Traveling through Du He, Li Chengqian's rebellion begins

When Li Yuanying went to his fiefdom, it was not just him and a group of guards who accompanied him, but also a group of officials, maids and other accompanying personnel from Prince Teng's mansion.

Even his mother, Liu Baolin, followed him to his fiefdom.

The entire team is very large, with no less than a thousand people in total.

Thinking of Li Yuanying, the arrogant prince, who would build Tengwang Pavilion on a large scale when he went to his fiefdom this time, Du He suddenly thought of something.

If he copied out the Preface to the Pavilion of Prince Teng, would Prince Teng become his close friend?

This thought flashed through Du He's mind and was quickly put out of his mind.

Because he thought hard, he could only remember the first few sentences. Besides, the "Preface to the Pavilion of Prince Teng" written by Wang Bo did not refer to the Pavilion of Prince Teng in Tengzhou.

The Tengwang Pavilion that Wang Bo climbed in history was located in Hongzhou in the south of the Yangtze River.

Du He said softly: "Keep your promise, just have someone keep an eye on Prince Teng, and then you need to focus on Prince Jin's mansion!"

Pei Xingjian asked in astonishment: "To monitor the King of Jin?"

He really couldn't understand why Du He would order him to monitor the powerless King of Jin, and even attach more importance to him than to King of Teng.

Although the age of Prince Teng was not much different from that of Prince Jin, as a vassal king, he had the military power and the financial power of Tengzhou in his hands.

The Prince of Jin only has a title, and the Prince of Jin's Palace is placed under Your Majesty's nose. What is the point of monitoring him?

Du He saw Pei Xingjian's confused face, so he explained to him softly.

"Prince Teng can only be a free and easy prince, while Prince Jin, as the legitimate son, is fully qualified to inherit the throne. The two of them are not on the same level!"

"Plus, the Prince of Jin has reached the age of becoming a vassal, but His Majesty still keeps him by his side. Other ministers who have not invested in the Crown Prince will probably bet on him."

"Sending people to lurk in Prince Jin's mansion now is also to prevent any trouble before it happens."

Although Pei Xingjian was smart and well-versed in classics and historical poems, he was previously only a scholar who could only read books of sages and had a relatively short period of experience in officialdom.

Pei Xingjian currently doesn't have much idea about this kind of competitive relationship between imperial powers.

This kind of political wisdom needs to be learned bit by bit in constant struggle.

"I see!"

After hearing Du He's explanation, Pei Xingjian nodded in sudden enlightenment.

Du He then gave him some advice, saying, "Li Yifu, the Censor-in-Chief and the Secretary of the Prince of Jin's Palace, comes from an ordinary official family and currently has no one to rely on."

"Besides, this person is very power-hungry. If we give him a hint or some sweet treat, he will definitely become a member of the East Palace spy team."

Now Li Shimin did not openly support Li Zhi, so all the officials in the Prince of Jin's Mansion knew that there was no future in following Li Zhi.

Now that the Eastern Palace was willing to extend an olive branch to a small fry like Li Yifu, he had absolutely no reason to refuse.

Moreover, if the Eastern Palace gives him some benefits and helps him to get a small promotion in official position, after tasting the sweetness, Li Yifu will definitely work wholeheartedly for the Eastern Palace.

Pei Xingjian asked in a low voice: "Minister Du, what kind of sweet treat should we give to Li Jianyushi?"

Du He Du He thought for a moment and said, "The Imperial Censor in the Palace!"

The Censor-in-Chief was an official position of the eighth rank, while the Palace Censor was an official position of the seventh rank, which was considered a promotion of two levels.

Moreover, giving Li Yifu this sweet treat was the easiest thing for Du He to do, because the Imperial Censor Ma Zhou wanted to promote Li Yifu, his subordinate who was good at writing articles.

Now Du He just took advantage of this opportunity and went with the flow.

With the support of the chief official of the Censorate and the Eastern Palace, it was no surprise that Li Yifu was promoted.

Pei Xingjian replied with a serious expression: "As you command!"

After discussing the main business, the two began to talk about other personal matters.

Du He smiled and said, "Keep your promise. The court will issue the reward within the next five days. You can go buy a house in advance."

"When the time comes, we will renovate the house and try to bring your mother to live in Chang'an before the New Year."

It takes several years to build a house by yourself, so most officials choose to buy old houses.

Moreover, there was no vacant land available for building houses in the more prosperous areas of Chang'an.

Pei Xingjian said shyly, "Minister Du, I have already chosen a house in Yongningfang, Wannian County, and have already paid part of the money."

"Once the reward comes in and all expenses are paid, you can move in."

During this period, in addition to building a team of spies, he also spent a lot of time looking for a suitable house.

Moreover, with the help of the Wannian County magistrate, he bought a larger house from a poor family for only 150 strings of cash.

Du He said happily: "Keep your promise, when you move into your new home, I will give you a big gift!"

Pei Xingjian quickly replied: "Thank you, Minister Du."

The two chatted for another half an hour before Pei Xingjian left the Ministry of Works with a smile on his face.

...

the other side.

Under Li Shimin's questioning, Li Zhi also gave a serious answer about his and his uncle's understanding of "The Emperor's Model for Judging Officials".

When Li Shimin saw that his beloved son's answer was very logical, he nodded with satisfaction and praised him generously.

"Chi Nu, you answered very well, it shows that you put in a lot of hard work!"

His description of the "Emperor's Model for Judging Officials" was not as detailed as the previous three chapters, and he also added many rather empty words to show off his talent.

I didn't expect that Zhinu could see the essence through the phenomenon and have his own unique understanding.

What made Li Shimin most happy was that Zhinu's understanding of the "Examination of Officials" was almost the same as what he had thought.

Li Shimin looked at his beloved son, who was only 17 years old, and his heart was filled with recognition.

It turned out that he had always ignored Zhinu's political talent. Although Zhinu's talent and knowledge were not as good as Qingque's, his understanding of the way of being a king was even higher than Qingque's.

Although Zhinu had a high talent for being a monarch, his character was too soft and he was not suitable to be a monarch.

Currently, Crown Prince Cheng Qian is the one that satisfies him the most. No matter in terms of talent or skill, he is a typical emperor.

Li Shimin looked at his beloved son with an excited face, then stroked his beard and nodded and asked.

"Zhi Nu, which sentence in the chapter "Emperor's Rule: Judgement" touched you the most?"

Li Zhi quickly replied: "I am most impressed by the sentence 'clearly determine the positions and examine the virtuous, and select the talents and distribute the salaries'."

"A wise ruler must clearly distinguish the size and role of a position, examine whether his ministers are virtuous, and then reasonably appoint them according to their talents!"

Hearing his beloved son's thorough understanding of this sentence, Li Shimin's face was filled with smiles.

"Well said!"

Li Shimin praised.

He then put the bamboo slips of "The Emperor's Model for Judging Officials" back on the shelf behind him, took out a new roll of bamboo slips, and waved to Li Zhi.

When Li Zhi walked forward, Li Shimin handed the bamboo slips to him and said.

"Chi Nu, this is the chapter "Emperor's Model: Accepting Advice" that my father just finished writing. Take it back and read it."

"Father, please only write these five articles this year. You can continue writing when you have free time after returning from Mount Tai next year."