Jiuxi

Chapter 136 Chapter 135 [Tianjia]

The next day, Cining Hall of the Imperial Palace.

The palace maids and eunuchs stood with their heads lowered and held their breath, all looking at their noses and hearts, not daring to make any unusual noise.

In fact, this kind of atmosphere is quite rare in the palace. In the twelve years since the emperor ascended the throne, no matter how the people and frontier soldiers and civilians evaluate him, at least in the palace he is known as the benevolent emperor and will never punish the palace people without reason.

However, this kind-hearted and kind-hearted emperor started sternly reprimanding him as soon as he opened his mouth today.

"Damn things!"

Li Duan sat on the couch, looking coldly at the third prince Li Zongjian who was kneeling below, with no trace of anger on his face.

Sitting on the other end of the couch was a dignified and graceful woman. She was the main queen Xu who gave birth to two princes for the Tian family.

There were two young men standing in the hall.

The first one is the eldest son of the emperor, Prince Chen Li Zongchao, and next to him is the second prince, the prime minister Li Zongben.

Li Zongchao was 22 years old at the time. He was both the daughter of the empress and the eldest son of the emperor. In the eyes of many people, he was the definite candidate for the crown prince. The other two adult princes had no ability to compete with him.

As he grew older, Li Zongchao became more and more steady and steady under the guidance of several great scholars of the time. Although he didn't seem to be outstanding, for a prince who aspired to be the heir apparent, it was very good to keep to himself. Performance.

The second prince Li Zongben has just turned 20 years old and is the daughter of concubine Shu.

Concubine Liu Shu performed her duty in the palace. Although she was not as favored as Empress Xu, she was respected by the palace people because of her gentle and cautious temperament.She was not very good at petty flattery and spent most of her time in her bedroom reading and writing. This habit made the emperor look at her differently and he would visit her every few days.

Li Zongben seemed to have inherited the temperament of his mother and concubine, and he showed talent and talent since he was a child. He was regarded as quite literary by scholars in Beijing, and occasionally participated in some of the more important literary gatherings in Beijing.

Although his talents were enviable, Li Zongben never deliberately made friends with literati, let alone the ministers of the court, and he had a somewhat aloof demeanor.

The two princes looked at the third brother Li Zongjian who was kneeling on the ground. The eldest prince frowned slightly, while the second prince looked calm.

Neither of them were princes who grew up in a deep palace and didn't know the sufferings of the world. When the Yuanjia Incident happened, the eldest prince was nine years old and the second prince was seven years old, and they both already had certain cognitive abilities.

But at that time, Li Zongjian was less than four years old and could barely begin to remember things. Little did he know how difficult his father and mother were to support Daqi's national destiny.And because of Queen Xu's unavoidable love, Li Zongjian gradually developed an arrogant and domineering temperament.

Li Duan had always been not harsh on him, and for some reasons, he allowed him to hang out with the grandson of the left prime minister, but he did not expect that this traitor would dare to do such a ridiculous thing as yesterday.

Li Zongjian looked very aggrieved and said in a low voice: "Father, my son did not make things difficult for Lu Chen yesterday. I heard earlier that Li Yunyi of the Li family entertained Lu Chen at a banquet in Fanlou. He only wanted to make friends with these young heroes, and there was nothing wrong with him. With respect, Lu Chen not only ignored his kindness, but also threatened him many times in his words."

He didn't notice that Li Duan's face was getting more and more ugly, and he said to himself: "I think that although Li Yunyi is only a civil servant, he is the grandson of the left prime minister after all, and he must make the prime minister's house look good no matter what." Lu Chen He is a military commander valued by his father, and he has to go to the frontier army to perform his duties. There is no need to quarrel with the prime minister's office. The son wanted to take care of his father's worries, so he took it upon himself to talk to them. He didn't have any bad intentions. He also asked his father to Mingjian.”

"So, you are thinking about me wholeheartedly?" Li Duan said coldly.

Hearing such a cold tone, Li Zongjian couldn't help but shudder. He carefully raised his head and looked at the emperor's cold eyes, with endless fear suddenly appearing on his face.

Seeing this, Queen Xu quickly said softly: "Your Majesty, please calm down."

In front of these princes, Li Duan finally wanted to give his first wife some dignity, so he did not attack immediately.

Queen Xu said to the palace people: "You should retreat first."

"Yes, ma'am."

Everyone agreed in unison, and then exited the Cining Hall with extremely light steps.

Li Duan still stared at Li Zongjian and said slowly: "What does the dignity of the prime minister's office have to do with you?"

After these words were spoken, Queen Xu's expression suddenly changed, and both the eldest prince and the second prince were shocked.

Li Zongjian was not stupid, and he immediately understood the profound meaning of the emperor's words.

It doesn't hurt that he and Li Yunyi are so close. After all, although Li Yunyi is extremely loved by the left prime minister, he is also an extremely famous playboy in the capital. No one thinks that he can inherit the various resources of the Jinlin Li family.There are incompetent and talentless dandies like this in every family. At most, it will make people sigh. It is really difficult to understand that Zuo Xiang has been in high and low officialdom for decades, and the city has deep plans and far-reaching plans. In the end, he loves such an unscrupulous son.

In short, the third prince and Li Yunyi are essentially the same kind of people. As long as they don't get involved in serious matters and do a little nonsense on weekdays, no one will take them seriously.

But yesterday's incident had a different meaning.

This was not a jealousy or a dispute between powerful and powerful children. The generals of the border army were a force that the emperor relied heavily on, and they belonged to an opposing group to the officials in the court headed by the left prime minister.

The third prince stood up for the grandson of the left prime minister, and the target was a border army general who had just received a reward. How does this make the world view this matter?
Some things don't bear careful consideration.For example, the third prince has always acted nonsense, but now he openly supports the left prime minister. Could it be that he has some thoughts about that position in his heart and wants to win more supporters in the court?
Thinking of this, Li Zongjian had an expression of disbelief on his face and said in a panic: "Father, I really haven't thought about it too much. It's just because Li Yunyi and Erchen have a close relationship and have played together since they were young. Now I see him being raped by a little boy." When a young border general bullies him, my son naturally wants to stand up for him."

Li Duan said in a deep voice: "Don't you know that I conferred Lu Chen the title of Founding County Prince at the court meeting the day before yesterday, and promoted him to the chief general of the new army?"

Li Zongjian said with a bitter face: "Father, I didn't make things difficult for him. I just asked him to propose a toast to Li Yunyi. This... this is not a big deal..."

"You bastard! How could there be such a confused fool as you in the Tian family!"

Li Duan felt helpless anger in his heart. In fact, he also had some responsibility for Li Zongjian becoming like this.

Queen Xu quickly stood up and saluted: "Your Majesty, calm down and take care of the dragon body. This child Zong Jian is willful and misbehaving. It is because of my inability to discipline him. Please don't hurt your Majesty. I am willing to accept the punishment."

Li Zongjian looked at it blankly, then shook his head and said: "Father, I will never go to Lu Chen to trouble you again. Father, don't blame your mother. It's all my fault. I will go to Lu Chen tomorrow." apologize."

"Your Majesty, be silent!"

Queen Xu also had a headache, and there was some real anger in Feng's eyes.

Li Duan turned to look at the queen who had been with him for more than twenty years. He couldn't help but sigh softly, then waved his hands and said: "From today on, you are banned from the palace and are not allowed to go out. If you have made any progress in half a year, we will tell you. Otherwise, you will give it to me." Stay in the palace and study honestly. I will call your gentlemen into the palace from time to time in the future. If they say that you still don’t know how to restrain yourself..."

"I don't dare. I must remember the instructions of my father and mother."

Li Zongjian kowtowed hurriedly.

"Let's all go down."

Li Duan raised his hand and rubbed his eyebrows.

The three princes saluted in unison and then walked out of Cining Palace.

The late autumn sunshine sprinkled little bits of gold between the palaces, and the light and shadow enveloped the three people like flowing river water.

Li Zongjian kept sighing and sighing. When the eldest prince Li Zongchao saw this, he comforted him and said, "Third brother, my father and mother are doing this for your own good. Don't be resentful."

Li Zongjian smiled bitterly and said, "Brother, how could I be so stupid?"

Li Zongchao thought to himself that if you weren't stupid, how could you have said anything about going to Lu Chen to apologize? How could it be an apology? It was clearly putting Lu Chen, a young minister with no foundation, on the fire.

It's not wrong to say that you are stupid. At that time, you still had the intention of dealing with Lu Chen, but how could you hide such a trivial trick from your father? After all, it was just a little cleverness that could not be put on the stage.

Thinking of this, he became more sincerely concerned about his younger brother, who is from the same mother. He whispered: "Third brother, it has not been easy for my father to maintain the overall situation of the court in recent years. It cannot be separated from the support of Zuo Xiang and others, so I will tacitly allow you to get closer to a dude like Li Yunyi, which can be regarded as a move to reassure the left prime minister. But you must understand that you are the prince of the Tian family, and everything should be based on the peace of the world. "

Li Zongjian's eyes widened and he said in a daze: "Brother, can you make it more clear?"

Li Zongchao explained: "Now my father wants to promote the Northern Expedition. On the surface, Lu Chen is just a mid-level general, not even an army commander. However, he made the greatest contribution in this Jiangbei victory, and he also got two frontier army commanders. praise. You stepped forward for Li Yunyi to force Lu Chen to toast and apologize. Not only did you use your power to suppress others, but you also demeaned the two governors. In the eyes of the adults in the court, you represent the emperor's wishes. This will It makes the situation more complicated, do you understand?”

Li Zongjian asked in confusion: "Can I represent my father's wishes?"

Li Zongchao nodded and said: "In the eyes of the world, the Tian family is one. It's okay for you to mess around, but in this situation, every move you make will cause them to think deeply."

Li Zongjian frowned and thought for a long time, but still shook his head and said: "I still don't understand. I didn't do anything to Lu Chen. I just hope that he will give me some face so that Li Sanlang will not become the laughing stock of the capital. Well, that's it, from now on. Will I stop provoking this person from the head office in the future?"

Li Zongchao smiled helplessly, sighing in his heart that this third brother was really stupid. No wonder his father had no good way to deal with him in the end, so he could only ground him in the palace.

Unknowingly, the three princes walked out of the palace side by side.

Before leaving, the second prince Li Zongben, who had been silent before, first saluted the eldest prince, then looked at Li Zongjian and said: "Third brother, you will be very bored during this period of confinement. I will ask people to find some interesting story books and send them to you. Come to you."

Li Zongjian finally showed a smile and said gratefully: "Thank you, second brother!"

Li Zongben smiled slightly, then turned and left.

He raised his head and glanced at the bright sky, his eyes a little more sarcastic.

The third child really thinks that everyone else is a fool, but the boss actually believes it, which is quite interesting.

Ah……

(End of this chapter)