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

Chapter 230 But Grandpa, I’m not the Emperor Yet [Seeking Monthly Tickets]

"Your Highness, do you know what His Majesty cares about most?"

On the Yuewang Pavilion, Wang Gui looked at the towering imperial palace and asked lightly.

Li Tai sat at his desk, reading a book, and replied with a smile: "Of course it's the country and the people!"

"Then why don't you start with the country?"

"Ok?"

Li Tai was slightly stunned, then looked up at Wang Gui with some confusion: "Teacher, what do you mean by this?"

"If Your Highness can convince His Majesty that the establishment of the Literary Museum is to consolidate the country, not..."

As he spoke, Wang Gui turned to look at Li Tai with a meaningful smile.

Li Tai's eyes lit up, and he immediately raised his hand to signal: "Teacher, continue!"

Wang Gui pondered, "I, this old minister, have thought over this and feel that we are overthinking things. As long as Your Highness writes to His Majesty, stating that although the country is now stable, there are still many disturbances in various places, and advising Your Majesty to build a new literary institute, ostensibly to recruit talents, but in reality to monitor these scholars."

"Your Majesty grew up through the Literary Institute, so you naturally know the influence of scholars!"

"Wonderful!"

Li Tai pondered for a moment, "This plan is brilliant, but how can I convince my father that I have no second thoughts?"

Wang Gui thought for a moment and said, "Your Highness could take the initiative to propose that after the Literature Museum is established, His Majesty appoint someone to take charge of it. That way, His Majesty can both control the Literature Museum and monitor Your Highness at the same time. Wouldn't that be the best of both worlds?"

"it is good!"

Li Tai's mind turned, and he instantly understood Wang Gui's intention: "What a retreat to advance!"

"hehe!"

Wang Gui smiled faintly, and then suddenly seemed to remember something and said to himself:

"Half a month ago, two distinguished guests arrived at the palace, introduced by the Dali Temple Secretary. They are Taoist priests from the Lingming Palace. During their conversation, I was deeply impressed by the profound knowledge of Taoism. Therefore, I also believe in Taoism and have become a disciple of Laojun."

"Unfortunately, I am a dull-witted old minister, and have only learned the basics so far. I truly feel ashamed of the two Taoist masters' dedicated teachings."

"How could the teacher believe in Taoism?"

Li Tai was surprised when he heard this: "Taoism despises benevolence, righteousness, and morality, which is completely different from the teachings of Confucius and Mencius."

"Father has always respected Confucianism and honored the virtuous. Confucianism is profound and extensive. With this avenue for learning, why should Teacher neglect the fundamentals and pursue superficial things?"

"Confucius also asked Laozi about this. Taoism has a long history. How can Confucianism be compared with Taoism?"

Wang Gui teased, "Is it possible that Your Highness doesn't know about the locust plague?"

"This"

When Li Tai heard this, he couldn't help but look hesitant.

Of course, he knew about Li Shimin and Li Chengqian's locust eradication campaign, and he also knew the blows suffered by Confucian disciples during the locust eradication campaign.

But he still asked Wang Gui with some confusion: "Is the inheritance of that sect really so miraculous?"

"It is said that the prince is the reincarnation of an immortal. Isn't the path to immortality the inheritance of Taoism?"

"puff--"

Li Tai chuckled, then put down the geography book in his hand and looked at Wang Gui with a strange expression: "Teacher, why do you believe such rumors?"

"The King of Yue doesn't believe it?"

Wang Gui asked, "Then how do you explain the changes in the Crown Prince over the past two years?"

"No, I admit that my royal brother has changed a lot in the past two years, but if you say he is the reincarnation of an immortal, I definitely don't believe it!"

Li Tai said with some amusement: "He is just pretending to be mysterious. Only my mother believes him!"

"So the rumors are false?" Wang Gui frowned.

"It couldn't be more fake!"

Li Tai curled his lips in disdain, then asked Wang Gui in confusion: "Teacher, why are you suddenly concerned about this?"

"Nothing much, I just heard from the two Taoist priests that someone wants to read the prince's face!"

"Who?"

"Yuan Tiangang!"

"Who is he?"

"A Taoist master!"

"Where is he then?"

"It is said that he is beside the Emperor!"

"Oh?"

Li Tai raised his eyebrows, then asked seriously, "Does my grandfather know about this?"

"You should know." Wang Gui nodded.

"Then my royal brother..."

"Your Majesty has released the Crown Prince from the Zongzheng Temple!"

Before Li Tai finished speaking, a report came from outside the door.

Li Tai's heart trembled, and he subconsciously looked at Wang Gui.

Wang Gui's face darkened, and he asked in a cold voice, "What happened?"

"It is said that the Emperor Retired held a competition at the Crown Prince's Palace, and not only invited the ministers in the court, but even His Majesty!"

"This"

Wang Gui was slightly stunned, and then he looked at Li Tai.

Li Tai said thoughtfully, "Teacher, I feel the situation is not good. How about we invite Master Cui and the others to come and discuss a countermeasure together? What do you think?"

"Your Highness is wise, this is exactly what I am thinking!"

"it is good!"

Li Tai responded and immediately ordered outside the door: "Chang Wei, go and invite Lord Cui, Lord Lu, Lord Zheng, and the two Generals Li!"

"promise!"

A palace servant named Chang Wei outside the door immediately agreed and retreated.

On the other side, the training ground of the Prince’s Mansion.

"Master Wei, you lose."

Li Chengqian looked at Wei Zheng with a calm smile.

Wei Zheng sighed helplessly and said sadly, "Do you have to stake your fight on the whole world?"

"No, the world isn't a bet, it's a gamble!"

Li Chengqian looked up and said with a smile.

Wei Zheng glanced at him and said with a wry smile, "To be honest, I don't want to see you get involved in all this. Many people have already died in this world, and they are still dying. Do you understand?"

“This is not our wish!”

"But what you are doing will cause unrest in this world!"

"Does Lord Wei want to go back on his word?" Li Chengqian restrained his smile and asked solemnly.

Wei Zheng calmly replied, "If repentance were useful, or if I could stop you by not helping you, I would definitely repent without hesitation. Unfortunately, you are not your father, and you will not listen to my advice!"

"Actually, my father doesn't always listen to you, does he?"

"Ah!"

Wei Zheng laughed and said, "I only do what I think is right. If you say something I think is wrong, whether you listen or not, and how you act is up to you!"

"So what is your decision?" Li Chengqian asked again impatiently.

Wei Zheng frowned, then said solemnly: "The evidence of Hebei Province started from Dang Renhong, he should know a lot."

"What evidence do you have?"

"I will send someone to the Prince's residence tomorrow. I hope the Prince will take care of himself!"

After saying this, Wei Zheng turned and left.

Li Chengqian, who watched him leave, narrowed his eyes slightly and fell into deep thought.

About a quarter of an hour later, Changsun Wuji came to him again.

"Cheng Qian, His Majesty asked me to call you over!"

"uncle?"

Li Chengqian was slightly stunned, then pretended to be puzzled and asked, "What does your Majesty want to see me about?"

"do not you know?"

Zhang Sun Wuji's expression turned serious. "The Emperor Emeritus planted a fire bomb under the spectator stand to force your father to let you host the Chongyang Banquet."

"what?!"

Li Chengqian's eyes widened, and he took a few steps forward in disbelief: "How could this happen?"

"You really don't know?" Changsun Wuji looked at Li Chengqian suspiciously.

"I really don't know, uncle. Don't you believe me?"

As he spoke, he immediately turned to Yunduan, who was not far away, and said, "Commander Yun, come over and tell my uncle if I have been under your watch the whole time."

"Uh, this"

Yunduan was embarrassed for a moment, then trotted over to Zhangsun Wuji and bowed, saying, "Duke Zhao, the Crown Prince has indeed not left my sight. The Right Minister came to chat with the Crown Prince for a few words."

"Has Wei Zheng been here?"

Zhang Sun Wuji was stunned for a moment, then looked at Li Chengqian in confusion: "Why did he come to see you?"

"Nothing much. He just said that my father wanted him to be the Crown Prince's Guardian and be responsible for teaching me, but he didn't agree. He said he needed my approval before he could agree."

"Then do you agree?"

"I agree!"

Li Chengqian spread his hands and said, "Since he has come to my door, I must give him some face!"

"Humph!"

Zhangsun Wuji snorted coldly, then said somewhat displeasedly, "This country bumpkin, full of talk about morality and justice, actually likes to seek personal gain. Only Your Majesty trusts him!"

"Oh, uncle, you can't say that. Lord Wei is a pretty good person, but he has a stubborn temper!" Li Chengqian said with a laugh.

Zhang Sun Wuji sighed disapprovingly, "Alas, Cheng Qian, don't be fooled by him. He is just to His Majesty."

At this point, he suddenly realized that Yun Duan was beside him, and waved his hands helplessly, "Forget it, let's not talk about him for now. Come with me quickly, or the emperor will go crazy again!"

"Ah? It's so serious, let's go!"

As they spoke, the uncle and nephew trotted all the way towards Li Shimin and Li Yuan.

At the same time, Xue Rengui, Su Dingfang and Hou Junji were summoned to the viewing platform of Li Shimin and Li Yuan.

Although Li Shimin was extremely dissatisfied with Hou Junji's performance, he suppressed his anger in front of his ministers and calmly asked, "Duke Lu, didn't you tell me that you had figured out the secret? How could you lose like this?"

"Your Majesty, minister."

Hou Junji opened his mouth in shame, wanting to say something but stopping himself. Cheng Yaojin, standing beside him, came over with a grin and said, "How did you command the troops? Tell us!"

"I"

Hou Junji had always been afraid of Li Shimin questioning him, and now that Cheng Yaojin was questioning him, he snorted in embarrassment, "I just adjusted my attack formation. Who knew they were so cunning?"

As he spoke, he glanced at Li Shimin cautiously and muttered, "Victory and defeat are common in the military. Even if I really made a mistake, you can't blame me entirely, right?"

"Ah!"

When Li Yuan heard this, he immediately laughed: "If I don't blame you, then why should I blame Commander Xue?"

"I, I didn't say I blamed Commander Xue."

Hou Junji hesitated and argued, "It was those players who didn't listen to my instructions. I told them to run left, but they ran right. I warned them that someone was chasing us and to help the receiver break through, but they didn't listen to me. Can I blame them entirely?"

"absurd!"

When Su Dingfang heard this, he couldn't help but scold Hou Junji in front of Li Shimin: "I know my players better than you do. You don't know how to command at all, which is why we lost like this!"

After saying that, he raised his hand and pointed at a group of players on the sidelines and asked Hou Junji, "Do you know what those people do?"

"What do you do?" Hou Junji asked subconsciously.

Su Dingfang gnashed his teeth in anger: "They are players from the defensive team!"

"what?"

Hou Junji was stunned when he heard this.

Su Dingfang grew increasingly angry as he spoke. He grabbed Hou Junji by the collar and roared, "You didn't even know we were going to make a substitution in the second half, yet you actually let the defensive team run the offense? When someone reminded you, you didn't even let them finish their sentence and even called them a pig. Who is the pig anyway?!"

"Hahaha!"

Upon hearing this, Cheng Yaojin and Yuchi Gong couldn't help but burst into laughter, and laughed so hard that they couldn't straighten their backs.

Li Shimin and others were embarrassed.

As for the court ministers and their children outside the viewing platform, they couldn't help laughing.

In fact, it’s no wonder that Su Dingfang was so excited. It was really because of the misunderstanding caused by Hou Junji that he was so embarrassed.

Those defensive players tried to tell Hou Junji about this mistake countless times, but Hou Junji was only concerned with giving orders and didn't give others a chance to speak.

In the end, he still slandered others for not following orders. That's simply outrageous.

It is precisely because of this that the situation of 'capture and kill' occurs.

After all, even if there is not much difference in daily training, everyone has their own specialties, responsibilities, and roles.

Asking defensive players to attack is almost doomed to failure.

Even Li Shimin, who had long noticed that there was a problem with Hou Junji's command, did not realize this problem. Although Su Dingfang had discovered it long ago, because the command was given to Hou Junji and Hou Junji did not take him seriously, he did not remind him.

If Hou Junji had not thrown dirty water on his players in front of Li Shimin, Su Dingfang would not have stood up and scolded Hou Junji.

But then Hou Junji seemed to react and said, "Is this how the defensive and offensive teams are used?"

"You don't know how to use it, why are you giving orders blindly?!"

Before Su Dingfang could reply, Li Shimin angrily retorted to Hou Junji.

At this moment, a familiar voice came over: "Actually, there are not only offensive and defensive teams, but also more than a dozen player positions such as 'quarterback', 'running back', 'center', etc.!"

Hearing this voice, everyone was shocked and looked in the direction of the sound.

Li Chengqian walked over with a smile, looked around at everyone and said, "Every player in each position has their own responsibilities and specialties. Just like archers, spearmen, cavalry, shieldmen, scouts, etc. on the battlefield, if you don't know how to use them, no matter how good the tactics are, they won't be able to play their role."

"This"

When everyone heard this, they nodded as if they suddenly understood.

Hou Junji's face flushed red as he looked at Li Chengqian dejectedly, saying, "Your Highness, the Crown Prince is right. I sincerely admit defeat."

"It's okay." Li Chengqian smiled and consoled him, "Duke Lu just underestimated the enemy."

"I didn't just underestimate the enemy. I didn't even understand the rules. I thought this was just a simple match."

Hou Junji shook his head in shame, "If I had known that this seemingly simple competition had so many details, I would not have been so arrogant in front of Your Majesty."

As he spoke, he immediately bowed to Li Shimin and said, "I have failed your Majesty's expectations. Please punish me!"

"You have truly failed my expectations!"

Li Shimin said this with a stern face, then changed the subject solemnly: "But I won't blame my subjects for a game. Go back and reflect on yourself. If you make the same mistake on the battlefield! Then, I will punish you!"

"Yes!"

Hou Junji responded respectfully, then wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and left in disgrace.

Seeing this, the other ministers were about to leave as well, but suddenly Li Yuan said, "Erlang, since Cheng Qian is here, hurry up and announce the decree!"

"This"

Upon hearing this, the ministers looked at each other, as if they had not yet figured out the situation.

Li Shimin's face darkened, and he said coldly, "Didn't the Supreme Emperor refrain from interfering in government affairs? Why are you interfering with my decrees?"

"Who said I was meddling in politics?"

Li Yuan immediately retorted: "In front of so many ministers, are you still trying to cheat?"

"Who said I was cheating? I just don't understand something."

"Nothing can detract from the fact that you lost!"

"Father!"

Li Shimin frowned.

Li Yuan looked at him coldly with a frown.

The father and son were instantly on the verge of a fight.

Fang Xuanling on the side hurriedly tried to console him, "Your Majesty, calm down, Your Majesty, calm down, let's talk it out nicely, this is just a game!"

"Yes, Your Majesty, Hou Junji lost because he didn't understand the rules. How about we have a rematch? What do you think?"

"What nonsense!"

Before Changsun Wuji could finish his words, Li Yuan glared at him coldly: "If you lose, you lose. What's the point of showing off if you don't understand the rules?"

"Did you say you didn't know the art of war during the war, and let the enemy fight you again? You bastard! Get out of here!"

"I"

Changsun Wuji's face turned red after being scolded by Li Yuan, and he couldn't help but turn his head to look at Li Shimin.

Li Shimin's face was gloomy and he seemed to be hesitant to speak.

At this moment, Li Chengqian suddenly stepped forward and said, "Grandpa! The Minister of the Central Secretariat is right. It's just a game. How could my father take a game seriously?"

After saying this, he looked at the ministers and said with a smile: "Ministers, just pretend you didn't see anything and go away!"

"This"

The ministers looked embarrassed and wondered what had happened to the prince, why he was lying with his eyes open.

But then Li Yuan said, with a kind and filial tone, "Cheng Qian, didn't your father teach you? Grandfather told you that a man must keep his word and accept defeat. When you become emperor, you must not go back on your word. Do you understand?"

"But Grandpa, I'm not the emperor yet."

"okay!"

When Li Shimin saw Li Chengqian and Li Yuan acting out his behavior in front of him and his ministers, his face turned dark.

"I can afford to gamble and I can afford to lose. I agree to let the Crown Prince preside over the Chongyang Banquet!"

After saying this, he immediately turned away.

Seeing this, the other ministers looked at each other in confusion.

Although they didn't understand why Li Shimin made this bet with Li Yuan, they didn't take it to heart.

After all, the Double Ninth Festival is held every year.

It doesn't matter who's hosting.

Even though envoys from various countries were invited to this Double Ninth Festival banquet, and the highlight was Jie Li's surrender, it was just a grand Double Ninth Festival banquet.

Of course, some people also noticed the strangeness in it, such as Changsun Wuji.

Ever since he confronted Li Chengqian in Shuofang and refused to interfere in the fight between Li Chengqian and Li Shimin, his relationship with Li Chengqian has been in a state of being close yet distant.

But this did not prevent him from paying attention to Li Chengqian.

Especially when Li Yuan risked his life to "break through" and return to Chang'an, it was hard not to suspect that the grandfather and grandson were plotting something again.

Moreover, this conspiracy should be closely related to the Chongyang Banquet.

Otherwise, Li Yuan would not have gone to such great lengths to make a bet with Li Shimin.

So, did Li Shimin really know nothing?

In Changsun Wuji's opinion, Li Shimin should also know that there was something fishy, ​​but he just didn't know what the grandfather and grandson wanted to do specifically.

In addition, Li Shimin did not want to openly conflict with Li Yuan.

After all, what happened that night has caused Li Tang's reputation to plummet.

No matter how unhappy Li Shimin was with Li Yuan, he could only express his displeasure in secret and create trouble for Li Yuan within a controllable range.

For example, what happened that night, except for the court ministers, everyone else was from the palace.

No matter how true the news outside is, no one dares to confirm it.

It is even less likely that those ministers in the court would speak nonsense.

But it’s different in the Prince’s Mansion.

There are so many people and eyes here that it is hard to guard against them, so naturally we have to do a good job on the surface.

What's more, Li Yuan and Li Chengqian took great pains to set up this scheme, and they must have thought of all the countermeasures.

The result of not agreeing will only put both parties in an awkward situation.

This made Li Tang's reputation worse and worse.

Therefore, in order to prevent the situation from developing in an uncontrollable direction, Li Shimin had to agree to Li Yuan's bet.

As for what Li Chengqian was going to do at the Double Ninth Festival Banquet, Li Shimin actually didn't care.

Because no matter who hosts the Double Ninth Festival Banquet, there is only one protagonist, and that is the Tang Dynasty Emperor Li Shimin.

It's impossible to let the prince accept Jie Li's surrender, right?
Does he dare?
It is obvious that neither Zhangsun Wuji nor Li Shimin believed that Li Chengqian would dare to risk the wrath of the world!
Thinking of this, Changsun Wuji looked at Li Chengqian deeply, then silently withdrew his gaze and followed Li Shimin out of the Prince's Mansion.

Seeing that Li Shimin and Zhangsun Wuji had left, the other ministers did not stay in the Prince's Mansion for long.

Soon, only Li Yuan, Li Chengqian, and everyone else in the Prince's Mansion were left.

But Li Chengqian suddenly said, "BBQ tonight, let's have some fun?"

"Oh yeah!"

Li Yuan made a scissors gesture like a naughty old boy.

Everyone couldn't help but smile at each other, and the scene instantly became joyful.

　I wrote it too late, and I haven't had any good inspiration, so I finished it. Woohoo, I'm so sleepy, please vote for me

　　
　
(End of this chapter)