It's night.

Taiji Palace, in front of the Lizheng Palace.

Li Zhi was dressed in a plain silver dragon robe, a jade crown and a golden hairpin, and stood in front of the palace with cold eyebrows, looking at Minghe who rushed out of it.

"Lord."

"How?" Li Zhi's expression was flat, and he looked at Minghe, as if he was asking if the starlight was good today.

Minghe looked at him with a sad face.

With just this glance, Li Zhi nodded and said lightly: "It's okay, after all, today's events have tired her." In the next few days, you still have to take care of Mei Niang. ”

turned around and was about to leave, but stopped again, turned around and asked, "Where is Hong'er?" ”

"Back to the Lord, in the past few days, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has been serving the queen in the Lizheng Palace." Minghe said lightly: "But the Lord wants to summon His Highness?" ”

"Well, that's it! I'm just waiting for him here. ”

Since he received Li Zhi's order, it didn't take long for Minghe to lure out Li Hong, who was dressed in regular clothes. Li Hong saluted and was about to ask a question, but saw Li Zhi smile faintly and stretched out his hand: "Come." ”

Li Hong blinked, reached out to shake Li Zhi's fingertips, and followed him silently towards the center of the Taiji Palace, the Taiji Palace.

"These days, your mother's diet and daily life are all right?" Li Zhi walked a few steps and asked leisurely.

Li Hong blinked and looked up at his father uneasily: "Father...... It's Hong'er naughty ......"

"It's not about you. There is indeed something wrong with the matter between your father and your mother, but it has nothing to do with you. You don't have to go to your heart. Li Zhi paused, looked at his son's small face full of uneasiness, and laughed to himself: "Don't you think that your father is lying to you?" ”

Li Hong thought for a while before shaking his head silently: "Father has never deceived Hong'er. But ......"

"What?"

"But there are some things, or in the eyes of my father, it is not Hong'er's fault. But in terms of the overall situation of the world......"

"There's no world here, and there's no big picture. Only your mother and you, and your father. Li Zhi said lightly: "I will remember it in the future, but when we are only a family together, we don't need to mention the overall situation, the world, and the military affairs." Got it? No matter how big the outside thing is, when you enter the door of the Lizheng Palace, it is the outside thing. Behind closed doors, we're just a family. You need to remember this all the time. ”

"But the father, the princes said that Hong'er, as the crown prince, must consider every move carefully - because Hong'er is the prince of the country, the prince of a country......"

"It's all bullshit, but you don't have to pay attention to it."

Li Zhi said with a light smile, but Li Hong was stunned: "Father...... Father? ”

"Do you think my father is so arrogant that he doesn't look like a human king?" Li Zhi raised his eyebrows and smiled, but said lightly: "But now, isn't my father still sitting on the throne of the Tang Dynasty?" ”

Li Hong blinked, and only said lightly for a long time: "What the father means, Hong'er doesn't understand ......."

"Hong'er, my father asks you, if today's father and you are not from the royal family, your father is not the emperor, and you are not the crown prince. Those masters, would they still say such things to you? ”

Li Zhi asked lightly, but Li Hong immediately understood: "What does my father mean...... The people who said this were not Hong'er himself, but the prince of the Tang Dynasty? ”

"That's right. If you have the opportunity in the future, you can ask your brother Liang Wang, and he will tell you that when he was the crown prince, those princes also said the same thing to him, control him in the east and manage him in the west, and he is not allowed to have a star that is not as good as they want. ”

Li Zhi frowned and shrugged his shoulders: "It's my father, when I was the crown prince at the beginning of the year, I was also the same." ”

"That'...... What did my father do later? Li Hong blinked and looked at Li Zhi.

"Hmm...... Ignore them. Those who should learn, those who should learn, and they still learn from them - as a master, they still have some real skills. But there are some that don't mean they're infallible. Therefore, it is better to make the decision on your own. ”

Li Zhi's words came out of his mouth, which led to another question from Li Hong: "Then father, what should be learned and what should not be learned from them?" ”

"Hmm...... For personnel, education - these are still very good at them. But they still don't need to learn their tortuous and deep minds, such pedantic benevolence and morality. Li Zhi smiled: "At the beginning, my father, as the crown prince, also admired their set of benevolence, righteousness and etiquette. But later my father found out that they couldn't even do it themselves. So they knew they were talking nonsense, and they didn't learn anymore. ”

Li Hong blinked again: "In this way, if there are some things that even Taifu himself can't do, then there is no need to learn, right?" ”

"Not really—it's a difficult question to sound, but it's very simple to do."

"Father, what should I do? You taught Hong'er! ”

"Well, it's simple, but it's all from the heart."

"From the heart?"

"Yes, whether you are a good person or a bad person, you should ask yourself what kind of person you want to be. Then, according to the rules of that person, just do it. Don't pay attention to the words of others. ”

Li Zhi smiled.

Li Hong thought for a while, and said: "Then father, if Hong'er does this, what if it hurts the people of the world?" After all, Hong'er is the Hong'er of his father, and he will be a great emperor like his father in the future. If you do something wrong and harm the people of the world......"

Li Zhi was silent for a long time before he said lightly: "Hong'er, my father asked you, has there ever been a person in this world who does not make mistakes?" ”

Li Hong was stunned and said, "This...... But there was none. ”

Li Zhi nodded again: "Since there has never been a person in this world who has no fault in his life, then why do you want to be a little child?" ”

After a pause, Li Zhicai said: "Those who govern the world are actually those who govern people's hearts." Hong'er, if you blindly demand that you are innocent, then you are forcing yourself to become inhuman? If you are not human, how can you come from the hearts of the people to understand the hearts of the people of the world? You can't understand the hearts of the people in the world, how can you govern the hearts of the people and govern the world? ”

Li Hong thought for a while, and said, "What does my father mean...... Only those who are on the throne of the emperor can always maintain the existence of a normal heart, often think about their own hearts before issuing administrative orders, and live the hearts of the people in the world with their own ordinary hearts, can they truly govern the peace of the world? ”

Li Zhi nodded and said with a smile: "If you have to force yourself to become a flawless saint, Hong'er, how can you tolerate your Wenchen, your generals, and your Shi Mu order books to make slight mistakes?" How can you tolerate ordinary plain clothes people making some harmless mistakes? If you can't tolerate it, then you will have to spend all your efforts to correct some small things that could have been laughed at and were okay in the past-Hong'er, and at that time, you will find that you have always regarded yourself as the true dragon emperor are actually just an ordinary mortal. ”

Li Hong understood, nodded and said: "As an emperor, if the world is stable, you must have affection for the world." And if you want to be affectionate to the world, you must first be affectionate. Is that the Father? ”

Li Zhi nodded and said with a smile: "That's exactly the truth." Therefore, my father hates to hear others say that my father is a real dragon emperor - a living person, but he insists on saying that it is a thing like a child, but what is the point? can not use clouds and rain to bless the people of the world to always have enough food and clothing, and the Tang Dynasty will always have smooth weather and rain; I can't catch thunder, hold electricity, wave my hand, retreat from foreign enemies, guard the eternal peace of our Tang territory, and don't teach the border soldiers to suffer for leaving their hometowns to fight...... What is the point of such a fallacy? ”

Li Hong tilted his head and thought for a long time, but laughed: "What my father said is really right!" Such a thing is indeed useless at all. Is...... I don't know if those masters have been trying to make Hong'er admit that he is a thing that doesn't know what he looks like? ”

"Because you are!"

Li Zhi smiled and said.

Li Hong was completely stunned: "Father? ”

"Strange? Obviously, just now, my father himself said that this fallacy is useless, right? But Hong'er, have you ever thought that looking at the world of the Tang Dynasty, I'm afraid that no one dares to say that you have seen the real dragon appear with your own eyes? If no one has ever seen it, why should anyone believe it? This dragon is different from a phoenix! At least there are still many people who have seen the Phoenix Divine Beast with their own eyes, haven't they? ”

(Note: The early Tang Dynasty attached no less importance to the phoenix, a mythical beast, than the dragon.) At that time, people believed that the so-called phoenix was actually a real bird in nature like a pheasant brocade. That's why it is said that many people have seen the phoenix with their own eyes. ）

Li Hongyi was stunned and blurted out: "But everyone believes it?" I believe that the real dragon really exists......"

"That's right, everyone believes that there really is a dragon in this world, and they all believe in their father, their father's father, your ancestor, they are all true dragons—in fact, they are not wrong. Because in a certain way, the dragon is the soul of all the Chinese people in my Tang Dynasty. As an emperor, he shoulders the hope of all the people in the world, and also shoulders the soul of the Chinese people in the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, it is not false to say that the father is the true son of the dragon. ”

Li Hong understood: "As the Son of Heaven, my father holds the power of the world. If there are natural and man-made disasters, you can adjust the power of the world to calm the disaster, which is equivalent to the real dragon spreading clouds and rain to ensure the peace of one party; If you encounter a foreign enemy, you can gather millions of heroes in the Tang Dynasty and fight with a sword, which is equivalent to a real dragon catching thunder and holding lightning, protecting the people of the Tang Dynasty...... The so-called true dragon son is what it means. ”

Li Zhi nodded and said solemnly: "So my father believes that he is a dragon, and he does not believe that he is a dragon." I believe that I am a dragon because I saw it in my father, this so-called real dragon is just the soul of the Chinese nation for 3,000 years, and a force condensed by the hearts of all the people in the Tang Dynasty. This so-called is not a real dragon, but it is just whether the father is a human being, not a dragon, and it is not a false existence such as holy gods, immortals and Buddhas - so the father allows himself to make some mistakes that do not hurt the people of the world, and naturally, he can tolerate his own courtiers and his own people to make some mistakes. ”

Li Hong nodded and suddenly said, "Hong'er understands." Father, this is saying that we must have a heart that embraces the world...... But the father and the emperor and the courtiers may make mistakes, and all the people ...... What mistakes can be made? ”

"How could it not? For example, your queen mother, what a good woman she is, what a rare queen, you know better than anyone else. But you also know better that those who have other intentions, in order to make your mother sad, to make your father sad to see her sad, and have no intention of politics, they spread rumors everywhere, causing many people to follow the slander against her...... You've always known about this kind of thing, haven't you? ”

"But it is those who lead the way who make mistakes......"

"Those who seconded the proponents are more hateful than those who lead the way. For although the wickedness of the leader is great, if no one responds to it, no matter how much he stirs it up, it will be nothing but nothing. Those who seconded it, who were too lazy to think with their own minds, just went with the flow and echoed whatever they wanted—this was the safest thing for them. And for the sake of this convenience, he has given all his thinking power to those who are evil, and do you say that they are more hateful? ”

Li Zhi spoke, but Li Hong was speechless for a long time.

……

A moment later.

Lizheng Palace.

"Queen Mother!" With a cry of joy, as soon as Mei Niang looked up, she saw Li Hong pounced on the couch beside her, constantly rolling back and forth to be coquettish.

"Good, good...... Look at you, the people who have opened the palace are still so childish. Seeing her son, she was always happy to be a mother, so she hooked the corners of her lips, gently stroked her son's sweaty forehead, and said, "What about your father?" ”

"Father? Didn't the queen mother tell him to sleep at home? And he went back to sleep in his study! He casually fished out a fruit from the side and bit it in his mouth, Li Hong said vaguely.

Mei Niang was stunned, but squinted her eyes and said, "What do you say this is?" ”

"What's what?"

"This palace of government...... What will you say is this? ”

"Oh...... Home? What else could it be? Swallowing the fruit, Li Hong asked with a smile, and then took the tea from Minghe's hand and swallowed it.

Mei Niang raised her eyebrows, and said lightly for a long time: "You...... Never mind. After eating early, let's go to rest! ”

She shook her head, but patted her son on the back and coaxed him to go to bed earlier.

Li Hong refused to leave, hugged her for a while, and quarreled with the two little brothers who were also rolling on the side and having fun for a while, before he realized that he was tired and went to Jingmu to rest.

Then, Mei Niang said lightly: "Change clothes, go to the Taiji Hall in this palace." ”

Minghe responded habitually, and then immediately widened his eyes: "Mother...... Empress? ”

Mei Niang lowered her eyes, and said after a long time: "This palace is not relieved immediately." It's just that...... This hall is ...... his home. Since it is home, then there is a big thing in this house, and it should not be caused outside the house. Swing it out! The palace should invite him back. ”

When Minghe heard this, he immediately smiled happily, happily responded yes, and ran straight back - but he was so frightened that Yuru, who was holding the flower and cleaning her makeup, was shocked, and scolded him for being a demon.

Mei Niang looked at him like this, but she didn't hold back after all, her eyebrows and eyes were crooked, and she evoked a touching smile.