Tiantang Splendid

Chapter 4731: Difficult to Continue
Although Jinyang was not the youngest princess of Emperor Taizong, she was sickly since childhood and was very beautiful, so she was the most favored. Whether it was Emperor Taizong in the past, Li Chengqian today, or even all the brothers and sisters, they all always regarded her as the apple of their eye and treated her with great honor and favor.

Now hearing that the congenital disease has not been cured and that she may even die at any time, Princess Chengyang burst into tears and hugged her sister tightly, so how could she care whether she got married or not?

Let alone "getting married", even "having an affair" is up to her, as long as she is happy, everything else is not a big deal...

"You silly child, why didn't you tell me all this time? We all thought you were cured."

Chengyang hugged his sister, tears streaming down his face, filled with infinite pity.

Princess Jinyang patted her hands and consoled her with a smile, "Isn't it okay? Taoist Sun only said it's possible, not certain. As long as you take good care of yourself, the chances of you surviving are still very high."

Cheng Yang wiped away his tears, nodded and said, "I will go and persuade His Majesty to allow you to become a monk and practice Taoism. You can do whatever you want."

Although becoming a monk and practicing Taoism is a bit austere, it is definitely a good thing from the perspective of self-cultivation. Being away from the troubles of the world, you will naturally be able to calm your mind and live a leisurely life without being disturbed by messy things.

Jinyang nodded repeatedly: "Yes, sister, eat the shrimp quickly, it's getting cold. When we leave later, we can take some crabs. Although the crabs in this season are not very fat, they are fresh. It's good to take them back and taste them. They taste great with rice wine."

After the two sisters had breakfast, Chengyang comforted Jinyang with gentle words for a while before leaving.

However, she did not leave the palace and return home, but went to Wude Hall.

Li Chengqian drank tea and listened to Princess Chengyang chattering and wiping her tears as she described Jinyang's condition. He could only sigh and say, "When Taoist Sun diagnosed Sizi, he said that the girl's heart pulse was not complete, but in my opinion, it was because she was too cunning that this happened. Do you believe everything she said? After Taoist Sun diagnosed her, he gave Sizi medicine all year round, but in the past one or two years, Taoist Sun only diagnosed her pulse occasionally. Apart from the doctor's instructions, she didn't take any medicine. Do you still think that she has been ill for a long time and will not live long?"

Chengyang blinked, a little confused.

Li Chengqian said helplessly: "She is definitely weak, but if she is dying, how can Master Sun not give her medicine? It can't be to the point where medicine is ineffective, right?"

Princess Chengyang hesitated: "I was... deceived by her?"

"I wouldn't say I'm lying. Her weak body is natural. Even if her life is not in danger, she can't stand the annoyance and confusion that increase the burden on her heart. But her reluctance to marry is definitely not as simple as physical factors. This girl looks delicate but is actually strong. She is of noble status and has a beautiful appearance. It is true that ordinary men are not in her eyes. Doesn't she want to cultivate Taoism? I don't care about her anymore. Let her go. My father couldn't do anything with her at the beginning, so what can I do?"

Li Chengqian shook his head and sighed, feeling helpless. With a girl like this, even if he was the emperor, he would be at a loss. He couldn't just find a man to marry and then tie her up and send her to the bridal chamber, right?
Princess Chengyang looked unhappy, and left the palace with a cage of crabs.

……

As soon as Princess Chengyang left, the Queen walked into the imperial study with a cup of tea.

"Your Majesty, are you really going to ignore Sizi and let her do whatever she wants?"

She placed the teacup on the imperial desk, came behind Li Chengqian, and put her slender hands on his shoulders to massage him to relieve his fatigue.

"Alas..." Li Chengqian sighed, put down his brush and drank a sip of tea. He pointed to the pile of official documents on the imperial desk and the wall next to the desk. He raised his hand and pinched his brows, frowning and said, "Look at this mountain of official documents. I review them until midnight every day and have to get up before dawn. How can I have the energy to care about my little daughter's willful behavior?"

Looking at the mountain of official documents, he felt extremely conflicted.

On the one hand, the emperor is the master of the world, and imperial power must be centralized. All major events in the world are decided by his single word. These official documents represent power, and they must never be delegated to others, otherwise there would be a danger of the imperial power being hollowed out.

On the other hand, the Tang Dynasty is developing rapidly and changing with each passing day. Not only is the number of official documents that need to be handled every day increasing, it has already been more than ten or twenty times that of the Wude period, but there are too many new things. Many official documents involve more professional knowledge, but once they are approved by the emperor, they cannot be changed. Therefore, if you don’t want to be perfunctory and make many mistakes, you have to carefully consider every word and sentence and think about it repeatedly. The huge workload cannot be completed by one person.

In order to ease this situation, the Council of State and the prime ministers must be given more power to handle state affairs, otherwise the emperor would be exhausted to death.

But once power is delegated, how can we talk about concentrating the imperial power? If this continues, won't the emperor become a mere decoration?
For example, regarding military power, everyone knows that the emperor must have a tight grip on military power, otherwise there will be a disaster of overthrow at any time. But what can be done even if he knows this?

I am not an emperor on horseback like my father. Future emperors are more likely to be at the mercy of women in the deep palace. They do not know the sufferings of the world, the dangers of war, and the strategies of troops. Even if they have military power in their hands, how can they fight a war?

An ignorant emperor commanding tens of millions of troops would be even more horrible than if the military power fell into someone else's hands. The loss of military power could lead to a change of throne, but the result of the emperor's reckless orders would inevitably lead to the collapse of the empire and the fall of China...

The concentration of imperial power is not a good thing. The system of the Council of State is the best. A group of prime ministers who came from prefectures and counties gathered together to discuss state affairs. The probability of making mistakes is obviously lower than the decision made by the emperor alone.

The same is true in the military. When the military reform is completed in the future, any military order will be issued after consultation with several "Ministers of the Grand Council" who are proficient in military tactics and have outstanding strategies. This will definitely be more appropriate than the emperor's final say.

As time went by and the world developed, Li Chengqian was almost certain that the imperial power would inevitably fall into the hands of others. If he continued to hold on to the idea of ​​"being the supreme ruler and holding the power of heaven" and refused to give up the imperial power, then the empire would inevitably be plagued by chaos, collapse and decline, and destruction would be a matter of sooner or later.

As for state affairs, the empress never participated in them after being taught a lesson by Fang Jun. While massaging Li Chengqian's shoulders, she listened to him complain about the tedious government affairs and his lack of energy. After Li Chengqian had naggled for a while, she asked, "This summer is extremely hot. I wonder if Your Majesty would like to go to the temporary palace to escape the heat?"

Li Chengqian hesitated for a moment.

In fact, although the Queen asked this, this matter had been decided long ago, but now Li Chengqian felt unsafe about "luring the snake out of its hole"...

Seeing Li Chengqian's hesitation, the Queen did not ask further questions. The Emperor had his own decision, and no one else could influence his decision. She mentioned another matter: "Prince Jiang is almost twenty years old. Previously, Yuan Shi proposed marriage, but Yuan Shi's family was wiped out because of the incident of living sacrifice, so the marriage was aborted. I heard that Prince Jiang favored and admired the younger sister of the Fang family and pursued her a lot. What do you think, Your Majesty?"

This matter is easy to handle. Li Chengqian drank tea and said, "The upbringing of the daughters of the Fang family is well-known. Princess Han is the most virtuous and generous. Everyone in the royal family praises her. The younger sister of the Fang family must be the same. Madam Fang is bold and dignified. The daughters she has taught are naturally good. They are all good candidates for the head wife. You only need to ask Erlang about this matter. Now that Prime Minister Fang has gone to Jiangnan to live a carefree life, Erlang can make the decision on family matters."

The Queen frowned and asked, "Your Majesty, do you not agree to this marriage?"

The Fang family has two dukes of two countries, which is unique in the world. Their honor and favor are unmatched in the world. There is already a saying that they are "the best family in the world". The eldest daughter is the Princess of Han, and if the youngest daughter is the Princess of Jiang, the Fang family will definitely become the leader of the aristocratic families in the world. The tallest tree in the forest will be destroyed by the wind. I am afraid that this will attract a lot of criticism.

It would be fine if the royal family arranged the marriage directly, but if Fang Jun was allowed to make the decision himself, how could he not avoid suspicion?
Li Chengqian sighed and said, "It doesn't matter whether I agree or not. If I arrange the marriage, it would be like putting the Fang family on the spot. What if Erlang misunderstands?"

The queen was silent.

Your Majesty seems to be good in every way, but your irresponsibility is bound to be criticized. Since you know that you will become the target of public criticism, why can't you, as the emperor, make the decision and take the responsibility regardless of whether you agree or not?

As an emperor, you cannot just let your subjects make contributions. You must be brave enough to take on the responsibilities that you should take. By providing your subjects with an environment of care and love, you will naturally gain their unreserved loyalty, and others will see that being loyal to the emperor will be protected.

Your subjects shed blood and fight to protect you, but in the end you ask them to bear all the consequences. Who would be willing to do that?

Li Chengqian seemed to feel that his behavior was not appropriate, and immediately changed his words: "We still need to see what Erlang thinks about this matter. I will discuss it with him when I have time to see how to deal with it more appropriately."

But he did not think about it. If he discussed the matter face to face, how could a minister refuse the royal marriage? Since he could not refuse, how could he pass the risk of being criticized to the emperor?
In the end, it's better to protect your own reputation and let others take the lead...

Suddenly, there was a sound of hurried footsteps outside the imperial study. The eunuch Wang De walked in quickly without even having time to report anything. Under Li Chengqian's slightly angry gaze, he knelt on the ground and said in a sad voice, "Your Majesty, just now the Duke of Ju's mansion sent someone to the palace to announce the death of His Highness Yuzhang..."

"What?!" Li Chengqian stood up suddenly, his eyes wide open, unable to hide his surprise: "How could he die when he was fine? Why didn't you go to the palace to ask the imperial physician to treat him beforehand?"

Wang De shook his head and said, "He just said that he had a sudden illness and had not had time to go to the palace to ask for the imperial physician."

Li Chengqian's face turned pale and he was furious: "Although Yuzhang is not in good health, I have never heard of any terminal illness. How could she recover so quickly? It must be that the Tang family abused the princess, causing her to be critically ill but they did not dare to enter the palace to ask the imperial physician for treatment. They are simply assholes!"

Wang De was trembling with fear and dared not say a word.

The Queen quickly dissuaded Li Chengqian: "The Duke of Ju is a meritorious official of the Empire and a veteran of three dynasties. Your Majesty must not be so arbitrary. You should first send someone to mourn and arrange for the imperial physician to examine the cause of Princess Yuzhang's death, and then make a decision."

Princess Yuzhang and her husband Tang Yishi had always loved each other, and there was no rumor of marital discord. Although her sudden death was strange, it was not necessarily related to the Tang family. Moreover, Tang Jian, the Duke of Ju, was a veteran of three dynasties and had made great contributions to the country. How could he be blamed for no reason?
Li Chengqian rubbed his temple and ordered, "Change my clothes. I will personally bring the imperial physician over. If Yuzhang really died of illness, then so be it. Otherwise, I will not spare the Tang family!"