My father, Li Shimin, please call me Crown Prince

Chapter 136 I will do what you, Erfeng, dare not do
The Byzantine delegation entered Chang'an like a drop of water into the ocean.

There are so many delegations coming and going every day that no one pays attention to these things.

Since the Honglu Temple did not report it, Li Chengqian had no way of knowing.

Apart from the fact that Wang Xuance was going to India, it was impossible for Li Chengqian to know everything clearly.

If one were truly omniscient and omnipotent, he would no longer be a human being but a true saint.

Most of the time, we only remember things when they happen.

The focus now is still on military power.

The gun is the most reliable weapon.

No matter what you want to do, you can't accomplish anything without soldiers.

When fighting for power in the court, Li Chengqian felt that he could not defeat those old foxes.

Others have been doing this for their entire lives, and there is no point in using your own weaknesses to compete with others' strengths.

Any famous and powerful emperor in history could only accomplish things by holding the military power tightly in his hands.

The teachers have made it clear that political power can only come from the barrel of a gun.

At night, the East Palace was brightly lit.

Li Chengqian is compiling tactical classics and documents.

This is a tactical book prepared for use in the Military Academy, and it is written entirely in simplified Chinese characters.

It mainly explains the tactics of assault, encirclement and annihilation, guerrilla warfare, joint defense, combined attack and advancement of cavalry, infantry and archers.

These are real dry goods, which are different from the military strategies used by the current commanders and can be used by basic officers.

The Thirty-Six Stratagems are too advanced, and ordinary officers have little chance of using them.

"Your Highness, Wei Zheng is ill."

"I heard that he was seriously ill and had been lying in bed for several days."

"Your Majesty has sent a royal physician to see him."

The eunuch Wen Zhong reported all the big and small matters in the palace, and he was also Li Chengqian's main intelligence transmitter.

The eunuchs and palace maids were the first to know about any disturbance in the palace.

When it comes to famous ministers, they will naturally report it immediately.

"Wei Zheng is old too."

Li Chengqian then remembered that in history Wei Zheng had died of illness at the beginning of this year.

It seems to be the same today.

The eunuch Wen Zhong hesitated and said, "There are rumors outside the palace that Wei Zheng is seriously ill because of your Highness."

"What happened last year made Wei Zheng so angry that he became ill."

Li Chengqian laughed: "The Wei Wang Party is really trying every possible means to destroy my reputation."

There is no need to guess. If the rumor is spread like this, there can be no one else except his good brother.

This is forcibly putting the blame on him for Wei Zheng's mistakes.

It's really disgusting.

Wei Zheng had a great influence in the court, and his reputation was achieved by riding on the heads of Er Feng.

Wei Zheng did not care about the saint's face at all and often gave frank advice. As long as Er Feng did something wrong, he would point it out to his face.

Such brave behavior naturally won the admiration of court officials.

His fearless admonitions won him a high reputation both inside and outside the court. He was also highly respected by the literati and bureaucrats, becoming the ideal image and representative of a minister in their minds.

Of course, Wei Zheng himself was truly talented. He served as the Minister of the Secretariat, performed his duties conscientiously, and demonstrated outstanding ability in handling government affairs.

He also participated in the editing of historical books such as "Book of Sui", and some of the content he wrote was praised by people of his time as "good history".

Wei Zheng's reputation was not only widely spread within the court, but also highly praised among the people.

His outspokenness and courage to criticize and his efforts to seek the welfare of the people have won the recognition and respect of the general public.

After all, the Zhenguan Administration enabled most people to have enough food to eat, and many of the measures were indeed suggestions put forward by Wei Zheng.

Because of his frugal style, the people regarded him as a representative of an honest official, and his deeds were spread by word of mouth, making his reputation more deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

Wei Zheng became famous for his outspokenness, outstanding political talent and wide recognition, and was hailed as a representative of "the best prime minister of all ages".

Now the Wei Wang party is forcibly blaming Wei Zheng's death on the attack by the crown prince last year, which will naturally have a huge impact on the crown prince's reputation.

He has become a complete villain.

"Your Highness, please report this to His Majesty and have the left and right Jinwu Guards suppress this rumor."

The eunuch Wen Zhong thought about it and came up with a bad idea.

Li Chengqian waved his hand: "If you do this, it will become my business if it's not my business."

What's the difference between this and trying to cover up one's own guilt?

Wen Zhong was a little anxious: "We have to think of a way."

Li Chengqian said, "Let's not worry about these for now. After the morning court tomorrow, I will go to Wei Zheng's residence in person."

Wei Zheng was the Prince's Grand Tutor, and also Li Chengqian's teacher.

It is natural for the disciples to visit their teacher when he is seriously ill.
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The next morning, all the ministers came to the court to meet the emperor.

Li Chengqian naturally also needs to attend government affairs.

The situation of the ten regions and 360 states of the Tang Dynasty was reported roughly in the morning court.

It was also the main source for the emperor to learn about the situation in the world.

The focus of the court's work at the beginning of the year was mainly on spring ploughing.

Every spring ploughing ceremony, Li Shimin would personally participate in it. During the Ji Tian Ceremony, the saint would personally hold the plow and plow the fields, setting an example for the people of the world.

We also provided seeds and farm tools to the people, built water conservancy projects, and ensured the harvest.

This included tax reduction and exemption policies in some areas, officials personally going to the countryside to supervise, protecting oxen, and rewarding farming models, among other important tasks.

For agricultural civilization, farming is of paramount importance.

The three provinces and six ministries must put forward strategies, suggestions, measures, and policies and report them one by one.

If a disaster occurs, the saints will ask for forgiveness from heaven.

In the second year of Zhenguan, a drought occurred in Chang'an City. Long-term drought will inevitably lead to insect pests.

The locusts soon began to cause trouble everywhere.

Li Shimin walked out of the palace to check the food disaster.

When he saw locusts everywhere, he caught a few insects and put them in his palm and said, "Food is the foundation of the people. If you eat the food, the people will starve."

"If the people have committed any sins, it is my fault as the ruler of a country. I should bear the responsibility. If you can show your power, please eat my heart and return the food to the people."

As he was about to eat the locusts, his ministers advised him not to do so, saying what if he got sick after eating them.

Li Shimin said: "I am willing to bear all the disasters of the people. Why should I be afraid of a small disease?"

After saying this, he swallowed the locusts without waiting for his ministers to speak.

Since then, locusts have not appeared again.

Civil officials said that the sage was blessed by heaven, so he collected the locusts, and this became an example of Li Shimin's love for his people like his own children.

However, have the locusts really disappeared?

Li Chengqian knew the inside story, the locusts were made to "disappear" artificially.

If something as simple as calling a horse a deer can happen, it is not surprising that locusts "disappeared".

For example, if a beggar appeared in Chang'an City, as long as this beggar was expelled from Chang'an, does it mean that there would be no beggars in Chang'an?

Even though the Internet is well developed in later generations, when it comes to the national level, it is not difficult to conceal something.

Not to mention nowadays.

There are deeper political factors involved.

The year before the second year of Zhenguan, the Tujue people moved south and Li Shimin signed the Weishui Alliance.

This was a coercion of Li Shimin by the aristocratic families because they lost the duel with the Guanlong clans. It was also a warning to the new emperor Li Shimin.

This is how the story of the saint eating locusts came about.

In history, when dealing with natural disasters to the point where the emperor had to admit his fault and atone for his sins with his own body, that meant the loss of imperial power.

This is proof that the natural disaster was caused by the emperor's misconduct.

In a sense, it means that the imperial power bowed to theocracy and apologized to the ministers and the people.

It was after this incident that Li Shimin gained the reputation of being able to accept advice readily.

Is it a good reputation to accept advice readily?

The people and ministers thought so, but the emperor did not.

The sage is willing to accept advice, but he dares not to make his own voice heard.

The imperial power bowed to the power of the ministers.

This means that all power is delegated to the ministers, and all government affairs are handled according to the final opinions of the ministers.

If the sage puts forward different opinions, the ministers will continue to advise and persuade him until the sage's opinions are recognized and satisfied by the ministers, and only then can they be passed.

Wei Zheng took the lead in criticizing Li Shimin, but Li Shimin still wanted to hold Wei Zheng up as a model of a minister of remonstrance. The political entanglement here is not as simple as imagined.

Does Erfeng really have such a good temper?

How could a man who was able to rescue the emperor at Yanmen at the age of sixteen, fought battles in the east and west, the south and the north for many years, and conquered more than half of the Tang Dynasty be a saint with a gentle personality and no temper?

Li Chengqian vaguely remembered the day of the Weishui Alliance in the first year of Zhenguan.

Li Shimin entered the Daming Palace.

In fact, Li Yuan’s achievements have been overlooked in history. Li Yuan made the greatest contribution to the founding of the Tang Dynasty.

When Li Shimin was fighting in all directions, Li Yuan never fell behind in terms of logistics.

It is easy to fight the country, but it is difficult to keep the country.

Li Shimin's smooth journey and great achievements were largely based on Li Yuan's ability to calculate.

In terms of governance, Li Shimin was not as good as his father Li Yuan.

At that time, Li Yuan warned: "It is easy to be brave and aggressive."

“Learning to endure, to forgive, to tolerate, this is the most difficult thing.”

This is to tell Li Shimin that conquering an empire and governing it are not the same thing.

Compromise is the art of politics.

From then on, Li Shimin restrained all his pride, ruled the country with ease, and accepted advice readily.

At the court.

The ministers said almost everything about the spring ploughing measures.

However, there is no mention of population census and land measurement.

Are all the officials in the court stupid?

No, it's just that they understand.

Hiding the population and evading taxes are the fundamental wealth and interests of the aristocratic families.

The reason why Emperor Wu of Han was so powerful was that he used cruel officials to crack down on the local tycoons’ behavior of annexing land.

Why was Emperor Wen of Sui rich? Because he dared to investigate hidden populations, making it impossible for aristocratic families to evade taxes.

Most of the wealth of Emperor Wen of Sui and Emperor Yang of Sui came from collecting tax evasion.

At this time, Li Chengqian looked up at Erfeng.

Li Shimin sat high on the throne, his face expressionless, as he listened quietly to the suggestions of his ministers.

Doesn't he want to do a population census and measure the land?

No, he wanted to, more than anyone else.

Which emperor doesn't want to control the entire country in his own hands?

Li Chengqian understood that Erfeng felt that the time was not right and now was not the time to turn against the aristocratic families.

In Li Shimin's view, he is still young.

After all, he was only forty-five years old, while his father Li Yuan lived to be sixty-nine.

Wait another five or ten years. By that time, things will be more stable and the turmoil in the Tang Dynasty will be reduced.

Unfortunately, accidents happen more suddenly than planned. In history, this year was the year when the Crown Prince’s rebellion occurred.

The prince's rebellion was a deep blow to Li Shimin.

His beloved eldest son wanted to kill him. In order to save his eldest son's life, he had no choice but to revoke the King of Wei's official position, give up his fiefdom, and make the King of Jin the crown prince.

These were not the results Li Shimin wanted, but there was no other way.

Long-term depression, melancholy and depression will have a great impact on people's physical health.

Two years later, news came that Li Chengqian had passed away, which was another blow to Li Shimin.

Not long after that, Li Shimin became paralyzed on one side of his body.

The youngest son, Li Zhi, had to be trained from scratch.

Li Shimin completely lost the ability to take action against the aristocratic families.

If you pretend to be a pig and want to eat the tiger, after a long time, you will really become a pig.

The only thing left was the good reputation of Li Shimin among the civil officials. He was posthumously named Emperor Wenwu Dasheng Daguangxiao, or Emperor Wen for short.

At this moment, Li Shimin, who was sitting on the throne, felt the prince's gaze.

As they looked at each other, Li Shimin seemed to understand the prince's thoughts.

Shake his head slightly.

It seemed as if he was warning the prince that it was not the right time yet.

Li Chengqian also knew this.

He is also waiting.

When they returned from the expedition against Goryeo, they would sweep the land along the way with great victory.

Wherever the army went, they checked the population and measured the land.

Li Chengqian had already made up his mind that after returning from Goryeo, he would no longer go straight to Shanxi, but would go to Hebei, detour to Shandong and Henan, and then return to Chang'an.

Hebei, Shandong and Henan are the bases of aristocratic families, and are also where the Five Surnames and Seven Families are located.

Once we can deal with the aristocratic families in these three places, this biggest obstacle will naturally be solved.

I will do what you, Erfeng, dare not do.

I will kill those whom you, Erfeng, dare not kill.

When that day comes, the whole world will naturally be shocked, the prince's reputation will be damaged, and the scholars will rise up to attack him.

All officials impeached the prince, and the ministers were outraged and wrote a letter to depose the prince.

By that day, Li Chengqian had already made preparations to launch the Xuanwu Gate Incident and ascend to the throne in accordance with the ancestral system.

At this point, the hearing session was over.

Wei Ting, the Minister of the Honglu Temple, submitted a memorial.

"Your Majesty, there is a delegation from Rome over 20,000 miles away in the west, traveling across mountains and rivers to come here."

"The envoys brought with them exotic treasures and showed respect to us. They went through countless hardships and dangers before finally reaching our Tang Dynasty."

"His journey took him through deserts, over mountains and across oceans. He was exhausted but never wavered in his determination."

"This is a clear proof that your majesty's virtue is known far and wide and your prestige is felt across the world."

"I think we should use the etiquette of our great Tang Dynasty to warmly entertain these distant guests, show the style of our great country, and show your majesty's benevolence. It can also help our dynasty and Rome establish friendly relations, share what we have, and jointly promote the prosperity of the world."

Li Shimin smiled and nodded: "Announce."

Zhang Ananda said in a loud voice: "Your Majesty has ordered the Roman envoys to come to the palace for an audience."

(End of this chapter)