Traveling through Du He, Li Chengqian's rebellion begins

It is unexpected that Your Majesty would make an excuse in front of these two loyal ministers in order to maintain the reputation of King Wei. It is really unbelievable.

Seeing that the expressions of the surrounding civil and military officials had not changed, the two of them guessed that His Majesty must be deliberately concealing the truth, so they resigned from the position of Prince Wei's teacher.

If they had their previous personalities, they would have stood up and exposed the truth if they saw His Majesty lying.

But after following the King of Wei for a while, and after being beaten and having their dignity trampled upon by him, their personalities had already changed a lot.

Although he has not become very smooth, he is no longer as straightforward as when he was teaching the prince in the East Palace.

Therefore, even if they know His Majesty's little thoughts now, they will not expose them in front of all the officials.

The two of them looked at each other, then stood up together holding their tablets and saluted Li Shimin with serious faces.

"Thank you for your trust, Your Majesty. I am willing to smear my brain on the ground!"

When Li Shimin saw that his two loyal ministers were so sensible, he nodded with satisfaction.

"Please sit down, my two dear ministers!" Li Shimin waved at them.

Looking at these two old ministers with more and more white hair on their temples, Li Shimin's heart was filled with emotion.

Unexpectedly, after only a few months, these two ministers who had worked hard and made great contributions had aged into their current appearance.

Not only do I have more and more white hair on my temples, but my energy and spirit are not as good as before.

After expressing his feelings in his heart, Li Shimin waved to Changsun Wuji, the head of all officials and said.

"Left Sergeant, let's start today's court meeting!"

Changsun Wuji stood up holding the tablet, then bowed respectfully.

"As ordered!"

After he finished his ceremony, he began to report on the government affairs of the Secretariat.

Now that it is near the end of the year, the most important things for the Shangshu Province are the assessment by the Ministry of Personnel and the imperial examination, as well as the preparations for sacrificial ceremonies by the Ministry of Rites.

Of course, what Changsun Wuji reported today was no different from what he said a few days ago. He just reported on the progress.

Therefore, Changsun Wuji reported for a cup of tea and then sat down.

Immediately afterwards, You Pushe Hou Junji, Zhongshu Ling Cen Wenben, Shizhong Liu Li and the other five Shangshu also reported on the affairs of their respective departments.

When Du He reported, he quickly read out the preparation of firewood and charcoal, the construction of the kang, and the recent projects that the local prefectures and counties were going to undertake.

Before Du He sat down, Li Shimin suddenly asked.

"Minister of Works, you have recently led the officials of the Ministry of Works to make a new plow. When will it be ready?"

"How do you estimate the effect of the new plow? Compared with the previous straight plow, what improvements are there?"

Yesterday, Chu Suiliang, who was the Minister of Rites and Counselor, came to Ganlu Hall to meet him with an indignant look on his face, and reported that all the people in the Ministry of Works were tinkering with the new plow.

Chu Suiliang impeached Du He, the Minister of Works, believing that he was leading the people in the Ministry of Works to do nonsense and affecting the normal operation of the ministry.

Li Shimin also knew that people from the Ministry of Works were innovating the straight plow, but he did not expect them to make such a big fuss.

As Li Shimin finished speaking, all the civil and military officials in the hall turned their eyes to Du He.

Many people had a playful expression on their faces.

It is a pipe dream for a lazy and ignorant young man to lead the people of the Ministry of Works to innovate the straight plow.

Du He stood up holding the tablet, performed the ceremony and reported calmly.

"Your Majesty, the new plow will be ready by the end of this month."

"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has instructed me that once the new plow is made, he will personally take it to the Beiyuan farm to test it!"

When Li Shimin saw that the prince was also paying attention to the matter of Xinli, a gratified smile appeared on his face.

He turned to Li Chengqian and praised him, saying, "Your Highness cares about the people's farming and is willing to test the new plow for the people. This is a great act!"

Li Chengqian first looked at Du He with a smile on his face, and then responded modestly with a fist clasped.

"Your Majesty, this is what I, as the crown prince, should do!"

All the civil and military officials were surprised at the prince's idea of personally testing the new plow.

Ever since the prince led his army to conquer Goguryeo and returned victoriously, he has become more positive than ever and has also become more concerned about the suffering of the people.

Such a benevolent and people-oriented crown prince is not only a blessing to the people, but also a blessing to people like them.

Yu Zhining and Zhang Xuansu looked at the prince who was becoming more and more like an emperor, and their hearts were filled with regret.

Originally they thought that the crown prince was hopeless and that the King of Wei was the candidate for the crown prince with both talent and virtue, but they did not expect that time would slap them both in the face.

The crown prince is still the handsome, benevolent and filial prince, but the King of Wei is a sinister, cunning and despicable person.

Moreover, the King of Wei is so short-sighted that he is not even worthy of supporting the Crown Prince.

After they both expressed their feelings in their hearts, they also turned their attention to Li Chengqian and Du He.

On the way back to Chang'an, the two of them had a long talk and believed that only by turning to the prince again could their future rights be guaranteed.

But how to repair the relationship with the prince is a troublesome matter.

Just as the civil and military officials in the court were having different thoughts, Li Shimin then turned his gaze to Du He and slowly spoke.

"Minister of Works, if the straight plow you innovated has obvious improvements, I will give your Ministry of Works a great credit!"

"As long as you make tools that are beneficial to farming, I will reward you generously!"

When they heard Li Shimin promise to reward them handsomely, Yu Chang, the Minister of Works, and the doctors of the four ministries suddenly became excited.

Under the mocking gazes of most of the ministers, Du He bowed deeply while holding his tablet.

"I will do my best with all my colleagues in the Ministry of Works to make the new plow and live up to the trust of Your Majesty and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

Li Shimin nodded with a half-believing and half-doubting attitude, and did not say much on this issue.

The other Shangshu were all mature and prudent people. They were more conservative than innovative, so Li Shimin was also happy to watch young people like Wang Jian make some progress.

Chu Suiliang, who was sitting not far behind Du He, lost the intention of impeaching Du He in the court when he saw the prince getting involved.

Since His Majesty and the Crown Prince both allowed Du He to act recklessly, if he impeached Du He again, he would be branded as jealous of the virtuous.

Next, the chief officers of the nine temples and five prisons took turns reporting on the affairs of their respective departments.

Li Shimin saw that there was no important matter to discuss, so he glanced at Li Chengqian, Yu Zhining and Zhang Xuansu, then stood up and spoke.

"Let's end today's meeting here."

"Crown Prince, Yu Zhining and Zhang Xuansu, follow me to Liangyi Palace!"

When the civil and military officials saw that His Majesty had actually called two ministers to Ganlu Palace, curiosity immediately showed on their faces.

Many people had the same thought in their minds: Does His Majesty want these two ministers to return to the Eastern Palace to serve?

Du He was not too surprised by this.

Because Li Chengqian's power is growing stronger and stronger, if it is not curbed, it will definitely threaten Li Shimin's position.

In order to avoid conflicts with the crown prince, Li Shimin had to intervene in the power of the Eastern Palace.

"Farewell, Your Majesty, Your Highness the Crown Prince."

All the civil and military officials bowed in unison and then watched Li Shimin, Li Chengqian and others leave the Taiji Hall.