Save the Bachelor of Heaven

Nine years after Li Zhi ascended the throne, with the death of the regent ministers Changsun Wuji and Chu Suiliang, Li Zhi began to become arrogant, arbitrary, and refused to accept advice.

He built a lot of buildings in the country, such as leaving Chang'an and building the Eastern Capital in Luoyang. The imperial palace was extremely luxurious, and for this reason, corvée labor was imposed and taxes were increased, which caused complaints from the people.

In comparison, the Han Kingdom was a prosperous scene.

The three plains of the Red River, Mekong River, and Chao Phraya River are fertile fields with developed water systems and fertile land. In addition, it is located in the tropics and can harvest three crops a year, so there are almost no hungry people in the country.

Song Shidao was humble and kind, and did not pursue luxury. Other officials who dared to be corrupt could not escape Xiang Nan's supervision, so the government was clean and the people lived and worked in peace.

This also led to a large number of Li Tang people, bringing their old and young, and coming to Lingnan in droves. This also greatly increased the population of the Han Kingdom.

For a long time in ancient times, population represented wealth. Talented people bring soldiers, talented people bring taxes, and talented people bring food. Therefore, the strength of an ancient country can be seen from its population.

The influx of a large population further enhanced the national strength of the Han Dynasty.

…

Eleven years after Li Zhi ascended the throne, he often felt dizzy due to physical discomfort, so the government was managed by Empress Wu Zetian.

Xiang Nan was not sure whether this Wu Zetian was still a disciple of Xianxian. However, during the period when Wu Zetian was in charge of the government, the national strength of the Li Tang Dynasty further declined.

First, Silla united with the remnants of Goryeo and Baekje to repel the Tang army, so that the power of the Li Tang Dynasty was driven out of the Korean Peninsula; second, the Western Turks rebelled again, causing the Li Tang Dynasty to lose the four towns of Anxi; third, Tubo conquered Tuyuhun, Qinghai Lake and other places, and divided the Western Regions with the Turks and the Uighur Khanate.

Twenty years later, Song Shidao died and passed the throne to his eldest son Song Yin, who changed his name to Yuanxing. Song Shidao's temple name was Song Shizu and his posthumous name was Emperor Wen.

Three years later, Li Zhi died and his son Li Xian succeeded to the throne, that is, Emperor Zhongzong of Tang. But less than a year after Li Xian succeeded to the throne, he was abolished and demoted to King of Luling. Then his younger brother Li Dan succeeded to the throne, that is, Emperor Ruizong of Tang.

This year, Xiang Nan and Song Yuzhi were also close to eighty years old. Fortunately, the two of them had made great achievements in martial arts, so they were not too old.

Emperor Ruizong of Tang was in power for six years. During this period, the state affairs were actually controlled by his mother Wu Zetian. Later, she simply abolished her son, established herself as the emperor, and changed the name to Wu Zhou.

After Wu Zetian ascended the throne and became emperor, she cleared out the martial arts world.

Not only the demon sects but also the righteous sects, including Cihang Jingzhai, Jingnian Zen Temple, and even the Giant Whale Gang and Haisha Gang, were quite cruel.

Therefore, Xiang Nan guessed that she should be the heir trained by Qianqian. But her wisdom and heart might be more cruel than Qianqian.

Xianxian still cared about her master, her sect, and the love between men and women. In order to seize power, Wu Zetian did not even let her own son go. Moreover, the Yingui Sect should be her sect, but she also eliminated it without mercy.

Xiang Nan guessed that Xianxian should have died, and Wu Zetian should have killed the Demon Sect after her death. Otherwise, it would be too cruel to Xianxian.

…

In the second year after Wu Zetian ascended the throne, Xu Ziling and Shi Feixuan came to Lingnan to see Xiang Nan.

Over the years, he and Shi Feixuan have always been wandering around the world. They have been to Europe as far as possible, the North Pole as far as the north, Indonesia as far as the south, and North America as far as the east... It can be said that they have visited all the famous mountains and rivers in the world.

It was not until he was over 80 years old and really didn't want to move anymore that he returned to Lingnan to see his old friends.

"I didn't expect you to be away for so long. It's really far away." Xiang Nan smiled.

"You can only see clearly if you walk far." Xu Ziling smiled, "It's a pity that you can't accompany us on the road."

"It doesn't matter, each has its own wonderful life." Xiang Nan waved his hand and smiled, "I am doing well now, with children and grandchildren, and no worries about food and clothing."

"That's true." Xu Ziling smiled and nodded.

"Master, now Cihang Jingzhai has been destroyed, and Jingnian Zen Temple has been wiped out by the emperor, what do you think?" Xiang Nan asked again.

"It doesn't matter. As long as the green mountains remain, there will be no shortage of firewood. She only destroyed the gates of Cihang Jingzhai and Jingnian Zen Temple." Shi Feixuan waved her hand and smiled, "The inheritance of Cihang Jingzhai and Jingnian Zen Temple will not be broken."

"That's good." Xiang Nan smiled and nodded, "By the way, do you want to stay in Lingnan and live together in the future? Although the plum rain days here are a bit difficult, the fruits are really delicious. I am willing to be a Lingnan person forever if I can eat 300 lychees a day."

"We came here this time for this purpose." Xu Ziling smiled, "People say that under your governance, Lingnan is a paradise, and people here are well fed and warmly dressed, and no one is hungry."

"The paradise is really exaggerated." Xiang Nan waved his hand and smiled, "I am already very satisfied that I can make everyone well fed and warmly dressed."

"Isn't this what we most expect?" Xu Ziling nodded.

Both his and Kou Zhong's parents died of famine, so their wish since childhood was to have enough food in the future and never go hungry again. Now Xiang Nan has realized this wish, which is really amazing.

…

Xu Ziling and Shi Feixuan then settled down in Lingnan.

And Xiang Nan also went to the Luoyang Palace and brought back the evil emperor's relic.

It turned out that Wu Zetian was indeed a disciple trained by Qian Qian. After the death of Yin Queen Zhu Yuyan, she established Qian Qian as a disciple of the Yin Gui Sect and stored her lifelong martial arts in the evil emperor's relic.

After Xianxian succeeded to the throne, she accepted Mingkong as her disciple and passed on the "Heavenly Demon Secret Book" of the Yingui Sect to her. After Mingkong mastered it, she pretended to be a talented woman and entered the palace. With her beauty and scheming, she ascended the throne and monopolized power step by step.

Seeing that her disciple was so outstanding, Xianxian was naturally very happy. But she was unable to get love in her life, and her heart was very distressed. Therefore, she died before she was seventy years old, and stored her internal energy in the evil emperor's relics before her death.

Wu Zetian knew the cunning of the demon sect and the hypocrisy of the righteous sect, so she decided not to have any of these sects. After all, the knight violated the law with martial arts, and she didn't want anyone to threaten her rule.

It was for this reason that Cihang Jingzhai, Jingnian Zen, and the six sects of the demon sect... were almost all swept away by her.

But this happened to be a good thing for Xiang Nan, because she destroyed so many sects and collected a lot of martial arts secrets.

Among them are the "Heavenly Demon Secret Book" of the Demon Sect Yin Gui Sect, the "Yan Yang Qi Gong" of the Turkic Grandmaster Bi Xuan, the "Huang Tian Da Fa" of the Eastern Jin Dynasty Tianshi Sun En, the "Yoga Technique" of the Indian demon monk Fu Nanda, the "Jiushao Dingyin Sword" passed down by the Eastern Jin Dynasty Xie family, the "Ten Dwelling Mahayana Merits" of the demon monk Zhu Faqing, and the "Zhi Jing of the Root of All Dharmas" of the Daming Zunjiao, etc.

All these martial arts were good for Xiang Nan and were swept away by him.