Sheng Tang: What is Liu Jianjun going to do today?

Chapter 28 Meeting the Saint
The man before you is Li Xian's grandfather, Emperor Gaozong Li Zhi, the third emperor of the Tang Dynasty.

Standing beside him was the graceful woman, Empress Wu, the mother of Li Xian and the mother of the Tang Dynasty.

Li Xian looked at Emperor Gaozong with mixed feelings.

In Li Xian's memory, his father was the most brilliant emperor of the Tang Dynasty. During his reign, he successively destroyed the Western Turks, Baekje, and Goguryeo, making the Tang Dynasty's territory unprecedentedly vast.

But as his health deteriorated, the Tang Dynasty seemed to decline along with him.

After the first year of Xianheng, the Four Garrisons of Anxi, Tuyuhun and other regions were successively occupied by the Tibetan Empire, and the Tang Dynasty's territory in the Western Regions declined. At the same time, it was defeated by Silla and lost the Korean Peninsula. Later, the Eastern Turks rebelled against the Tang Dynasty and established the Eastern Turkic Khaganate, which invaded the borders of the Tang Dynasty year after year.

If Father's health could improve...

Li Xian was in a state of utter confusion.

But at that moment, Li Xian heard a sentence: "Mingyun has become estranged from me, and he doesn't even want to call me Father anymore."

The voice was as loving as ever, and Li Xian instantly burst into tears, prostrating himself on the ground and crying out, "Father! Your son is unworthy!"

With his head down, Li Xian couldn't see Gaozong's expression, nor could he hear any sound. He only felt that the grief in his heart could not be released, and could only weep incessantly.

After a long while, Li Xiancai heard a familiar voice calling out: "Get up, sit down beside me, and tell me what you have seen and heard these days."

Li Xian was heartbroken and at a loss. He simply bowed his head and walked to Emperor Gaozong's side, sat down, and then respectfully bowed to Empress Wu beside Emperor Gaozong, saying, "This humble subject, Li Xian, greets Your Majesty!"

"Since Your Majesty has spoken, please call me Mother Empress as well." Wu's voice remained as calm as ever, with a hint of distance in it.

Li Xian trembled and subconsciously replied, "Your subject greets Your Majesty!"

Afterwards, Li Xian sat upright in front of Emperor Gaozong and reported on everything he had seen and heard in Bazhou during this period. He talked about the bullying by the local tyrants, the simple and honest folk customs of Liujiazhuang, and the winter melon that Liu Jianjun had given him.

However, he remembered Liu Jianjun's words and did not say that those bullies were sent by Qiu Shenji. He only mentioned Liu Jianjun's matter briefly.

"Afterwards, your son transported auspicious omens to the capital..."

At this point, Li Xian suddenly knelt on the ground and cried out, "Father! The auspicious omen... the auspicious omen is gone!"
"When my carriage reached Hanzhong, I was suddenly robbed by bandits who burned down the entire Baocheng Post Station and smashed Xiangrui into mud. However, the bandits did not harm me; they simply knocked me unconscious and then left!"

Then, Li Xian saw Emperor Gaozong's face flush red and he coughed incessantly, angrily shouting, "Cough...cough! Auspicious omen...auspicious omen! Do you know where that thief came from?!"

Empress Wu, standing nearby, gently patted Emperor Gaozong's back, softly comforting him, "Your Majesty, please don't get angry..."

Li Xian instinctively wanted to say that those people were soldiers, but in an instant, he remembered Liu Jianjun's instructions and hurriedly changed his words: "Your subject does not know, but those bandits slaughtered all the post station workers and yamen runners who were transporting auspicious omens. If they had not refused to attack me, I would have already become a victim of their blades, just like those post station workers!"

Then, Li Xian saw Emperor Gaozong's face turn ashen, and his knuckles, gripping the jade ruyi, turned white, as if he were suppressing immense anger.

"Even the auspicious signs have disappeared?"

"That's all... but I still have this!"

Li Xian hurriedly reached for his waist, pulled out the purse Liu Jianjun had given him, and opened it.

That full ear of rice, as if cast in gold, shone brightly.

"This thing... was born in Liujiazhuang, just like the winter melon. I only discovered it after I asked the governor of Bazhou to submit a memorial about the winter melon. By then, the imperial envoy from Chang'an had already arrived in Liujiazhuang. I thought it was too late to submit another memorial about this thing, so I simply brought it with me."

"I beg...Father Emperor's forgiveness!" At this moment, Emperor Gaozong was not listening to what Li Xian was saying. His eyes were fixed on the bundle of rice ears in Li Xian's purse. His tone became agitated, and his lips were even trembling as he said, "Quick! Quick! Quickly bring this over!"

Li Xian pursed his lips and looked down, noticing that his mother's face had turned ashen.

But he dared not think too much about it, and hurriedly lowered his head and placed the purse on the stone table in front of Emperor Gaozong.

Emperor Gaozong, his hands trembling, gently pushed aside the cloth on both sides of the purse, his movements as tender as if he were caressing a young girl's delicate body.

He seemed to be counting the grains of rice on that stalk of rice.

After a long while, Li Xian saw tears on Emperor Gaozong's face, his voice filled with joy and trembling: "Heaven have mercy! Heaven have mercy! This is an auspicious omen! An auspicious omen that signifies our Great Tang Dynasty's compliance with the will of Heaven!"

Once these words were spoken, the sheaf of rice was no longer just a sheaf of rice, but an auspicious omen, an auspicious omen for the entire Tang Dynasty.

A single word from a sage can change the course of history and alter one's destiny.

Li Xian immediately bowed and cried out, "Congratulations, Father! Congratulations, Father!"

Looking down, he saw his mother stomping her feet back and forth on the ground.

At this moment, Emperor Gaozong's voice also rang in Li Xian's ears: "In the past, Houji sowed a hundred grains to start the Zhou dynasty, and Emperor Wu of Han obtained three ears of grain to foretell a bumper harvest. Now, this auspicious omen has appeared in the Bashan Marshland. Is it not because Heaven is concerned about my worries and toil, and has specially sent down this auspicious sign to demonstrate its holy influence?"
"By order: at the middle of this month, auspicious omens will be proclaimed throughout the land!"

"First, if agriculture and sericulture are valued, the weather will be favorable, taxes and corvée will be reduced, and the people's labor will be relieved; second, if water conservancy is developed, the land's veins will be cleared, canals will be dug and dams will be built, and there will be no worries about drought or flood; third, if cultivation and reclamation are encouraged, granaries will be full, abandoned fields will be reclaimed, and the tragedy of weeds and weeds growing in the fields will be eliminated!"

Li Xian bowed again, shouting, "Father Emperor is benevolent!"

At this moment, he suddenly understood why Liu Jianjun was unwilling to meet the emperor. In just a short while, he had already bowed repeatedly. If it were Liu Jianjun, with his lazy nature, he would definitely have been disrespectful before the emperor.

At this moment, a young eunuch came running over with a jade box in his hand. Emperor Gaozong carefully placed the bundle of rice ears into the jade box before speaking: "My son has found such an auspicious omen for me. Do you require any reward?"

The words of Liu Jianjun flashed through Li Xian's mind instantly. He dared not be careless and bowed down once more, crying out in sorrow, "Before today, your son has no other requests!"
"But having seen Your Majesty's countenance today, your son only wishes for Your Majesty's good health and longevity!"

Li Xian was half sincere when he said that.

Looking at Emperor Gaozong's frail face, he couldn't help but feel a surge of sorrow.

Emperor Gaozong remained silent for a long time. Li Xian lay prostrate on the ground and could not see his expression, but he noticed that his mother's feet, hidden under the table, had been stomping back and forth many times.

After a long silence, Emperor Gaozong sighed and said, "Mingyun, do you really have nothing to say about the treason case from back then?"

Upon hearing Emperor Gaozong's words, Li Xian's heart leaped into his throat. At the same time, he noticed that his mother's feet had frozen in place.

Li Xian didn't want to think about it, but he couldn't help but think about what Liu Jianjun had said.

Could it be... that my mother really wants to kill me?

The grief and indignation in my heart immediately surged up like a tide.

Li Xian knelt on the ground and cried out in anguish, "Your subject! I have something to say!"

……

(End of this chapter)