Traveling through the Gaowu Tang Dynasty, Li Kuan and Li Shimin became the second sons of the Prince

"I have heard about this from Zhang Nan." A bunch of ministers were so polite to him. In the past, His Royal Highness the King of Chu would have jumped for joy, but now, he just felt irritated: "According to my analysis, those two bastards from the Western Turks want to take advantage of the possible civil unrest in the Tang Dynasty to add fuel to the fire and profit from it.

However, the current situation has not developed as they expected, so I believe that it won’t be long before their letter begging for mercy will arrive in Chang’an.

"Your Highness, what the Prince of Chu said makes sense." As the Minister of the Honglu Temple, Tang Jian naturally had to say a few fair words at this time: "In fact, if I were to say, the courage of the Western Turks had long been defeated by Your Highness, the Prince of Chu. Your Majesty, you don't know that the letters sent by Siyehu Khan and Yibishekui Khan were sent to Chang'an by military messengers at an expedited speed of 800 miles after entering Yumen Pass. So I guess that the other party should not know that Your Highness, the Prince of Chu drew his sword in the Taiji Hall a few days ago to protect His Highness the Crown Prince. If the other party knew the truth, I don't think they would still have the courage to march south."

"I am looking forward to them doing so." His Royal Highness the King of Chu did not give his foolish father a chance to continue: "Lord Tang, you have no idea how much I want to go to the Western Regions to meet those two idiots. Hey... and they are marching south. I will smash their dreams of becoming the Wolf King with one blow!"

"Your Highness, the King of Chu, are you planning to send troops to the Western Regions again?" Fang Xuanling was the prime minister, so he naturally had to look at the problem from the overall perspective: "But the government is in a tight financial situation right now..."

"First of all, I have no say on whether to send out troops or not." His Royal Highness the King of Chu has a clear conscience, and he doesn't need to indulge anyone now: "Secondly, whether I am willing to lead the army or not, no one else's say has any say - I have to be willing to do so myself."

"Brother Kuan..." His Royal Highness the Crown Prince considered the matter to be of great importance, so after thinking about it, he decided to speak up and persuade the King of Chu.

"If the prince wants to have a say here, he will probably have to wait at least another two years." When His Royal Highness the Prince of Chu said this, everyone in the hall was shocked.

"..." His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was finally speechless.

"Today's discussion ends here." - Seeing the conversation taking a turn for the worse, His Majesty Li II, who was sitting behind the imperial desk, finally spoke up: "My dear ministers, please leave for now. I have some private matters to discuss with the King of Chu."

"Your Majesty..." When Emperor Li II said this, the ministers immediately panicked.

The majesty that His Royal Highness the Prince of Chu exudes in his every move is no less than that of you back then...

You can’t play “circling the pole” with this guy with the straps in your hand anymore… If you’re not careful… something bad might happen…

"We father and son just want to talk about private matters, please go away!" - When His Majesty Li II gets angry, no one will not be afraid except the King of Chu.

So...soon, only Li Kuan and Emperor Li II, father and son, were left in the imperial study. Even Li Chengqian, the crown prince, was asked to leave by Zhang Nan.

"Tell me, what do you want?" - It was difficult for Emperor Li Er to comment on the result of his own test: "I find that I can no longer see through you..."

"I will go to the Western Regions again and defeat the Western Turks." His Royal Highness the King of Chu did not waste words with the other party. Negotiations were just negotiations. Everyone had bargaining chips: "After that, I will go to Qiongzhou to be a vassal. From now on... I will stay there honestly."

“Qiongzhou?” His Majesty Li II had never expected that Li Kuan would choose such an uninhabited fiefdom for him: “Even if you are angry with me, there is no need to be so…”

"I haven't put forward any conditions yet, so Dad, don't start to feel bad now." His Royal Highness the Prince of Chu smiled when he heard this: "Today, there are only us father and son here, so I will say it again - I really don't want your position, and I can't want it."

"I believe it." For the first time, His Majesty Li II actually approved of his son's words: "Kuan'er, you had a falling out with your elder brother in front of everyone during the grand court meeting before, and you just did it again. The reason... I'm afraid it's to dispel the fear that your future father may have towards your elder brother, worrying that he will... - Kuan'er, Dad really admires you..."

"I don't admit what you said." His Royal Highness the King of Chu blinked his eyes and said, "You don't need to admire me."

"Your 'non-acknowledgement', in my father's words... means 'non-denial'..." His Majesty Li II looked at his son who had suffered so many setbacks in a short period of time but still stood as strong as a pine tree. He couldn't help but feel a pang of regret in his heart: "Starting from your royal grandfather, in the three generations of the Li family, you are actually the most outstanding one..."

"My aunt is the best." His Royal Highness the King of Chu had to clarify one thing: "Dad, I have always wanted to tell you that I like the nickname 'Longyou Qilin', not because the nickname itself is so rare or dazzling, but because this title was given to me by my aunt."

……

After hearing his son's sincere words, Emperor Li II was silent for a long time before he slowly said, "Tell me your conditions."

"First, I hope that the court can exempt Hebei Province from taxes for ten years in the next ten years." The first thing His Royal Highness the King of Chu said was a bold request.

"Why are you doing this?" The wise and powerful Emperor Li II found that he really couldn't understand his own son.

"For the long-term stability of the Tang Dynasty in the future." Seeing that the other party did not agree to him immediately, His Royal Highness the King of Chu continued: "In fact, I haven't finished speaking yet. The tax exemption will be mine!"

"Are you really doing this for the long-term stability of the Tang Dynasty?" His Majesty Li II narrowed his eyes when he heard this: "I..."

"——If I want to rebel, no one can stop me." His Royal Highness the King of Chu really didn't have the patience to waste time talking to the man in front of him: "The people of Hebei Dao have suffered too much. Even though the prosperous times have come, they still have suffered too much. This king thinks this is unfair."

"There are so many unfair things in this world." His Majesty Li II frowned upon hearing this: "You are still too naive..."

"But I want this fairness now!" In the imperial study, the young prince suddenly burst out with unprecedented arrogance: "Although I have not read much, to this day, I still feel that the most impressive sentence in the vast collection of classics and histories should be Mencius's 'The people are the most important, the king is the least important, and the country is the second most important!' (Note 1)

However, as I get older, I find that although people read the books of sages, they do not use the teachings in the books to do things - is there something wrong with the teachings of the sages?

No, it’s just that the correct path that the saints have pointed out to us is too difficult and too painful, and few people are willing to take it.

And now I want to walk that difficult road!

Therefore...if Your Majesty dares not give me this fairness, I will find a way to ask for it myself! "