Chapter 17

Li Tai did not believe Li Chengqian would help him for free; given Li Chengqian's shameless style of conduct, there must be a conspiracy hidden within, but he did not care.

Arriving at the Literature Pavilion, Li Tai headed straight for the room where Su Xu was located.

"Uncle, Uncle, are you in?"

Before the person had even arrived, his urgent voice had already reached Su Xu's ears. Putting down the brush in his hand, Su Xu rose and opened the door to welcome Li Tai:

"Greetings, Your Highness the Prince of Wei!"

"Forget the formalities!"

Li Tai pulled Su Xu to sit down hurriedly: "Uncle, Big Brother just came to Yankang Ward, and he said two things to me.

I have a plan here; help me see if there are any loopholes."

"Please speak, Your Highness?"

The Prince of Wei explained his plan as detailedly as possible, then a look of doubt appeared in his eyes:

"Is Big Brother trying to get me to drive Chu Suiliang out of Chang'an through Lord Fang?

You also know that the Lady of Liang is Lord Fang's lifeline, Gaoyang's relationship with the Lady of Liang is not very good, and Father favors Gaoyang.

If I can make the relationship between Gaoyang and the Lady of Liang harmonious, this would be beneficial to me."

Su Xu's brows furrowed slightly: "The Crown Prince mentioning the deceased imperial grandson must be to remind Your Highness that Princess Gaoyang has been married for two years and still has no offspring.

As long as Princess Gaoyang becomes pregnant, her relationship with the Lady of Liang will inevitably ease; we can start from this aspect."

"Then let's change the plan; no need to use my deceased nephew!"

"I feel a faint sense of unease in my heart; I always feel that the Crown Prince would not help us without reason."

Li Tai curled his lip: "He must want Zhinu and me to fight to the death so he can play the fisherman."

"No!"

Su Xu shook his head: "The Crown Prince already lost when he pleaded for the Prince of Qi; the Emperor will not hand the imperial throne to someone who confuses black and white.

The Crown Prince is no fool; he must know this. I think we should wait a bit longer; let's wait for the Crown Prince's next move before we act."

The tree wants to be still, but the wind will not cease; Su Xu wanted to wait, but Zhangsun Wuji did not want to give him the chance.

Fang Yi'ai learned a piece of news from Fang Xuanling and hurriedly pushed open the door at this moment:

"Your Highness the Prince of Wei, Zhangsun Wuji has sent people to Qianzhou in the Jiangnan Circuit; their intentions are currently unknown."

"Qianzhou?"

Li Tai exclaimed: "Isn't Cousin Su Jun the Prefect of Qianzhou? What does he want to do?"

Su Xu, standing to the side, also had an exceptionally ugly expression:

"This is aimed at me; he is determined to support the Prince of Jin to ascend.

That's right, all the aristocratic families either support the Crown Prince or support Your Highness; no one has paid any attention to the Prince of Jin at all.

As long as Zhangsun Wuji can support the Prince of Jin to ascend, he will be the greatest contributor."

"Bang!"

Li Tai slapped the desk heavily: "That old scoundrel is bullying people too much; no more waiting, start the plan immediately, first make Chu Suiliang get out of Chang'an."

"No! The most dangerous one is still the Crown Prince; wait a little longer, I will write a letter to Qianzhou."

"Uncle!"

Li Tai was very anxious: "Don't worry about Big Brother at this time; no matter what his purpose is, it is only for self-preservation.

Let him do whatever he wants; if he wants to use me, let him use me, as long as it doesn't affect me ascending to the position of Crown Prince."

Although he said that, Su Xu was still somewhat uneasy; these past few days, Crown Princess Su Xi had been constantly visiting Yang Fei, and no one knew what they had discussed.

After a long silence, Su Xu sighed:

"If Your Highness wants to do it, then do it! I will go to the Eastern Palace to probe the Crown Prince."

"Fine!"

At the same time, Li Chengqian was in the Eastern Palace listening to the teachings of the Crown Prince's Grand Master, Yu Zhining.

"The Turkic people are human in face but beast in heart, difficult to educate; bringing them into the Eastern Palace is highly inappropriate. I ask that Your Highness the Crown Prince listen to good advice and from now on cultivate civil virtues and lay down martial arms."

"Got it, got it! Can you stop talking!"

Li Chengqian rubbed his temples: "Grand Master Yu, I am not a fool either; the Turks and the Great Tang have the enmity of a destroyed nation. Do you really think I can trust them?

There are some things I cannot say right now; just treat them as Kunlun slaves.

If you have nothing else to do, go advise Father; he has been staying in the palace lately and not even handling state affairs."

Yu Zhining did not fall for it and spoke with a calm face:

"I am the Crown Prince's Grand Master; my duty is to advise and teach the Crown Prince. The Emperor has his own Censors to advise him."

"Then teach away! You advise every day but I don't see you teaching me. What? Is spraying people fun?"

The corners of Yu Zhining's mouth twitched, and his voice involuntarily lowered:

"Your Highness the Crown Prince has outstanding learning and handles state affairs with ease; I have nothing to teach.

I only hope Your Highness the Crown Prince can pay attention to your own moral conduct and, like the Emperor, be able to accept advice with an open mind."

"Father is Father, I am I; do you really think everyone in the world has Father's magnanimity?"

Speaking of this, Li Chengqian waved his hand: "Forget it, since you mentioned moral conduct, then teach me how to do it.

Loving beauty and hating foul odors—I just can't control it; you teach me how to do it.

Also, I recently wanted to hit my fourth brother; I know it's wrong, but my mind just wants to hit him. Tell me what I should do."

"This is a crooked heart; just remove the crookedness from your heart!"

"How to remove it?"

Li Chengqian pretended to be sincerely asking for advice:

"I now have two little people in my head, one is good and one is evil; how should I help the good to defeat the evil?

The name that can be named is not the eternal name; how do I determine that good is definitely good? That evil is definitely evil?

Meeting a beggar on the road, my kindness flared up and I gave him a string of copper coins, but because of this string of coins, it led to him suffering a fatal disaster.

At this moment, am I doing good or committing evil?"

Yu Zhining's expression was faint: "Naturally it is good; acting from a kind heart is good. As for the result, why keep it in your heart?

Everyone has a heart of compassion; if the beggar was killed because of a string of coins, the fault lies with the killer who knows no benevolence and righteousness, and the victim who did not know not to flaunt wealth. What does it have to do with us?

The Dao of Heaven is yin and yang, the Dao of Earth is hardness and softness, the Dao of Man is benevolence and righteousness. If there were no ethics of good and evil, how would we differ from birds and beasts?

Your Highness the Crown Prince is the heir to the nation; you must not learn from Buddhism and Taoism to escape the mortal world.

Since ancient times, name and reality match; good is good, evil is evil. If the intention is good, even if the result is evil, that is still doing good."

Li Chengqian chuckled: "So, you think advising me is good, so you keep advising, regardless of what consequences might arise?

A person's eyes can only see one side; how do you know what you see is definitely the truth?

If the truth is not clear and everything is based on speculation, will it lead to irreversible consequences?

Just to expand your own noble spirit while disregarding the lives of others—Grand Master Yu, how selfish you are!"

"I am a human, not a god or Buddha; I believe what I see!"

Yu Zhining's brows furrowed slightly: "If what is seen is not the fact, then what counts as a fact?

Killers have reasons for killing, thieves have reasons for stealing; can we let them go just because they have reasons?

Why did Kongzi not write the reasons when he wrote the Spring and Autumn? That is because wrong is wrong, right is right; why write the reasons?"

Li Chengqian instantly felt there was no need to continue the debate; continuing would just be a waste of breath. Anyway, he had already finished guiding him!

"I cannot out-argue you; I admit defeat!"

"Since that is so, can Your Highness the Crown Prince lay down martial arms and cultivate civil virtues, and expel the Turks from the Eastern Palace?"

"Sigh..."

Li Chengqian sighed long: "I will tell you the truth; you have heard about the court meeting the other day. My position as Crown Prince can be considered finished.

Now, cultivating civil virtues is already too late; I only hope that if I am lucky enough to survive in the future, I can still contribute to the people of the Great Tang at the border through these Turks."