Thief Emperor

Chapter 1154 Setting Rules and Establishing a Framework
His Highness the Prince of Qin left the main hall in a daze.

At that time, people still valued their descendants quite a bit. He already had two sons, and if the line of the King of Qin could be passed down without fail, his sons would also become the King of Qin in the future.

In the future, at least one lineage will continue to thrive and share the fate of the nation.

If the lineage is only hereditary, it will last for at most four or five generations before the members of the Li family will have to leave the core of the family and become idle members of the imperial clan.

Even if he was unwilling a thousand times over, there was nothing he could do now that things had come to this.

His father's authority made him not even dare to have a thought of rebellion.

After the King of Qin left, Prime Minister Du watched his retreating figure and sighed, "His Majesty has been too harsh on the King of Qin."

Emperor Li remained calm and said, "Right now, I have already exercised much restraint."

Prime Minister Du sat down next to the emperor, nodded, and said, "I know."

"More than half a year has passed, and His Majesty has calmed down a lot now. Otherwise, given His Majesty's temper, Prince Qin would have been beaten up today."

"However, speaking specifically of the King of Qin..."

Du Xiangong looked at Li Yun and said, "The lives of a few servants seem insignificant compared to the achievements of the King of Qin."

The emperor shook his head and said, "One thing at a time, they cannot be confused."

"My decision to deal with him today is not because of the Northwest War, but to set rules for the Li family."

He pointed to himself and said, "Brother Shouyi, do you know how many sons I have?"

After thinking for a moment, Minister Du said, "I know that when Your Majesty left Luoyang last year, two concubines in the palace were pregnant. One of them gave birth to a prince for Your Majesty, the eighteenth prince."

"Ah."

The emperor slowly said, "If I have no more princes in the future, these eighteen sons will be my only sons."

"It won't be long. After four or five generations, it could probably reach thousands of people, and there will only be more and more in the future."

Emperor Li looked at Du Qian and continued, "If the Prince of Qin commits evil, it will only affect Chang'an and a few people. If only 30% of the thousands of people in the future commit evil, you and I will be long gone by then. Future emperors will have to win the support of their people."

"Most likely they won't restrain the royal family like I do."

"What will happen if they commit evil deeds in various places?"

The emperor said slowly, "Therefore, it is necessary to establish rules and regulations."

His expression was very firm: "Enjoying wealth and luxury is no problem. It's their destiny, they were born into a good family."

"But I, Li Er, cannot become the root of all evil in this world."

Li Yun has always had his own set of moral standards.

If someone crosses his red line, then they should be killed. There's nothing more to say about that. In the more than twenty years he's been in this world, the number of people he's personally killed far exceeds that of the former Chief Li.

However, those who shouldn't die should ideally not die.

This treatment of the King of Qin is already an indication that he is protecting his own.

It just so happens that he also wants to use this rule to set rules for the Li family and future generations, specifying what they can and cannot do.

Otherwise, his descendants would be endless, their offspring filling the world, and the world would be full of scourges, making Li Er the source of all that scourges.

"and."

The emperor looked at Prime Minister Du and continued, "Only by properly restraining the imperial clan can we better restrain our officials. Brother Shouyi has certainly heard this saying before."

"Only the flawless can kill people."

The emperor said solemnly, "If the descendants of the Li family can abide by the rules, then when dealing with officials, those people will have nothing to say. But if the descendants of the Li family can't even handle themselves, and then they try to deal with others, I'm afraid those people in the afterlife will be furious when they see you and me."

"They'll also spit a mouthful of saliva in our faces."

Minister Du said with a wry smile, "Why did Your Majesty include me?"

The emperor smiled and said, "This new Tang Dynasty was nominally founded by me, but Brother Beneficiary contributed at least two or three tenths of the effort. Both of us have a share."

He said quite casually, "The reason I am the emperor is because there can only be one emperor in this world."

Upon hearing this, Prime Minister Du sighed and said, "If Your Majesty had said these words to someone else, that person would probably have been strutting around like crazy."

The emperor chuckled and said, "So, I can only tell you, Brother Shouyi, about it."

"Brother Shouyi is a gentleman, without a tail, and he can't get cocky."

The two exchanged a few more words. Li Yun took a sip of tea and said, "After returning to Luoyang from Guanzhong, I will quickly devise a feasible system and hand it over to the Imperial Clan Court, so that it can be passed down through generations." "In this matter, as the founding emperor, my words should still carry some weight."

The emperor said quietly, "At least, when future emperors need to clean up and control the imperial clan, they will have a basis for action."

Regardless of the laws and regulations, they are ultimately just tools.

In another world, the Imperial Ancestral Instructions left by Zhu Taizu (Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty) placed heavy shackles on later emperors, to the point that ministers could use the Imperial Ancestral Instructions as a tool to rebel against the emperor.

The emperor could also use the imperial ancestral precepts as a political tool to achieve his own political goals.

Li Yun did not intend to leave his descendants a book of imperial Tang ancestral precepts, but he wanted to leave some rules for the Li family clan.

To put a set of shackles on the descendants of the Li family.

This is not only to restrain them, but also to accumulate virtue for them, so that when the country is destroyed and the family is destroyed in the future, the Li family will still have some people's hearts.

After thinking it over carefully, Minister Du bowed to Li Yun and said, "After I return, I will also leave some clan rules for the Du family of Luoyang."

Upon hearing this, the emperor chuckled and asked, "What? You've separated from Du He?"

That's about right.

Du Xiangong said helplessly, "His Majesty forbids me to be buried back in Guanzhong. From now on, my branch will probably have to be separated from the Du family of Jingzhao."

He paused, then continued, "The Du family of Jingzhao will probably fade into obscurity like the Lu family of Fanyang, the Zheng family of Xingyang, and the Wang family of Taiyuan."

The emperor lowered his head to drink his tea and continued, "In the future, another group of families will rise, including aristocratic families and wealthy merchants."

He looked at Du Qian and chuckled softly, "In another one or two hundred years, this world will probably be a place where these aristocratic families and these wealthy merchants compete with each other."

"At that time, even the emperor might not be as glorious as them. It must be quite a spectacle."

"It's a pity that you and I probably won't be able to see it."

After pondering for a moment, Minister Du looked at Li Yun and said, "His Majesty seems to really want to see the emergence of great merchants and magnates in the world..."

"Do not."

The emperor shook his head and said, "I was merely making deductions and saw them. I didn't expect these people to appear, but..."

Li Yun looked at Du Qian and said with a smile, "I look forward to the emergence of the person who will truly overthrow them."

…………

The emperor punished the Prince of Qin's residence, but did not leave the residence.

For the next few days, he stayed at the Prince of Qin's residence.

On the one hand, it is only natural for a father to stay at his son's house when visiting relatives, and on the other hand, he can also get closer to his grandchildren.

On the other hand, although Chang'an also had an imperial city and palace, no one had lived there for more than ten or twenty years. Although there were people maintaining it, if the emperor wanted to move in, he would have to make a big fuss about it again.

Li Yun didn't bring any family members with him to Chang'an, so there was no need for him to waste manpower and resources like this.

After staying at the Prince of Qin's residence for three days, Prince Su, Li Tong, who had been accompanying General He to pacify Shuofang in the northwest, also hurriedly arrived in Chang'an.

He received the news after His Majesty the Emperor entered Guanzhong. In addition, the Northwest was still a long way from Chang'an. He rushed as fast as he could before finally arriving in Chang'an.

Upon arriving at the Prince of Qin's residence, the Prince of Su knelt before His Majesty the Emperor and kowtowed, saying, "Your subject pays respects to Your Majesty."

The emperor raised his hand, then glanced at the Prince Su who had stood up. He was taken aback for a moment, then remarked, "Fourth Prince has gotten much darker."

Prince Su was originally fair-skinned and handsome, the most handsome and refined among all the princes. Now, he is a completely different person compared to before.

His face turned bronze, and he gained a more heroic air.

Hearing the emperor say this, he quickly lowered his head and said, "It's inevitable to be out and about every day, but I have learned a lot during this time."

He said in a deep voice, "From now on, we will definitely be able to bring peace to the Northwest!"

The emperor looked at him and smiled: "Not bad, not bad."

"You can stay in Chang'an. After a while, come back to Luoyang with your father. After you get married in Luoyang, the Prince Su's mansion in Suzhou will be almost complete."

Prince Su looked up at his father, then lowered his head.

"My child obeys!"

(End of this chapter)