyes.
Li Zhi shuddered and instinctively took to his heels.
“Damn your mother, stop right there!”
With a thunderous shout, Li Shimin covered the distance in three strides and pinned Li Zhi against a tree.
“You think you can run?”
Li Shimin pulled off his belt and brought it down hard on Li Zhi’s backside.
“Ow! Father, Father! Zhinu knows he was wrong!”
Li Zhi cried out miserably, begging for mercy without pause.
Page 1 of 3
Page 2 of 3
“You know you were wrong? Hah…”
Li Shimin let out a cold laugh.
“If you truly knew you were wrong, how could you have allowed that poisonous woman to seize the imperial inheritance? If I do not beat you senseless, how am I supposed to vent the hatred in my heart?”
As he spoke, the belt cracked against Li Zhi again and again. Li Zhi could only cry out and plead for mercy; he did not dare run anymore.
“Good sir.”
Li Shimin was thoroughly enjoying himself when someone suddenly called out to him.
He turned and saw a middle-aged man carrying his daughter on his back. The man wore a short coarse jacket and was plainly dressed as a farmer.
“What are you doing...?” the middle-aged man asked, pointing at Li Zhi.
Since the three members of the Li family intended to mingle with the common people and learn about their actual circumstances, they had not dressed in imperial robes, but in ordinary clothing.
That was why the middle-aged man had dared approach them.
“Beating my son!”
Li Shimin rolled up his sleeves, raised the belt, and struck Li Zhi once more.
“Ow!”
The middle-aged man had initially thought this was simply another family’s business. But seeing how viciously Li Shimin was beating the boy, he hesitated before offering some advice.
“Good sir, the child is grown now. You should show some consideration for his dignity...”
“You have no idea what this little beast has done!” Li Shimin placed one hand on his hip, gripped the belt in the other, and pointed at Li Zhi as he cursed furiously. “While I was away from home, this boy dared to carry on with my concubine! He even joined forces with her family and let them seize my entire estate! Tell me, could I possibly swallow such an outrage?”
The middle-aged man sucked in a cold breath and took another look at Li Zhi, who appeared to have a brilliant future ahead of him.
Could the resemblance really be so uncanny?
It certainly was. Uncannily so.
“Good sir, mind your words!”
The middle-aged man glanced nervously in both directions and lowered his voice.
“If we were living under the Great Zhou, both of us would be finished!”
“Why?”
Li Shimin stopped beating Li Zhi and looked at the middle-aged man curiously.
“If the two of you were not standing here perfectly well, then judging solely by your description, I would have thought Emperor Taizong was beating Emperor Gaozong...”
The middle-aged man wiped the sweat from his forehead.
How novel. The very Emperor Taizong was standing right in front of him, beating Emperor Gaozong...
Li Qing muttered inwardly.
Li Shimin glared viciously at Li Zhi, then kicked him hard in the backside once more. When Li Zhi sprawled face-first onto the ground, Li Shimin turned back in satisfaction, tucked his belt around his waist, and asked the middle-aged man:
“What do you mean? Why would we both be finished if we were living under the Great Zhou?”
Page 2 of 3
Page 3 of 3
Unexpectedly, the moment those words left his mouth, the middle-aged man spat viciously to the side.
“After that Martial Empress usurped the throne, she appointed ruthless officials on a massive scale. They fabricated charges and framed loyal men for her. How many loyal ministers and valiant generals of our Great Tang died unjustly at the hands of that ruinous woman? In recent years, informing became the fashion throughout the realm, and everyone lived in fear. If we had been there during that period, the ruthless officials under her command would have arrested us both!”
“It could not have been quite that bad...”
Li Shimin asked in bewilderment.
Within his way of thinking, it was difficult for him to understand why anyone governing the imperial court would need to employ cruel officials and rule through terror—much as someone whose fingers had never touched spring water could hardly imagine how bitter and exhausting farm work truly was.
Li Qing suddenly interjected.
“Of course it could. I once heard a story about a resident of Luoyang who lost a parrot. He was terribly worried that the bird might fall into the hands of Lai Junchen. That would have been disastrous! So the next day, he went to the local authorities to report, ‘I inadvertently lost a parrot. I would also like to state that I do not endorse any of its opinions regarding state affairs...’”
After hearing the joke, Li Xian immediately turned away, his body shaking violently as he struggled not to laugh.
Li Shimin looked around for Li Zhi, but could not find him. Then he turned his head and saw Li Zhi peeking at him from behind a tree, his head sticking out furtively.
The boy had clearly learned from experience.
“If it were me, I would pray to every god and Buddha in heaven that the parrot dropped dead,” the middle-aged man said with wholehearted agreement. Then he sighed mournfully. “It is a pity. Emperor Taizong, our illustrious Emperor Wen, braved wind and rain and personally faced arrows and stones to establish this realm, only for it to be ruined by a woman.”
“Ruined by a woman? Has Empress Wu not already died?”
Li Xian turned around and asked in confusion.
“Empress Wu did indeed die, but she left successors behind!”
At this, the middle-aged man stamped his foot in anguish.
“The current Empress, Wei, is an unparalleled wicked empress! And Princess Anle—she is arrogant, extravagant, debauched, and utterly without virtue. She is nothing less than a disgrace to our Great Tang!”
“Quiet, good sir. Mind your words.”
Li Shimin seized the middle-aged man by the arm.
“There is no point in standing around here. Why do we not find a teahouse, where you can tell me everything in detail?”
Old Li also wanted to learn how the common people viewed the current emperor, to understand the state of affairs from different perspectives and gain a fuller, more multidimensional picture of current politics.
“That is precisely what I would like.”
The middle-aged man agreed readily.
As they passed by Zhaoling Mausoleum, the little girl riding on the middle-aged man’s back suddenly pointed at the guards stationed around the mausoleum and asked in her childish voice:
“Father, why does Zhaoling need so many guards?”
“What if Emperor Taizong cannot stand watching any longer, climbs out of his tomb, and carries out another Xuanwu Gate Incident?”
The middle-aged man gave a cold snort as he answered his daughter.
————————————————————
Please continue reading! Please continue reading! Sob, sob...
End of chapter