Zhang Xin'an said happily: "My son, go and choose a place for the prime minister."
The emperor was a man of great faith. Even if he left Chang'an City, there would be a group of veterans following him. In addition to faith, it was related to his personal charm.
There are always many capable people following such people.
Just like Li Shimin said, I will not take back what I gave you.
It is true that he did not take back the official positions of Prince's Young Master and Shangshu Zuocheng. It was His Highness the Prince who took them back.
In Guanzhong after autumn, the autumn rain is pouring.
Zhang Yang ordered people to build many houses in the village, and these houses became the retirement places for the veterans who followed Tian Khan.
Lishan seems more lively.
Li Shimin still has no intention of abdicating. The time to abdicate has not come yet, and there are many things that have not been completed.
Zhang Yang and the emperor sat opposite each other by the Huaqing Pool in Lishan Mountain.
"Your Majesty, are you going to talk about abdicating the throne?"
"If you agree to my conditions, I can abdicate."
Zhang Yang adjusted his clothes and said, "Tell me."
Li Shimin nodded and said: "I have been on the throne for eighteen years, and there have been many difficult things in these eighteen years. I often think that it would be great if Mr. Zheng was still here, but they are no match for birth, old age, sickness and death, and I am no match for them.
.”
"What about now? Does Your Majesty also feel that time is ruthless?"
"In the past, some people told me about the elixir that can lead to longevity. Some people offered it and I accepted it. However, the queen persuaded me and I did not take it. I also killed the person who offered the elixir."
Zhang Yang was eating jujubes, grabbed a handful and put them in front of him, "These are jujubes grown in Lantian County. They are a bit astringent when eaten now. It is good to relieve loneliness."
Li Shimin was still talking to himself.
"Later on, Duke Zheng passed away. I felt very sad and couldn't bear anyone leaving the court. I was often frightened and couldn't sleep well at night. Coupled with the chaos in Qizhou and Li Yuanchang's rebellion, I was exhausted both physically and mentally. I was often awakened by nightmares at night."
"During that period, I lived a very painful time, but I knew the importance of the country and did not dare to show mercy. I am the emperor and should not protect them. I also know that there are evil-doing people in the clan, not just Li Yuanchang and his like."
"You are a person who sticks to the bottom line. If you had refused, I would not have made things difficult for you, nor would I have ordered you to go to the clan and fight to the death."
Zhang Yang nodded and said: "You are the father of my daughter-in-law, and you are also the father of Yue'er. If I don't help you, no one will help you. Just like His Majesty said, we are a family, and I am yours."
Son-in-law, if the family is in trouble, this is what I should do."
"Okay, these things are over. The talents in your hands have done a good job. I admire them very much. Those people will also become the pillars of the government, but their conduct is too bad."
Li Shimin ate a jujube and said: "You have done a good job, and you are willing to give up the wealth and power I have given you."
"Your Majesty, we have been our son-in-law for so many years. There is no need to hide him. If I didn't step back, you would have had murderous intentions."
Li Shimin said with a smile: "No, if you don't want to retreat, just think that I made a mistake and I won't kill you."
"It turns out that you are right. I will not stay in the court for a long time. I will definitely resign, and the prince will definitely agree." Zhang Yang frowned and said, "The emperor's power is really boring."
"Okay." Zhang Yang poured him a bowl of tea, "Now tell me the reason why you refuse to abdicate."
"Your Lishan family property is too big, I'm not worried about it."
Zhang Yanggang picked up the kettle and wanted to pour it for the emperor, but then put it down and exclaimed: "What are you worried about?"
Li Shimin spit out a date core and said, "Nanzhao."
Zhang Yang snorted coldly: "I made an offer, but you didn't agree."
Li Shimin seemed to feel guilty, and coughed reluctantly, "I can write an IOU."
"Thirty million yuan, does this price still need to be discussed?"
"In addition to Nanzhao, Liaodong, Goguryeo, Silla, and the Japanese slave territories should all belong to the Tang Dynasty. You hand over all of them, including the silver mines."
Zhang Yang said again: "Yes, but Lishan also has conditions."
Li Shimin nodded and said, "Speak."
"The central government must give full power to manage Lishan. All the people who originally went to the Eastern Expedition are my people. If these people want to leave and become officials, Your Majesty should not interfere and give them the right to choose."
"I promise you."
Zhang Yang asked his daughter to bring paper and pen, and while writing the IOU, listening to the sound of rain falling in the Huaqing Pool, he frowned and said, "You obviously have other choices, why did you write this IOU?"
"You don't understand if you are not in my position. To me, opening up new territories is priceless. Every time the territory of the Tang Dynasty expands, I will feel that my old illness has been cured. There is no good medicine that can compare to opening up new territories.
Expanding the soil."
Li Shimin took Zhang Yang's pen and signed and stamped it.
Zhang Yang then handed over the seal of King Nanzhao and the list of previous Nanzhao kings, and the handover work ended.
The emperor gained Nanzhao and Donghai, and Lishan gained wealth.
The management rights of Lishan in Nanzhao, Silla, Baekje, and Japanese slaves were retained, and the Tang Dynasty obtained the land.
Zhang Yang took out another stack of letters and said, "These are the letters that I have exchanged with Liaodong over the years. Your Majesty can check them. They have been out to sea for three years. I think there should be letters delivered this winter. The entire East China Sea includes
All Japanese slaves are from the Tang Dynasty."
Li Shimin smiled and said: "You and Yue'er will become the richest people in the world. I will give you this wealth."
Zhang Yang looked calm and said impatiently: "Your Majesty, there is no need to talk to me about these empty words. Lishan's wealth has always been earned by himself."
Li Shimin picked up a volume of letters, frowned at the contents, and asked curiously: "What is this?"
"Ouch...it turns out that girl Qingqing took the wrong one." Zhang Yang also took a closer look, "I originally planned to use this to force His Majesty to abdicate."
"What?"
Weng's son-in-law's two faces were very close to each other, and they were chatting with each other with winks.
Zhang Qingqing looked at this scene, suspicious in his heart, and raised his foot to lightly kick the younger brother beside him.
Zhang Xin'an was kicked so hard that she asked: "Sister, what are you doing!"
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! "What did you say dad and grandpa were talking about?"
Zhang Xin'an stood up again, raised his eyes and said, "Does it have something to do with my brother?"
Zhang Qingqing glared at his hopelessly stupid brother, turned around and left.
Suddenly, Li Shimin looked up to the sky, laughed, and walked down the mountain happily.
Zhang Yang packed up the letters in front of him and hurriedly burned all the letters from various counties. Then he scratched his head, glanced around, and said to himself: "Huh? Where is my pen? Alas... I have retired.
My memory is getting worse."
His Majesty was still in a good mood when he returned to the small palace at the foot of the mountain. Before Queen Changsun could say anything, His Majesty closed the door heavily.
Then there were angry curses coming from inside the house.
"Zhang Yang! You are so brave, you dare to threaten me!"
"I am blind, I should hang you under the Chengtian Sect!"
Soon there was the sound of breaking things in the house.
A group of palace maids came in a hurry. Empress Changsun stopped them and said helplessly: "Let's all leave. It's okay. Your Majesty will be fine if he loses his temper."
Li Shimin, who was inside the house, his black and white beard and hair swaying in the wind, raised a precious purple wood chair and threw it heavily to the ground, "Zhang Yang! Do you think I am so miserable?"
The Tian Khan was so angry that veins popped out on his forehead, and his curse words became hoarse from the anger, and finally he started coughing.
It seemed like he had let out all the grievances he had held in his heart for the past two years.
The room was quiet for a long time, Li Shimin's breathing was heavy, and his eyes were still bloodshot from anger and were now red.
He stopped looking at the mess on the floor, straightened his clothes, spit on his hands, combed his beard and hair in front of the glass mirror, and then turned around and opened the door.
Empress Changsun saluted quickly, "Your Majesty, it's time to eat."
Li Shimin breathed out from his nostrils, and his voice was still hoarse when he opened his mouth, and said: "I... have made a decree. I want to abdicate and let Cheng Qian succeed me."
After hearing this, a group of palace maids stood beside the queen outside the house and were very surprised. It was too sudden.
Empress Changsun said in a deep voice: "Are you deaf?"
The palace maids ran away in panic and went to prepare. Someone asked: "Where to put the pen and ink."
"Where is the yellow silk that was used to draft the edict... What kind of silk was used to write the edict of abdication?"
"Ah! Should Khan Tian change his clothes to be more formal?"
Empress Changsun held her forehead and watched the palace maids scurrying around. In the end, Li Lizhi prepared everything for her father.
The emperor's abdication process was very simple. He just wrote a decree saying that he wanted to abdicate, and then had someone send it to Li Chengqian in Chang'an City. The abdication edict was written with a pen.
Li Shimin calmly placed the pen he received from Zhang Yang on his desk.
However, Li Shimin continued to stay in Lishan and could not go to Chang'an City because he was not feeling well, leaving Li Chengqian to arrange the succession matters by himself.
Kuaima left Lishan with his will.
Li Shimin frowned and looked at Qiu Yu outside the house, and whispered: "Zhang Yang said that if I don't abdicate, he can stop work and production in the entire Guanzhong with just one sentence, and even forced the county magistrates of the thirty-six counties in Guanzhong to write letters of guarantee."
Empress Changsun tidied up His Majesty's study and replied: "How is Your Majesty better than Zhang Yang?"
The queen's words were very direct, and Li Shimin's old face turned from dark to rosy.
The overt and covert fighting between Weng and his son-in-law has been going on for more than ten years and has never stopped.
It was said that Zhang Yang was preparing to force His Majesty to abdicate, and His Majesty also wanted to put a knife on Zhang Yang's neck to make him hand over Nanzhao.
When His Majesty was dealing with the aristocratic family, Zhang Yang took the opportunity to take advantage.
When Zhang Yang was dealing with the clan, His Majesty was also thinking about how to kill the donkey.
Fortunately, this son-in-law can retreat bravely. Even if he has the slightest attitude of greed for power, Your Majesty will kill him to appease everyone.
If they really fall out, once Zhang Yang rebels, people's hearts and family ties will be torn apart, and the cost will be that the Central Plains will once again fall into eternal disaster.
Fortunately, neither Zhang Yang nor His Majesty went to this extreme, and each took a step back.
Neither the emperor nor his son-in-law were good people, and they knew it tacitly.
The emperor abdicated, Zhang Yang relinquished power, and the matter was over.
The two of them plotted against each other, but in the end, none of these methods were used, and their efforts were in vain.
A child held his parents' hands and walked by the railway.
The child pointed to the beautiful mountain in the distance, with a tall bell tower in the middle of the mountain, and asked in a tender voice: "Mom and dad, what is that?"
His parents smiled and said: "The sun and moon of the Tang Dynasty live there."
The ignorant child asked again: "Aren't the sun and moon in the sky?"
His parents explained: "In people's hearts, the sun and the moon are the ones who give me light and brightness."
The child asked again, "Then should we thank Lishan?"
"We keep in our hearts those who gave us light and brightness. Our rewards are nothing to them, so we just need to keep them in our hearts and tell people in the future that such people have appeared in the Tang Dynasty. Don't forget it when you look up.
.”
"Dad! Mom! The child must remember."
In Chang'an City, people everywhere were reading out the decree of Tian Khan to abdicate.
Half a month later, more and more people gathered outside Lishan Village. They paid homage to Lishan and thanked the Khan for bringing blessings to the country.
Among them are Uighurs, Tubos, Turks, Western Regions and Persians, and many more, who come from all over the Central Plains.
Zhang Yang stood on the mountain and said, "Look, Khan, if you abdicate peacefully, the world will remember you."
Li Shimin waved his sleeves and snorted: "Are you very proud now?"
"I'm not proud. The one who is proud should be His Majesty."
"The thing I regret most in my life is that I didn't hang you in front of Chengtian Gate sooner."
"Hehehe, you old black-faced man finally spoke his mind. I should have rebelled long ago."
"You...good, good!" Li Shimin was trembling with anger, pointed at Zhang Yang and said hello three times, gritted his teeth and said: "You really have the heart to be rebellious."
Zhang Yang said again: "You know people, you know faces, but you don't know hearts. You want to kill me not just once or twice."
"I have tolerated you for a long time!"
This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading!...
On the mountain, a palace maid came to report, "Queen, Your Highness, something is not right!"
Empress Changsun and Li Yue put down their needles and threads at the same time and asked, "What's wrong?"
The palace maid replied again: "Your Majesty and the county prince are fighting."
"Huh? How's the fight going?" Li Yue asked with concern.
"I don't know..." The palace maid said in surprise and coyly: "It's still beating."
Everyone let out a long sigh at the same time. Ever since the county marquis retired and His Majesty abdicated the throne, this kind of noisy life has never stopped.
Zhang Qingqing sat cross-legged on the bear's back and said distressedly: "It's not over yet."
Unable to get out of breath, when Weng and his son-in-law returned to the mountain, they were much calmer and more embarrassed. They both had some minor injuries on their bodies and their clothes were in tatters.
"If I were ten years younger, I would definitely be able to kill you on my horse."
"A good man is not as brave as he used to be. If you have the ability, kill me now."
"I admit that your skills are very good, but they are much worse than what I used to do."
Just as the two people's arrogance subsided for a moment, they started arguing again, and the Queen and Li Yue quickly tried to persuade them.
The crown prince's enthronement ceremony was scheduled for early November. His Majesty abdicated, the Marquis of Lishan County retired, and a lot of things were left to Li Chengqian.
After laying down the throne, Li Shimin began to live a free life. He was playing shuttlecock with Zhang Qingqing and Xin'an.
The Tian Khan, who sat on the throne with great majesty, occasionally secretly set off firecrackers with his granddaughter, acting like a child, but also like a crazy old man.
Playing shuttlecock was originally a very interesting thing, but after Li Shimin participated, Zhang Yang found it boring. He sat next to his wife and peeled walnuts and ate them one bite at a time.
Li Yue suddenly put down her book, and looked at her father and daughter, "I don't know why, I've always been restless recently."