The mood in Ganlu Hall had taken a turn for the worse.
None of this had happened yet. The future was still up for grabs. And yet, the Tang Dynasty had already lost its throne. That was enough to put everyone in a foul mood.
This was nothing short of stealing the empire right out from under the Li family.
The trouble was, the thief was hardly an outsider. She had served two generations of Tang emperors.
So what was this? A matter of state? A family dispute? Or a problem for the entire empire?
The Zhenguan ministers hardly knew whether to be angry or bewildered.
After all, Wu Mei was barely in her teens. She was still a girl who knew little about the world. How could they blame her for something she hadn't even done yet?
Li Shimin's earlier smugness had vanished. The Light Screen recounted these events as casually as ever, but behind its words, he could practically see the bloodshed and backstabbing waiting to unfold.
The upheavals of the Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties had already taught him what happened when one ruling house replaced another. The old imperial clan rarely got off lightly. More often than not, they paid for the change of dynasty in blood.
Then came the promotion of cruel officials, the rise of the Wu clan, and Di Renjie, a man destined to become one of the dynasty's most celebrated statesmen, being branded a traitor before he'd even made his name.
What a glorious mess the imperial court must have been.
Li Shimin sighed. A saying from later generations suddenly struck him as painfully appropriate.
"Well, this really is a case of a son selling off his father's land without feeling the slightest sting."
He rubbed his temples.
"It is worse than that, actually. At least when a son sells the family land, he gets something out of it. My son sold the family name, the ancestral hall, and the family business, and he did not even get a receipt."
He glanced around the hall. His wife and ministers all looked thoroughly miserable, but his elder brother-in-law took the cake.
Zhangsun Wuji's usually round face had practically wrinkled into an orange.
Hard to miss that.
Watching them, Empress Zhangsun suddenly put two and two together.
In the past, her husband had shared what he'd learned from the Light Screen with her every three months or so. He'd excitedly told her about the changes that had unfolded over the past thousand years, the rise and fall of countless dynasties, and occasionally tossed in a few jokes about historical figures like the so-called Hundred-Thousand Emperor of Jiangdong.
But his favorite topic was always the generals of the Zhenguan era.
Li Jing. Su Dingfang. Liu Rengui. Wang Xuance.
She knew every one of their names by heart.
She'd also picked up bits and pieces about what had happened to their old ministers. She'd been relieved to learn that Du Ruhui had escaped an early death, only to be left shaking her head over the failed rebellion involving Hou Junji and Li Chengqian.
Yet there was one person her husband had never once mentioned.
Her own elder brother, Zhangsun Wuji.
Empress Zhangsun couldn't believe her brother would simply fade into obscurity. According to the Light Screen, she would die in the tenth year of Zhenguan. Once she was gone and her family's influence took a temporary hit, her husband, who had always valued old loyalties, would surely bring Zhangsun Wuji back into favor.
That much seemed like a safe bet.
But judging by the narrator's increasingly mocking tone, her brother's future didn't look nearly so rosy.
Could Zhinu really join forces with a woman from the Wu family to turn against her own brother?
Wait.
Could it actually be...?
Her husband's silence, coupled with her brother's expression, had practically given the game away.
Empress Zhangsun sighed inwardly. There was no point dragging this out in front of everyone. She'd invite her brother to the palace for a meal later and have a quiet word with him in private.
For now, she smiled and changed the subject.
"Di Renjie seems like a capable man who knows how to get things done. He also comes from Taiyuan. Your Majesty could start looking for him there."
Li Shimin let out a helpless chuckle.
"He's probably still a child. Never mind. We can have someone look into it later."
His thoughts returned to the plan they'd just discussed: confessing to treason.
He'd often heard later generations compare the Tang and Han dynasties, but he hadn't expected their corrupt officials to use such similar methods.
Then another thought crossed his mind. This Wu woman would eventually rise to power during his own son's reign. She'd even take part in the Fengshan rites at Mount Tai.
His mood soured all over again.
"If Di Renjie refuses to confess, he'll probably die in prison."
"Since he's stuck between a rock and a hard place, he might as well admit to the charge first. Then he can find a way to get word to that Wu girl and appeal his case."
"If she doesn't want corrupt officials and her own relatives running the government, she'll have every reason to protect him."
Li Shimin might despise these underhanded political games, but he wasn't naive enough to pretend he didn't understand them. He knew exactly how power worked.
He simply preferred to keep his hands clean whenever possible.
Unfortunately, thinking about all this only gave him another reason to be annoyed with his son.
"The Court of Judicial Review had more than seventeen thousand cases backed up?" he exclaimed. "Just how badly was the administration being run?"
Di Renjie had supposedly cleared all seventeen thousand cases in a single year without a single wrongful judgment.
Li Shimin could think of only two explanations. Either Di Renjie was a legal genius, or most of those cases weren't particularly difficult to begin with.
Probably a bit of both.
Even so, this glimpse into his son's administration left a bitter taste in his mouth.
Nearby, Yan Lide nudged his younger brother with a mischievous grin.
Just imagine! His little brother might personally discover and promote a minister who would go down in history.
Yan Liben kept his eyes firmly on his painting. He wasn't taking the bait.
Time waited for no one. He wanted to become a master painter and a respected official during the Zhenguan era. He had no intention of sitting around for another twenty years, waiting for his career to finally get moving.
What good was a promotion decades from now if he was already too old or too sick to enjoy it?
He'd rather make something of himself while he still had the chance.
His Majesty could become an emperor remembered for generations, and Yan Liben could establish himself as a master of fine-line painting.
Wasn't that a hundred times better than waiting decades for the chance to become some official inspector?
[Lightscreen]
[The man who had Di Renjie arrested was Lai Junchen, one of the most notorious cruel officials of the Wu Zhou era.
Wu Zetian's reign could fairly be described as a period of rule by cruel officials, and Lai Junchen was one of her sharpest weapons.
He had started out as a local thug. While in prison, he discovered that making false accusations and informing on others were excellent ways to stay alive. His talent for framing people eventually reached Wu Zetian's ears, and she made an exception by appointing him to the post of imperial censor despite his lack of an official background.
When handling cases, Lai Junchen excelled at implicating entire clans, dragging others into the accusations, and wiping out whole families. Even the secret police of the later Ming Dynasty would have had to acknowledge his expertise.
When Lai Junchen finally died, the whole city of Luoyang celebrated. After he was beheaded in the marketplace, the crowd tore into his corpse until little remained but bones.
That was Lai Junchen.
So when Di Renjie fell into his hands, the old man promptly confessed to everything.
Yes, I am plotting a rebellion! I have wanted to overthrow that wretched woman for ages! Happy now?
Lai Junchen saw no reason to waste time on further interrogation. He drew up a formal document known as a Memorial of Thanks for Death and had Di Renjie sign it.
Then he rushed the paperwork through the process. Di Renjie's execution was scheduled for the autumn, and there was no need to bother torturing him.
With Di Renjie officially condemned to death, Lai Junchen happily returned to celebrate with the young members of the Wu clan.
So much for the legendary judicial genius. So much for his concern for the common people. In the end, he was just another coward, easy to handle once the pressure was applied.
At least, that was what Lai Junchen thought.
Di Renjie knew his death sentence had been settled. He also noticed that the guards had become less vigilant now that he was a condemned man.
So he put on a miserable face and made a request.
I am going to die anyway. Could you at least let me be a little more comfortable before the end? Would you allow my son to bring me some summer clothes and a quilt?
The guards saw no particular reason to refuse a condemned man's final request.
And so Di Renjie's son, Di Guangyuan, was allowed to visit the prison. While there, he also took away the winter quilt he had previously brought his father.
As soon as Di Guangyuan got home, he tore the quilt apart.
Sure enough, hidden inside was a handwritten appeal declaring his father's innocence. Old Di had gone to considerable trouble to borrow a brush and ink from a prison guard. He had written his plea on a strip of fabric torn from the lining of his clothes, then sewn it into the quilt so he could get the message out.
Young Di wasted no time. Clutching his father's letter, he headed straight for the palace to appeal to Wu Zetian.
Only then did the Great Sage Zetian begin to suspect something was amiss.
After thinking it over, the old lady finally bestirred herself and ordered a personal review of the case.
The imperial interrogation was remarkably straightforward.
Wu Zhao: You plotted a rebellion?
Old Di: I have no idea what you are talking about.
Wu Zhao: You signed a confession!
Old Di: That is complete nonsense! I never admitted to any such thing!
Wu Zhao: It is right here. Your signature.
Old Di: I was scared.
Wu Zhao: Of what?
Old Di: Of what would happen if I did not sign.
Wu Zhao: ...
Old Di: ...
Wu Zhao: So you confessed to a crime you did not commit because you were afraid of being tortured for a crime you did not commit?
Old Di: Yes.
Wu Zhao: That makes no sense.
Old Di: I know. That is why I am appealing.
At that point, Wu Zetian understood what had happened. After all, she was the one who had promoted Lai Junchen. She knew exactly what sort of man he was and what methods he used.
But the Wu Zhou dynasty had existed for less than a year. Lai Junchen might have been a jackal, but to Wu Zetian, he was a useful hound. He was more than willing to tear into the remaining loyalists of the Tang dynasty on her behalf.
In the end, Wu Zetian chose a compromise. Di Renjie was publicly demoted, but his death sentence was quietly lifted. He was sent away from the capital to serve as magistrate of Pengze.
Just like that, Old Di escaped the political whirlpool of Luoyang and got himself a temporary reprieve from the capital's troubles.
But the consequences of the case did not end there. In fact, the backlash from Wu Zetian's decade-long campaign to seize the throne was beginning to show.
Seven men had been falsely accused alongside Di Renjie. Once he escaped, the other 6 also had their death sentences commuted. They were demoted and sent away to serve in the provinces.
One of them was Cui Xuanli.
Cui had a nephew named Huo Xianke, a man with little education and even less ability. By imitating Lai Junchen's methods of false accusation and informing on others, Huo Xianke had managed to become a prefect himself.
When he learned that his uncle had been acquitted, Huo Xianke had a decision to make. Perhaps he wanted to prove his loyalty. Perhaps he was hoping to catch Wu Zetian's attention and secure another promotion.
Whatever his reason, he stood before the assembled civil and military officials and addressed the empress with startling conviction.
Your Majesty! If you refuse to convict my uncle and have him executed, I will smash my head against the floor and die right here!
Then he did exactly that, slamming his head against the ground until blood spread across the floor.
Cui Xuanli was still spared the death penalty and sent into exile. He lived out the rest of his life in Jiangxia without ever returning to the capital.
As for Huo Xianke, he survived.
After all, how was a dead man supposed to get promoted and make a fortune?
For the next year, however, he attended court with a green bandage wrapped around his head. He even tilted his official hat upward on purpose, making sure everyone could see it.
That was one of the lingering effects of rule by cruel officials.
Meanwhile, the grand campaign Wu Zetian had launched to justify her claim to the throne had spread beyond the court and into everyday life.
For three consecutive years after the founding of Wu Zhou, auspicious omens appeared all over the empire, springing up like mushrooms after rain.
One day, a prefecture would present a large stone with red markings on a white background, claiming that the rock had appeared to demonstrate its loyalty to the empress.
The next day, a county would produce a turtle with the words May the Emperor Reign for Ten Thousand Years on its belly, declaring that it foretold the eternal glory of Wu Zhou.
The nonsense continued until the budgets of the Three Departments and Six Ministries were in serious trouble. Their officials finally joined forces and petitioned the empress.
Wu Zetian then issued an order. Auspicious omens would still be accepted, but no more rewards would be paid for them.
Only then did the frenzy finally die down.
That was Wu Zhou at the time. In Luoyang, the divine capital, cruel officials were making the city tremble with their purges. Across the provinces, people were hunting for auspicious signs in the hope of getting rich overnight.
The old lady, however, paid little attention to any of it.
After all, she had fought hard to become emperor.
Her fun was only just beginning.]
Back in Ganlu Hall, Li Shimin tilted his head, hardly surprised that his prediction had come true.
Earlier, after watching the Light Screen recount the early Tang's achievements, he'd felt there was one thing the dynasty could truly boast about: the Tang had won its empire on the battlefield.
Now, watching cruel officials terrorize the people while opportunists churned out auspicious omens to curry favor with the throne, he was beginning to wonder what had become of all that glory.
The whole mess reminded him of the Jin dynasty under the Sima clan. A regime later generations had little reason to admire.
The great aristocratic families had been too busy squabbling over their own interests to notice the danger gathering around them. By the time they were done tearing each other apart, northern peoples had seized the opportunity and plunged the empire into centuries of chaos.
And now his own son was squandering everything he'd worked so hard to build.
Worse, this daughter-in-law of his had taken the legacy of Zhenguan and turned it into the sorry spectacle that was Wu Zhou.
Li Shimin shook his head. Then he spotted Huo Xianke on the Light Screen and let out a derisive laugh.
"Huo Xianke is quite a piece of work. What a waste of talent if he doesn't become a eunuch."
Du Ruhui was speechless.
Privately, though, he was rather glad there weren't any palace eunuchs around to hear that. Someone might have taken offense, and then they'd all have to deal with the fallout.
Empress Zhangsun didn't bother hiding her disgust.
"Why would Your Majesty ever employ a contemptible man like that? He'd only bring shame upon the palace."
"People of loyalty and integrity are remembered for generations. A shameless clown like him will still be a laughingstock a thousand years from now."