Chapter 331 Li Xiang: Ah?

There is an old Chinese saying that goes, "It is easy to do good, but difficult to do evil."

Li Chengqian has a bit of this feeling now. Since he ascended the throne, he has been forcing himself to handle government affairs in an overclocked mode and has never thought about slacking off and playing.

But for this person, when he is making progress, it is like climbing a mountain. It doesn’t matter if he climbs by himself, and it’s also okay if someone is pulling him from below - but what he fears most is someone whispering from behind that it’s okay to take a break.

Sometimes you just have to go up the mountain with a burst of energy. Once you go up, you go up. But if you take a break in the middle, no one is sure what will happen.

The next day, Li Tai and his two siblings came to the Daming Palace again.

Li Chengqian seemed to have forgotten about the government affairs he had to deal with, and happily played with his younger brothers and sisters.

When they parted in the evening, Li Chengqian suddenly felt something was wrong.

That's not right. I was supposed to be diligent in my work, so why did I go and play tricks on Qingque and the others?

"Don't come tomorrow. I still have government affairs to deal with." Li Chengqian cleared his throat and chose to speak his mind.

Li Tai didn't say anything either, just waved his hand.

Li Chengqian thought he knew it, but the next day he not only brought Li Ke, Li Zhi and Li Su, but also Li Lizhi.

Seeing his elder sister, no matter how reluctant Li Chengqian was, he had to swallow his words of rejection.

Since Li Chengqian ascended the throne, he only conferred titles on two princesses. One was Princess Xiangcheng, the only one older than Li Shimin's many children, and the other was Princess Changle, his eldest sister.

Oh, now the titles should be changed to Princess Xiangcheng and Princess Changle.

Generally speaking, the eldest princess should be the eldest among the emperor's sisters.

But Li Chengqian was willful. He not only conferred the title of Princess Xiangcheng on her, but also considerately conferred the title of Princess Chang on his younger sister.

Naturally, the retired emperor Li Shimin would not object to such a thing. After all, when Li Lizhi got married, Li Shimin insisted on violating the etiquette for once.

In the fifth year of Zhenguan, when preparing the dowry for Li Lizhi, Old Li wanted to double it, so he said to all the ministers: "Princess Changle was born to the Queen, and I and the Queen love her very much. Now that she is going to marry, I want to increase the etiquette."

This kind of thing was not a big deal, and no one wanted to offend the emperor here, so Fang Xuanling took the lead and answered: "Your Majesty likes it, so I would like to give you less."

Seeing that there was no objection from the ministers, Old Li ordered the officials to double the amount of money given to Princess Yongjia.

Princess Yongjia was the daughter of Emperor Gaozu of Tang, Li Yuan, and the aunt of Princess Changle. She was older than Princess Changle in terms of seniority and should be respected over her.

As a result, Li Shimin actually wanted to violate etiquette for the sake of his precious daughter. Fortunately, the honest minister Wei Zheng advised him: "If the princess is treated with excessive courtesy, it will be unreasonable. I hope Your Majesty will consider it." Finally, Li Shimin withdrew his order, and this incident later became a good story.

Until the reign of Emperor Gaozong Li Zhi and Emperor Xuanzong Li Longji, there was still a Tang Dynasty poet named Zhang Ju who wrote judgments. In his judgments, Zhang Ju alluded to the grandness of Princess Changle's wedding, which shows how violent the response to Princess Changle's dowry incident and the princess's marriage was in the Tang Dynasty, and how profound an impression it left on the Tang people.

So now that Wei Zheng is gone, no one wants to offend Li Chengqian, and no one opposes him.

After all, this is the beloved daughter of the late emperor and the most beloved sister of the emperor. Only those who are too stubborn would speak out against this matter.

The consequences of offending Li Lizhi are second only to offending Li Mingda. After all, Li Mingda is the most beloved daughter of the former emperor, the beloved sister of the emperor, and the most beloved aunt of the prince.

As a sister-slave, Li Chengqian could no longer say no and happily played with his younger brothers and sisters.

When Du He arrived at the Daming Palace that afternoon to seek an audience, he was told that Princess Changle was visiting.

Du He naturally knew how favored his sister-in-law was, and he didn't think much about it. Although he was a close minister, he couldn't enter the Forbidden Garden, so he turned around and said goodbye.

When they parted in the evening, Li Chengqian politely asked Li Lizhi to come back tomorrow.

When she was leaving the palace, Li Chengqian reluctantly saw her off to the gate.

"It's still the beauty that gets favored." Li Su wrinkled his nose: "Every time I come here, I don't get this kind of treatment..."

"Who told you to be born late?" Li Tai muttered.

Li Shu thought so too. The relationship between the brother and sister is not just that they are born of the same mother, but they are also siblings who grew up together in the Qin Palace.

Didn’t you see that Princess Chengyang and Princess Hengshan, who were born to the same mother, don’t appear in such a big position in front of Li Chengqian?

Li Mingda is an exception. After all, Li Mingda has been raised by his parents since he was a child.

Li Tai kept talking to Li Zhi. Li Zhi understood and said to Li Lizhi with a smile: "Sister, let's remember to come again tomorrow..."

"My elder brother is so busy dealing with government affairs on weekdays, I'd better not cause him more trouble." Li Lizhi said quietly.

"Sister, this is where you're wrong." Li Zhi frowned and began to correct Li Lizhi: "Do you think my brother is being polite to you? Wrong! My brother's intention to ask you to come back tomorrow is genuine!"

"Huh? Is that so?" Li Lizhi asked suspiciously seeing that Li Zhi was so serious.

"If you don't believe me, ask my second brother!" Li Zhi pointed at Li Tai and said.

Seeing the look in Li Lizhi's eyes, Li Tai began to deceive him: "Yes, Lizhi, don't you think about it? Although my elder brother has just ascended the throne, his father left him a Tang Dynasty where people can live and work in peace and contentment at home and the four barbarians are submissive abroad. What kind of government affairs can he handle?"

"But..." Li Lizhi tried to refute.

"No buts!" Li Tai nodded heavily: "Li Zhi, believe me, my brother really wants you to go to Daming Palace more often!"

"Really?" Seeing Li Tai's sincere eyes, Li Lizhi couldn't help but believe it a little.

"If you don't believe me, ask Shu'er!" Li Tai pointed at Li Shu and said, "You can't trust us, but you can trust Shu'er, right?"

Li Lizhi looked at Li Su and asked softly, "Is that so, Su'er?"

Li Shu glanced at Li Tai and Li Zhi, and said meaningfully: "Fourth brother and Zhinu are right. If it weren't for the eldest brother wanting us to enter the palace together, he wouldn't have invited us to come tomorrow."

"Yes." Li Zhi nodded repeatedly: "Sister, don't you think about it? My eldest brother is now the emperor. It's lonely at the top. He needs someone to accompany him. Aren't we, the family members, the best candidates to accompany him?"

"I understand." Li Lizhi nodded seriously and reached out to touch Li Zhi's head: "I will come with you tomorrow - but you need to prepare more chips. I think the mahjong that Xiang'er played in Dengzhou is good. Let's get you to play together."

"With so many of us, there won't be enough mahjong for us to play." Li Tai said with a smile.

"That's right." Li Lizhi nodded, "Then I will go to the palace with you tomorrow."

The next day, Li Chengqian's eyes twitched when he saw his younger brother and sister coming to the Purple Palace again. He had just taken out the "Wu De Lu".

But he had no choice. The people had come. If it was Li Tai and Li Zhi, he could ask them to go back. But the problem was that Li Lizhi and Li Su were also here, so he was embarrassed to ask for it.

In the evening, after seeing his brothers and sisters off, Li Chengqian took a deep breath and began to talk to himself in deep sorrow.

"Li Chengqian, ah Li Chengqian, you can't continue to degenerate like this! Where is your great vision? Where is your sense of mission?"

He has made up his mind not to be led astray by his younger brothers and sisters.

I must talk to Li Zhi nicely tomorrow, even if...

As a result, the next day, one more person came to the Daming Palace. This person was none other than Li Mingda and the unmarried Princess Hengshan Li Hengwu.

However, Princess Hengshan's single life is about to end. In the second half of this year, China and the United States...

No, in the second half of this year, the engagement between Li Hengwu and Wei Shuyu will be completed.

If it weren't for that special relationship, Mr. Li would probably regret it.

But this world is different. Wei Zheng did not encounter any problem. First, he was not implicated in the rebellion of Hou Junji and Liu Lan. Second, he did not compile his advice to Li Shimin into a book to accuse him. Therefore, Li Shimin would not break off the engagement or push his tombstone in a fit of passion.

Of course, the story of digging graves is just nonsense made up by literati. If you take it seriously, you will lose.

In addition, Wei Zheng was Li Xiang's teacher. When he was in the palace, he tried his best to protect Li Xiang and Li Chengqian. No matter what the considerations were, Li Shimin would not regret the engagement.

To take a step back, even if Mr. Li is really obsessed and feels that it is inappropriate, he should consider whether his son and grandson would agree.

It was a good thing that Li Hengwu and Wei Shuyu got married. Although Wei Shuyu was seven or eight years older than him, it was very popular for old men to marry young women in that era, and an eight-year age difference was not a big deal at all.

Princess Hengshan in history did not have a very good fate.

After the incident of breaking off the engagement, Li Shimin finally finalized the marriage for his daughter on February 6, the 23rd year of Zhenguan, which was Empress Changsun's birthday, and betrothed Princess Hengshan to Changsun Quan, the son of Changsun Cao.

Changsun Cao was the uncle of Princess Hengshan's mother, Empress Changsun. During the Zhenguan period, the Changsun family was favored by Emperor Taizong. Including Changsun Quan, the Changsun family had four princesses.

They are Changsun Xiaozheng married Princess Gaomi, Changsun Chong married Princess Changle, Changsun Xi married Princess Xinxing, and with Changsun Quan added, isn't that four in total?

However, the good times did not last long. After Changsun Wuji was demoted, Changsun Quan was implicated and exiled to Yizhou, where he was killed by local officials.

Although Princess Hengshan did not express her anger to Li Zhi directly, she stopped dressing up to express her resistance to Li Zhi.

Li Zhi was also a sister-con. He couldn't bear to see his sister so depressed, so he arranged a marriage for her and married her to Wei Zhengju from the Jingzhao Wei family.

Because Wei Zhengju married a princess, who was also Li Zhi's biological sister from the same mother, he was promoted from a doctor to a third-rank palace supervisor in a short period of time, and his career quickly rose to prominence.

Unfortunately, because the princess's feelings for her ex-husband were too deep and she could not forget him, this marriage was never as harmonious as the previous one, and there were rumors that Wei Zhengju was disrespectful to the princess.

Perhaps it was because of her deep love for her ex-husband that Princess Hengshan fell ill a few years later and died at home.

Li Zhi was a little bit unable to accept this, so he took his anger out on his son-in-law Wei Zhengju and ordered the three judicial officials to investigate him. He then had the thief "cut into pieces with knives and dragged to the mountains to feed the wolves."

In his grief, Li Zhi once again violated the etiquette and buried Princess Hengshan, who was then Princess Xincheng, with the ceremony for a queen.

It can also be seen from here that princesses in the Tang Dynasty were indeed not allowed to marry. After all, it was easy for the princesses’ first husbands to get into trouble - but this trouble had nothing to do with the princesses themselves.

Li Xiang didn't remember it so clearly, but he remembered that his youngest aunt had a bad fate in her marriage.

Now that she can marry Wei Shuyu, a long-lived and honest man, it can be considered a good destination.

Speaking of which, Wei Shuyu can be considered a figure in the longevity championship. After all, he is a seeded player who can live to the fifth year of the Shenlong period...

In order to express his remembrance and respect for Wei Zheng, Li Shimin even made an exception and did not demote Wei Shuyu's title, allowing him to remain the Duke of Zheng.

Of course, on the other hand, it is also paving the way for my daughter. After all, if she marries someone, even if he is not the duke’s son, he must at least be the duke himself, right?

Li Hengwu is now also a little rich girl. She is in charge of the cotton textile industry in the Li Xiang Chamber of Commerce.

The Duke of Zheng's mansion originally married a princess, and Wei Shuyu felt a little ashamed in front of the princess.

After all, she is a princess with a noble status.

Now Li Hengwu is a rich lolita, and the Duke of Zheng's mansion is still very poor. When these two points are added together...

Well, I can't even hold my head up.

However, Li Shimin's daughters were well educated and would not be arrogant or domineering - even Li Shu.

Of course, after Fang Xuanling's death, Li Su's fierce fight with Fang Yizheng for the title of Duke did not count as being domineering towards Fang Yiai.

As for hitting Fang Yiai with your fists for no reason... Fang Yiai didn't even express any dissatisfaction, so is it your turn, a monster, to object?

So, seeing his younger sister coming to the Daming Palace, Li Chengqian was too embarrassed to say the words he had prepared, and could only obediently accompany his younger brothers and sisters to play for another day.

Li Xiang didn't expect that these uncles and aunts were so awesome.

Fortunately, Li Chengqian was entangled, otherwise if he came up with two more great ideas, he would have no place to build a palace for Li Chengqian.

However, what Li Xiang did not expect was that even though he was so busy and played recklessly every day, Li Chengqian still found time to take a break and come up with another great idea.

It's Li Xiang's fault. After hearing Li Tai say that Li Chengqian is "enjoying himself here and not thinking about politics" and invited him to the Daming Palace, Li Xiang decided to go and take a look.

Let’s see what’s going on.

However, as soon as he arrived at the Zichen Palace, he was stopped by Li Chengqian.

"Elephant, elephant!"

Li Xiang looked in the direction of the voice and saw Li Chengqian just putting the cards on the table.

He walked forward, and Li Chengqian smiled and patted his arm, saying to him, "You came at the right time. I have been thinking about it in the evenings these few days, and I just happened to have a good idea. Now that your uncles and aunts are here, it's a good time to tell them so that everyone can brainstorm."

Li Xiang: “Ah?”

(End of this chapter)