Don't be a prince

Hearing the old man's words, Li Chengqian couldn't help but widen his eyes: "You mean, you want the boy to use you as an excuse to do things? No, no, how can this be possible!"

It's too bad to use the old man as a shield!

The old man said nonchalantly: "If you are told to do this, you should do it. In the future, if the crown prince's name is not easy to come forward, you will use the old man's name. Don't talk about you, isn't the emperor doing the same thing? Let alone Civil and military officials all choose to take the blame for the emperor, even the empress, don't they have to take the blame for the emperor?

Do you still remember the purpose of building Chongwen Hall?It stands to reason that such a big matter must be announced in the court, and then the Ministry of Industry will be appointed to handle it.The results of it?It was the queen's decree that was passed on to the East Palace, and it was also the queen's decree that was passed on to the Ministry of Industry.It sounds nice, saying that the prince is young, so the empress can also intervene in the construction of the palace in the East Palace.But judging from the fact that the Ministry of Industry did not even resist the edict, from top to bottom they want you to pay for it.

Hehe, everyone knows that plotting against the crown prince as a child has a bad reputation.Otherwise, why is it not an imperial decree but a Yi decree?Have you figured it out yet?boy! "

Li Chengqian smiled awkwardly, there was no need for the old man to say anything about Yizhi, he also made a rough guess.The fact is that the superior will never make mistakes, and the one who makes mistakes will always be the subordinates.This principle applies to ancient and modern China and foreign countries.

It’s rare that the old man has the kindness to help him “take the blame”, Li Chengqian smiled, walked to the old man’s side and whispered in his ear: “Since you have talked to this extent, why don’t you give my farm a name? Just to publicize that you opened it?"

"Farm?"

Li Gang's hand trembled, and the ink blackened the character "Lu" he had just written.

Throwing away the note and putting away the pen, Li Gang said confusedly: "Why are you tinkering with the farm when you have nothing to do? This thing comes in quickly? Not necessarily, but Yongsheng Winery was closed by you and turned into a grain merchant hoarding grain. As a result, the old man can't even drink good wine, and he has to ask for it from the palace."

The locust plague cannot be discussed, so Li Chengqian could only say: "The purpose of opening a breeding farm is naturally for the Prince's relatives. You also know that before the construction of the Chongwen Museum, the biggest expense of the East Palace was the Prince's relatives. Training soldiers, meat is not as good as How to do it, so I came up with the idea of ​​opening a breeding farm. Now it can supply the consumption of the prince’s relatives, and when the scale expands in the future, it can also supply the military supplies of the sixteen guards, isn’t it the best of both worlds?”

Li Gang glanced at Li Chengqian suspiciously, lowered his head and finished writing the note "Received by Duke Lu's Mansion", and then made up his mind: "Since you think the farm is not good under the name of Donggong, it is not a problem for me to take care of it. Just not I know, the old man can still help you get a name for a few years."

After sighing with emotion, the old gentleman put down his pen.

Obviously, he had only been writing for a while, and his wrist was already hurting.

Time is not forgiving!

He was most afraid of hearing the old man talk about death. Li Chengqian couldn't help but reach out to help the old man massage his wrist, and said while massaging, "Your old man is already 81 this year. Except for walking, which meal is missing? Live to your age Age, what is needed most is carefulness, self-cultivation and self-cultivation. The more you talk about death all day, the worse your body will be. If you think about it, you can live! Now you are teaching the boy, and the boy is still waiting for you to marry me people, even teaching my children!"

Li Gang squinted his eyes, enjoying Li Chengqian's massage with peace of mind.

Throughout his life in the ups and downs of the officialdom, he has seen too many intrigues.He thinks that his grasp of people's hearts will not be insane. At this moment, what he feels in the prince's words is sincerity.

Yang Yong, who taught first, was killed by his younger brother, and Li Jiancheng, who taught later, was also killed by his younger brother. He also knew that his reputation was not very good, so he especially hoped that Li Chengqian would not follow in the footsteps of his two senior brothers.

Eight-year-old looks old, and now the eight-year-old prince has shown wisdom beyond that of adults.There are no major shortcomings in character. Although he is a bit kind, the emperor does not necessarily have to be ruthless to be able to do it.

One old and one young have a massage, and the other enjoys the massage, completely forgetting the time.

Of course, they don't know that every box of moon cakes will be stamped with the seal of the inner palace by the steward of the inner palace on the back of the prince's seal when they leave the palace.

Now that the imperial dining room has not mastered the method of making moon cakes, it can only bring the shadow of the imperial palace through this method.

The mustard cakes for the Mid-Autumn Festival to reward the officials have already been made, so in order not to waste them, they can only be distributed.However, no matter in terms of color, fragrance, or packaging, Hu Cakes cannot compare with Donggong's moon cakes.Li Shimin had no choice but to bite the bullet and plagiarize his son's achievements.

When the mooncakes are finished, it will be the Mid-Autumn Festival.

The Mid-Autumn Festival banquet will be held in Lizheng Hall as usual.It was really Li Shimin's helpless move to combine the political hall and the banquet hall.The imperial palace is only such a big place, and the Tai Chi Hall, where the court meeting normally takes place, has been taken over by the Supreme Emperor. If there is any extra money in the inner palace to build a new palace, it can only be done like this.

The banquet begins at the end of the day, and when all the people are present, it is already time to apply.

It was rare for Li Gang to agree to attend the banquet, and the emperor thoughtfully arranged his seat next to Li Chengqian so that he could be taken care of easily.

Regardless of this point, as Li Gang is popular, no one will be unconvinced staying here.

Since Feng Deyi's death, Gao Shilian was the only one left in the court who could discuss friendship with the old gentleman.As for Gao Shilian, he also consciously lowered his status and respected the old man as his superior.

When the food and wine were served, Li Chengqian couldn't help but sighed when he saw four mooncakes placed on a plate and delivered to the table.It seems that the method of making moon cakes has also been taken away by the Imperial Dining Room.

This is unreasonable, the emperor is Li Shimin, and the prince is Li Chengqian. Although it is a father-son relationship, the son must accept the rule of the father.Although the East Palace Kitchen is independent from the Imperial Dining Room, it is still a vassal of the Imperial Dining Room.Whatever the superior wants from the subordinate, the subordinate must give it unconditionally.What's more, this superior is the emperor.

In the first year of Yuanguang, Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty, the emperor issued an edict to seek the strategy of governing the country. Dong Zhongshu combined Confucianism with the social needs of the time in the famous "Countermeasures for Promoting the Virtuous", and absorbed the theories of other schools, creating a Confucianism as the core. His new ideological system won the appreciation of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.

This guy systematically put forward the theories of "interaction between heaven and man", "great unification" and "all those who are not in the disciplines of the six arts and the art of Confucius, all of them have their own way, so don't make progress at the same time". The idea of ​​"abolishing all schools of thought and respecting Confucianism alone" was adopted by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, making Confucianism the orthodox thought of Chinese society, with an influence of more than 2000 years.

Centered on Confucian patriarchal law, mixed with the theory of yin and yang and the five elements, it runs through theocratic power, monarchy, patriarchal power, and husband power to form a system of imperial theology.Such an ideological center is really suitable for governance.

In relation to the imperial court, the emperor was ordered by the sky, representing the will of the sky to rule the world.The courtiers are ordered by the monarch, and the lower officials are ordered by the upper officials; in terms of social relations, the common people are ordered by the nobles, and the humble people are ordered by all the commoners and nobles.In terms of family relations, the wife and son are all ordered by the head of the household.

It seems that this is a good way to realize the division of ranks and have a good impact on internal unity, but it also bounds people's thinking virtually, making subordinates have to act according to the thoughts of the monarch, and sons must obey the teachings of their fathers.The negative impact is that the country will be in chaos if the monarch is licentious, and if the father is stubborn, the children will not know how to adapt.

This goes on...

Half a mooncake was placed in front of Li Chengqian, and Li Gang's voice sounded, waking Li Chengqian from his thoughts.

"Boy, I can't eat such a big piece, so I'll share it with you. Seeing that you are lost in thought while looking at the mooncake, tell me, what did you think of?"

Li Chengqian shook his head repeatedly with the mooncake in his mouth.

What are you thinking?You can't say it even if you kill him!

Do you want to question the Confucianism that has been passed down for seven to eight hundred years?Don't die!

Questioning it here is like slandering God in front of Christians, heh, it will be cheap for you to go to the stake.

Sun Chong, the head of the banquet today, didn't come over. When the Chongwen Museum is completed, this guy will come back to study, so now he is training himself in the military barracks desperately.When I saw Li Dejian a few days ago, he didn't change much, except that the fluffy summer clothes stuck to his belly due to sweat, and he could clearly see eight pieces of lean meat.

They are all lunatics, after hard training in the military camp, they will inevitably become bodybuilding champions.

Changsun Chong was not there, so Changsun Wuji gave up his position to Gao Shilian so that the two old gentlemen could talk.

Glancing at Li Chengqian in relief, Gao Shilian smiled and said to Li Gang: "There is no hero at the time to make you a thief as a teacher. How about it, old man, are you satisfied with me, the prince's grandson?"

The worst thing to see was Gao Shilian's blind look, Li Gang glanced at him, snorted coldly and said: "Gao Jian, look clearly, the one sitting next to this old man is the Crown Prince of the Tang Dynasty, you don't call him His Highness as a courtier Distant relatives, what kind of dignity!"

Gao Shilian didn't care at all, he laughed and said: "What's the matter with calling grandson? Doesn't his mother call me uncle in front of the old man? My own grandson is doing well, and the old man is very happy, what's the matter!"

Li Gang pouted: "Then he is also from the Li family, not Gao from your family!"

Gao Shilian: "..."

...

The two respectable old men seemed to be quarreling, but no matter whether it was Li Chengqian on the left or Changsun Wuji on the right, they all turned their heads to one side and had nothing to do with themselves.They are not qualified to participate in such a high-level quarrel. If they are forced to get involved by that one, they will only be scolded bloody and cannot fight back.

Fortunately, the golden bell rang, and the two emperors entered the arena, and all the officials and relatives had to be solemn.

Picking up the wine glass, Li Shimin said in high spirits: "Dear relatives, dear friends, it's the Mid-Autumn Festival, and there are no disasters around my Tang Dynasty. Most of the people from the emperor to the common people can be reunited. Let's drink and celebrate the festival together!"

The emperor toasted, and everyone below also toasted.

Different from the New Year's banquet, the seat on the right side should have been occupied by the royal family, but at this time only a few people occupied it.At this time, there were many courtiers above the main hall, and even Lao Niu, who seldom attended palace banquets, got a seat.

Seeing that few children appeared here, Li Yuan's complexion suddenly became darker, and he did not give a speech. He sat behind the emperor's large table, quietly acting like a wooden man.

From the position of the table, we can also see the change of his current status.

During the New Year banquet, his table was still on the left of Li Shimin, slightly forward.But now, he was on the right side of the emperor, and the table was tilted, more like a wine companion than the emperor.

Knowing that the relationship between the father and son is not very good, so those who see this are silent.

Just like at the New Year's Eve banquet, there are beautiful dancers wearing long-sleeved clothes, entering the venue and dancing a soft hypnotic dance.

The so-called Mid-Autumn Festival banquet is actually a meal for the officials.It would be better if they were both generals, but if they got tired of drinking, it would be fine for the two of them to fight.But this is a banquet where civil and military personnel gather, and they will be scolded for playing with knives, so the generals all dutifully drank and ate meat.Even Cheng Yaojin, who was the most noisy, just drank with the left and right, and didn't bother anyone who was next to him.

This kind of banquet is a bit monotonous, so at the end of the table, a civil servant walked out and saluted the emperor through the dancing girl.

Finally, when he came out to liven up the atmosphere, Li Shimin smiled slightly, asked the dancers to step aside, and asked, "He Aiqing, do you want to write a poem for the festive season when you stand up?"

Although He Changzong of Yushitai was just an inconspicuous official, in Li Shimin's eyes, the court officials were irrespective of size, and every name and information was in his mind.

He Changzong saluted again and said: "Today coincides with the Mid-Autumn Festival, I would like to compose a poem to cheer up your majesty and colleagues: "Mid-Autumn Festival", the cool night of Mid-Autumn Festival, a good reunion festival. The world celebrates the day, and the monarchs and ministers have a short rest."

After reading, He Changzong fell to his knees, waiting for the emperor's reward.

Li Shimin closed his eyes and looked back at the poem. Although the artistic conception is a bit tricky, and the wording and arrangement are not very good, but the last sentence "the monarch and his ministers have a short rest" compared with the previous sentence describing the festive season, highlights the diligence of the emperor and his ministers in their daily life. .Although the poetry is not very good, but this flattery makes him very comfortable.

Nodding in satisfaction, Li Shimin said with a smile: "Aiqing's poem, um...not bad, you have been in Yushitai for three years, I will transfer you to the official department for training, if..."

Before the emperor finished speaking, two voices of dissent appeared below:

"Hold on, Your Majesty!"

"Father, wait a minute!"

Li Shimin couldn't help holding back what he was about to say.Looking down, both Wei Zheng and the prince stood up.

Just as Wei Zheng wanted to speak, he saw that the crown prince had also come out, so he could only retreat first.

Li Chengqian looked at the old gentleman behind him helplessly, and said bravely: "Father, He Yushi has a poem to present, and my ministers are also willing to compose a poem. Please appreciate it, all ministers!"

Hearing that the prince was going to compose a poem, the officials immediately became interested.It is said that the prince is a hundred times smarter than ordinary people, but today he needs to see and see.

Li Shimin did not object to his son's performance.

I was afraid that this kid wanted to compare with He Changzong when he interrupted before.

With such thoughts in mind, Li Shimin nodded and said: "Since that's the case, you can read it. Most of the court officials are well-educated and well-known officials, and they can also comment on it for you."

Li Chengqian nodded, and searched his brains to find a suitable ancient poem that could be used to plagiarize: "Today is the Mid-Autumn Festival, and I suddenly remembered how I felt when I saw the full moon in the sky during the Mid-Autumn Festival, so I pretended to write a poem." "Moon" is ugly: I didn't know the moon when I was young, and I called it a white jade plate. I also doubted the Yaotai mirror, flying in the blue clouds."

After reading, Li Chengqian straightened his waist and made a square bow.

Chapter 123

It is a bit difficult to search out a poem temporarily, and it must meet the identity of a child at this time.

When it comes to Mid-Autumn Poems, the first thing that comes to mind is "Shui Tiao Ge Tou", but even if it is memorized, who would think it was written by the prince?

For eight-year-old children, the first four sentences of "Gu Lang Yue Xing" are more suitable.

clap clap clap!

Loud high-fives sounded, Wei Zheng stood up from his seat, bowed and said: "His Royal Highness's poems, although there are no gorgeous rhetoric, are very practical and full of childishness. Imagine when I was young, didn't I also write The moon is called a white jade plate."

Wei Zheng's comments received a lot of echoes. It is already very good for the eight-year-old prince to write such a poem.And judging from the way the prince was thinking hard when he first stood up, he probably figured it out now, which is rare.

Amidst the echoes, Wei Zheng bowed again and said to the emperor: "Your Majesty, since even the eight-year-old crown prince can compose good poems, I feel that composing poems should be like this, and it's not a difficult task." He Changzong was promoted because of his poetry, so my official position in Tang Dynasty would be too cheap."

Li Shimin shook his head helplessly, and He Changzong looked miserable.

From the moment Wei Zheng stood up, it showed that this matter could not be passed easily.If the crown prince hadn't written a poem, I'm afraid old man Wei's words would have been even worse, and the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet might have turned into a quarrel between the imperial censor and the emperor.

Covering his forehead and waving his hands, Li Shimin said helplessly: "He Changzong, you heard it too. Since Wei Zheng is reluctant to let you go, you can continue to stay at Yushitai. Come on, dance and music continue!"

He Changzong returned to his seat with regret on his face. Before Wei Zheng left, he bowed to Li Chengqian before turning and leaving.

Li Chengqian touched his nose and returned to his seat.

As soon as they sat down, Li Gang and Gao Shilian laughed.

After taking a sip of the wine, Li Gang said: "Boy, you need to learn more about observing words and demeanor. If you hadn't gone out to help just now, Wei Zheng and the emperor might have quarreled. When you get older, you will follow the court to watch Zheng, although it is one of the duties of the prime minister to reconcile the relationship between the officials and the emperor, you, the prince, are also the same."

Gao Shilian said helplessly: "Although the emperor ordered not to offer slanderous words, he really likes this. He Changzong really chose the right time, the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet, and offered poems. If you are promoted because of this, no one will say much It's just that this guy underestimates his immediate boss!"

It's nothing to say here, whether it's Li Gang or Li Chengqian, they all know that this official named He Changzong may have a difficult life in the future.As long as you flatter the emperor once, you will be labeled as "lucky" and rejected by your colleagues.What's more, he has offended Wei Zheng by taking the risk this time, and there is no room for him in Yushitai.

After being disturbed by He Changzong, the ministers who originally planned to compose poems chose to keep silent, and only danced softly.

It's just eating if you continue, it's not interesting.Li Gang wiped his beard clean, stood up with Li Chengqian's support, and said to the emperor: "Your Majesty, the old minister is too drunk to drink, I implore Your Majesty to allow you to leave early."

Li Shimin got up and said anxiously: "Since that's the case, I will send someone to send Master Li back."

Li Gang shook his head, put his hand on Li Chengqian's shoulder, and left the Lizheng Hall step by step.

After walking out of the palace gate, I immediately felt that the air was much better.

Li Chengqian chuckled, and said, "Master Li, we both escaped halfway. Fortunately, you are our shield, otherwise, the boy would have to survive inside."

Sitting on the wheelchair pushed by the guards, Li Gang smiled slightly: "This is the benefit of being older, just wait a moment, there are probably people behind us."

Sure enough, after a while, two more people in the hall left the table halfway.

When he got closer, Li Chengqian realized that these two people were actually Gao Shilian and Changsun Wuji.

But that's right, the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty were the only ones who were qualified to leave the emperor's banquet and take one person with them.

As they got closer, Gao Shilian said: "The old thief is cunning, and he left the banquet halfway. Fortunately, he still knows how to wait for the old man. How about it, do you have some wine ready?"

Li Gang laughed loudly: "Fortunately, the old man prepared some, otherwise you would have caught me, come, come, and get drunk in the East Palace!"

Two old guys, one walking and the other pushing a wheelchair, walked ahead while laughing and cursing.

Li Chengqian glanced at his eldest grandson Wuji, and the uncle and nephew could only follow behind obediently.

This is the time exclusively for the two old people, they can only watch from behind, and cannot get involved.

During the Mid-Autumn Festival, the East Palace naturally has activities.

Different from the solemn harem, the maids and eunuchs in the East Palace, including the guards, are a bit outrageous.