The film and television world begins with the battle for the throne in Kowloon

Chapter 1013 Li Shimin is critically ill

After Li Yan had calmed down Cen Wenben and was about to return to the stage to continue discussing politics.

Suddenly, a figure rushed in from the gate, looking panicked and anxious, as if the sky was about to fall. He fell to the ground suddenly, and before the official in charge of the court etiquette could scold him, he cried out in a tearful voice: "Oh no, Your Majesty, the Emperor is critically ill!"

When everyone looked closely, they saw that it was Li Shimin's personal bodyguard Ma Xuanliang.

"Your Majesty, the imperial doctors have said that Your Majesty is dying. The Empress Dowager has asked me to come and summon Your Majesty and the other princes to see Your Majesty for the last time."

With a loud bang, the entire court was in chaos. Many officials felt dizzy and looked up to the sky, crying out in grief: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty."

Li Shimin was in power for nearly twenty years. Except for being ruthless to his brothers who competed with him for the throne, he was tolerant and courteous to his other brothers and ministers. Some ministers who had followed him for many years committed serious crimes.

For example, Dang Renhong, Gao Zongsheng and others were sentenced to death according to the law.

Li Shimin also personally pleaded for him with the ministers on his behalf, using his status as an emperor, which made many of the ministers deeply grateful and grateful.

Upon hearing the sad news, many court officials were overwhelmed with grief. Only then did they realize how deep their feelings for Li Shimin were.

"No, it's the retired emperor," the ministers around him reminded quickly.

The bad news came suddenly, and many ministers were confused. Having served Li Shimin for twenty years, they could not change their words for a while. In the excitement, they blurted out the bad news, forgetting that Li Shimin had now been promoted to the emperor.

Li Chengqian is the new emperor. Isn't this screaming a curse on Li Chengqian?
"Ah, Your Majesty, I was mistaken in my words. I hope Your Majesty..."

The faces of these ministers changed drastically, and they were about to kneel down to plead guilty, but Li Yan didn't care at all. He waved his hand with a heavy face, walked down the steps quickly, and said only one sentence: "It's okay, I know how the ministers feel about the emperor."

"All the ministers can go to Daming Palace to see the Emperor for the last time."

Then he said nothing more and walked out of the palace first. Soon after, other ministers followed him out. Hundreds of ministers walked out of the palace in a mighty procession.

The Daming Palace is located in the northeast corner outside the city of Chang'an, adjacent to the Taiji Palace.

The Daming Palace has a circumference of 7.6 kilometers and an area of ​​about 3.2 square kilometers, which is four times the size of the later Forbidden City and equivalent to the size of football fields.

There are 11 city gates in total, with city walls on the east, west and north sides.

There are three palace walls in the south, and the Danfengmen Street outside the wall is 176 meters wide, the widest street in the world. As soon as it was built, the Daming Palace surpassed the Taiji Palace and became the most magnificent and largest palace complex of this era.

Although large-scale investment began in the eighth year of Zhenguan, it was not completed until the third year of Longshuo in history.

However, thanks to Li Yan's trip to the Turks, the Tang Dynasty and the grasslands basically maintained peace, and no border crisis occurred. In addition, the Turks developed Japan and carried out a series of cross-border trade activities, which enabled the Tang Dynasty to develop rapidly and a large amount of silver poured into the country, further promoting the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty.

Thanks to the increase in tax revenue, the Daming Palace was able to be completed ahead of schedule.

A section of the city wall that originally connected the northwest corner of Chang'an City to the Daming Palace was demolished and rebuilt, and five gates were opened on the city wall to connect with the original market town.

Under the leadership of Li Yan, many princes and ministers entered the Daming Palace from the Danfeng Gate, crossed the Imperial Street and the Hanyuan Palace Square, and came to the Zichen Palace where Li Shimin was recuperating.

No one was in the mood to appreciate the prosperity of the Daming Palace. They were only concerned about how Li Shimin was doing now.

Li Yan came to the Zichen Palace and told everyone to wait outside. He and two old ministers, Fang Xuanling and Changsun Wuji, entered the inner room. At this time, the Empress Dowager Changsun Wugou, Li Ke's mother Yang Fei, Ji Wang Li Shen's mother Wei and other concubines were there.

Queen Hou Haitang, Princess Ankang, Princess Jinyang, Li Yan's eldest daughter and others were all serving by his side.

Li Shimin was already lying on the dragon couch, his expression dazed, his eyes blank, his breathing rapid, and he seemed a little confused in response to the calls of the people around him. From time to time, he stretched out his old hands to grope around, having no idea where he was.

"Your Highness!" All the imperial doctors from the Imperial Medical Bureau knelt down and saluted.

Li Yan waved his hand and went straight up to ask about the situation. Several respected doctors shook their heads.

Li Yan knew that Li Shimin had really reached his final moment.

"Your Majesty, the Grand Emperor will only be here for a few days."

Wei Jiyuan, the Imperial Medical Officer, stepped forward with a sad face and said, "The Emperor once said that he needed time to arrange his affairs at this moment, so we are planning to use ginseng to stimulate the Emperor's last potential."

"Give the emperor two hours, and then he will fall into a coma. At the fastest, it will be a few hours, and at the slowest, it will be a day or two, and he will breathe his last." Li Yan knew that when a person is on his deathbed, hanging on to his last bit of energy, how long can he live, no one knows?

In the movies, after the characters finish speaking, they just tilt their heads and die.

In reality, the process of a person's death is not so simple and pleasant. From being conscious and arranging funeral affairs to falling into a coma and losing consciousness, the human body will go through a process where it cannot be controlled. Even if the person is barely breathing at the end, he or she may still be able to hold on for several days.

A person's vital signs such as heartbeat, breathing, and blood pressure can be reversed or maintained long-term through a series of drugs and techniques.

In later generations, the final diagnosis of a person's death was the loss of breathing, then of pulse, and finally brain death, which was considered the real conclusion of his death.

The time for Li Yan to take action is during this period, not that Li Yan is unwilling to take action earlier.

For a person like Li Shimin, only by fully experiencing the process from birth to death, losing and regaining, dying and being reborn, can one be open-minded and not be so obsessed with power and wealth in the world.

Besides, I have said goodbye, and even if I get better, I will not be able to sit on the throne again.
What the doctors did at this time was what Li Shimin had ordered before, but Li Shimin was unconscious now. Li Yan became the only person who could make the decision on the scene, and the doctors naturally followed the procedure and came to ask for Li Yan's will.

"Mother, what is your opinion?" Li Yan looked at Changsun Wugou, who had a grief-stricken look on her face.

Zhangsun Wugou covered her mouth with a handkerchief to prevent herself from crying out loud. Her tears fell like beads from a broken string. The imperial doctors were helpless. She didn't know whether her eldest son could still save her husband, so she could only follow his arrangements.

Seeing Li Yan asking, she looked at Li Yan with tearful eyes. Seeing Li Yan's confident face, she felt relieved and nodded silently.

Afterwards, with the tacit approval of Zhangsun Wuji and Fang Xuanling, Li Yan issued an imperial decree to Wei Jiyuan: "Sir Wei, I have approved it. Let my father wake up!"

Wei Jiyuan responded quickly. In the side hall, ginseng soup had already been prepared. The remaining imperial doctors hurriedly brought it over and asked the eunuchs to give it to Li Shimin.

After about half a quarter of an hour, Li Shimin woke up. When he saw the situation at the scene, he saw his wife standing by and crying, his children and grandchildren were all present, and his ministers also looked sad. He knew that his time was up.

Finally, Li Shimin used up his last bit of energy to start arranging his funeral affairs, and first met with several important ministers.

When meeting Fang Xuanling, Fang Xuanling recounted Li Yan's performance and actions during his first court appearance today. Li Shimin listened silently. After hearing Li Yan reveal the matter of the sons' struggle for the throne and his appointment of Cen Wenben.

He felt relieved, and said with a complicated expression: "We had planned to take a step back and let Cheng Qian secure the throne first, to avoid conflicts with the nobles as much as possible. After a few years, when we have stabilized our position, we can make long-term plans."

"Qian'er intends to skip this step and directly integrate the troops of Princes Li Tai, Li Ke and others to compete with the family behind Wuji. This is a very dangerous step!"

"Your Majesty, I don't think you need to worry too much."

Fang Xuanling said with a deep look in his eyes: "Some things can only happen once. The Crown Prince's foundation is incomparable to your Majesty, and he has not shown any intention of targeting the noble families. On the contrary, the noble families who were born as servants of the Eastern Palace have all gained real power and moved to high positions."

"In terms of how they treated Cen Wenben, it was at most a matter of interest distribution within the aristocratic family. Cen Wenben himself was also from an aristocratic family, but he represented the Jiangnan aristocratic family, and the Guanlong aristocratic family did not dare to go too far with them."

"In my opinion, this is at most a power struggle between Duke Zhao and Cen Wenben, and it will not cause the nobles to unite to fight against it."

"The aristocratic families have different opinions on the new emperor and it is difficult for them to form a united force. This is a good time to divide and disintegrate."

"At that time, we were also worried that the crown prince was not capable enough and had insufficient vision. That's why we decided to give up Cen Wenben, make a full compromise with the Duke of Zhao, and allow them to liquidate the kings."

"If the prince can see this move himself and take the initiative to propose it, it means that the prince is wise enough to control the overall situation. Then he will take over the situation you left behind and let the Guanlong nobles, Shandong wealthy families, and Jiangnan nobles."

"These three groups are running side by side and standing on equal footing. After all, if one group dominates, it will definitely lead to disaster. I'm afraid that Duke Zhao will not have a good ending in the end!"

Li Shimin closed his eyes and pondered for a while, then nodded helplessly: "Forget it, Cen Wenben is mature and prudent. Since Cheng Qian dares to use him, he feels that he can control him. The future of the Tang Dynasty will ultimately depend on him, so let him do what he wants!"

"However, if this is the case, we must find a way to expel the King of Wu. In addition, I will issue an order to have Concubine Yang buried with me."

"Otherwise, with Concubine Yang acting as the liaison and King Wu in the court, I'm afraid the former Sui ministers wouldn't be so easy to control."

In just a few words, Li Shimin made adjustments based on Li Yan's ideas. He is worthy of being the greatest emperor of all time and his political wisdom is unquestionable.

After making some final arrangements, Li Shimin tremblingly reached out his hand and held Fang Xuanling's. He said in a deep voice with a pleading look on his face: "Xuanling, my life has come to an end and I am about to leave, but I am worried about the Tang Dynasty that I founded with my own hands."

"After I leave, I will rely on you. If Cheng Qian really makes the situation out of control, the Tang Dynasty will have to rely on you to save it."

(End of this chapter)