Thousand-year-old family: its rise began with Shang Yang’s reforms

Chapter 452: The Court is in Trouble
The seventeenth year of Kaihuang.

summer.

Endless heat fell on the land. In the Prince of Jin's mansion, Chen Linan, Li Shimin and Yang Guang were sitting there, surrounded by icy mist.

Yang Guang fanned the cool breeze and felt very comfortable in his heart.

"Qi Lang, you're right, this pavilion is quite useful, but it's a pity that it's not affordable for ordinary people, whether it's the cost or the ice."

Chen Linan leaned against a pillar and half-closed his eyes: "Self-cooling pavilions are originally used by the rich and powerful. As for ordinary people, the Mohists have developed self-cooling fans, which are more convenient than ordinary fans."

He gestured with his hands and said, "It's a simple device that you can step on while lying down. It doesn't take much effort to make the fan blades rotate, which in turn creates a cool breeze."

"The Mohists are still considering how to design a fan that doesn't require human intervention."

"At present, I have thought of water power, but water flow is not everywhere. Besides, the power of water flow is usually near the river, and ordinary people always use fans to cool down at home."

Chen Linan sighed: "Brother Fourteen has been troubled by this matter recently. He really can't find any way to break the deadlock."

Yang Guang shook his head slightly, with a calm expression on his face: "Take your time. How can anything succeed right from the start? Throughout the ages, everything has been constantly developing and improving. One day we will be able to find the right method."

As he was talking, he looked at Li Shimin who was reading a book beside him, with a curious look on his face: "Erlang? Erlang? Erlang——?"

Several calls failed to wake Li Shimin from his immersion. Yang Guang curiously moved closer to Li Shimin, wanting to see what kind of book had made him so intoxicated.

But before he could get close to Li Shimin, Li Shimin suddenly raised his head as if he sensed the arrival of a stranger, then closed the book in his hand and hid it in his arms.

"Pfft-"

Yang Guang laughed when he saw Li Shimin's action. He pointed at Li Shimin with a slightly ambiguous look on his face: "Hey, what's going on?"

"What kind of book are you reading? It's so mysterious."

"Has our Erlang reached this age?"

Obviously, he thought that Li Shimin was reading a book similar to "Fire Avoidance Map". Li Shimin did not explain, but just sat there with a chuckle: "Second uncle, how is the situation in the court recently?"

Yang Guang waved his fan and did not continue to talk about Li Shimin's reading. He just followed his words and said, "What else can I do?"

"My father's health was getting worse and worse, and I slowly started to think about another problem."

There was sarcasm on his lips, but there was no emotion in his eyes, like the deep ice of the North Sea.

"This problem should have come up a long time ago, but he didn't really start to pay attention to it until his father got seriously ill a few days ago and almost died."

Li Shimin laughed, looked at Chen Linan who looked nonchalant and said, "I guessed what it was, what about you?"

Chen Linan yawned: "What else could it be?"

"The old lion king is beginning to worry about his own status."

Yang Guang nodded, and the cool mist around him continued to surround his body, bringing him a sense of coolness.

"After my father fell ill, he was very confident in handing over the government affairs to my eldest brother and letting him supervise the country."

"He also specifically told my eldest brother that the government was busy, so he didn't need to come and pay his respects every day."

"Guess what?"

Yang Guang chuckled: "Hey, my good brother really believed it."

"Not only did he not come to pay respects every day, he also took control of the government affairs and did not let my good father know at all. The officials of the three provinces only reported government affairs to my eldest brother every day. Even the servants who served my father began to neglect him."

"This made my father suddenly feel a sense of crisis."

"After he got over his serious illness, he immediately seized the power in his hands with lightning speed. Now, the two people in the court who used to be a loving father and a filial son are now at loggerheads."

Li Shimin nodded slightly: "This is right."

"Your Majesty is a person who is greedy for power. When he realizes that his power has not been lost, and his son and his subordinates dare to do this, he will become a different person."

Yang Guang also expressed his agreement.

The three were talking when a servant suddenly came over in a hurry: "Your Highness, the palace attendant Liu is here and said that His Majesty has issued an imperial decree. You should go and receive it immediately."

Yang Guang raised his eyebrows, with surprise on his face, but there was a look of expectation in his eyes.

"coming."

He pointed to the distance and said, "This is an imperial decree to activate me. Do you believe it?"

Chen Linan and Li Shimin looked at each other and laughed, "Then the imperial edict to employ the two of us will probably arrive soon."

The two of them bowed and said, "We will leave first, lest when the imperial edict arrives, we are not here, that would be a real problem."

Yang Guang nodded and without changing his clothes, he hurried to the front yard, with a disguised look of confusion, shock, and some joy on his face: "Liu Changshi - where is the emperor's order?"

When Liu Changshi took out the imperial edict, Yang Guang knelt on the ground, appearing very "respectful".

This was a very ordinary decree, which simply added an official position to Yang Guang - but it was this imperial decree that conferred an official position, but the meaning contained in it was very obvious.

In the past, when the Crown Prince had a good relationship with the Emperor, Prince Jin was always treated coldly. He was not even given any official position, and was even forced to stay at home for a long time and not allowed to go out.

What for?
This was to prevent Prince Jin from having any chance to make friends with court officials, for fear that Prince Jin would become an obstacle for the Crown Prince.

And now.
After Liu Changshi left, Yang Guang sat in the courtyard, his clothes in tatters and a look of heavy sarcasm on his face. He unfolded the imperial edict and read it word by word.

"The King of Jin is kind and compassionate, quite like me—"

"His talent and learning are like that of a rich man, and his wisdom is like that of a wise man."

"He is promoted to Right Sheren of the Secretariat and concurrently appointed as Left Pushe of the Imperial Court, and is allowed to attend court."

"Now there are many vassal states paying homage to the emperor, so they are allowed to take charge of the affairs."

Yang Guang sat there, reciting this simple imperial edict word by word over and over again.

Drops of rain fell from the sky, landing on him, wetting his clothes and hair, but he seemed not to care at all.

He stood up shakily and walked into the house.

Things like receiving envoys from vassal states have always been done by the emperor's favorite son, or the crown prince. But today, this imperial edict entered the Prince of Jin's Mansion, asking Yang Guang to do it. Needless to say, everyone understands the meaning of this.

In addition, the fact that he was able to hold such official positions as Zhongshu Yousheren and Menxia Zuo Pushe further shows the extent of Yang Jian's "favor" for Yang Guang. After all, holding such official positions concurrently can almost be said to mean that he has control over part of the power of the two provinces.

What kind of favor is this?
But from Yang Guang's perspective, he had already anticipated such an arrangement.

His good elder brother has too much power, and it was given to him by his good father himself. Therefore, if he wants to check and balance his good elder brother, he must give another person some power - at least enough power to compete with Yang Yong.

Yang Guang lowered his eyes and laughed disdainfully.

When Li Shimin returns home, he will probably receive an imperial edict, which may be news that he will be appointed as the military commander.

The current Grand Marshal is still temporarily held by Dugu Xin, and Dugu Xin will not take sides between the two of them because they are both descendants of the Dugu family.

Therefore, the position of military secretary plus the positions he held in two of the three provinces enabled him to quickly win over a large number of ministers.

This is the team that his father prepared for him to compete with the Crown Prince.

He threw the imperial edict in his hand up and then caught it again.

"good."

"Then I'm going to give my good brother a big surprise."

Car immediately

Chen Linan sat there with his eyes closed, while Li Shimin had a little hesitation on his face. He looked at Chen Linan and said, "Qilang, what do you think?"

"Do you want to get involved in this mess?"

Chen Linan just shook his head: "I won't get involved, and King Jin didn't count me in."

He whispered, "From the beginning to the end, King Jin only considered you as part of his camp. At most, I am someone who can establish a small relationship with him because of your existence."

"Prince Jin needs to use Chen's identity to prevent the Crown Prince from being too harsh on him - for example, by directly hiring someone to kill him."

“But for the rest, he didn’t expect much.”

Li Shimin sighed and touched the book in his arms: "Yes, the Chen family has never been involved in such things."

He looked up: "I can't do anything about it either."

"It's the only way."

Chen Linan shrugged his shoulders and said, "In fact, you don't have to do this and just stay out of it. Your uncle will not be happy if you get involved in the court struggle like this."

Li Shimin sneered: "Won't he be happy?"

"What I want is that he won't be happy."

He looked at everything flying by outside the window and said softly, "He has already given up on me, his child, hasn't he?"

"But I think after a few years, he will start to remember me."

Li Shimin laughed briefly: "After all, he will slowly grow old like Your Majesty. When that time comes, what should I do?"

Chen Linan shook his head, looking somewhat helpless.

He didn't know how to comfort Li Shimin. It was true that human hearts were too biased.

His father did a good job in this regard.

Although he also attached great importance to his elder brother, he was never partial to him but treated everyone equally - his elder brother was also very good to them, unlike Li Shimin's elder brother who only knew how to suppress his younger brothers.

This also led to the situation that after returning from a great victory and receiving many rewards from the emperor, Li Shimin was forced to resign, while Chen Linan was able to continue holding his official position.

Li Yuan thought that this was for Li Shimin's own good; but in fact it only angered the young Li Shimin even more.

With the deliberate solicitation of Prince Jin, he finally stood by Prince Jin's side.

Li Jiancheng supported Crown Prince Yang Yong, and the two of them had never stood together from the beginning.

It was extremely difficult for Li Yuan to act as a peacemaker.

Guandu
Li Yuan, who had finally found an excuse to leave Taiyuan, sat in his old position, his face full of complaints and anger: "Teacher, do you think I did something wrong? How am I not doing this for their own good?"

"But none of them appreciated it."

He lowered his head, with a look of fatigue and frustration on his face: "I am really too tired."

Chen Zhan didn't look up, but just looked at the book in his hand: "Really? Do you really think you did nothing wrong?"

He asked calmly, "In fact, you know that you are not doing this for their own good, but for Li Jiancheng's good. What you regret now is not that they don't appreciate your kindness, but that you are angry that Li Jiancheng doesn't appreciate your kindness and doesn't see your hard work."

Chen Zhan said as he read a book: "The difference in your treatment of the two children is so great that it makes Shimin feel disappointed, which is why the situation today happened."

Li Yuan wiped his face and said, "What can I do?"

"Jiancheng is the eldest son, and he is destined to inherit my position. I just want the two brothers to get along better."

"Your Majesty's actions that day were clearly intended to sow discord between the two children. If I don't let Shimin decline this matter, what else can I do? Watch the two brothers kill each other?"

Chen Zhan continued to flip through the book: "Then why did you ask Shimin to resign?"

Li Yuan said softly, "If he doesn't resign and continues to do this, then His Majesty will definitely continue to use him and sow discord between him and the boss. Wouldn't the boss have second thoughts?"

"Are you going to let me watch these two brothers kill each other?"

"Used by His Majesty?"

Chen Zhan put down the book in his hand, looked at Li Yuan and said, "Yuan'er, in fact, whether you asked Shimin to resign, declined the title, or some other actions of yours."

"You only did one thing wrong."

"It was this incident that brought you, Jiancheng, and Shimin to where we are today."

He whispered, "You don't trust your own children."

"So you intervened in their behavior, especially Shimin's."

"Shimin also saw through all of this, so he was so disappointed. After all, nothing could be more disappointing than your own father doubting you and not trusting you, or even doing a series of things to hurt your eldest brother just to make him feel at ease because of doubting you."

Chen Zhan's voice was filled with helplessness: "If you continue to do this, the final outcome for both of them will definitely be worse."

Autumn, the seventeenth year of Kaihuang.

The surrounding small countries sent envoys to pay tribute to the Sui Dynasty.

This time, the one who received them was not the former crown prince Yang Yong, but a popular figure around the new emperor - Prince of Jin Yang Guang.

This was also the beginning of the dispute between Prince Jin and the Crown Prince.

(End of this chapter)