Li Chengqian of the Tang Dynasty: Please say long live His Majesty

Chapter 180: Dismissal of King Tai of Wei from the Post of Governor of Yongzhou (Part )
Luoyang, Prince Wei's Mansion.

In the study room.

Chai Lingwu looked at Liu Xiaosun and bowed earnestly, saying, "If Sima hadn't come up with a solution today, if the kings, princesses, ministers, and chancellors had seen the situation in Beidong, the consequences would have been unpredictable."

Today, Li Tai invited the emperor to Binyang Beidong alone. Although he was scolded by the emperor, he finally saved his face.

After the emperor came out of the cave, he immediately issued an order to keep Binyang North Cave closed and reopen it on another day.

Although the princes and nobles had doubts in their hearts, they mostly focused their praise on Binyang South Cave.

Otherwise, once they saw the true situation of Binyang North Cave, countless accusations would immediately fall on Li Tai's head.

Liu Xiaosun waved his hand slightly, looked at Li Tai and said, "This is what I should do. But Your Highness, why are you so anxious about everything? Wouldn't it be better to slow down a bit and present it to Your Majesty once everything is perfect?"

"It's because the prince is pushing too hard..." Chai Lingwu was just halfway through his words when Li Tai interrupted him.

Li Tai, who was sitting on the main couch with a distracted look, looked up at Liu Xiaosun and apologized, "I'm sorry to have caused Sima so much trouble today. Actually, the problem with the Longmen Grottoes is still due to lack of funds."

Li Tai sighed deeply and said, "Originally, I thought that the golden Buddha in my possession, the one in the Crown Prince's possession, and the donations from my uncle and sister would be enough. Who would have thought that my brother would be so stubborn as to use it to build the Taiyi Qinghua Temple? Furthermore, my father-in-law suddenly left, and all that happened was a failure."

Liu Xiaosun looked at Li Tai deeply. If he had not been the Chief Censor before, he might have really been deceived by Li Tai.

The prince presented the golden Buddha to Louguan Dao before the King of Wei proposed to build the Longmen Buddha shrine.

After all, Louguandao is on Mount Zhongnan, while King Wei's Longmen Grottoes are in Luoyang, and the prince is much faster than King Wei.

As for Yan Lide, he was a serious official in the court and the governor of Guangzhou.

Should he give up the position of Governor of Guangzhou and instead stay in Luoyang to help him fight for the throne?
What a joke.

After all, Yan Lide is the one who calls the shots in the Yan family, and his attitude is clear.

Haven’t you noticed that even Yan Liben has come less frequently to Prince Wei’s Mansion in the past six months?

"The others can be dealt with reluctantly, but Your Highness still needs to sincerely apologize to His Majesty and Duke Zhao." Liu Xiaosun paused briefly, then bowed to Li Tai and said, "Your Highness ultimately failed in this matter. His Majesty and Duke Zhao will inevitably be resentful of Your Highness."

"I will go to my uncle to admit my mistake. As for my father, although he won't blame me too much, I will go to the palace to apologize tomorrow morning. Of course, I will need to prepare some gifts." Li Tai showed a hint of confidence on his face. He was confident enough to persuade the emperor.

After all, no matter what, they are father and son.

Li Tai smiled and looked at Chai Lingwu. "Besides, the matter of the Comprehensive Geography and the Longmen Grottoes is now concluded. The Prince of Wei's Palace needs to do something more to please our father."

"I heard..." Chai Lingwu had just opened his mouth when a loud shout suddenly came from outside: "Your Majesty has an order, King Wei, accept it!"

The three people in the study were stunned at the same time, and then Chai Lingwu and Liu Xiaosun all turned to look at Li Tai: "Your Highness."

"It seems that I haven't gone to the palace to apologize yet." Li Tai's face couldn't help but become solemn.

For a moment, he had a bad feeling.

Could this be the emperor's imperial decree of punishment?

"Your Highness, please go and receive the decree first." Liu Xiaosun took a step back and bowed seriously.

"Okay!" Li Tai forced a smile, then stood up and walked out of the study.

……

"…Wang Tai of Wei was dismissed from his post as governor of Yongzhou and appointed as governor of Xiangzhou. He was also granted the title of governor of Weizhou, supervising the military affairs of the seven prefectures of Xiang, Wei, Li, Wei, Meng, Xing, and Bei. Du Chuke was dismissed from his post as chief secretary of the King of Wei and appointed as chief secretary of the governor of Xiangzhou and governor of Xiangzhou. Liu Xiaosun, the military commander of the King of Wei, was appointed as the chief secretary of the King of Wei and the chief secretary of Weizhou. Chai Lingwu, the recorder of the King of Wei, was appointed as the military commander of the King of Wei…"

Zhang Ananda finished reading the imperial edict, then looked at Li Tai solemnly: "Your Highness, Prince of Wei, please accept the edict."

"Your son..." Li Tai looked up, read the imperial edict, and then kowtowed solemnly, saying, "Your son obeys the order."

"We obey your order." Liu Xiaosun and Chai Lingwu kowtowed at the same time.

Zhang Ananda placed the imperial edict in Li Tai's hand and said, "Your Majesty has ordered that after the King of Wei has packed up, he should go to the palace to express his gratitude and then set off!"

"Yes!" Li Tai's mouth twitched slightly, but he still kowtowed again.

What the emperor meant by this sentence was that the matter was a foregone conclusion and there was no room for maneuver.

After Zhang Ananda left, Li Tai finally stood up with some difficulty. Liu Xiaosun and Chai Lingwu stepped forward to support him, but Li Tai simply waved his hands away.

Standing up straight, Li Tai looked towards the courtyard, then sideways at Liu Xiaosun and said, "Chief Secretary, the reason I was able to stay in Chang'an before was because I held the post of Governor of Yongzhou. Now that I am no longer Governor of Yongzhou, and my father is urging me to leave, what should I do to continue to stay by his side?"

Liu Xiaosun stepped forward solemnly, bowing earnestly and saying, "I understand your Highness's thoughts, but Your Highness, the imperial decree has been issued, and His Majesty has made his decision. Therefore, why not go to Xiangzhou first to ease His Majesty's anger? At the same time, make achievements in Xiangzhou, win His Majesty's favor, and then plan for the future."

Li Tai nodded slowly and said, "Father is still concerned about the Longmen Grottoes. It's my fault. I haven't been to Longmen since my father-in-law left last year. Otherwise, what happened today wouldn't have happened."

Turning around, Li Tai looked at Liu Xiaosun and said, "Thank you, Chief Secretary. I am in a state of confusion right now, so I'll trouble you to take care of the cleanup of the palace. Once it's done, I'll go to the palace to bid farewell to my father."

"I obey your command." Liu Xiaosun breathed a sigh of relief, then bowed and left. Li Tai looked at Chai Lingwu and nodded expressionlessly, saying, "Cousin, let's go to the study."

"Yes!" Chai Lingwu's expression became solemn.

……

In the study, Li Tai stood at the window, looking at the rockery in the courtyard, and said softly: "Cousin, did we do something wrong when we were in Chang'an?"

"If it were just the incident at Longmen, I don't think this should be the case." After a brief pause, Chai Lingwu bowed and said, "Before the incident in Chang'an, before the Qinghua Temple incident, Your Highness was under house arrest. The only other incident was the assassination attempt a few years ago, but that was a long time ago. Your Majesty wouldn't mind it for that long... Perhaps there is indeed something wrong, but I really can't figure out what the problem is."

"Taiyi Qinghua Temple?" Li Tai nodded slightly and said, "The matter of Taiyi Qinghua Temple has always been very strange to me. I was the one who presented the Comprehensive Geography, but why was Sima transferred to the Imperial Academy and then my cousin was even granted the title of Crown Prince's Consort? It's as if my brother has suffered a great loss."

"Crown Prince!" Chai Lingwu bowed slightly and said, "Your Highness, the Crown Prince is currently undergoing treatment for a broken leg. If nothing unexpected happens, he won't appear before Your Majesty or the court officials for at least six months, or even longer..."

"Didn't we say that it was precisely because of this that the emperor would not blame us for the Longmen Grottoes incident? But the current situation shows that we were obviously wrong." Li Tai looked up at Chai Lingwu with a serious expression.

It is obvious that the emperor did not really favor Li Tai, but was using him to balance the crown prince.

Now that the prince is silent, the emperor naturally no longer needs Li Tai to balance the situation.

Chai Lingwu naturally guessed what the emperor was really thinking, but he couldn't say these words to Li Tai.

At least not now.

"Your Highness, perhaps that's why." After a brief pause, Chai Lingwu said thoughtfully, "The Crown Prince is currently recuperating from illness and is at his weakest. The officials of the Eastern Palace and others all feel threatened, which is why Your Highness's mistake at Longmen was caught."

"My cousin, what I meant was the matter of Taiyi Qinghua Temple. I did nothing wrong. The problem came from the treatment of my brother's broken leg, which made my father feel pity. This time, I made a mistake again, so the people of the Eastern Palace seized the opportunity to impeach me. That's why my father decided to transfer me to Xiangzhou?" Li Tai looked at Chai Lingwu with some uncertainty.

"That should be the case." Chai Lingwu nodded directly, then said, "Your Highness, the question is what to do next?"

After a brief pause, Chai Lingwu looked at Li Tai seriously and said, "Your Highness, what the Chief Secretary said just now is correct. We should take a step back and then do something in Xiangzhou to win back the favor of His Majesty..."

This is what I was just trying to say. I heard that Ma Zhou, the Crown Prince's Junior Secretary, often went to the farmlands of the Sinong Temple in Wugong and the Wannian counties of Chang'an, and this is the Crown Prince..."

"It's about farming." Li Tai raised his head, looked at Chai Lingwu with a gloomy gaze, and said, "Indeed, the Eastern Palace is doing this very carefully, but that's because they are the Eastern Palace. Only by doing this can they achieve the greatest effect.

If this prince did it, it would only bring a good harvest for one year. Father would at most praise him, but it would be impossible to shake his mind. Besides..."

Li Tai gave a bitter smile, turned around and looked at the rockery outside the courtyard, and said softly, "Cousin, in the past, whether it was Li Ke or Li You, when they were in Chang'an, they were both highly valued by the emperor. However, once they left Chang'an, no matter how well they did, when they returned, the emperor became much colder towards them."

The emperor has many sons.

The emperor's love will not disappear, but it will be transferred from one son to another.

"Once I leave Chang'an, when I come back, the ones following my father will be either Prince Zhao, Prince Cao, or Prince Jin." Li Tai couldn't help but narrow his eyes, with a strong sense of vigilance flashing in the depths of his eyes.

King Zhao and King Cao are fine, but the key is Li Zhi.

Li Zhi is already fifteen years old this year, and it is time for him to participate in politics.

If the emperor appointed him as the governor of Yongzhou again, Li Tai would never be able to go back.

"So, I must never leave Chang'an." Li Tai looked at Chai Lingwu fiercely, as if he wanted to eat him.

Chai Lingwu didn't know what to say for a moment. What he said just now was really trying to persuade Li Tai to leave Chang'an.

Of course, this is Luoyang, not Chang'an.

But after all, this was just the emperor's residence during his eastern tour, and Li Tai accompanied the emperor on his eastern tour, so in their hearts, they still recognized Chang'an.

Luoyang is just a subsidiary of Chang'an.

Chai Lingwu understood Li Tai's thoughts, but he really wanted Li Tai to leave Chang'an and go to Xiangzhou to take up a post.

Because the emperor had just made it very clear in his imperial edict that Chai Lingwu, the recorder and military officer of King Wei, would be appointed as the Sima of King Wei.

Originally, Chai Lingwu wanted to find an opportunity to transfer out of the Prince of Wei's Mansion, but now he has become the Prince of Wei's Sima, and it is even more difficult to leave.

In this way, he and the increasingly dangerous Li Tai became increasingly closely bound together.

……

"So, cousin," Li Tai said, his expression calming down. He looked at Chai Lingwu and asked, "How can I stay in Luoyang, in Chang'an, and by my father's side now that he has appointed me as the governor of Xiangzhou?"

Chai Lingwu took a deep breath, then bowed and said, "Your Highness, in my opinion, if Your Highness wants to stay, then at least Your Highness should leave first."

"Ok?"

(End of this chapter)