Li Shimin faked his death? Then I will be powerful enough to conquer the world!

At three quarters past the hour of You, the candles in the Hanyuan Hall were lit one after another.

Li Zhi took off his crown and leaned against the dragon couch, looking at the pile of memorials on the desk and sighing.

Wu Meiniang personally helped him change into his casual clothes, her fingertips touching the cold sweat on the back of his neck: "Today's court meeting was too long, Your Majesty should rest."

"I can't rest."

He pointed to the "Petition to Establish a Crown Prince" at the top, "The entire court is watching. Mei Niang, what do you think... Xian'er?"

She rubbed his swollen temples. Over the years, she personally taught Li Xian to read "The Book of Documents" and watched him grow from a toddler into a prince.

But recently, there were even rumors that "Shaoyang Zhengfan" was written by her to deliberately suppress the prince.

"Xian'er is smart, but he has a stubborn personality."

Her fingertips rested on the peak of his brow. "Although Xian'er is lively, he lacks a bit of composure."

"Dan'er..."

She suddenly smiled, "He's more like His Majesty when he was young, dull and insipid."

Li Zhi held her hand. He suddenly felt a little tired and leaned his head on her shoulder. "Father said that the crown prince should be the eldest son of the legitimate wife. But now the eldest son is gone, and the second son..."

He suddenly stopped and looked up at her.

Wu Meiniang suddenly remembered Hong'er's first time attending the court meeting. He hid behind her and clutched her sleeve tightly. But when he heard that the people were suffering, he suddenly broke free from her hand, ran to Li Zhi and knelt down, saying, "Father, it's time to open the granaries and release the grain."

At that time, all the civil and military officials in the hall laughed and said that the prince was kind and benevolent, but now, that child is sleeping forever under the yellow earth of Gongling.

"Your Majesty, matters concerning the crown prince cannot be rushed."

She covered him with a brocade quilt, the candlelight casting a shimmering light in her eyes. "When Your Majesty ascended the throne, didn't you also face many setbacks? The late emperor once said that every generation has its own talents. As long as we choose a benevolent and wise monarch for the Tang Dynasty..."

"But I can't wait."

Li Zhi suddenly grabbed her wrist with such force that she frowned, "Look at my body, maybe one day..."

He suddenly choked up and turned his face away, "Mei Niang, the only thing I'm worried about is you and this country."

"Hong'er is gone, I'm afraid... I'm afraid they won't be able to accommodate you."

She suddenly smiled, and brushed the white hair off his forehead with her fingertips: "Your Majesty, have you forgotten? Back then in Ganye Temple, I endured it all."

"In this world today, what else can stump me?"

She suddenly leaned close to his ear, her voice as soft as moonlight falling on flower petals, "Your Majesty, just focus on recuperating. Whether it's the crown prince or the government, I will take care of it for you."

The wind outside the hall lifted the bamboo curtains, bringing in the fragrance of late spring flowers.

Li Zhi looked at the light in her eyes, and suddenly remembered that when she was crowned queen in gorgeous clothes and knelt in front of him, the hairpin in her hair rubbed against the back of his hand, which was itchy but made his heart beat like a drum.

At that time, he thought that with her by his side, there would be no obstacles in this world that he could not overcome.

Today, the candlelight in Hanyuan Hall is still flickering, just like the sleepless nights in Taiji Hall.

However, the young emperor of that year had already turned gray, and the woman who had held medicine at his sickbed was now holding his hand, looking at the darkening dusk outside the palace - there were the lights of thousands of homes in Chang'an, the vast mountains and rivers of the Tang Dynasty, and their common, unfulfilled wishes.

At three o'clock in the morning, the bronze crane leaked the last drop of water from the Hanyuan Hall.

Wu Meiniang sat in front of the imperial desk, with the red pen hanging above the "Edict on the Establishment of a Crown Prince" for a long time.

There was a blank space in the edict, and the space for the word "Crown Prince" had yet to be filled in, but before her eyes appeared Li Hong's smiling face when he was holding his "Zhuazhou" ceremony, Li Xian's heroic figure when he was riding a horse, Li Xian's sticking out tongue when he got into trouble, and Li Dan's concentration when he was reciting scriptures.

Outside the window, the Wangxian Pavilion of the Daming Palace is hidden in the fog, like a tower hanging in the clouds.

She suddenly remembered what Emperor Taizong wrote in his "Emperor's Model": "If you imitate the best, you will only be average; if you imitate the average, you will be below average."

As a mother, she hopes her sons are safe and happy.

But as the queen, she had to choose a crown prince for the Tang Dynasty who "emulated the best".

The red brush finally fell, leaving a smudge of crimson on the yellow silk. She looked at the two characters she had written, "Li Xian," and suddenly heard a soft snoring behind her—Li Zhi had fallen asleep at some point, his brows still furrowed in worry.

She gently covered him with a cloak, and her fingertips brushed across the calluses on his palms - the marks left by holding the imperial pen for twenty years.

Her fingertips gently stroked the word "Crown Prince" on the imperial edict. The first ray of morning light outside the window fell on the word "Virtuous", making the strokes bright.

The eaves of Hanyuan Hall stretched out like wings in the morning mist, as if carrying the imperial edict and flying towards the clear sky of Chang'an - where there is a new sun, unfinished stories, and the Tang Dynasty, the wheel that is always moving forward.

When the morning bell rang, Wu Meiniang carefully folded the imperial edict and placed it in a rosewood box.

She turned to look at the emperor on the dragon bed and saw that his eyelashes were trembling slightly, as if he was mumbling in his sleep.

Outside the palace, palace maids were cleaning up last night's locust flowers, and the broken white petals fell on the blue bricks.

Wu Meiniang was somewhat reluctant to make Li Xian the crown prince.

As her own sons, Wu Meiniang knew them better than anyone else.

Among her children, only Li Hong was worthy of the position of crown prince.

But Li Hong was gone, and she had no choice but to take on Li Xian.

Although Li Xian is young, many times a person's character can be seen when he is young.

Li Xian is an ambitious child and will be an ambitious prince in the future.

Since ancient times, ambitious people have been difficult to control.

She saw the shadow of her youth in Li Hong.

But after going through most of her life and walking so many paths, Wu Meiniang knew better than anyone that someone like her could not shoulder the heavy responsibility of the Tang Dynasty.

It was only after these years of experience in Xijing that I began to see many things clearly.

But Li Xian, can you do it?

The Tang Dynasty today is no longer the same as it was before.

Only a heroic leader can take on this responsibility.

It is precisely because of this that Wu Meiniang felt from the bottom of her heart that Li Xian was not up to the task.

Because this is what she was like when she was young.

There are only calculations in my mind, and I can't see the situation around me clearly.

Compared with the crown prince, Li Zhi's health worried him more.

Although the Tang Dynasty seems stable now, it is actually unable to hold on.

It would take too much money to develop the Middle East and the West.

So many that even the Ministry of Revenue was frightened.

Moreover, those places have not yet generated any income for the Tang Dynasty.

It would take a very long time to truly integrate those places into the Tang Dynasty, which also meant that the Tang Dynasty had been continuously investing wealth in these lands over the years.

You know, the area of ​​these lands is equivalent to two of the Tang Dynasty today.

For the imperial court, this was a huge problem. In Wu Meiniang's memory, the only one who could shoulder such a heavy responsibility was Emperor Qianwu.

As long as the previous emperor is still alive, how could the court be so helpless now?

What Wu Meiniang was worried about was that once Li Zhi left, all the suppressed voices would rise again.

By then, will those vested interests still be willing for the Tang Dynasty to spend so much money every year to develop these lands?