To Lu Su, the two faced, slippery Sun Quan that Pang Tong described felt unfamiliar.
But when he compared it with Sun Quan's actions over the past three years, and then recalled Pang Tong's analysis, along with the ironclad surrender stance taken by Jiangdong's great clans before the Battle of Red Cliffs, it all began to line up. After all, by that time Lu Su himself had already died of illness. Looking back now, the pattern was hard to deny.
As for this Li Xian before them, there was not a shred of imperial bearing to be found.
Indulging in pleasure with palace women, abandoning himself to wanton amusements. Just thinking about the meaning behind those words made Lu Su flush with embarrassment.
Calling him foolish was already an act of generosity. Otherwise, the temperament and methods he displayed were so wildly mismatched with the throne he sat on that it was almost painful to watch.
As for the so called majestic prosperity of the Tang that Pang Tong had spoken of, Lu Su could not comprehend it at all, and found himself deeply shaken.
"This Li Xian is not foolish," Liu Bei said, pinching the bridge of his nose and sighing. From the bottom of his heart, he felt that the Tang dynasty truly knew how to create chaos. In less than an hour of viewing, what they had seen surpassed decades of imagination.
As for Li Xian's mindset, Liu Bei could roughly guess at it.
"When a ruler treats his ministers as enemies, the ministers will treat the ruler as dirt."
"If the Shenlong Restoration had not happened, Li Xian inheriting Empress Wu's position would have been legitimate, and he would not have borne the crime of a son overthrowing his mother."
"When ruler and ministers grow alienated, suspicion naturally follows. Those distrusted go unused, and petty villains seize the opening. That is how disaster comes."
Simply put, the motive was understandable. The actions were not.
But still…
"What does all this have to do with turning green?"
As a Han era man who valued blue green hues, Liu Bei was genuinely confused.
In Han imperial attire, green featured prominently.
The imperial crown was black on the outside, red and green within. The great sash had green edging and green brocade below. The grand ribbon of six colors included green, and the lesser ribbon of three colors was black, white, and green. Green was an essential imperial color.
Among commoners, it appeared even more often.
"That's right," Zhang Fei shouted. "My second brother loves green hats. What's wrong with green?"
For some reason, hearing those words made Liu Bei's heart skip, and a bad feeling crept in uninvited.
…
Wei Zheng was furious.
"A Tang emperor, aping the methods of usurpers to buy loyalty, damaging imperial dignity, shattering ritual order, and handing others a weapon to attack him. Utter folly."
By usurpers, he naturally meant the Tian clan that replaced Qi. Over a century of slow erosion, they finally seized the state.
Tian Chengzi, who assassinated Duke Jian of Qi, once gathered over a hundred women taller than seven chi as concubines, and allowed guests and retainers free access to the inner palace.
Even in the Spring and Autumn period, such behavior was condemned. How much worse was it now?
Wei Zheng could only say that his eyes had truly been opened. He never imagined that such ancient tricks would be resurrected after so many centuries, and by the emperor of his own state no less.
The others were speechless. They had anticipated turmoil, but not something this explosive right out of the gate.
What was more frightening was that, based on experience with the future projection, this could only be considered an appetizer.
A heavy mood settled over everyone. Only Fang Xuanling managed a bitter smile when he saw later generations' evaluation of Yao Chong.
At this point, it seemed the judgment in the Zizhi Tongjian regarding Empress Wu was not wrong. At the very least, her practice of dismissing or punishing the incompetent far surpassed Li Xian's era.
Rule by cruel officials was a symptom of weak governance. Compared to the total collapse of court discipline caused by Wu Sansi and his ilk, it was almost preferable.
Still, Fang Xuanling sensed that the disorder of Li Xian's reign would be especially violent.
[After Li Xian regained the throne, his legitimate eldest son Li Chongrun had already been executed by Empress Wu. In the succession struggle, the elder concubine born son Li Chongfu was also implicated, jointly demoted by Li Xian and Empress Wei, and never recalled until his death.
Yet in a feudal dynasty, establishing an heir was always one of the foundations of political stability. Li Xian had few choices. In 706, he formally issued an edict appointing Li Chongjun as crown prince.
Li Chongjun was neither legitimate nor eldest. This was a textbook case of winning by lying flat. But the new heir was miserable, because no one liked him. Even his younger sister was plotting to take his position.
First, Li Xian placed immense trust in Wu Sansi.
Wu Sansi's habit of using Li Xian's harem to conduct business outside was known to more than a few people. Someone risked death to submit a memorial urging the emperor to restore court discipline.
When Li Xian went to Wu Sansi's residence for amusement, he treated that memorial as a joke and showed it to Wu Sansi. The matter ended there.
Second, Wu Sansi's political enemies were the Five Princes of Shenlong. On this point, he and Li Xian were aligned. Under such a grand political objective, what did a harem matter?
Through the combined efforts of Wu Sansi, Empress Wei, and Li Xian, the Five Princes of Shenlong went from coup leaders to corpses in just over a year. Efficiency at its finest.
With these three in power, Princess Anle rose rapidly.
The reason was simple. She was the youngest daughter most beloved by Li Xian and Empress Wei.
She also married Wu Sansi's son, Wu Chongxun, becoming Wu Sansi's daughter in law.
How doting was Li Xian? Princess Anle once drafted an edict herself, covered the content, and asked Li Xian to sign it. He signed and sealed it without even looking.
Relying on this favor, after the fall of the Five Princes, Princess Anle submitted a petition asking to be made crown princess. Li Xian did not agree, but he did not clearly refuse either.
Out of affection, perhaps he could not bear to say it outright. But such ambiguity effectively told everyone that a female crown heir was not off the table.
Once again, the Wu clan grew excited. They felt the throne beckoning.
This time, the Wu clan mobilized completely. Whenever Wu Sansi entered the palace, he spoke ill of Crown Prince Li Chongjun. At home, Wu Chongxun taught his wife how to humiliate him.
Princess Anle was quite effective. She openly called Li Chongjun a slave in the palace. When he protested, she replied matter of factly, "You are born of a concubine. If not a slave, then what?"
After enduring about a year of bullying, Li Chongjun did something decisively spectacular.
He stormed the Wu residence and hacked Wu Sansi to death, then led the imperial guards in an attempt to imitate his great grandfather Li Shimin and seize the throne himself.
Normally, Li Chongjun had no authority over the guards. The irony was this. When Wu Sansi crushed the Five Princes politically, he also punished all the guards who had participated in the coup, but did not remove them from Chang'an or fully demote them.
Four guard commanders thought they would gain merit by following the dragon. Instead, they gained nothing and all became criminals together. When Li Chongjun approached them, it was an instant match.
Li Chongjun joined forces with Left Yulin Army General Li Duozuo and Li Sichong, and Right Yulin Army General Li Chengkuang, along with Dugu Yi and Shazha Zhongyi. Leading over a thousand imperial guards, they issued a forged edict in the name of eliminating traitors and stormed the Wu clan residence, hacking Wu Sansi, Wu Chongxun, and dozens of others to death.
After venting his rage, Li Chongjun ordered an advance on the palace, planning to request that his father graciously retire as supreme emperor.
If Li Shimin had seen this plan, he would have shaken his head.
The reason was simple. Ancient palaces faced south. Attacking from the south meant first taking the imperial city, then the palace city, breaking through seven or eight gates before nearing the emperor's residence.
But if you slipped in from the north and stabbed the palace in the back, you only needed to seize Xuanwu Gate to reach the emperor directly.
Li Chongjun had barely a thousand men. After killing Wu Sansi, the southern palace was already on full alert. When he realized he could not break through and detoured north toward Xuanwu Gate, Li Xian had already sealed it off and stood atop the gatehouse calling for the guards to surrender.
Unable to break in, Li Chongjun fled in panic. At Hu County, exhausted and out of horses, he was killed by his own followers, his head sent in for reward.
In the end, this coup failed because a young man staging his first rebellion lacked the meticulous planning of Li Shimin.
And because he did not truly understand the importance of Xuanwu Gate.]