Tiantang Splendid

Chapter 4914 Taking the initiative to make mistakes
The Wude Hall was packed with people. Most of the high-ranking officials from the three provinces and six ministries were present in the court, and the mood was very tense.

Led by the Imperial Censor Liu Xiangdao, a group of civil servants were furious and indignant, and they denounced and criticized the King of Wei verbally and in writing.

"The foundation of a country lies in etiquette. If there is order in the social order and hierarchy, then the violation of etiquette is a crime that will bring disaster to the country!"

"The most important affairs of a country are sacrifice and war. How can the rituals of sacrifice be violated?"

"As a prince, you should be the pillar of the country, but now you are rebellious and perverse. This is extremely disrespectful!"

Seeing the civil officials coming to question him, ready to "kill the King of Wei and offer sacrifice to the heavens", His Majesty's face turned as dark as the bottom of a pot. Li Yuanjia hurriedly said, "Everyone, be quiet. The King of Wei was wrong to violate the rites and laws, but he had his reasons and was excusable. Why are you so persistent?"

As soon as he showed up, he immediately attracted the anger.

Liu Xiang said, "King Han's words are wrong! As the saying goes, only by punishing the past can we prevent the future. If we indulge the King of Wei blindly, what will we say when others follow suit in the future? We must punish him severely to serve as a warning to others!"

Liu Li even personally took the lead and pointed the finger at Li Yuanjia: "King Han is the Minister of Imperial Clan Affairs, in charge of the royal family's etiquette and laws. Not only did he fail to detect that someone was trying to rebel beforehand, but he was also biased and evaded the important issues afterwards. He is simply foolish and muddleheaded!"

Li Yuanjia has always considered himself a "Confucian scholar". At this moment, his face turned red with anger: "Minister of the Central Secretariat, please stop making trouble and calling a horse a zebra. I am the Minister of Imperial Clan Affairs, but I am not a god with supernatural powers. How can I predict people's hearts? You are the head of the civil officials. You should stabilize the court and share the worries of the emperor, instead of being so persistent and disrupting the government!"

He was angry, and Liu Li was even angrier. He raised his eyebrows and said, "How can this be! It was you, the King of Han, who neglected supervision and made a big mistake. It was he, the King of Wei, who acted rebelliously and turned upside down. Now you are accusing me, an outsider. Is there still the law?"

A group of civil servants began to criticize Li Yuanjia again.

There was chaos in the hall.

"when!"

Wang De struck the jade chime and shouted, "How can you be so disrespectful in front of the emperor? Silence! Silence!"

The noise finally died down.

Imperial Censor Liu Xiangdao stroked his unkempt beard, took two steps forward, bowed, and said angrily, "Your Majesty, the King of Wei has disregarded the rites and laws and acted in a rebellious manner. He should be severely punished to serve as a warning to others!"

Li Chengqian nodded slightly, then looked at Li Tai, who stood aside with his hands behind his back and said nothing after entering the palace, and asked in a cold voice: "Can the King of Wei give the world an explanation?"

The tone is very serious, indicating that His Majesty the Emperor is very angry.

Li Tai was terrified and took two steps forward before kneeling on the ground. "Your Majesty, please calm down. It was my misconduct that caused this disaster. I was responsible for building the Eastern Capital, and there happened to be some urgent matters in Luoyang that needed to be dealt with before the New Year. So I thought I would go to the mausoleums of Emperor Gaozu and Emperor Taizong to pay my respects and then leave for Luoyang. I would not participate in the sacrifice before the New Year...but I did not expect to cause such a disaster. Please punish me, Your Majesty."

"How dare you talk nonsense in front of His Majesty? You are a prince, how can you not know the etiquette of sacrifice? I don't think you are in a hurry to go to Luoyang. You are simply disrespecting His Majesty and harboring rebellious intentions!"

Liu Xiang's righteous words were so stern that the whole hall fell into silence.

Accusing the prince of "having a rebellious heart" in front of the emperor was like asking for Li Tai's life...

Li Tai knelt on the ground and could not get up. He said in panic, "Your Majesty, how dare I have any intention of disobeying you? If I have even the slightest thought of disobeying you, I will be struck by lightning!"

Fang Jun, who had said little, coughed dryly and said, "You are too kind, Imperial Censor. The King of Wei and Your Majesty are brothers from the same mother and have always been close and respectful to each other. If your words were to spread, wouldn't it alienate the relationship between the brothers in the royal family?"

Li Tai suddenly realized, and his body suddenly jumped up from the ground, showing a stamina that was totally inconsistent with his fat body. He rushed towards Liu Xiangdao swiftly, shouting: "You old villain! You want to frame me for disloyalty and Your Majesty for injustice, and cause us, the descendants of Emperor Taizong, to kill each other. How vicious! I will die with you today!"

He was not close to Liu Xiangdao, but he attacked suddenly and quickly. By the time others could react, his fat body had already pounced on the thin Liu Xiangdao like an eagle catching a rabbit. He raised his fist and was punched in the face by Liu Xiangdao.

Liu Xiangdao screamed in pain and tried to throw Li Tai, who was on top of him, using his hands and feet. However, one of them was young and strong while the other was old and weak, and there was a huge difference in their sizes. For a moment, Li Tai pinned him down like a mountain.

While struggling, he was punched in the face again...

"Boom!" The hall was in chaos.

"Your Highness, please stop it immediately. How can you beat a minister?"

"Lao Liu, cover your face!"

"Quickly pull the King of Wei away!"

"Wow, a prince actually beat up a minister. How outrageous!"

……

After a long while, everyone rushed to push Li Tai off Liu Xiangdao. Li Tai was still kicking his legs and cursing: "The old villain wants to make the brothers of the royal family kill each other. His heart is sinister and poisonous like snakes and scorpions..."

Li Chengqian stood there, slapping the imperial desk with his hands, veins on his forehead showing, and shouted angrily: "Shut up! Come, take off his crown and robes, isn't he going to offer sacrifices to the late emperor? Send him to Zhaoling immediately, and make him kneel in the offering hall, so that he can accompany the late emperor and the empress dowager properly!"

Several tall eunuchs rushed in from outside the hall. Li Tai did not struggle, but let them take off his crown and robe. He bowed to Li Chengqian and strode out of the hall wearing only a white undershirt.

Li Chengqian looked around with a sinister look and a gloomy face. He said coldly, "Are you all satisfied this time?"

The hall finally quieted down. The civil servants headed by Liu Li and Liu Xiangdao, who had been shouting and scolding before, now became well-behaved.

They kept saying that they wanted to severely punish Li Tai, but they never thought of depriving him of his title. However, now that Li Chengqian ordered people to take off his crown and robes, it meant that the title of "King of Wei" would be deprived from Li Tai.

Logically speaking, given what Li Tai did, he deserved to be stripped of his title. How could he have violated the law of etiquette?
But when facing this scene, everyone couldn't help but think of what Li Tai had just shouted: "To alienate the royal family and make brothers kill each other"...

I felt a chill in my heart.

Everyone knows what Li Chengqian pursued as an emperor. The most important one was "fraternity among sisters, friendship among brothers and respect among younger brothers", because Emperor Taizong "killed his brother" to ascend to the throne, leaving an indelible stain. For Li Chengqian, who was determined to be a "good emperor" recognized by the world, this was the easiest point to match or even surpass Emperor Taizong.

The King of Qi was bewitched by Zhangsun Wuji and wanted to be made emperor, but Li Chengqian turned a blind eye and did not pursue the matter. Why?

The Prince of Jin was even worse. He personally fled to Tongguan to recruit aristocratic families and launched a large army to attack Chang'an, intending to usurp the throne. After his defeat, Li Chengqian simply imprisoned him without a single word of blame or even the slightest neglect. Why?

All of this was to show the world his "broad-mindedness" and "fraternal love", regardless of how much of it was true and how much was just a show, but this was truly Li Chengqian's political proposition.

Now that he was forced by the ministers to deprive him of his title of King of Wei, it was tantamount to destroying Li Chengqian's long-standing political proposition. How could he not feel resentful?

Being held in resentment by the emperor is no small matter...

Fang Jun and Li Ji stood side by side. Li Ji stood still with a blank expression on his face, and whispered, "You are not involved in this, are you?"

Fang Jun also did not move his lips, and replied in ventriloquy: "The King of Wei is crazy, what does it have to do with me? But now is not the time to pursue the King of Wei's guilt, we must find a way to keep the title of King, otherwise the implications will be too great."

All titles of nobility are taken from the names of the fiefs, and most of the names of Chinese places originated from the Spring and Autumn Period, when the former places of the princes were used to confer the titles of kings today. Therefore, among the titles of kings, "Qin" and "Jin" have always been the most honorable. "Qin" is the unified dynasty, and "Jin" is the most powerful princely state in the Spring and Autumn Period. If one can be conferred one of these two titles, generally speaking, his status is second only to the crown prince; the next ones are "Zhao", "Wei", "Qi", "Chu", etc. As for "Wu" and "Yue", they are next...

Now that the "Prince of Jin" has been imprisoned, the "Prince of Wei" is the most honorable royal title in the court. He is also the second son of Emperor Taizong. He was once deeply favored by Emperor Taizong and his status was second only to the emperor. If he is stripped of his title this time, it will inevitably cause a shock in the royal family and affect the court and the country.

Li Ji's expression remained unchanged. He snorted and said, "These civil officials keep talking about etiquette and law all day long. Now the King of Wei is defiling etiquette and law and disrupting social order. These people are simply crazy. I can't afford to offend them."

Fang Jun said: "Don't be fooled by these people's cheerfulness. In fact, it's not that serious. It's just a stalemate and no one can get off the stage. As long as someone hands over a ladder, everyone will climb down the ladder."

Although Emperor Taizong passed away, his legacy still benefits his sons. Most of the ministers in the court still remember the voice, appearance and smile of Empress Wende. Many old ministers who followed Emperor Taizong to conquer the world are thinking about being buried with him in Zhaoling Mausoleum after their death. If Emperor Taizong's most beloved second son is stripped of his royal title, how can he face Emperor Taizong in the future?
So everyone was shouting for war and wanted to strip Li Tai of his title to please the people, but now seeing that Your Majesty seems to be really determined to do so, everyone doesn't know what to do. In the final analysis, it's just that they are afraid that Your Majesty will protect Li Tai and then behave more aggressively. For this matter, Prince Wei Li Tai must be severely punished, but it doesn't necessarily have to be so severe as to strip him of his title...

Li Ji's heart moved, and then he suddenly realized!
He looked at Fang Jun speechlessly: "Chong'er was born outside, Shensheng died inside... You really took great pains to get the King of Wei out!"

"Outside" does not mean outside Chang'an, and "inside" naturally does not mean inside Chang'an.

The so-called "inside and outside" refers to the "inside and outside of the struggle for imperial power." Now that such an incident has happened, the King of Wei is charged with the crime of "disrespecting the emperor and disrupting social order." His originally great qualifications for succession to the throne have suddenly decreased. Anyone who dares to support the King of Wei's succession to the throne will be criticized and spurned by the court and the public.

Fang Jun curled his lips and pointed at Li Shenfu who was standing not far away and looked calm and composed. "What else? I'm afraid the King of Wei can't escape the scheme of this old villain."

The threat to the throne was small, so naturally it was not worth it for others to plot against him. They would neither push Li Tai to ascend the throne and usurp the throne, nor would they plot to murder Li Tai and frame the other party...

Li Ji thought about it and whispered, "It's a good idea, but the price is a bit high."

Even if he would not be stripped of his royal title, he would be laid off for committing such a serious mistake, and all his previous power would be lost.

Even the job of building the East Capital was taken away from him...