Three whips break the father-son relationship, please call me prince

Chapter 187 Five surnames and seven people came over and knelt down
"Your Highness."

"Do you think we should withdraw first?"

Zhang Shiheng said so.

Others also showed signs of retreating.

Although they were fully focused on Tang Li, they still heard about the developments in Chang'an.

At this time, the people from the Cui and Lu families wanted to see him, so there must be something important.

It might not be convenient if they were present.

It is appropriate to take the initiative to ask for resignation.

Li Chengqian said, "It's okay, just sit down."

So they had no choice but to stay, but they changed their seats and sat to the right of Li Chengqian.

The left side is empty.

Soon, Zhangsun Wuji and others arrived. Seeing that there were other people in the hall, they paused, but they did not forget to pay their respects.

"See His Highness the Crown Prince!"

Zhangsun Wuji and Gao Shilian bowed.

"I am Cui Dunli, the Minister of War."

"Lu Chengqing, the Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs."

"I pay my respects to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and ask about His Royal Highness's health."

The two of them worshipped respectfully and meticulously, without any disrespect in the slightest.

"Guan!"

Li Chengqian said calmly: "No need to be polite, please take a seat!"

"Thank you, Your Highness!"

The four sat down on Li Chengqian's left, with Gao Shilian as the leader.

The eunuch came forward and placed tea on everyone's table.

Li Zhi looked at Cui Lu and the others with great curiosity, and also glanced at Li Ke.

Li Ke was also here today. Ever since Li Chengqian asked him to work for him, he has been following Li Chengqian.

Li Zhi was looking at him to see his reaction.

You know, the newspapers of both Cui and Lu families have made many accusations against Li Ke in secret.

Now when he saw the two of them, his expression didn't change at all.

"The arrival of the two assistant ministers makes me curious."

Li Chengqian said: "Coming with Duke Zhao and Duke Shen is even more puzzling to me."

"how?"

"Is there something important?"

Li Chengqian's tone was neither salty nor bland, and it could be said that he had no emotion and spoke in a straightforward manner.

But when Zhangsun Wuji and others heard it, it was clear that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince did not like it.

Changsun Wuji didn't know that Zhang Shiheng and others were there beforehand, but since he informed them in advance and they didn't leave, he understood that the prince had no intention of letting them go.

Therefore, it is unlikely that they will be able to talk to the prince alone.

He replied, "Your Highness, Minister Cui and Minister Lu are here to apologize to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

Gao Shilian also said: "Last year, I helped the crown prince select beauties to serve the Crown Prince, but something went wrong and it was not done well."

"I feel deeply ashamed."

"The two assistant ministers were unaware of the incident beforehand, and when they tried to make amends, they made a huge mistake that is too late to undo."

What is the point of not being able to recover what has been done?
It was Li Chengqian who did not give Gao Shilian a chance and chose the Jiangnan gentry represented by Xiao Yu.

Li Chengqian had a huge reaction when he heard it.

However, a look of disdain appeared on Zhang Shiheng's face.

Why did you go early?
"Today, I, the minister, have the audacity to come here with two assistant ministers to plead guilty to the crime and seek forgiveness from the prince," Gao Shilian said with a bow.

Cui Dunli and Lu Chengqing immediately stood up, knelt on the ground, clasped their hands and said loudly: "I beg you to forgive me for my sins, Your Highness, and give my family a chance to atone for my sins."

"As the legitimate daughter of the family, I will personally serve Your Highness, and I will atone for the sins of all the officials."

Say it.

The two men bowed down and kowtowed to show their sincere apology.

Li Zhi's eyes were filled with doubt, and Chang Sun Chong also looked at his father.

This is not right.

Why do the Cui and Lu families have such an attitude?

Li Ke glanced at Li Chengqian in surprise. His heart was beating fast, as if he had thought of something.

Zhang Shiheng and others were also quite surprised and found it unbelievable. This scene was not common.

The Five Surnames and Seven Families have always been proud of their noble character. It is impossible for them to marry someone who is not a match for them and a famous talent, let alone a legitimate daughter or a concubine's daughter.

Many ministers in the court, even princes and nobles, were proud to marry daughters from the five surnames and seven families.

This shows how noble and precious their reputation and status are.

Back then, Your Majesty wanted to marry your prince to a member of the Five Surnames and Seven Families, but the other party looked down on him. From the perspective of outsiders, they almost said that your Li family was not worthy.

There are many rumors about this kind of thing in the world.

This is also the reason why Your Majesty is displeased with the Five Surnames and Seven Families.

In the incident of the Crown Prince's beauty pageant last year, the Five Surnames and Seven Eminent Families once again failed to give face to Your Majesty and the Crown Prince, causing damage to the Crown Prince's dignity.

This is undoubtedly another reason for the dislike of the Five Surnames and Seven Families.

But it also added a bit of legendary color to the reputation of the Five Surnames and Seven Families.

Who would have known that only half a year had passed?

The Cui and Lu families took the initiative to lower their heads and no longer used the same noble demands as the Crown Princess to force others to do things against their will.

To put it bluntly, the legitimate daughter serves him.

No more excessive demands.

This is clearly an initiative to give the legitimate daughter to the prince.

It's a complete reversal of priorities, a complete role reversal.

But what surprised them was that the prince didn't say anything.

The prince said nothing.

Cui Lu and the other man just crawled on the ground.

He is a person from the Five Surnames and Seven Famous families, and also an official of the court, an important figure.

Now, the prince refused to nod and knelt on the ground.

How did this day become so dreamy?

Zhang Shiheng and the others couldn't believe it; they saw it with their own eyes.

Such proud people from aristocratic families now lowered their heads, prostrated themselves at the feet of the prince, waiting for orders.

Changsun Wuji clenched his fists in his sleeves, praying secretly that the prince would agree.

If they don't accept, then the purpose of their coming here will be in vain.

"Am I the prince?"

Li Chengqian spat out.

Everyone was shocked and their scalps felt numb. Even Li Zhi and Li Ke trembled.

"Your Highness is the Crown Prince, you are so noble!"

Cui Dunli replied without hesitation.

"Am I your king?"

"Yes!"

The two responded decisively.

Li Chengqian said slowly: "Then I don't understand."

"If you don't want to give it to me, then don't give it to me. If you want to give it to me, then kneel down and beg me to take the person in."

"Does my status as the crown prince depend on your moods?"

"Or is it that the women of the five surnames and seven families entering the East Palace to serve me is a charity from you to me?"

The two were horrified and said hurriedly, "Your Highness, please calm down. We have absolutely no such intention!"

If it were in the past, don’t even mention you as the prince.

Even Your Majesty has to consider the faces of the Five Surnames and Seven Families.

But now, they are in a hurry to give their legitimate daughter to the prince.

They have to act according to the prince's mood.

"Just a few bitches!"

Li Chengqian said coldly: "What is the use of me coming here?"

"Your Highness!"

Zhang Shiheng said, "Please be careful with your words and be polite."

Cui Dunli and Lu Chengqing blushed.

The word "bitch".

It is simply a huge insult to them.

How could women from these five surnames and seven families dare to be called sluts?

"Master Zhang is right to remind you."

Li Chengqian said calmly: "Etiquette is very important."

"As the crown prince, I must always observe etiquette and must not do anything that would undermine the dignity of the crown prince."

"And you guys don't know etiquette."

"You have damaged my dignity and repeatedly disregarded your majesty's authority." Cui Dunli raised his head and said firmly, "Your Highness, I know I am guilty, but I will not accept your humiliation."

"Please take back your words, Your Highness."

"how?"

Li Chengqian asked: "Is what I said wrong?"

“Your Highness…!”

Lu Chengqing also wanted to speak, but Gao Shilian shouted, "Shut up!"

"This is in front of the king, how can I allow you to be so presumptuous?"

He immediately bowed to Li Chengqian and said, "Your Highness, the two ministers know their mistakes and sincerely repent. We beg the Crown Prince to forgive us."

"Please forgive them and give them a chance to atone for their sins."

Zhang Sun Wuji said: "Your Highness, after the Cui and Lu families realized their mistakes, they felt extremely remorseful and blamed themselves day and night."

"Some time ago, he came to find me and Duke Shen, hoping to have a chance to plead guilty to His Highness in person and ask for His Highness' forgiveness."

"The two assistant ministers' apologies come from the bottom of their hearts, and heaven and earth can bear witness to this."

Li Ke was horrified by what he saw.

Ever since the prince said the word "slut", he was worried about him.

These are the five surnames and seven families.

Even my father cannot be insulted at will.

It came out lightly from the mouth of the Crown Prince.

He was really afraid that the two would disregard the prince's dignity and argue with the prince's elder brother.

But now it seems that I was completely wrong.

It seemed that the prince brother had already calculated it, and the two of them did not dare to lose their composure.

"I heard that the newspapers in Chang'an are very lively recently."

"Some people say that there are treacherous ministers around me, and some say that my brother has ulterior motives."

Li Chengqian answered the question irrelevantly, "Among them, are there any newspapers published by you, Cui and Lu?"

Cui Dunli said seriously: "Your Highness, there is a misunderstanding in this matter."

"Someone was trying to interfere and wrote a defamatory article. I have already arrested him."

“This kind of thing will never happen again.”

Lu Chengqing said something similar.

Li Chengqian smiled lightly, what he said was more beautiful than what he sang.

The blame is directly put on the temporary workers, right?

He roughly guessed what was going on when Changsun Wuji brought his men over.

The root of all this was that the Shandong family could no longer hold on and were preparing to come to him to seek peace.

He wanted to send his legitimate daughter to the Eastern Palace.

He became more confident and realized that his goal had been achieved.

Publishing a newspaper is not something that can be done just like that; it requires a lot of manpower and financial resources.

They relied entirely on hand-copied newspapers, and could not survive in Chang'an for long, nor could they match the number of newspapers published by the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River.

If the quantity cannot keep up, the influence will be greatly reduced.

Internal struggles also cost a lot of financial resources.

I finally understood that I couldn’t rely on myself alone, nor could I rely on hand-copied newspapers anymore.

They reached a consensus that they could not act independently but had to work together.

Then, they take advantage of the current focus events and add fuel to the flames.

The Cui and Lu families wanted to use the prince's stay in Beijing to stir up a public opinion storm against Xiao Yu and Li Ke, and then show their power and influence to Li Chengqian.

I came to negotiate with him using this as a bargaining chip.

They also tasted some sweetness from this public opinion push.

That feeling was hard for them to give up, and they were more eager to find a way to distribute newspapers in bulk.

So, here they come.

It wasn't because Li Chengqian was careless that he allowed them to get the bargaining chips and have the opportunity to negotiate.

He deliberately gave them the opportunity.

Because things have developed to this point, it is time to move on to the next stage.

If he doesn't give any loopholes, when will the Five Surnames and Seven Families find an opportunity?
When will you bow to him?

Cui Dunli and Lu Chengqing could endure Li Chengqian's humiliation.

The fundamental reason is that they have ulterior motives.

It's that they want something more than just current fame.

The effect of newspapers was infinitely highlighted this time.

Their circulation was small, yet it caused such a big stir and discussion.

The Wenxian and Wenxian newspapers have such a large circulation. If they were to refute it, I really don’t know what would happen.

This time, they also felt very strange. Why did the two newspapers not make any move even though they were so aggressive?

in fact.

This is what Li Chengqian told Xiao Yu and the others: don't talk.

Otherwise, the circulation of their handwritten newspapers combined would not be enough to cover the circulation of Wenxian and other newspapers.

This is equivalent to Li Chengqian giving them bargaining chips so that the Five Surnames and Seven Families will come over and kneel down to him.

"So to say."

"What the newspaper said is not what you meant?"

As soon as Li Chengqian said this, Li Ke's heart skipped a beat and a flash of inspiration flashed through his mind.

It turned out to be the case.

No wonder he told my uncle and I not to worry.

What was written in the newspaper was not their idea. On the contrary, they had no objection to the prince staying in Chang'an.

Now it is clear.

"Your Highness, that was not my opinion. It was those villains who spoke nonsense. How dare they discuss important matters in the court?"

Cui Dunli said: "Duke Song is a loyal minister."

Zhang Sun Wuji smiled and said, "This is a misunderstanding. Now that we have figured it out, then Minister Cui, Minister Lu, this was caused by your newspaper."

"It has tarnished the reputation of the Duke of Song and caused him to suffer such criticism."

"Shouldn't you show your sincerity and apologize to Duke Song, correct the misunderstandings of the outside world, and restore Duke Song's good name?"

Gao Shilian said, "Yes, you must carefully review the content of newspapers in the future, and don't let this happen again."

"It would be unacceptable if we repeat the same mistakes."

The two of them sang the same tune, and Cui Dunli and Lu Chengqing hurriedly said that they would definitely do it.

At this moment, Li Ke was completely prostrated before his brother the Crown Prince.

That's how the problem was solved.

As for my great uncle, he received apologies from the five surnames and seven noble families, and his reputation was restored. He was given enough respect.

That totally makes sense.

"Your Highness, I heard that Duke Song asked for a craft from Your Highness. I can't ask for it, so I can only come to the Crown Prince to ask for advice."

Changsun Wuji said.

He revealed the ultimate purpose of his visit.

What we need is printing technology.

Li Chengqian stopped when he saw that things were going well, and said with a smile: "Uncle, are you talking about the printing process?"

Chang Sun Wuji nodded and said, "If it is consistent with the process used by Duke Song to distribute newspapers in large quantities, I think it must be this."

Hearing this, Li Chengqian laughed and said, "Uncle, there is no need to ask for your advice."

"Just send someone over to learn."

After these words were spoken, Changsun Wuji and the others all smiled with relief.

"Thank you for your grace, Your Highness."

Several people hurriedly bowed, feeling quite excited.

Isn't this what they are asking for?

Yu Zhining and Kong Yingda understood the purpose of this conversation between the Crown Prince and Zhangsun Wuji.

So you want the things from the prince?
Zhang Shiheng didn't quite understand the previous conversation, but when he heard about newspapers and printing technology, his eyes lit up.

"Your Highness, I also want to publish a newspaper to announce the contents compiled in Tang Li to the public first."

Kong Yingda also followed suit.

The newspapers in Chang'an City are so lively, and this time the newspapers are making such a big fuss.

They compiled the "Tang Li", so how could they be content to lag behind others?

"it is good."

Li Chengqian said: "Master Zhang is right."

"But it costs money to publish a newspaper."

"How about this, we take some money from the inner treasury of the East Palace and use it to help Master Zhang publish the newspaper."

"Master Zhang, have you thought of a name for this newspaper?"

Zhang Shiheng said confidently: "I and the other scholars have already thought about this."

"The Li Bao."

(End of this chapter)