Chastity Layman

  Chapter 286 Zhen

  Li Gang returned home and died that night.

  He walked away peacefully, with a smile on his face, holding a book of Spring and Autumn in his hand.

  When Qin Lang heard the news, he was being summoned to meet the emperor in the Hall of Liangyi, and the emperor and his ministers were right. Li Shimin was stunned when he heard the news reported by the servant, and was speechless for a long time.

  Although Li Gang used to be the teacher of his elder brother Jiancheng, he was an upright person, and he repeatedly asked the emperor to deprive him of his power during Wude, but Li Shimin was not dissatisfied with this old man.

   "There are no holidays. I entrusted the crown prince Chengqian to Mr. Li to teach. Unexpectedly, he left after only one year. The country has lost another pillar of the humerus!"

   "Huailiang, you come to make an edict!"

  Qin Lang was also in a very sad mood. Yesterday he met Li Gang in the Chongxian Pavilion, and unexpectedly, it was the last time he saw him. He still admires a very upright minister like Li Gang, although he sometimes feels that Li Gang's uprightness is a bit pedantic.

   "The minister obeys the order!"

   "A posthumous gift to Li Lao Kaifu Yitong Sansi, Li Guogong."

   "Posthumous title... Zhong."

  After thinking for a while, Li Shimin said again, "The posthumous title is Zhen!"

   Both Zhen and Zhong are beautiful posthumous titles, but Li Shimin finally changed loyalty to Zhen, no doubt in appreciation of Li Gang's official career in Zhou, Sui, Tang and three dynasties, assisting two dynasties and three princes, all loyal and upright.

  The posthumous posthumous title is chastity, innocence and integrity. If you think about it and overcome it, you can say chastity, and if you can worry about injustice, you can rest. No concealment, no humility, chastity, frankness and selflessness.

   "Huailiang, come and erect a monument for Li Zhengong!"

  Qin Lang finished writing the edict and submitted it.

   "Your Majesty, although I succeeded Li Zhengong as a scholar of Chongxianguan, I believe that the writing of Li Zhenguan's monument should be written by Prince Chengqian himself."

   Li Shimin, who was in grief, couldn't help but feel that this proposal was very good.

"good."

  Li Shimin summoned Wei Ting, the superintendent of the palace, and asked him to ask if Li Gang had left any form before leaving, and if there was anything that the court needed to help with.

   He was also asked to arrange for the granting of advocating class swords and other matters, and said that the internal treasury would allocate money for funerals.

  In the temple.

  The emperor was a little depressed.

   "There are not many honest ministers like Li Gang, and now there is one less in the court."

   "It is a blessing that Li Zhengong passed away at the age of eighty."

   "Huailiang, Li Gang is gone, and the crown prince Zhan Shi is vacant, so how about you being the prince Zhan Shi?"

"Your Majesty, the Eastern Palace is the crown prince, and the prince Zhan Shi is the head of the Eastern Palace's staff. It is very important. I think that for the Eastern Palace Zhan Shi, it is better to invite a highly respected veteran to be the Zhan Shi. I am too young to be a scholar of the Chongxian Hall. It's a little uncomfortable, let alone Zhan's job."

   "What do you think of Pei Ju?" Li Shimin proposed a candidate.

  Pei Ju, formerly known as Pei Shiju, was once one of the five nobles of Emperor Yang of Sui Dynasty, and the five nobles were also known as the five traitors and five thieves. He was from Wenxi Pei's family in Hedong, and both Pei Ju and Pei Ji belonged to the western family of Pei's family in Hedong.

  Pei Ju's grandfather was the governor of Jingzhou in the Northern Wei Dynasty, and his father was Sheren, the prince of the Northern Qi Dynasty.

As for Pei Ju himself, he served as the prime minister of the Sui and Tang dynasties successively, and he was also a well-known diplomat, strategist, and geographer in the world. The strategy, and then the eastward expedition to Goguryeo, was also Pei Ju's strategy. He also managed Turkic for Yang Guang, using tricks to split the Turkic tribes.

However, although Pei Ju was talented, he was called a treacherous minister in the Sui Dynasty. He was extremely flattering to Yang Guang and did not fulfill his duties as a prime minister. Prime Minister. Shoot Yu Wenhua and the right servant of the Shangshu, and shoot the left servant of Dou Jiande as the Shangshu.

  After he voted in the Tang Dynasty, he successively served as the censor in the palace, the prince Zuo Shuzi, the prince Zhan Shi, the Minister of the Minbu, and worshiped the prime minister as the inspector.

  After Li Shimin ascended the throne, Pei Shiju took the initiative to remove the word Shi and changed his name to Pei Ju.

  He and Li Gang are actually of the same age, and he is also 80 years old now, but this old man is a very smart man. He voted for four emperors and served as prime minister. In fact, he served as an official under six emperors in total.

He is very talented, but he also knows how to judge his appearance. When he was under Yang Guang, he knew that Yang Guang was not the kind of person who accepts advice, so he flattered him in every possible way. When he became an official under Li Shimin, he knew Li Shimin's temperament. He is good at admonishing the emperor, so he often puts forward many useful admonitions.

  Both Li Yuan and Li Shimin praised Pei Ju for this, saying that he was a treacherous minister in the Sui Dynasty, but a loyal minister in the Tang Dynasty, and they both valued Pei Ju very much.

   He was eighty years old, and should have retired long ago, but Li Shimin still used him all the time. Although he dismissed Pei Ju after he seized the throne, the old man was still active in the center.

  As soon as Li Gang died, Li Shimin first thought of Qin Lang as the candidate for Prince Zhan. After Qin Lang refused, he immediately thought of the old man.

It can be said that although Li Gang and Pei Ju are people of the same era, they actually have completely different ways of being an official. I am what kind of person I am, and this kind of person is very capable. He will do for you what the boss thinks of, and he will do for you what the boss can't think of.

  So, although Pei Ju has worked for six bosses, he has served as prime minister for four bosses.

   Even at the age of eighty, the emperor still trusted him.

In contrast, Su Wei, another big brother of their time, was much worse in this aspect. Su Wei died two years ago and was also the prime minister of the Sui Dynasty. He was the prime minister when Yang Jian and Yang Guang were both. , the ability to be a prime minister is extremely powerful, even Gao Ying and Yang Su have never overwhelmed him, but after Yang Guang died, although he also voted for Yu Wenhuaji, Li Mi, etc. However, he ran to vote for Dongdu and became Yang Tong's Shangzhu State Pi Guogong. After Wang Shichong became emperor, he became a grand teacher. and not seen.

  Wu De died alone in his hometown when he was six years old.

  Among Su Wei, Li Gang, and Pei Ju, Su Wei is undoubtedly the most capable, but this old man has a characteristic, which is cowardice. He has no principle and position, he is very capable, but he is weak to everyone, no matter whether he is Yu Wenhuaji, Li Mi, or Wang Shichong, he can bow to anyone.

  In comparison, Pei Ju is much stronger, at least his reputation is still good.

  Of course Qin Lang knew Pei Ju's details.

To be blunt, he feels that he is more similar to Pei Ju, a bit of the same kind of person, that is, the kind of person who will not easily sacrifice for his ideals, unlike Li Gang, who is honest and honest, who gives advice and advises again, you If I don't listen to advice, I will resign, and if it doesn't help, I will say I am sick.

   Li Gang and his ministers are really able to work hard for their ideals.

  But Pei Ju won't, and neither will Qin Lang. It doesn't mean that they are the kind of treacherous ministers who flatter you, but they are not so straightforward. It doesn't matter if you don't listen to him. It doesn't matter if I can't beat you. , then I will change my thinking and find another way to persuade you.

  I can’t fight now, so I continue to look for opportunities, and all methods can be used after detours.

  Even if it’s really impossible, I can pretend to surrender for the time being. In short, I want to preserve my strength first. I’m not afraid of running out of firewood to keep the green hills.

   "After Pei Gong's famous family, the prime ministers of the two dynasties have no ability."

   Li Shimin stared at Qin Lang, "You don't like him?"

  Looking at the emperor's appearance, Qin Lang knew that Li Shimin had already made a decision, so he immediately changed his tone, "I don't have any opinion on Mr. Pei, but Mr. Pei will be eighty this year."

   "I think Pei Ju is still very energetic, and he is proficient in classics. Let him be the Prince Zhan. You should help him well. I will still give you this position in the future."

   "Your Majesty, there are many Confucian ministers in the East Palace. How can Mr. Pei need my assistance?"

What Qin Lang said is correct, now that Li Gang, Zhan Shi of the East Palace, has passed away, Pei Ju takes over, and the sons of the left concubine are Yu Zhining and Du Zhenglun, the sons of the right concubine are Kong Yingda and Zhang Xuansu, and the crown prince Zhongyun Li Baiyao, prince Xianma Liu Ji, etc. .

   Not to mention the prime ministers and generals who work part-time in the East Palace.

  The configuration of the East Palace is extremely luxurious, but it can be seen from these part-time jobs that Li Shimin has not completely let go of the East Palace. Perhaps it is because the Crown Prince Chengqian is still too young, so the East Palace does not really give any power now.

  Everyone used to have a part-time job. The real Donggong officials are just low-level officials, let alone have little power.

   "I plan to let Yu Zhining, Zhang Xuansu and others also serve as direct scholars in Chongxian Hall." The emperor said.

  Perhaps it was because Li Shimin loved the crown prince Chengqian too much because he was robbed of power and power, and he wished to create a small court for the prince.

   It can be seen that the emperor wants to strengthen the prince's ability and power, so as to prevent his sons from competing for the throne in the future.

   In his mind, as long as the prince is good enough and powerful enough, no one can shake the prince's position. He didn't realize that, in fact, there was only one greatest threat to the crown prince's status, and that was the emperor.

When the prince was young, he was able to win the trust of the emperor, but once the prince grew up, it was almost inevitable that the emperor would feel challenged and threatened, especially those emperors with long lifespans. It is inevitable to be suspicious all day long.

   "I am going to give a sum of money to the prince, and you will keep the money."

  Qin Lang was a little surprised, why did he suddenly mention money again, and besides, shouldn't the money be allocated to Zhan Shifu?

   "You kid has a good way of making money. That polo league is now popular in Chang'an. I heard that it is making money every day."

   "Your Majesty, the Polo League pays a lot of taxes to the court every month, and there is absolutely no tax evasion."

Li Shimin smiled, "Of course I don't doubt this, I just said to give the crown prince a capital, you keep it, and you use this money to teach the prince the way of economy, I have a deep understanding now, a man can't be powerless for a day , and the country cannot live without money.”

   "Thank you Your Majesty, I will definitely work hard and never disappoint Your Majesty's expectations."

   "I don't have any big expectations. I will give you 100,000 guan, and the expenses of the Eastern Palace will be settled by you yourself. Can you do it?"

  Qin Lang thought for a while, there were thousands of officials and servants in the East Palace, and the expenses were not small, but a capital of 100,000 was also a pleasant surprise. As long as the operation was done properly, it should be no problem to cover the expenses with the income earned in a year.

   He was a little surprised that the emperor was so generous.

  However, he quite agrees with the emperor's idea. Although Chengqian is only nine years old, he can learn economics early, especially the real hands-on operation practice. This is the most effective way.

  Emperors like the Western Jin Dynasty who would eat minced meat are not to be desired.

  (end of this chapter)