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

Chapter 52 As long as Your Highness can do it

News of Wei Zheng's visit quickly spread to every corner of the power center in Chang'an.

Inside the study of the Duke of Liang's residence.

Fang Xuanling put down his pen and listened to the old servant's whispered report that Wei Zheng had left the Eastern Palace and that the Crown Prince had not heeded the advice. He remained silent for a long time, finally letting out a long and heavy sigh.

This sigh was filled with the weariness of being powerless to reverse the situation and a deep concern about the erosion of the nation's foundation.

"Foolish... Your Highness, you are still too foolish after all..."

Fang Xuanling muttered to himself in a low voice, so that only he could hear it.

He saw the Crown Prince in the Eastern Palace gradually heading towards a perilous situation, and felt deeply worried.

"Why are you in such a hurry? Why must you fight against His Majesty and the court officials? Do you know that you are cutting off your own path to survival?"

In Fang Xuanling's view, the current situation was crystal clear.

His Majesty's requirements for the Crown Prince have never changed, nor are they unreasonable.

As long as the crown prince can do two things, his position as heir apparent will be as secure as Mount Tai.

First, we must not repeat the Xuanwu Gate Incident.

This is His Majesty's deepest pain and fear. Any action that might lead to fratricide or a violent coup is an act that touches His Majesty's sore spot.

As long as the Crown Prince behaves himself, does not form cliques or abuse power, does not amass military strength, and remains restrained in the face of the King of Wei's slightest provocation, His Majesty will not shake him on fundamental issues.

Secondly, he did not become a tyrant like Emperor Yang of Sui.

Your Majesty takes the fall of the Sui Dynasty as a daily lesson, and deeply abhors extravagance, refusal to accept advice, cover-ups, and the waste of resources and manpower.

If the Crown Prince only needs to demonstrate basic benevolence, an attitude of accepting advice, and an awareness of cherishing the people's strength, even if his talents are somewhat mediocre, His Majesty may not necessarily depose him.

"Your Highness, what are a few grievances to you? A few words from the censor, a few reprimands from His Majesty—compared to the vast empire you will inherit in the future, these humiliations are as light as a feather!"

Fang Xuanling cried out in his heart, how he wished the Crown Prince could understand this simplest of truths.

"What you need to do now is to learn from Emperor Wu of Han's wisdom when he was the crown prince! Before he ascended the throne, facing a powerful emperor and a complex court situation, didn't he also endure and keep a low profile, hiding his sharpness and concealing his talents? Did he ever eagerly compete for power with his father or argue with the court officials? He was just accumulating experience, waiting, and observing and learning quietly."

"This is the true art of rulership, the great wisdom of preserving oneself and waiting for the future!"

Fang Xuanling seemed to have already foreseen the ending.

The path the Crown Prince is taking now, though seemingly ambitious, is in fact a path to his own destruction.

To confront the supreme imperial power head-on and to be at odds with the deeply entrenched power of the court officials, what kind of solid foundation and absolute strength would be required?

What makes a disgraced crown prince have the right to fight?
"Any conspiracy or trickery may seem like a brilliant scheme to those behind the Crown Prince, but in His Majesty's eyes, and before the mighty laws of the Tang Dynasty, it is nothing but petty tricks that cannot be brought to the table!"

Fang Xuanling felt somewhat annoyed by the mysterious "master".

This person may indeed have some quick wit, but he led the crown prince in the most dangerous direction.

"The true path to greatness lies in open strategy, virtue, vision, and aligning with the general trend. It's about making His Majesty feel that you are 'like him' and 'reliable.' Not these seemingly ingenious but ultimately easily exposed power struggles and schemes!"

He seemed to see the Crown Prince, guided by someone behind the scenes, like a bewildered moth, excitedly and recklessly rushing towards the raging flames of power, unaware that the next second would bring him to his doom.

"Your Highness, why can't you understand..."

Fang Xuanling closed his eyes, his face filled with sorrow and despair. "What His Majesty wanted was never a son who would scheme and plot against him at every turn. What he wanted was a crown prince whom he could entrust the empire to without worrying about what would happen after his death..."

Wei Zheng's advice failed.

This means that the Crown Prince has completely moved into the eye of the storm.

A storm is inevitable.

East Palace.

After Wei Zheng left, the Eastern Palace became even quieter.

The respect and contemplation on Li Chengqian's face had vanished without a trace, replaced by an barely suppressed irritability and resentment.

"His mouth is full of benevolence, righteousness, morality, and the fate of the nation! I'm sick of hearing it!" Li Chengqian roared inwardly.

Finally, the moment of Li Yichen accompanying me in my studies arrived.

"Yichen! Did you hear that? That old scoundrel Wei Zheng also wants to be patient! He wants me to be like a coward, not fighting back when hit, not talking back when insulted! What nonsense!"

He limped excitedly through the main hall, his speech becoming increasingly rapid.

"Why should they expect me to endure this? That fat pig Qingque is relentlessly pressing me, and those censors are like mad dogs, relentlessly attacking me! My father... Hmph! If I were to truly listen to them and do nothing, I'm afraid I'd be stripped of my title and imprisoned until death tomorrow! What do they know? They only know how to use those grand principles to pressure me! They don't understand my predicament at all!"

"Tolerance? To keep a low profile? Hahahaha!" Li Chengqian let out a few shrill, cold laughs.

"Do they think that I, the Crown Prince, deserve to be trampled on by everyone? That I deserve to wait until my hair turns white before I can nervously accept the position? Or that I might not even be able to get it at all!"

He was panting heavily, his chest heaving, and looked at Li Yichen as if seeking approval, or perhaps venting all his resentment.

"Yichen, tell me! Should I just let them do whatever they want with me?"

Li Yichen listened quietly to the Crown Prince's roar, his face expressionless, until Li Chengqian finished venting and stared at him with bloodshot eyes, waiting for his answer.

Only Li Chengqian's heavy breathing remained inside the hall.

After a moment, Li Yichen calmly met the Crown Prince's gaze and said clearly and firmly, "Wei Zheng is right; his words are truly invaluable."

The anger on Li Chengqian's face froze instantly, turning into extreme astonishment and disbelief.

His pupils dilated suddenly, as if he had heard the most absurd thing in the world.

"You... what did you say?" Li Chengqian's voice trembled as he pointed at Li Yichen, his fingers shaking slightly with excitement.

"Li Yichen! Are you insane? Weren't all these ideas yours? Opening up the Eastern Palace, using the theory of attacking the heart to question the Emperor, using the art of strategy to analyze the situation, and even... even the methods we're going to use next! Weren't they all taught to me? Now tell me, what Wei Zheng said that made me just give in was golden advice?"

He felt betrayed, and his mind was in complete chaos.

The tutor who had always given him advice and taught him how to fight back actually affirmed the "tolerance" approach that he hated most at this moment.

Faced with the Crown Prince's questioning, Li Yichen remained calm and instead took two steps forward.

“Your Highness, it is precisely because these ideas came from me that I understand even better that Wei Zheng’s path is the least costly, least risky, and most probable option for a smooth ascension to the throne. He is concerned about Your Highness’s safety. He doesn’t care whether you feel wronged or frustrated; what he cares about is that the Crown Prince of the Tang Dynasty cannot be harmed and the foundation of the nation cannot be shaken. From this perspective, he is not wrong, and he is a truly loyal minister.”

He paused, looking at Li Chengqian's still puzzled and angry eyes, and continued, "I have spoken to Your Highness about the 'Prisoner's Dilemma' and the 'Advantageous Strategy' before. If we take Your Highness's ascension to the throne as the ultimate goal, then in this game set up by Your Majesty and the vast majority of court officials, the path pointed out by Wei Zheng is the 'Advantageous Strategy' on the surface—not making mistakes, not giving others a handle to use against you, not challenging authority, and waiting quietly."

“As long as Your Highness can do it, His Majesty has no reason to defy the world and depose the emperor, because that in itself would cause turmoil.”

(End of this chapter)