I open a history tutorial class in Daming

Chapter 171 System, are you sick?
Li Shanchang was over sixty years old. If we count from the time he joined Zhu Yuanzhang's service, he had been serving as an official for almost half of the past sixty years.

The long period of ups and downs in officialdom has enabled him to maintain sufficient energy. Even though Zhu Yuanzhang came to his house in the middle of the night and his heart was trembling, he could still maintain a normal conversation before hearing this sentence, and was even forced to perform better under the tremendous pressure.

But it's different now.

When Li Shanchang heard Zhu Yuanzhang mention the name Yang Xian, his old face with loose skin and deep wrinkles suddenly turned several shades paler.

Yang Xian... I haven't heard of this person for a long time, and it has been a long time since Your Majesty used this dead man's name to criticize me.

It was as if all the moisture in Li Shanchang's throat had been drained, and his vocal cords seemed not to belong to him. His voice when he spoke was harsh and hoarse, like the friction between sandpaper.

"Your Majesty, this... this is not good, right?"

As he finished speaking, he realized that the sound was so unpleasant that it might arouse the suspicion of His Majesty, so he quickly picked up the half-cold tea beside him and took a sip to moisten his throat. He waited until his throat felt better before continuing.

"It's not that I don't want to serve Your Majesty. You know, when we were marching and fighting, although I was a scholar who didn't go to the battlefield, I almost always followed the army. As for danger, the battlefield must be a hundred times more dangerous than the court. I still have this courage."

"However, I have not participated in the affairs of the Secretariat in the past two years. Unless there is something going on in the government office, I stay at home and keep quiet. Everyone knows that Duke Hanguo is old and weak and does not like crowds. It is inevitable that they will be suspicious and question me if I suddenly go to the banquet against common sense."

"When Hu Weiyong sent the invitation to the mansion, I guess he didn't think that I would really go. It was just a formality—"

"When he asks about this, how will I explain it?"

After being in the officialdom for so many years, how could Li Shanchang not know how to practice Tai Chi?

Civil servants, especially those who have risen to high positions, are best at saying different things to different people. If he really wanted to deceive people, even if Hu Weiyong was the prime minister of the dynasty, Li Shanchang would have been far superior to him in terms of age. Not to mention that Hu Weiyong was still working under Li Shanchang when he was prime minister.

As long as the person is still here, the tea will not get cold. Even if he was tempted, what would happen? Apart from Zhu Yuanzhang, is there anyone else in the world who could force Li Shanchang to say what he didn't want to say?

Complete bullshit!
This is a very complicated statement, but the real purpose is to get a definite answer from Zhu Yuanzhang. As for what the definite answer is...

Zhu Yuanzhang knew it clearly in his heart, but he did not expose it.

Even though he was the emperor, Li Shanchang's position among the nobles in Huaixi and even in the court was quite influential, so he would not easily touch him. Besides, it didn't matter if the ministers had their own little schemes, and it didn't matter if they wanted to gain some benefits after taking risks, as long as the work was done beautifully.

"Haha, Bai Shi, you are a smart man."

Zhu Yuanzhang still had the same smiling face as before, his teeth showing so much that his eyes were not visible, which made people feel creepy.

He stroked his beard and said slowly:

"Hu Weiyong invited a group of civil officials to a late-night banquet today. I think he was planning for the Emperor's List."

"As the person who promoted him, what would you do if he caused any big trouble and implicated you? When people get older, the biggest worry is that they won't have a good ending. The more powerful one is, the more this is true. When you heard that he made such a big fuss, you wanted to go and give him some instructions in person. Isn't that abnormal?"

"After you go there, you should persuade him in person not to go against us and tell him directly that you will not get involved. Then, in a corner where no one is around, you should tell him that he should make plans early. In this way, so many people present will hear that you are determined not to intervene. Even if someone accuses you after the incident, with so many witnesses, the court will have no reason to punish you."

"If the worst happens, that is, no one is willing to testify for you, then I promise you in front of Biaoer today that no matter what crime you are accused of, I will definitely protect you to the death, and no one will know what we discussed tonight."

"So, are you relieved?"

Li Shanchang saw the emperor staring at him with a smile on his face, feeling a little embarrassed and nervous. But when he looked at Zhu Biao who was listening to the conversation attentively beside him, Li Shanchang felt more relieved.

It is enough to save one's life, one's title, and one's reputation among the officials. As for face and morality... that stuff is nothing.

This is exactly what he wanted.

Zhu Yuanzhang's words were lies, and the promises he made to his subjects were often unreliable. But now that Zhu Biao was standing here, the situation was different.

Everyone praises His Royal Highness the Crown Prince for his generosity and benevolence. Li Shanchang served as the Crown Prince's Junior Tutor ten years ago. He certainly knows that there is a lot of water in these words.

The concept of benevolence does not mean that a person with a good temper is necessarily benevolent.

Does Zhu Biao have a good temper?

That's no nonsense!

Why is it good?
As soon as the Ming Dynasty was established, Zhu Yuanzhang could not wait to make Zhu Biao the crown prince in the first year of Hongwu, announcing his status. The team that assisted the Eastern Palace was a complete replica of the team that Zhu Yuanzhang had started with. There was not only Li Shanchang, but also Xu Da, Chang Yuchun, Feng Sheng, Liu Ji and a bunch of other people. The people who taught and assisted Zhu Biao all had to start from great Confucian scholars, and the top ones were an all-star lineup of dukes.

Not to mention that Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma loved each other deeply and their family was harmonious. Over the years, there had never been any incidents of a favorite concubine overshadowing the queen in the harem.

With an emperor father like Zhu Yuanzhang who only loved him and treated him as his son, and an empress mother like Empress Ma who was the mother of the country and had impeccable character, and an unprecedentedly stable position, even if he rebelled, Zhu Yuanzhang would only applaud and teach him how to rebel more feasible.

With such great luck, anyone who comes here will have a good temper, because love only flows to those who have no lack of love.

Zhu Biao, who grew up in absolute security, was of course a modest gentleman with a sound personality, good conduct, and gentle as jade. He rarely even cursed at people.

Before Zhu Biao, there had been princes or crown princes in history who had a fairly stable status and were popular among the people and their subjects.

For example, Prince Fusu of the Qin Dynasty, Liu Ju, the eldest son of Emperor Wu of Han who was born at the age of 30, and Li Chengqian, the son of Emperor Taizong of Tang before he went astray, all of them had smooth lives in the first half of their lives and received a lot of love, but they ended up badly in the end. This was mostly because they did not meet a father like Zhu Yuanzhang who completely trusted them, nor a mother who started from scratch with the emperor.

Oh, Li Chengqian did, but his mother died. After Empress Zhangsun died, both Li Shimin and Li Chengqian became decadent, with the younger one being even more decadent.

Then again.

God was so kind to Zhu Biao, and Zhu Biao also loved the world.

As a crown prince, Zhu Biao had to understand the emperor's mind, and under Zhu Yuanzhang's hands-on teaching, he obviously learned many of the essentials. Therefore, among many ministers, the image of the crown prince of the current dynasty was a minister savior like the empress. No matter what, it was always right to find a way to ask the crown prince and the empress for help before death, at least that was hope.

Li Shanchang exhaled slowly.

Based on his experience as the Prince's Tutor over the years, he knew that Zhu Biao had a good temper, but he never thought that Zhu Biao was really kind to this extent.

Empress Ma saved people because she started from scratch with Zhu Yuanzhang, her words carried weight, and she had reasons. She did not want to see Zhu Yuanzhang part ways with all his old friends, and did not want to see those people end up in a miserable situation. Her words carried weight, which could calm Zhu Yuanzhang's anger and stop him from getting stuck in a dead end.

As for Zhu Biao... Li Shanchang had reason to believe that the people he saved were deliberately left for him by Zhu Yuanzhang as a token of his favor.

They didn't have to die.

The current situation is the same.

In front of His Royal Highness, Zhu Yuanzhang said those words just now, and the meaning was already very clear -

Remember, you can get my promise now, and this promise can definitely be fulfilled, because the prince is standing next to you and watching. You can have a good ending in the future because I need to set an example for my son. You have to remember his kindness!
Li Shanchang remembered. What else could he do? If Zhu Biao was not here, he could only be coerced and would not even have the chance to be bribed.

He grinned - it was the first sincere and grateful smile on his face since he met Zhu Yuanzhang and his party tonight.

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your teachings and grace, and thank you, Your Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

"Now that the matter has been finalized, I will go change my clothes and leave for the banquet at the Prime Minister's residence. If you are any later, you will miss it."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded casually.

Then, he looked at Zhu Biao:

"Did you hear everything?"

Zhu Biao was asked this question out of the blue. He was stunned for a moment before answering:

"I heard it all."

Zhu Yuanzhang laughed and said:
"Then what are you still standing there for? Let's go! If we don't leave now, we'll run into the curfew patrol."

…………

Song Shen's home.

Song Shen, who had completely lost all sleepiness after being woken up, did not return to his room, but sat alone in the study in a daze.

After thinking for a long time, he asked about the system.

"System, why is the current situation in the court so different from what I know?"

"As far as I can remember, the Hongwu Dynasty did not hold a special imperial examination or recruit craftsmen. If this really happened, Zhu Yuanzhang would have been opposed by the civil service. The current left chancellor of the Secretariat is Hu Weiyong, so it is impossible for him not to have participated in the persuasion. If he had participated, it would have been written on Hu Weiyong's charge, but he did not."

"What's going on here?"

[Reply to the host, since you came to this era, it is no longer the previous Hongwu decade. ]

[Once there are variables, the wheel of history will gradually become skewed, which is similar to the butterfly effect, but not exactly the same. ]

[Your arrival caused Song Lian to leave Yingtian Prefecture early, and he would no longer contact the crown prince. You also left the inner court after you became blind. If it were an ordinary official, it would not have much impact, but your family has a huge influence among the literati, and any disturbance would trigger an incident, so the changes may be more drastic.]

[In addition, you revealed the direction of history to Queen Ma, which led to the disappearance of Zhu Yunwen, and the impact was even greater. Royal offspring are of great significance. The status of Zhu Biao's son is actually similar to that of the current prince.]

Song Shen frowned.

What does this mean? Can my butterfly wings blow away the entire Hongwu Dynasty?

He thought of something and asked quickly:

"Will the case of Hu Weiyong be brought forward or delayed? Will the scope of people implicated be expanded or reduced?"

[I'm sorry, host, the system cannot predict the future, because the future of this world has become uncertain. ]

That's possible.

Song Shen took a deep breath.

This is understandable.

In theory, if the system has a large and advanced computer that can collect information from all over the world and has intelligence highly similar to that of humans, then it can infer the possible future through some kind of calculation logic. This is why AI can perform risk assessment in modern times.

But now the system is bound to him. He is a blind man, with very limited information channels, and there is no Internet these days. What's more, this broken system only has an auxiliary educational function. Apart from providing a system mall that is no different from robbery, it can be said to be completely useless.

Coupled with the deviation in the direction of history, Song Shen also felt that it was a bit sci-fi to want to systematically predict the future under such circumstances.

Even though he knew some of the relevant history, Song Shen could only guess that the Hu Weiyong case would definitely happen and the position of prime minister would definitely be abolished, but it was hard to say what the impact of this turmoil would be.

half an hour.

Song Shen asked carefully:
"If I die, all your efforts will be wasted, right? System, you don't want to see me die, do you?"

【…】

The system was silent for a while because of this smell.

[The host can clearly state any request. Within the scope of our capabilities, this system will of course do its best to serve. ]

Song Shen smiled with a slightly sly look in his eyes.

"That's fine, that's fine."

"Since you said so, I will speak frankly."

"System, I think we should add some more people to this tutoring class. Of course, I'm not talking about the emperor. The emperor is basically of no help to my current situation. What about Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao in the class? Although they are also slices of reality, I am not their teacher in reality. Their attitudes must be different. Those in higher positions are not good birds."

"If possible, I hope you can bring in two famous officials from the Hongwu Dynasty. They must know more about the temper of the real Zhu Yuanzhang than I do. This will also help me become the Prince's tutor and achieve my goal. What do you think?"

"Knowing yourself and your enemy will ensure victory in a hundred battles. After understanding Zhu Yuanzhang's thoughts, I can better avoid the Hu Weiyong case and survive safely, right?"

After saying this, he waited expectantly for half a minute.

Then I waited for the system’s response.

[Reply to the host, I have detected that your involvement in the Hu Weiyong case has gradually deepened and has exceeded the original historical node. I am giving you a student as a gift. Please open the panel to check.]

Song Shen: ???
He was so unbelievable that he stood up immediately!
"What do you mean by getting more involved? I've tried so hard to persuade everyone to stay away from Hu Weiyong's affairs, but how come I'm getting more involved in this case? Are you sick?"

While cursing, Song Shen opened his system panel.

[Student to be accepted: Li Shanchang. (Are you sure to accept?)]

(End of this chapter)