Chapter 16: The aftermath of subduing Ling Jing
Li Yuanji sat with his horse and sword in his arms, and politely asked Ling Jing to sit down.
Questioning Ling Jing is also a test for Ling Jing.
If Ling Jing told him that it was just a blind guess, then Ling Jing would not be worthy of his recruitment.
Dou Xian naturally had to be sent back to the Ye Ting Palace.
Ling Jing seemed to know what he was thinking and gave him a standard answer, "Since Liu Heita rebelled, it has been difficult for me to take a single step in Chang'an.
There are almost no people who are close to me, but there are countless people who hate me.
Your Highness summoned me at this time, he must have some ulterior motive. "
Ling Jing said this without forgetting to glance at Dou Qian, "Your Highness knows what I want, and you must have investigated me.
Your Highness should not look down on the little money I have.
The only thing about me that is worthy of Your Highness's attention is my learning."
Li Yuanji was quite satisfied with Ling Jing's answer. It at least proved that Ling Jing was not a fool and had a certain vision, so he was worth recruiting.
Li Yuanji smiled and praised: "General Ling has a keen eye and saw through my thoughts at once. Not bad, not bad."
Ling Jing said modestly: "I don't deserve your praise, Your Highness."
After a pause, he continued, "Since I have already agreed to serve Your Highness, Your Highness should also respond to my request."
Li Yuanji secretly praised Ling Jing for being bold and laughed, "I can hand Dou Qian over to you, but do you dare to take her away?"
Ling Jing was stunned and his face changed.
Li Yuanji was not threatening him, but reminding him.
He has a special identity, and Dou Xian also has a special identity.
If he appeared in Chang'an City with Dou Xian, he would definitely be targeted by someone with ulterior motives.
Some people with ulterior motives will inevitably make a fuss about them.
Once the incident came before Li Yuan, given how much Li Yuan hated Dou Jiande, they would all have to die.
Therefore, it was much safer for Dou Xian to stay in Prince Qi's mansion than to follow him.
but……
Ling Jing didn't really want to work for Li Yuanji.
He was well aware of the bad reputation of the Prince of Qi's Mansion, and also knew what kind of vortex Li Yuanji was in.
Working for Li Yuanji is no less than trying to fish for gold in the fire. At best, you will get burned, and at worst, you may lose your life.
But Dou Jiande had been kind to him, and he could not bear to see Dou Qian suffer.
For a moment he was in a dilemma.
Li Yuanji knew his difficulties and did not rush him to answer.
Ling Jing hesitated for a long time, looked at Li Yuanji and said: "Then I will trouble Your Highness to take care of Miss Nanny..."
Li Yuanji smiled knowingly.
"General Ling works for me, so I will naturally not treat unfairly the people that General Ling cares about.
I will tell the princess to take good care of Dou Qian."
Ling Jing thanked Li Yuanji with a wry smile.
After conquering Ling Jing, Li Yuanji was not in a hurry to ask Ling Jing for advice. He knew that Ling Jing cared a lot about Dou Qian, so he asked Ling Jing to take Dou Qian out for a walk, giving them a chance to be alone.
After Ling Jing took Dou Qian away.
Xie Shufang couldn't wait to appear in front of Li Yuanji, "Congratulations, Your Highness, for gaining a counselor."
Li Yuanji smiled and nodded.
It is indeed a happy thing to get Ling Jing into my pocket.
With Ling Jing, Xie Shufang and Li Sixing, the Prince of Qi's Mansion had barely enough strength to protect itself, and he could breathe a sigh of relief.
"Go and tell the princess to prepare a courtyard for Dou Qian and assign her a few maids."
Li Yuanji ordered.
Li Yuanji still needed Ling Jing to work hard for him, so he naturally had to .
Xie Shufang agreed and rushed to the bedroom to pass on the message.
…
Li Yuanji was in high spirits after gaining Ling Jing, but some people were not happy.
Li Yuan felt very relieved when he learned that Li Yuanji had dealt with the female officials, subordinates, and palace maids in the mansion one after another.
He felt that Li Yuanji had grown up and matured, and knew what loyalty was and what treachery was.
To celebrate, he readily ordered the Ministry of Internal Affairs to behead all the female officials and subordinates in the Prince of Qi's mansion who had made mistakes.
But before he could be happy for long, Liu Jun hurried to Ganlu Palace to report.
Li Yuanji took Dou Jiande's young daughter away from the Ye Ting Palace.
Ling Jing, the chief academician of the Imperial College under Dou Jiande, became a guest of honor at the Prince of Qi's palace.
"boom!"
Li Yuan angrily threw his most beloved jade cup to the ground.
The jade cup instantly broke into eight pieces.
"Go, tell that rebellious son to come see me!"
Li Yuan stood in front of the throne and roared.
The palace servants inside and outside the Ganlu Palace were so frightened that they knelt on the ground.
Liu Jun quickly agreed, "Yes!"
Liu Jun hurried to the Wude Hall with Li Yuan's oral order.
When Liu Jun rushed to the Wude Hall, Zheng Guanyin also appeared where Li Jiancheng was handling government affairs.
Li Jiancheng, wearing a jade crown on his head, a red robe, with a tall figure and handsome face, was reviewing local documents with a frown on his brow.
Zheng Guanyin walked silently towards Li Jiancheng holding a bowl of red date soup.
Li Jiancheng smelled the familiar scent of incense, put down the documents, raised his head, and looked at Zheng Guanyin with gentle eyes.
"What's up?"
Zheng Guanyin nodded.
Li Jiancheng liked to be quiet when he was handling documents, and Zheng Guanyin usually would not disturb him at this time.
Once Zheng Guanyin appears at this time, it means something is wrong.
"Silang took Dou Jiande's young daughter away from the Ye Ting Palace."
Zheng Guanyin said softly.
Li Jiancheng was stunned. "Dou Jiande's little daughter? Why did he mention Dou Jiande's little daughter?"
Zheng Guanyin said slowly: "Someone saw that not long after Silang took away Dou Jiande's young daughter, Dou Jiande's Imperial College Master Ling Jing appeared in the palace."
Li Jiancheng's pupils shrank. "He is crazy. He dares to offend his father. Doesn't he know that his father hates Dou Jiande to death?"
Zheng Guanyin pondered and said, "I don't think he is crazy, but he has thought it through carefully."
At this point, Zheng Guanyin did not forget to remind Li Jiancheng, "Don't forget, just at noon today, he forced you to kill Xue Bao.
Our fourth brother is very different now."
Li Jiancheng frowned, rubbed his temples with both hands, and said, "I thought he was just acting on impulse..."
In Li Jiancheng's eyes, Li Yuanji has always been a childish younger brother.
When Li Yuanji asked him to return Xue Bao, he also regarded it as an act of impulse.
Xue Bao was not placed in the Prince of Qi's Palace by Li Jiancheng.
Xue Bao took the initiative to approach Li Jiancheng and said he wanted to work for him.
After Xue Bao got into trouble, Li Jiancheng protected Xue Bao in order to show it to other people who worked for him.
Li Jiancheng didn't care whether Xue Bao lived or died.
I didn't take it to heart.
Now that Zheng Guanyin brought up this matter and linked it to Li Yuanji's abnormality, he had to think more about it.
"If he acts on impulse, when I go to him, he will definitely let Xue Bao go for my sake.
But he didn’t.”
Zheng Guanyin reminded.
Li Jiancheng frowned and asked, "When you went to the Wude Hall to see him, did you notice anything different about him?"
Zheng Guanyin briefly recalled the time when he met Li Ji in the Wude Hall, and slowly said, "He is less arrogant and more calm than before.
His gaze is no longer as erratic as before, but more determined. "
Li Jiancheng said thoughtfully: "In this case, our fourth brother is really different..."
Li Jiancheng turned his head to look at Zheng Guanyin and asked, "Has the Wude Hall added any new people recently?"
Zheng Guanyin knew what Li Jiancheng was asking, and shook his head slightly, "I haven't seen any newcomers that Silang cares about."
"Then why has Yuanji become so mature?"
Li Jiancheng did not think that Li Yuanji had been replaced by someone else.
In the Taiji Palace guarded by tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, no one dared to do anything to his brother.
Therefore, Li Jiancheng regarded all the changes in Li Yuanji as signs of maturity.
"I guess it has something to do with the lightning strike a dozen days ago."
Before Li Yuanji's temperament changed drastically, the only noteworthy thing that happened was the lightning strike.
Li Jiancheng nodded and said, "It is reasonable that he suddenly realized his mistake after being struck by lightning.
I didn't want to see him because of his disobedient act of dismembering Chen Shanyi, but I didn't expect that he would change so much."
Zheng Guanyin smiled bitterly and said, "It's not a good thing that Silang has matured."
Li Jiancheng's eyes darkened. "Pei Ji praised him for being smart before. I thought Pei Ji deliberately diverted Shimin's attention to him to relieve my pressure.
Now it seems that Pei Ji is really praising him, not to help me."
Zheng Guanyin nodded, "He must have some ulterior motive in recruiting Ling Jing."
"Ah……"
Li Jiancheng laughed sarcastically, "We are brothers, what else can we plot?
I thought that only Shimin was competing with me.
I didn’t expect Yuanji would also want to compete with me.”
Li Jiancheng stared at Zheng Guanyin and asked self-deprecatingly, "Am I not doing my job as a brother? Otherwise, why am I so unpopular?"
Zheng Guanyin looked at Li Jiancheng with pity, "It's not that you, as a brother, are incompetent, it's that people have changed their minds, and the things in your hands are too tempting, no one can resist the temptation."
Li Jiancheng was silent for a moment, "I can't suppress Shimin, and there's no reason why I can't suppress Yuanji either.
You send someone to tell Yin Ashu that Yuanji has recruited Dou Jiande's former subordinates and he knows what to do.
Then send someone to deliver all the documents from Bingzhou to the Wude Hall.
Now that Yuanji has grown up and matured, there is no reason for me to help him handle the government affairs of his fiefdom."
Zheng Guanyin was stunned for a moment and asked, "Are you going to weigh Silang?"
Li Jiancheng nodded without hesitation, "Since he has become greedy, I have to see if he has the qualifications to go against me.
If not, then just be a prince peacefully."
Zheng Guanyin nodded, reminded Li Jiancheng to remember to eat, and then left where Li Jiancheng was handling government affairs to help Li Jiancheng pass on the message.
In Chengqing Hall west of Taiji Palace .
Li Shimin and Changsun Guanyinbi were also discussing Li Ji.
While reading the latest war reports from Hebei, Li Shimin said to his eldest grandson Guanyin, who was nursing her baby, "I heard that Yuanji took Dou Jiande's young daughter away from the Ye Ting Palace. Dou Jiande's Imperial College Master Ling Jing became his guest of honor."
The maid of Changsun Guanyin asked with some amusement: "What does Erlang want to say?"
Li Shimin put down the document in his hand and said, "Don't you think he violated your father's taboo?
My father killed Dou Jiande and forced Liu Heita to rebel.
Nowadays Liu Heita is causing a lot of trouble in Hebei.
Ninety percent of the territory once occupied by Dou Jiande has been conquered.
My father now wishes he could kill Dou Jiande again.
Yuanji invited Dou Jiande's former subordinates to be guests at this time. Can my father forgive him?"
