This made Li Shimin anxious, and he wanted to trade one for one with me.

"Later, there was a treacherous official in the court named Li Renfa who framed loyal officials. For His Majesty, for the court, and for the sake of the Tang Dynasty, I had no choice but to stand up and submit a memorial impeaching him."

"Fortunately, Your Majesty..."

As Cheng Jun was speaking, Li Shimin suddenly interrupted him, saying:

"Minister Cheng, please wait a moment, I have a question."

Cheng Jun paused, looked at Li Shimin's serious face, and said, "Your Majesty, please ask."

Li Shimin stared at him and asked, "What brings you here?"

Cheng Jun said, "I have been invited to give a lecture here."

Li Shimin said with a stern face, "But in my eyes, you don't seem to be giving a lecture, but rather reporting to your superior what you have accomplished this year."

The officials inside the Hall of Justice all nodded in agreement.

Yeah, it's not even the end of the year yet, why are we already doing year-end summaries...?

Cheng Jun pointed to the students standing at the door, listening intently, and said, "Your Majesty, you don't know, this is exactly what they want to hear."

Li Shimin glared at him and said, "I don't want to hear it!"

"Who sent you here..." Cheng Jun thought to himself.

The lessons he had prepared these past few days were originally intended for the students of the Imperial Academy, but he never expected that they would all be parents.

This completely disrupted his plans.

Now that Lao Li had spoken, Cheng Jun hesitated for two seconds before saying:

"Now I will begin today's topic."

After saying that, he placed his palm on the red cloth on the table in front of him, thought for a moment, then withdrew his palm without opening the red cloth.

If only the students were attending the class, Cheng Jun would simply take out all his sweaters and long johns and tell them directly why he had brought them out.

Then, they would quote the poem "Behind the red gates, meat and wine go to waste, while on the road, frozen corpses lie" to shock their souls.

That concludes today's lecture perfectly.

However, the students attending the classes have changed.

It turned into a parent-teacher conference!

Parents are not so easily fooled.

Cheng Jun understood the principle of saying the right thing to the right person, so he couldn't tell them directly; he needed to approach them from a different angle.

Having thought this through, Cheng Jun no longer hesitated and spoke:

"Today I will talk about how to govern the Turks."

Governing the Turks? ...The officials sitting in the Hall of Justice were all taken aback, and one of them couldn't help but speak up:

"The Turks haven't been pacified yet."

Another person spoke up: "Imperial Censor Cheng, isn't it a bit premature for you to bring this up?"

Cheng Jun shook his head and said, "It's only a matter of time before the Turks are defeated."

As he spoke, he looked at Li Shimin and asked, "Your Majesty, don't you agree?"

Li Shimin replied without hesitation, "Yes!"

Then someone else spoke up: "Then Imperial Censor Cheng, you should first tell us how to quell the Turks."

The minister sitting next to him chimed in, "That's right. To talk about governing the Turks directly is taking a bit too big a step."

Cheng Jun glanced at the two of them and said seriously:

"Pacifying the Turks is the business of military officers. I am an imperial censor, an official who speaks out, so I will talk about how to govern, not how to expand territory."

Upon hearing this, the two people who had just spoken immediately fell silent.

Seeing that no one had any further objections, Cheng Jun asked again:

"What do you all think are the difficulties in governing the Turks?"

Before anyone could answer, Cheng Jun answered his own question:

"To put it bluntly, the difficulty in governing the Turks lies in how to treat the Turks who have submitted to the Tang Dynasty."

"In other words, how to treat these Turks who have submitted to the Tang Dynasty will become the key to governing the Turks."

Upon hearing this, all the civil and military officials immediately sat up straight, their expressions becoming solemn.

The students standing at the door felt the atmosphere inside the hall change instantly.

The officials, who had been relaxed just moments before, became very serious after Cheng Jun finished speaking.

Infected by this atmosphere, the students couldn't help but feel nervous, and at the same time, they were very curious about what answer Cheng Jun would give.

Sitting in his lecture seat, Cheng Jun didn't offer a direct solution. Instead, he glanced at the officials in the hall and asked:

"What do you all think should be done with the Turks who have submitted to the Tang Dynasty?"

Inside the Hall of Justice, silence reigned as everyone remained still.

Seeing that they didn't respond, Cheng Jun pointed to the students at the door and said:

“Your sons... are all listening at the door, so none of you should lose face in front of your sons.”

Upon hearing this, the officials were all startled and exchanged glances.

At this moment, a middle-aged or elderly minister in a red robe stood up, glanced at Li Shimin who was deep in thought, and seeing that he remained silent, seemingly tacitly approving of Li Shimin's answer to Cheng Jun's question, he spoke up:

"I believe that these Turks should be relocated to Henan Province and scattered throughout the counties and prefectures to implement a policy of assimilation."

Upon hearing this, Cheng Jun smiled and gestured for him to continue.

The middle-aged minister glanced out of the corner of his eye at the doorway and saw his youngest son looking at him excitedly. He then said:

"In my opinion, the Turks are not sincere. If they submit to our Great Tang in the future, it will only be out of fear of our national power. Sooner or later they will rebel and pose a threat to our Great Tang."

"Therefore, the only way to govern these Turks who have submitted to our Great Tang is to assimilate them into the Tang people."

As soon as the words were spoken, someone stood up and said:

"I agree."

"I agree too!"

Seeing that two-thirds of the court officials had stood up to show their support, Cheng Jun smiled and pressed his palm down, gesturing for them to sit down.

Cheng Jun noticed that Wen Yanbo was frowning, so he asked:

"Does Dr. Wen agree or disagree with this statement?"

Instantly, all the court officials’ eyes were drawn to Wen Yanbo.

Wen Yanbo slowly stood up and said in a deep voice:

"I believe that the strategy of assimilation is not advisable."

"Forcibly relocating the Turks would bring nothing but harm."

Wen Yanbo said calmly, "The Turks have their own customs, and the people of Henan Province also have their own local customs. Moreover, they don't understand each other's languages, and some of them harbor personal grudges and hatred. If they forcibly relocate the Turks to Henan Province, Henan Province may be in great chaos."

As soon as the words were spoken, several ministers who had remained silent stood up and said:

"I agree with Dr. Wen!"

"I agree too!"

The middle-aged or elderly courtier in red robes frowned, looked at Wen Yanbo, and asked:

"I wonder what insights Dr. Wen has?"

Wen Yanbo said, "I think we should follow the example of Emperor Wu of Han in settling the Xiongnu and settle the Turks in Shuofang County to preserve their tribes and customs."

"In this way, not only can we be absolutely certain of success, but we can also make the Turks who have submitted to our Great Tang become a barrier for our Great Tang in the north."

Several courtiers who had just expressed their support for him responded in unison:

"I agree!"

"I agree too!"

Seeing this, Cheng Jun turned to the few people who hadn't spoken up before, "Who else agrees? Who disagrees?"

Wei Zheng, who had not stood up to express his opinion throughout, suddenly stood up and shouted:

"I object!"