"Zhuluhou, please stay."

"Duke Wei, please stay too."

The court discussion has become Li Mu's hall, and the others can only listen, and they can't refute it, so it will go on quickly. After Li Mu finished speaking, basically no one spoke, and a court discussion of 'opening high and going low' ended with Li Mu's complete victory. When he retreated from the court, it was not surprising that Li Mu was left behind by Li Shimin, and unexpectedly, Wei Zheng was also left behind.

Tai Chi Temple.

Li Shimin gave a seat, and Li Mu and Wei Zheng both sat down. Wei Zheng's face was expressionless, he was ready to accept the ridicule. Although he was not convinced, he had to admit that a generation of new people replaced the old ones, and now he is no longer Li Mu's opponent, he wants to do something, but he is also willing but powerless. Wei Zheng, who fought against the Confucianism in the past, has become one of the 'Confucians' today, and in the face of Li Mu's wisdom, he is almost powerless.

"Li Mu!"

Li Shimin suddenly slapped the table, which frightened Li Mu and quickly stood up: "Your Majesty, what's wrong?" Why are you still angry? ”

"You bastard!" Li Shimin shouted angrily: "Did you count me in it? Why didn't you even say hello to me? Do you have me in your eyes? ”

"Uh......" Li Mu laughed and said, "Your Majesty, your ...... The minister really doesn't understand what His Majesty means, didn't the minister say it just now, this is in a hurry......"

"When I'm a three-year-old? If Cheng Biting Jin hadn't discussed it with you, I would have walked backwards in the future! ”

"That's too troublesome, how dare the minister let His Majesty go backwards-" Li Mu glanced at Wei Zheng, and actually admitted it shamelessly, and said with a smile: "Your Majesty, look, isn't this just a show, you have to give the loser a happy and convincing step, or you can't save face." ”

Wei Zheng was expressionless, and said: "Zhulu Hou doesn't need to ridicule each other in words, his skills are not as good as others, and he is willing to bow to the wind, but if you mock the old man, it will be too shameless." ”

"Look, curse again." Li Mu approached Wei Zheng and said with a smile: "Old Wei, I just paid you half a year's salary, plus promoted your daughter to be an official, do you know how much money ordinary people are willing to pay if they want to be an official in the Internal Affairs Bureau?" Someone spends 100,000 yuan and wants to buy a nine-grade director, the position of the six-grade director, to say the least, it will cost 500,000 yuan, right? Lao Wei, your family is about to make a fortune, it's all because of me, it's okay if you don't appreciate me, what's the matter with revenge? Why are you so conscienceless! ”

"It's all your trick, the old man won't admit your affection!"

"Hah!" Li Mu said angrily: "Your Majesty, did you hear it, is this still what people say?" I give him money, I help his daughter, I'm a bad person! Those Shandong scholars, using him and calculating him, he regarded those people as good people, Lao Wei, your thinking is very problematic! ”

Wei Zheng knew that he couldn't talk about Li Mu, so he kept silent. Li Shimin also said: "Li Mu, let's stop in moderation." I see that you have no one in your eyes now, and it is time to behave you! I left you and Wei Aiqing behind, just because I didn't want the political disagreement between you to turn into hatred. You are ministers of the same court, so don't tie your knots. ”

"Your Majesty, the minister is about to say it." Li Mu suddenly became serious and said, "Your Majesty, the minister wants to ask Your Majesty for a leave." ”

"What?" Li Shimin frowned and said: "The matter of the New Deal has just come to a conclusion, and you have to ask for leave?" What leave do you take? How many things are waiting for you to do? ”

"Your Majesty, the minister has a good reason."

Li Shimin smiled angrily and said, "Tell me, what is the reason?" ”

"The minister must prepare for the imperial examination!"

Li Mu's appearance was so serious that Li Shimin was stunned for a moment. He glanced at Li Mu, then at Wei Zheng, frowned, and said, "Li Mu, what do you think, is the champion so important to you?" The champion, the highest is awarded a six-grade official, three years and five years, and may not be able to achieve the fourth-grade official. You are now from the third grade, do you think you are too high? The bet between you and Wei Aiqing, I have already said, is a joke, you can't count it, don't mess around! ”

"Your Majesty, the minister is a person who will do what he says, although it is very difficult to take the double champion, but since the minister said it, he must try. This is one, and second, the minister is by no means a joke to treat this imperial examination, and the minister is very serious. Because the minister wants to prove to the people of the world that the minister's current power and status are obtained by ability, and the minister is indeed the champion. Third......"

Li Shimin interrupted unhappily and said, "Do you have a third?" Is there an end? ”

"Your Majesty, the last one. The minister has done such a big thing for His Majesty, please give His Majesty some benefits. ”

Li Shimin was happy, and said: "Okay, what do you want-" Suddenly he paused and said: "Don't mention anything about the king, since I ascended the throne, I have always advocated cutting the title of the emperor, and several of my brothers have just been demoted by me last year, the year before last, and my father and emperor also reprimanded me." If you are crowned king, neither the clan nor the government and the opposition can accept it. However, I can give you a promise, when I return to heaven, I will leave a posthumous photo, and let the prince make you a prince, how about it? ”

Li Shimin said very seriously, not like a joke. But when Wei Zheng heard it in his ears, it was like a thunderbolt, and he was already speechless with surprise.

What Li Shimin said about cutting the knight, Wei Zheng knew. Because this is his admonition, the system of the Tang Dynasty, the prince has a feudal country, the so-called feudal country, is to draw a place, the people's livelihood and social affairs here, are all under the management of this prince. It was also a way to consolidate imperial power, which was handed down from the Han Dynasty. The country of the Son of Heaven is thousands of miles, and the government decree cannot go out of thousands of miles, so there is a feudal country.

But there was another problem in the Tang Dynasty, that is, Li Yuan had too many sons. In addition to Li Shimin's three brothers-in-law, Li Shimin also has more than 20 brothers. According to the rules, this is all about being crowned king. And another difference between the Tang Dynasty and the previous dynasty is that now both emperors are alive. In other words, if you follow the rules, Li Shimin's brother will be crowned king, and Li Shimin's son will also be crowned king. Li Shimin was at the peak of the Spring and Autumn Period, only in his thirties, according to Li Yuan's example, he had to give birth to at least a dozen sons, if they were all sealed, the entire territory of Datang would not be enough.

And according to historical records, no matter which dynasty the prince is, there is basically no virtuous person who loves the people. This is also very understandable, the prince, if you can't be the emperor, you must be holding your breath in your heart. Holding his breath, he left Beijing again, and the emperor was far away, so naturally no one could care about it. From another point of view, the emperor doesn't like the 'virtuous king', you are all virtuous kings, is the next step to be the emperor? Which emperor would dare to keep such a brother and son?

Therefore, when the prince arrived at the feudal country, the lightest thing had to be to loot the people's fat and people's ointment for pleasure. This added a burden to the people, so Wei Zheng admonished Li Shimin to cut the knighthood. That is, the prince is cut into a duke, the duke is cut into an earl, and so on. This admonition coincided with Li Shimin's thoughts, and was officially implemented in the second year of Li Shimin's accession to the throne. Wei Zheng also became a thorn in the side of the royal family, Zongzheng Temple had nothing to do, and the emperor sued, and Li Shimin was also tireless.

In this context, Li Shimin actually promised Li Mu that he would leave an edict to crown him as king after his death, how special this is! If Wei Zheng didn't know Li Mu's details, he would have wondered if Li Mu was Li Shimin's illegitimate son!

The instinct of the imperial history made Wei Zheng unable to sit still, and he got up and said: "Your Majesty, this can't be said in vain, no matter how great the credit is, even if the merit is great, he is not a blood relative of the royal family after all, this-"

"Old Wei, you always do bad things to me." Li Mu snorted, suddenly laughed again, and said, "Your Majesty, but this time, the minister and Lao Wei want to go together." The prince or something, the minister is just joking, the minister is a person who regards money, fame and fortune as a floating cloud, and does things only to repay His Majesty's grace, and everything else is a trivial matter. The minister would rather never be crowned king, and I also hope that His Majesty can enjoy immortal blessings forever, and live with Tianqi——"

Wei Zheng felt sick for a while, and said in his heart, why can't I think of such words, look at Your Majesty, you will be happy!

Li Shimin was happy, but he was also embarrassed, and said: "I still have self-knowledge, the affairs of the gods are ethereal, don't talk about it." Li Mu, you haven't said what reward you want? Truth be told, I don't know what to give you. ”

"Also, after all, the minister is young and has a lot of gold, and he is still handsome-" Li Mu's eyes rolled wildly, thinking, why don't you take this opportunity to ask for a gold medal for avoiding death? This is not delusional, because Tang Tangjian, the Duke of Juguo, has a piece in his family, which was in the first year of Wude, when the Tang Dynasty was founded, but it did not complete unification. Tang Jian, Li Xiaoji, the king of Yong'an, and others were captured by Liu Wuzhou, and learned from Yuan Junshi that Dugu Huaien was going to rebel in prison. Dugu Huaien was stationed in Puzhou, and Tang Jian sent someone to expose it, otherwise today the surname of Tang is not surnamed Li or two. After making such a great achievement, Tang Jian was awarded the title of Duke of Ju Guogong and was specially exempted from the death penalty once, which is a precedent thing.

If Li Mu wants it now, it is estimated that Li Shimin will not refuse to give it. But Li Mu thought about it and couldn't ask for it. If you want it, when Wang Ou's matter is sent in the future, Li Shimin will think, good boy, you not only put a hat on Lao Tzu, but also calculated Lao Tzu from the beginning! This new hatred and old hatred are superimposed, and a death-free gold medal is estimated to be enough.

If the emperor wants to kill someone, isn't the crime just made up? What's the use of avoiding death once, unless it's a hundred times and ten thousand times. But which emperor would give that kind of gold medal for avoiding death? Li Shimin is not a fool.

Forget it, let's take one step at a time and follow the established plan.

Thinking of this, Li Mu opened his mouth and said, "Your Majesty, the reward that the minister wants is actually nothing. The minister just thought, after all, the minister is talented. Isn't it a hand to win the champion, but this is very unfair to the students who should take the exam. Originally, if the ministers didn't participate in the imperial examination, they would still have a chance to become champions-"

Li Shimin's face turned dark, and he said, "Li Mu, if you want me to reward you for bragging about yourself in front of me, I can't reward you!" ”

"No, no, no!" Li Mu hurriedly said: "The minister is telling the truth, the minister just wants His Majesty to reward the minister, if the minister takes the top prize, he can allow the minister to let the champion out, and who to let is decided by the minister." But in the future, the minister gave up the champion, and it can't be regarded as the minister's bet with Lao Wei who lost, this is the reward of the minister. ”

"It's fresh!" Li Shimin couldn't help but smile and said, "Li Mu, are you so confident in yourself?" You never thought that if you don't get the top spot in the exam, how many people will laugh at you? ”

Li Mu shook his head and said, "Your Majesty, the minister is an optimistic person. Before doing something, never think about failure, but concentrate on making it happen. Just like this time, the minister didn't think about failure, if he wanted to do it, he had to do it, it didn't matter if he lost, the minister tried his best, and he stood up when he was laughed at, anyway, the joke couldn't die, and the minister was thick-skinned. ”

Li Shimin smiled helplessly and said, "I don't care, but this matter is related to Wei Aiqing, and I have to ask Wei Aiqing's opinion." ”

Wei Zheng snorted and said, "If you can really pass the double champion, the old man will be your apprentice, the master has an order, does the apprentice dare not obey?" However, everything will wait until you pass the exam, if you only pass one, it will not count! ”

"Okay, that's it!" Li Mu stretched out his little finger, hooked it, and said, "Let's pull the hook." ”

Wei Zheng didn't understand, looked at Li Mu strangely, and said, "What do you mean?" Grotesque! ”

"One word is the final word!" Li Mu grabbed Wei Zheng's hand, hooked him, and said: "This action is equivalent to, if you violate this oath, the heavens and the earth will be destroyed, don't believe it, it's very spiritual!" ”

"Nonsense!"

Wei Zheng shook off his hand, got up and saluted: "If Your Majesty has nothing else to do, please retire." ”

"Let's go," Li Shimin waved his hand, Wei Zheng turned around and retreated, Li Mu also wanted to slip away, but was stopped by Li Shimin, so he had to come back obediently.

There are only two monarchs and ministers left in the Liangyi Palace, and Li Shimin doesn't have to hold it anymore, so he can finally sigh with emotion: "Li Mu, I really didn't expect that you could really do this, and you were really surprised." ”

"Your Majesty is too modest, the minister is just playing tricks, and it is Your Majesty who really makes this happen."

"No!" Li Shimin waved his hand and said, "I am not an emperor who competes with his courtiers, maybe you really think so, but I understand it in my heart." The difficulty in this matter is the difficulty in the mouth, and it has been the case throughout the ages. Sending troops to fight wars pays attention to the fame of the division. The promulgation of government decrees pays attention to the general righteousness. How many emperors has the word righteousness constrained? This trick you have won me righteousness, so that I can let go and do things. Now that the truth is on my side, I don't have to worry about it. Cheerful, enjoyable! ”

"But ......" Li Shimin suddenly looked at Li Mu and said, "In this way, you will become a thorn in their side." Don't underestimate the gatekeepers, although they can't compare to you in the battle of tongues, but if you push them into a hurry, like the last assassination, there may not be a next time. Your safety is a big concern. ”

Li Mu thought for a while and said with a smile: "The minister will pay attention." ”

"You can't just pay attention." Li Shimin pondered for a moment and said, "I will let the guards send out a battalion of soldiers and horses and station them in the valley to ensure your safety." ”