A few days later, Wu Zetian announced that Xue Shao was appointed as a lieutenant, and personally presided over a ceremony for him to ascend the throne of the three dukes.

Although the third prince is a false position, his identity is extremely noble. In today's era, except for the highly respected royal family, they are generally not awarded the position of the three dukes. Xue Shao was named a lieutenant as a relative only in his first year, which can be regarded as a small miracle.

In fact, after Xue Shao's return from the Western Expedition, the government and the opposition have been discussing, what kind of reward Xue Shao will get, and what position will he stand in after returning to the court?

The Great Zhou inherited the martial spirit of the Tang Dynasty and attached great importance to military merits. It is very common for generals to be able to enter the prime minister by virtue of their outstanding military talents and grand military exploits. Therefore, many people speculate that Xue Shao will enter the cabinet to pay homage to the prime minister, and even replace Wu Chenghe, who has just left the field, as the new head of the political affairs hall.

So the facts in front of them surprised many people. Some people speculate that the empress was afraid that Xue Shao's military achievements were too great and his prestige was too high, so she did not let him worship the prime minister, so as not to threaten her position; Some people also speculated that Xue Shao didn't want to be a master of high merit and deliberately retreated to avoid suspicion, so he refused to pay homage to the prime minister.

But few people really know that this is actually a tacit understanding reached between Wu Zetian and Xue Shao.

No matter how lofty the status and how powerful the power is, many things are actually involuntary. Now in the court, because of the dispute over the succession, there are two major factions of "supporting Li" and "supporting the military". Wu Zetian is high above and controls in the middle. Therefore, it is not an exaggeration to say that it is the "big three" factions.

If Xue Shao worships the prime minister now, he will inevitably become the leader of the "pro-Li faction". The power of the two factions of Li and Wu will be unbalanced, and the result will be a threat to Wu Zetian's imperial power. In that case, Xue Shao will inevitably have a head-on conflict with Wu Zetian above the court.

If the two tigers fight, there will be an injury, and the country and the society will also suffer because of this, which is what Wu Zetian and Xue Shao do not want to see.

Some people say that the struggle for power is life and death, and there is no third option. But for now, Xue Shao chose to use "concessions" to maintain the alliance with the empress. It is true that the successor of the country is also very important, but Xue Shao believes that the stability of the monarchy is the most fundamental element of the country's stability. So he chose to give up the power of the prime minister and continue to integrate with the monarch's power as a force guarantee for Wu Zetian.

As for those courtiers, whether they support Li or Wu, Xue Shao doesn't want to participate for the time being. Although his lineage has already stated his position, as long as he does not come forward and does not speak out, he will not bring positive pressure to Wu Zetian. At least on the surface, all the choices are still in Wu Zetian's hands. In this way, Xue Shao and Wu Zetian would not have a head-on conflict.

The political alliance between Xue Shao and Wu Zetian has long been the country's biggest security guarantee. As long as this alliance does not break down, no matter what happens to the pro-Li faction and the pro-military faction, the country can continue to maintain stability.

That's the real big picture.

Xue Shao and Wu Zetian have always been able to maintain a high degree of consistency in the face of such an overall situation.

Although there have been many contradictions between Xue Shao and Wu Zetian, and they even almost met each other, their "overall view" has always been consistent. On this basis, both sides can know how to make compromises and concessions at the right time. Thus, their "cooperation" was able to maintain for so many years.

Xue Shao is very fortunate that he has a "historical cognition" that surpasses the vast majority of people in this era, and he also understands Wu Zetian himself, and has an accurate prediction of the future historical trend.

Xue Shao believes that these "cognitions" are his greatest wealth and the most powerful secret weapon. Without these understandings, you will definitely not be able to make the right choices at many critical times. In that case, his fate and fate will definitely be more bleak and tragic than Pei Yan.

For a long time in the future, the battle for the establishment of the prince in the court was still exciting every day. Xue Shao just ignored him coldly, and he also strictly restrained several of his "dead friends" and did not allow them to be in it.

In addition to the scheduled going to the court and going to the official office to take care of some official duties, Xue Shao spent the rest of the time at home to accompany his wife, concubine and a family of children, and then actively prepared for his marriage with Shangguan Wan'er.

He decided to organize this marriage with great fanfare, firstly, to give Shangguan Wan'er and Mrs. Zheng a comfort, and secondly, to let the public understand that he "loves beauty and does not love the country", and he has no intention of getting involved in court disputes.

After Shangguan Wan'er's marriage is completed, Xue Shao will marry Yu Hongye in a "high-profile" manner. The intention is also the same.

In order not to favor one over the other, Xue Shao proposed to build mansions for Yu Hongye, Chen Xian'er, Linlang sisters and Yuenu to live separately. As a result, they unanimously objected, saying that living together is considered a "family". Besides, such a large-scale construction project is too ostentatious, and it will inevitably attract a burst of verbal criticism, so it is better to give up.

In the end, Princess Taiping came out to play a round together, saying that the Zhao Guogong Mansion was actually earned by Mrs. Zhao, which was equivalent to the "dowry" of marrying Shangguan Wan'er. After the dowry is given, it will be Mrs. Zhao's private wealth, and Shangguan Mansion is Shangguan Wan'er's "maiden home". If you think about it, Chen Xian'er was adopted by her uncle very early and didn't have a "maiden family" for a long time, not to mention Yuenu and Linlang, Yu Hongye ran Ruoda's family business is her own "maiden family" - now, do you want to build another maiden family for Chen Xian'er and the others?

When Xue Shao heard this, it made sense, but the palms and backs of his hands were all meat, and he couldn't lose anyone, especially Chen Xian'er and the others who had been with him for ten years, and they couldn't like the new and hate the old. So after thinking about it carefully, Xue Shao ran to find Wu Zetian and begged for the "title" for the four concubines who had already been married.

According to the law of this dynasty, for an official of Xue Shao's level, his wife must be officially named "Lady of Command". For example, the wife of an official of the third rank or above will be named "Mrs. County", and the wife of a member of the first rank will be "Mrs. Guo". But Xue Shao is a concubine, and his wife is a princess, so there is no need to make a seal. Moreover, no colt has ever dared to take a concubine as blatantly as Xue Shao, even if he occasionally "accidentally" slept with one or two little maids, he had to hide it.

So now, Xue Shao's situation is very special.

Wu Zetian also made a decision after some careful consideration. She was also generous, and in one go, she named Chen Xian'er, Yuenu and Linlang sisters as "Mrs. Guo", which is the treatment only a wife has. And Shangguan Wan'er, who is about to get married, is named "County Lady", which is one level lower than Mrs. Guo in terms of rank.

This is a higher level, which can be regarded as a "special commendation" for Chen Xian'er and others in the past ten years. Although Shangguan Wan'er is one level lower, she has both a mansion and a separate grand wedding, which can be regarded as enjoying a real "favor".

In this way, it is probably flattened.

Although Chen Xian'er and others didn't care about such a "title", Xue Shao's conscience was comforted a little. And he thinks that this kind of "out-of-the-ordinary" reward can also divert some public attention, so that they can talk about my "private life" with relish, and it is best to make them feel that Xue is just bent on his wife and concubine, so that he has no intention of politics.

In a word, Xue Shao is using "romance" as a guise to continue to do what he can do.

As long as it doesn't harm others and cause public anger, Xue Shao feels that it doesn't hurt to do a few more things like this.

It's winter in the blink of an eye, and Xue Shao and Shangguan Wan'er are about to hold a wedding. At this time, it is the season of "the beginning of the extreme yang energy", the winter solstice. This is an important festival of the Great Zhou Dynasty, and Wu Zetian will lead the civil and military officials to hold a ceremony to worship the sky in the suburbs on this day.

Xue Shao also participated in it as a matter of course, and he had participated in such a ceremony more than once.

But a strange thing happened at the ceremony this time, Li Dan, the imperial heir who had always been the "Yaxian", and Li Chengqi, the emperor's grandson, who was the "Three Offerings", were replaced by Wu Chenghei, the king of Wei, and Wu Sansi, the king of Liang, respectively.

This is a particularly dangerous political signal, and the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty are all dumbfounded--Is His Majesty the Emperor going to appoint Wu Chenghei as the crown prince?!

Xue Shao also felt that this "divine turn" was too weird, and Wu Zetian had already shown many signs before, wanting to make his son the prince. Why did the plot take a sharp turn this time?

There must be a reason!

After Xue Shao came back, he discussed with Princess Taiping, since all the civil and military officials were confused, then this reason must have happened in the near future and came from the impermeable inner court!

Others may not be able to find out any news, but this is difficult for Princess Taiping and Shangguan Wan'er.

Soon, Xue Shao smelled this "dangerous smell" wafting from the palace. It is said that the two concubines of the imperial heir Li Dan, Liu and Dou, suddenly "evaporated from the world". The reason is that some people accused these two concubines of practicing the "art of disgust with victory" and cursing the God Emperor.

Such a crime is very special, and most of the two concubines are now in danger of dying and have no corpses. If the treatment is to be expanded, Li Dan's family will suffer from all over the house.

Among them, there is a concubine, who is Li Longji's biological mother Pang Zi.

It is not difficult to imagine that Wu Chenghei will definitely make a big fuss about it to attack the emperor's heir Li Dan. Wu Zetian's performance at the Winter Solstice Ceremony also proved that she did have anger in her heart.

In such an era of "supremacy of imperial power", the mood of the emperor was a major political event.

The imperial heir Li Dan can not be made the crown prince now, but he must not die, this is Xue Shao's inner bottom line.

A war seems inevitable.

Xue Shao made a calculation, but found that this was not only a great crisis, but also an excellent opportunity. As long as he makes a "strange move" at the right time, it is not difficult to save Li Dan's life and completely defeat Wu Chenghei in one fell swoop.

Taoguang has been in obscurity for so long, Xue Shao feels that now it is really time for him to make a move.

[Recently, my health has been poor, and the update may be slightly slow. Everyone's forgiveness! 】