The words of Huai'an King Li Shentong made Li Shimin, who was originally smiling, frown slightly.
"King Huai'an, do you have something to say?"
He said solemnly.
In full view of everyone, Li Shentong stepped out and said angrily:
"Your Majesty, I do not surrender!"
"Since ancient times, knighthood has been based on military merit."
"For example, Xu Fenglei, Changsun Wuji, Yuchi Gong and other ministers with military merits can only be generously rewarded. However, Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui have no military merits, but they have also been granted 1,300 households, and the rewards are still with me. Above those with military merit!"
"I am not convinced in my heart, and I believe that all of you ministers with military exploits will not be angry in your heart either!"
As soon as this statement came out, all the ministers were shocked.
This Li Shentong is really generous! At this time, he dared to jump out directly to confront the emperor and openly resist the emperor's decision.
The expressions of Yuchi Gong, Cheng Yaojin and other Tiance generals all changed, and they looked at Li Shentong with unkind expressions.
"Uncle, do you mean that based on your military achievements, you should be above all the ministers?"
Li Shimin chuckled and said with a slight smile,
"Is this what you mean?"
"Although I have little military merit, I think I am still superior to Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, Gao Shilian and others." Li Shentong responded.
boom!
Li Er's expression changed and he slapped the dragon chair.
"King of Huai'an! Do you really want me to reveal all your old records?"
He said coldly,
"In the past, when Dou Jiande annexed Shandong, you led the troops to fight against him and the whole army was wiped out! Is this a military achievement?"
"Fight Liu Heita again, and you fled without fighting, making our Tang army laugh at the soldiers of Hebei. Is this also a military achievement?"
"Although Xuan Ling and Ru Hui have no military exploits, they are strategists and unparalleled in wisdom. They have repeatedly helped me win, just like my Xiao He and Cao Shen! Let me ask you, what kind of hero was Xiao He and Cao Shen in the Han Dynasty?"
Li Shentong was humiliated by Li Shimin. His face suddenly turned red and he looked extremely embarrassed. He hesitated and said:
"me……"
As soon as this dark history was revealed, he lost all confidence and just wanted to find a crack in the ground to crawl in!
Seeing that he was speechless, Li Shimin's expression softened slightly.
"My uncle is my closest relative, and I love him deeply, but I can't let my partiality for my uncle lead to unclear rewards and punishments!"
He said seriously,
"Since I drew up this list of awards, I have known that there will be controversy. I am not afraid of controversy, I am just afraid that you will not defend it!"
"If you have any grievances, you can speak out now, or you can go to court and I will give you an explanation!"
"Who else wants to report?"
Ministers: "..."
Even the thorny King of Huai'an was trained to have no temper at all, so they were naturally convinced.
However, Fang Xuanling suddenly came out of the queue and said:
"Start your Majesty."
"Among the former members of the Tiance Mansion, there are many who complain because they are not reused. Please give instructions to your Majesty."
When Li Shimin heard this, he snorted coldly.
"I'll treat them well in my old house!"
He waved his sleeves and said,
"I will not hesitate to reward you with gold, silver, wealth and silk! Their so-called reuse is nothing more than seeking a position in the court."
"However, the court is the court of the country, not my own court. I choose officials for the sake of the world, not for my own entertainment!"
"If you have talent, I will choose it. If you don't have talent, you can just be a rich man and don't have to stick your head out to pursue an official career. I am not a nepotist!"
Fang Xuanling immediately bowed down.
"According to the order."
He said,
"Your Majesty's reprimand will definitely wake up those who have delusional thoughts."
"Your Majesty is holy."
All the ministers bowed their hands in salute, feeling more and more respectful in their hearts.
This is what a wise king should do!
"This is because I have listened to the lessons I took..."
Xu Fenglei also smiled, feeling happy in his heart.
Li Shimin's words are already in line with the king's way in the "Book of Changes"!
"Since there is nothing else to do, please retreat from the court. All other matters will be reported to the Political Affairs Hall for forwarding."
Li Er looked around and saw that all the ministers had lowered their heads. He couldn't help but raise the corners of his mouth slightly and walked down the jade steps with his hands behind his back.
When you are an emperor, you have to be sharp-tongued.
"Long live my emperor."
All the ministers shouted long live. After the emperor left, the atmosphere became relaxed again.
"What should I say? We are really proud of ourselves today!"
Yuchi Gong said without any scruples,
"Also talking about military merit, who can compare to our people in Tiance Mansion? Those defeated princes? The escaped princes?"
"A joke, what a joke! Hahahaha..."
His loud voice, coupled with his extremely sarcastic tone, made Pei Ji, Li Shentong and others look ugly and quickly left the Xiande Hall.
"Jingde, please keep your voice down and be careful of the impact."
Xu Fenglei laughed and scolded,
"After all, they are all ministers of the same court, so we have to save some face for them."
When Yuchi Gong heard this, he curled his lips.
"They were the ones who were shameless in the first place. I was just fighting back."
He hummed softly,
"That's all, since the young master has spoken, we won't argue with them!"
"Let's go! If you're happy today, come to my house for a drink. Drink till you're happy and you won't come back until you're drunk!"
This proposal immediately won the approval of all the warriors:
"Okay, okay, go, go, go..."
"If I don't drink you to death today, my surname will not be Cheng!"
"drink!"
Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui looked at each other and hurriedly refused:
"You go ahead... The imperial court is busy with government affairs, so I don't dare to drink and make trouble. We have already been criticized, so I don't dare to make any mistakes again."
Changsun Wuji and Gao Shilian also said:
"I'm not going, I'm not going. It's no fun drinking with you beasts. You'd better go home and have a few drinks."
These gangsters drink like buffaloes and go crazy when they get drunk.
In the past, I had no choice but to endure it in Tiance Mansion... Now that they all have their own mansions, why should they be insulted?
go away!
"Huh? What a disappointment!"
Cheng Yaojin showed an unhappy look and hurriedly took Xu Fenglei's hand and said,
"Young Master, Mr. Xu... they are all weak. You are recognized as the Master of Wine by our Tiance Mansion. Drinking with them is boring, so you have to come!"
"Let's go, let's go back now!"
After all, he and Yuchi Gong had set up Xu Fenglei and wanted to "kidnap" him away!
Xu Fenglei had no choice but to defeat them, so he could only let the generals do whatever they wanted.
But at this moment, a eunuch came from the back hall, saluted Xu Fenglei and said:
"Young Master, Your Majesty orders you to come to the back hall to speak."
Xu Fenglei raised his eyebrows.
"Let go, let go! You're like a bandit!"
He took the opportunity to get rid of the two big men and scolded,
"Did you hear that? Your Majesty has called you and I have no time to play with you. You can go crazy on your own and don't cause any harm to anyone."
The generals looked unhappy, but they had no choice but to say yes.
"Father-in-law, lead the way."
Xu Fenglei shook his sleeves, waved and said with a smile,
"Your Majesty summoned me suddenly, maybe it has something to do with the royal family."
Hearing this, Changsun Wuji, Fang Xuanling and others all flashed their eyes and remained silent.
(End of chapter)
