The film and television world begins with the battle for the throne in Kowloon

Chapter 701 Wei Zheng’s Reminder

"Your Highness is wholeheartedly devoted to the people. This old minister really admires you!"

Wei Zheng bowed and, after learning what Li Yan had done, he also sincerely admired him, and then said: "But Your Highness is confused!"

"Why do you say this, sir?"

Li Yan asked doubtfully: "Cheng Qian doesn't understand, and he has forgotten the adults' instructions!"

In Li Yan's puzzled expression, Wei Zheng explained solemnly: "No matter what happened before, at this point, the preparations for the Flying Tiger Army have basically been completed, and all the money has been received in the military camp."

"At this time, we must lay the matter out to His Majesty. Otherwise, when the power of several princes in the court comes together, the power of the crown prince alone will not be able to resist. Once this case is classified as a corruption case, it will be classified as a corruption case."

"The amount is so huge, and the number of people involved is as high as several thousand. In the end, the emperor may not be able to withstand the pressure and choose to sacrifice His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

Well.
Li Yan's expression darkened. Before, Li Yan had not worried too much about his position as the crown prince being shaken. Firstly, Li Shimin's energy was now focused on resisting foreign enemies and consolidating his position as the emperor of the Tang Dynasty. Secondly, the Tang Dynasty had gone through years of war and chaos at the end of the Sui Dynasty, and people's livelihood was in decline. There was a lot of work to be done, and the next step was to develop the domestic economy.

By the late Zhenguan period, when all the country's major goals had been completed and Li Shimin had grown old and his health had deteriorated, he began to consider issues of safety and inheritance.

The current crown prince is just a move to stabilize people's hearts. The court just needs a crown prince. Who he is, whether he is wise or capable, is not too important. In this case, Li Yan is actually a decoration. Even if he does something wrong again, Li Shimin will not easily shake the foundation of the country.

At most, a series of punishment measures will be taken, and the fundamental status of the prince will not be shaken.

Moreover, at this point, the Turks in the northern grasslands were not idle either. Jie Li organized his troops and trained his soldiers to attack cities and remove barriers. He unified the eighteen tribes and accelerated the pace of strengthening centralization. However, the Central Plains did not know much about the situation in the grasslands, which gave Li Yan the opportunity to make small moves and put pressure on Li Shimin from the outside.

The Jinyiwei of the Eastern Palace has begun to show results. Several spies from the Baihu Offices have spread like locusts to various parts of the grassland with the caravans, and news has been continuously transmitted back to the Tang Dynasty. Although these are all trivial matters, Li Yan can exaggerate them according to the development of the plot.

Every once in a while, Li Yan would inform Li Shimin that Jie Li had killed another tribal leader and replaced him with his own confidants to increase the atmosphere of crisis and highlight the importance of the Jinyiwei.

Li Shimin was becoming more and more anxious. The two major forces were becoming more and more aware of the situation that would soon unfold as the greatest power in the world would be in a showdown to decide who would be the master of the world. Both sides were buying time, stepping up internal integration, and actively preparing for war.

Otherwise, Li Shimin would not have allowed Li Yan to seize military funds by damaging the reputation of the Eastern Palace and overdrawing the credit of the court.

Because even if everyone doesn't understand it now, everyone will find out afterwards that this Flying Tiger Army corruption case was a farce directed by Li Shimin and his son to plunder the powerful and accumulate military funds.

Without the support and acquiescence of Li Shimin behind the scenes, a young prince would never have been able to accomplish such a big thing.

So the real blame should still be placed on Li Shimin.
But after all, he didn't know too much about this era. Li Yan didn't know better than Wei Zheng, a veteran minister of the current dynasty who was over fifty years old, how those in power in the feudal era would make specific choices when facing a crisis, what kind of game the forces behind the scenes would engage in, and what political goals they would achieve.

Since Wei Zheng felt that he was in danger, he should listen more to his opinions. After all, Wei Zheng's position has always been neutral. He has dealt with Li Shimin and Fang Xuanling, a bunch of old foxes, for a longer time and understands them better.

Li Yan suddenly discovered that there was an important shortcoming missing in his power structure, that is, there was no experienced politician like Wei Zheng and Fang Xuanling to correct his decisions. Neither the previous group of tutors nor the Embroidered Uniform Guards could be considered to be truly involved in state affairs.

The group of tutors was still weak, and the Jinyiwei was a secret force. The Flying Tiger Army was the first armed force he intervened in. Li Shimin made himself train a useless army, but the outside world did not know it, so the useless army would inevitably affect his reputation and image.

I may not be able to objectively measure the real losses and risks involved, but Wei Zheng is a veteran minister who has devoted himself to the country, so he must see it more clearly than I do.

Li Yan made up his mind that he must find a great man like Wu Sidao in the Qing Dynasty to advise him on his affairs.

Although there are so many respected old ministers in the Eastern Palace, they all have their own ideas. For example, Zhang Xuansu is nominally his tutor, but in fact, he regards the Eastern Palace more as a stepping stone. He is not very interested in whether he can teach an excellent prince.

This man was very ambitious for fame and wealth, and he consulted hundreds of schools of thought, especially the theories of the Han Dynasty and the Legalists, with the goal of assisting the emperor in governing the country and expanding his ambitions and talents. Moreover, he was not young anymore, while Li Shimin was only in his thirties, a full generation younger than him.

It was impossible for him to pin his hopes on himself and wait for himself to take the throne decades later. The position of the Crown Prince's tutor was just a step for him to re-enter the officialdom. Especially after the incident of hiding the Crown Prince, Zhang Xuansu became even more cautious.

After the Yongtong Canal project was completed a month ago, he followed Changsun Wuji's path and entered the Eastern Palace as a tutor. After that, he used the Eastern Palace's name to make friends with officials in the court and expand his network, and he was not very concerned about teaching the prince to become a talent.

It can also be seen from Zhang Xuansu's experience in the play that Zhang Xuansu is not the kind of brilliant strategist. In terms of strategies and tactics, he is not as good as Fang Xuanling and Changsun Wuji, and in terms of integrity and outspokenness, he is not as good as Xiao Yu and Wei Zheng. He has a lively mind. Sometimes he is a tutor in the East Palace, and sometimes he runs to Yunzhong to command troops.

He was neither good at literature nor martial arts, and in the end he did not make a name for himself.

Li Chengqian made serious mistakes several times, but Li Shimin, the counselor specially appointed for Li Chengqian, was nowhere to be seen, so Hou Junji took charge of the overall situation.

Li Chengqian eventually resorted to rebellion, and as the prince's tutor, Zhang Xuansu could not escape the blame.

But Wei Zheng and Li Yan were trustworthy. It was not because they trusted how Wei Zheng would treat them, but because they trusted Wei Zheng's integrity and character. It is difficult for a person to be loyal to another person, but what he did would be loyal to his own thoughts and style.

Hearing Wei Zheng's reminder, Li Yan humbly asked for advice: "This matter has come to this point, and the next step is to wrap it up. I have no idea how it will develop in the future, so I dared to come to visit you tonight."

"Please give me some advice and help Cheng Qian get through this safely."

Wei Zheng finally regained his dignity as an old minister and nodded: "Your Highness has a pure heart and does not care about gains and losses for the country and the people. This is admirable. But even if you are working for the emperor, you must be careful and don't get yourself into trouble."

"At this point, I suggest that Your Highness the Crown Prince must go to see the Emperor and clarify the matter. Then I will go to see the Emperor and protect Your Highness. Even if I have to sacrifice my purple robe, I will still ask for Your Highness's permission in front of the Emperor."

"From now on, only the emperor can personally take action to quell the upcoming storm."

"In fact, there are no secrets in the court now. The plans of the emperor and His Highness may not be unknown. It's just that those people have various purposes and are just trying to take advantage of the situation as long as the emperor doesn't show up at that time."

"They can turn the Flying Tigers incident into a huge crime and pin it on the crown prince."

"At that time, for such a big case, we will always have to find a heavyweight figure to take the blame, and the prince is weak but of high status, so he is very suitable no matter how you look at it. In the end, if the emperor can't resist, he will choose to temporarily sacrifice the prince."

"Even if the emperor doesn't depose the crown prince, they will still seize on this case and make a big fuss about it, pursue it relentlessly, tarnish the crown prince's reputation, and fundamentally shake the position of the heir to the throne. At that time, perhaps Your Highness will not be able to bear the accusations of the world and will voluntarily abdicate in favor of someone more capable."

"So, there is still a huge risk here. No matter what, the emperor must be involved in this matter. Only if the emperor personally shows up can he shock the ministers and make those who are secretly planning something give up their thoughts."

Wei Zheng made up his mind that no matter what, even if he had to go against all the ministers this time, he would ensure the prince's safety from Li Shimin.

After hearing Wei Zheng's analysis, Li Yan's heart sank. As expected, big business brings big risks. He had thought too simply before. Things in the power field cannot develop completely according to the facts themselves.

No matter how simple a matter is, it will become unrecognizable after the intervention of various factions. Perhaps even Li Shimin could not fully predict the risks involved.

I can't overestimate him and pin all my hopes on him. After all, he is the emperor and he plays more of a referee role. He rarely participates in the game in person. The competition among various forces still depends on one's own strength.

Li Yan sincerely bowed to Wei Zheng and said, "Your Excellency has extraordinary knowledge, which is beyond the reach of an ignorant boy like Cheng Qian. If you have any questions about the following matters, please feel free to ask. Cheng Qian will tell you everything he knows. I hope that Your Excellency can lend me a helping hand."

"Well, no problem. I will do my best!"

Wei Zheng stroked his beard with satisfaction. It was not easy for the prince to accomplish such a great thing. Although it was a little crude and inferior to those old foxes in the court, it gave him a huge surprise compared to what he had known before.

He was not afraid that the prince would do something wrong, but was only afraid that he had poor talent. As long as he was not a blockhead, Wei Zheng felt that he could be taught. Then Wei Zheng began to discuss without distraction how to handle this matter in the court next.

(End of this chapter)