March of the eighteenth year of Zhenguan.
The emperor wanted to raise troops to attack Goguryeo on the grounds that Goguryeo invaded its ally Silla and violated the will of his superior country. All ministers supported it, but the few voices of opposition were drowned out.
Then, Li Shimin said that he wanted to personally conquer...
At this moment, all the officials fell silent.
In just an instant, the voices of opposition swept in overwhelmingly, and the memorials admonishing the emperor were as sparse as the mountains and the sea!
Among them, Chu Suiliang was the most important. He wrote a bloody letter directly to Li Shimin, weeping every word, urging the emperor not to conscript himself!
Go to the study room.
Li Shimin looked at the mountain of admonishment chapters, which were as big as two in size.
"This reaction is too big..."
He was a little helpless.
Just pull open a book and put it down.
Pull open another book and put it down again.
The contents are all very similar, and they are all earnest advice and expounding the pros and cons.
In fact, he understands the truth, but this time... he really just wants to be willful!
"It's not that the reaction is too big, but that Your Majesty is being childish."
Fang Xuanling said in a deep voice,
"It's okay to conquer Goguryeo, and there is no objection from the civil and military officials of the entire dynasty."
"But His Majesty can never lead a military expedition in person! Are all the generals of the Tang Dynasty dead? Do we need the emperor to go to the battlefield in person?"
"I think it's just the opposite! I have so many generals in the Tang Dynasty! If you sign up with any number, you can get a lot of them! Such as Li Jing, Li Ji, Cheng Zhijie, Yuchi Gong, Niu Jinda... and so on, countless!"
"These generals are here, why would your Majesty take risks?"
"Even if Goguryeo is difficult to defeat, the worst you can do is appoint Xu Gong as the general manager, right? He can even defeat the Turks, let alone Goguryeo? And he is still young."
"What's the matter, His Majesty doesn't need to go into battle in person!"
The old boss usually speaks very respectfully, but this time, he really didn't care about being respectful!
The emperor is too outrageous!
Li Shimin: "..."
He was about to refute, but Changsun Wuji echoed:
"That's right."
"The emperor should attach great importance to the country, the country, and the country! And the country, the country, and the country should also give priority to the emperor!"
"Think about it, even if you go out on weekdays, you need to arrange security many days in advance to ensure that nothing goes wrong."
"This is a war! Anything can happen on the battlefield, there is no such thing as safety!"
"Your Majesty, think about it, if something happens to you, what will happen to the Tang Dynasty? What will happen to the people of the world?"
"You must consider all of these!"
Li Shimin touched his nose.
"Isn't there a prince..."
He responded, but his confidence was somewhat lacking.
Changsun Wuji glared.
"How old is the prince! Can he take the lead now?!"
"Your Majesty, I have to say something unpleasant... There seems to be something wrong with your thinking! In the past, you put the country, the country, the country, everything else first! What's wrong now? Could it be because Wei Zheng passed away? Are you completely relaxed?"
"This is unacceptable!"
At this moment, even Changsun Wuji was not polite when he spoke.
The emperor's remarks are almost as good as those of Yang Guangyou!
"Okay, okay! These people are already noisy enough. Didn't I call you here to teach me a lesson?"
Li Shimin became a little angry and spat,
"What I want now is two words - support!"
"Either you support me, or you go back to work for me!"
The two looked at each other.
"not support!"
"I resign!"
in unison.
Li Shimin: “@#￥%……&*@#”
At this time, Li Er had no choice but to watch the two people leave, holding his forehead and worrying.
He rarely tastes this kind of "betrayal and alienation"...
Fortunately, he still has one last supporter.
"Summon Xu Fenglei into the palace."
Li Shimin ordered the servant.
…
An hour later.
Xu Fenglei stood in the upper study room, randomly selected a few admonitions and read them with great joy.
"Okay, these are all words from the bottom of my heart!"
"Tsk, tsk... That's a good scolding! But it's even worse than Wei Zheng. Wei Zheng's top-notch yin and yang aura is the pinnacle of remonstrance!"
"Your Majesty, there are still many loyal and good ministers in the Tang Dynasty! They are all in this pile. It's really good. They are all in the court!"
"Hahaha……"
Li Shimin rolled his eyes.
"Did I ask you to come here to praise them?"
he spat,
"Be clear! I want you to come up with ideas!"
"Everyone in the civil and military dynasty was opposed to it, and Fang Xuanling and Changsun Wuji had no room for negotiation! They just made a fool of themselves and left."
"In this situation, what should I do? You should think of something quickly!"
"I will definitely do this personal expedition this time! No matter how many things there are!"
Xu Fenglei grinned.
"Actually, it's not that difficult."
"I have a plan that will allow Your Majesty to achieve his goal."
Li Shimin raised his eyebrows.
"I knew you had a solution!"
"Speak quickly and don't give me any excuses!"
Xu Fenglei didn't hesitate, he went directly to Li Shimin's ear and whispered a few words.
"this……"
Li Er's eyes flickered and hesitantly said,
"Are they crazy?"
"It's even more impossible to agree! By then the court will be in turmoil!"
Xu Fenglei waved his hand.
"People in the Tang Dynasty like to be in the middle. If you ask for the top, you will get the middle. If you ask for the middle, you will get the bottom. If you ask for the bottom, you will not get it."
He responded with a smile,
“When you go all the way to radical, the previous plan seems conservative, and suddenly it seems feasible.”
"You said, don't you?"
Li Shimin stroked his beard, thought for a while, and suddenly laughed.
"It makes sense. You kid...it makes sense."
"In terms of cleverness, it has to be you!"
Xu Fenglei curled his lips.
"I have taught this simple principle to Cheng Qian and the others a long time ago, and they can all learn and apply it."
"Your Majesty, don't make a fuss. These are very basic."
Li Shimin nodded slightly.
"What is Cheng Qian doing now?"
"It's been a few years, you're tired of traveling around, right?"
Xu Fenglei responded:
"The Tang Dynasty is thousands of miles away, and each place has its own characteristics. How can it be boring?"
"He is now walking around with his eldest wife and his little Turkic wife. I don't know how happy he is!"
"A while ago, he wrote a letter, saying that he was as skinny as a monkey, and he even drew a self-portrait of himself, which almost made me laugh to death. This guy... his paintings have an abstract feel. "
Li Shimin was startled.
"He has a letter for you, but he doesn't give it to me, my father."
Li Er sighed lightly,
"After all, I am still with you as my master, and with me as my father, we are like strangers."
"I have actually thought about it, how could my relationship with Cheng Qian be like that?"
"You shouldn't be so harsh and harsh on him, ugh..."
He regretted it a bit.
When I was young I didn't care, but when I got older I felt...it was so unfair to my eldest son.
"It's normal. When Cheng Qian was born, he was a father for the first time after all. He had no experience and was obsessed with hoping that his son would succeed, so he would end up like that."
Xu Fenglei said,
"It would be good to wake up now. After all, we are father and son. As long as we live in harmony for a while and talk openly, all the barriers will be eliminated."
"The most important thing is not to treat him differently. What other princes have, Cheng Qian must also have. You can't be a double standard dog."
Li Shimin nodded with deep understanding.
"You're right... Then, shouldn't I send him a letter and show some concern for him?"
he asked.
Xu Fenglei pondered for a moment and said:
"Okay, but don't ask hard."
"You can adopt a curious tone and ask him which places he has visited that you have never been to before, and what more he has experienced that you have never seen before."
"Before, you always suppressed him, saying that he was not as good as you in every way."
"Now, you can start from this point, put yourself in a lower position, expose your shortcomings, and ask him."
"I think he will be happy to answer it, and he will even feel a sense of accomplishment when he does it."
"In this way, your correspondence will keep going, and your relationship will naturally get better and better."
When Li Shimin heard this, his eyes suddenly lit up and he gave a thumbs up!
"Among other things, you are the one who educates and communicates with children!"
"I admire you! You are indeed a great boy!"
Xu Fenglei smiled.
"It's nothing, it's just a matter of concept."
"I never treat children as children, but treat each of them as an independent individual and treat and communicate with them equally."
"If we do this, there will be no child who cannot communicate."
“I have always believed that communication and education are equally important, or even more important.”
Li Shimin nodded with deep understanding.
"In the whole world, you are the only one who thinks and does this."
"So I said, you are a wonderful flower."
"Your Majesty is so complimentary." Xu Fenglei said with a smile.
At least in the Tang Dynasty, weird was still a complimentary term.
"Actually, I have an idea to let Cheng Qian go to the Turks to establish a feudal state."
Li Shimin turned around and said,
"Ke'er did a great job in Tuyuhun. After a few years of unifying the internal affairs, he actually had enough energy to pursue Tubo's interests!"
"Tubo is now divided into two countries, East and West, competing with each other, so they all please Ke'er. Ke'er plays both sides and reaps a lot of benefits."
"I have a hunch that if I give him twenty years, he will be able to eat the entire Tubo!"
Xu Fenglei nodded.
Of course he knew this. Li Ke also had correspondence with him, and this boy knew how to use the master's resources to do his own things.
Half of Wu Yatou's troops in the Western Region are now working for Li Ke.
If this continues, in less than twenty years, in five years he will be able to disrupt Tubo and take advantage of the chaos to seize its territory, and in ten years he will be able to crush Tubo!
If he can do this, then he is also a super king!
"Seeing that Ke'er has done such a good job, I now agree with your policy more and more, the inner counties and counties, the outer feudalism! This is the broad road for the Tang Dynasty to reach its peak!"
Li Shimin said excitedly,
"Even if they have severed ties with the Central Plains in the next few generations or more, the rulers will still be my descendants and the royal family surnamed Li!"
"I want the Li Tang royal family to spread all over the world!"
"So, I plan to let Cheng Qian inherit this second huge fiefdom...the old land of the Turks. His ability is still very strong. It would be a pity if it was wasted on traveling around."
Xu Fenglei touched his nose.
"He finally got rid of the position of prince, and now you want him to be the king of Turks?"
He said,
"Then I'm afraid he is reluctant..."
Li Shimin shook his head.
"No, no, it's different!"
"There is a huge difference between the two! The burden of Datang Sheji is very heavy, and even I find it difficult sometimes."
"It is very easy to go to the Turkic grasslands to establish a feudal state. He can even do whatever he wants! And with the backing of me and the imperial court, he is allowed to perform freely!"
"Didn't he say before that he wanted to go to the grassland and become a general? Isn't that where he yearns? Now I will help him, give him the entire Turkic grassland, and let him gallop on it!"
"If the country is well run, it is all his credit; if it is messed up, I will wipe his ass!"
"There's no reason not to agree!"
Xu Fenglei scratched his head.
This seems to make sense!
It sounds really cool...
"The main thing is that I still want my own bloodline to be enfeoffed, rather than letting foreign officials establish a feudal state."
Li Shimin said in a deep voice,
"At the very least, the talented ones from our own bloodline will be sealed first, and the others... we will wait until we have no choice."
For Li Er, regarding such a major matter as enfeoffment, he did not want to grant enfeoffment to any of his own sons or even the uncles and brothers in the clan, let alone meritorious foreign ministers.
After all...those people are not his kind!
In his ideal model, even if the Pan-Datang Dynasty was torn apart in the future and each became many independent kingdoms, the ancestors of each country would still recognize him, Li Shimin!
"Your Majesty is understandable for thinking this way."
Xu Fenglei nodded and said,
"My own sons and nephews may not be reliable, let alone foreign ministers?"
"Now let's entrust the direct princes to each other first. I estimate that in a hundred years, when the Tang Dynasty is in crisis, we will loosen the seal and use it to extend the life of the dynasty."
Li Er nodded in approval.
They are all people who are familiar with history books, and they never have naive ideas about eternal history.
A crisis has broken out in the dynasty. If there is a way to solve the crisis and continue it, it would be good.
"Actually, among the foreign ministers, I quite trust you and can give you a territory to build the country."
Li Shimin said with a half-smile,
"It's a pity that you have no descendants."
"It can only be passed down to one generation, so that's definitely not possible..."
Xu Fenglei glared.
"I have descendants! Wu Erya is my descendant!"
He said angrily,
"If Your Majesty is willing, you can give me the title! Then I will pass the title to her and let her be a queen or something."
"In the future, if she has any heirs, we will pass it on again."
Li Shimin was a little stunned.
"Are you too kind to this girl? Do you really want to give her all the resources and inheritance in the future?"
Li Er said curiously,
"Can you tell me why this is?"
Xu Fenglei shrugged.
"Do you know why I wrote the Tao Te Ching?" he asked.
"Uh... I don't know." Li Shimin answered truthfully, and then said, "You know?"
"Because I am happy!"
Xu Fenglei choked.
Li Shimin: "@#￥%...&*@!!!"
(End of chapter)
