The film and television world begins with the battle for the throne in Kowloon

Chapter 1011 Li Yan’s first court meeting (Part )
Li Yan felt very uncomfortable because he wanted his son to be successful and surpass him, but he was also afraid that his son would be too successful and win people's support, thus threatening himself.

Sure enough, if you are not in this position, you will never be able to experience the true thoughts of people in this situation.

I guess Li Shimin feels similarly conflicted and entangled every time he sees himself?
Li Yan took a deep breath and suppressed the selfishness in his heart. His sight slowly moved outwards, and a young man who was more muscular than Li Xiang and full of vigor came into his sight. This man was the second son, Li Jue.

Li Yan suddenly understood. No wonder Li Shimin and Fang Xuanling had insisted that Ashina Yun's son recognize his ancestry and change his surname back to Li. They were all experienced people and probably knew that if the crown prince was not restrained, the emperor would only continue to be suspicious of the crown prince, which would eventually lead to tragedy.

Looking at his two sons who were growing up like the rising sun, Li Yan secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Ashina Yun became pregnant before Haitang. In terms of seniority, Li Jue is two months older than Li Xiang. With this elder brother, the power that belongs exclusively to the crown prince is somewhat checked and balanced, so he doesn't have to take precautions himself.

However, this still seems not enough.

Li Yan kept thinking in his mind, slowly stood up, and walked to the front of the altar: "What Fang Qing and Xiao Qing said makes sense, I have already planned this."

After saying that, Li Yan didn't wait for everyone to speak, and looked at an old official who was slightly hiding behind the crowd in the first echelon: "Cen Wenben!"

"I'm here."

Cen Wenben was born into a prominent family in Jiangnan. He was the highest-ranking official in the court of the Wu Wang family. He served as the Secretary of the Central Secretariat and served in front of the emperor. He was always trusted by Li Shimin. In the end, he even lurked in the Wei Wang family and worked as an undercover agent for more than ten years.

Some time ago, in order to stand up for Li Ke, he stabbed Li Tai in the back. Later, he was dissatisfied with Li Shimin's use of him, so he followed Hou Junji and strongly opposed Li Shimin's move to establish the King of Jin.

Since then, Cen Wenben had offended the nobles behind Li Tai and Li Shimin, and was ignored by the ministers. During Li Yan's succession, many ministers were promoted to official positions, scattered officials, and honorary titles, while Cen Wenben was only rewarded with some symbolic gold and silver.

For an official of this level, gold and silver had no meaning, and Cen Wenben was marginalized.

As ministers of Li Ke's faction, Li Shimin simply did not have the time to take care of them. He thought that after Li Yan took the throne firmly, these officials would be gradually promoted or demoted, or sent to local areas, away from the core of the court.

Therefore, Wei Wang's party members like Xiao Yu and Wei Ting have been using all their strength to squeeze onto Li Yan's ship during this period. They ask for instructions in the morning and report all kinds of matters in the evening. They have shown their talents and finally gained Li Yan's recognition, ensuring that their positions are not affected.

However, die-hard supporters of Li Ke and Li Tai, such as Cen Wenben, Xue Wanche, Wang Gui, and Du Chuke, were worried and miserable when the officials of the Eastern Palace were arrogant and presumptuous. Their future was bleak.

But Li Yan is the emperor now, and sitting in this position personally, he understands the meaning of being an emperor even more.

The court needed some different voices, and even more so different factions, to balance the power of the ministers. Because of his ascension to the throne, the original prince's faction was the only one in power, which was definitely not a good thing, because now these forces were slowly gathering around Li Xiang.

In the future, all the people in the court will be our own people. From another perspective, it can also be said that there are no more our own people in the court.

Li Yan felt that he had to send a signal to the court officials, suggesting that I am the emperor, and the prince is just a minister. As long as I am here, he will always be a minister. Don't confuse the big and small princes, and try to squeeze into the East Palace.

I am still young, and it is too early for me to become the crown prince!
What's more, in Li Yan's heart, Li Xiang would most likely be the crown prince for his entire life, enjoy a life of wealth and glory, and then die of old age in the position of crown prince.

After all, he had received two purple qi initiations, starting with a 100-year-old birthday. Li Xiang was just a mortal, and it would be great if he could live to 50 or 60 at most, and he could never outlive him.

If you really want to train future kings, you must start at least with your grandchildren.

However, Li Yan did not feel any guilt towards Li Xiang. Compared with his original destiny, he was already very blessed in this life. Not everyone could be the crown prince for forty years.

With the dream of becoming an emperor one day, enjoying the treatment of a reserve emperor, and living a life of wealth and luxury, this life is worth it!

...

Hearing Li Yan's call, Cen Wenben raised his head in disbelief, and saw that the ministers around him were looking at him in astonishment, and the emperor also had a warm look on his face.

Cen Wenben suppressed his inner turmoil, hurriedly walked out of the class train, came to the middle of the imperial road, and respectfully bowed: "Your Majesty, I am here."

"Lord Cen has served as the Minister of the Central Secretariat for more than ten years. He has been conscientious, smart and capable, and has never made any mistakes. Even the Emperor Emeritus has praised Lord Cen highly. I also know that Lord Cen is a virtuous and upright person, as dauntless as a mountain."

Li Yan praised him for a few words, then changed the subject, and announced with a serious face: "Immediately promote the Secretary of the Central Secretariat, Cen Benwen, to the position of Secretary of the Central Secretariat. From today on, he will serve as the Prince's Junior Tutor, responsible for teaching the Prince's lessons."

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty." Cen Wenben's expression was lifted, tears streaming down his face. He held up his tablet and prostrated himself on the ground, his body trembling. He had never expected that Li Chengqian would think so highly of him. "How could this old minister be so virtuous and capable that he would be praised by the Grand Emperor. Your Majesty has given me such a compliment. I am your humble servant."

"I feel so ashamed to accept this. Woo. Woo."

During this period, everyone knew that he was going to die, and even Cen Wenben had submitted his resignation letter, preparing to pack his bags and return to his hometown in Jiangnan to retire. However, the palace had not approved it, so he could only continue to work every day, waiting for the guillotine to chop him down at any time.

Being so highly valued by the new emperor at this time, the huge pressure in Cen Wenben's heart suddenly disappeared, and he even lay on the ground and burst into tears in excitement.

"Boom".

The entire court was in an uproar, and everyone looked at Cen Wenben in shock, and then at Li Chengqian in surprise. Many people didn't understand how such a sudden change could have happened?
The new emperor's idea is beyond everyone's expectation.
Many people looked at Cen Wenben with envy and jealousy. They originally thought that since this old guy had not been promoted before, he would be neglected soon.

Who would have thought that he would be so highly valued on the emperor's first day in court.

The Zhongshu Ling was the highest official in charge of the Zhongshu Province, one of the three ministries. Fang Xuanling had previously held the position concurrently. Fang Xuanling was also in poor health, and in the process of selecting a new crown prince, Fang Xuanling clearly supported Jin Wang Li Zhi.

After Li Yan appeared, Fang Xuanling wanted to use this as an excuse to retreat quickly to avoid the suspicion of the new emperor.

Li Yan certainly knew that Fang Xuanling did not have a clear attitude of supporting a certain prince in the court, although for various reasons, several of his children were close to various princes. But supporting the Prince of Jin was indeed in accordance with Li Shimin's order.

Therefore, he tried to retain Li Yan in front of Li Shimin. After all, although Li Yan had been helped to take the throne, he still needed these old ministers to see him off. When it came to actually handling the affairs of the state, if Fang Xuanling was there, he would only need to be open-minded and accept advice.

If something really goes wrong, no one will blame themselves, but will blame Fang Xuanling, the old minister, for not steering the ship well.

If I quit my job, I will have more power, but if anything goes wrong, the responsibility will be on me, and I won't even have anyone to take the blame.

Seeing that Li Yan did not blame him, Fang Xuanling remained as Zuo Pushe and continued to contribute to the new dynasty, but resigned from the position of Zhongshu Ling.

Now, Li Yan gave this position to Cen Wenben, which was both reasonable and unexpected.

Fang Xuanling was extremely intelligent. When he saw the appointment, he thought about it for a moment, and then he smiled and stood up first to agree. Obviously, he thought of Li Yan's intention, which was to win over the officials of the former Wei Wang, Wu Wang, Qi Wang, Jin Wang and other factions, and their number was not small.

Through the use of Cen Wenben, the effect of Emperor Gaozu of Han Dynasty enfeoffing Yong Chi was achieved, which immediately calmed the hearts of many ministers of different factions in the court. It can be said to be a wise move.

Li Yan slowly walked down the steps, helped Cen Wenben up, and said kindly: "Lord Cen is a loyal minister, I have known that for a long time. I have seen the resignation you submitted some time ago, and my meaning is, no."

"I know that Lord Cen was implicated by the fight among the princes for the throne some time ago."

The competition among the princes for the throne has always been a taboo topic among the court officials and the kings. However, Li Yan did not hesitate to expose the matter in public. Facing the doubtful and uneasy looks of the officials, Li Yan turned to them and said:

"The fact that you are fighting for the throne is not your fault, but mine."

"If I had always been in Chang'an, the position of the crown prince would have been decided, and this would definitely not have happened. But since I was sent as an envoy to the Turks in the third year of Zhenguan, I have been living away from home, never returned to the capital, and no news has been sent back."

"How bad is it for the country if the throne remains vacant for a long time?"

At this point, Li Yan looked at Li Ke, Li You, Li Zhi and other princes, and said sincerely: "In the case that I don't know whether the crown prince is alive or dead, I need a new crown prince. For the sake of the country, my brothers, please show your talents and strive to be chosen by my father and the ministers as the new crown prince. There is nothing wrong with this."

"After I came back, my brothers immediately acknowledged my status and each of them performed their duties. This shows that my brothers have no intention of competing with me."

"So, what reason do I have to blame my brothers?"

"The kings are innocent, my brothers are innocent, and those ministers who wanted to choose an outstanding crown prince for the Tang Dynasty are even more innocent."

Seeing this, Li Ke, Li You and Li Zhi knelt down excitedly and said, "Thank you for your forgiveness, my brother. We will loyally assist you in the future and will never have second thoughts."

Li Yan nodded with a smile, stepped forward to help his brothers up one by one, and comforted and encouraged them with warm words, which made them all feel at ease.

(End of this chapter)