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Chapter 975: Grand Court Meeting at Taiji Hall (Part )

Li Ke also turned his head and looked down the stairs, and finally said with a disappointed look: "As soon as I entered the palace gate, I started looking for him, and I really didn't see Li Xiang. It seems that they saw that things were not going well and retreated."

"Humph, Hou Junji always looks aggressive, but I didn't expect him to be weak at the critical moment. What a coward, bah!"

Unable to borrow any help, the situation today was a little worrying. Li Ke, with a few of his accomplices, entered the Taiji Hall with a nervous mood.

Afterwards, court officials poured in one after another. Officials above the fifth rank entered the hall, while those below the fifth rank stood outside the hall on their own accord. There were also a large number of low-ranking green-robed officials who did not even go up the steps, but stood in the square on their own accord, lining up on both sides of the imperial road.

Although the red sun in the distance has not risen yet, it has already filled half of the sky with colorful clouds.

Fortunately, spring has arrived in mid-March. The thin mist in the early morning has dissipated, and there is a slight coolness in the air, which makes people's minds clear.

The bells and drums rang together, and the whips cleared the way.

On one side of the Taiji Hall, a large group of Jinwu Guards surrounded the emperor's carriage, and they drove out of the harem and slowly entered the Taiji Hall, surrounded by eunuchs and palace maids. The ministers held their breath and found their respective positions.

The court meeting is about to begin!

"Long live my emperor, long live, long live!"

In the majestic Taiji Hall, with nearly two hundred important ministers kneeling and prostrating themselves amid the roars of the thunder, Li Shimin was wearing a bright yellow robe with five-clawed dragon patterns, a crown with twelve strings of oriental pearls hanging from it, a colorful amber jade belt around his waist, and high-waisted, soft-soled red silk boots on his feet.

Slowly walked towards the throne that symbolizes the supreme power in the world.

Normally it only took a few breaths to walk to the dragon throne and sit down, but today, it took Li Shimin several times longer.

However, none of the ministers who were kneeling on the ground in the hall were in a hurry, and they all waited quietly. They knew that this was not Li Shimin deliberately showing off his imperial majesty, but that it was difficult for the emperor to stand up now.

Now it is extremely difficult to walk to the dragon throne alone.

Li Shimin did not ask eunuchs and guards to support him. He did not want the officials to see that he could not even walk. He was the supreme emperor of the Tang Dynasty and the Khan to whom all nations came to pay tribute. How could he show his vulnerable side in front of his subjects?

Just the dozen steps from the edge of the Danchi to the dragon throne made Li Shimin breathless and sweaty. He moved towards the chair almost step by step.

Wang De, who was standing beside him, looked anxious, even more tired than Li Shimin, fearing that Li Shimin would fall down halfway.

Finally, after an unknown amount of time, Li Shimin slowly sat down on the dragon throne, and Wang De finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Yesterday's meeting with Yuan Tiangang still caused some haze in Li Shimin's heart. However, he was the Son of Heaven, an iron-blooded emperor who had fought his way out of a mountain of corpses and a sea of ​​blood. Compared with the will of heaven, he believed more in the power in his hands.

Besides, what is God's will? It is the will of the emperor.

Seeing all the ministers in the hall kneeling together and shouting "Long live the emperor", Li Shimin regained the confidence that he could control the world. A smile of ease and control appeared on his face, and he said as loudly as he could: "All the ministers, please stand up."

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Although Li Shimin had gathered his strength, his voice was still not loud. However, at this moment all the ministers in the hall held their breath, not daring to breathe, and were listening to Li Shimin's movements with their ears pricked up. They easily caught this belated announcement.

All the ministers stood up, with the civil officials on the left and the military officials on the right, dividing into two large groups, ready to begin the court meeting.

Unexpectedly, a dense and swift sound of footsteps was heard outside the hall, as if a large group of soldiers were marching. The ministers were all shocked and turned their heads to look back.

I saw a large number of soldiers coming in from both sides of the corridor at the entrance of the hall.

These people were fully armed, wearing helmets and armor, carrying weapons, and entered the hall with expressionless faces. In the panic of the ministers, they scattered along the edges of the hall, and distributed in groups of three or two in various places in the hall, guarding the hall tightly.

A general in bright armor walked along the path between the civil and military officials, walked to the front of the emperor, knelt down and saluted with a sonorous voice, and said: "I, General Yang Ji, have been ordered by the emperor to come here to escort the imperial court today."

"Your Majesty's order?"

The eyes of all the ministers shrank. Wasn't this the man, Yang Ji, who was appointed as the General of the Left Thousand Oxen Guard and given the title of Duke of Jing by the Emperor, and was willing to give up his own rule in order to be loyal to the Tang Dynasty?
This man had no ambition, was low-key, and was loyal to Li Shimin. He stayed in the position of General of the Left Thousand Bull Guard for 20 years. He never interacted with other officials and only listened to Li Shimin's orders, so that many officials forgot about his existence.

The appearance of Yang Ji and the soldiers around him seemed to indicate that today's court meeting might not go so smoothly.

Will the emperor use thunderous means to protect the new prince?
Yang Jike spent a full twenty years proving his absolute loyalty to Li Shimin. He was the most reliable trump card in Li Shimin's hand. His appearance also meant that today's court meeting would definitely not go smoothly. I don't know how many ministers would not be able to leave the court peacefully.

Many people trembled in fear and made up their minds to be careful in what they said and did. If the emperor did not ask them, they would keep their mouths shut and not say a word, so as not to be sacrificed.

Seeing the shocked crowd, Li Shimin smiled slightly and said, "My dear ministers, I am not in good health and I am worried that someone will take this opportunity to disrupt the court. That is why I asked General Yang to be on standby at all times to maintain the order of the court. Don't worry."

"General Yang, guard outside the palace. No one is allowed to enter without permission." "Yes, Your Majesty!" Yang Ji responded, turned around and strode out.

Yang Ji was the first person to surrender to Li Yan. Because of his persuasion, he joined Li Shimin's army and became a spy, and stayed there for twenty years.

In the fourth year of Zhenguan, after Li Yan encountered trouble on the grassland, Yang Ji also lost his backbone.

Fortunately, his identity was highly confidential, and Li Yan’s disappearance did not affect him at all.

He was still deeply trusted by Li Shimin and served as his own General of the Thousand Oxen Guard.

However, Yang Ji was not very smart, and as a surrendered general, he was relatively low-key. Although Li Yan was gone, he had seen a lot of ups and downs in the power core over the years, and he felt that Li Yan's survival strategy of not making friends with outsiders was very smart.

So he continued to maintain his cautious style, and this habit of doing things helped him survive many crises. Twenty years later, he still firmly held the position of commander of the most important guard in front of Li Shimin.

His own daughter Wenjun slept with Li Yanxing after the Crown Princess married into the Eastern Palace.

Not long after the Crown Princess became pregnant with the prince, she also became pregnant. Not long after Haitang gave birth to Li Xiang for Li Yan, Wenjun gave birth to a daughter for Li Yan.

Li Yan was not there at the time, so Li Shimin ordered Wenjun to be taken as the prince's concubine, which gave her a formal status.

Yang Ji was now tied to the carriage of the Eastern Palace by Li Yan. At first he hoped that the prince was just missing and might be found later.

After a while, Yang Ji gave up.

He secretly felt lucky that no one knew his daughter's true identity. His daughter had a gentle personality and was not aggressive towards others. She had a very good relationship with the Crown Princess. In addition, since she gave birth to a princess, her position as the eldest grandson would not be a threat.

He is not feared by the Crown Princess, and even if she cannot recognize him, he can still live a life of wealth and glory.

Yang Ji considered that move as a discard.

Later, under the arrangement of Li Shimin, Yang Ji married the daughter of a member of the Li clan. Over the past ten years, they had several children.

Now Yang Ji truly follows Li Shimin wholeheartedly.

As for who will succeed the crown prince, he doesn't care. As a loyal minister, he still has the title of Duke of Jing. He has not been involved with any forces in recent years. No matter which prince comes to the throne, he will make use of ministers like him.

He doesn't care even if he is ignored.

Now that he is in his fifties and has the background of the Li royal family, even if he is marginalized, he will not be too miserable.

If he participates in the fight for the throne and fails, no one can protect him even if he is the son-in-law of the Li family.

Yang Ji walked out of the palace and stood at the door, looking at the blue sky and white clouds in the distance. He just felt a little regretful that his dream of becoming the father-in-law of the emperor would never come true in this lifetime.

Not to mention Yang Ji's numerous thoughts, in the Taiji Hall, a battle for the crown prince began.

Li Shimin looked at the ministers in the hall and said slowly: "Today, I want to discuss an important matter with you, which is the selection of the crown prince."

"During this period, I have received a total of 473 memorials recommending new crown princes. Among them, 289 are recommending Wei Wang Li Tai, more than 100 are recommending Wu Wang Li Ke, and the last few dozen are shared by the other princes. Every prince has one."

Li Shimin pointed to the pile of memorials beside the imperial desk and said, "It seems that among the princes, the Prince of Wei and the Prince of Wu have the highest prestige, and among them, the Prince of Wei is particularly popular."

Wei Ting, who was standing in the crowd, felt a jolt in his heart. It seemed that the emperor and the empress had indeed protected the emperor's eldest grandson. Now the power of the Eastern Palace in the court was no less than that of the Prince of Wei, but there was no memorial to the emperor. Isn't it strange?

Apart from anything else, Wei Ting himself knew that his memorial was to recommend his eldest grandson, but now it seems that it has also been drowned out.

Wei Ting quietly glanced at Hou Junji who was not far away, and secretly made up his mind that as long as Hou Junji did not show up, he would never say anything.

As soon as Li Shimin finished speaking, Zhang Liang, a general of the Prince of Wei, stepped forward and said, holding up his tablet: "The Prince of Wei is known for his literary talent. He was the first to advocate the national policy of stopping military operations and cultivating culture. He made great contributions to the formation of the prosperous Zhenguan era. His entry into the Eastern Palace is what everyone expected!"

After Zhang Liang finished speaking, a slightly complacent look appeared on Wei Wang Li Tai's face, and he turned to look at another important minister.

Du Chuke also stepped forward to agree, "The Prince of Wei is kind-hearted and compassionate. He has repeatedly suggested to the court for three consecutive years to pardon death row prisoners. The people all praise him. The emperor has a benevolent prince, and the Tang Dynasty has a prince who is close to the people!"

"All officials unanimously request the emperor to make the Prince of Wei the crown prince. I hope the emperor will accept the request."

(End of this chapter)