I am Li Shen and Li Shimin, the free kings of the Tang Dynasty

“Your Highness Prince Ji, when have we ever acted recklessly again? This is merely a court meeting. The position of Vice Minister of War is not to be underestimated, and we should carefully consider it.”

"Different political views and debates are commonplace. His Highness Prince Ji, being absent from court, is not fully aware of this and should not make hasty judgments."

Choi In-ji was the first to jump out and refute, "What nonsense! You think you can act like this, but others can't discuss politics?"

“Censor Cui is absolutely right. We are merely discussing state affairs.” Someone immediately echoed this sentiment.

"Hmph, discussing state affairs? You think I don't know the reason behind this mere Vice Minister of War?"

"The Duke of Zhao is a man of great principle, recommending meritorious officials as his successors. You all obstruct this in every way; do you perhaps wish to give His Majesty a reputation for ingratitude?"

Li Shen snorted coldly, instantly slapping a heavy accusation on them, startling Cui Renzhi and the others, whose expressions changed drastically.

“Your Highness Prince Ji, please be careful with your words. How could we dare to have such thoughts? Your Highness Prince Ji, please do not wrong us.”

Lu Chengqing exclaimed loudly, "Good heavens! Framing His Majesty! What a serious crime! It's just a matter of vying for the position of Vice Minister. Does it have to be this ruthless?"

They were already familiar with Prince Ji's style of doing things; he was a smooth talker.

"You're being wronged? Han Yuan's father fought alongside His Majesty in countless battles, achieving great merit. Now that he has left behind a son, shouldn't he be given extra care?"

Aren't you all putting His Majesty in an unjust position by doing this?

Moreover, the Duke of Zhao also said that Han Yuan is quite talented and fully capable of the task; I believe Han Yuan is the best candidate.

Li Shen was eloquent and spoke with great righteousness. Since the child was the orphan of a meritorious official, he should be taken good care of. Otherwise, wouldn't he be an ungrateful person?

Changsun Wuji glanced at Li Shen and sighed inwardly. "Prince Ji is indeed Prince Ji; his ability to argue even when things are unreasonable is truly admirable."

If even one of his sons were like Prince Ji, there would be no reason for the Changsun family not to advance further.

"Your Highness Prince Ji is mistaken. It is perfectly reasonable to take care of the orphans of meritorious officials, but it is not necessary to grant them official positions."

His Majesty has already bestowed upon them titles and wealth, enough to benefit three generations.

"Officials appointed by the imperial court must possess both literary talent and literary skill; this cannot be obtained simply by relying on the merits of one's ancestors." Cui Renzhi completely disagreed with Li Shen's words.

Having been given a title and wealth, what more do you want in terms of official rank?

Li Shen glanced at Li Chengqian, only to see that Li Chengqian was expressionless and had no intention of participating at all, which made Li Shen feel somewhat annoyed.

I'm doing you a favor, and you're trying to just stand by and do nothing? That's really unfair of you.

Li Shen was too lazy to reason with them. He put one hand on his hip and pointed at Cui Renzhi with the other, shouting loudly:

"Enough with your nonsense, I'm going to nominate Han Yuan today."

“Your Highness Prince Ji, this is the imperial court, not a place for Your Highness to run rampant!” Zheng Jingsi coldly rebuked.

"Your Highness, Prince Ji has shown disrespect to the court. Please punish him." Lu Chengqing also bowed to Li Chengqian and filed a complaint.

"Disrespect the court? I only disrespect you. Today I donated 16 million strings of cash just to recommend a mere vice minister. Is that not even a small request?"

If that's the case, then this king will...

Li Shenggang had barely finished speaking when someone shouted:

"Yes...of course you can."

Everyone looked over at the sound and saw that Tang Jian, the Minister of Civil Affairs, had risen and respectfully bowed deeply to Li Chengqian.

"Your Highness, this old minister believes that Prince Ji's request is not excessive at all. In fact, I think it is too modest."

In my humble opinion, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to give up my position as Minister of Civil Affairs to His Highness Prince Ji.

The old minister agrees with His Highness Prince Ji and recommends Han Yuan as Vice Minister of War.

Tang Jian, who was initially just watching the show, immediately stood up after hearing Li Shen's words. He had already guessed what Li Shen was going to say next.

If even this is not acceptable, then I will not donate anymore.

In his view, everyone has forgotten one thing: the money that the First Chamber of Commerce sends over every year is a private donation from Prince Ji, given to the imperial court for free.

Instead of money that had to be handed over, although he didn't know what the power-money deal between Prince Ji and His Majesty was, the money was indeed in his hands.

These years have given him an unprecedented sense of wealth and power. He no longer worries about money, nor does he have to argue and fight with people from the three provinces, six ministries, and nine temples every day.

These past few years have been the most comfortable years of his life. He doesn't care about being a mere vice-minister or anything like that; with that kind of money, he could sell a hundred vice-ministers to Prince Ji.

She would even give up her position to Prince Ji.

"I second that," said Ma Zhou, the Grand Chancellor, rising to his feet. He belonged to the faction of those from humble backgrounds and should have remained neutral.

But Tang Jian's words just now made him change his mind, not for any other reason than that the imperial court could obtain this huge sum of money.

The imperial court did indeed have problems with the buying and selling of official positions. To address this, the Zhenguan Code specifically added penalties for such transactions, known as removal from the register.

This means stripping those who bought and sold official positions of all their official titles and ranks, turning them into ordinary citizens, and subjecting them to the same corvée labor and taxes, thus completely stripping them of the privileges and status of officials and nobles.

This was extremely intimidating to officials and nobles who were focused on their careers.

Similarly, those who bought their official positions were certainly looked down upon by others, and Ma Zhou, as the Grand Secretary, was also very resistant to it.

But everything has a limit, and once that limit is broken, people's thoughts will change.

Ma Zhou felt that buying the position of Vice Minister of War for 1.6 million strings of cash was a great deal. In his opinion, it would not have been too much to buy the position of Minister, let alone Vice Minister of War.

Buying a prince might be an exaggeration, but if things go well, buying a duke wouldn't be a problem.

Although Ma Zhou did not speak at length, his three words carried a heavy weight, like the last straw that broke the camel's back.

Those who had not yet spoken up stood up and joined in the agreement.

The scales of victory have tipped completely in Han Yuan's favor.

Li Shenyi raised an eyebrow:

"Hehe, you see? Money can move mountains. Don't you think so, Minister Tang?"

"Your Highness Prince Ji is right." Tang Jian blushed slightly, but still agreed.

"I believe that money can not only communicate with the gods, but also with the heavens. With so much money, one can easily promote even a minor official."

"He'd be more than qualified to be His Majesty's adopted son," Li Shen continued sarcastically.

"Cough cough cough!! Prince Ji, you must not speak recklessly."

As soon as Li Shen finished speaking, Li Chengqian above him coughed a few times to remind him, "If you have something to say, just say it. What nonsense are you spouting?"

"Don't let this get me implicated," Li Chengqian thought to himself.

The officials from the powerful families looked grim upon seeing this; they had lost this time.

They hadn't expected so many changes today: Changsun Wuji's betrayal, the involvement of Grand Secretary Ma Zhou, and the support of veteran officials like Tang Jian.

What exactly did Prince Ji do?