Tang Dynasty Little Godfather

Chapter 239 Legendary Story
confused!

Wang Xi was a little confused!

So, it turns out that aunts and uncles can also sprout up overnight like bamboo shoots?
This confusion led Wang Xi to a common sense assumption: Ashina Mi had encountered a big swindler.

“Mi’er”.

Wang Xi immediately turned fierce and said, "Who is he? Take me to him now! Damn it, I'll kill him! How dare he lie to my Mi'er? Does he have a death wish?"

Ashina Mi was stunned for a moment, then quickly said, "No, no, no, I wasn't deceived. The other person really is my aunt. Here's what happened."

So she told Wang Xi the whole story.

In summary, it's a legendary story.

The legendary figure in the story is Pei Zhouxian, the current governor of Guangzhou.

Pei Zhou was born into the Pei clan of Hedong and was the nephew of Prime Minister Pei Yan.

Pei Yan's relationship with Wu Zetian was very complicated. Initially, he was deeply trusted by Wu Zetian and helped her depose Emperor Li Xian. However, he later opposed Wu Zetian's monopoly of power on many occasions and demanded that power be returned to the Crown Prince. The result was predictable: he was killed by Wu Zetian and his family property was confiscated. Pei Yan was also implicated and was to be exiled to the remote and desolate Lingnan.

However, Pei Zhouxian was deeply saddened by the innocent death of his uncle, so before going to Lingnan, he submitted a memorial requesting to appeal in person.

Empress Wu Zetian, who had a penchant for young and handsome men, met with this naive 17-year-old boy to see what he had to say. "Your uncle directly confronted me, forcing me to return power, which is tantamount to treason, and he said it to my face. This time, I really didn't wrong him."

Little did anyone know that Pei Zhou's request to appeal was merely a pretext to continue his attack on Wu Zetian. Upon meeting her, he immediately launched into a tirade: "What do you know, you old woman? You're just a daughter-in-law of the Li family, yet you dare to plot for power? My uncle is loyal to the court, not to you. Can't I scold you? If you abdicate now and retire, your Wu family can still be preserved. Don't wait until it's too late."

Empress Wu Zetian was furious. How dare a mere child speak to her like that? Killing him would be too lenient; she first beat him half to death. The place of exile was changed from Lingnan to the even more distant Rangzhou, which is located in present-day Shangsi County, Guangxi Province, almost on the border with Vietnam. Given the inconvenience of transportation in ancient times, exile to Rangzhou was practically a death sentence.

The point is to kill him, but to torture him before he dies.

Pei Zhouxian's remarkable achievement was that when he arrived in Rangzhou, he married a woman from the Lu family, one of the five prominent clans and seven noble families. The reason why the Lu family was also there was simple: they had also been exiled there by Empress Wu Zetian.

The two had a child, but then Lady Lu died of illness. Pei Zhouxian then secretly took his son back to his hometown of Luoyang and lived a secluded life.

Unexpectedly, he was discovered by the government a few years later and was punished with one hundred strokes of the cane. Wu Zetian was a very competitive person and thought he couldn't be tortured to death, so she exiled him to Beiting in the Western Regions, which was the Beiting Protectorate. At that time, the area was very chaotic because of the internal strife in the Central Plains, which led to some loss of control over the border, and there was also constant warfare there.

Little did anyone know that Pei Zhou was the chosen one. He went to Beiting and, through business acumen, became the richest man in Beiting, supporting thousands of guests. He also married the local Khan's princess, Ashina Zhen, who was Ashina Mi's aunt.

That wasn't all. Later, when Wu Zetian learned that the exiles in Beiting were preparing to rebel, she sent people to suppress them, or to put it bluntly, to massacre them.

Pei Zhou resisted for a while because he had his own private army, but he was still captured. However, this massacre caused panic in the Central Plains, because those who were qualified to be exiled were not ordinary people.

Wu Zetian wanted to use this incident to establish her authority, and once she saw that she had achieved her goal, she stopped. Pei Zhouxian, who was about to be beheaded, escaped another calamity.

Then came the Shenlong Coup and the Xiantian Coup, which brought Li Longji to power.

Li Longji, of course, rectified the wrongs. Those officials who opposed Wu Zetian were promoted. Pei Zhouxian returned to the court as an official and rose through the ranks, eventually becoming the governor of Guangzhou.

However, after the reign of Empress Wu Zetian, the military and government were extremely corrupt. There were countless deserters and unemployed people. Soldiers had no land and were required to serve, which led to the destruction of their families. Pei Zhouxian felt sorry for them and helped them find work by engaging in handicrafts.

Business is his forte.

Unfortunately, Li Longji was recently cracking down on military and political affairs, strictly prohibiting generals from enslaving officials and soldiers, and forbidding them from demanding that officials and soldiers do work for him.

This was definitely a good policy, because the Tang army's fighting strength had been greatly reduced because these princes and nobles had enslaved the soldiers, leading to a rapid decline in their martial virtue.

However, a good policy can often harm good people.

Given the size of the country, it's impossible to investigate everyone, and the conditions don't allow it. If we try to investigate everything, innocent people will inevitably be harmed, but the proportion is actually very small.

Rulers generally consider the overall gains and losses.

Pei Zhouxian's misfortune stemmed from his excessive scheming. He was too extravagant and took care of many soldiers, leading to accusations that he was privately raising soldiers and plotting a rebellion.

Zhang Jiazhen had previously ordered Pei Zhouxianting to be beaten to death as a warning to others.

In fact, Zhang Jiazhen was not wrong, because this phenomenon was already very serious and had to be dealt with severely. Regardless of the reason, he should make an example of someone to warn others. However, he was persuaded by Zhang Shuo that a scholar can be killed but not humiliated.

But Zhang said that he opposed the court flogging at the time, and if Pei Zhouxian is flogged today, he can flog you and me tomorrow. Aren't you just shooting yourself in the foot?

However, later, due to the conflict with Zhang Jiazhen, Zhang Shuo turned to protect Pei Zhouxian.

In this matter, Li Longji favored Zhang Shuo, so he ordered Pei Zhou to be brought to Chang'an for interrogation.

Now that they had arrived in Chang'an, Ashina Zhen learned that Ashina Mi had been engaged to the emperor's favorite nephew, so he secretly sent someone to deliver a message to Ashina Mi, hoping that Wang Xi could help.

Upon hearing this, Wang Xi couldn't help but marvel, "If this is true, then your uncle's deeds could be made into a play."

Ashina Mi said angrily, "Sparrow, I'm telling you the truth."

"Be serious, be serious."

Wang Xi nodded, but after thinking for a moment, he scratched his head and said, "Mi'er, if you asked for it, then I will definitely help, no question about it. But I still need to find out more details and see how to save her. Oh, Mi'er, don't tell my mother about this. My mother is most afraid of this kind of thing."

Ashina Mi nodded and said, "I know."

The next day.

Wang Xi, who originally planned to go to the suburbs, was suddenly summoned to Wuming Academy by Wang Shuang.

"Brothers, please sit down, please sit down."

Upon entering the inner hall, Wang Shuang eagerly invited the three of them to sit down at the table, where fine wine and delicacies were laid out.

Li Jieman exclaimed, "Brother Shuang, we've already received the news that your father has become the Minister of Works. It's fine to celebrate, but don't make it seem like we've done you a huge favor. We're all brothers, so this is too formal."

Wang Xi nodded and said, "Xiaoman is right. Your father becoming the Minister of Works is beneficial to all of us, and it's also our goal. Let's not get caught up in those social niceties; it's not worth it." Huangfu Sengnian glanced at Wang Shuang, thinking, "When did Brother Shuang become so concerned about social niceties?" So he said, "Brother Shuang, do you have something else in mind?"

Upon hearing this, Wang Xi and Li Jieman both looked at Wang Shuang.

Wang Shuang's expression changed, and he said with an awkward smile, "I do have a small request."

Wang Xi laughed and said, "You're stuttering like this, so it must be a big request. We're brothers, so no matter how big it is, it's not a problem. So, what is it?"

Wang Shuang said, "My father plans to have all the officials from the Ministry of Works come to our academy to study."

"what?"

The three of them stood up at the same time.

Li Jieman roared, "Brother Shuang, are you crazy? We're here to have fun, not to study, let alone teach. Go away, go away, go cool off somewhere else."

Wang Xi exclaimed excitedly, "Brother Shuang, you didn't fool yourself too, did you? They come to learn, and you're going to let Lao Tao teach them? You're sending Lao Tao to his death! Get out of here!"

Wang Shuang looked at the two of them and said aggrievedly, "That's not what you said just now."

Wang Xi said, "I didn't expect you to make such a stupid request."

Wang Shuang said aggrievedly, "Do you think I wanted this? This is what my father asked for."

Li Jieman said, "Can't you refuse your father?"

Wang Shuang said, "I refused, but it was no use. If I don't finish, my dad will beat me to death."

Li Jie said, "Why don't you go to Luoyang and hide for a while?"

Wang Shuang said, "There are no people my father has in Luoyang. How can we hide? The three brothers might as well think about it and see if there is any way."

Wang Xi said, "This isn't a matter of whether we can do it or not; it's that if we don't even take lessons ourselves, how can we teach those officials?"

Huangfu Sengnian, who had been silent all along, suddenly said, "Perhaps we really should help with this."

Li Jieman said, "Have you gone mad too?"

Huangfu Sengnian said, "Have you ever thought about why Uncle Wang would do this?"

Wang Xi asked, "Why?"

Huangfu Sengnian said, "Because of Uncle Wang's connections, they are all in the army, and there are not many people in the Six Ministries. How can they cultivate their own power?"

As a military officer, one must fight battles and use military achievements to cultivate one's own people. However, this tactic obviously won't work in the Ministry of Works. Therefore, another method must be devised. Something must be done, otherwise, it will be difficult for Uncle Wang to achieve anything in the Ministry of Works.

If officials from the Ministry of Works were sent here to study, not only could Taoist thought be promoted, but the opportunity could also be used to promote lower-ranking officials and cultivate one's own power base.

Upon hearing this, Wang Xi frowned and asked Wang Shuang, "Does your father have such methods?"

Wang Shuang said, "Who do you look down on? When my father took over the horse administration, it was much more corrupt than the Ministry of Works. But when my father came to power, he got rid of all those nobles. Otherwise, they wouldn't hate my father so much."

Wang Xi sighed, "Our fathers are really two extremes. One is too stupid, and the other is too capable. Whether they are too stupid or too capable, they are both troublesome. Moderation is the way to go."

Li Jieman asked, "Then what should we do?"

"What else can we do?" Wang Xi said dejectedly. "Of course, we'll go all the way and cooperate with Uncle Wang in some political maneuvering. Sigh."

"Brother Que, I knew you were the best! My life is finally saved!" Wang Shuang pounced on him.

Huangfu Sengnian asked in bewilderment, "Wasn't I the one who first said I wanted to help your father?"

"Hello, Monk Nian too." Wang Shuang then pulled Huangfu Monk Nian into her arms again.

Huangfu Sengnian pushed him aside, patted him on the shoulder, and asked Wang Xi, "Can Old Tao teach me?"

Wang Xi said dejectedly, "You know it's impossible, so why did you say that?"

Huangfu Sengnian said, "I'm just analyzing."

Wang Xi said, "If you're not going to analyze it, then there's no point in me teaching you."

"You'll teach me?"

Li Jieman exclaimed in surprise.

Wang Xi said, "What else can we do? Old Tao can't even fool people about this thing; he'll be exposed at any time."

As he spoke, he scratched his head again, "Oh right, there's still one thing I haven't taken care of?"

Huangfu Sengnian asked, "What is it?"

Wang Xi said, "It's about Mi'er's uncle, Pei Zhouxian."

Huangfu Sengnian asked in surprise, "Pei Zhouxian is the princess's uncle?"

Wang Xi asked, "Do you know Pei Zhouxian?"

Huangfu Sengnian said, "I've heard about him before. It seems he recently committed a crime and was just escorted to Chang'an."

Wang Xi said, "His wife is Mi'er's aunt."

(End of this chapter)