Chapter 18 Peach Pickers
Li Yuanji bowed respectfully to Li Yuan and said, "Youth's eyes are full of your father!"
Li Yuan was speechless and felt suffocated after hearing what Li Yuanji said.
Li Yuan asked angrily, "Then why are you running?!"
Li Yuanji glanced at the sword in Li Yuan's hand and said respectfully, "Confucius said: If you are beaten lightly, you should accept it; if you are beaten heavily, you should run away. Father is holding a sword and looks like he wants to kill me. In order to avoid my father making mistakes and being labeled as unfilial and tarnishing the reputation of my Li family, I have no choice but to run away..."
What Li Yuanji said didn't make sense.
But this is what filial piety was in ancient times.
If the father beats his son, the son has to suffer.
Your life is in danger. You have to run.
If you don't run and get beaten to death, it's your fault.
It's your unfilial nature that caused your father to make a mistake.
Li Yuan was speechless after hearing what Li Yuanji said.
After a long while, he threw the sword to the ground, pointed at Li Yuanji's nose and asked, "Tell me, you took Dou Jiande's young daughter away from the Ye Ting Palace, and summoned Dou Jiande's old minister Ling Jing into the palace, what is your intention?"
Li Yuanji had long guessed that he would be questioned by Li Yuan, so he had already thought of an excuse.
Li Yuanji looked at Li Yuan in astonishment, "Father, where did you get this from?"
Li Yuan glared, "Your document appointing Ling Jing as the military secretary of the Qi Wang Palace has already been sent to the Ministry of Personnel. Do you still dare to deny it?"
Li Yuanji immediately said, "I am not denying it. It is true that Ling Jing is an old official of Dou Jiande. But Ling Jing has surrendered to the Tang Dynasty, and my father has appointed him as the chief minister of the Tang Dynasty. So Ling Jing is an official of the Tang Dynasty.
The kind that is legitimate.
As a prince of the Tang Dynasty, what is wrong with me employing some Tang officials as my subordinates? "
Li Yuanji's words were well-reasoned and Li Yuan was at a loss for words for a moment.
Seeing Li Yuanji standing in front of him with an arrogant look on his face, Li Yuan was furious.
Li Yuan gritted his teeth and said, "Do you know that Liu Heita, an old subordinate of Dou Jiande, has rebelled and dozens of cities in Hebei have been captured. Ling Jing is an old subordinate of Dou Jiande. What if he is colluding with him?"
Li Yuanji nodded, "Father, what you said makes sense. Did Ling Jing collude with Liu Heita? Do you have any evidence? If you have evidence, I will immediately chop off Ling Jing's head."
Li Yuan was so angry that he pointed at Li Yuanji and trembled.
If he had evidence, he would still waste time talking to Li Yuanji.
It was purely his self-esteem that was at work. He felt that it was not his fault that Liu Heita rebelled, but that it was Dou Jiande's old subordinates who had ulterior motives, so he believed that all of Dou Jiande's old subordinates had problems.
Li Yuan gnashed his teeth and said, "When I get the evidence of Ling Jing colluding with Liu Heita, do you think it will still be useful? By that time, Liu Heita will probably have his troops at the gates of the city.
You just think that I am too comfortable as an emperor, so you are bringing trouble to me!"
Li Yuanji rolled his eyes in his heart. What Li Yuan said was obviously unreasonable.
As for Liu Heita, he is still approaching Chang'an City?
Does he have that ability?
Even if he instigated the rebellion of Li Yi of Youzhou and Du Fuwei of Yangzhou, and with the support of the Turks, he could only reach Luoyang at best.
The troops are approaching Chang'an City?
Do you think Li Shimin is a decoration, or Li Xiaogong is a decoration?
The reason why Liu Heita occupied dozens of cities in Hebei with such great momentum was not because he was so powerful.
But it was because of you, Li Yuan, that after killing Dou Jiande and Wang Shichong, you also killed their confidants and a group of people who followed them to surrender to the Tang Dynasty.
This scared some of the people who had also surrendered to the Tang Dynasty.
After Liu Heita rebelled, many people who had connections with Dou Jiande and Wang Shichong, as well as some people who surrendered to the Tang Dynasty, joined him in the rebellion.
It was also with their help that Liu Heita was able to take over most of Hebei in just a few months.
"Father, you are too serious. Although Liu is a vicious villain, he cannot shake the foundation of our Li Tang dynasty."
Li Yuanji bowed to Li Yuan and spoke slowly.
Li Yuan breathed quickly and said, "At this point, you still don't know you're wrong?"
Li Yuanji bent down and bowed deeply to Li Yuan. "Liu the thief rebelled against the Tang Dynasty, and it has nothing to do with Ling Jing. Ling Jing sincerely serves the Tang Dynasty, so please give him a chance, father!"
Li Yuan's eyes turned red, "What if I don't give it to you?"
Li Yuanji bent over and said nothing.
Li Yuan asked, "For Ling Jing, you want to disobey me?"
Li Yuanji remained bent over and said nothing.
"You rebellious son! Rebellious son! Get out of here!"
Li Yuan roared, his voice was louder than ever before, and it spread throughout the Ganlu Palace.
Li Yuanji said: "I will take my leave now!"
After saying this, Li Yuanji left the Ganlu Palace, got on the sedan chair and left in a hurry.
Li Yuan looked at Li Yuanji who was going away, gritted his teeth and said, "Pass the order to me, cut... cut... cut..."
Li Yuan said the word "demote" three times, but still did not say anything about demoting Li Yuanji's title.
A rebellious son may be a rebellious son, but he is still a son after all, a biological son, and a legitimate descendant.
Li Yuan made up his mind several times to strip Li Yuanji of his title, but in the end he never said it out loud.
"Cut off his household registration! Cut off his ceremonial guards!"
Li Yuan beat his chest and stamped his feet, shouted angrily, and rushed into the Ganlu Palace.
The eunuchs who were waiting to help Li Yuan convey the imperial edict looked at each other, with a confused look on their faces.
So how should the imperial edict be passed? How much should the households be reduced? And which ceremonial guards were being reduced?
Li Yuanji was a prince, so if he wanted to reduce his fiefdom, there had to be a specific number, and the ceremonial procession had to clearly indicate who it was.
"Okay, don't stay here, go back to your own places."
Liu Jun gave an order and followed Li Yuan into the Ganlu Palace.
As Li Yuan's trusted eunuch, Liu Jun knew very well that what Li Yuan said was just an angry remark and that he would not reduce Li Yuanji's fiefdom or his ceremonial guards.
So there is no need to convey the order.
If Li Yuan really wanted to reduce Li Yuanji's fiefdom, he would definitely first demote Li Yuanji's title, and then decide how much fiefdom to reduce and the ceremonial guards to cut.
There will never be such an ambiguous intention.
The eunuchs dispersed in confusion, Liu Jun ran to tease Li Yuan, and Li Yuanji also returned to the Wude Hall in the sedan chair.
Sitting behind the long table in the Wude Hall, Li Yuanji's heart was pounding.
When Li Yuan got angry, he was really majestic and powerful.
Li Yuanji almost couldn't withstand the oppressive feeling that came over him.
"It's better to be quiet for the next few days..."
Li Yuanji sighed.
Li Yuan was a person who cared a lot about his reputation.
This can be easily seen from Li Yuan's attitude towards the surrendered ministers.
Li Yuan was very generous to anyone who gave Li Yuan face and was willing to surrender with their territory and troops. He would start as a senior general and then confer titles of duke or king based on the size of the territory and the number of troops.
Among them, the representative figures are Li Yi, Du Fuwei and so on.
Anyone who fought to the death with Li Yuan, caused heavy losses to Li Yuan, and finally surrendered after being defeated would be killed by Li Yuan very ruthlessly. He would kill them if he could, and would never show mercy.
The representative figures among them are Wang Shichong and Dou Jiande.
It was also because of this that after Li Yuan killed Dou Jiande and Wang Shichong and forced Liu Heita to rebel, no one dared to say that it was Li Yuan's fault, and they even helped Li Yuan to be hostile to and suppress Dou Jiande and Wang Shichong's former subordinates.
Everyone in the Tang Dynasty was trying to save Li Yuan's face.
Li Yuanji was the son of Li Yuan, but he did not take Li Yuan's face into consideration.
Not only did he not consider Li Yuan's face, he even confronted Li Yuan in Ganlu Palace just now.
Li Yuan's anger must have reached his head and was almost overflowing.
Li Yuanji guessed that if he did something to anger Li Yuan again, Li Yuan would definitely punish him.
So he can only be more obedient recently and stop stroking Li Yuan's tiger's beard.
Li Yuanji sighed for a while, then went back to the bed behind the screen and fell asleep.
The next day.
As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw Chen Shanyi standing at the head of his bed.
Li Yuanji stood up and called out affectionately, "Empress Chen..."
Chen Shanyi forced a somewhat stiff smile, responded briefly, and then took a group of maids to dress Li Yuanji.
After getting dressed, Chen Shanyi watched Li Yuanji eat before leaving.
Before leaving, she told Li Yuanji that he didn't need to imprison himself for her.
Li Yuanji looked at Chen Shanyi's back as he walked away, feeling neither amused nor helpless.
Chen Shanyi 'lifted' his self-imposed house arrest, but he didn't dare to go out.
Li Yuan is very angry now. If he goes out at this time and does something to anger Li Yuan, won’t he be in trouble?
In order to stay alive, to live well, I can only continue to stay in the Wude Hall.
In order to make himself more comfortable at home, Li Ji continued to study "Treatise on Febrile Diseases".
In one morning, Li Ji studied two volumes of "Treatise on Febrile Diseases" and gained some insights into the invasion of wind and cold into the body, as well as the suturing techniques included in the book.
When Li Yuanji was about to find someone to try out the effectiveness of the ancient version of suture technology, Ling Jing appeared in front of Li Yuanji and gave Li Yuanji a surprising news as soon as he opened his mouth.
"Your Highness, His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin has transferred Cao Dan to the Tiance Palace."
Ling Jing bowed and stood in front of Li Yuanji, speaking in a serious tone.
Li Yuanji was stunned and also shocked, "Am I being used as a gun?"
Ling Jing nodded solemnly.
Li Yuanji felt like vomiting blood.
He took great pains and effort, and despite Li Yuan's anger, recruited Ling Jing.
Li Shimin followed him and secretly brought Cao Dan into the Tian Ce Palace.
He suffered all the losses, while Li Shimin got a great advantage.
He had seen Cao Dan's name in Xie Shufang's "investigation report".
Due to Cao Dan's special status as Dou Jiande's brother-in-law, he was unwilling to provoke Li Yuan too harshly, so he recruited Ling Jing first.
Unexpectedly, it turned out to be a good deal for Li Shimin.
Li Yuanji wanted to curse, and gritted his teeth and said, "Can you dig Cao Dan out from Tiance Mansion?"
Don't blame Li Shimin for being unhappy on the first day of the month.
Although poaching people from the Tian Ce Palace would offend Li Shimin.
But Li Shimin offended him by picking peaches from him.
Ling Jing said solemnly, "Your Highness, do you want Cao Dan to die?"
Li Yuanji was stunned.
He was so concerned about proving himself that he forgot that Cao Dan was Dou Jiande's brother-in-law and was already highly suspected in the Tang Dynasty.
If he and Li Shimin fought over Cao Dan and rumors of their discord spread, Li Yuan would most likely cut Cao Dan in half and give half to each of their brothers.
As a former subordinate of Dou Jiande, if he didn't care about Cao Dan's life or death, Ling Jing would probably have something against him.
"I was just saying it casually. I just can't get over it."
Li Yuanji said angrily.
Ling Jing said straightforwardly: "You have to swallow it even if you can't. Your Highness is no match for His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin."
