Da Tang: Father, can I resign?

Chapter 1 The traitor!

The fourteenth year of Zhenguan.

When the news that Hou Junji, the commander-in-chief of the Jiaohe Road, conducted cultural exchanges along the Silk Road and destroyed the Gaochang Kingdom by the way reached Chang'an, it did not cause any waves among the people.

On the one hand, since the present emperor inherited the throne, the Tang Dynasty has been marching from one victory to another, literally winning.

On the other hand, the people were tired from years of war.

The imperial court is powerful in the Western Regions, but what does it have to do with my monthly salary of 300 coins? If you have money to spend on face-saving projects, why not exempt me from rent and labor service for three years?

Tai Chi Palace, Liang Yi Palace.

The current emperor is having a serious discussion with his trusted ministers.

“Ahahaha! Cough cough…”

Li Shimin couldn't help laughing when holding the battle report.

But looking at the ministers sitting upright, he calmed down his raised eyebrows and nodded calmly:
"Yeah, it's not bad."

Wei Zheng frowned and said, "Your Majesty..."

"Gaochang's troops are like frost and snow, while Han's troops are like the sun and the moon. Wherever the sun and the moon shine, the frost and snow will disappear!" Li Shimin still couldn't hold back, clapped his hands with the battle report, and asked with a smile:
"What do you think of this Gaochang nursery rhyme, Lord Xuancheng?"

They all addressed Wei Zheng by his courtesy name in an intimate manner, and Li Shimin was in an extremely good mood.

Half a year ago, when Gaochang Kingdom cut off the Silk Road and frantically provoked the Tang Dynasty, it was this group of civil servants who stopped them from fighting on the grounds of logistics and finance.

You see, it was all thanks to my wisdom and bravery that I overcame all objections and opened up the Western Regions in just half a year.

My dear ministers, please come and give me your advice again. Come on!

Li Shimin felt that he had obtained the privilege of being immune to criticism.

The ministers' expressions became even more serious.

Your Majesty has become arrogant and inflated, and is about to repeat the story of Emperor Yang of Sui, Emperor Qin Shi Huang, and Emperor Jie and Zhou!

Changsun Wuji, the head of all officials, touched his chin and looked at Fang Xuanling.

The old man half closed his eyes and pretended not to see it.

It was Wei Zheng who had to be the spoiler:

“The handling of Gaochang is a matter of great importance and should be discussed by all officials at tomorrow’s grand court meeting.

"Your Majesty has summoned us today for another important matter."

Li Shimin's expression immediately turned from sunny to cloudy.

Zhang Sun Wuji took over the conversation smoothly:
"It is just as Duke Wei said. Your Majesty's fourteenth son, Li Ming, has reached the age to be enfeoffed."

According to convention, a prince is crowned king at the age of three, and a princess is crowned princess at the age of three.

However, Li Ming, the youngest among the princes, is now over the age of a child, but still has not received any reward.

Speaking of Li Ming, Li Shimin couldn't help but sigh.

"I want to hear your opinions."

As a horse-riding emperor with superb riding skills, Li Shimin had many sons, all of whom were well-read, filial, respectful and loyal.

The only thing that gave him the most headaches was Li Ming, who was so stubborn and lawless.

Besides, this child has a special identity...

Fang Xuanling was the first to express his opinion:
"Since the founding of the country, all the descendants of the emperor and the royal family members who have made contributions have been crowned as kings. If only one person is missing, it will not only easily cause gossips about the harem, but also make people question your majesty's fairness.

"If this continues, the Tang Dynasty will be finished."

Xiao Yu objected almost immediately:
"Giving official positions without merit is a way to ruin a country. If we follow Fang Pushe's plan, the Tang Dynasty will be destroyed."

Being fiercely attacked by his colleagues in the Secretariat, Fang Xuanling remained expressionless and pretended to be asleep with his eyes closed.

The Queen's uncle Gao Shilian retorted:
"The enfeoffment of the border is not only a move by Your Majesty to demonstrate his benevolence, but it can also reduce the cost of governing the local areas. How can it be said to be a disaster for the country?"

When the topic of feudal fiefdom was brought up, Li Baiyao, who wrote On Feudalism, immediately felt better:

"What era is it now? Why don't we just use knotted ropes to record events? If you carve a boat to find a sword, the Tang Dynasty will be doomed!"

The two groups exchanged sharp words and fought against each other.

Li Shimin held his forehead with his hand as he had a headache.

We had clearly won the battle, so why was our country suddenly going to be destroyed?
Who is the reason...

It’s all Li Ming’s fault.

"I hope your majesty will make a wise decision."

Zhang Sun Wuji made a closing statement for the debate, stroking his chin and looking towards the emperor.

Li Shimin was speechless for a moment.

If there is one thing that the hexagonal emperor is not good at, it is how to manage the relationship between himself and his beloved sons.

Except for the most unfilial youngest son Li Ming, even the originally good boy, Crown Prince Li Chengqian, has been behaving strangely recently.

Alas, if Guanyin maid were still alive, with her in charge of the harem, there would be no way that the outsiders would laugh at her...

When Li Shimin thought of the bad relationship between father and son and the sudden death of Empress Wende, he suddenly became depressed, and the last bit of good mood he had about destroying Gaochang disappeared.

It’s all Li Ming’s fault.

"We'll discuss this later." Li Shimin rubbed his eyes. "I have a lot of things to do. I want to focus on military affairs."

Tang Jian, a more valiant official than Wei Zheng, said indignantly:

"The emperor has no family affairs. Your Majesty, if you delay like this, aren't you afraid of causing a second Xuanwu Gate Incident?"

This was a topic that could not be touched upon lightly. Li Shimin's face suddenly changed: "Minister Tang, what are you talking about?"

Zhang Sun Wuji immediately tried to smooth things over: "Mao Yue said, Your Majesty has a good opinion."

The small meeting ended unpleasantly.

Li Shimin put one hand on the armrest of the dragon couch, feeling extremely angry.

Be crowned king? Bullshit!

If he had not been an emperor and had to be respectful, General Tian Ce, who had fought wars all his life, would have rushed into the harem right now to let that unfilial son experience the depth of fatherly love.

At this time, a white-haired old man came to the hall solemnly and knelt in front of the hall.

Seeing the newcomer, the ministers who had just left the court began to whisper to each other in confusion, and Li Shimin also raised his eyebrows in confusion.

The old man was the great Confucian scholar Kong Yingda, the 32nd generation grandson of Confucius, and he gave lectures to the children of the powerful and wealthy.

Among them is Li Ming.

Including Li Ming...

Li Ming...

Li Shimin had an inexplicable ominous premonition.

"Mr. Chong Yuan, what are you doing..."

Kong Yingda's old shoulders suddenly trembled violently.

"This old minister... begs for his bones!"

Li Shimin's pupils shrank.

Rebellious son...

Rebel!

…………

A moment ago, it was a primary school. The Tang Dynasty had not yet developed nine-year compulsory education, so this "primary school" was not the same as that one.

Instead, it was an elementary educational institution affiliated with the Secretariat, and the students enrolled were all royal relatives and children of nobles.

Therefore, the primary school was the top elementary institution in the whole Tang Dynasty, Asia, and even the world at that time.

In this holy land of academia, the sound of children reading aloud can be heard everywhere.

"[The Sunny Land - Gift to Fang Yi Ze] ~ The blue sun is coming ~ The rising sun in the east ~ You are like a floating tree, happy."

A chubby, naughty child stood on the table, reciting poems to another older child who was taller than him.

The older child who was criticized was called Fang Yize. As the son of Prime Minister Fang Xuanling in his old age, he had never been insulted by such a person before, and he could not help but retort:
"Li Ming, what did you say?"

Li Ming, the youngest child of Emperor Taizong of Tang, the fourteenth son of the emperor, and the future Prince Cao, looked innocent:
"I'm just reciting a poem. Are you in such a hurry?"

Fang Yize couldn't help but clench his fists.

Li Ming continued to recite his famous Zuan poem in a rhythmic manner.

"Flying and dancing, like agate sandalwood..."

"That's enough Li Ming!"

Fang Yize stood up suddenly and was a head taller than little Li Ming on the stage.

"I know you're in a hurry, but don't rush to identify yourself. Just listen to me finish reading the poem."

"You little bastard! I'm going to, ...

The last bit of clarity made Fang Yize stop wanting to say "Mom".

Li Ming’s family must not be hurt by mistake, especially his unspeakable father.

Otherwise the whole family will be in trouble.

For the sake of the health and longevity of his nine clans, Fang Yize endured it so hard that his face turned red and his fingernails left marks on his palms.

A snotty-nosed child pulled at Li Ming's trouser leg.

"Brother Ming, forget it... forget it."

This little brat who can't even speak clearly is the grandson of Hou Junji, a general who destroyed an entire country.

Li Ming looked down at him with a look of dismay and said righteously:
"Hou Baolin, your grandfather traveled thousands of miles to the west to fight for the Tang Dynasty, but you were bullied by Fang Yize. You can tolerate this, but as the son of the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty, I cannot tolerate this!"

Hou Baolin's dull eyes flickered.

Fang Yi curled his lips.

I don’t have the courage to provoke the Li family, but I do have the courage to provoke the Hou family, and it’s very big.

He wiped his sleeves with a piece of silk in disdain, glared at little Pauline, and threatened:
"If you spit your snot on me again, I'll have my father write a petition to have you thrown into prison!"

"Woo..." Hou Baolin's eyes suddenly filled with tears.

"Oh, I understand." Li Ming took a step forward and deliberately said loudly:
"It turns out that in the eyes of the Fang family, military commanders are just tools that can be used and discarded."

Most of the students in the primary school were descendants of military generals who had made great contributions to the founding of the country. After being criticized by Li Ming, Fang Yi immediately felt the gazes of his peers around him become heavy.

"I'm not that I don't have..."

He was a little panicked and subconsciously pushed Li Ming who was approaching him.

Little did he know that Li Ming's mouth corners slightly curled up.

Then, the fourteenth prince fell off the table in an exaggerated posture and fell to the ground with a thud.

The whole place fell silent.

Hou Baolin, with a runny nose, hugged Li Ming with a cry:
"Brother Ming!"

The other children were also angry and immediately surrounded Fang Yi Ze and started pushing him.

"You dare to hurt Brother Ming?"

Although Li Ming is young, he enjoys great prestige among these generations of officials.

The leader was injured by Fang Yize, how can we tolerate this?

"I, I, I..." The art of hit-and-run was too advanced for Fang Yize, and he had no way to defend himself.

"beat him!"

The children attacked Fang Yize hard.

Stop hitting them, you won’t be able to attract the parents by hitting them like this… Li Ming was lying on the ground eating watermelon, while he used his elbow to push Hou Baolin’s snotty face away in disgust.

I would rather be the head of a chicken than the tail of an ox. The ancients were not deceiving me.

Li Ming was the least favored by his father, so he was the only one among the princes who attended elementary school.

The other princes and princesses enjoyed n-to-1 elite education in the East Palace or the prince's palace, and disdained to eat from the same pot as the children of nobles.

When there is no tiger in the mountain, the monkey becomes king, which makes Li Ming the VIP in the elementary school.

He was not arrogant and would gather his friends to hang out on the streets all day long, wandering through the streets and alleys of Chang'an City.

He is of noble status but very friendly and loyal. Who wouldn’t like such a leader?
In this way, he became a local lord in the elementary school.

The good kids, including the civil and military officials, were also led astray by him and became more and more like naughty kids.

Just when the primary school students were having fun, there was a sound of a blackboard pointer breaking from the podium.

The class finally quieted down.

"This old man... is still in class!"

The teacher Kong Yingda's voice trembled.

This great scholar, who had served as Minister of Education (Imperial College Chief Academician) and had studied "History of Sui Dynasty", now deeply doubted his own abilities.

What did I miss?
We were teaching poetry, how come it turned into a big fight? ?

Which bastard is fanning the flames?
"Li Ming..." Kong Yingda breathed heavily, trying to be patient:

"I have taught you that you should use the ancient sage Confucius and the ancient teacher Yan Hui as a mirror and compare your own behavior every day. Only in this way can you understand the truth and avoid making mistakes.

"Did you... do it?"

Li Ming pushed the howling Hou Baolin away, stood up, put his hands on his waist and said shamelessly:
"I did it! Confucius once said, 'At thirty, one should establish oneself.' If one has thirty brothers, one should establish authority. My student has more than thirty good brothers. If I don't establish authority at this time, I'm afraid it would go against the teachings of the ancient sages."

Kong Yingda was struck by lightning. He covered his heart with one hand and pointed at someone who was unreasonable but arrogant with the other hand. He was speechless for a while.

After standing there for a long time, he seemed to have figured something out. He showed a detached expression and walked away.

The quiet classroom became noisy again.

"Isn't the sir going to complain again?"

"We are standing up for Brother Ming, what are we afraid of? The worst that can happen is we get beaten up when we get home."

"The old corrupt scholar is always telling tales. It's really annoying."

"Fermented bean curd? Where can I get fermented bean curd?"

"Ouch... Ouch... Stop hitting me, stop hitting me, Brother Ming, I was wrong..."

Li Ming turned a deaf ear to the noise around him, looked at Kong Yingda's back as he ran to the palace, stroked his non-existent beard, and his eyes flashed with a cunning that was inconsistent with his age.

He is not the original Li Ming.

He comes from modern times and is a grassroots civil servant.

While working overtime on a report, his vision suddenly went dark. When he opened his eyes again, he found himself traveling back to the early Tang Dynasty and becoming Li Shimin's youngest child, the fourteenth prince Li Ming.

Since crossing over, he gradually realized his top priority:
Must, as soon as possible, be demoted to a commoner.

(End of this chapter)