The Glory of Tang Dynasty Episode 1 Recap
> The Glory of Tang Dynasty Recap
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In the twelfth year of Tianbao, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang was old, and Yang Guifei was in high favor. Her brother Yang Guozhong held the position of prime minister, wielding immense power, second only to the emperor. He falsely accused the elder brother of Crown Prince's principal consort, Lady Wei, of intending to rebel, and had Lady Wei's brother's entire family executed. Inside the palace, singing and dancing flourished.
Yang Guifei was performing the 'Rainbow Skirt and Feathered Dress Dance', while Emperor Xuanzong of Tang played music. Crown Prince Li Heng knelt aside, anxiously trying to explain to his father that the matter had nothing to do with him. After all, Emperor Xuanzong had once executed three imperial princes in a single day due to suspicion of rebellion. But the emperor was engrossed in the singing and dancing and did not give him a chance to speak.
Yang Guozhong had the Wei family executed, then entered the palace to report back. The Crown Prince explained to the emperor that he was unaware of the matter and immediately proposed to divorce his principal consort, Lady Wei. At this time, the Emperor's eldest grandson, Li Chu, who was ordered to manage floods outside, heard about the major upheaval in the palace and rushed back to the palace on horseback.
Li Chu met Emperor Xuanzong and questioned Yang Guozhong's son, Yang Xuan, then Assistant Minister of the Board of Revenue, why relief grain had not been distributed in a timely manner. He explained that famine victims were everywhere, and people were starving to death on the roads, so he had no choice but to first use the grain designated for Jiannan. Li Chu returned under the guise of pleading guilty, but in reality, it was to plead for his mother.
Emperor Xuanzong ordered Yang Guozhong to immediately investigate the relief grain matter. After Yang Guozhong withdrew, Li Chu began to plead with Emperor Xuanzong, stating that there must be hidden circumstances. Emperor Xuanzong finally agreed to the divorce between the Crown Prince and his principal consort, Lady Wei. When Li Chu wanted to plead for his mother, the Crown Prince held him back. Li Chu's mother was punished and sent to practice Buddhism at the Shuilu Temple outside the city.
Li Chu saw her off. He promised his mother that he would find an opportunity to clear her name. His mother instructed him not to act rashly and also said that before his maternal uncle died, he warned him to be wary of Shen Yizhi, the Prefect of Wuxing, and Dong Zebu, a Tubo general. Li Chu ordered his subordinate, Feng Shengyi, to handle this matter.
Feng Shengyi found that Shen Yizhi was an upright official, but the treacherous prime minister Yang Guozhong had sought him out repeatedly. Li Chu guessed that Shen Yizhi might possess something Yang Guozhong was interested in, but what exactly it was, remained unknown. For this, he wanted to seek out the 'Omniscient Fixer' who was reputed to know everything in the jianghu.
In the household of Shen Yizhi of Wuxing, there was a daughter, Shen Zhenzhu, who had just grown up. Shen Zhenzhu was extraordinarily talented, with delicate and refined features and bright, captivating eyes, a rare beauty. Shen Zhenzhu, having turned eighteen, had reached the age for marriage. Given her family background, she could enter the palace for selection. However, Shen Zhenzhu's heart was already given to someone else. This story goes back ten years.
That year, an eight-year-old Shen Zhenzhu went to the capital to visit her father, who was then serving as the Secretary of the Imperial Secretariat. She happened to catch the grand Shangsi Festival in the capital. On Shangsi Day, everyone, from the emperor to commoners, dressed in splendid clothes, drank and enjoyed themselves by the Qujiang Pond. In the evening, Shen Zhenzhu took her maidservant to the riverside to see the lantern show.
The crowd was bustling, shoulder to shoulder, extremely crowded. Zhenzhu was pushed into the river by accident. Zhenzhu, unable to swim, panicked. Coincidentally, Li Chu, the son of the current Crown Prince Li Heng and the eldest grandson of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, was also by the river. He saw someone accidentally fall into the river, bravely jumped in, and rescued Zhenzhu. Zhenzhu didn't know his name then, nor his true identity.
The only thing Li Chu left for Zhenzhu was a jade pendant he carried with him. Soon after, Zhenzhu also returned to Wuxing. She had always wanted to find her rescuer with this jade pendant. But more than ten years had passed, Zhenzhu had grown up, and this hope had not yet been realized, but Zhenzhu never gave up.
The Emperor issued a proclamation to the world, selecting virtuous maidens from noble families to fill the Eastern Palace and choose consorts for the imperial grandsons. Zhenzhu, being of age, was also listed in the register. Zhenzhu did not want to go. However, imperial decrees could not be defied. Zhenzhu could only bid farewell to her parents and her 'Second Brother An' — An Qingxu, An Lushan's son, who grew up with her since childhood — and left Wuxing. But Zhenzhu did not wish to live in the deep palace.
