Early Tang Dynasty: forge ahead

Chapter 130 Two invitations

As always, the meeting.

Li Shimin's three-day visit has been called diligent government.

In order to show his determination to surpass his father, Li Zhi changed the court meeting to a daily meeting, and the prime ministers must be gathered together every day to discuss state affairs.

But in fact, in the system of the Tang Dynasty, trivial matters were shared among the prime ministers. The emperor controlled the decision-making power and the power to appoint prime ministers. There were not so many things that required the emperor and prime ministers to get together to discuss carefully.

Li Zhi's purpose was not really to negotiate a solution, but to strengthen his control over the prime ministers.

At this time, the prime minister had great power, fully controlled the country's affairs, and was able to check and balance the imperial power.

Therefore, the struggle between imperial power and prime ministerial power is an unavoidable topic in this era.

They complement each other, achieve each other, and are in a state of ebb and flow.

Li Zhi has been on the throne for a long time, it has been seven years, but his true independent dictatorship has been less than two years.

It is impossible for any emperor to be indifferent to his own authority.

Especially an emperor like Li Zhi who had been ignored.

After briefly chatting about some matters concerning Western Turks and Goguryeo, the meeting was declared over.

Lai Ji, Li Yifu, and Sun Chuyue all belonged to Zhongshu Province and were following the same path.

But it was obvious that Li Yifu, Lai Ji and Sun Chuyue were very different from each other, and they were not the same people.

Lai Ji and Sun Chuyue were walking side by side. They had known each other for many years. They studied under the same person, served as officials in the same court, and became cadres of Zhongshu Province together. Their friendship was no less than that of brothers from the same country. , the two of them walked together without much restraint.

Laiji was the first to speak.

"Did you receive a gift from Master?"

Sun Chuyue said: "Of course I received it. I was greedy for the "Collected Works of Lu Taichang" when I was a student and couldn't get it. I didn't expect that he was willing to give up his love for County Magistrate Chen."

Lai Ji chuckled: "Who says it's not the case? My mother is seriously ill and needs to burn incense to help her sleep. For this reason, I asked my master to borrow "Hexiang Prescription". He regarded it as a treasure and was reluctant to borrow it. He actually copied a copy and gave it to me as a gift. . Based on his character, if I didn’t really appreciate County Magistrate Chen, I wouldn’t recommend him to you and me at this age.”

Sun Chuyue nodded slightly and said: "I received the "Collection of Lu Taichang" yesterday, and I was still surprised. What did Master see in such a frivolous and rude person? But after hearing the news today, I realized that it was me, Meng Lang. With Master's experience, how could I Can easily make mistakes."

Sun Chuyue returned to his residence last night and received the "Collection of Lu Taichang". He immediately became angry and thought to himself: Chen Qingsi is young and energetic, and does not know what is good or bad.

My master, who was very old, put down his dignity and promoted people, but I was better off and sent a boy to deliver gifts without even visiting.

Is it possible that he, the prime minister, can't be invited in the opposite direction?
The original good impression of Chen Qingsi was gone.

It wasn't until today that I heard Chen Qingsi's poem mocking Li Yifu's slaves, saying that dogs look down on others, and knowing that Chen Qingsi offended Li Yifu yesterday, I understood why Chen Qingsi was so rude.

It's not that he doesn't know etiquette, but because he offended Li Yifu, he was worried that he would be implicated.

Laiji had the same feeling. He was not happy after receiving "Hexiang Prescription", but was angry that Chen Qingsi was ignorant. Until today when the news spread, he understood the reason.

Lai Ji said: "Lai has lived a whole life, how can he let the younger generation compare? Before I came today, I had sent someone an invitation to invite County Magistrate Chen to come to the house, and also invited several relatives and friends to accompany you. Also together?”

Sun Chuyue smiled happily: "What a coincidence, early this morning, I also sent someone to send the invitation, and it is also scheduled for today. Brother, who do you think County Magistrate Chen should invite?"

The two laughed at the same time.

Lai Ji said: "I beg you to forget it, my dear brother, you don't have to do this." If you invite Chen Qingsi to a banquet at this time, you will undoubtedly offend Li Yifu.

Even though Li Yifu was notorious because of Bi Zhengyi and Wang Yifang, no one was willing to provoke and touch Li Yifu.

After all, Li Zhi's partiality for protecting Li Yifu is well known.

Direct ministers like Lai Ji and Sun Chuyue were unwilling to interact with them, but they did not break up with each other.

Sun Chuyue said: "County Magistrate Chen dares to say no to Li Mao, let alone stupid brother? Brother and brother, let's fight against Li Mao together. Today I will give in to brother, but tomorrow I will invite you again."

A trace of emotion flashed in Lai Ji's eyes.

In fact, Laiji's statement at this time was not just for Chen Qingsi.

Li Yifu's ambitions are too great. He, a minister of Zhongshu, has already taken over the throne. He has been coveting his position as Zhongshu Ling for a long time.

Lai Ji had already realized that the cat in Li Yifu was planning to attack him, so he took advantage of Chen Qingsi's incident to take advantage of the situation and spread the problem out.

Sun Chuyue's stance obviously not only supported Chen Qingsi, but also supported him as Zhongshu Ling.

Jiangnan Road Residence.

Chen Qingsi looked at the two invitations in her hands, one big and two big.

How to choose this?
Isn't this bullying?
Can't two prime minister-level bosses discuss this?
When it was difficult to make a decision, Sun Zhai sent another message saying that he had changed the date to tomorrow. This made Chen Qingsi relieved and prepared to go to the appointment with Laiji.

Xiao Miaochen had already prepared a gift for Chen Qingsi. It was a copybook of Xie Xuan that she carefully prepared for Lai Ji.

Xie Xuan was not famous for his calligraphy, but Xiao Miaochen considered Lai Ji's family background.

Lai Ji's father was the general Hu'er of the Sui Dynasty, and his ancestor was She, a famous general of the Eastern Han Dynasty. He came from a family of generals. His elder brothers were all famous generals of the Sui Dynasty and died in Yu Wenji's rebellion.

Xiao Miaochen felt that even if he came to Ji and became an official with literature, the blood of his ancestors would still be there.As a representative figure with both civil and military skills in history, Xie Xuan is more likely to be favored by Lai Ji.

Chen Qingsi came to the door with gifts.

Lai Ji also gave Chen Qingsi enough face. Although he did not step out of the main gate of the prime minister's residence, he personally greeted him inside.

Chen Qingsi presented the gift.

Hearing that it was Xie Xuan's copybook, Lai Ji was really moved and couldn't wait to read it on the spot.

Looking at the copybook, Lai Ji exclaimed: "Xie Xianwu's calligraphy may not be as good as that of many famous calligraphers, but each stroke is strong and powerful, and the words are extremely regular, vaguely like a marching formation."

Just as Xiao Miaochen thought, Laiji was a civil servant, but he had the blood of a family of military generals in his body. However, he did not have the invincible courage of his father and brother, so he could only dream of becoming a Confucian general like Xie Xuan and Du Yu.

Historically, Lai Ji was falsely accused by Li Yifu and demoted to Tingzhou.At that time, the Western Turkic tribes attacked Tingzhou, and Laiji encouraged the state soldiers to resist bravely.As a scholar, he could not wear heavy armor, so he fought in civilian clothes, rushed to the front, inspired the state soldiers to fight, and eventually died in the battle.But because of this, Tingzhou was defended.

Laiji's eyes sparkled with inexplicable brilliance and he couldn't put it down.

"Come, my dear nephew, follow me to the table."

He enthusiastically pulled Chen Qingsi and walked into the house. The gift was so satisfying that he directly changed his name to "good nephew".

As he walked, he said: "Many of my friends want to get to know you, Mr. Qingxi, but I thought that since we are just keeping company, it would be better to have someone younger like me. Instead, my nephew is restrained, so I invited him." Some handsome men will accompany you..."

(End of this chapter)