Chapter 157 Li Xiang: My dad has finally grown up! (asking for monthly tickets)

Just as Li You said, the uncle and nephew of the Cui family were in the Prince of Qi's mansion.

After seeing Li Shimin, Cui Tingzhi still looked calm and composed, as if he was not mourning for himself at all.

Although Cui Jian was very young, he had a strong character. At least his scalp didn't itch, and he didn't complain that the water was too cold.

"Please sit down." Li Shimin waved to the people behind him, indicating that there shouldn't be so many people gathered in the room.

Firstly, the content of the chat cannot be revealed, and secondly, it is boring because there are too many people around.

"I thought you were going to say something like 'Why don't you kneel when you see me?'" Cui Tingzhi said with some surprise.

"What if I kneel? What if I don't kneel?" Li Shimin sat on the chair with his horse and sword. "Didn't you say anything like 'the winner is the king and the loser is the bandit'?"

Cui Tingzhi nodded slightly, and the "heroic sacrifice" expression on the face of his nephew Cui Jian beside him also faded a lot.

"Now that things have come to this, there is nothing more to say." Cui Tingzhi sat upright and said, "This is all my personal doing. It has nothing to do with my family."

Li Xiang was amused. He was shocked by Cui Tingzhi's shamelessness: "When you colluded with foreign tribes and tried to make my Central Plains land be invaded by barbarians again, why didn't you think of your own relatives?"

Cui Tingzhi said calmly, "I have heard that those who govern the world with filial piety will not cut off people's relatives; those who spread benevolence throughout the world will not lack people's sacrifices."

There is indeed nothing wrong with what he said. He was sure that Li Shimin was a man of dignity and not an idiot like Yang Guang.

According to the Tang Code, all those who plotted rebellion or committed high treason would be beheaded. Fathers and sons aged 16 and above would be strangled, and those aged 15 and below, as well as mothers, daughters, wives, concubines, grandparents, grandchildren, brothers, and sisters, would have their troops, property, and lands confiscated by the government. Men aged 80 or above or those with a serious illness, and women aged 60 or above or those with a disability would be exempted.

In other words, men under the age of fifteen in the family would be exempted from the death penalty in order to preserve the family bloodline; those over eighty years old or seriously ill would also be exempted from punishment.

As for the extermination of three clans or the killing of nine clans, that is just talk.

You don't have to take the plots in the Shuang novel seriously. The number of the three Yi tribes has been decreasing since the Qin and Han Dynasties, and the only person in history who executed nine clans was Yang Guang, who also destroyed his own reputation completely.

As for the story that Zhu Di executed Fang Xiaoru's ten clans, it's just hearsay. Zhu Zhishan spread a rumor and it caused trouble for future generations. In the second year of the Tianqi reign, his tenth-generation grandson Fang Zhongyi went to Beijing to take the tribute student examination.

"Don't worry, I am not Yang Guang, and I will not do such a cruel thing."

Li Shimin's words softened Cui Tingzhi's expression.

However, Lao Li’s real killer move is yet to come.

"You should have heard of the decree I issued at the beginning of the year, right?"

"But is it the imperial decree to reform the imperial examination system?" Cui Tingzhi asked.

Of course he knew that Li Shimin was going to divide the number of people who would be admitted to official positions through the imperial examinations according to the regions, which would undermine the foundation of the scholar class.

Li Shimin nodded and said, "I intend to divide the country into six examination areas, and divide the number of candidates for the imperial examination into six examination areas. I intend to put Fanyang, Qinghe, Taiyuan, Zhaojun, Xingyang, and Boling into one examination area."

"You!" Cui Tingzhi's face turned pale: "Your Majesty is so arbitrary, aren't you afraid of criticism from the world?"

"People of the world?" Li Shimin smiled and said, "You mean the Shandong nobles?"

Cui Tingzhi snorted coldly and said nothing.

"Of course I know you won't accept it."

Li Shimin looked at Cui Tingzhi with a little contempt: "If you hadn't participated in the Qi Wang's rebellion, it would have been difficult for me to find such a reasonable excuse."

"It is not your turn to object now. You have to accept it whether you want to or not."

Old Li's words were like the sound of a huge bell, shocking Cui Tingzhi's heart.

"Take him away and lock him up first, and execute him in the autumn." Li Shimin waved his hand and decided the fate of the Cui uncle and nephew.

The people around him immediately stepped forward and dragged Cui's uncle and nephew away like they were dragging dead dogs.

There is really no need to implicate others, after all, there are people in the second branch of the Cui family of Boling who are wanted by Old Li, such as Cui Dunli.

After Li You spilled the beans, it turned out that it was not just the Cui family that participated in the rebellion. The Cui family was just the leader. People from the Taiyuan Wang family, the Zhaojun Li family, and the Qinghe Cui family also participated.

Furthermore, instead of exaggerating the fact that Cui Tingzhi was involved in the rebellion of the King of Qi, it would be better to use this as a bargaining chip to force the Shandong gentry to fully accept the decree on the reform of the imperial examination system.

What's more, the world is not only home to the Shandong gentry's five surnames and seven families, there are many other families, such as the Hedong Pei family, the Hedong Xue family, the Jingzhao Wei family, the Hongnong Yang family and so on.

The aristocratic families are not united.

It would be better to make other aristocratic families more hostile to the Shandong gentry, and the Shandong gentry themselves hostile to the Cui family of Boling.

Just punish the main culprit, this way the effect will be better.

After suppressing the rebellion, the natural thing to do is to appease the people.

A few days ago in Qizhou City, Li You conscripted all the young and strong men over the age of fifteen in Qizhou in order to resist the imperial army in order to rebel.

They originally thought that once the imperial soldiers arrived, the King of Qi would fight to the death, Qizhou would be reduced to ashes by the wrath of the soldiers, and they would also suffer.

No one would have expected that the wise and brave Emperor could conquer Qizhou single-handedly, relying on nothing else but his personal prestige.

The people of Qizhou took to the streets to celebrate the victory.

The rumors in the streets and alleys became more and more outrageous. In the end, it was said that the emperor transformed into a golden body and beat Yin Hongzhi to pieces with one punch.

"The old man is truly loved by the people," Li Xiang said with emotion.

Li Shimin looked at the people below with bright eyes and began to educate Li Xiang.

"Do you know that the king is the boat and the people are the water, and the water can carry the boat..."

Having said this, Li Shimin looked at Li Xiang and guided him to continue.

Li Xiang didn't even raise his head, pointing at the colorful boat not far away and said, "Can we also race in a row?"

Li Shimin stretched out his hand and hit Li Xiang on the back of the head. This grandson...

"Water can carry a boat, but it can also capsize it!" he said angrily.

"Aweng is right." Li Xiang rubbed the back of his head and gave Li Shimin a thumbs up.

There was no way, he was only a thirteen-year-old... fifteen years old in lunar age, and there was no way he could resist Lao Li's loving education.

After pacifying Qizhou, Li Shimin returned to Luoyang with Yin Hongzhi, Li You and others.

The first thing he did after returning to Luoyang was to sentence Yin Hongzhi and others to death.

Then he summoned the three brothers Li Chengqian, Li Tai and Li Zhi, as well as Li Xiang. The four of them didn't know what Li Shimin wanted them to do, so they just stood aside and stared at each other.

"What do you think Father asked us to do?" Li Chengqian poked Li Tai and asked.

Li Tai was poked in the itchy spot on his ribs. He shrank back twice with laughter and said, "I don't know. Maybe it's because of Li You's incident?"

"Zhi Nu, what do you think?" Li Chengqian asked Li Zhi again.

"I don't know." Li Zhi answered honestly. "Xiang'er, what do you think?" Li Chengqian asked again.

Li Xiang thought, my name is not Yuan Fang...

"Who knows what the old man wants to do?" He spread his hands.

However, after he finished speaking, he found that his father and two uncles were looking at him as if he were a warrior.

"What are you looking at?" Li Xiang was stunned. What are you doing?
Suddenly he felt a chill on his back. He turned around tremblingly and met the angry face of Li Shimin.

"Is that how you call me behind my back?" Old Li asked coldly.

"Isn't this a way of showing affection to Grandpa?" Li Xiang's mind was racing with thoughts of how to get around it.

Li Shimin snorted and said, "Is it that intimate? Then tell me, how do you explain the word 'old man'?"

Originally thought that Li Xiang would be speechless, who would have thought that Li Xiang very calmly bowed his hands and said: "Live a long life, that is old; stand tall and upright, that is head; the emperor is also called the son of heaven, so the grandson simply calls him 'old man'."

After hearing this, Li Shimin smiled and pointed his hand at Li Xiang.

"You always come up with new ideas for me."

As he said this, he walked behind the imperial desk.

Li Chengqian and his two brothers secretly gave Li Xiang a thumbs up, and Li Xiang gave them a smug smile in return.

"I called you three here this time to discuss how to deal with Li You." Li Shimin looked at the three of them.

Li Xiang curled his lips at the side, it seemed that Aung had not taken him into account.

Li Chengqian looked at Li Tai and then at Li Zhi, wondering what the old man was planning.

Is it necessary to ask them about this kind of thing? Can't we just give the order to chop it off?
But Li Chengqian suddenly became very smart in his mind...

No, although according to the law, Li You should be executed in this case, but the old man suddenly asked this question, which means... he may not want to execute Li You?

The old man is obviously a man who cares about his reputation. He certainly can't bring himself to say, "My son has committed treason, and I don't want to execute him," so he wants us, his brothers, to come forward and plead for him.

The more Li Chengqian thought about it, the more it made sense.

When he looked up again and saw the old man's "hopeful" eyes, Li Chengqian felt more and more that what he thought was right.

"Reply to Aye..."

Li Chengqian organized his words and began to verify his thoughts.

"Although Li You was involved in a rebellion, he did not cause any serious consequences and kept the losses within a certain range. Therefore, I think it is sufficient to depose him as a commoner and confine him."

Li Shimin's eyes lit up: "Do you really think so?"

When Li Chengqian saw Li Shimin's expression, he thought that this time he had made the right bet.

As expected, as expected!

Aren't you trying to use us to tell us that you want to save Li You's life?
Li Chengqian continued, "Li You is my brother after all. We have lived together for many years and we have some feelings for each other. I cannot bear to execute him."

Hearing this, Li Xiang’s brain was about to explode.

It's not a hurry, it's a joy.

Damn it, my dad, my living dad! You have really grown up!
We haven't discussed the answers before, so how did you know what to do?

As if sensing Li Xiang's fatherly gaze, Li Chengqian turned around and glared at Li Xiang fiercely.

"What about Qingque? What do you think?" Li Shimin turned to Li Tai again.

Li Tai looked at Li Shimin, and he had a different understanding.

"Replying to Father Ye, I think this matter can be a big deal or a small one." Li Tai thought for a while and said, "But I think what elder brother said is right. After all, Li You is also our brother. He is so blinded by greed and deceived by the treacherous people."

Li Shimin nodded and looked at Li Zhi again.

"Where is the childish slave?"

"I'll listen to my elder brother." Li Zhi said very obediently. He really knew how to change his attitude according to the situation.

"I am very pleased that you have such love and care for your brothers." Li Shimin smiled and nodded, full of affirmation for the three brothers.

But after he said this, his face darkened.

"But I want to tell you that sometimes, you just can't be soft-hearted!"

"Li You is of course my biological son, but I want to take this opportunity to make it clear to the world that even if my biological son rebels, I will never show mercy!"

"Aye is wise!" The three brothers immediately bowed.

Li Xiang secretly curled his lips at the side. In history, when his father Li Chengqian rebelled, Li Shimin did not do so. He even went so far as to lose face and repeatedly hinted to the court officials, almost explicitly stating that he would save Li Chengqian's life.

Finally, it was Lai Ji, the official in charge of affairs, who stood up and said, "Your Majesty, if you can be a kind father and let your children live out their natural life, that will be a good thing."

Taking advantage of this sentence, Li Shimin demoted Li Chengqian to a commoner and exiled him to Qianzhou, thus saving his beloved son's life.

Lai Ji, who seized this opportunity, suddenly became a pig in the wind. He was valued by Lao Li because of this incident and his official positions were continuously promoted. Soon he was promoted to Yuanwailang of Kaogong. The following year he was promoted to Zhongshu Sheren and co-wrote "Book of Jin" with Linghu Defeng and others.

From this we can see that the old man has some double standards.

Li Shimin looked down at Li Chengqian, then at Li Tai and Li Zhi, and said loudly: "Xiang'er has made great contributions in discovering Li You's rebellion in advance. What do you three think of rewarding him?"

"This is what my grandson should do. How can I ask for a reward?" Li Xiang scratched the back of his head and said with a smile.

"Those who have made contributions should be rewarded, and those who have made mistakes should be punished." Li Shimin shut Li Xiang's mouth with these eight words.

Li Chengqian looked at Haoda'er and then at Li Shimin, feeling that he was not the right person to say these words, so he lowered his head and pretended nothing had happened.

Seeing that his eldest brother was silent, Li Tai, as the second oldest, of course stood up and said, "Why not... raise Xiang'er's title higher?"

"Second brother is right!" Li Zhi echoed from the side: "Why not make him the King of Qin!"

Li Xiang looked at his uncle Li Zhi and thought to himself that the king should not say anything about him, so let's be civilized.

"Nonsense." Li Shimin glared at Li Zhi. Was the title of King of Qin also given casually?
In the Tang Dynasty, at least during the Zhenguan period, it was impossible to give away the title used by Li Shimin, no matter how much he liked this grandson.

As for the title of prince, Li Shimin did think about it, but quickly rejected it.

As for the prince, there is no need to mention him.

Just when Li Shimin was thinking about it, Li Xiang suddenly spoke.

"Replying to Grandfather, my grandson has an immature idea."

(Please support me with monthly tickets. I feel a little unwell... I am writing so slowly)
(End of this chapter)