Chapter 110 Li Shimin: What he said are all my words!
Lao Li's first reaction to the news that "Qibi Heli defected" was disbelief.

As the most loyal thug of the Heavenly Khan of the Tang Dynasty, Qibi Heli was naturally trusted by the emperor, and Li Shimin did not doubt him for even a second.

Of course Li Xiang also remembered what he had forgotten before. Wasn't this the famous case of the kidnapping of Qibi Heli in October of the 16th year of Zhenguan?

It was quite unlucky. His tribesmen wanted to join the Xueyantuo, but Qibi Heli disagreed, so his tribesmen tied him up and took him to the Xueyantuo tribe.

Qibi Heli was also a strong-willed person. He cut off his own ear with a knife and swore to be forever loyal to the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty.

Li Shimin's performance can be described as being in direct agreement with Qibi Heli. He rejected all objections and stated firmly that Qibi Heli would never betray him.

"Impossible!" Li Shimin immediately denied it: "How could Qibi be so loyal to me? How could he defect? ​​There must be a reason!"

Li Xiang also stood up and said firmly: "Qibi Heli has a heart of steel and will never betray Aweng!"

Li Shimin choked and looked at Li Xiang in a daze.

There was no other reason, because Li Xiang said what he wanted to say, even word for word.

Everything he said was my word!
At the same time, Lao Li felt a deep sense of relief in his heart.

This grandson not only looks like me, but he looks like me too!
He can even think the same thing as me. What is this? This is the connection between grandparents and grandchildren!
Since my grandson thinks so, my judgment cannot be wrong!

Thinking of this, Li Shimin's trust in Qibi Heli became even stronger.

Since it was not long since the court session ended, the officials were still on duty. After Lao Li pondered for a moment, Wang De summoned the officials here to discuss how to respond.

Soon, all the officials above the fifth rank who were still on duty arrived.

Li Xiang didn't go back either. Old Li asked him to stay with him so that he could show the unity of the grandfather and grandson when necessary.

Of course Li Xiang didn't want to leave either. After all, he couldn't let Aong face the opposition of his ministers alone, right?

After arriving at the Liangyi Hall, Li Shimin ordered Wang De to read the urgent document in the hall.

After hearing that Qibi Heli had "defected with his entire family", all the officials in the hall looked at each other in bewilderment.

No one expected that Qibi Heli, who always claimed to be a loyal servant of the Tang Emperor, would actually defect with his entire family.

The generals, who originally belonged to the Turkic faction, dared not even breathe.

This matter is a guilty conscience. Qibi Heli is also a Hu people, and they are also Hu people. The court officials have always been somewhat ostracized by them. If they stand up and speak out at this time, wouldn't it be Hu protecting Hu people?

"I think this is definitely not Qibi's original intention." Li Shimin took the lead in setting the tone for the meeting.

The ministers looked at each other and thought to themselves, "They have already proven that the whole clan has rebelled. This is news that was delivered over 800 miles in an expedited manner. How could it be false?"

Minister of Works Zhang Liang was the first to step forward, expounding on the pros and cons and sternly rebuking, "Your Majesty, these Rongdi tribes are of the same ilk. Qibi Heli joined the Xueyantuo, which was like a fish in water. This is exactly what he wanted. How could he care about your Majesty's kindness?"

"You..." Ashina She'er, who was also from the 'Rongdi tribe', stepped forward to argue, but was stopped by Zhishisili behind him.

To put it bluntly, they are not in the right at all. What else can be said?

Besides, the 800-mile express journey must be true. At least it is absolutely true that Qibi Heli and his clansmen arrived in Xueyantuo, otherwise they would not have delivered the news through this channel.

What other reason could there be for the whole family to go to Xueyantuo except to seek refuge with them?

Ashina She'er also cursed in his heart. He didn't believe that Qibi Heli would betray him, but he was just cursing him for being brainless and doing such an inappropriate thing.

However, it was useless for him to believe it alone, and now it had almost reached the point where he could no longer defend himself.

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

Li Shimin looked at Zhang Liang angrily and said, "Qibi Heli has a heart of steel and will never betray me. He must have some unavoidable reason!"

"As for the matter of Qibi Heli, I hope Your Majesty can make a decision as soon as possible." All the ministers said in unison.

Seeing that the Turkic generals were silent and the other ministers were asking him to make a decision as soon as possible, Li Shimin suddenly felt so damn lonely.

Am I the only one who believes in Qibi Heli?

To be honest, Li Xiang really admired Li Shimin. Even in this situation, he could still believe that Qibi Heli would not betray him.

You know, Li Xiang believed that Qibi Heli would not betray him because he had foresight and knew that Qibi Heli would be a loyal member of the Tang Dynasty until his death.

Li Shimin relied entirely on his personal judgment. This level of trust would probably be hard to find in the past five thousand years.

No wonder when Lao Li passed away, Qibi Heli and Ashina She'er both cried and asked to be buried with him. His personal charm is truly extraordinary.

"Your Majesty." Li Xiang suddenly stood up and said in a very formal tone.

"Speak." When Li Shimin saw Li Xiang stand up, he knew that he wanted to stand with him, so he responded in a deep voice.

"I also believe that Qibi Heli will definitely not betray!" Although Li Xiang's voice was childish, his tone was firm, even more so than Li Shimin's.

After hearing Li Xiang's words, a glimmer of hope appeared in the eyes of Ashina She'er, Zhishisili and others.

The Prince... The Prince... actually believes us Hu people?

"Oh?"

Li Shimin looked at Li Xiang steadily.

What Li Xiang said in private just now and what he said now in front of all the ministers are two different concepts.

In the former case, it might be to show the same position as oneself; but in the latter case, it could only be the trust in Qibi Heli and the support for him as an elder.

Li Xiang stood straight and said in a steady voice, "Qibi Heli has received great favors from your majesty. Since he surrendered to the Tang Dynasty in the fourth year of Zhenguan, your majesty has treated him with great favors. In the attack on Tuyuhun and the destruction of Gaochang, Qibi Heli made great contributions to the court. Moreover, Qibi Heli is a loyal and brave man, and he will never forget the kindness of the saint!"

"What's more, the military power of the Tang Dynasty is growing stronger day by day, while the Xueyantuo is declining. Since ancient times, how could they abandon the light and join the dark? In my grandson's opinion, there must be something fishy about this matter!"

Li Shimin's eyes were shining. He looked at his good grandson in front of him and had never been so satisfied.

Ashina She'er, Zhishisili and others also looked at Li Xiang in the same way. Although the prince in front of them was still very short, he was extremely tall in their eyes.

"Your Highness, what you said is wrong. The barbarians are nothing but beasts. They have human faces but beastly hearts. They are not trustworthy!" Zhang Liang stood up and refuted.

Li Xiang glanced at him and thought to himself, you damn traitor, you are not even one tenth as powerful as Qibi Heli.

In your later years, Zhang Liang favored sorcerers, had other ideas, and adopted 500 sons. Later, you were accused of treason and executed in Xishi. Do you still have the nerve to call others beasts in human form?
You are the one with a beast in human form.

Since Zhang Liang was the traitor, Li Xiang had no intention of giving him face and just started to attack him directly.

"Confucius wrote the Spring and Autumn Annals, advocating that 'Chinese who enter the barbarians become barbarians; barbarians who enter China become Chinese.'" Li Xiang brought out Han Yu's remarks in advance, and then brought out Confucius's panacea: "Whether it is the Turks or the Tiele, as long as they submit to the Central Plains and learn the customs of the Han people, they are my family; if there are Han people who defect to the barbarians, such as Han Wangxin, Zhonghang Shuo, Wei Lu and others in the Former Han Dynasty, they are barbarians!"

But it was different in a certain dynasty where people shaved their heads and changed their clothes. After he entered China, he was still a barbarian. After all, he never considered himself a member of the family.

The Tang Dynasty embraced the world and was the last era of ethnic integration dominated by the Han people in Chinese history. Until the An-Shi Rebellion, the Tang Dynasty's policy was to expand by force and then assimilate and integrate the conquered areas through culture.

This is an era of confidence and tolerance.

As Li Xiang spoke, Li Shimin's eyes grew brighter.

Good! Good! Xiang'er really hit the nail on the head!

If a Chinese enters the barbarians, he becomes a barbarian; if a barbarian enters the Chinese, he becomes Chinese…

It’s really a golden sentence!

Ashina She'er, Zhishishili and other Hu generals all turned to Li Xiang.

They never expected that Li Xiang would actually speak up for them and speak to the heart of their hearts.

However, Li Xiang's words only convinced Li Shimin and a group of Hu generals.

"Your Majesty, I think the Prince's words are not without reason, but it is an established fact that Qibi Heli led his tribe to rebel."

Zhang Liang still insisted on his own opinion and explained the pros and cons to Li Shimin.

With Zhang Liang taking the lead, the other ministers would naturally follow suit. Moreover, in their eyes, the Qibi people would have no reason to rebel.

Seeing that his ministers still insisted on their opinions, Li Shimin gave an order: "Pass on my order, send someone to Xueyantuo to gather information and then make a decision!"

A hastily assembled court meeting ended in displeasure. The emperor trusted Qibi Heli, while all the court officials insisted that Qibi Heli had rebelled.

At the same time, the news of this small court meeting in Liangyi Hall spread like wildfire, and the entire Chang'an City knew that Qibi Heli had led the tribe in rebellion.

For a moment, the whole world was in an uproar.

Moreover, the fact that the Emperor and the Prince of Hengshan trusted Qibi Heli also spread.

Everyone was secretly sighing at the innocence of the two. The prince was a child, so it was reasonable for him to be naive, but the emperor was an adult after all, and had experienced many ups and downs...

Although the prince is brave and intelligent, he is too loyal and naive, and does not know the wickedness of human nature.

The suspicion towards Qibi Heli had even begun to spread to other Hu people.

Some people have already prepared to submit a petition requesting restrictions on Hu people from holding official positions.

Some extreme people even planned to petition the imperial court to expel all the Hu people from the interior.

Under this situation, the Hu people in Chang'an City had begun to be ridiculed, and what was worse, merchants had even begun to refuse to serve the Hu people.

This individual behavior has been elevated to the level of the entire group.

Only Li Xiang's two restaurants still welcomed the Hu people, but the diners treated them coldly, and some drunken diners even spoke ill of them.

Li Jingren had to step forward to maintain order, and repeatedly reiterated that Prince Hengshan would not allow diners to have disputes in the restaurant.

The consequence of this was that the number of diners in the restaurant dropped sharply, and no one understood why Li Xiang insisted on receiving these "beastly" Hu people.

The Hu people were grateful for Li Xiang's kindness, and they were the only ones who still patronized Li Xiang's restaurant.

In the restaurant, which was a little deserted compared to the past, the playboys were sitting and chatting.

"Oh, brother, you're really something. Why don't you do such a good business..." Li Xin sighed and didn't say anything else, but everyone knew what he meant.

"Brother can't be wrong." Cheng Chubi said in a sullen voice: "I believe in his judgment!"

"Of course I also believe in my brother's judgment, but after all, Chang'an City is like this..." Li Xin scratched his head, looking a little sighing.

At this moment, there was a sudden noisy sound outside.

It turned out that some people did not dare to cause trouble in the restaurant, so they ran outside to block the Hu diners who came to the restaurant.

Three or five strong men surrounded the two Hu people, beating and kicking them while calling them beasts in human form.

The two barbarians huddled on the ground, not daring to resist, and could only endure it silently.

The officers had already arrived here, but they had no intention of stopping them. They just gave a few symbolic scoldings. Judging from his appearance, if he had not been concerned about his status, he would have gone up and beaten them up.

When Li Jingren and his companions walked out, Li Xiang happened to come in from outside.

Seeing the crowd gathered in a circle and hearing sounds of shouting, cursing, and kicking, Li Xiang immediately ordered the guards to separate the crowd.

After the crowd parted, Li Xiang looked at the five strong men and the Hu people who were beaten black and blue, and asked solemnly, "What happened?"

The five men also knew Li Xiang, and they just crossed their arms and said, "We saw injustice and wanted to teach these dogs a lesson. We hope that the prince will forgive us."

Li Xiang looked at the two barbarians with bruised faces and noses, and then at the five sturdy men who looked arrogant and had no expression of admitting their mistake.

This matter is really tricky...

He walked up to the two barbarians, said a few words to comfort them, then looked up at the five strong men.

"Five people, beating up two unarmed people. Do you think this is very similar to what happened to Li Weigong when he raided Yinshan and captured Jie Li alive?"

"I'm telling you! When a weak person gets angry, he punches the weaker one! When a strong person gets angry, he punches the stronger one! You beat up two unarmed people, but instead of feeling ashamed, you feel smug about it. Do you think you're a hero?"

"If you really have the ability, then join the army, go to the battlefield, and kill all the enemies who are against the Tang Dynasty! This is what a warrior does! Instead of beating up two unarmed civilians here!"

After hearing what Li Xiang said, those people were still a little unconvinced.

Li Xiang ignored them, but looked down at the two bruised and swollen Hu people, and said in a gentle voice: "It is the court that has treated you unfairly, and I feel guilty."

"How do you want to deal with the five of them? I will definitely make the decision for you!"

The two Hu people who were beaten still had some resentment in their hearts, but after hearing what Li Xiang said, they immediately threw that resentment out of their minds.

"The prince is worthy of being the descendant of the Heavenly Khan, and has a heart as broad as the sky! We, the Hu people, swear here to be loyal to the Heavenly Khan until death! We swear to be loyal to the prince until death!"

"It is enough to have the prince speak for me. The prince does not need to punish them. They are angry because of Qibi Heli's matter. They are warriors with justice in their hearts. The prince must not punish the warriors for my sake and hurt people's hearts..."

(Sorry, I'm still a little hungover, so I posted something a little off topic...)
(End of this chapter)