Early Tang Dynasty: forge ahead

Chapter 566 Confessing the King
After discussing everything, Chen Qingsi said goodbye and left.

Li Hong said with a little tiredness: "Sir, take care..." Then he called his trusted eunuch to see Chen Qingsi off.

Watching Chen Qingsi disappear outside the courtyard, Li Hong muttered in a low voice: "Father, this is all I can do. The future of the Li family depends on God's will."

Although Li Hong was kind and filial, he was the crown prince after all. Both Li Zhi and Empress Wu regarded him as the successor of the Tang Dynasty and trained him. Naturally, they had to teach him the art of ruling. However, Li Hong was still young and docile, so he did not have a deep understanding and could not be used well. That was why he was bewitched by Pei Yan and Li Jingxuan.

Li Hong did not have any opinion about Chen Qingsi, but simply thought from the perspective of an emperor that it was inappropriate to let Chen Qingsi serve as the sole assistant minister without considering the overall situation. Under the circumstances at that time, only Chen Qingsi could control the situation in a short period of time and maintain the undefeated war in the Western Region.

After Chen Qingsi purged Pei Yan and Li Jingxuan, he rectified the government, fully supported the war in the Western Regions, promoted talents, dismissed lazy people, and made the court run at high speed. Li Hong initially planned to perform his duties as emperor, but later found that his interference had the opposite effect, and it would be more efficient for him to nod aside and write an "yes" on the memorial.

Li Hong knew that his ability was not enough to deal with this situation, so he simply did not interfere and let Chen Qingsi do his best. He wrote on the memorials submitted by Chen Qingsi, and then kept these memorials related to national affairs for himself to study carefully. He would patiently ask questions if he did not understand something.

Chen Qingsi did not keep it to himself and answered their questions one by one.

Only then did Li Hong understand his father's painstaking efforts. Only Chen Qingsi was able to mobilize the civil and military forces of the court at this critical moment, coordinate the overall situation, and win this war while stabilizing the internal situation.

As his health deteriorated day by day, Li Hong had no more energy to handle heavy affairs and left all matters, big and small, to Chen Qingsi. During his recuperation period, he calmed down and thought about what else he could do for the Tang Dynasty, only to find that what he could do was limited.

Chen Qingsi's dominance is irreversible because of his own "stupidity".

If he had not been deceived by Pei Yan and Li Jingxuan, Chen Qingsi would not have completely eliminated them. At that time, even if Chen Qingsi was the only assistant minister, the close ministers of the previous emperor controlled by Pei Yan and the close ministers of the palace controlled by Li Jingxuan were still the forces he could rely on. Now that these two forces have been legitimately eliminated by Chen Qingsi, he has fewer cards to play.

The only available Dai Zhide was the one Chen Qingsi left for him out of consideration for his reputation...

Since Chen Qingsi cannot be avoided, and his rise cannot be suppressed, then he can simply be given all the favors and bound by grace.

As for the future, it depends on whether his younger brother, King Pei Li Xian, is capable.

Li Hong spoke a lot in one breath, then he was exhausted and slowly fell asleep.

Chen Qingsi walked out of the palace calmly, and he understood the purpose of what Li Hong had entrusted him with today.

After all, he is a member of the royal family, so he still has the necessary thoughts.

In fact, he has given a lot of thought to the future. Now that things have come to this, if he wants to have a good ending and secure a future for his descendants, he must plan ahead and not wait until things are impossible to do before trying to find a solution.

Chen Qingsi envisioned several major strategies for the future, with both good and bad results, even including becoming Cao Cao, Wang Mang, or even replacing them.

But this is obviously the worst possible outcome...

It’s not that Chen Qingsi himself has no ambition at all, but he has the lesson of Wang Mang.

Being a powerful official in the court and rebelling are two completely different concepts... The whole country is united in the Tang Dynasty. Even if Chen Qingsi's students and former officials are all over the court and the country, and he can get a lot of support, if he really wants to rebel, not many people will respond. Even Zhang Jianzhi, whom he trusts the most...

Even though Wu Zetian was successful in history as the daughter-in-law of the Li family, in fact, the only place Wu Zetian could truly control was the central government of the imperial court, and the vast majority of ministers in the court were thinking of the Li Tang Dynasty, and the only ones who really cared about Wu Zetian were those cruel officials.

It is very simple to prove that when the Turks came to attack and Wu Zetian wanted to fight, she raised the banner of Wu Zhou to recruit soldiers, but no one paid any attention to her.

Wu Zetian had no choice but to follow Di Renjie's advice and make Li Xian the crown prince, and recruit soldiers in Li Xian's name. However, even a crown prince like Li Xian, who had no ability, just used the banner of the Li family, and the result was that the whole country followed, the troops were recruited, and the Turks retreated.

It is extremely difficult to rebel in an era when the people are generally united.

Chen Qingsi is now admired by thousands of people and loved by court officials because he is a wise prime minister and a leader of literati. However, if he really became a rebel like Wang Mang, not many people would respond to him.

Only if the new emperor really couldn't tolerate him and his true colors were exposed would he take this path.

Now that Li Hong is so kind and respectful to him, Chen Qingsi has no chance to pursue this path.

This is not a bad thing.

"According to the time, the battle report from the South China Sea will be here soon. I just don't know if Brother Zhengze has taken over Cochin..."

"Pooh!"

Chen Qingsi couldn't help but spit. The Indian army was weaker than their refugee army. Having such an idea was an insult to the Tang army.

Two days later, Chen Qingsi received a battle report from Liu Rengui, which mainly commended Xue Rengui.

Chen Qingsi watched Xue Rengui move freely in the territory of the Arab Empire and could not help but applaud: "How magnificent! Xue Li was trapped in the enemy's territory, and he was invincible. His spirit was unparalleled. The famous generals in ancient times were no more than this."

He suddenly thought of the Battle of Dafeichuan in history, where Xue Rengui was defeated, but in the end he made peace with Lun Qinling. In other words, when Xue Rengui had no strategic location to rely on and no food or fodder to supply his army, Lun Qinling did not eat Xue Rengui despite having all the advantages. In the desperate situation, Xue Rengui, the trapped tiger, exerted his strongest strength.

The only difference was that this time Xue Rengui's teammate was not Guo Daifeng, but Liu Rengui. The two of them cooperated seamlessly and completed this military feat that was worthy of being recorded in history and talked about by later generations.

As for the construction of a port in Cochin, Liu Rengui simply summarized it in a light-hearted sentence: Our army landed in Cochin on August 18, gained 300 miles of territory, and suffered 21 casualties.

Chen Qingsi laughed in silence. Asan would never let anyone down at any time.

Looking at the entire world history, only the Indian nation has never had a heyday. Their so-called strength is nothing more than the monkey becoming king when there is no tiger in the mountain. Once they really come into contact with the outside world, they will immediately fall to pieces.

Li Hong did not make any big promises to Chen Qingsi. Three days before the army's triumphant return, he issued two imperial edicts. One edict conferred the title of Prince of Yangping on Li Ji, the Duke of Yingguo, and the other conferred the title of Prince of Nanhai on Chen Qingsi.

(End of this chapter)