Hearing Li Mu proposed a duel, Kong Yingda's heart skipped a beat. Memories of the past came to mind, and he was a little frightened. But he thought again that he was absolutely reasonable about what happened today. Even if Li Mu was eloquent, it would be impossible.
There is nothing to be afraid of when you say black is white.
Thinking of this, Kong Yingda said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, I would like to confront Marquis Zhulu."
"Okay!" Li Shimin said: "In that case, the two ministers will have a debate. I and the officials are all witnesses. Who is right and who is wrong will have a public opinion."
Kong Yingda came to Li Mu's left side, and the two turned around and faced each other. Li Mu motioned to Kong Yingda to speak first, but Kong Yingda was not polite and asked: "Zhuluhou, the facts are all there. Tang Guan is your stepbrother, you
Recommending him is just nepotism and forming a clique for personal gain, what else can you say?"
Li Mu did not answer, but asked: "Kong Jijiu, I heard that you have learned a lot, so I would like to ask you for advice today."
"You ask."
"What is forming a party? What is selfishness?"
"Colluding is the purpose of forming a party, and seeking personal gain is selfishness."
"As expected, he is very knowledgeable. Then I don't understand, who am I forming a party with, and why am I pursuing selfish interests?"
Kong Yingda glanced at Tang Jian, whose face was ashen, and gritted his teeth and said: "Others dare not say it, but I dare to say it. You formed a party with Tang Jian to seek personal gain for his son."
"Haha!" Li Mu sneered twice and said: "Kong Jijiu, in order to get revenge on me, are you going to slander even the important officials of the court? It's true that Tang Jian is my stepfather, but don't forget that he is personally conferred by His Majesty.
He was a first-class Duke and made great contributions to the country. In the chaos at the end of the Sui Dynasty, it was he who advised the great emperor to raise the army. At the beginning of the founding of the country, Lonely Huai'en rebelled. It was he who endured the humiliation of imprisonment but did not forget the court and delivered the news to put down the rebellion.
This time to destroy the Turks, it was because he put his life and death at risk, went out as an envoy with integrity, and went deep into the enemy camp alone, pretending to be false and paralyzing the enemy. Only then did General Li Jing take advantage of the fog to defeat the enemy. Such a loyal minister, do you think your Majesty will forget him?
Does he need to form a party with me, a junior who has been in office for less than three months? Or do you think that His Majesty is a foolish king who will ignore loyal ministers and meritorious ministers? "
How dare Kong Yingda take the blame? He quickly said: "I didn't mean it, so don't slander me!"
"You don't? You do!" Li Mu shouted loudly, and continued: "As far as I know, stepfather Tang Jian has seven sons. The first six have been favored by His Majesty, and only the youngest son Tang Guan is left. His Majesty must have made arrangements in his mind.
Even if His Majesty has not arranged for Kong to offer wine, have you ever heard of the Tang family in Bingzhou? The princes of the three dynasties are so famous, would they risk their lives for the sake of the youngest son in the family and come to the door of a young boy like me?
?Perhaps only Kong Jijiu can do such things."
"How dare you insult my family!"
"I don't dare." Li Mu took back his words, faced Li Shimin, and said: "This is my explanation for 'forming a party for private gain.' Please give your Majesty a clear warning."
"His Majesty……"
Li Shimin glanced at Kong Yingda and said: "Kong Aiqing, the reputation of forming cliques for selfish purposes is indeed far-fetched. Tang Jian has made countless contributions to our important minister of the Tang Dynasty. I have already made plans for his heirs. And I have always known Tang Jian's story.
In terms of character, he will never form a party with others. Since you are impeaching Li Mu, don't involve others."
Kong Yingda sighed, bowed and saluted, and said: "I know that I am guilty, and it may not be true to form a clique for personal gain, but since Zhuluhou was ordered by His Majesty to select editors at Hongwen Hall, Chongwen Hall and Imperial College, he did not choose, so he decided on Tang Guan
, this also inevitably seems to be nepotism and perfunctory!"
"Kong offers wine, this is wrong."
"You still want to quibble?"
"No, Kong Jijiu, I just want to ask for advice. If His Majesty asked you to find someone to do something, and your son is the most suitable person for it, what would you do?"
Kong Yingda looked upright and said: "I should recommend others."
Li Mu immediately said: "Kong Yingda, you are bullying me!"
"How can I deceive you? I am avoiding suspicion!"
"Kong Jijiu, is it more important what His Majesty told you, or is your reputation more important? You put your own reputation above His Majesty's will. You are not deceiving the emperor, so what does it mean to be deceiving the emperor?"
"You!" Kong Yingda was speechless and unable to speak. Li Mu continued: "I think personal reputation is not important, and completing the tasks assigned by His Majesty is the most important. Since I think Tang Guan is the most suitable, I can't
Because Tang Guan and I are relatives, I will not recommend him. A wise man should not avoid relatives and enemies when recommending talents! Tang Guan is my stepbrother. I naturally know that recommending him will attract criticism, but I don't care, a real man.
Standing between heaven and earth, we are upright and upright, protected by our own awe-inspiring righteousness, and fearless of what others say!"
"Nonsense!" Kong Yingda was so angry that his beard stood up and he stamped his feet: "Tang Guan is ignorant and has no skills. There are many students who are better than him. How come he is the most suitable candidate?"
"Kong Jijiu, you are wrong again!"
Wrong, wrong, wrong... Kong Yingda didn't know how many "wrongs" he had heard. His head was spinning. In his confusion, he seemed to hear the voice of a young child being scolded by his father when he was learning to read. Either he was wrong here, or he was wrong there.
Being scolded by his father, Kong Yingda had nothing to say, but standing in front of him was a young boy who was scolded by him for making mistakes. How could he keep his face and gritted his teeth and said: "Zhulu Hou, you have repeatedly said that I was wrong.
, you should explain clearly how I was wrong!"
"Datang Daily was invented by me. Only I know what kind of editing is needed. That's why Your Majesty arranged for me to select talents. Whether they are good or not, I will set the standard. In my eyes, the students you think are good
It may be worthless, and time is tight. Datang Daily has to be published every day. I don’t have time to make a grand selection. Only Tang Guan, whose character and ability I know, I think he is very qualified for the position of editor. I
Isn't it okay to recommend him? Do I have to select talents according to Kong Jijiu's standards for Kong Jijiu to be satisfied? How could Kong Jijiu be so ambitious and want to interfere in everything! Because after you become Kong Sheng, you will
Are you superior to others? Do others want to look up to you and encourage you? Such a great magnanimity is even greater than that of Your Majesty, Kong Jijiu, what do you mean?"
Kong Yingda's head flickered and he almost fell over. He finally stood still and his mind went blank. He closed his eyes and calmed down for a while. After smoothing out what Li Mu said, he understood the meaning and fell to the ground crying.
"Your Majesty clearly knows that Zhulu Hou speaks sharply. I can't compare with him, but what he said is definitely not my intention. I just think that Tang Guan is not qualified for the job. Hongwen Hall, Chongwen Hall, and Imperial College are all better than him.
Better talents. Zhuluhou’s move is unfair to them. I have no other intentions at all!"
Kong Yingda burst into tears, he was really very pitiful. Li Shimin couldn't bear it, but he was angry at the same time. You old guy, now you know you can't speak. You just refused to listen to my advice. Li Shimin glanced at Li Mu and said: "Zhuluhou
Don't talk nonsense. I believe that Kong Jijiu is not that kind of person. Moreover, what Kong Jijiu said is not unreasonable. I also know a little about Tang Guan's reputation. His studies are indeed not good. In a hurry, you
I don’t blame you for letting him be the editor, but if you didn’t choose someone, you can’t escape the suspicion of being perfunctory.”
"Your Majesty is generous, I am not perfunctory." It has already reached this point, how can Li Mu admit it. He knew that Li Shimin wanted to give Kong Yingda a step down, but today Kong Yingda had pissed him off, and he didn't want to give it up.
Li Shimin saw Li Mu saying this and glared at him, but Li Mu had no intention of retreating. Li Shimin also became a little angry and said: "Then tell me, why don't you choose someone? Give me an explanation!"
"Your Majesty, just now Kong Jiujiu also said that Tang Guan was not good at school and often skipped classes and wandered around the market. In the Hongwen Hall, the evaluation results were always inferior. I want to say that this is exactly what I want to choose Tang Guan for.
reason."
Li Mu frowned and said, "Why is this?"
"Your Majesty, Datang Daily is for the common people. If you are too knowledgeable, will the common people be able to understand what you write? Moreover, whether it is Hongwen Hall or Chongwen Hall, they are all descendants of nobles. How do they know the sufferings of the common people?
? Even the students of the Imperial College, under the teachings of professors like Kong Jijiu, are probably indistinguishable. The articles they write are only suitable for their own reading. And Tang Guan likes to hang out in the market. People know that he
We all know it. So I think he is the most suitable person, at least for now. As for the others, I can choose them later."
As soon as Kong Yingda heard this, he got up from the ground, pointed at Li Mu and said angrily: "How can you insult the students like this? They all studied the classics of the saints dedicated to kings and emperors such as Yao and Shun. How could it be in your mouth to be so unbearable!"
"
"Ha!" Li Mu chuckled softly and said: "Kong Jijiu, with all due respect, whether it is Chongwen Hall, Hongwen Hall, or students from the Imperial College, all of them, please note, I said all of them.
Counting all of them together, it is impossible for anyone to be a ruler like Yao and Shun! What they learned has no effect at all on how to be a ruler like Yao and Shun!"
"Crazy!" Kong Yingda pointed at Li Mu and said: "Your Majesty, this person is crazy. Just because he is biased against the nobles and nobles, he actually attacks the classics of saints. This person is crazy! Your Majesty, this person is crazy!"
Li Shimin also felt that Li Mu had gone too far, and his face darkened, and he said: "Li Mu, don't tell lies. Are you the one who can judge the classics of saints?"
"Your Majesty, Kong Jijiu was wrong again. I didn't judge the saint's classics. I just talked about this matter."
Kong Yingda was so angry that he was so angry that he pointed at Li Mu with trembling fingers and was speechless.
"Kong Jijiu felt that I was biased against the aristocratic family. This was actually a misunderstanding. Because of Cui Yuyan's incident, I had some trouble with the Boling Cui family. But Your Majesty clearly understood that it was I who provoked them, or they provoked me? Including
Later, when the three censors impeached me, I wasn’t the one who caused the trouble first, right? Even today, it was Kong Jijiu who accused me. I didn’t want to defend myself, I wanted to calm things down, but he was aggressive and I had no choice, so I defended myself.
A few words. From beginning to end, I have never taken the initiative to attack anyone. I am just trying to protect myself. Your Majesty, I am a pitiful victim!"