Chapter 147 National defense is the real backing of diplomacy! (Seeking monthly tickets!)

On the morning of the seventeenth day of the first lunar month, Li Shimin went to the mansion of Duke Zheng.

In the Prince of Wei's Mansion, Li Tai and his subordinates were looking worried.

"Is it really impossible to ban this Hu Memoir?" Li Tai asked with a sigh while sitting on the Hu stool.

"It's a pity that the memoirs have been approved by the saint." Wei Ting said sadly, "After all, there are many words of praise for the saint in it. You know, since Duke Zheng has always been upright, his flattery is rare."

"That's exactly what I'm worried about!" Li Tai knocked on the table and said, "When I first saw him praising me for editing the Comprehensive Geography, I thought he was praising me throughout the article!"

Finally, Li Tai complained again: "How could he say that to me!"

"Yeah, what's the matter?" Li Xin asked from the side.

"He said I was two-faced!" Li Tai said indignantly.

"That's totally wrong!" Li Xin said indignantly.

Li Tai glanced at Li Xin and felt like he had found a close friend.

The one who understands me is my good son.

"So you also think this is wrong?"

Li Xin shook her head and sighed, "No sense of confidentiality at all."

"Awareness of confidentiality?" Li Tai's killer instinct was activated.

"Oh, that's not right." Li Xin hurriedly tried to make amends.

Li Tai glared at him and said with emotion: "How could he slander me like this!"

"What did you slander?" Li Xin said, and seeing Li Tai's unfriendly look, he said, "Oh, I know, Aye."

Li Tai took a deep breath and decided to ignore Li Xin, the bastard son. He asked Fang Yiai, "Tell me, what good will this do for him?"

"I heard that the Prince of Hengshan has a magazine. Could it be that he wants to sell some royalties?" Fang Yiai put down the wilted cucumber in his hand and asked hesitantly.

Li Tai suddenly felt that he had asked the wrong person. He shouldn't have asked this bastard with muscles in his brain.

"He definitely didn't slander me for money." Li Tai snorted and gritted his teeth, "It's just his nature! In order to protect the crown prince, he would do anything! He is unworthy of the reputation of being upright! In my opinion, he is insidious! Vicious! Cunning! Despicable!"

"I heard that the saint is going to grant his son a marriage. As long as I'm here, his son won't be able to become my brother-in-law!"

"Or he might be buried with her in Zhaoling Mausoleum!" Li Tai felt unsatisfied and said viciously.

Just then, there was a noisy sound outside.

Li Xin was young and liked to watch the fun, and he also felt that the atmosphere in the house was awkward, so he ran out.

Not long after he ran out, he ran back with a very heavy expression on his face.

Seeing Li Xin's expression and the noise outside, Li Tai frowned and asked, "Xin'er, what's wrong? Is there something wrong?"

"Yes... and no." Li Xin looked at Li Tai hesitantly, and then said, "I heard from people outside that Duke Zheng, the Prince's Grand Tutor, and Minister Wei Zheng, just passed away."

Li Tai let out a loud laugh, and his fat face began to tremble with laughter.

Then he felt that this was not a good idea and wanted to put away his smile and replace it with a sad expression, but he couldn't do it no matter what. He could only twist the muscles on his face hard to fight the smile that he couldn't suppress.

His eyebrows twisted like a caterpillar and his facial muscles twitched constantly. After changing his expression for a while, Li Tai finally suppressed his smile and his face was replaced with a sad expression.

"How sad..." Li Tai sighed.

"How sad..." Wei Ting, Chai Lingwu and others immediately responded.

"He used to be an upright man." Li Tai said again.

"Incorruptible..." the officials echoed again.

"He will be remembered forever." Li Tai said again.

"May his name be passed down through the ages." The subordinates echoed again.

"So is his memoir." Li Tai looked at Li Xin.

Li Xin added: "It will never be finished."

"Alas..." Li Tai sighed.

"Alas~"

All the officials also sighed, and for a moment, the main hall of the palace was filled with sorrow.

"It is said that before his death, he hoped to be buried in Zhaoling Mausoleum." Li Xin continued, "But considering what you just said..."

Li Tai immediately interrupted him and said, "No, no, no, Xin'er, you must have misunderstood your father. I believe there will be many people who hope that he can attend his funeral and let him be buried in Zhaoling Mausoleum to enjoy the last glory."

Of course, he really meant what he said. What he just said about not letting Old Wei be buried in Zhaoling Mausoleum was just something he said in anger.

He is not the emperor, how could he possibly be in charge of such matters?
"I want to go too." Li Tai took a deep breath and made a decision.

"Paying tribute to an upright and honest minister?" Fang Yiai suddenly asked.

Li Tai nodded and said, "Yes."

Finally, he added: "By the way, confirm that he is really dead."

……

After Wei Zheng passed away, Li Shimin stopped attending court for five consecutive days to express his grief.

Li Chengqian was also in Xihua Hall, mourning for Wei Zheng.

For more than half a month, Li Xiang was in a bad mood and even dragged Lao Sun to check Xiao Yu's body.

As a result, Xiao Yu was so angry that he almost beat him up.

In Xiao Yu's words, are you hoping that I will go with you?
After all this, Li Xiang's sadness was alleviated a lot.

Just after the first month of the lunar year, good news came that Li Jingren had returned.

After Li Xiang learned the news, he took his brothers ten miles out of the city to welcome them.

Li Jingren was originally riding on his horse, feeling very excited, but when he saw the second and third generations coming out to greet him, his eyes suddenly became wet with tears.

He immediately dismounted from his horse and trotted to Li Xiang.

"Brother!" Li Jingren looked at Li Xiang with tears in his eyes.

"Jingren, you've suffered." Li Xiang held Li Jingren's arm and spoke sincerely.

After traveling around the grassland for several months, Li Jingren did not take much care of his appearance and his image management was very poor.

With his unshaven look, if he shaved his head and wore a pair of glasses, he would look like a science god.

Li Xiang did not despise him. He smiled and said, "I haven't seen you for more than two months. You've worked so hard. Make sure you wash yourself well when you get home, otherwise the ladies in Pingkangfang won't recognize you." Li Jingren chuckled, but this smile made his teeth look whiter and whiter.

"Brothers, come and meet Jingren." Li Xiang turned around and said.

"Hello, Brother Jingren!" The playboys immediately crossed their arms and said.

"Brothers!" Li Jingren thought for a long time and finally said, "I miss you guys so much!"

Li Xiang: …

Why do I feel like your last name shouldn't be Li, it should be Feng...

All the playboys laughed. After laughing, Li Jingren crossed his arms and said, "Brother, this time when I went to the grassland, I bought a total of more than 113,400 kilograms of wool. The rest was too much to bring back, so I changed to buying cattle, sheep and other livestock. In total, I bought 2,346 sheep, 1,580 cattle, and 2,300 horses!"

Damn it?

Li Xiang looked at Li Jingren in surprise. He remembered that he didn't prepare much stuff. The stuff he prepared should be worth several thousand Guan at most. How come he exchanged so many things?
He turned around and looked at the team behind Li Jingren. Wow... such a long team.

Perhaps seeing Li Xiang's confusion, Li Jingren smiled and said, "There are not only people sent by my brother here, but also people from the Xueyantuo, Huihe, Khitan, Pugu, and the Nine Chile Surnames. Their leaders saw that we were short of manpower, so they sent people to escort us back."

"That's not right. This horse of yours is worth dozens or hundreds of strings of cash, right?" Li Xiang pointed at the horses, his face looking a little upset.

Who knew that Li Jingren smiled mysteriously and said, "At the beginning, I told them that we were a team sent by the Prince of Hengshan to try to trade. This time we only bought wool and exchanged it for tea cakes."

"They are very happy. After all, this thing is called a miracle drug in the grasslands. It is said to be able to moisten dryness and relieve constipation, and cure all diseases. As for the details, I don't know. Anyway, the lowest quality tea cakes cost a few coins each, and they can even be exchanged for a big fat sheep there. If the Prince of Hengshan County needs it, wool can be given away for free, and a few tea cakes will be enough as a token of appreciation."

"But I told them what my brother meant, and emphasized the role of wool. I also told them that my brother was the grandson of the Heavenly Khan and would never deceive them. He would only be sincere to them."

At this point, Li Jingren's face became a little fanatical: "Brother, you don't know, those grassland people knelt on the ground, kneeling towards the direction of Chang'an, and kept thanking the Heavenly Khan and the Little Heavenly Khan for their kindness!"

He danced and gesticulated, imitating the appearance of those grassland people perfectly.

"So, the leaders of several tribes discussed and decided that since the Tang Dynasty showed sincerity, they, the grassland people, should not be stingy. So they forced so many goods on me and stated that wool was useless on the grassland, so they gave it to me for free."

"I couldn't resist their enthusiasm, so I had to agree. However, I made an agreement with them that the next transaction must be conducted according to normal rules."

"Of course, these horses were sent by Tumidu, the leader of the Huihe tribe, and Daha Kuge, the leader of the Khitan tribe. They said they must convey their blessings to the Heavenly Khan and the Prince of Hengshan. They will always be the most loyal warriors of the Heavenly Khan!"

Li Xiang didn't expect that this group of people would be so enthusiastic and even offer him good horses.

Li Xiang immediately acknowledged this overflowing loyalty.

But at the same time, he also knew that the enthusiasm of the grassland people was partly due to the sincerity of the Tang Dynasty, but most importantly, it was due to the invincible and undefeated military force of the Tang Dynasty.

Without this powerful military deterrent, the Central Plains dynasty would have no choice but to pay annual tribute and compromise like the weak Song Dynasty, or even kneel down and become a vassal, acting extremely servile.

Or like the Qing Dynasty, they signed 1,175 unequal treaties.

National defense is always the true backing of diplomacy, dignity is only above the edge of the sword, and truth is only within the range of the crossbow!

But as Pei Xueqing said before, while relying on hegemony, we must also implement the kingly way.

Using force to conquer the rebellious forces in all directions, and then using culture to assimilate them into the Han civilization circle, this is what the Tang Dynasty is doing and what Li Xiang wants to continue.

Adhere to the basic national policy of the Tang Dynasty and never waver for ten thousand years!
The playboys were also sighing at the glory of the Tang Dynasty and how great Li Xiang's reputation had become.

While I feel emotional, I also feel proud of it.

Wei Daijia wiped his nose and swore secretly in his heart.

Even if I can't be as good as Brother Jingren, I must work hard and make sure I can be useful to him in the future!

After some polite conversation, everyone returned to the restaurant.

Li Xiang called Princess Gaoyang and had originally planned to ask Princess Changle to come, but Li Lizhi did not like to show up in public, and it was not good for her to meet strange men outside, so she did not come.

Li Su was different. He preferred the hustle and bustle, and Fang Yiai didn't mind it much.

"Hello, aunt!" When the playboys saw Li Shu, they all saluted with their arms crossed.

Li Shu was so happy that she felt her heart pounding.

I just like the feeling of being the center of attention. I really can't resist it.

"Everyone, please sit down." Li Shu said with a smile, "Jingren has worked really hard on this trip to the grassland."

"I will serve you, brother!" Li Jingren said, beating his chest.

All the playboys then shouted in unison: "Serve our brother!"

Li Xiang looked at Li Jingren in surprise and said, "You always come up with new ideas for me."

"Okay, brothers, let's eat first." Li Xiang smiled and glanced at Li Jingren: "Jingren has been traveling outside and hasn't had any good food in a restaurant for many days. He must be craving for it."

"That's right, brother!" Li Jingren said with a smile, "I'm really tired of the food on the grassland. Now I just want to eat a bowl of noodles..."

"Okay, let's start the meal." Li Xiang said with a smile.

I was thinking to myself, hey, it’s okay to eat noodles, Chang Te’an will arrange it!

At the same time, he was also thinking.

He was about to accompany Li Shimin to leave Chang'an and go to war with Goguryeo. He would feel at ease if he entrusted the affairs of Chang'an to Aunt Gao Yang.

He could see Li Su's ability, but there was no precedent of Wu Zetian, and no princess had the ambition to become the crown princess.

All Princess Gaoyang wanted was a more prominent position.

In that case, why not satisfy her?

"Don't worry, your aunt is in Chang'an to help take care of you." Li Xiang raised his cup and said softly to Li Su.

"You are not the only one my aunt is looking after. She also has her own business. How can I not pay attention to it?" Li Shu said to Li Xiang with a smile.

Li Xiang laughed heartily and said to Li Su softly, "With Princess Anguo Gaoyang here, my nephew can rest assured!"

Hearing this, Li Shu's neck even turned red.

From the tips of my hair to my fingertips, I was trembling.

No other reason, just a pleasant surprise.

Who is Li Xiang?

He was the crown prince's eldest son and the emperor's favorite grandson. He even said the word "crown grandson" himself at the New Year's Day court meeting.

The second and third generations of ministers also united under his command, and even foreign leaders admired him.

Such a person will definitely become the emperor in the future, without any surprise.

Even if Li Chengqian was crazy and wanted to change someone to be the crown prince in the future, he would have to consider whether he could have a fight with Li Xiang at Xuanwu Gate.

What Li Xiang is referring to now as "Princess Anguo Gaoyang" represents a promise, the promise of the future emperor.

How could Li Shu, a woman who longs for glory, not be excited?
(Three more updates delivered!)
(End of this chapter)