The room was quiet, only the sound of the hot pot boiling, and the three people sitting around the hot pot were all staring at the boiling soup in the pot, but the three of them were thinking differently.

The Emperor thought, maybe I was really wrong.

The old dean thought that His Majesty should be sad.

Lai Cheng thought, this thing ...... Awkward.

The three people have different identities and different ideas, the emperor is thinking about his son at this moment, the old dean is thinking about the emperor at this moment, Lai Cheng is thinking about this matter at this moment, the emperor cares about the eldest prince, the old dean cares about the emperor, and Lai Cheng cares about things.

A person as powerful as the emperor is not perfect, there is no such thing as a perfect person in this world, because people have feelings.

That's his own son, no matter what, he can't really be ruthless, how can someone who still feels guilty be really ruthless, he hopes that the crown prince Li Changze will understand it himself, and today, he feels that his son really understands it, and he also feels that this kind of conversation is indeed too late, if he talked about it like this in the early years, maybe things would not be as unbearable as what happened later.

It is said that everyone is equal before the national law, but how can the emperor really be willing to do it.

He has never done anything stupid in his life, except that he has been wavering in his attitude towards the crown prince.

"I thought, otherwise tomorrow morning, I won't let him apologize in front of the civil and military officials, after all, ......"

Before the emperor's words came out, Lai Cheng said seriously: "After all, he is the prince, such a big mistake Your Majesty does not deal with it according to the law of the country is already an extrajudicial grace, if you don't admit your mistake before the hundred officials in the main hall, the hundred officials will feel that the law of the country is unclear, and feel that Your Majesty is not right, and if you don't let him admit his mistake, then the courage he just mentioned will become meaningless." ”

The emperor frowned: "After all, I am his father. ”

Lai Cheng did not back down at all: "After all, Your Majesty is Your Majesty." ”

The two men looked at each other, and neither of them dodged.

The old dean sighed: "Lai Cheng, you should be considerate of Your Majesty. ”

Lai Chengdao: "Your Majesty should be considerate of national law. ”

The emperor still looked at him, Lai Cheng was not afraid, when was he afraid, as long as he was not wrong, he was not afraid of retreating, he was a scholar or the imperial history of the imperial history, he knew what he should do, as long as he felt that he was for the good of His Majesty and the good of Daning, he would not retreat even if he hit his head on the south wall, the most important thing is that he knows very well what kind of person His Majesty wants him to be, if one day he becomes the same as others, then is he still the person His Majesty needs?

The emperor did not speak, and Lai Cheng continued: "Your Majesty, if you don't punish the crime, what will be the consequences?" The entire royal family and nobles of Daning, wealthy families, will feel that their identity is above the law of the country, because His Majesty has made a start, and His Majesty's approach has given them enlightenment, starting tomorrow, those who have illegal thoughts will laugh heartily, and feel that they have finally found the gold medal for blocking crimes, identity, origin, and bloodline, these are all gold medals for blocking crimes, if someone asks why, they will say that His Majesty did not cure the crime of his family at the beginning. ”

The emperor's face changed, and anger gradually appeared.

Lai Cheng didn't care either, and continued: "From tomorrow onwards, those who maintain the law and order will be dull and inactive, because they find that the national law that they are desperately guarding is meaningless, what is the national law they guard? At the beginning, the Daning Legislative Code was a code that Emperor Taizu had used to seal on the code, and today, His Majesty spat on this code. ”

"Lai Cheng!"

The Emperor snorted.

Lai Cheng still looked into the emperor's eyes, without the slightest intention of flinching.

"You've passed."

The emperor looked at Lai Cheng's eyes and said word by word.

Lai Cheng snorted: "Have you passed?" It's Your Majesty. ”

The old dean coughed a few times and looked at His Majesty, he knew that Lai Cheng was right, once the emperor set this precedent, he would go up and down, and those nobles who did not dare to make a mistake because of the strict national law would become rampant because of this matter, those people were like flies looking for the cracks in the eggs, staring at His Majesty's shortcomings all the time, this opening was torn by His Majesty himself, and no one was sure how much harm it would cause in the future.

Lai Cheng looked at the emperor's eyes and said: "Tomorrow, the minister will let the minister's son go to the street to break the law, he was arrested, and the minister will press the subordinates to release him as the first assistant scholar of the cabinet, if Your Majesty asks me how to teach the child, I will say that I learned it from Your Majesty." ”

The emperor's eyes became more and more fierce, his eyes narrowed slightly, and the fierceness became like winter thunder.

The old dean pulled Lai Cheng's clothes, but Lai Cheng got up, took a few steps back, and then knelt on the ground: "The minister will not let the child enter the office, the people close to the minister, there are few people who are officials, in the family, there are no prominent people except the minister himself, the minister scolded His Majesty too much, scolded too hard, the minister knew the same capital crime, so the minister only asked His Majesty to kill the minister in the future, only kill the minister, and leave the minister's whole family alive." ”

The emperor was still angry, because Lai Cheng's heart softened again because of these words.

What kind of person is Lai Cheng, and who knows better than the emperor?

The emperor sighed: "Come here again, every time I scold me, then I show a determination to die, as if I killed you is the faint king of the ancient times." ”

Lai Cheng: "That's it." ”

Emperor: "That's it...... Do as you say, Changze wants to travel the world, and I will declare that it will be degraded to the common people and exiled. ”

Lai Cheng bowed his head: "Your Majesty Shengming." ”

The emperor asked: "Who said today that the emperor would not be forced to beat the crown prince?" ”

Lai Cheng: "......"

The old dean said in his heart that this is Lai Cheng, if it were replaced by a few people, I am afraid that His Majesty would have been furious, but fortunately, there is still Lai Cheng by His Majesty's side, the old dean knows himself very well, and he can't be as sober and calm as Lai Cheng, he is an old man who regards the emperor as his own, and such an old man will always deviate emotionally.

This is true the older you get.

Penal Department.

Ye Liuyun looked at Dai Fangzhou, who came to announce the decree: "What does Your Majesty mean, let me choose a few people to protect the eldest prince?" ”

Ye Liuyun used the word protection rather than regulation.

"Yes."

Dai Fangzhou said: "Lord Ye, what Your Majesty means is that the eldest prince has already pleaded guilty and admitted his mistakes, so the will will will be read out in the court early tomorrow morning, degrading the eldest prince as a commoner, and exiled for three thousand miles." ”

In the Law, the penalty for sin is three thousand miles.

But in fact, Ye Liuyun knows very well that His Majesty is fulfilling the prince's heart to travel the world, saying that it is exile, where is it really exile, but this crime of exile is somewhat intriguing, if the crime of exile does not have a will, he is not allowed to return to Chang'an, that is to say, the prince himself can't come back if he wants to.

"I see."

Ye Liuyun clenched his fists: "Thank you for passing on the decree on behalf of my father-in-law, thank you for your hard work." ”

Dai Fangzhou hurriedly returned the salute: "Lord Ye is too polite, this is the slave's business, Lord Ye still needs to choose people carefully, you also know that Your Majesty actually still cares about the eldest prince." ”

Of course Ye Liuyun knew that it was a major crime of rebellion, a major crime of bullying the monarch, and a messy crime, adding up to Li Changze's death ten times, but the emperor still didn't kill, which was not enough to show that the emperor cared?

"I'll take care of it."

Ye Liuyun sent away Dai Fangzhou, thinking that although Li Changze was going to travel the world, he couldn't go casually, exile was not a casual walk but a purposeful exile, and the emperor would not decide on this place, because the emperor was still distressed about Li Changze, so where was this place of exile, he would decide, and he couldn't play the emperor in advance, otherwise the emperor would definitely refute it.

It's a big headache, a lot of headaches.

So Ye Liuyun couldn't help but think that it would be good if Han Zhaozhi was here, and of course it would be better to push such a headache to Han Zhaozhi.

At the same time, Western Xinjiang, Magic Mountain Pass.

The offensive of the Lou Ran people lasted for many days, and the rest of the people kept forcing them to rush forward behind them, but the terrain like the Demon Mountain Pass was originally easy to defend and difficult to attack, and the combat power of the Lou Ran people was just like that, and there was no stone throwing vehicle support from the rest of the people, and no matter how many days of onslaught, it would be full of dead corpses.

On the city wall, watching the offensive of Lou Ran's people retreat like a tide, and farther away, the second prince also watched the enemy withdraw under the protection of his own soldiers, Han Zhaozhi walked to Shen Leng's side: "Why did you let His Royal Highness the Second Prince go up to the city wall to have a look?" Even if it is Lou Ran's attack now, it is not a resting person, but the arrow has no eyes, so you have to be careful. ”

"Lord Han, you asked knowingly."

Shen sneered and said, "If His Royal Highness the Second Prince doesn't go up to the city wall to come and see, how will the soldiers obey him...... So even if there is danger, you still have to come up. ”

Shen Leng looked at Han Zhaozhi and said with a smile: "Anyway, you and I can't dodge, in case of any accident, the first one will cut me, and the second one will cut you." ”

Han Zhaozhi smiled: "It's not me fighting with you, probably the first one to cut is me." ”

Shen Leng laughed, Han Zhaozhi looked around, and walked closer to Shen Leng: "You already know everything about Chang'an City, I sent someone to send you a letter just to let you think about it in advance." ”

"What do you think?"

Shen Leng asked.

Han Zhaozhi's eyes narrowed slightly: "What do you think?" ”

Shen Leng sighed: "What you think, what I think, in fact, it doesn't matter, what matters is what Your Majesty thinks...... Lord Han, you have been following Your Majesty for a lot more time than I have been with Your Majesty, and of course you know Your Majesty better than I do, so you also know better than me what kind of choices Your Majesty will make. ”

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, a father is a father, and a son is a son."

Shen Leng said: "Your Majesty can endure Lord Lai, can't you still bear your son?" ”

"How could the two be the same."

"It's different, one is a minister, and the other is a son."

Shen Leng looked at Han Zhaozhi: "The minister is the minister, and the son is the son." ”

Han Zhaozhi said: "Actually, I also know that as long as the eldest prince is willing to bow his head, His Majesty will not really touch him, and at most he will be exiled." ”

"yes, exile at most."

Shen Leng looked behind him: "Just now, Lord Han asked me why I brought His Royal Highness the Second Prince to the city wall, and the Great Prince was exiled, so why His Royal Highness the Second Prince came to the Western Xinjiang is clearer...... The eldest prince made a mistake and was demoted to a commoner, and the adults in the court will inevitably take this opportunity to show themselves, and His Majesty asked His Royal Highness the Second Prince to be the crown prince, but His Majesty always has to think more, His Royal Highness the Second Prince came to the West Frontier firstly, His Majesty did not want him to see the discord between father and son, and secondly, he came to ......"

Shen Leng looked at Han Zhaozhi: "At the age of thirteen, he led the troops to defeat the people of the Western Regions, this news spread all over Daning, and the second prince was made the crown prince again, who is not convinced?" ”

Han Zhaozhi said: "Your Majesty is also sending you favors." ”

Shen sneered: "I know." ”

It seems that the second prince came to take away Shen Leng's military exploits, but in fact, Shen Leng did not suffer, the second prince will inherit the throne in the future, and he will always remember what Shen Leng helped him in today's battle in the Western Regions.

"Your Majesty will not think about only one person and one thing in his heart."

Han Zhaozhi looked at Shen Leng: "You have to understand Your Majesty's hard work." ”

Shen Leng: "Lord Han, just say it directly, don't find someone to kill the exiled prince." ”

Han Zhaozhi's eyes narrowed even smaller.

Shen sneered and said, "I don't have the eldest prince in my eyes, you know." ”

Han Zhaozhi snorted: "But what about your subordinates?" ”

The smile on Shen Leng's face gradually disappeared.