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Chapter 1058 Fang Xuanling’s Mistake (Part )

Fang Xuanling had actually long been aware of Princess Gaoyang's frequent visits to Huichang Temple and her close contacts with Monk Bianji. After all, Gaoyang was a princess, and all the people in the Fang family treated her like a bodhisattva, serving her carefully and being the first to know of any disturbance.

However, Fang Xuanling did not expect that Gao Yang was a princess.

She was so shameless and disregarded the royal dignity that she devoted herself to being a monk despite her noble status as a member of a wealthy family.

Fang Xuanling was humiliated but helpless. He dared not reprimand the emperor or let him know. He just ordered everyone in the mansion not to spread the news. He taught his son many severe lessons and asked his second son Fang Yiai to persuade the princess to stop.

But in the princess's eyes, Fang Yiai was no more than a serving eunuch and had no status at all.

Fang Xuanling was extremely regretful at this time. He should not have married into the royal family, which put him in a dilemma. No matter how smart he was, he could not solve this problem.

Every princess in the royal family is a tough guy. Li Shimin once expressed his desire to form an alliance with Yuchi Gong and marry his daughter to the Duke of E's Mansion.

Unexpectedly, Yuchi Gong was so frightened that he kowtowed and apologized on the spot, saying that the emperor suspected him and wanted to commit suicide on the spot, which made Li Shimin laugh and cry, and he gave up. This also indirectly shows that ordinary people cannot afford to be royal princesses.

A few days ago in the court, when Princess Gaoyang’s scandal was exposed, Fang Xuanling was shocked and ashamed, and almost died of anger on the spot.

After returning to the mansion, he even closed the door tightly, ashamed to face the world. Even he didn't know how the Fang Mansion would survive in Chang'an City in the future. You know, once this kind of thing gets out, it will be second only to him, Mr. Fang, being cuckolded.

Who would have thought that after just two or three days, the entire situation would change drastically.

Gao Yang's bad reputation of cheating on his wife was completely reversed, and the shame of the Fang family was also washed away, and Fang Xuanling was able to raise his head and live a good life again. Originally, Fang Xuanling was very embarrassed and was ready to take Gao Yang back and bury her secretly.

Since the situation is now reversed, Gao Yang is still a royal princess after all, so the proper standards must be followed. The ceremony should be even more grand than the one held when Fang Xuanling died.

Fang Xuanling was extremely intelligent and had already guessed the truth about Gao Yang's death.

For those who didn't know the inside story, the loss of the Fang family's backer was definitely a big loss. But Fang Xuanling was so excited that he jumped up from his sickbed. This scourge was gone, and his position as the most influential person in the Fang family was back.

The Fang family can be reorganized immediately and return to the state where fathers are kind, sons are filial, brothers are friendly and younger brothers are respectful.

Therefore, Fang Xuanling was grateful to the emperor in front of him from the bottom of his heart. If the retired emperor created the prosperous Fang family, the emperor in front of him was the hope to continue the Fang family. Punishing evil was sometimes even better than promoting good.

A few casual words between the two made both sides understand each other's thoughts, and Li Yan also breathed a sigh of relief.

Li Yan looked at Fang Xuanling, who had a heavy face but no sadness at all, and suddenly felt a sense of evil interest. He said tentatively: "No matter what, Gao Yang's matter was caused by my failure to protect him properly. In this way, I will give your Fang family another princess as compensation."

With a "plop" sound

Before he finished speaking, Fang Xuanling's face changed drastically, he was so frightened that his face turned pale, and he kowtowed like crazy: "Your Majesty, no, the royal princess is a golden branch and jade leaf. For an ordinary family to be able to invite one, it is already a great merit of their ancestors."

"How can two princesses share one family? Our family cannot afford such a favor from the royal family. If the emperor insists, I would rather die."

"Hey, what's the matter, Minister Fang?"

Li Yan took one look, then sighed and shook his head. The reputation of the royal princess was already bad, and the Gao Yang incident made the title of princess even more stink. Even after she forcibly whitewashed herself, the officials in the court still knew the truth.

"If that's the case, then let's do it!"

Li Yan helped the trembling Fang Xuanling up and asked directly, "Prime Minister Fang, what position does your descendant hold now?"

Fang Xuanling was stunned. Did the emperor feel guilty about dealing with his own daughter-in-law and wanted to make additional compensation?
However, the princess was the wife of his second son Fang Yiai.

The Yizhi that the emperor was questioning was actually his eldest son. Was it because the emperor had just returned to the capital and was not clear about the situation, so he confused the names of his two sons?
Or did you hear it wrong?
Fang Xuanling was a little confused for a moment, so he bowed and replied: "Your Majesty, my eldest son Fang Yizhi is currently the Minister of the Ministry of Rites, and his official rank is the fifth rank. My second son Fang Yiai, because of the princess, was appointed as the Fuma Duwei by the Grand Emperor, and he was appointed as the Inspector of the Right Guard Lieutenant."

To be on the safe side, Fang Xuanling introduced his eldest son and second son respectively, and emphasized that the second son was the prince consort.

Li Yan looked at Fang Xuanling in confusion. He naturally knew what Fang Xuanling meant, but there were many things he couldn't figure out. Fang Xuanling was supposed to be an absolute wise man, and he was very strict in managing his family, but he made a mess of his family.

As soon as he passed away, the Fang family fell.

The root cause still lies with Fang Xuanling. It can even be said that the decline of the Fang family was already planted when Fang Xuanling was alive.

Li Yan didn't know about other situations. In his opinion, there were obvious flaws in his arrangement for his son. When the family is large, personnel is politics, which is similar to the officialdom.

What matters is the strong trunk and weak branches, deep roots and a solid foundation, and using the center to control the four directions. This is a simple truth that everyone understands.

In the Fang family, among the three children, the eldest son inherited the title and was undoubtedly the centerpiece of the next generation.

Fang Xuanling should increase the power and status of his eldest son Fang Yizhi at all costs, weaken and control the strength of his other two sons, and then let the eldest son rule the other two sons. Such a power structure is both safe and solid, and can ensure the long-term continuation of the Fang family.

This is true for all the aristocratic families with a long history and the royal heritage.

On the other hand, if the tall ones are weak and the young ones are strong, and the branches are strong and the trunk is weak, it will inevitably lead to disaster.

Fang Xuanling, however, asked for a princess to marry his second son. The princess had the support of the emperor, which instantly raised the power of the second house to a level that was enough to crush the first house. Under such circumstances, it was conceivable that the second house would seek to replace the first house and inherit the family business.

There was only one thing Fang Xuanling could do, which was to depose the eldest son from inheriting the title and family business and instead support the second son, turning the first son into an ordinary branch.

However, Fang Xuanling did not do so, and still stubbornly passed the title and family business to his eldest son, leaving the more powerful second son. The second son's strength far exceeded that of the first son, causing violent turmoil, which was too outrageous.

He was involved in court disputes and was wiped out by the imperial power.

Li Yan rubbed his eyebrows. He didn't understand. Fang Xuanling was a famous wise minister in history. He not only supported Li Shimin to ascend the throne, but also assisted him in creating the prosperous Zhenguan era. However, he was so confused in setting up the family power structure.

It seems that those who can govern a country may not be good at governing a family!

Looking at Fang Xuanling, who had worked hard for the Tang Dynasty all his life and was now old and gray, Li Yan sighed and decided to help this old minister.

"Prime Minister Fang, I see that your son has fought in the battlefield before and made contributions on the front line of Dingxiang. It is really a waste of his talent to work in a department like sacrificial rituals and music. I will grant you a special favor and promote you to the rank of Junior Secretary of the Weiwei Temple, a fourth-rank official."

"With a few more years of experience, you can be on your own."

Before Li Yan came, he specifically learned about the details and found out that Fang Xuanling did send his eldest son to the frontier for training before the fourth year of Zhenguan. He said it was for training, but in fact it was to avoid the turmoil among the court officials in the fight for succession and to deliberately avoid suspicion.

Cheng Yaojin's eldest son Cheng Huaimo also took the same path. For the sake of the family's long-term prosperity, these meritorious classes generally designated the eldest son as the heir to the family business and did not participate in the various struggles in the court. Their main approach was to seek stability.

It is better to have no achievements than to make mistakes, so as to continue the family's longevity.

Everything has its pros and cons. Being too stable will lead to no development. Cheng Yaojin is lucky. He is in the army and can bring his eldest son with him to train. Now he is also a middle-level general in the Tang Dynasty. Although his ability is not as good as Cheng Yaojin, he is also stable and competent for his position.

After Fang Yizhi had made some contributions in the army, Fang Xuanling was afraid that something might happen to him on the battlefield, so he transferred him back to the capital and put him in a position where he could only eat and wait for death, so that he could slowly gain experience.

Li Yan disagreed with this. What kind of place is Taichang Temple? It is in charge of national sacrificial rituals and music. It is the kind of place that does not involve any risks and is very safe, but it does not offer any opportunities and does not provide any training.

Li Yan really couldn't understand how Fang Xuanling trained his eldest son.
If it were an ordinary person, Li Yan would directly transfer him to the Sixteen Guards as a general, or to one of the Sixteen Ministries as an official. However, considering Fang Xuanling's attitude of seeking stability, he transferred him to the Weiwei Temple, a place with armory and ceremonial tents for the imperial guards.

Compared to working directly in the military, this department is responsible for managing logistics. After a transition and adaptation, you can be transferred to the front-line departments for reuse.

"I, an old minister, would like to thank Your Majesty for your grace on behalf of your eldest son."

Being promoted from the fifth rank to the fourth rank was a three-level promotion. Fang Xuanling knelt down hurriedly to express his gratitude. Perhaps it was because Fang Xuanling was in power in the past and was a little taboo, fearing that others would accuse him of abusing his power for personal gain; now that Fang Xuanling had retired, he naturally had no scruples.

He accepted the emperor's grace very readily.

Then he stood up, his face complicated, and after a long hesitation, he said: "Your Majesty values ​​my eldest son so much, I am grateful. But my second son lost his love and the princess, this..."

The second son lost his wife, but made up for it with the benefits to the eldest son.

Fang Xuanling felt that the emperor was obviously trying to stir up internal conflicts within the Fang family. How could he explain this to his second son?

Li Yan's head twitched suddenly, and the veins on his forehead jumped twice unnaturally. He was a little dissatisfied. This old guy, even if he was defaming himself, there was no need to be so greedy, right?
If you really wanted to take care of your second son, you shouldn't have accepted the promotion of your eldest son so readily.

Now that the eldest son has found a place to stay, he wants to make plans for the second son. What does he value the official position in the court?

(End of this chapter)