，

After Cui Keli stepped down, Li Ye continued to deal with the twists and turns after the imperial case, and Li Zhen did not get an order, so he could only lie on his stomach in the palace all the time. It never went to dusk, Li Ye did not leave his seat, and Li Zhen did not move.

When the last sunset moved from the square in front of the palace to the palace wall, Li Ye stood up. When he walked past Li Zhen, he indifferently ordered the other party to get up and follow. He came to the outside of the palace, walked down the jade steps, and went straight all the way to the imperial city tower.

The walls of the imperial city are very high, and when you look south from here, most of Chang'an City can be included in your eyes. At the beginning of the lanterns, the neighborhoods are like chessboards. At present, there is no curfew in Chang'an City, and the bustle of the bustling place can last until late at night.

The night breeze was blowing, Li Ye's clothes and hair curled lightly, and the solemn gloom on his face slowly dissipated, replaced by a little reminiscence: "When I just inherited the prince and took charge of the Anwang Mansion, I met you at the Fengyu Bridge. At that time, I had no power in my hands and no one around me, but I had to face the hostility of traitors and Taomen, which was a real adversity.

"From that time on, you have followed me and made many good plans for me to take care of the affairs of the palace. Then I went out to calm Lu, pacify the Quartet, and conquer the frontier, and you have always been my humerus. In terms of merit, among civil officials, you call it second, and no one dares to call it first. ”

Li Zhen bowed and stood behind Li Ye's side, keeping his head looking down at his feet.

Hearing this, he raised his head slightly, barely revealing a smile, "When Fengyuqiao met His Majesty by chance, it was when the minister was desperate and was about to sleep on the streets. Although he was poor at that time, the minister had a passion and wanted to serve the country, change the decline of the Tang Dynasty, and serve the people...... Become a generation of good ministers, and leave a name in history. ”

Li Ye didn't look back, looking at Chang'an City, where the lights were gradually bright, and his tone was slow: "I always thought that you and Cui Keli would be my room and Du, and you have always done a good job, and for this, I have never been stingy with rewarding you." But I didn't expect that the people who once asked for their lives for the people and shed their blood for national affairs ended up in the land of wealth and wealth!"

Li Zhen was speechless.

Half a ring, seeing that Li Ye had no intention of continuing to speak, Li Zhen said bitterly: "People with lofty ideals in this world are worried about their families and countries, and most of them are not in power. Once in power, in the face of gold and silver, how many people can not change their original intentions? This is true for individuals, and even more so for groups.

"In the final analysis, the people with lofty ideals in the world are the same, and the powerful people in the world are the same. When the identity of a person with lofty ideals becomes a national magnate, his face will naturally change. This is a law, and no one can break it.

"The minister has also worked hard, and the minister has also made a lot of contributions to this country, and the minister also likes to talk about this merit...... But the fact is that history does not mean the present, and if the minister is degraded now, he is really degenerate, and the guilt cannot be concealed. ”

After saying this, Li Zhen bowed down, "Hardship and hardship, the minister has come over, the sword mountain and the sea of fire have not made the minister change his mind, and the minister also thought that in this world, there will be nothing that can change the minister." But the minister now understands that when it comes to the power to change people, power and wealth are much stronger than hardships and hardships.

"The minister has the trust of His Majesty and is willing to bear the responsibility for the crime, please punish Your Majesty!"

Li Ye did not respond to Li Zhen's request for punishment.

He has been a human being in two lives, and the things he has experienced are very comparable, and his diverse insights have made his understanding of the world more profound. He actually understands Li Zhen's experience very well, and he also agrees with Li Zhen's assertion about the change of a group of people.

But this does not mean that Li Ye can forgive Li Zhen.

Li Zhen was wrong, and Li Ye can forgive him

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, he himself was wrong, who can come and forgive?

"Taizong said that the people are the water and the king is the boat, and the water can carry the boat and capsize the boat, but I think that the "king" in this sentence is more appropriate to replace it with "the court". I beheaded the Kaifeng Assassin and disposed of the Hubu Shangshu, you may think that I have done it ruthlessly. But I tell you that this can only calm the anger of the people for a while, and it is not enough to make the country stable for a long time, and there will be no more powerful people to rob the people's wealth.

"Prices have risen sharply, and the people can't live their lives, even if the Tang Dynasty is established, no matter how much merit is done, it is still a flower in the mirror. When the people's food, clothing, housing and transportation cannot be guaranteed, who can ask them to feel the glory of the Tang Dynasty?

"If it was before, the land annexation would also be annexed, and although the people were resentful, they were powerless to resist the government, but in the last two or three hundred years, the situation was not serious enough to the extent of the collapse of the dynasty.

"But today's Tang Dynasty is different, there are many monks, the people have the power to check and balance the imperial court, if the imperial court does not treat them as human beings, they will immediately rise up to resist! ”

Speaking of this, Li Ye's eyes gradually sharpened again, and he looked back at Li Zhen, "If everyone in this world is a scholar and a coward, and they are powerless, even if they are dissatisfied in their hearts, they will not dare to confront the government, at most they will play tricks."

"But the Tang people are brave and energetic, not such soft-footed shrimps! Cultivation is equivalent to a sharp weapon in their minds, with this sharp weapon, when they encounter injustice and unfair treatment, under the stimulation of the courage of flesh and blood, they will easily draw their swords!

"You don't want to think about what I should do if the price rises and spreads to the whole country, once the people rise up and do something? I am also afraid, very afraid! Because of this fear, I fear the people, because I fear the people, so I dare not let the people suffer injustice!"

Li Zhen raised his head in shock, looked at Li Ye in amazement, and said: "Your Majesty's cultivation is unparalleled, and there is an army of immortals under his command, why are you afraid of the people making trouble? ”

Li Ye sneered: "That kind of Tang Dynasty is still a prosperous Tang Dynasty, can it still unify the world, make the four seas surrender, and Chang'an for ten thousand years?"

Li Zhen's face turned pale, and he opened his mouth several times, "But, Your Majesty, it is a national policy that Your Majesty insists on implementing by cultivating the exercises and letting the people master force, and now it is ...... Isn't it ...... now?"

"Self-inflicted?"

Li Zhen didn't dare to say yes, but that's what it meant.

Li Ye glanced at Li Zhen twice, and shook his head in disappointment, "Li Zhen, you don't understand at all, this is the result I want." Let the people have the ability to restrain the emperor, so that the emperor can fear the people and not harm the people. Let the court fear the people, and the national policy and national government will be beneficial to the people.

This is a complete social contract.

"In such a dynasty, officials are officials who work for the benefit of the people, not high-ranking magnates. In such a dynasty, the people will naturally support the imperial court, and the two go hand in hand, so that the dynasty can be truly powerful and strong for a long time. Only in this way can we avoid the endless cycle of changing dynasties every few hundred years.

"What I want is that the Tang Dynasty will be strong forever, don't you really understand this truth?"

Li Zhen stood on his knees in a daze, his mouth open and speechless.

Li Ye turned around and continued to face the Chang'an market, quietly looking at his empire and people from afar.

In the final analysis, his cultivation comes from the allegiance of the people, and if the court loses the hearts of the people and the power of the people's luck dissipates, his cultivation will cease to exist. At that time, he will

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Nothing, become grass mustard.

Because of this reason, he had to think carefully about how to keep Datang strong, let the powerful regulate their own behavior, not to squeeze and encroach on the wealth of the people, so that the world can get rid of the strange circle of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer, and achieve real political harmony and prosperity.

Long Qi decided that Li Ye would cultivate the Emperor Dao, and the Emperor Dao made him have to govern the Tang Dynasty.

The ancients said that governing the country begins with governing officials. As long as the officials are in good order, the world will naturally be peaceful, and the root cause is that power needs to be restrained. In Li Ye's view, the rulers cannot rely on the emperor, but on the people. Let the people have the power to restrain officials and have the thoughts of supervising officials.

That is, to open up the wisdom of the people, and at the same time let the people have force. That's the basics. With this foundation, the subsequent superstructure – measures, laws, institutions—will naturally take shape.

After standing for a while, Li Ye planned to return to the palace.

When he was about to turn around, he heard Li Zhen's mournful cry: "Your Majesty, it is the ministers who are incompetent and talentless, who have poisoned the Tang Dynasty and hindered Your Majesty's major affairs of governing the country, and the ministers deserve death!"

The voice fell, and a burst of anger came, followed by a high-pitched and desolate shout: "Your Majesty ten thousand years, Tang ten thousand years!"

Li Ye turned around and saw Li Zhen's hand drooping down from his bloody forehead, and the body fell limply to the ground.

On that day, Li Zhen, the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty, committed suicide in the imperial city tower. At this time, the head of Kaifeng Assassin was still hanging on the city gate.

Staring at Li Zhen's corpse with his eyes closed for a long time, Li Ye squatted down, closed his eyes for him, and sighed: "To suppress the powerful and create rules, it must be similar to when the dynasty was founded." After a long time, the power of the elite class has become huge, and no matter how much the king wants to change, he is powerless. Therefore, I must be ruthless, and you must also die. ”

Standing up, Li Ye waved his hand to the official who recorded the living notes, and said to him: "Prime Minister Li Zhen, I am afraid of suicide, and I remember his many years of meritorious service, and I will not be punished." ”

......

In the autumn of the ninth year of heaven, the army of the Western Expedition triumphed.

Coupled with the Tianzhu conquered in the seventh year of Tianzhi, so far, the Tang Dynasty has basically completed the unification of this world.

On that day, Li Ye was on the bank of the Baqiao Bridge to recount the merits of the soldiers of the Western Expedition. Chang'an City was empty of thousands of people, and countless people went to the city to pay their respects. Li Ye canonized Shangguan Chengcheng as the king of Qi, rewarded the three armies, and when the edict was issued, whether it was the soldiers of the Western Expedition or the people of Chang'an, they all called His Majesty ten thousand years and the Tang Dynasty ten thousand years.

"Datang is really going to last for 10,000 years!" Cui Keli, who was standing at the top of the hundred officials, felt the courage of the Datang army and the people to fight bulls, and couldn't help but feel emotional.

He knew the situation outside the world, and he personally dealt with the matter of Kaifeng, and he knew very well what it meant for Datang to unify this world under Li Ye.

Li Ye finished reviewing the army of the Western Expedition and was about to leave when the clear sky suddenly surged, lightning and thunder. In the blink of an eye, there were two huge whirlpools that were bottomless, floating in the sky like the eyes of the sky.

Suddenly, in the sight of the Tang Dynasty soldiers and civilians, two behemoths emerged from the whirlpool, as if they had jumped out of another space.

That's two starships.

A ship that looks like a giant snake is engraved with two powerful characters on its hull: Nuwa!

The other is as majestic as a city, and there are also two big white words on the hull: Pangu!

————

End of this volume of "Datang".

Next volume: The final volume - "Civilization".

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