Thousand-year-old family: its rise began with Shang Yang’s reforms

Chapter 475 Dingguo Chang'an
Everyone thinks that the world may have become stable and there will be no more wars.

After all, in the eyes of the people of the world, aren’t Li Yuan and Li Shimin a family?
what's going on?

This is the Li family's world. Do they still need to fight for it?
Could there still be a situation in this world where a son beats his father? Everyone was quietly joking. They felt that the matter was clear and they could already start celebrating the peaceful and prosperous times.

In addition to Li Yuan, Li Jiancheng, and Li Shimin, there were some "close ministers" who knew that the war was not over yet. They were all waiting silently, waiting for the horn to sound.

洛京
Li Shimin sat on the dragon chair with a puzzled look on his face. He stroked the dragon chair and sighed deeply: "Qi Lang, if I announce the continuation of the war with Li Yuan in the south at this time, will the world laugh at me and insult me?"

"You're insulting me for being someone who would give up even my own father for the throne?"

Li Shimin stood there, standing next to the supreme throne, with a somewhat lonely look in his brows. His back was extremely lonely, like the last leaf falling from a tree in late autumn.

Because he was the last leaf, he had no friends to accompany him. Also, because he was destined to fall to the ground, he had to do that eventually.

This may be Li Shimin's heart knot.

However, Li Shimin would not do something that would make him more uncomfortable just because of his so-called "heart knot" - such as accepting the flattery of Li Yuan and Li Jiancheng, and going back to be a good "General of Tiance" or "King of Qin".

He had already broken off relations with that shabby home.

Since his mother died, that home has changed and is no longer a place where he can stay.

Since his mother died, his father had long forgotten his promise.

Everything has changed a long time ago.

He may be trapped in the whirlpool of "family affection", but he will never joke about the world.

Li Shimin was not a disciple of "Chen"
But he is actually more like a true Chen disciple than any other Chen disciple in the world at this time.
Why?

Because of the book inherited from Emperor Wansui.

Although it was just a book of miscellaneous talks, it recorded all the countless thoughts of the Wansui Emperor honestly. The words on paper would never lie.
Who is Emperor Wansui’s teacher?

Is it Chen Zhi?

Actually not.

If Emperor Wansui is counted in terms of "generation", he is the most senior "Chen" student in the world today.

why?
Because the one who taught the Wansui Emperor the knowledge was not a disciple of the Chen family, nor was it the previous head of the Chen family. The one who taught the Wansui Emperor the knowledge was the first generation head of the Chen family who had passed away long ago!
All of Emperor Wansui's knowledge and thoughts were obtained from the miscellaneous books written by Chen Ye, the first head of the Chen family. Naturally, he could only be regarded as a disciple of the founder of the Chen family.

If Li Shimin was calculated based on seniority and knowledge learned, even the current head of the Chen family might be several generations lower than him.

After all, not everyone can or will learn the "knowledge" of the first head of the Chen family.

Li Shimin's expression was obscure and unclear.

After a long while, he turned his head and looked at Chen Linan behind him: "Qilang, how are the preparations for that matter going?"

Chen Linan bowed his head slightly to show his respect for this "Your Majesty". Although he had not yet ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, nor had he established a capital or changed the country's name, he was indeed already an emperor.

Chen has always had her own set of rules for getting along with these emperors.

Before these people became emperors, they might have been their friends or disciples, but once they became emperors, their first identity would always be "emperor" or "monarch", rather than their friends or disciples, or any other identities.

This has saved the Chen family countless times in the past thousand years.

Although those emperors suspected Chen, worried about Chen, and might even have begun to be wary of Chen, they never questioned Chen at the most important time and in the most critical place.

This is also one of the reasons.

The reputation gained over the past nine hundred years has made this huge family the one that those powerful lords both trust and worry about the most.

"Your Majesty, everything is ready."

He hesitated for a moment and then said, "But, do we really have to do this?"

Chen Linan held his forehead and sighed: "If you do this, I'm afraid your reputation will really be lost in the short term."

Li Shimin didn't care about these, he just sat there and chuckled.

The sunlight outside the hall fell on his cheek. Half of his cheek was hidden in the shadow, and his emotion could not be seen clearly. The other half of his face was exposed to the sunlight, and looked very warm under the sunlight.

"Let's do it."

He said with some self-mockery: "Anyway, when I move the capital to Dingjing and proclaim myself emperor, they will continue to do these trivial things."

Li Shimin sneered: "It will take a while for him to have a bad reputation, so why not make good use of this time? Use this matter to completely cut off Li Yuan's idea!"

He stood up and no longer called himself "I", but "I".

"I just want them to know that it is useless to threaten me with these so-called benevolence and morality!"

"I will never be threatened by them!"

Li Shimin's expression was cold, and the whole person standing there was like a sword, sharp as a sword reaching into the sky!
Chen Linan glanced at Li Shimin, then sighed: "Well."

He paused and said, "My father has sent a letter to my eldest brother. He may soon bring Xiliang to surrender. In addition, my eldest brother will also serve in the court."

Xiliang?

Li Shimin didn't care too much about Chen Ruohan's appointment later. It was a great thing. After all, he didn't have many people he could use now.

The world is not yet stable, and the people he needs are the best talents.

Now, only Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui and Zhangsun Wuji can barely be considered talented in managing the world, but they are still a little bit away from the top talents. What they lack is not wisdom and talent, but experience.

After all, these three people had no experience in coordinating the central government. It might be okay for them to run the small Liaozhou and Youzhou, but if a huge empire was suddenly given to them, they would probably not be able to control it or manage it well.

As for Pei Ju?
Li Shimin touched his chin, feeling even more helpless.

Pei Ju is a talented guy who is almost as talented as Chen Ruohan, but he is also extremely lazy.

He had told him before that he should continue to serve as the chief, but the boy backed off directly and gave a lot of reasons.

They said that now was the opportunity to consolidate imperial power and centralize power, and that he was a surrendered minister. If a surrendered minister became the chief commander like the other meritorious officials, he would not be able to convince the people. In the end, they even came up with an excuse that they were too old and frail to be the chief commander.

This made Li Shimin feel helpless, but he had no way to deal with it, because everything Pei Ju said was right.

Fang Xuanling and the other two didn't know why, whether it was to avoid risk or something else, but in short, they were unwilling to take on the position of chief commander.

Such a good opportunity has been vacant till now!

but.
When the country is prosperous and stable, it is nothing if the position of prime minister is vacant. After all, as Pei Ju said, it is a good thing. It can consolidate the imperial power and gradually concentrate power in the hands of the emperor.

But this is not possible in times of chaos. Without such a person to take charge of the central government, the emperor would probably be exhausted to death.

It would be a great thing if Chen Ruohan came at this time.

Isn't it natural for the Chen family to be the leader and hold the position of prime minister?

Even Li Shimin had already figured out how to exploit the future "Prime Minister of the Tang Dynasty".

The Minister of the Secretariat, the Minister of the Chancellery, and the Minister of the Palace.

The tasks that the three chief commanders have to do are actually similar, except that each of them coordinates a department - the three positions combined equal the power of the original "prime minister".

Now that Chen’s people are here, let’s give him a good seat in the prime minister’s position and let him shine.

When Chen Ruohan dies of old age and illness, he or his son can naturally cry a few times, and then say that they don’t know who else is worthy of this position except Chen Ruohan - and then leave the three positions of the chief commander vacant.

By that time, there will be many years of peace and prosperity, and the world will be stable.

The power of the prime minister was divided again.

The prime minister was second only to the emperor in the early Han Dynasty, then split to the prime minister and the clerk in the prime minister's office after Emperor Wu of Han, with the prime minister's powers divided into two parts, and then to the "three provinces" system of the Dayu period, with five prime ministers coexisting, and then to the six prime ministers coexisting in the future.

The power of the prime minister was torn from one into two, then into three, then into five, and then into six.
It seems that the power of the prime minister has increased, but in fact it has decreased.

As Li Shimin thought about it, he even laughed out loud.

"Your Majesty? Your Majesty?"

Chen Linan looked at Li Shimin helplessly, and he looked helpless. He finally couldn't stand it anymore and shouted, "Your Majesty! What are you doing?"

Li Shimin quickly came back to his senses and coughed lightly: "Okay, I'm waiting for Brother Cheng Tao to arrive."

"If Brother Cheng Tao doesn't come again, I will really go to Guandu and cry."

The fifth year of Changde, the end of January.

Li Yuan's envoy arrived in Luoyang City from the south and met Li Shimin at the court meeting.

Just when everyone except a few people thought that Li Shimin would accept the imperial edict and become the "King of Qin", and then welcome the emperor in Luoyang City, something happened that these people had never expected.

above the hall
Li Shimin looked indifferent, looked at Shan Xiongxin and said, "Who are you?"

Shan Xiongxin already knew what he was going to face at this time. He also wanted to be a hero and leave a glorious name for the rest of his life, but he really didn't want his family to die in the south, so he had already discussed it with Li Shimin.

All we have to do today is just to put on a show.

He stuck out his neck proudly, looking down on Li Shimin and the people in the audience, and acted like an angel: "I am the envoy of the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty!"

"King Qin? Why don't you kneel down and receive the imperial edict?"

As soon as these words were spoken, many ministers present who wanted Li Shimin to accept the imperial edict as soon as possible frowned. They did not know the relationship between Li Yuan and Li Shimin, but how could a great ruler like Li Shimin be insulted like this?
These people were originally old ministers of the Sui Dynasty. Later, they surrendered to Yu Wenzhi and became old ministers of the Jin Dynasty. Later, they followed Yu Wenzhi to surrender to Li Shimin, and naturally became Li Shimin's ministers.

The fact that they followed the monarch in surrendering so many times shows their moral values.

But even they felt strong anger at this moment.

Not to mention those generals who followed Li Shimin to conquer the world. They looked at Shan Xiongxin with wide eyes and gloomy expressions.

Lord humiliate to death!

Li Shimin sneered: "The Emperor of the Tang Dynasty? The King of Qin?"

"Where in the world did the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty come from?"

"What dares to pretend to be the emperor?"

He looked at Yu Wenzhi who was standing in front of him and said, "My dear Yuwen, did you sell the abdication edict twice, and sold one to the master of this useless envoy?"

Yu Wenzhi was also notified in advance, and even asked Pei Ju to "practice" with him overnight yesterday, so there was no problem at this time. He knelt on the ground neatly, his voice remained unchanged and steady, but the words he said seemed very flustered.

"I am terrified."

His tone was calm, but his words were terrified, and he looked very strange.

"How is it possible that I sold this abdication edict twice?"

"You are the only one in this world who has the virtue to accept the throne and my abdication. I don't know any other so-called emperors."

Yu Wenzhi said sarcastically: "Maybe he is some person who suddenly emerged from the mountain valley, and he has some foolish dream, thinking that after he ascends the throne and offers sacrifices to the heaven and earth, he will be the emperor."

He said with emotion: "In the land of China, there have been many such jokers since ancient times. They are just dreaming."

Li Shimin suddenly realized and said helplessly, "I was wondering why an emperor suddenly appeared. I misunderstood you, my dear Yuwen. I thought you sold two copies of the abdication edict."

After saying this, he looked at Yu Wenzhi with an apologetic look on his face and said, "To compensate you, I will increase your fief by 300 yuan."

Yu Wenzhi quickly expressed his gratitude.

Afterwards, Li Shimin looked at Shan Xiongxin and said in confusion: "Who is your master? What destiny have you inherited?"

He pretended to be very superstitious and picked up the imperial seal on the table: "I inherited the Great Jin, the Great Jin inherited the Great Sui, the Great Sui inherited the Great Yu, the Great Yu inherited the Great Han, the Great Han inherited the Great Qin, the Great Qin Shi Huangdi swept across the world, offered sacrifices to the gods at Mount Tai, and was given the mandate by heaven."

“This is called the one line that will last for all eternity.”

"Who did your emperor inherit from? What's his legitimacy?"

(End of this chapter)