Tiantang Splendid

Chapter 4054 Drawing the Line
Seeing the servants of the Fang family come forward to receive the congratulatory gift, and opened it to check on the spot, Zhang Xingcheng's face was blackened, and he held back his anger and said, "Don't the Duke of Yue feel that this is too impolite?"

When guests come to the door, let alone prepare gifts, even if they come empty-handed, it is still a favor. How can there be any reason to inspect the gifts on the spot?This is simply a slap in the face, and he has never encountered such humiliation in his middle age.

Fang Jun squinted his eyes and smiled, he didn't look rude at all: "You are exaggerating what you said. You said 'boli' first, and then I followed the lead and said that I need to check it out. It's just a joke. Is it true that if you are a miser, you should first check whether the gift is valuable or not? Even if you say this, no one will believe it! You are also an important minister now, but you can’t even afford such a little joke? You have a bit of air Narrow."

Zhang Xingcheng was so angry that he almost fainted, he slapped me in the face like you, are you kidding me?

The servant over there checked the congratulatory gift and was about to report back, but was interrupted by Fang Jun waving his hand and shouted: "Idiot who has no eyesight, I was just joking with Zhang Shangshu, and you actually ran to check the congratulatory gift, so rude How can you do it? Hurry up and apologize to Zhang Shangshu, if Zhang Shangshu refuses to forgive, I will kill you and throw you in front of Zhang Shangshu's house to make an apology!"

"... ho!"

Zhang Xingcheng smiled angrily, nodded, turned around and left: "Since the Duke of Yue doesn't welcome you, I won't bother you any more, and I'll take my leave."

Fang Jun hurriedly shouted: "When you come to the door, you are a guest. You have not even had a glass of water and wine with a gift. If you leave like this, won't the world laugh at my Fang Er for not being polite?"

Zhang Xingcheng who walked to the door heard this, turned back, held the repacked gift in his hand, and said through gritted teeth: "Then I'll take the gift away, just pretend I haven't been here, and leave!"

Turned around and strode out the front door.

Fang Jun: "..."

I didn't expect this person to be so hot-tempered...

……

After returning to the main hall and taking his seat, Li Chengqian wondered, "Where is Zhang Shangshu?"

Fang Jun looked at King Wei and King Jin at the side, lowered his voice and told what happened just now...

Li Chengqian was surprised and said: "Zhang Shangshu has just taken office, it is a favor to be able to come to congratulate him in person, how can you drive him away?"

Fang Jun spread his hands and said, "Weichen was just making a joke. Who knew that Zhang Shangshu didn't know how to tease and got angry. Weichen is also very regretful. I'll come to the door to apologize another day."

Li Chengqian glanced at him and remained silent.

Li Tai sneered: "This is absolutely unnecessary. Anyway, your Fang family and the Shandong family have deep entanglements, and it is absolutely impossible to completely separate them. Besides, Zhang Xingcheng's visit may not necessarily represent the Shandong family to recruit you into the group. It's just that I personally have a good impression of you, even if you invite him in, Royal Father will definitely not feel jealous because of it."

Apart from taking the initiative to draw a clear line with the Shandong family, why did Fang Jun offend Zhang Xingcheng so desperately?
However, he also has to admit that Fang Jun knows how to be an official. Generally speaking, connections above the officialdom are more important than ability.But at a certain level, the meaning of "wide network" is often not a good thing. The emperor never cares about his courtiers treating each other as enemies. ...

If a state of balance and restriction cannot be established among the ministers, then the emperor may be completely emptied, which is extremely dangerous.For example, in those prosperous times in history, or the era when officials ruled Qingming, most of them were positive and negative at the top of the court. No matter how bad it was, the high-level ideas were at odds and tit-for-tat.

Relatively speaking, historically, the confrontation in the Zhenguan Dynasty has been extremely relaxed. After all, His Majesty Li Er's prestige among the courtiers is rare in ancient and modern times...

Fang Jun shook his head, holding the pot and wanted to pour tea for everyone, but Cen Changqian who was nimble at the side snatched the teapot away...

"The Shandong family has been away from the court for too long. Now that Guanlong has collapsed and the center is vacant, they have been able to enter the court in large numbers. The children of the clan are all placed in important positions. The power has skyrocketed. It is inevitable that ambition will breed and they will act without fear. And their ideas are rotten. Knowing the art of power and strategy, not understanding people's livelihood and economics, his energy is all about fighting for power and profit, which is not the ambition of a humble minister, and he disdains to work with him."

If you are chasing power, you can follow His Majesty Li Er's will and give up the crown prince to support Jin Wang. Not only will Li Er be extremely honored and favored in the first dynasty, but when the new king ascends the throne in the future, he will be as powerful as the sky, so why bother to protect Li Chengqian?

Power, wealth, and honor are nothing more than a fleeting moment, and only by leaving one's own political legacy can it be considered that a visit to the Tang Dynasty is not in vain.

To put it bluntly, he and the Shandong family "have different ways and do not conspire with each other."

Since they are strangers, why bother with Zhang Xingcheng pretending to be flattering?If there is no benefit at all, His Majesty Li Er will be jealous, so it is better to completely cut off from the Shandong family in this way...

Li Chengqian looked at Fang Jun's explanation in a calm manner, and felt very guilty in his heart. He confirmed that Fang Jun's ability and meritorious deeds were enough to rule the world in the future, but because of his incompetence as a prince, he had to live in Jinxiu. Exit the center.

The so-called "one general is incompetent, exhausting the whole army" probably refers to him...

……

The banquet was very sumptuous, which was quite extravagant for Chang'an, which is currently suffering from disasters and lack of supplies, but with Fang Jun's financial resources and the convenient water and land transportation of Fangjiawan Wharf, it is not difficult.

*****
Cen House.

In the flower hall, Cen Wenwen, who was dressed in ordinary clothes and looked a bit haggard, was making tea to entertain Xiao Yu who came to the door.

Nowadays, most of the prominent families in the Tang Dynasty made a flower hall out of glass like the firefighting house, planted some rare flowers and trees, supplemented by floor heating in winter, and even used iron pipes to circulate hot water in the hall to keep warm, so red flowers can be seen all year round. Although green trees are expensive, they are enough to show their status and enjoy them extraordinarily.

Among the flowers and trees, the atmosphere was pleasant, and the two court dignitaries sat and drank tea opposite each other, chatting harmoniously.

Xiao Yu took a sip of tea, and said with concern: "Your body seems really inappropriate recently, you should take a rest and recuperate slowly, it seems that we have reached this age, we should not be careless."

Now Cen Wenwen and him are the most reliable allies, not to mention decades of comradeship, just because of political interests, he doesn't want to see Cen Wenwen fall down due to illness.

Now that Yi Chu is imminent, the court is in turmoil, and the powerful families in Jiangnan and Shandong are slowly entering the court to take power. It is really difficult for him alone, Xiao Yu, to hold on...

Cen Wenwen sipped his tea and smiled faintly: "Birth, old age, sickness and death cannot be changed. Although I am a few years younger than you, my health has not been very good. I have known my destiny for many years, but I don't know if I can return to my hometown before I die. Wandering leisurely under the forest spring, everything in the court hall has already faded away."

Xiao Yu smiled without saying a word.

If you really look down on it, why don't you go to Lianzhan?In the officialdom, no one can put aside the interests around him, and really look down on everything...

Once easy to store, the situation in the court will set off an earth-shaking change, not only changing the current power structure, but even affecting the governance policy of the empire for decades to come.At their level, regardless of their own interests or political ambitions, they are not allowed to retreat and stand on the sidelines.

He picked up a piece of pastry from the plate with his fingers, took a bite, chewed it a few times, and asked: "Today's Fangfu banquet, the old man didn't even receive the invitation card, that stick is really too rude, it's not a son of man."

Cen Wenwen drank tea slowly, as if he had never heard of it.

Xiao Yu said again: "I heard that the thousand-mile horse in your family has gone?"

Cen Wenwen then slowly said: "Fang Jun is the secretary of Zhenguan Academy and Changqian's teacher. The teacher holds a banquet. It is only natural for the students to help. Didn't we do the same in front of the master back then?"

Xiao Yu sat upright, with a serious face: "Others should be like this, but Cen Changqian is your nephew and heir to your political legacy, and his words and deeds represent your Cen Wenwen's position. Do you know that in this way, you will How many people in the court let their minds float?"

Above the officialdom, there has never been an independent position, everyone and everything are tied together, seemingly inadvertently, but it has already affected the whole body.

It is conceivable that when Fang Jun held a banquet but did not invite many guests, only close friends came to congratulate, but Cen Changqian appeared in Fangfu as a student, what kind of interpretation would the ruling and opposition parties have...

Cen Wenwen put down his teacup, stretched his waist, got up and walked to a flower tree, leaned over with his hands behind his back, sniffed the fragrance of the flowers, and said calmly: "If you are not firm in your mind or your position, you will be disturbed by external things. I I don't have much nostalgia for this officialdom, but I still want to remind you that soldiers are more expensive than elites. Instead of gathering a group of mobs to look powerful, it is better to cultivate a loyal team, so that they can be determined and serve refer to."

Xiao Yu was silent.

As Cen Wenwen said, he, Song Guogong, as the leader of the Qingliu and a famous official in the south of the Yangtze River, has already become the leader respected by the powerful in the south of the Yangtze River and Shandong. prepared.

But Cen Wenwen reminded him, how many of these officials who rely on him and hope to use his power to rise to a higher level can unswervingly support his political ideas?It may not be enough for success, but more than enough for failure.

I'm afraid that if there is any trouble, these people will abandon him and go to the new master...

He nodded and said, "I'll take care of it, I'll definitely take care of it..."

Then the topic changed, and he asked worriedly: "Fang Jun only invited those who are close to him in the court, but invited the three His Highnesses to the table... Do you think they will reach some kind of agreement under Fang Jun's connection?" ?”

Even if it is easy to reserve, the new crown prince will probably choose one of Wei Wang and Jin Wang, but the relationship between Fang Jun and the royal family is too close, even Jin Wang has expressed his appreciation and wooing Fang Jun more than once .

Once Fang Jun reached an agreement with the three His Royal Highnesses, so that the reserve can be handed over peacefully, then he is very likely to become the new crown prince's confidant team, and his power is unrivaled.

The rest of the forces can only serve as a foil after the new king ascends the throne... Xiao Yu can't sit still.

(End of this chapter)