Tiantang Splendid

Chapter 4989: Good and Evil in Human Nature

Li Chengqian frowned as he looked at the bowl of bird's nest handed to him. The bowl was as white as jade and the hands were as white as snow. It was clearly the nutrients his body desperately needed, but he felt like vomiting just by looking at it.

Waving his hands, he said, "I am not hungry yet. Queen, please put it aside. I will eat it later."

"Then I will put it here. If it gets cold later, ask the eunuch to heat it up."

Empress Su placed the bird's nest on the coffee table, glanced at Li Chengqian, and whispered softly, "I still have one thing I'm not sure about. Please make the decision, Your Majesty."

"Oh? All matters in the harem are handled by the Queen alone, so what is there that she is unsure about?"

Li Chengqian was a little surprised. Although his queen looked slender and frail, she was actually gentle on the outside but strong on the inside and quite capable. Since she ascended the throne, she had been managing the harem and everything had gone smoothly. In addition, there were only a few people in his harem and not many chores to deal with, but there had never been anything that required him to step in.

Thinking of this, I felt a stir in my heart. Could it be...

As expected, Su's expression remained unchanged and her tone was calm, as if she was narrating a trivial matter: "That Concubine Shen is favored by Your Majesty, so she should be promoted. Now that the positions of the Four Concubines are all vacant, why not promote her to be one of the Four Concubines? What do you think, Your Majesty?"

Li Chengqian glanced at the queen and hesitated in silence.

The Tang Dynasty inherited the system of the Sui Dynasty. There were empresses and four concubines in the harem, collectively known as "empress and concubines", and nine concubines, who could be collectively known as "concubines and concubines" with the four concubines. There were also twenty-four ladies in the family, including nine each of imperial concubines, beauties, and talented women. There were also eighty-one imperial wives. The nine concubines, ladies in the family, and imperial wives were collectively known as "concubines and imperial concubines". These were the titles of the emperor's harem.

Both Gaozu and Taizong were energetic and sensual, and they had all kinds of titles. However, Li Chengqian had just ascended the throne and was determined to work hard to govern the country, continue the prosperous era, and give people the image of being focused on government affairs. As a result, the harem was extremely scarce, with only a few imperial concubines and talented women, and even the positions of the four concubines were vacant.

Although Concubine Shen is extremely beautiful and has a delicate body, how can she be qualified for the position of one of the four concubines?

The four concubines and the queen jointly manage the affairs of the harem and can be called "vice queens". Not only must they win the emperor's favor, but they must also have noble morals and a strong family background. How could a mere concubine jump two levels and occupy the position just by serving the emperor for one night?
It is impossible for the Queen not to know these rules, but she insisted on recommending Concubine Shen to be one of the four concubines... Was she testing herself, or was she trying to retreat by advancing, intending to completely suppress Concubine Shen so that she would never have the hope of promotion?

After thinking for a while, Li Chengqian said, "Perhaps I can be promoted to Zhaoyi. What do you think, Queen?"

She did not follow the Queen's wishes and promoted her to one of the Four Concubines, but promoted her to the head of the Nine Concubines, who was only one step away from the Four Concubines...

The queen lowered her eyebrows and eyes and said, "That's good. If she is pregnant, it won't be too late to promote her to the fourth concubine."

Li Chengqian: "..."

It turned out to be the case.

He had not slept with the empress for a long time, but he suddenly became fond of Concubine Shen and stayed at her place for several days in a row. The empress might not be jealous, but she was definitely panicked. The relationship between husband and wife was weak, and when the bandits mutinied, he left the prince in the East Palace as a "bait", which may have made the empress feel a sense of crisis, fearing that he would no longer favor the prince. Once Concubine Shen gave birth to a prince, the prince's position would be lost.

After all, since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, "Crown Prince" has become the highest position, without a doubt...

Li Chengqian was dissatisfied. He had suffered from the instability of his position as crown prince, so how could he inflict it on the crown prince? Moreover, even if Concubine Shen was young and beautiful, and even if she could give birth to a child in the future, how could she compare with the status of the crown prince?

If I change the position of the crown prince, the first person to stand up and oppose it will be Fang Jun...

He suppressed his unhappiness, waved his hand, and said, "Queen, don't worry too much. This matter will be left as it is for now."

"Well, I will not disturb Your Majesty from handling official business. However, you still need to be more considerate of your health and not delay your care because of official business."

"Okay, I understand, you can leave now."

"Chen and concubine retire."

Li Chengqian was holding a writing brush while reading the memorial in front of him. The jingling sound of his earrings faded away. He suddenly sighed, dropped the writing brush, and felt upset.

The supreme ruler of the world seems to have absolute authority over his words, but in reality, that is not the case at all.

It was impossible for the emperor to do whatever he wanted. Every imperial edict had to be reviewed by the Ministry of Personnel, but also had to take into account the fluctuations of state affairs, whether civil servants agreed, and whether the military obeyed. He faced constraints and hindrances everywhere, and there was not even a single government affair that could be decided by his own word.

Even when Emperor Taizong held all the power and had the support of the civil and military officials, there were still people like Wei Zheng who dared to speak out and repeatedly forced Emperor Taizong to withdraw his orders.

And it is even more difficult for me to move forward without prestige.

He thought that taking huge risks to eliminate rebellion and stabilize the country would boost his prestige, but unexpectedly it aroused strong resistance from the military, forcing him to adopt a conciliatory strategy to appease it.

He was really afraid. What if Li Ji and Fang Jun were dissatisfied with him and forced him to abdicate the throne and become an emperor emeritus and live out his days in the Daming Palace? What would he do?
Even the harem was not peaceful.

I just favored a concubine, what's the big deal?
Your queen has Fang Jun's support, and my position as emperor may not be as stable as yours. Why do you have to be so impatient and aggressive?

Being an emperor is so frustrating!
*****
On the 17th day of the first lunar month, the imperial city was opened and people from all over Chang'an poured into the imperial city from the Yanxi Gate, Anfu Gate, Zhuque Gate, Hanguang Gate, Anshang Gate and other gates, and then gathered in Tianjie. Looking down from the Chengtian Gate Tower, countless people had gathered there despite the severe cold, and the place was crowded with people.

On the tower, the gray-haired, old Yang Shidao, in full armor, was leaning on the embrasure and looking down. Seeing such a grand scene, he could not help but sigh, "Human nature is bad, it seems to be innate. We cannot bear to see others doing well. If someone is more miserable than ourselves, we often feel happy."

Fang Jun stood beside him with his hands behind his back, also overlooking the crowds of pedestrians gathering on Tian Street, and said calmly: "Between good and evil, there is no absolute. If you cultivate a person's good nature, it will grow good, and if you cultivate a person's evil nature, it will grow evil. But how can good and evil be done as one pleases? Therefore, laws are used to constrain people, so that they know what they can and cannot do, and they are measured by the law to punish evil and promote good."

Confucianism originally emphasized self-cultivation, used morality to restrain people's behavior, praised "benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and trustworthiness", and pursued world peace. However, as the times developed, Confucianism also realized that such beliefs were nothing but fantasy. If they were really used to govern the world, evil people would run rampant, good people would be humiliated, good and evil would be reversed, and the world would be in chaos.

Therefore, after defeating the Legalists, Confucianism integrated and absorbed the Legalists' ideas, praising the good of human nature with morality and punishing the evil of human nature with laws.

This is called "Confucian skin and legal bones"...

Yang Shidao took his hand back, turned around, looked at Fang Jun, and shook his head slightly: "I knew you were a believer of the Legalists, but the Legalists' doctrine is too harsh and is not a good way to govern the world. Because the affairs of the aristocratic families often cannot be attributed to right or wrong. Sometimes you have to do evil to save people and the world with your good heart, and sometimes you have to do evil with your evil heart, but you are full of benevolence and morality, which is extremely despicable. Who is right? Who is wrong?"

"Nothing in the world is absolute. There is no absolute right, no absolute wrong, and no absolutely perfect system. We live in the present, so we should make decisions based on the current situation, rather than sticking to the established practices of our ancestors. When the situation changes in the future, today's decisions cannot adapt to future developments, and we should also make changes. Only by constantly renewing, renewing, and renewing again, can we govern the country."

“…There is some truth to this.”

Although Yang Shidao was a famous scholar, he was not a stubborn person. After thinking for a while, he agreed with Fang Jun's idea: "The current situation is changing rapidly and is very different from the past. If we still stick to the previous way of governing the country, it may hinder the strengthening of the country. This world belongs to you young people. We old people can no longer keep up with the times."

The drastic changes in the entire society caused by the pursuit of knowledge through the study of things, the reform of the military system, and especially the rapid influx of huge wealth from overseas were no longer comprehensible to these old men who were well-read in Confucian classics. Their philosophy of governing the country had long been completely overturned and thrown into the dustbin of history.

Pointing at the surging crowd on Tian Street, he said sternly: "The execution will be carried out soon. We must calm the people down. There must be no panic or even trampling!"

Fang Jun looked at the soldiers standing guard on Tian Street and said in a deep voice, "Don't worry. The left and right Jinwu Guards have dispatched 5,000 soldiers. The entire imperial city is under control. The rest of the people are also patrolling the city. No one can take advantage of this opportunity to cause trouble."

"Slicing" was a big event. All the people in Chang'an were both afraid and curious about it. That's why they gathered in the imperial city to watch the execution. However, this punishment was too cruel and would inevitably cause psychological fluctuations in the spectators. If someone took this opportunity to stir up public opinion, it would cause a huge turmoil...

Yang Shidao waved his hands, "With you here, what else do I have to worry about? You stay here and watch the execution. I'll go make a cup of tea. People become soft-hearted when they get old, and they can't stand such torture."

Turn around and walk into the city wall.

Fang Jun smiled bitterly: "I am not a heartless person. I can't just turn a blind eye to it. Why don't I sit with you and have a cup of tea?"

Yang Shidao stopped and asked curiously, "Even so, why don't you advise His Majesty?"

Fang Jun glanced around and whispered, "How can I not persuade him? I tried to persuade him, but it didn't work."

Yang Shidao frowned, then suddenly realized and sighed: "Your Majesty has not had an easy time either..."

Who would be willing to bear a cruel stigma?
But sometimes kindness cannot bring obedience, only cruelty can.

Human nature is evil...

Under the city wall, Li Siliang, who was hanging in the air, was slowly lowered down. Several expert executioners from the Dali Temple and the Ministry of Justice stripped the dying Li Siliang naked and tied him to a pillar. One of them spread out the leather package, revealing a row of large and small daggers shining with cold light. He picked up a small knife, found a spot on Li Siliang's body and cut it without hesitation.

The miserable screams shook the imperial city, and all the onlookers trembled with fear and felt a chill down their spines.

(End of this chapter)