Datang: Just been appointed as the crown prince, the counterattack system is here

Chapter 143 Come on, Li Er! Let’s hurt each other! [Seeking monthly votes]

As the founding emperor, how could Li Yuan have been kept in the dark about the sacrificial ceremony and prayer for rain?

In his opinion, this was Li Shimin's revenge on Li Chengqian!

Because Li Chengqian had used righteousness to trick Li Shimin before, making him lose face and damaging the emperor's dignity, so this time, he also used righteousness to trick Li Chengqian.

As the crown prince of the Tang Dynasty, Li Chengqian has the obligation and responsibility to pray for the people of the Tang Dynasty.

If Li Chengqian refused to pray for rain, the image of "loyalty, filial piety, benevolence and righteousness" that he had worked so hard to build would collapse in an instant.

If Li Chengqian did not refuse, he would have to endure the tragedy of the sacrifice and prayer for rain alone.

You know, that can kill people.

Therefore, no matter what, Li Chengqian would not accept this decree.

As a staunch supporter of Li Chengqian, Li Yuan had long witnessed Li Shimin's ruthlessness.

Even though he knew that his current strength was not enough to compete with Li Shimin, he still did not want his grandson to follow in his footsteps and be controlled by Li Shimin.

You know, once Li Chengqian loses the perfect label of "loyalty, filial piety, benevolence and righteousness", if he wants to achieve anything in the future, he will have to depend on Li Shimin's mood.

As for continuing development in Jiangling, it is probably impossible.

And he himself would probably live the same imprisoned life as before.

However, how can a bird that has already flown out of the cage and enjoyed freedom and happiness be willing to be caged again?
Rather than being locked in a cage again, it is better to fight to the death!
If it succeeds, everyone will be happy; if it fails, people will die and birds will fly to the sky.

However, when Li Yuan heard that Li Chengqian agreed to his proposal so easily, he was a little confused.

After all, Li Chengqian has never been an impulsive person.

Otherwise, he would not have been able to devise the plan to reopen Xuanwu Gate.

After a slight hesitation, Li Yuan spoke again, as if he had misheard, "Grandson, what I'm saying is that we should rebel against Erlang. Do you agree?"

"I agree!"

Li Chengqian laughed, "Let's go head to head with General Tiance! What's so great about him? He just has great generals like Li Jing, Li Ji, Yuchi Gong, Cheng Zhijie, Qin Qiong, and Hou Junji! With just over 300 states, how can he be a match for one of our states? Grandpa, your grandson supports you, let's rebel against him!"

"Uh,"

Li Yuan's mouth twitched, and his face was full of strangeness.

Ma Zhou and others behind him were also confused.

Why does this sound more and more wrong the more I hear it?
It is obvious that Your Majesty has the advantage, but His Royal Highness the Crown Prince still supports our rebellion. What is going on?
Could it be that there is something fishy going on?

Thinking of this, Ma Zhou immediately asked Li Chengqian: "Does His Royal Highness the Crown Prince have any ideas?"

"What's the idea?"

Li Chengqian asked Ma Zhou with a smile.

But then Cen Wenben interjected, "It's about praying for rain! Is His Royal Highness really going back to Chang'an to pray for rain?"

"That's an imperial decree! If I don't go back, I'm disobeying the decree. Do you want me to disobey the decree?"

"But."

"All right!"

Before Cen Wenben could finish his words, Li Yuan raised his hand and interrupted him: "Grandson, if you have any ideas, just tell me! Judging from your expression, you should know the dangers of praying for rain!"

Li Chengqian smiled: "You really know my grandson better than anyone else!"

Li Yuan: “.”

Everyone: "."

"Okay, I do know the dangers of praying for rain, and I also guessed that my father probably doesn't want my life!"

“But that’s the problem!”

Li Chengqian spread his hands and said, "Solving this problem is very simple. Just give up!"

"As long as you give up everything you have now and return to Chang'an obediently, nothing will happen."

"But, can I give up?"

After hearing this, everyone looked at each other.

It is obvious that it is impossible to ask Li Chengqian to give up everything he has now.

"So, I can't be led by the nose!"

After saying this, Li Chengqian stood up from his seat and said analytically as he walked, "Let's start from the root of this matter. Why do we need to pray for rain?"

“Does this still need research?”

Zhang Ping said with a hint of amusement, "Because there's been a drought everywhere. Without rain, the crops won't survive. Without crops, the people won't have food and will starve to death!"

"Yes! You're right! The root of the problem lies in food! Then why didn't my father solve the food problem, but instead advocated praying for rain?"

Li Chengqian turned around and asked.

"This"

Zhang Ping was suddenly speechless.

But Cen Wenben said thoughtfully: "If the drought has a great impact and the local authorities cannot effectively solve it, it will generally be reported to the court, and the court will discuss and resolve it!"

"So, praying for rain was the result of a court discussion?"

“It’s possible.”

"That's even more ridiculous!"

Li Chengqian asked, "Why didn't the court discuss raising food to deal with the disaster? Are those people in the court all idiots? Don't they know the root cause of the disaster?"

"This"

Cen Wenben was also left speechless by Li Chengqian's questions.

At this time, the others also began to come to their senses and felt that there was something fishy going on.

"Could it be that the disaster is more serious than we imagined? Even if we collect food, it cannot solve the problem. After all, the food we collect can only solve temporary needs, but not long-term problems. That's why we have to think of praying for rain!" Ma Zhou said thoughtfully.

Li Chengqian thought about it and nodded, "You have some truth in what you said!"

"but."

Then he changed the subject and continued, "Can praying for rain solve the problem? What if the prayer fails?"

"Oh! Why are you overthinking it so much? If your prayers for rain fail, just talk about it later. The imperial court has already done its best!"

Du Caigan complained speechlessly, "Could it be that the people dare to blame the court for not praying for rain?"

"Yeah! You're right!"

Li Chengqian said excitedly, "The common people dare not blame the court, but the ministers are advising my father to pray for rain. Why is that?"

"This"

Hearing this, everyone was stunned.

After a while, Li Yuan suddenly spoke up, "According to the tradition of the previous dynasty, when natural disasters occur, the prime minister is usually held responsible, because the people often associate natural disasters with the government's policies!"

"That's right! Grandpa is right! This is actually a trap set by someone else for my father. If my father prays for rain, he will be in danger of death! If my father doesn't pray for rain, or if his prayers fail, he will have to change his new policies and follow the so-called public opinion!"

"Think about it, what did my father do in this situation? He knew praying for rain was dangerous, yet he still asked me to do it on his behalf!"

Hearing this, Ma Zhou quickly reacted: "Your Majesty is stalling for time! He knows the Crown Prince's character and will definitely not obey his will, so he threw the problem to the Crown Prince!"

"If the prince can pray for rain successfully, everyone will be happy. If the prince cannot pray for rain successfully, he will have more time to deal with the disaster!" "What a good plan!"

Cen Wenben also reacted: "This is killing two birds with one stone!"

"If the prince refuses to pray for rain, it will definitely cause quite a stir. Putting the rain prayer on hold is a minor matter, but the prince's reputation is a major issue!"

"If the Crown Prince's reputation is damaged, Your Majesty will step in to save it."

At this point, everyone understood everything instantly, as if the clouds had cleared and the sky had cleared.

After a while, Xue Rengui said indignantly: "Your Majesty, how could you be so cruel! How could you plot against your own son like this!"

Xue Rengui, who originally had some admiration for Li Shimin, now has no good impression of him at all.

When Li Yuan heard Xue Rengui say this, he sneered: "He even schemed against me, his father, let alone his son!"

Xue Rengui's mouth twitched, and he suddenly didn't know what to say.

At this time, Pei Xuan said cautiously: "Then according to your Highness the Crown Prince, what should we do?"

After saying this, he subconsciously hid his hand wrapped in the wound cloth behind his back.

Hearing this, Li Chengqian looked at him with a smile: "What do you think?"

"Ah I"

Pei Xuan seemed to be surprised by Li Chengqian's question, and he immediately looked a little embarrassed, but he still answered bravely, "I think the person who tied the bell should be the one to untie it. The people who are causing trouble for Your Majesty should be Pei Ji and the Five Surnames and Seven Families. Because apart from them hoping that Your Majesty's new policies will not be implemented, no one else should be willing to make things difficult for Your Majesty!"

"What's more, the Five Clans and Seven Families control a vast amount of grain. When a natural disaster strikes, they can profit immensely, so they naturally don't want the imperial court to intervene."

"So, if we want to solve the problem from the root, we must first deal with Pei Ji and those people from the Five Surnames and Seven Families."

"Clap clap clap!"

As soon as Pei Xuan finished speaking, Li Chengqian's slap suddenly rang out.

But he laughed and said, "Inspector Pei is right! If you can't solve the problem, then get rid of the person!"

"Ah? This"

Pei Xuan looked embarrassed, but he still bowed respectfully to Li Chengqian: "Thank you, Your Highness, for the compliment!"

The others all had strange expressions on their faces when they saw this.

At this moment, Su Dingfang, who had been silent the entire time, suddenly spoke up: "What does Your Highness the Crown Prince intend to do? Do you need me to train death squads?"

Li Chengqian quickly waved his hands: "No, no, violence can't solve the problem!"

"But how can we deal with people without using violence?"

Li Chengqian smiled, but did not answer the question. Instead, he looked around at everyone and said, "I've made up my mind. I will obey your order and pray for rain!"

"what?"

Everyone was surprised.

It seemed that no one expected Li Chengqian to make this decision.

Li Chengqian raised his hand to stop Li Yuan who was about to speak, and said with a smile: "Grandpa, wait a moment, watch how I control my father!"

After he finished speaking, he immediately turned to Lai Fu and said, "Lai Fu, go and call Gao Yao and the officials outside the hall in!"

"promise!"

Lai Fu agreed.

Soon, all the officials outside the hall, including the eunuch Gao Yao who announced the imperial edict, the censor Di Zhixun, and the chief secretary Liu Li, came in.

But then Li Chengqian said in a deep voice, "Eunuch Gao, I want to ask you, does the imperial edict instruct me when to return to Chang'an?"

Gao Yao was slightly startled, then he picked up the imperial edict, examined it carefully, and said in a fearful tone, "Your Highness, the imperial edict only orders you to return to Chang'an to preside over the grand sacrifice, but it does not specify when you will return!"

"Okay, then I'll ask you again, does the imperial edict say that I'm praying for rain in accordance with heaven's will?"

“Well, it seems so!”

"Don't be so vague! Look carefully again. If it is, it is. If it is not, it is not!"

"Oh, oh, okay, I'll take a look right away!"

Gao Yao couldn't understand what Li Chengqian was up to, so he nodded and bowed hurriedly to check the imperial edict again.

Liu Li and other officials of Jiangling Prefecture frowned slightly, feeling that something was wrong.

After a moment, Gao Yao said with great certainty, "The imperial edict indeed says that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince prayed for rain in accordance with Heaven's will!"

"it is good!"

Li Chengqian clapped his hands in approval, then stepped forward to receive the imperial edict. He looked around at the crowd and said, "I obey the will of Heaven and tour the four directions to pray for rain for the people!"

"What!?"

When everyone heard this, they felt as if they were struck by lightning.

Even Li Yuan and others were a little at a loss.

Especially Liu Li and others, their minds were blank.

Touring the country in obedience to heaven is something that only the emperor can do!

"Your Highness! His Majesty only asked you to pray for rain, not to..."

"What? Liu Changshi knows more about praying for rain than this prince? Then why don't you come?"

Before Liu Li could finish his words, Li Chengqian interrupted him holding up the imperial edict.

"I"

Liu Li was speechless after being asked this question.

At this time, an official beside him said angrily: "Your Highness, the Crown Prince, are you not afraid of His Majesty's blame for misinterpreting the Holy Spirit like this?!"

"What did I mean by that?"

Li Chengqian raised his eyebrows and said, "The imperial edict clearly states that I am praying for rain in accordance with the will of heaven. I am obeying the will of heaven to understand the suffering of the people. Is there any problem with that?"

"Besides, didn't you just hear it? The imperial edict didn't specify when I should return to Chang'an. How do you know that His Majesty wanted me to travel more and see more?"

"Or are you trying to guess the Holy Spirit's will?"

"I"

The official was speechless.

Li Chengqian smiled coldly in his heart.

His Majesty Li Er wants to use me to help him solve his problems, so don't blame me for using him and completely liberate myself!
If you want to scheme against yourself, you have to pay the price!

"I didn't say I wouldn't pray for rain, nor did I disobey the order. What are you objecting to?"

When the officials heard this, they fell silent.

At this time, Li Chengqian set his eyes on Gao Yao again and said without a doubt, "Go back and tell my father that I have prayed for rain! Not even God can stop it! I say it!"

.........

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(End of this chapter)