Tang Dynasty Xie Lu Lang

Chapter 446 If verbal remonstrance is ineffective, then remonstrate by command.
While Pei Zhen went to the music hall in the city to summon Zhang Dai, in the Shaoyang Courtyard of the Western Palace, Xue Tao was still angrily recounting Zhang Dai's past offenses and humiliations to him: "This fellow is arrogant and vicious, with no sense of hierarchy. He has repeatedly offended me in the past, but I did not want to cause trouble, so I just let him go with a laugh, thinking he was just a naughty student. As a result, not only was he not reformed, but he became even more outrageous. Now that he has been newly appointed as an imperial censor, he dares to be so arrogant and presumptuous!"

The Crown Prince already had a poor impression of Zhang Dai, and upon hearing his father-in-law's accusations, he was furious. He immediately slammed his fist on the table and shouted, "This favored official is a petty scoundrel with a bit of frivolous talent. He thinks he has powerful backers both inside and outside the palace, so he looks down on everyone! Father-in-law, please calm down. Once he enters the palace, I will not let him off!"

Xue Tao certainly wanted to punish Zhang Dai severely to vent his anger, but after hearing the Crown Prince's words, he couldn't help but have a change of heart. He slowly said, "Although this boy is a petty person, he does have something to rely on. He is good at making rhetoric and enjoys a little reputation among scholars. The Crown Prince has been in the palace for a long time and his reputation is unknown outside. If you punish him suddenly, it may arouse criticism of jealousy."

Even if his crimes are undeniable and his punishment is justified, his family is full of scholars, and they will inevitably spread embellished stories, making it difficult for the Crown Prince to publicly defend himself. Therefore, any decision to be made must be carefully considered; we must not act rashly!

"In your opinion, how should this person be punished? How about gathering all the Crown Prince's relatives here, proclaiming his crimes, and abandoning him to the public? Even if someone tries to confuse right and wrong in the future, the relatives will act as my mouthpiece and defend me!"

After thinking for a moment, the Crown Prince continued, saying that although he was the Crown Prince, he was unknown in the world, which troubled him greatly. He especially hoped to establish himself as someone with a reputation for both kindness and authority.

As for Zhang Dai, in his view, he was an excellent tool for establishing authority. This young man had both reputation and official rank, but he himself was a lowly official. Although his grandfather, Zhang Yue, had once wielded great power, he had long since lost his influence. His family was newly established and did not have any deep or complex foundations or connections, so there was no need to worry about making many enemies by punishing this young man.

The only thing that made him somewhat wary was that this boy was quite favored by the emperor, and Consort Wu Hui in the inner palace also took good care of him.

But this was an excellent opportunity. First, he had openly disobeyed and humiliated his superior, who was also his father-in-law. Second, this man also served as the Crown Prince's tutor, but had not performed his duties since taking office. Both publicly and privately, the Crown Prince had sufficient reason to punish him!

However, he had been subjected to extremely strict discipline since childhood, which made him somewhat cautious and indecisive. Hearing Xue Tao's words, he couldn't help but hesitate, wanting to summon all the officials of the Eastern Palace to bear witness for him. If the Emperor was displeased, everyone could share the burden.

"No, no, that's not appropriate. Many of the officials in the Eastern Palace are sons of meritorious officials, and their social standing is quite diverse. There are bound to be relatives, friends, and cronies among them. Moreover, it is neither a festival nor proper to gather everyone here hastily. With so many people around, if the news leaks out, it will inevitably cause further complications."

After pondering for a while, Xue Tao slowly shook his head, rejecting the Crown Prince's idea. He then proposed another suggestion: "This man's arrogance is not just temporary, and he has more than one person who wants to punish and retaliate against him. Among those who have a grudge against him in this world and are powerful, none other than Duke Huo and Wang Maozhong is more powerful! Many of Duke Huo's sons serve in the Eastern Palace. Why not summon Maozhong's sons to fight against him? The Wang family will be grateful to the Crown Prince for this opportunity!"

“Indeed, Lord Huo has repeatedly sent his son to curry favor, so he certainly won’t refuse such a small matter. Besides, this is to avenge him and vent his anger; I’m just observing. If things don’t go well and the Crown Prince’s officials behave rudely and fight in the garden, I will punish them further!”

Upon hearing this, the Crown Prince sneered, feeling that this plan was a win-win situation. He was greatly tempted and immediately raised his hand to order, "Summon Wang Shouqing, the Commander of the Imperial Guards, to come see me immediately!"

The Crown Prince's Chief of Staff is in charge of all matters concerning the Eastern Palace, including rites, music, and punishments. Wang Shouqing, the son of Wang Maozhong, currently holds this position.

During this period, the Crown Prince summoned musicians and entertainers to practice in order to perform music and offer blessings on the Emperor's birthday.

However, since the Shaoyang Academy where he resided was located was adjacent to the Secretariat and its subordinate buildings such as the Hongwen Academy and the History Academy, and the Crown Prince did not want to give the officials and scholars the impression that he was indulging in sensual pleasures, he placed these musicians in a corner of the north wing of the Left Jinwu Guard to practice. This also made it convenient for them to borrow musical instruments from the music instrument storehouse. All matters were supervised by Wang Shouqing, so it was convenient to summon them at this time.

After arriving at Shaoyang Courtyard and hearing the Crown Prince's instructions, Wang Shouqing immediately said excitedly, "Zhang Dai is a wicked and depraved man. In previous years, my family treated him with courtesy, but he actually committed adultery. My father and I still hate him to the bone and hope to punish this lecherous scoundrel! Since Your Highness has entrusted this matter to me, I will not let him off easily!"

After they had prepared their preparations, Zhang Dai followed Pei Zhen to the outside of Shaoyang Courtyard.

The Daming Palace was originally built during the Zhenguan era for the retired Emperor Li Yuan to live out his days, but Li Yuan died before it was completed, so it was left unused. It was not until the reign of Emperor Gaozong that construction was resumed and it was put into use.

Therefore, there was no East Palace in Daming Palace, and the Crown Prince and his officials still lived and worked in the East Palace of Taiji Palace. However, for well-known reasons, the current emperor was reluctant to let the Crown Prince live separately in the East Palace, so he set aside a separate courtyard next to Hanyuan Hall for the Crown Prince to live in.

This villa originally had no name and its location was not fixed. However, as the Crown Prince grew up and the princes gradually moved out of the palace to their own residences, the Crown Prince's residence came to be known as Shaoyang Villa.

Last year, the Emperor moved to Xingqing Palace in the Southern Palace. However, Xingqing Palace is a bit cramped and the construction of the palace is not yet complete. Therefore, the Crown Prince still resides in Shaoyang Courtyard in Daming Palace and has not yet moved to Xingqing Palace with the Emperor.

This was probably the first time since the Crown Prince was appointed that he had a relatively independent world of his own, far away from the Emperor. Perhaps the Crown Prince thought that as he grew older, the Emperor would gradually relax his supervision of him, and the separation of father and son in two different palaces was the beginning of letting him be independent.

But that's clearly overthinking it. His fatherly love is as deep as a mountain; he's just been slightly neglectful because of financial constraints. Once he has more money, he'll definitely build another Shaoyang Academy in Xingqing Palace.

The Shaoyang Courtyard within the Daming Palace was much smaller than the Eastern Palace within the Taiji Palace, essentially retaining only its residential function. Eastern Palace offices such as the Crown Prince's Chamberlain's Office and the Left and Right Spring Palaces remained within the Eastern Palace. Eastern Palace officials only paid homage to the Crown Prince in a separate hall on the first and fifteenth of each lunar month; most of their daily duties were waived, with only gatekeepers like Pei Zhen required to stand guard. Other Eastern Palace officials were quite idle, only notifying the Crown Prince to gather when he needed to travel, thus maintaining a semblance of the heir apparent's grandeur in public.

Zhang Dai came here today at a certain risk, not knowing how the Crown Prince would deal with him. But the Crown Prince still didn't have the guts to kill him here, so nothing else mattered. In fact, the harsher the Crown Prince treated him, the more justified he would feel.

The more strained his relationship with the Crown Prince became, the more endearing he appeared to his aunt and the Emperor.

Therefore, as long as the Crown Prince doesn't cause him any physical harm, he can accept whatever else happens. Now that he holds the official position of Censor, even the Crown Prince can't just pin him to the ground and beat him with a board.

In the end, he was still bullying honest people. If the current crown prince had gone mad like Li Chengqian, he would never come over no matter what.

The Crown Prince is still a bright and cheerful young man. Despite Consort Wu Hui's frequent advances, he is not in danger of losing the throne. He still has high expectations for successfully inheriting the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, his behavior is not too violent or abnormal.

However, as the son of the current emperor, the crown prince will inevitably inherit some of his traits, and his temperament and style of doing things may be somewhat unexpected.

Therefore, before entering Shaoyang Courtyard, Zhang Dai still instructed Pei Zhen: "When you enter to see the Crown Prince, if he is furious and coerces you too much, do not plead for me in person. Quickly retreat and seek outside help!"

"Who, who is the outside helper?"

Upon hearing this, Pei Zhen immediately tensed up again. He had always been an honest and well-behaved child, and he didn't even dare to go to Sanqu. He had nothing like Zhang Dai's many thrilling and reckless experiences.

"Go find whoever you can. First to the Secretariat, then to Xingqing Palace; speed is of the essence. If other places are difficult to reach in time, the Chancellery will also do!"

After thinking for a moment, Zhang Dai said, "If the Crown Prince really loses all sense of proportion, then saving himself is secondary; the most important thing is to make a big scene first."

This is a law he has come up with after years of tirelessly stirring up trouble: if the situation is minor, only the person involved will suffer; if the situation escalates, everyone will suffer.

Pei Zhen nodded repeatedly, keeping Zhang Dai's instructions firmly in mind. He almost forgot his identity as a gatekeeper of the Eastern Palace. Only when Zhang Dai pulled him up did he remember to quickly go forward and guide him inside.

The two had not walked far when suddenly a large group of Eastern Palace guards rushed forward and surrounded them.

Upon seeing this, Pei Zhen's expression changed drastically, while Zhang Dai grabbed someone and pushed them out of the crowd, shouting, "Pei Sheren, you framed me! You said before that the Crown Prince summoned you with courtesy, and now you're treating him with courtesy?"

Despite the agreement already made, Pei Zhen was still somewhat flustered by the situation, and realizing he wouldn't have time to call for help, he immediately waved his hand and shouted, "Misunderstanding, misunderstanding! His Highness the Crown Prince has ordered me to summon Zhang Dai. You guards, withdraw immediately and do not cause any disturbance..."

"It's not a misunderstanding! His Highness the Crown Prince suddenly took a liking to the game and ordered us to compete against Zhang Dai on the court for entertainment! Zhang Dai, as a tutor, has repeatedly failed to appear when summoned and has been extremely arrogant, truly deserving of punishment! His Highness the Crown Prince values ​​talent, and as long as you participate in the competition, you will be exempted from punishment; otherwise, you will be severely punished!"

Wang Shouqing swaggered in from behind, tossed a set of polo protective gear in front of Zhang Dai, then grabbed his sword before shouting, "Quickly put on your protective gear and come with me! Anyone who delays will be punished on the spot!"

"Who says I've been summoned repeatedly? Bring the imperial edict! If I am guilty, punish me if I deserve it! Zhang Dai is an upright gentleman, a subject who receives a salary from the king, not a sycophantic servant seeking pleasure and favor!"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Dai immediately kicked the protective gear away, then sat down on the spot and shouted: "Xue Tao, the Vice Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, relies on his favor with the Crown Prince and deceives him! Wang Shouqing, the Chief of the Imperial Guard, steals imperial edicts and uses his position to settle personal scores! If the Crown Prince summons me, I will remonstrate with him; if he does not see me, I will remonstrate with my life! Anyone who dares to harm me will perish with me!"

"Zhang Dai's words are bold and righteous; you must not harm him! Quickly report to the Crown Prince and request further instructions!"

Seeing Zhang Dai's bold and fearless attitude, Pei Zhen was greatly encouraged and immediately stomped his foot and shouted. Then he remembered Zhang Dai's instructions and immediately turned around and ran away.

(End of this chapter)