Chastity Layman

The emperor unceremoniously accused Cheng Qian of being ignorant.

"A boss who prevents his subordinates from being better than himself is not a good boss."

An emperor who can't even tolerate his courtiers is naturally not a good emperor.

"Could it be that because of Qin Lang's high prestige and connections, even the emperor fears him?"

"Wrong, it's not because of fear. If Qin Lang really rebelled, then even if his achievements are as high as the sky, his in-laws and friends are all over the court, and his disciples are all over the world, then he should do it. But the question is, has Qin Lang rebelled?"

"Don't get stuck in the corner and can't get out, you can think about it from another angle."

Li Shimin also doesn't understand why Chengqian suddenly got into the horns. Qin Lang is Chengqian's base. Qin Lang and Changsun Wuji have always been Chengqian's strongest supporters, and now Chengqian is married to Qin Lang's half-sister, and Qin Lang married Chengqian's own sister, could this relationship be worse than that of his uncle, grandson Wuji?

Not cherishing such a powerful supporter, and thinking about punishing Qin Lang for treason, isn't this poaching his own corner?

What kind of weird idea is this?

Those like Zhang Liang and Fang Xuanling who supported the King of Wei had to be very vigilant. Qin Lang was already a confidant, but Cheng Qian felt that he was doing business overseas to make some money, so he had to deal with it?

"Official titles, although prestigious in the imperial court, cannot be granted easily, but they must be given when they should be given. After Yang Guang succeeded to the throne, the Sui Wen emperor's title system was abolished, and only the third class was left. It was the family that established the Western Wei Dynasty and the Northern Zhou Dynasty in Guanzhong back then. After several generations, the title remained unchanged, and when it came to Yang Guang, it directly won the title, and even many heroes who founded the Sui Dynasty were also taken away by him."

"So you've seen it in the end. The whole world turned against Yang Guang, and even the Xiaoguo Army, the personal guard army he established, turned against him and even killed him."

Of course, official positions and titles cannot be given casually, but for important heroes, they must be given as they should.

When the Qin family does some business, they give dividends to the shopkeeper and his buddies. You, a prince, don't even want to give them overseas territories?

There is no need for the court, neither cutting the land nor dividing the land into households.

Li Shimin is not the kind of stingy person. Although the emperor of Wude gave high-ranking officials and nobles everywhere, all he gave were loose ranks and false ranks. Li Shimin gave many real titles at the beginning of his succession, and later introduced the world title system. To reward meritorious service and arrange clan.

Now, in view of the proliferation of honored officials and insufficient rights and interests, it is especially necessary to award honors in Liaodong.

So after discussing with Ma Zhou, Li Shimin has already made up his mind, thinking that as long as the imperial court does not intend to change the national policy and suppress business overseas, then the situation of setting up business stations or even residences overseas like the Qin family will not change, so instead of pretending If you can't see it, it's better to actively deal with it.

At the very least, it is the best policy to incorporate it into the system.

What Chengqian thinks is blockage, but what Li Shimin thinks is sparseness.

It is better to block than to sparse, that is for sure.

Taking advantage of the situation and keeping things under his control, this is what the emperor should really consider, instead of going against the trend.

Just like the Five Surnames and Seven Wangs have a very strong reputation among the people, and Li Shimin once hated them very much, but Li Shimin did not rely on his own evil, so he insisted on getting along with the Five Surnames and Seven Wangs, and dedicated himself to fighting to the end. That is not what Mingjun did. Li Shimin was very careful in dealing with the five surnames and seven families, beating while wooing them. Over the years, aren't the five surnames and seven families now obediently contributing to the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty?

"Chengqian." Li Shimin sighed, "I have selected three auxiliary ministers for you, namely your uncle's eldest grandson Wuji, your brother-in-law Qin Lang, and British Duke Li Ji. These three are all capable ministers. Both Qin Lang and Li Ji are talented in general and prime minister."

With these three people, they can check each other, Qin Lang can balance Changsun Wuji, and Li Ji can balance Qin Lang when necessary. Changsun Wuji is now the core of the Guanlong faction, while Qin Lang is the leader of the military upstart, and the two balance each other.

Although Li Ji has been in Bingzhou for many years and has not made any outstanding achievements in these years, he was the founder of Wagang, and most of the core generals of the Qin Palace were from Wagang. So Li Ji can balance Qin Lang and replace him at any time.

"You can also rely on Su Dingfang and Xu Jingzong. In addition, Zhang Xingcheng, Yu Zhining, Gao Jifu, and Chu Suiliang can also be relied on. For generals, Cheng Yaojin, Niu Jinda, Liu Lancheng, etc. needless to say, but Yang Guozhong, Simo, Although Si Li, She She, He Li, etc. are aliens, they are also loyal and have outstanding abilities, which can be used at critical times."

The emperor's words were already somewhat pleading, and Chengqian couldn't help crying when he heard it.

"Why did Grandpa say this, you are still in your prime..."

"Listen carefully to me. My body may go away at any time one day. I know that you have lofty ambitions and a strong heart, but you must be patient when you are an emperor. An emperor is not one who rushes into battle, let alone fights against the crowd. It is hard to be an emperor. , you have to balance all aspects, whether it is domestic or foreign, court or local."

"In fact, the emperor is like the driver of a fast-moving carriage. You have to control the horses pulling the cart well. Those are your courtiers. You also have to control the direction of your carriage and protect the goods on your carriage. That's you. People. Try to follow the main road, don’t take shortcuts, and slow down when turning…”

The emperor babbled a lot.

Eighteen years of emperor, Li Shimin has also changed from the Qin king back then to a wily and calculating emperor. If it is not for his body, at Li Shimin's age, it is possible to be the emperor for another eighteen years.

The prince still looks a little immature, but he doesn't have much time for Chengqian to practice.

He can only try his best to remove some obstacles.

·······

In the seventeenth year of Zhenguan, Xia.

Ma Zhou, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, died of illness at home. The emperor issued an edict to stop court for five days. He gave the posthumous title of Wenzhen, the governor of Youzhou, the Duke of Lu, and was buried with Zhaoling. bit.

Before Ma Zhou died, he asked his son to dig out all the memorials he had given to the emperor over the past ten years, and personally burned these drafts. His son asked him why he did this. Ma Zhou said that in the Spring and Autumn Period, Guan Zhong and Yan Ying often criticized the faults of the king, making them look great. How can I be so disrespectful to the sage who has the grace to know me?

When Ma Zhou's son sent his father's watch to the imperial court, Li Shimin was greatly moved when he learned about it, and then thought of Wei Zheng.

When Wei Zheng died of illness when he conquered the Liao Dynasty, he sorted out all the advice he had given to the emperor before his death, and asked his son to hand it over to the historian in a very solemn way. On a certain day of a certain year, Wei Zheng put forward a certain suggestion, but the emperor was unwilling, and in the end, Wei Zheng forcefully remonstrated with him, forcing the emperor to accept it. For another example, on a certain day in a certain year, the emperor wanted to go out to play and hunt, and was criticized severely by Wei Zheng before he came to his senses and changed his past. As a result, the emperor was playing with the bird. Seeing Wei Zheng coming, he had no time to take the bird away, so he had to hide it in his robe. When Wei Zheng saw it, he deliberately delayed playing the right time, and did not point it out. In the end, the bird the emperor liked was smothered to death. In his clothes, Wei Zheng used this method to remonstrate the emperor again.

When the historian reported this to Li Shimin and handed over these materials to the emperor, Li Shimin still thought that Wei Zheng was a loyal and admonishing minister, but now Ma Zhou's last words made Li Shimin immediately dissatisfied with Wei Zheng.

The more Li Shimin thought about it, the more angry he became, especially when he thought of the bird he suffocated to death. The emperor ordered someone to overturn Wei Zheng's tombstone. It was written by Li Shimin himself for Wei Zheng on his way back from the Eastern Expedition.

The emperor also ordered Wei Zheng's posthumous title Wenzhen to be changed to Xiang, instead of letting Wei Zheng take Wenzhen as the posthumous title like Ma Zhou, but to give Xiang, who was lowered by a grade, as the posthumous title.

Finally, the emperor sent an edict to cancel the engagement between Wei Shuyu, the eldest son of Wei Zheng, and Princess Hengshan.

In the next month, Zhang Liang's treason case was jointly tried by the third department, and the court should be executed.

The emperor handed down an edict ordering Changsun Wuji and Fang Xuanling to have a retrial. They were still convicted of treason and should be executed.

So he ordered Fang Xuanling to go to prison to bid farewell to Zhang Liang, and sent him to Luoyang Xishi to ask for execution, and confiscated all his property, leaving only the youngest son born to his first wife to inherit the incense for him. Ask to cut.

Afterwards, the censor Han Zhongliang impeached Fang Xuanling when he tried Zhang Liang's case in a selfish manner, intending to exonerate Zhang Liang, and asked the Secretary to investigate.

The emperor summoned Fang Xuanling to reprimand him face to face, and Fang Xuanling kowtowed to apologize. The emperor ordered a department to investigate, and finally found out that Fang Xuanling did have the intention of favoring Zhang Liang, and he was guilty. The emperor thought that Fang Xuanling was highly respected for his meritorious service and was old and frail, so he granted Fang Xuanling permission to serve as an official and return home for the elderly.

Cui Renshi, the servant of the Ministry of Punishments and a member of Zhongshushe, falsely accused Qin Lang of treason. The emperor ordered the prince to investigate the matter, but found nothing.

The crown prince ordered that Master Cui Ren be convicted of false accusation, be reduced to death, and be exiled to the frontier.

The prince gave Qin Lang five hundred bolts of silk and a pair of silver vases to appease him.

In the same month, the emperor dismissed Li Ji as the governor of Longyou Diezhou on the grounds that Li Ji was involved in rebellion with Zhang Liang in the matter of communicating with Zhang Liang!

On the second day after Li Ji was demoted, the emperor issued an edict to set up the governor's mansion of Lusong on Treasure Island in the South China Sea, granting Qin Lang the title of governor of Lusong, and allowing Qin Lang's descendants to inherit Yongzheng.

The Luzon Governor's Mansion was granted to Yongzhen by the Qin family, and the land was ruled by the world. Xu hired his own staff, Xu recruited guards, administrative, judicial, taxation and military affairs were all autonomous, and one-third of the tax revenue from the territory was turned over to the national treasury, and the rest was kept by himself. ·····

As soon as this edict came out, it shocked the government and the public.

The emperor's envoy rushed to Wu'an to proclaim the imperial edict, and Qin Lang expressed his gratitude, along with a donation of 100,000 yuan to thank the emperor.