Chapter 4937 Headstrong and conceited
The atmosphere of the banquet was relatively depressing, and the communication between them was slightly cold.
Even if His Majesty Li Er does not have such great achievements, purely in terms of personality charm, his words and deeds are enough to win hearts, making people involuntarily move closer to him and want to get close to him. At this point, Li Chengqian is far from enough.
Therefore, under the background of the Jin Dynasty's imprisonment and the major case breaking out in Zhaoling, the atmosphere was never warm enough, and the food was served coldly. Even if it was accompanied by fine wine, it was bland and tasteless.
Li Chengqian, the queen, and the prince retired to the palace and ordered someone to send a message to Fang Jun, asking him to go to the imperial study, saying that they had important matters to discuss...
Princess Qinghe did not leave, but stared at Fang Jun with her hands behind her back.
Only then did Fang Jun remember his promise, and stopped Princess Gaoyang who was about to go home first: "Go back and ask the steward to go to the shops in the city to see how many fireworks are in stock, and send them all to His Highness Qinghe... and then also send them to Princess Ankang. Go some.”
It would have been fine if Dugu Mou was not present just now. So many princesses had already sent some fireworks beforehand, but they promised to give more to Princess Qinghe, so naturally they had to give some to Dugu Mou, otherwise Dugu Mou would be unhappy...
Princess Gao Yang was stunned for a moment, then glanced at Princess Qinghe with her hands behind her back with her beautiful eyes, and then looked at her husband suspiciously... There were so many princesses, why did they give more to Qinghe?
Is there something going on?
Princess Qinghe blinked and reacted quickly. Knowing that Princess Gaoyang had misunderstood, she immediately blushed. She stepped forward and took Princess Gaoyang's hand. She stamped her feet and whispered coquettishly: "Sister, what are you thinking? Just now my husband was with Erlang and Dugu Prince Consort. While chatting, I accidentally mentioned fireworks, so Erlang agreed to give me some to play with.”
Princess Gaoyang curled her lips, and when she called Dugu Mou, she was Dugu's consort, and when she called my husband, she was Erlang... So you are very close to my Erlang, right?
However, she is not a petty person who doesn't care about the overall situation. Naturally, she can't be petty in such a situation. She smiled and held Princess Qinghe's hand, teasing: "Why are you so nervous? Even if I can't trust my husband, can I still not trust you, sister?"< br>
Princess Qinghe: "..."
Do I still have to thank you?
On the side, Princess Baling and Princess Lanling passed by hand in hand. They glanced at Fang Jun, then looked at Princess Gao Yang, pursed their lips, and left in a hurry.
Princess Gaoyang: "..."
That look in your eyes, are you provoking me?
Her two beautiful eyebrows were raised slightly, and before she could say anything, Princess Qinghe had already pulled her out: "It's almost midnight. Hurry up and ask someone to bring me fireworks, otherwise it will be too late."
"Hmph!"
Princess Gao Yang snorted and followed Princess Qinghe.
……
Fang Jun breathed a sigh of relief, turned his head, and saw Princess Changle looking at him with a smile but not a smile. He quickly showed a smile, and was about to say hello, but saw Princess Changle's smile suddenly faded, her face was cold, and she turned around and left. ……
Princess Chengyang, who happened to be passing by, seemed to notice Fang Jun's embarrassment and pursed her lips into a smile.
Fang Jun coughed dryly and looked around Princess Chengyang: "I heard that Du He was suffering from cold and unwell recently. He didn't even show up at today's banquet. Is it possible that he is seriously ill? I'll come to visit you another day. .”
Princess Chengyang's beauty suddenly changed, she looked around nervously, and when she saw no one was around, she breathed a sigh of relief, glared at Fang Jun, and left in a hurry.
Last year, Du He was attacked and killed by soldiers in Zhuangzi in the south of the city. Although he was lucky enough to save his life, he was so frightened that he became ill. This year, he has been recuperating in the Zhuangzi next to Lishan Royal Villa and was not at home at all. Fang Jun kept coming to visit. Is that a visit to Du He or something else?
In view of Fang Jun's reputation as a "good princess", Princess Chengyang did not dare to answer her words, whether they were sincere or teasing...
……
In the imperial study room, there was only the emperor's family. Li Chengqian was kneeling on the floor by the window. Outside the glass window was the sparkling courtyard. The queen, dressed in palace attire and with a head full of pearls, was sitting on her knees boiling water and making tea. Prince Li Xiang was sitting on the dragon chair behind the imperial desk, grinding and practicing calligraphy by himself.
Fang Jun entered, and after being greeted, he sat opposite Li Chengqian.
The queen made tea and placed it on the desks of the two of them respectively. Her profile was extremely beautiful under the candlelight, her features were picturesque, her eyebrows were slender, her temples were as sharp as a knife, her fair and slender neck was covered with pearls.
The fragrance of tea is quiet, and the powder is slightly thick, mixed together in a dense atmosphere, refreshing...
Fang Jun took a sip of tea and asked respectfully: "I wonder if your Majesty has summoned the ministers, but what are your orders?"
Li Chengqian said bluntly: "You can indeed better protect the prince by letting people lie in wait in the East Palace. But now the thieves have not taken action. If those people stay hidden for a long time, I am afraid it will harm the reputation of the East Palace."
Even though the prince is still young and has not yet been married, the palace is deeply entrenched, and any bad rumors may tarnish the reputation of the royal family.
Queen Su then raised her eyes to look at Fang Jun, her eyes full of worry and expectation.
For a mother, the prince's safety is at stake, and she doesn't care about anything else. As long as the prince is in the slightest danger, she is willing to let those academy students hide.
But His Majesty obviously doesn't think so, and the only one who can change His Majesty's mind is Fang Jun.
Fang Jun pondered for a while and said: "Your Majesty clearly knows that the thieves have ulterior motives and are treacherous. They will definitely not give up their rebellious intentions easily. Moreover, the Zhaoling case is very involved. Many members of the clan are involved and should be killed according to the law. He How can we sit back and wait for death? Your Majesty is surrounded by many guards and is safe. The thieves will definitely target the prince. At least they can use this to blackmail your Majesty into giving in. "
Li Chengqian shook his head: "But I think that may not be the case. The Zhaoling case is earth-shattering. As the son of Emperor Taizong and Empress Wende, I will not dare to give in under any circumstances. Otherwise, it will be unfilial. Anyone involved in the case will All members must be dealt with according to national laws and family regulations. They will never compromise whether they should be beheaded or exiled. The clan already knows my attitude, so how can they try to coerce me with such useless efforts? "
After a pause, he said with a serious face: "To put it another way, even if the thief succeeds by luck and uses the prince to force me to compromise, I will never give in on this matter!"
For a long time, "indecisive" has been almost the same as his label. The world's first evaluation of him is that he is "irresponsible", has a weak character, and is not decisive enough. So this time he will let the world see how tough he will be. .
It also lets the world know where his bottom line lies.
Fang Jun frowned, a little incomprehensible: "As the king of a country, how can you act on your own initiative? If you act according to the law, every family in the clan will be in plain clothes and every household will wear filial piety. It is not an exaggeration to describe it as turning the world upside down! Your Majesty should borrow This is an opportunity to divide and win over the clan, isolate those with disloyal intentions, gain the support of the majority of people, and then firmly control the clan. ”
The dog-slaughters in the marketplace can take revenge as they please, and the rangers in the Five Tombs can do as they please, but the emperor cannot.
The emperor's authority comes from the support of the world, and the underlying cornerstone is the political system.
In fact, the political system does not pay attention to fairness and justice. It only pays attention to interests. The interests are distributed layer by layer according to class. This is the system. When the powerful occupy the top of the distribution of interests, it is feudalism, entrenching themselves above and exploiting those below. It is for capitalism, and striving to distribute benefits to every common person is socialism.
All wars in the world are basically linked to interests.
The underlying logic of every war is the redistribution of interests...
Therefore, what the emperor needs to consider is the distribution of benefits, not the so-called fairness and justice.
When you stand alone on top of the empire, overlooking all living beings, enjoying the wealth created by hundreds of millions of people, can you negotiate fairness and justice?
A qualified emperor should be a complete political figure.
And politics is the art of compromise.
If you don’t understand compromise, why are you talking about politics?
But Li Chengqian couldn't listen at all, shook his head and said: "There are things that a man should not do, but he must do. If I can't bring those who desecrate the imperial mausoleum to justice, I will be ashamed to be a son of man!"
Queen Su lowered her head to pour tea. Her beautiful face remained unchanged, but her beautiful eyes could not hide the worry in her heart.
Your Majesty's move is to force those clans to take desperate measures and risk their lives...
Fang Jun was a little helpless. He had already noticed the paranoia and stubbornness in Li Chengqian's character. This may be the change after he was suppressed for a long time and was completely released after he ascended the throne as emperor. He turned from one extreme to the other.
If you continue to admonish, you will be out of touch. Not only will it not help the matter, but it will lead to a deeper and deeper gap between the two people.
Fang Jun took a sip of tea, nodded and said: "If this is the case, the 'Shenji Camp' lurking in the East Palace can be withdrawn, but to be sure, we might as well wait until after the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, which is only about three to five days."
From the beginning of the New Year to the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the royal family and the court held a series of activities, most of which were sacrificial ceremonies. However, since the fifth day of the new year, the scale and density of various activities have been greatly reduced. There are few people in Chang'an City who have an excuse to move around. , the risk will naturally be reduced accordingly.
Although Li Chengqian was still dissatisfied and felt that as an emperor he could not even defend the East Palace with one word, he also knew that this was Fang Jun giving in. If he insisted on his opinion, he might lose his temper.
This guy is really stupid, he is really a little scared...
"That's fine. Erlang has always done things safely. I will listen to your advice, but...'Shenji Camp'?"
This was the first time he heard this name. There had never been such a number in the Tang army. Fang Jun said with a smile: "I made a joke for a while, the people who are lurking in the East Palace to protect the prince's safety are all outstanding students from the academy. These people are young and have a strong ability to accept new things. They are also the first army to be fully equipped with firearms. So it’s called ‘Shenji Camp’”