Thief Emperor

Chapter 971 The Flow of Power

Emperor Li sat in his chair, looking at the letter in front of him. He did not speak for a long time, with mixed feelings in his heart.

He is actually a person who lacks love, especially the love from his parents.

Whether in the other world or this world, he lost his mother very early, and the memories of the other world are even a little vague.

In this world, the father and his son actually rarely communicate with each other.

It is also because of this that when he was young, Emperor Li was able to move forward fearlessly and be invincible no matter who he was against.

Because at that time, he didn't actually have too many concerns.

Without worries, there are no weaknesses.

Now, seeing the letter sent by his son, he couldn't help but feel touched. His second son was very similar to him, but not completely similar, because this son was raised by his biological mother since he was a child.

Li Yun was also a father at this time. Seeing his son fighting the enemy to the death on the front line, the emperor, who had never blinked an eye when killing people on the battlefield, felt a little frightened after seeing only a few lines of words in the letter.

After a long silence, he put the letter on the table, picked up the red pen on the table, and replied to Meng Qing at the front line.

"This time, our priority is to occupy Yuguan and clean up Youyan."

"Advancing to Liaodong is possible, but not possible."

"You act on camera."

After writing this, Li Yun wanted to add a sentence or two about his son, but after thinking about it, he decided to stop here. After drying the ink, he closed the document and said, "Send someone to the front line immediately."

The palace guard on duty responded, then retreated respectfully, holding the documents.

After Emperor Li finished approving the rest of the memorials, he rested for a while in the Ganlu Palace before getting up and going to the harem.

There is no rule of drawing cards in the imperial palace of the New Tang Dynasty. Basically, His Majesty the Emperor can go wherever he wants.

After all, he was the founding monarch. No rules could restrain him, and there was no need for him to create some rules to restrain himself.

Arriving at the palace of Concubine Liu, the Emperor took off his outer clothes and took a hot bath with the help of the Imperial Concubine. After changing into a fresh set of inner clothes, he sat on the edge of the bed and smiled at the Imperial Concubine, "Today, Erlang sent back the documents."

Concubine Liu quickly looked at Li Yun and asked, "How is Zheng'er?"

“He’s doing pretty good.”

Emperor Li held Empress Liu's hand and said with a smile, "He has made some small contributions. Meng Qing praised him in the memorial. You gave birth to this son."

His Majesty the Emperor was about to say "It looks just like me", but when the words came to his lips, he still didn't say it, but just smiled and said: "It's really good."

As the Son of Heaven, his every word and action is followed by too many people. If he really said "Just like me", although there would be no attendant to record the daily life in the harem, it might be spread accidentally.

By then, rumors will spread that "this child looks like me", and if things go wrong, a Yue Wang Party may be formed in the court. After another ten or twenty years, the situation will become uncontrollable.

This is also one of Li Yun's advantages. Although this is his first time as emperor, he knows a lot about emperors and can therefore learn some lessons.

After hearing what Li Yun said, Concubine Liu looked up at Li Yun and suddenly asked, "Your Majesty, is Erlang...fighting with others on the battlefield?"

Hearing this, Li Yun hurriedly shook his head and said with a smile: "It takes more than just fighting to achieve merit, don't think too much."

Concubine Liu gritted her teeth and said, "Then your majesty, what merits did Erlang have?"

Li Yun coughed and said, "He was in the scout camp, found the enemy's traces, reported it in time, and surrounded and killed a group of Khitans."

Concubine Liu was skeptical, but she didn't ask any more questions. She just sighed and said, "Your Majesty, I want to write a letter to him. Can Your Majesty forward it to the front line for me?"

"no problem."

Emperor Li agreed very straightforwardly and said with a smile: "After you finish writing, have someone send it to me and I will ask Jiusi to deliver it to the front line immediately."

…………

The next day, in Ganlu Palace.

This time, the emperor still presided over the meeting, but the people present were no longer the ministers from yesterday. Those present today were the two prime ministers Du Qian and Yao Zhong, Prince of Jin Li Zheng, and the newly appointed head of the clan affairs office, Prince of Chu Li Feng.

In fact, Li Feng had been the King of Chu for quite a long time, and not many court officials opposed this matter. After all, he was the emperor's biological brother, and it was only right for him to be granted the title of king.

Some people were even curious as to why Your Majesty had waited until this time to confer the title of king on the King of Chu. Some people therefore suspected that the King of Chu had some disagreements with Your Majesty.

However, after a period of time, the King of Chu has gradually integrated into the court, and under the guidance of Li Zheng, he has taken over the affairs of the Zongfu. After the four people entered the Ganlu Palace, they all bowed to Li Yun. Emperor Li waved his hand and said, "There are no outsiders. Everyone, sit down."

After the four people sat down, Li Yun said in a deep voice: "I asked you to come here today mainly for two things. Let's talk about the first one first."

"The first thing is the prince's wedding."

His Majesty the Emperor looked at his two brothers and said, "The Queen and I have already decided on the candidate for the Crown Princess. It is Qian, the daughter of Nanling Marquis Qian Zhong. I believe you have already known about this."

"The Crown Princess has been decided, so everyone will inevitably be busy for a while. This marriage and the appointment of the Crown Princess will be mainly handled by the King of Jin and the King of Chu, and the money allocated by the court will also be allocated."

"Let's make some preparations for now. It is estimated that the prince will be married by the end of this year, or next spring at the latest."

Princes Li Feng and Li Zheng quickly stood up and nodded their heads in response.

The emperor pressed his hands, motioning them to sit down. He then sorted out his thoughts, turned his head and looked at Du Qian and Yao Zhong, and said, "The prince will be eighteen years old this year. After his wedding, he will be an adult. We should try to let him get involved in the government affairs of the court. From now on, let the prince go to the government hall to observe government affairs."

"You two, as the prince's teachers, must teach him how to handle government affairs."

Since ancient times, the emperor and the crown prince have been both father and son and political enemies. The biggest reason for this is that the crown prince is the future emperor.

Because of this, it is inevitable that many people, when they are unable to invest in the emperor, will turn to investing in the future and the prince.

As time goes by, they will naturally gather around the prince and form a powerful prince's party.

Another point is the current situation.

When the prince was born, the current emperor already had some power. By the time he grew up and could remember things, Emperor Li had already completed the change of dynasty and became the founding emperor.

In other words, before this, the prince had not participated in any entrepreneurial activities, and he might not have known how to be an emperor.

Therefore, he needs to be taught how to be an emperor.

In the process of learning, it is inevitable that he will have to do "practical work", that is, like now, gradually delegate power to him and let him get involved in political affairs.

Once power is delegated, the prince's power will continue to expand over time.

When the expansion reaches a certain extent and poses a threat to the imperial power, the father and son will often turn against each other.

Even for founding emperors, it is difficult to avoid this situation. Unless the old emperor dies quickly, the scene of a loving father and a filial son may still appear.

And now, during the Li Tang Dynasty, this situation inevitably occurred.

The two prime ministers looked at each other, and finally bowed their heads to the emperor and responded respectfully.

Emperor Li also looked at the expressions of the two prime ministers, and finally said to the King of Jin: "Li Zheng, you go with the King of Chu to discuss the wedding. I have something else to discuss with the two prime ministers."

Prince Jin did not want to get involved in the discussions in Ganlu Palace. Upon hearing this, he pulled the sleeve of Prince Chu and bowed to the Emperor with a smile.

"My minister retire."

After saying this, he pulled the King of Chu away from Ganlu Palace.

After the two princes left, only three people were left in Ganlu Palace. Emperor Li closed his eyes and thought for a while, then opened his eyes and said, "The prince is smart. You should teach him well and don't lead him astray."

When the two prime ministers heard this, they were frightened, but they still nodded in agreement.

Emperor Li suddenly changed the subject and said in a deep voice, "Let's stop here for the Crown Prince's affairs. Let's talk about the affairs of the court and the river bursting this time."

His Majesty the Emperor said in a deep voice: "Nine Departments, we have sent people to investigate in detail. Regardless of whether the river burst was a natural disaster or not, we will investigate it thoroughly."

"What annoys me is that at this moment, someone in the court is criticizing me for this matter!"

The emperor looked at the two prime ministers and said slowly: "One of you is the prime minister and the other is the deputy prime minister. You two are both responsible for this matter."

Since ancient times, one of the virtues of an emperor has been to open up channels for communication and accept advice readily.

Therefore, the emperor generally did not punish people for their words.

When the two prime ministers heard this, they understood what Li Yun meant. Prime Minister Du Qian immediately bowed his head and clasped his fists in salute.

"Your Majesty, this matter... "

“It must be handled properly!”

(End of this chapter)