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

Chapter 49 What should I do?
He talked to himself for a long time, analyzing the situation, criticizing the crown prince for being foolish, and worrying that the foundation of the country was being shaken.

But he never voiced his truest thoughts.

That was a judgment that had quietly taken root in Li Chengqian's mind since the time Empress Zhangsun passed away and he began to act rebelliously.

Changsun Wuji realized that his nephew had unstable emotions.

A monarch who cannot be controlled by reason is a huge risk.

Historically, such emperors often brought utter destruction to the entire regent group.

This has nothing to do with the Crown Prince's specific policies, but rather with the unpredictable aspects of his nature.

More importantly, Li Chengqian's move to befriend the Turks touched upon a fundamental issue of political stance.

Although the Guanlong Group had non-Han blood, in order to legitimize its rule, it had to steadfastly consider itself the orthodox Han dynasty.

The crown prince's imitation of Turkic customs blurred the lines and shook the very foundation of the Guanlong Group.

This is something that Changsun Wuji and the entire Guanlong Group absolutely cannot accept.

If... if His Majesty were to show any intention to depose the Crown Prince today, even without the Wang Shun and Wang Da incident, Changsun Wuji might have tacitly approved, or even... secretly pushed for it.

This idea never surfaced, yet it remained firmly in place.

In Changsun Wuji's view, Li Chengqian's current strategy, or that of the person behind him, is foolish.

In his view, the King of Wei's impatient probing and the officials' frantic pursuit of fame were both foolish acts.

When the reckoning comes, none of them will escape.

His inaction indicates that he has given up on getting involved with either side in this storm.

If he were to act now, his influence would be enough to shield him from these storms.

However, he chose not to move.

The calculations for the long-term interests of the family and the Guanlong Group outweighed the blood ties.

He slowly sat back down in his chair.

The Eastern Palace, the Consultative Hall.

It's been two days.

Since Liu Shi stormed off, and since Wang Shun and Wang Da were taken away in shackles, no official has ever set foot in the Eastern Palace, which was opened by imperial decree.

Sitting in the empty hall, Li Chengqian felt that the confidence and spirit he had accumulated when he first opened the Consultative Hall, defeated Wei Siqian, and adopted Lai Ji's good strategies were silently slipping away, like fine sand in an hourglass.

The initial composure and decisiveness were gradually eroded by a restless anxiety during the deathly silence of waiting.

He tried to read, but his gaze couldn't linger on the words for even a moment.

He wanted to summon Li Yichen for advice, but he restrained himself, not wanting to appear so impatient.

His steps became increasingly unsteady due to his inner anxiety; he would sometimes rise and limp a few steps around the hall, and sometimes sit heavily back down behind his desk.

In this excessively quiet hall, everyone was trying to make themselves invisible.

The rumors and gossip in the court, those discussions about him being "hypocritical," "incompetent in managing his subordinates," and even worse, had not yet reached his ears directly.

But that invisible yet omnipresent atmosphere of oppression has already spread.

Li Chengqian sensed it; it was an eerie calm, a suffocating atmosphere before a storm.

"Yichen told me to be patient and observe the situation..." Li Chengqian murmured to himself. These were the last words Li Yichen had told him when he took his leave yesterday.

He said it was a game of strategy, a contest of composure, and whoever made the first move was likely to reveal a weakness.

He recalled Li Yichen's analysis.

“Your Highness, Liu Shi is nothing more than a pawn, his purpose has been served. The person behind him is now waiting to see your reaction. If you shut yourself in, or are filled with anxiety, or are eager for revenge, you will lose face. The more composed you are, the more as if nothing has happened, the more suspicious they will become, not knowing the true nature of the Crown Prince’s palace.”

He understood the reasoning. Li Yichen explained everything clearly, as if guiding him on a chessboard.

Li Yichen even mentioned coming to Jinan.

"After arriving in Ji, it wasn't that no one was tempted. In Chang'an, in the imperial court, how many officials felt their talents were not being recognized, or who came from humble backgrounds, or who, like Liu Heng, were marginalized? How could they not be excited to see His Highness adopt the policy of coming to Ji? For them, this Consultative Hall was a rare shortcut to success, an excellent opportunity to realize their ambitions. The silence at this moment was not because no one wanted to come, but because everyone was watching, watching His Highness's attitude towards handling the case of corruption in the Eastern Palace, watching His Majesty's... final attitude."

Li Chengqian nodded repeatedly upon hearing this, feeling enlightened.

But when faced with this stagnant silence alone, that "sudden enlightenment" is gradually swallowed up by the anxiety of reality.

“Watching...they are all watching…” Li Chengqian muttered to himself.

"But how long will they wait and see?"

A deeper fear began to spread in his heart.

It wasn't a fear of a specific person or event, but a fear of "isolation" itself.

He seemed to see himself standing on the edge of a cliff, with no one behind him and a bottomless abyss below.

He struggled desperately, trying to respond and make moves according to Li Yichen's methods, but his opponent remained hidden in the shadows, using only silence to wear him down.

He then recalled something Li Yichen had mentioned—"Since the Xuanwu Gate Incident, some things have been etched into the very bones and blood of the Tang Dynasty."

The Xuanwu Gate Incident...

That was my father's greatest achievement, and also his greatest taboo.

It secured the throne for the father, but it also set a terrible precedent—princes could overthrow the eldest son by force and intrigue, and could kill their brothers and force their fathers to abdicate.

Li Yichen said that the side effects of this were now fully revealed.

Those potential political opportunists, those officials who might be tempted by Lai Jin's success.

Why are they hesitating?

Is it solely because of the embezzlement case?
No.

They now realize that this is a power struggle between father and son.

The Xuanwu Gate Incident taught everyone that there are no fathers and sons in the imperial family, and that nothing is impossible in the face of power.

It also forced all officials who wanted to bet on the succession struggle to think twice and be extremely cautious.

It's not that they couldn't see the prince's "transformation," nor that they didn't yearn to realize their own ambitions through the prince.

But they were even more afraid.

I fear that the Crown Prince's "change" is just a flash in the pan, that his "acceptance of advice" is a trap, and that one day the conflict between the Crown Prince and His Majesty will escalate to an uncontrollable point, repeating the tragedy of brothers fighting and fathers and sons distrusting each other.

At that time, those who took sides early will be the first ants to be crushed.

This political risk is too great!

It is significant enough that any official with a modicum of reason would hesitate and weigh the consequences before taking that step.

They weren't observing whether the crown prince was wise or not; at least, he wasn't entirely so.

They were also watching to see if the crown prince was "safe" and "well-behaved".

His Majesty's suspicion, the King of Wei's covetous gaze, and the "Xuanwu Gate inheritance" flowing in his blood, are like triple shackles, firmly binding the forces that might be directed at him.

Upon hearing Li Yichen's analysis, Li Chengqian felt a chill run from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.

He faced not only the conspiracy of the King of Wei and the attacks of the censors, but also a deep-seated fear and crisis of trust that had existed since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, stemming from the way the highest power was transferred.

"What...what should I do?" he asked himself silently.

(End of this chapter)