The Fierce Teacher of Zhenguan: Starting with Teaching the Crown Prince to Make a Comeback

Chapter 121 Why Did You Become Emperor? (Seeking monthly votes!!! Seeking subscriptions!!!)
Li Chengqian's eyes were unfocused, and something seemed to have shattered deep within his pupils.

He remained in that stiff sitting posture, motionless, like a terracotta figurine with peeling paint inside the hall.

The hall was eerily quiet, with only his own heavy, suppressed breathing.

Time seemed to stretch out, each breath feeling exceptionally heavy.

Li Yichen's words were like a blunt knife, slowly and cruelly cutting through his last line of psychological defense.

It wasn't the emperor's suspicion, nor the brothers' infighting, but... fate?

Is it that ethereal "destiny," yet its existence is proven by Li Yichen through the miraculous event of "predicting natural disasters"?
His very right to be suspected and struggled against is so "weak" that it seems laughable.
All his struggles, anger, and forbearance over the past decade or so, even the fighting spirit he had just ignited—the ability to use the techniques taught by Li Yichen to deal with others—lost meaning at this moment.

What kept him alive was the throne that would eventually belong to him.
If it weren't for this, why would he have to endure the spittle flying from those old fogies like Zhang Xuansu, why would he have to force a smile to deal with those hypocritical courtiers, and why would he have to drag his crippled feet through every night, feeling the humiliation and resentment that gnawed at his heart at all times?

"The imperial aura is faint... almost imperceptible..."

He pondered those words repeatedly in his mind, each one feeling like a needle pricking his nerves.

It turns out that all his efforts were nothing more than a farce destined to fail in the face of "fate".

I don't know how much time passed, maybe an incense stick's time, maybe half an hour.

Li Chengqian felt a dry, painful throat. He tried to swallow, but even his saliva seemed to have dried up.

He slowly and with great difficulty raised his head, his gaze finally refocusing on Li Yichen's excessively calm face.

That calmness, in his eyes at that moment, seemed almost cruel.

His lips moved a few times before he could utter a hoarse, almost incoherent sound, as if each word had taken all his strength.

"Really... is there no other way?"

The sound echoed in the empty hall, carrying a sense of utter despair.

Li Yichen met his gaze without flinching.

He saw the collapse in Li Chengqian's eyes, and also a faint flame of resentment deep within that collapse, though weak, it had not been completely extinguished.

This is enough.

What he needed was to completely destroy Li Chengqian's ingrained and stubborn ideas before he could rebuild something new on those ruins.

"Have."

Li Yichen's voice was clear and steady, containing only one word.

But it was like a boulder thrown into stagnant water, instantly stirring up huge ripples in Li Chengqian's lifeless heart.

Li Chengqian shuddered violently, his unfocused eyes suddenly narrowed, and he stared intently at Li Yichen.

The strength that had just been drained seemed to be gradually returning because of this one word.

The process was accompanied by immense pain and confusion, leaving him in a highly contradictory state—his eyes shone with urgency, yet his body remained hunched over by the heavy blow, even his breathing trembled.

“However,” Li Yichen continued, his tone grave.

"This can be considered going against the will of heaven."

"Defying the heavens...?"

Li Chengqian murmured repeatedly, and then an almost obsessive fanaticism replaced his previous despair.

Since fate does not allow it, then defy it!

Is there any more radical resistance than this?
As if grasping at the last straw, he leaned forward involuntarily, his hands gripping the edge of the table in front of him tightly, his knuckles turning white from the force.

"What...what should I do?"

His voice was still hoarse, but it carried an added sense of desperate urgency.

The instinct for survival, along with the desire for that supreme position, mixed with the rebellion aroused by being denied by "fate," were now clashing violently within him.

However, Li Yichen did not answer immediately.

He simply looked at Li Chengqian quietly, his gaze deep, as if trying to see through his excited appearance to the depths of his soul.

This silence dampened Li Chengqian's newly ignited eagerness, making him restless and anxious.

"Your Highness needs to think now,"

Li Yichen finally spoke, but instead of offering a plan, he raised a question that Li Chengqian had never thought about deeply.

"Why do you want to be emperor?"

Li Chengqian was stunned.

Why become emperor?

Do we even need to ask this?
He is the eldest son of the legitimate wife and the crown prince; the throne should naturally belong to him!
If he doesn't become emperor, is he going to hand it over to that hypocritical fat man, Li Tai?
Is he still that cowardly pheasant slave?
more importantly……

"If I'm not emperor... what else can I do?"

Li Chengqian blurted it out, his tone carrying a sense of bewilderment and a deep-seated fear.

"I am the Crown Prince! From the day I was made Crown Prince, there is only one path I will follow to the end!"

"Successful, reigning supreme. Defeat..."

He swallowed a mouthful of saliva that wasn't even there, his throat dry.

"Defeat means death and disgrace, being labeled a traitor! Father... Father will not allow a deposed crown prince to live! The events of the previous dynasty are still vivid in my mind!"

"I...I have no way out!"

His voice grew louder and louder, carrying a barely perceptible hint of shrillness.

This is the most realistic, and also the cruelest, reason.

The struggle for succession has always been a life-or-death struggle.

He enjoyed the honor of being the crown prince, but he also had to bear the risk of failure.

That risk is death.

Li Yichen looked at Li Chengqian, who was so excited he almost stood up, and a faint smile slowly appeared on his face.

There was no mockery or pity in that smile; instead, it carried a sense of understanding and comprehension.

"Your Highness, I fully understand what you mean."

Li Yichen's voice was calm, as if he were stating a simple fact.

"Yes, what else can you do if you're not emperor?"

“You are the Crown Prince, and you have been taught the art of rulership. You are surrounded by future ministers. You truly have no other choice but to follow this path.”

"At least, that's how it seems to you."

He paused, then subtly changed the subject.

“But Your Highness, what you just said was the reason you had to become emperor, the reason that fear drove you to fight for that position.”

"Your subject's question is—Li Chengqian, why do you want to be emperor? What kind of emperor do you want to be?"

Li Chengqian was speechless again.

He opened his mouth, but found his mind blank.

Why do I want to be one?
What kind of person do you want to be?
He never thought about it in depth.

It seems that "becoming emperor" is the ultimate goal, and once achieved, all problems will be solved.

As for what to do after reaching that point...

He knew that to govern the country and bring peace to the world, he had to be a wise ruler like his father, but what exactly did that mean?
Besides not making mistakes, not being criticized by historians, and proving that he was no less capable than his father, what else could he do?
Seeing the obvious bewilderment and emptiness on Li Chengqian's face, Li Yichen knew that the time was almost right. This crown prince, driven by fear, anger, and inertia, needed something else to anchor his soul.

“Your Highness,” Li Yichen’s voice deepened, yet carried a strange penetrating power, as if it could strike directly at the heart.

"If the only goal is to survive, there is more than one way. Anonymous travel and wandering to the ends of the earth, though arduous, may still allow one to preserve one's life."

Li Chengqian subconsciously shook his head, his face showing resistance.

That kind of life, where you lose everything and live like a stray dog, is worse than death.

"Look, His Highness is unwilling."

Li Yichen said softly.

"This shows that what drives you is not just fear."

"There is something else deep inside you."

"It was just that it was obscured by fear, by anger, and by the high walls of the Eastern Palace."

He leaned forward slightly, his gaze fixed intently on Li Chengqian.

"Now, Your Highness, please set aside your helplessness of 'having no choice' and your fear of 'dying if you don't'."

"Just ask yourself, if you really sit in that position, what do you want to do with it? Do you want to prove something to everyone who looks down on you?"

"Do you want to enjoy the supreme power of life and death?"

"Do you intend for the Tang Dynasty's territory to surpass His Majesty's era?"

"Or... do you want this world to become the ideal you envision?"

Li Chengqian was deeply shaken by this series of questions.

prove yourself?

Enjoying power?

Expanding territory?
He had these thoughts, but they all seemed to be separated by a veil, vague and unclear.

The idea of ​​"making the world into the ideal state" gave him a strange sense of excitement.

ideal?

Can an emperor... also have ideals?
Isn't the emperor's role to balance the various forces, maintain the stability of the country, and ensure that the Li family's rule will last for ten thousand generations?

An ideal... what is that?
He looked at Li Yichen with a look of confusion and a hint of curiosity that he himself was unaware of.

Li Yichen knew he needed to give him something concrete.

It can't be empty moralizing, that would only remind him of Zhang Xuansu's old clichés.

What he needs is something that can touch his heart and resonate with his situation.

"Your Highness, before entering the palace, I traveled to some places!"

Li Yichen's voice softened, carrying a tone of reminiscence.

"I have seen the prosperity of Guanzhong and the desolation of Longyou. I have seen the rich and powerful in Chang'an, and I have seen the bones of starving people who froze to death by a frost on the roadside in Luoyang."

Li Chengqian frowned slightly.

He lived in the deep palace for a long time, while starving people froze to death... What was that like?
He couldn't imagine it, but instinctively felt a slight unease.

"I have also witnessed the brief period of stability that farmers experienced when they were allocated allotted land and permanent land under the equal-field system."

"I have also seen cases where, due to unfavorable weather or corrupt officials, a family that should have been able to make a living was struggling to survive under the heavy burden of taxes and levies."

"Ultimately, due to a sudden disaster or illness, or an emergency dispatch imposed by the government, they were forced to sell their land and houses, or even pawn their children."

Li Yichen continued speaking, his tone calm, yet he painted a series of scenes completely different from the splendor and prosperity of the Eastern Palace.

“After paying rent and corvée labor, what they have left of their annual harvest is often not enough to feed their family.”

"An extra conscription, a minor natural disaster, or an illness that breaks the camel's back could be the last straw that breaks the camel's back, shattering a family that was just able to survive and plunging them into a desperate situation of selling their children and becoming homeless."

"Their children seem destined from birth to repeat the toil and hardship of their parents, and for them, studying and understanding reason is an unattainable luxury."

Li Chengqian listened without speaking, but his tightly clenched hands loosened slightly at some point.

“Your Highness,” Li Yichen’s gaze fell squarely on Li Chengqian’s face.
"You possess the most noble status in the world, enjoying the offerings of countless people."

Have you ever considered what kind of lives those "people" who worship you lead?

"The Tang Dynasty beneath your feet is not only the splendor of the Taiji Hall, the majesty of the Liangyi Hall, and the magnificence of the Eastern Palace."

"It also has countless muddy country roads, countless low and dilapidated thatched huts, and countless faces etched with the marks of toil, taxes, and an uncertain tomorrow."

Li Chengqian's heart inexplicably quickened.

He had never thought about it from this perspective.

civil?
He only knew that he was the crown prince, the future emperor, and that all the people were his subjects.

But what exactly are the people?
Is it just a cold, hard number on the household registration book?
Is it an abstract concept of paying rent and taxes and providing corvée labor every year?

Or... those flesh-and-blood people Li Yichen spoke of, who would find stability with land, or be forced to sell their children and eventually flee due to taxes, corvée labor, disasters, and illnesses?

Something unfamiliar and heavy began to weigh on his heart.

"Your Majesty ushered in the Zhenguan era of prosperity, bringing peace to the land and subjugation to all foreign lands. Your achievements will be remembered for generations to come."

Li Yichen then changed the subject and mentioned Li Shimin.
"But Your Majesty's achievements lie mostly in pacifying the realm, establishing systems, and consolidating the country. However, this realm is far from reaching the ideal of 'Great Harmony.' Under the existing land tax and labor service system, the burden on farmers remains heavy."

"If the administration is corrupt, the people will suffer."

"Powerful clans still greatly influence one's career in government and local affairs."

“In the border regions, where Han and non-Han peoples live together, governance is difficult and the people suffer. In countless unseen corners, there are still grievances that cannot be redressed and hunger and cold that cannot be alleviated.”

He paused for a moment, looking at Li Chengqian, whose expression was gradually becoming complicated.

"Your Highness, if you were emperor, would you only wish to be a ruler who maintains the status quo, preserving the legacy left by His Majesty and ensuring it does not fall into ruin under your rule?"

"Or... do you wish to do something that even His Majesty has not been able to do, or has not had the time to do?"

"Do you want to be just another 'Emperor So-and-so' whose story is only briefly mentioned in history books?"

"Or do you still want to be... an emperor who truly changes things, making this Tang Dynasty a little different because of your existence, Li Chengqian?"

"For example, how can we enable talented individuals from humble backgrounds to rise to positions of power in the imperial court based on their abilities rather than their family background?"

"For example, how can we ensure that farmers across the country truly own and protect the land they depend on for survival, so that it is no longer easily seized by powerful and wealthy families?"

"For example, to enable the people of the border prefectures to live and work in peace and contentment, and no longer suffer from the harassment of the barbarian cavalry and the exploitation by officials?"

"For example, how can we reduce the number of tragedies of people freezing to death by the roadside?"

Li Yichen's voice was not loud, but each question was like a heavy hammer, striking Li Chengqian's defenses.

These issues are completely different from the empty concepts of "benevolent governance" and "love for the people" that he had heard before.

They are specific, incisive, and directly address the core of reality.

Li Chengqian fell completely silent.

The storm raging within him had never been so intense.

Fear, confusion, and the pain of rejection are intertwined with something vague yet intensely ignited.

He discovered that his life over the past decade or so had been so narrow and pale.

(End of this chapter)