Tiantang Splendid

Chapter 4504
The candles were blazing brightly, and the imperial study room was quiet and silent. There was no candle wick from time to time, and there was a soft sound of "peeling" to explode a little firework, reflecting Li Chengqian's gloomy face.

Queen Su took the tray from the maid, left the maid outside the door, walked into the imperial study alone, and saw Li Chengqian who was sitting still behind the imperial case with a gloomy expression, her heart skipped a beat. His Majesty at that time was a little strange...

Suppressing the sudden feeling, the queen came to the imperial case with lotus steps, put the tray on the imperial case, took out two small dishes, a pot of hot wine, and a bowl of rice porridge, and said softly : "It's late at night, Your Majesty buried his head in his papers and worked hard, but he also cherished his body. Eat a little, take a shower and change clothes later and go to bed."

Li Chengqian raised his head and saw that the queen was wearing a dark palace dress, her skin was even more white than snow. Her beautiful face under the candlelight was gentle and gentle. It was like a hot spring in this deep winter night. Looking at it made her heart warm and amiable...

Letting out a foul breath, Li Chengqian rubbed his face and said with a smile: "Let the servants do this kind of thing, why bother the queen? Government affairs are like mountains, I have to stay up all night to deal with them, but the queen doesn't have to be with me, just rest early .”

As he spoke, he picked up the chopsticks and took the bowl from the Queen. Although it was just a few simple side dishes, a pot of sake, and a bowl of white porridge, it was very sweet to eat.

Empress Su poured the warm wine from the jug into a small wine glass, and held the wine glass in front of Li Chengqian with her white slender hands, with a worried expression on her face: "Government affairs can never be dealt with, your majesty's body and bones are not enough. Even if you are healthy, why are you so sleepy and forgetful about food and sleep? If you wear down your body, won’t it delay government affairs even more? You should also work and rest on time and take good care of yourself.”

For some reason, the princes born to Empress Wende were all weak. The eldest son Li Chengqian was slightly weak before being framed and broke his leg, and his vitality was even more damaged after the leg was broken. The second son Wei Wang Li Tai was overweight. When it was hot, he was even out of breath from time to time, sweating and out of breath when he moved a little. The youngest son, Li Zhi, looked better than his two elder brothers, but he suffered from shortness of breath since he was a child, so he was not too good.

Even Changle and Jinyang are weak and lack vitality...

Li Chengqian picked up the wine cup and drank it in one gulp. He tasted the aroma of the wine, and said with a wry smile: "Although I have self-knowledge and no lofty ambitions, I still want to be a successful king. The good situation is gone? But this empire is really too big, the territory is too vast, the population is too prosperous, and there are countless affairs in the daily life, and the slightest mistake will lead to extremely serious consequences. No one dares to slack off for a moment .”

The most difficult task in the world is probably being an emperor. You have to guard against being usurped all the time, and you have to do your best to deal with government affairs so as not to make mistakes and cause anger and resentment. Unless you have great perseverance and energy, it is extremely difficult to be an emperor.

Queen Su worriedly said: "But if things continue like this, how will your Majesty's body be able to bear it? Now there are His Majesty's confidants in the court. We might as well let them bear more, so that Your Majesty can take a breath and practice more. I am not the concubine. When it comes to intervening in government affairs, it is often said that 'those who are suspicious are not used and those who are employed are not suspicious'. When it is time to delegate power, we should still delegate power."

"Hmph, confidant? They are just people who follow the wind and make the rudder."

Li Chengqian snorted coldly, and it was hard to vent the pent-up resentment. He said dissatisfiedly: "Even though Guan Long is collapsed and King Jin has been abolished, there are still people who are secretly trying to get their hands on Dabao. I have to sleep with one eye open." , How dare you delegate power to the subordinates?"

Except for Fang Jun, there are not many civil and military officials in the Manchu Dynasty who really reassure him.

They are all descendants of aristocratic families. The education and edification they have received since childhood have made them always put the interests of the family first. Loyalty to the emperor and patriotism must be ranked after the family, and even their own future well-being cannot be compared.

Immediately he sighed, took a sip of wine, and felt a little annoyed: "I'm still not cruel enough... In fact, what my father said back then was right. I am soft-hearted and cowardly in my actions. I am not decisive enough to kill and it is difficult to be a person." Good Emperor. If Qingque or Pheasant Slave were sitting on this throne at this moment, I am afraid that the clan and the court would have been killed, countless heads would be rolled down, and entire families would be wiped out... But I still can't do it."

Guan Long and King Jin had two mutinies in a row. Countless people were directly involved or secretly involved in subverting the imperial power. If the penalty was imposed, each of them would be beheaded and their homes confiscated, but he was lenient and most of them would not be held accountable.

One is that he is weak by nature and cannot bear to massacre, and the other is that he lacks self-confidence, lest he arouse the anger of the masses and affect the stability of the imperial power.

Otherwise, not only would the rebels be killed, even those who did not rebel but affected the stability of the imperial power would have to be framed and then completely eradicated...

Empress Su stood on the side of the royal case, stretched out her jade hand to lightly press Li Chengqian's shoulder, and said softly: "Your Highness is a generous person, so what's the point if you can't be as decisive as the late emperor? The situation that the late emperor faced back then It is more than ten times worse than it is now. It is really life or death. If you have the courage to kill and decisively how to create the foundation of Zhenguan? Your Highness is very different now. The rebels have been wiped out. If you can connect the past and the future, and be a promising monarch, you don’t need to kill a lot.”

Is it not just about being soft-hearted?

Insufficient courage, insufficient talent, insufficient intelligence... In the final analysis, Li Chengqian is just the appearance of a middleman. Only by following along can you be a good emperor steadily.

Li Chengqian let out a breath, patted the jade hand on his shoulder, and said with a smile: "It's late at night, the queen should go and rest first, I will deal with these memorials before going to sleep."

Empress Su naturally would not advise the emperor to put down the government affairs and rest first, so she smiled gently: "Although the government affairs are important, it should be done in moderation, and don't stay up too late."

"Well, let's go."

"Chen and concubine retire."

Seeing the queen's slender back walking out of the door, Li Chengqian breathed a sigh of relief for no reason...

These days, he is very nervous, and he has to deal with mountainous government affairs, which consumes all his little energy. Even if the imperial doctor added a few tonics to him, it is still difficult to arouse his interest.

Every time he saw the slightly longing eyes of the queen and the other concubines, it made him feel guilty...

I am only in my twenties, and the imperial doctor also said that it is caused by too much pressure. It is good to take a break and pay attention to nourishing, otherwise I can't use those tiger and wolf medicines now, right?

Clean up your mood and put your energy back on government affairs.

*****
The cold wind was howling, and the snowflakes were flying. Looking north from the window of the Inner Chongmen Tower, the banners above and below the Xuanwu Gate were fluttering and fluttering in the snowflakes all over the sky, silently dying.

It was as warm as spring inside the tower. There was a fire pot in the corner, and a bright brass hotpot on the table was steaming. King Li Tai of Wei was holding the plate in one hand and using chopsticks in the other to put in the thin mutton and green vegetables. The rich aroma instantly overflowed from the pot. Li Tai sniffed and said with a smile: "Speaking of which, the greenhouse of your Lishan Farm is really unique in the world. I don’t know how many people have learned the method and tinkered with it in the past few years, but no one has." The vegetables we cultivate are comparable to those of yours. By the way, last time Yuchi Gongjia Saburo led troops to your village to snatch the seeds, but disappeared afterwards. Has there been any movement recently?... Hiss! It smells good!"

Put the thin mutton into the hot soup and roll it and it will change color. Use chopsticks to pick up the sauce made by dipping sesame sauce, chili oil and chive flowers in the bowl, put it in your mouth and chew it, the fresh and tender sauce of the mutton is thick The incense exploded all of a sudden, and Li Tai was so hot that he hissed and enjoyed himself.

Fang Jun dipped a few leeks into the sauce and ate them, then poured wine for Li Tai, and replied: "That fellow has robbed a lot of grain from his cellar, maybe he plans to grow it in the fief in the future, after all, it was the Jin Dynasty Wang Xu's promise to Yu Chigong's feudal side... After the Jin King was defeated, this guy was stunned and didn't dare to go anywhere, so he hid in a hidden place near Lantian, and then he simply plunged into the mountains. But His Majesty spared him He also allowed Yu Chigong's descendants to move out of Chang'an and choose a place to resettle. Yuchi Baohuan also went down the mountain and surrendered. However, the boss of his family has been serving in the navy and should have been qualified as a lieutenant general. ruined."

Yuchi Gong was guilty of treason, which was an unpardonable crime. His family should have been confiscated and his family should have been confiscated. Li Chengqian spared no effort to pursue it, but things could not continue as usual. At the very least, Yuchi Gong's descendants would not be able to become officials within a few generations. Not even in the military.

Although Fang Jun sympathized with Yuchi Baolin, it was impossible for him to intercede in front of Li Chengqian. After all, for any emperor, "rebellion" was an absolutely insurmountable red line. Fang Jun thought to himself that Li Chengqian would definitely give There is a sympathy, but it is likely that there will be a gap between the monarch and his ministers from now on.

not worth it.

Besides, since Yu Chigong rebelled against him, his children and grandchildren will have to bear the corresponding price...

Li Tai picked up the wine glass and drank it all in one gulp, let out a sigh of relief, took a bite of food, and said dissatisfiedly: "The reason why I invite you to drink here today is because I want to ask you: I have not offended you, right?"

Fang Jun smiled and said: "Why did your Highness say that? There are only you and me here, so I said something presumptuous. Although I am loyal to His Royal Highness, when it comes to friendship, it is far inferior to your Highness. .”

Li Tai stared, Xingshi asked, "If that's the case, why did you recommend me to go to Luoyang and become the target of public criticism? Right now, the court seems to be calm on the surface, but the current is actually surging. Don't you think that the world is peaceful? As the king , you should keep a low profile, the less people pay attention, the safer you are, but you recommend me like this, isn't it harmful to me? You need to know that there are countless people sharpening their knives and ambushing on the road from Chang'an to Luoyang at this moment. Trying to assassinate this king in order to blame His Majesty, so that His Majesty will bear the notoriety of slaughtering his brothers!"

(End of this chapter)