A thousand-year-old family begins with one fighting against ten thousand.

After entering the main hall, Li Bai followed his teacher's guidance to his seat. He looked around the hall and noticed that there seemed to be relatively few people inside.

Meanwhile, the advisors around him also seemed somewhat out of sorts.

Li Bai's ideal remonstrating official was modeled after Wei Zheng, who was upright, resolute, clear-headed, and insightful.

Li Ban stood tall and straight like a pine tree, never bending over, never turning to the side, and never conforming to the crowd.

His eyes are clear and sharp; he is not intimidated by people, nor confused about matters, nor arrogant towards those in power.

However, many of the remonstrating officials before him were weak-willed, lacking spirit, distracted, and timid.

Everyone is cautious and self-protective, fearing power like a tiger and disaster like a snake.

Li Bai frowned as he read this.

If it weren't for the fact that there were still some remonstrating officials who were the kind of people he admired, his impression of the imperial court would have been even worse.

Even the remonstrating officials were like this, which gives a glimpse into the situation in the imperial court.

"In the past, I entered the Taizhen Palace to cultivate Taoism, and I remained pure of heart and observed etiquette, serving by your side. Now that my Taoist practice is complete and my virtue is complete, I have decided to establish Lady Yang as a Noble Consort, ranking first among the six palaces, with ceremonial regalia comparable to that of the Empress, and in charge of all affairs of the inner court."

After discussing court affairs, the grand drama that Wei Wen had mentioned began.

Li Bai suddenly realized that it was about Yang Yuhuan.

Then he looked at the remonstrating officials beside him and understood why Li Longji had stepped forward to speak on this matter at this time.

The imperial court had just been suppressed by Li Linfu, and the officials who dared not speak the truth were suppressed. Now, Li Linfu's faction in the court had just been purged, leaving a power vacuum that no one had yet occupied.

Now is the time of least resistance. The remonstrating officials are powerless, and there is no one left in the court. Li Longji can easily pass his decrees.

However, Li Longji made a mistake: these officials, intimidated by Li Linfu's threats, dared not offer their honest advice.

But they had no such fear of Li Longji and his group.

Being killed by Li Linfu was simply being killed; you gained nothing.

But Li Longji was different. He was the emperor, and he cared about his reputation.

Therefore, Li Longji would never kill remonstrating officials as casually as Li Linfu. Even if they were killed, the remonstrating officials would still gain a good reputation and leave a mark in the history books.

Facing Li Longji, the remonstrating officials felt emboldened and fearless.

As the saying goes, experience is the best teacher. An old advisor standing behind Li Bai was the first to react and stepped forward from the queue.

"I risk my life to remonstrate with you, Your Majesty, that Lady Yang was formerly the principal wife of Prince Shou and Your Majesty's daughter-in-law."

"His Majesty first ordered her to divorce Prince Shou, so that she could use the pretext of cultivating Taoism to detach herself from worldly affairs and sever her marriage with Prince Shou."

"Now, to remove her Taoist status and allow her to enter the palace, be made a Noble Consort, and have her father take her son's wife—this transgresses all propriety and is absolutely unacceptable!"

"Your Majesty is a sage ruler for all ages, who destroyed the demon queen, rebuilt the nation, and ushered in a golden age, with all nations paying tribute. How can Your Majesty's holy name be tarnished by this matter?!"

"As the saying goes, the imperial family is the model for the world, and the court is the standard for all under heaven. If the ruler is not upright, then the court will not be upright; if the court is not upright, then the morals of the people will collapse. If this precedent is set today, how will future generations restrain noble families and educate the people?"

"Not to mention that the Imperial Concubine has made no great contributions to the country or nurtured the Crown Prince, yet today she has been suddenly granted the honors of a half-Empress and the rites of an Empress, exceeding the bounds of the imperial concubine system and usurping the hierarchy! Once the system of rites is broken, the consequences will be endless!"

"We humbly beseech Your Majesty to rescind your decree, cherish your virtue, uphold propriety and law, and bring peace to the court and the people!"

After saying this, the old remonstrating minister prostrated himself on the ground and kowtowed heavily, looking as if he would kneel there and die if the remonstrator did not agree.

Li Longji was somewhat helpless in the face of this old scoundrel. "Some time ago, I was discussing history with the Grand Counselor. Since ancient times, there have been countless emperors."

"Those who can be called wise rulers are none other than the Three Kings."

"The emperor has no private affairs, but he does have private morals."

"The wise minister Guan Zhong once said to Duke Huan of Qi, 'The only things that a ruler cannot do are being mediocre and being incompetent. Being mediocre will lead to the loss of his followers, and being incompetent will prevent him from accomplishing his tasks. These three things are bad, but they will not prevent him from becoming a hegemon.'"

"The emperor's private virtues do not harm his hegemony."

The Grand Counselor wholeheartedly agreed.

As the sage said, "No one is perfect, who can be without fault? No one is perfect, and no ruler is perfect."

"Now that Yang has become a nun and severed all worldly ties, there is no longer any connection between them and the past."

"And how could this be considered a transgression of etiquette?"

"The reappearance of worldly desires is truly the will of Heaven. I am in harmony with them; what is wrong with that?"

"In the past, during the Zhenguan and Yonghui eras, there were already precedents. This method is unrelated to the established rites and need not be discussed further!"

An advisor or remonstrating official?

Someone secretly glanced at Li Bai and, seeing the bitter smile on his lips, immediately guessed what was going on. They couldn't help but look down on this newly appointed remonstrating official.

He was so easily outmaneuvered by Li Longji. It seems he hasn't experienced the harsh realities of court life. This young man has had it too easy.

Many court officials, however, noticed Li Longji's mention of the Zhenguan and Yonghui eras and harbored resentment in their hearts.

Back then, because the emperors of the Zhenguan and Yonghui dynasties also overstepped the bounds of propriety, your Li family's empire was almost destroyed.

Are you still going to do it now?

They really don't learn their lesson at all!

The old official had some doubts. He wondered how magnanimous Li Bai was. Would he make things difficult for him?

But now that he's already taken it off, he can't just retract it; what about his reputation?!

So this old remonstrating official had no choice but to put up with it, even if it meant being retaliated against later.

Although they were worried that Li Bai would be angered, the benefits of gaining fame were too great for them to give up.

Several more officials stepped forward and began to offer advice to Li Longji.

Besides the remonstrating officials, some other civil officials in the court also stood up to stop Li Longji.

After all, marrying a daughter-in-law is not a good thing in terms of reputation.

Looking at the situation before him, Li Longji breathed a sigh of relief.

Although many officials still stepped forward to offer advice, the situation was better than he had imagined. It seemed that the tactic of dragging Li Bai into the mess had indeed worked, and far fewer officials had jumped out to offer advice than he had expected.

Li Bai's identity was indeed very useful.

This is also thanks to Li Linfu's dismissal as prime minister, which implicated a large number of officials.

"For years, I have diligently governed and brought peace to the people, ensuring a prosperous and peaceful realm. Is it possible that my favoritism towards a single virtuous concubine has corrupted my imperial virtue and plunged the country into chaos? I will handle matters of the inner palace myself; you, my ministers, will share the burden of governing the outer court. Each of you must fulfill your duties and not overstep your bounds!"

"My mind is made up; there is no need for further discussion!"

Li Longji's gaze sharpened, and he forcefully suppressed the matter.

Under Li Longji's piercing gaze, these remonstrating officials chose to back down.

After all, the current Li Longji is not the same Li Longji as before. He no longer humbly accepts advice, but instead acts willfully and has become somewhat cruel.

They dared to speak frankly to a wise and virtuous ruler.

But when faced with some cruel emperors, they were tempted to die for fame, but they felt it wasn't worth it and quietly withdrew.

Thus, under Li Longji's strong push, the edict conferring the title of Imperial Concubine upon Yang Yuhuan was issued.

That night, Prince Shou got drunk and couldn't get up in his palace. His eyes were red and swollen from crying. He felt that the expressions of the servants in the palace were a little strange. Taking advantage of his drunkenness, he killed many of the servants in the palace.

From then on, Prince Shou never left his palace again, spending his days drowning his sorrows in alcohol and becoming extremely cruel.

Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, Li Longji, also felt guilty towards Prince Shou, so he turned a blind eye and even gave him many rewards.

After receiving the reward, Prince Shou became even more unrestrained and indulged himself in wine and women all day long.