It's no wonder, they say the emperor in troubled times is the fat pig in prosperous times.
When the Tang Dynasty was just founded, there were many generals with outstanding military exploits and strong martial arts among the royal family, from Emperor Taizong Li Shimin to some county princes, such as Hejian Prince Li Xiaogong.
However, as the prosperous age gradually grew, members of the royal family inevitably became arrogant and licentious. Emperor Taizong's instructions that "future generations must not give up martial arts" fell on deaf ears.
The emperor could not escape. As the most direct spokesperson of the Tang Dynasty, he naturally could not slack off. But among the princes, those who are good at martial arts are really rare. As for King Yong, apart from studying Confucian classics in his early years, he only had fun.
It is under this background and premise that Li Xian's performance today is absolutely shocking. So much so that it shocked the emperor's Golden Palace.
The Jinluan Hall was one of the emperor's bedrooms, and it was transformed into a structure similar to a mourning hall. Inside the wide hall, there was only a huge incense burner and a spiritual throne.
At this time, Li Zhi was kneeling in front of the incense burner.
There are always three sticks of incense burning in the incense burner and they are never cut off.
No matter who it is, if they see Li Zhi at this time, they will not associate him with the emperor of the Tang Dynasty.
Not to mention the messy hair mixed with white hair, which was stained with oil, even the linen clothes had small holes everywhere burned by the candlelight.
The sudden death of Prince Li Hong, the tragedy of a white-haired man giving away a black-haired man, is something that no one can bear, even if he is the emperor. Not to mention that he was in the palace in Luoyang. On the eve of Li Hong's sudden death, he ordered some memorials to be sent there in order to take the exam for the crown prince.
These days, Li Zhi has always believed that it was his fault. It was those painstaking memorials that cost the child his life.
Poor parents all over the world say that the emperor is heartless, but the emperor is also a human being, and it is impossible for him to turn a blind eye and excuse himself for the sudden death of his own child.
Seeing the emperor like this from a distance, Jiang Hao, the internal affairs manager of the Daming Palace, also felt the same way. He couldn't help but lower his voice and called softly twice: "Saint, saint."
Li Zhi, who had closed his eyes in deep thought, opened his eyes, glanced at the half-burned sandalwood in the incense burner, sighed, and moved to face Jiang Hao without getting up.
Pulling away the mucus between his lips, Li Zhi's hoarse voice sounded: "What's the matter? But the ministers want me to stop mourning and go back to court?"
Jiang Hao shook his head repeatedly: "No, saint, the ministers in the court also know how miserable you are at this time, and no one has sent a memorial to invite you to come to court. However, the servant sent a letter saying that There are some private things that I need to talk to the saint. Li Xing, the former head of internal affairs, also sent a letter today, presumably to report the matter in Prince Yong's Mansion."
"oh?"
Li Zhi was not surprised that Zhang Wenguan wrote to him. As a servant, he had the responsibility to accuse the emperor of his faults. You don't need to read that letter, it's also discussed to go back to court. The reason why there is no memorial is a reflection of Zhang Wenguan's personal qualities.
When you are an official, especially a high-ranking official like Shi Zhong, you have to think twice before making any move.
Apart from anything else, if Zhang Wenguan had presented the memorial first, he would have been followed by a large number of memorials asking the emperor to return to court. If no one takes the lead, ministers will not do such things that offend the emperor.
As for following the trend....
If the law does not punish everyone, even if the emperor gets angry, the only one who will be unlucky in the end is the leader. After all, the ministers' memorials were well-founded. The emperor had the privilege to do whatever he wanted, but he also had to have a certain degree of restraint.
Li Zhi still admired Zhang Wenguan. Although he knew that the content of the letter would not be too comfortable, he still ordered Jiang Hao to get it.
The noon sun passed through the palace gate and shone just on the letter. After checking that there were no problems with the traces of Huoqi and Zhang Wenguan's unique secret letter, Li Zhi opened the letter.
The first piece of paper was full of writing, and the content was just as Li Zhi expected. It was a tactful request to the emperor not to be too sad. Now the government has been delayed for many days, especially regarding the Anton Protectorate. Without the emperor's participation, ministers It’s really inconvenient to decide.
What happened at the Anton Protectorate?
Li Zhi just thought about it and guessed what was going on.
Since the Tang Dynasty destroyed Goguryeo in the first year of Zongzhang and established the Andong Protectorate in Pyongyang, the survivors of Goguryeo. Just always restless.
Attack their country, plunder their land, and be kind to their people.
This is the standard process of war to destroy a country.
If you want to make the people of Xinna land obey your orders, you'd better treat them well and let them know that the new ruler is much better than the original ruler.
However, such a policy is time-limited after all. It has been seven years since the first year of the General Chapter. Seven years have passed, but the survivors still have not returned.
In this case....
The word "kill" only appeared for a moment before it was snuffed out by Li Zhi.
Killing people is not feasible. There are hundreds of thousands of people in Goguryeo. If they are all killed, the evil name of the Tang Dynasty will not be cleansed.
However, in the final analysis, Goguryeo's problem still needs to be solved.
Just when Li Zhi was thinking a lot, he felt something strange in his hands.
There was obviously a signature at the end of the first piece of letter paper, but there was another piece of paper under it.
How is this going?
Li Zhi opened the first piece of paper and just glanced at it. He was attracted by the content on the second piece of paper.
After reading the letter, a rare smile appeared on Li Zhi's face these days: "Haha, it's rare that you have a filial heart to your brother. Compared with you, Li Xian has fallen behind. On the way back Not to mention procrastinating in every possible way, every time I go to a more prosperous place, I always eat and drink a lot."
Li Zhi was really disappointed with Li Xian, as he had to delay his return to Chang'an until after he was buried.
In comparison, Li Xian is much better.
Thinking of this, Li Zhi raised his head and said to Jiang Hao: "Where is Li Yun's letter? Get it for me."
Jiang Hao did not turn around, but took out Li Yun's letter from his arms.
After also checking the presence of paint and confidentiality measures, Li Zhi opened the envelope.
After reading it again, the smile on Li Zhi's face suddenly became brighter.
"Practice martial arts? Although I haven't seen you for many years, I still remember your chopstick-thick arms and legs. However, it's good to be able to persevere and gain Li Yun's respect. It seems that you really have the determination to persevere. Anyway, I Let’s see if you can persevere first. If you can, I will naturally have the best people to teach you the art of archery.”
After laughing for a while, Li Zhi stopped smiling and became confused involuntarily when he thought about the past.
He knew Li Xian relatively well. After all, he taught him personally for a while when he was young.
According to his understanding, Li Xian's performance should not be much better than Li Xian's when he came back for the funeral.
But what happened to such a huge change?
