Chapter 3: The Two Realms of Life and Death (Part 2)

  Emperor Gaozong of Tang, Li Zhi, was a romantic throughout his life and had many desires for women. However, he did not have too many children. Only eight sons and four daughters were born to him. Among them, the fate of Princess Anle was the most tragic. She was strangled by Empress Wu just one month after birth, which led to the downfall of Queen Wang. The eldest son, Li Zhong, had been demoted from his position as crown prince since the sixth year of Yonghui and was recently executed. Not counting Princess Taiping who had not yet been born, there were only seven sons and two daughters left. Most of them were born to Empress Wu - 14-year-old fifth son Li Hong, 12-year-old sixth son Li Xian, 10-year-old seventh son Li Xian, and three-year-old eighth son Li Ye. Among the sons, Li Xian was the most intelligent.

  Li Xian, although a young and talented individual, had never been liked by Li Xian, neither in their past lives nor in the present. Every time the two brothers met, they would inevitably clash, with Li Xian usually being the one to provoke the conflict due to his arrogant nature. However, in the end, it was often the weaker Li Xian who ended up suffering the consequences. If this were any other day, Li Xian's scolding would have prompted Li Xian to retort and argue back, but today, with a tumultuous mind, he had no desire to engage in a verbal sparring match or stir up trouble. He simply nodded slightly and walked over to Li Hong's bedside, standing there with his hands hanging down, as if he hadn't heard Li Xian's rebuke at all.

  "Hum, you've caught a cold, this is laziness! You know your body is weak, why don't you exercise, mediocre person!"

  At this sight, Li Xian was taken aback and suddenly felt a sense of loss as if he had punched into thin air. His face darkened, and he glared at Li Xian, scolding him mercilessly.

  How boring! The current Li Xian is no longer the original Li Xian, with memories of three lifetimes, how could he be provoked by the tricks of a child like Li Xian, and not even bother to glance at him, standing still and expressionless on the spot.

  "Sixth brother, how can you say such a thing? Seventh brother is ill, we as elder brothers should be more considerate."

  Li Xian did not speak, but Li Hong, who was leaning on the soft couch, could not bear it. Li Hong had always been weak and often lay ill in bed, and what he least wanted to hear were these two words "weak body". At this time, hearing Li Xian say so, it was clear that there was a meaning of sweeping him away together. Even if Li Hong's temperament was gentle, he could not bear it. He frowned slightly, looking somewhat displeased, and opened his mouth to speak.

  "The Crown Prince is right, but Seventh Brother has always been lazy. As his elder brother, I should also remind him one or two things. If not, it would be inappropriate for our family's reputation." Li Hong said this, and only then did Li Xian realize that his previous words were somewhat improper. However, Li Xian was born with a strong temper and didn't intend to apologize at all. Moreover, he didn't think much of Li Hong, the sickly Crown Prince, so he wasn't willing to back down and responded strongly.

  "Cough, cough, cough..."

  Li Hong was not good at arguing with others, and the more Li Xian spoke, the more confused he became. His heart felt even more uncomfortable, his breath rushed up, his face turned red, and he involuntarily started coughing.

  Strive, strive, strive! What's the point of striving, alas, you two can't even get anything out of it, and in the end, you'll both be sent to your deaths by Mother Empress's poisonous wine. It will all be for nothing, and that little brat Li Dan will reap the benefits! Li Xian was unwilling to get involved in his two brothers' dispute, and besides, he hadn't figured out his own path forward yet, so how could he care about their petty squabbles? But thinking of his two brothers' miserable deaths, which were almost identical, filled him with compassion. He sighed, shook his head, and stood up, saying: "Eldest Brother, Sixth Brother is also doing this for my sake. I should reflect on myself and make changes if necessary."

  "If there is anything amiss, I will change it; if not, I will strive to improve." Good, well said! As Zengzi once said: "I reflect on myself three times a day," which is exactly the same idea. Li Qi's recent academic performance has shown great improvement, excellent, truly excellent!" Li Hong had always been diligent in his studies, and upon hearing Li Xian's extraordinary words, he was first taken aback, then applauded and exclaimed "Excellent!" - completely forgetting the argument they had just had between them. The phrase "If there is anything amiss, I will change it; if not, I will strive to improve" comes from Zhu Xi's "Collected Annotations", but at this time, let alone Zhu Xi, even his great-great-grandfather had not yet been born. For Li Xian, who was normally average in his studies, to come up with such a phrase, it indeed had a refreshing effect on the ears and eyes.

  Damn it, I've let the cat out of the bag! Upon hearing Li Hong's high praise for his words, Li Xian was taken aback at first, but then suddenly came to a realization and felt embarrassed that he had plagiarized from future generations. He hastily apologized, "Your Highness is overpraising me, I'm ashamed, ashamed."

  Li Xian obviously didn't expect his usually mediocre younger brother to come up with such philosophical words, and he raised an eyebrow, opened his mouth as if to mock him, but when the words reached his lips, he found that he had nothing to refute, and had to stop talking. He swung his sleeves, looked gloomy, and stopped paying attention to Li Hong's enthusiastic conversation with his brother.

  "Change, change, add diligence, add diligence..." Li Xian calmed down, but Li Huanlun, who was being held in the arms of his wet nurse, became excited and started shouting and waving his hands and feet. His pleased appearance immediately made all the brothers burst out laughing, and the tense atmosphere in the great hall also dissipated.

  "The others..." The princes all burst out laughing, and Li Zhi, who was standing at the back of the hall, was startled. He turned his head to see the princes laughing with joy, and a cloud of doubt rose in his mind. Just as he was about to ask what was going on, a palace maid rushed out from the back of the hall, shouting repeatedly: "It's born, it's born! Congratulations to Your Majesty on the birth of a princess, both mother and daughter are safe!"

  "Ah……” Li Zhi suddenly turned around, looking at the little palace maid with a mixture of surprise and joy, his mouth agape in astonishment for a long time before bursting into loud laughter: "Good, good, as long as mother and daughter are safe, I will confer the title of Taiping Princess on the young princess. I will grant a general amnesty to the whole world. Come, draft the edict, quickly, draft the edict!"

  "Congratulations, Your Majesty."

  "Congratulations to His Majesty the Emperor."

  ……

  The three princes, upon hearing that they had a new sister, were all invigorated and, seeing their father's delight, did not dare to be remiss. They hurriedly gathered around, offering congratulations in unison.

  What's the imperial decree? Why such a hurry to grant amnesty to all under heaven? Ah, I see! So that's it! Although Li Xian also followed his several elder brothers to congratulate him, in his heart he had already turned more corners than his two elder brothers. After a moment of thought, he had already guessed the intention behind his father's actions - all this was for one person, and that person was none other than the Minister of the Imperial Secretariat, Shangguan Yi.

  Shangguan Yi, a native of Shanzhou, was born in Jiangdu. His father, Shangguan Hong, had served as the deputy director of the Jiangdu Palace, but died during the chaos caused by Yuwen Huaji. Shangguan Yi was young at the time and managed to escape by hiding. As he grew older, he developed a passion for literature and became particularly skilled in the Three Treatises. He also studied extensively in history and was good at writing.

  In the first year of the Zhenguan era (627 AD) of the Tang dynasty, Shangguan Yi was recommended by Yang Renzhong, who was then serving as the chief secretary of the Yangzhou Metropolitan Area Command, to take part in the imperial examination in Chang'an. Shangguan Yi passed the examination with his essays "On Seeking Talents" and "On the Leniency or Severity of Punishment", and was appointed as a scholar in the Imperial Academy.

  He was later promoted to be a secretary in the Imperial Secretariat, and after Emperor Gaozong ascended to the throne, he was appointed as an attendant gentleman of the crown prince in the first year of the Xianqing era (656 AD). In the fourth year of the Xianqing era (660 AD), he was appointed as a lecturer in the imperial academy. In the first year of the Longshuo era (661 AD), he was appointed as a deputy director of the Imperial Secretariat, and in the second year of the Longshuo era (662 AD), he was appointed as an imperial censor and concurrently served as a vice minister of the Ministry of Rites.

  Shangguan Yi was a talented and straightforward person who dared to remonstrate. In the 8th month of Linde 1st year, when Wu Zetian was pregnant and resting in the palace, Shangguan Yi secretly submitted a memorial to Emperor Gaozong Li Zhi, stating that Wu Zetian's usurpation of power was detrimental to the country and should be deposed. Emperor Gaozong deeply agreed with this view and secretly ordered Shangguan Yi to draft an edict, preparing to depose Wu Zetian. However, the matter was not kept secret, and it was leaked by a palace eunuch, who informed Wu Zetian of the plot. Wu Zetian was furious and cleverly used a pretext to have Shangguan Yi's entire family arrested and brought to trial. After three trials, they were waiting for the spring to arrive before being executed.

  Emperor Gaozong of Tang was weak by nature, but he was not a person who did not understand the way things were. Regarding the matter of beheading Shangguan Yi and his entire family, Emperor Gaozong did not approve, but under pressure from Empress Wu, he did not dare to openly exonerate Shangguan Yi. This time, by hurriedly issuing a general pardon for the empire on the occasion of Empress Wu giving birth to a daughter, he was planning to use this opportunity to find a way to save Shangguan Yi's family.

  Due to the age, at this time Li Xian and Shangguan Yi had little contact with each other, only seeing each other a few times at the end of the year when Emperor Gaozong held a grand feast for his officials. However, he had read Shangguan Yi's poems many times and admired her talent, and felt great sympathy for her unjust death. In the past, after Li Xian ascended to the throne for the second time, the first case of rehabilitation was to clear Shangguan Yi's name, posthumously promoting her to be the Minister of Central Secretariat. The past events were still vivid in his mind, and now he had the opportunity to personally rescue Shangguan Yi, Li Xian did not want to miss it.

  What to do, to do or not to do? Li Xian indeed wanted to save Shangguan Wan'er's life from the bottom of his heart, but he was also worried that this move would provoke Wu Zetian's endless anger. If he couldn't save her and ended up losing his own life instead, it wouldn't be worth it. After all, Li Xian had experienced Wu Zetian's ferocity in his past life, and even if he had added the experience of Li Sheng's official career in this life, Li Xian still didn't have any confidence that he could compete with the ruthless Wu Zetian, at least not under current circumstances.

  It's okay to have something to do and not to do, since heaven has given a chance to start over, if you don't try it out, wouldn't that be wasting this rebirth! Just as the inner attendant monitor was about to make an offer, Li Xian's mind was fiercely battling with all sorts of thoughts, in the end, the thinking style of Li Sheng from later generations took the upper hand, Li Xian decided to take a gamble and try to change his fate that had been miserable to the extreme!

  "I humbly report to Your Majesty, I think that the great amnesty of the world is a good deed of Your Majesty's benevolence towards the people. Your Majesty is kind and compassionate, and I do not dare to fall behind. Now, there are many prisoners in the imperial prison, and I wish to request permission to go and promote Your Majesty's benevolent heart. Please grant me this favor."

  "This..."

  Emperor Gaozong of Tang had been thinking of using this opportunity to release Yu Zhong, but he hesitated and couldn't make up his mind whether to issue the edict or not. Moreover, according to the system of the Tang Dynasty, an edict was not legally effective without the endorsement of the Menxia Province. Unfortunately, the current Chancellor was Xu Jingzong, a die-hard supporter of Yu Zhong's faction, and Emperor Gaozong had no confidence that Xu would endorse this edict. Just as he was worrying about what to do, Li Xian suddenly appeared and offered his advice, leaving Emperor Gaozong momentarily stunned and unsure of how to respond.

  "Seventh brother is being utterly ridiculous!"

  Li Zhi didn't utter a word, but Li Xian stepped out from the side and scolded Li Xian harshly, pointing at him with his finger.

  "Seventh brother, His Majesty has his own ideas, and great matters of state should not be spoken of lightly."

  Li Hong also did not support Li Xian's proposal, and rarely took the same stand as Li Xian, only leaving some leeway in his words for Li Xian.

  "Your Majesty, I wish to go; may Your Majesty grant me permission."

  No matter what the two brothers said, Li Xian was unmoved and continued to speak with his neck stiffened.

  "Hmm..."

  Li Zhi had never been a decisive person, and now that he saw his three sons with differing opinions, he involuntarily lost his own stance. He looked at one, then glanced at another, his mouth open wide, yet for half the day, not a word came out...