Chapter 28 Chapter Twenty-Eight

Empress Changsun will never easily interfere with Li Shimin's judgment, but she has full confidence in Wei Zheng.Li Shimin told Empress Changsun about Wei Zheng's advice, and she commented: "I used to always hear that His Majesty reused Wei Zheng. I didn't know the reason at the beginning, but now I know what he said. He is the real capable minister of the country! My concubine and Your Majesty are married. People say,' As husband and wife, there is no doubt about love and affection.' Every time you lose your temper, I dare not speak too much, for fear that your mind will not be clear. But ah, Your Majesty, I will definitely talk again when you are better."

Empress Changsun explained earnestly: "Wei Zheng and His Majesty are just monarchs and ministers. They are farther away than we are, and they can be so hard on you. Only such people are the talents we need most in the Tang Dynasty. "Your Majesty, you must cherish such a person!" After this incident, Empress Changsun took out the cloth in private, pretending that Li Shimin asked her to do this, and gave the cloth to Wei Zheng as a sign of encouragement. (Because I asked the Chinese envoy to send me four hundred coins and four hundred pieces of silk and silk for the collection.)

Now, Wei Zheng has become Li Chengqian's teacher. The effect of such a person's education on Li Chengqian can arouse everyone's fantasy.Historical materials do not record the effect of education, but through clues, it is still obvious what is perceived.A few months later, Li Shimin held a special meeting on Li Chengqian's question and said: "I heard that you are all anxious and hesitant. King Wei is indeed smart and has a good relationship with me. Are you at a loss because of this? I know that most of your hearts have already started to go to him. You are lucky. Although the crown prince is lame, he can walk without any problems. I have never treated him differently because of this. "Book of Rites" said, "When the son dies, the grandson is established." The son of the prince this year He is already five years old, even if Chengqian is gone one day, I will still choose from among the emperor's grandsons.

"I've made up my mind, I don't plan to store Yi Chu, so don't think too much about it!" We don't know how Teacher Wei Zheng did it. But the facts are there. Li Shimin, who was swaying from side to side, firmly believes that Li Chengqian will inherit the general rule, which shows that Comrade Prince is still very obedient during this period. It was such painstaking education that made Wei Zheng's condition worse. When the time came to the spring of the seventeenth year of Zhenguan (643), the veteran Wei Zheng could no longer get out of bed.Li Shimin personally visited Wei Zheng's house more than once, and even organized a team of envoys, from the palace to the gate of Wei Zheng's house, they could see each other from a distance, just for the purpose of sending messages.

The medicines prescribed by the imperial doctor were handed down from the palace to the family. This was not enough. In order to take good care of Wei Zheng, Li Shimin asked General Zhonglang (see clearly, not Zhonglang, General Zhonglang) Li Anyan to live in Wei Zheng's house.Li Anyan is the fastest runner among the military generals, so you can understand what he does in Wei Zheng's house, he is responsible for reporting Li Shimin's condition every day.Whenever Wei Zheng had troubles, or his spirit was slightly better, or his condition got worse, Li Anyan would rush into the palace at a speed of 100 meters to report.

This became a spectacle in the streets of Chang'an, a Zhonglang will run back and forth desperately holding an imperial order. One day, after handling the government affairs, Li Shimin brought Prince Li Chengqian and other royal family members and important officials to Wei Zheng's house. Everyone finally understands why some people always like to call Wei Zheng a country bumpkin. If you look at his home, it's not much different from Yu Zhining.Why is a minister with an annual salary of hundreds of thousands so poor that he can't even afford a decent house?Officials have a lot of banknotes, but they don't want to spend them recklessly. If they can be scattered, they will be scattered.

This is the wind of chastity. According to incomplete statistics, Wei Zheng received many rewards from Li Shimin because of his daring to speak out. Some of them refused, while others did not.No one refused, and it was found in the history books that there was one Jin Ou, several times with five hundred pieces of silk, hundreds of thousands of rewards, one hundred taels of gold, and several good horses.In addition, Wei Zheng belongs to the special advancement of the Three Dukes and Nine Ministers, a first-rank official, even without the above bonus, the normal salary alone is: The monthly salary is 8,000, the food is 1,800, and the miscellaneous is 1,200.

Calculated, Wei Zheng's annual salary reached 44,000.Li Shimin rewarded Wei Zheng with 5,600 pieces of silk, and the price at that time was ten shi of grain for one piece of silk.In this way, ordinary second-rank officials would have to struggle for more than 110 years if they wanted to surpass Wei Zheng in terms of silk alone.Adding the gold, silver and food given, plus the normal salary, Wei Zheng is definitely a billionaire.However, this is not all about Wei Zheng. Wei Zheng has his own manuscript fee, which is also his normal income. He worked hard to preside over the compilation of "Sui Shu", as well as the general remarks for "Liang Shu", "Qi Shu", "Zhou Shu" and "Qun Shu Zhi Yao", all of which have received rich returns.In this way, his bonus, salary, and manuscript fee are all added together, enough for a prime minister to fight for two hundred years.

But he was diligent and frugal, his wealth was gone, and he died without buying himself a decent house. Li Shimin was so moved by Wei Zheng that he wanted to cry, and suddenly remembered that a small hall was being repaired in the palace, and immediately sent an order to transfer all the stones and wood to Wei Zheng's home, and personally ordered him to build a good house for Wei Zheng. The fifteenth day of the first lunar month is here, and the boys and girls in Chang'an City are all admiring the lanterns! Wei Zheng, did you see it? Li Shimin held Wei Zheng's hand in one hand and stayed by his side the whole time.

Li Shimin took the little girl standing beside him (his and Empress Changsun's daughter), pointed at her, looked at Wei Zheng and said, "Xuancheng, this is Princess Hengshan, and I want to betroth her to Shuyu (Wei Zheng's son) .” Wei Zheng couldn’t speak, and couldn’t see everything in front of him clearly.There is no doubt about all the retention. On the seventeenth day of the first lunar month in the seventeenth year of Zhenguan (643), Wei Zheng, a famous official of a generation, died. Li Shimin cried a lot. On the day of the funeral, all officials of the ninth rank and above were present.

As long as you are an official, you have to go to the funeral.The edict also stated that Wei Zheng was to be buried in Zhaoling with him, and a funeral of unprecedented scale would be held.As I said, Wei Zheng likes to pour cold water on Li Shimin, he was like this during his lifetime, and he is like this after death.When he died, his wife, Mrs. Pei, remonstrated, "Wei Zheng was frugal all his life, and he would definitely not want to give him the funeral of a first-rank official after his death!" Mrs. Pei is Wei Zheng's virtuous helper. Although she is sad, she understands that the reason why Wei Zheng can keep frugal is to give an explanation to the world.Pei Shi shied away from all kinds of adulation and advocacy, and she pulled her husband's coffin with a broken cart and left for the funeral.On this day, in the huge funeral procession, there were countless white clothes. On the broken car, Wei Zheng was dragged with his eyes closed and shabby.Li Shimin climbed up to the west building of the garden, leaned on the railing and watched the cars going away, and cried until Wei Zheng disappeared into the vastness. Later, Li Shimin personally wrote the inscription and carved it as a book stone to commemorate Wei Zheng. Li Shimin said: "Using copper as a mirror, you can straighten your clothes; using history as a mirror, you can see the ups and downs; using people as a mirror, you can know the gains and losses; Wei Zheng is gone, and I am gone!" Upright, with a clean sleeve, a famous official of Zhenguan, Xianzai Wei Zheng! There is no word "villain" on the forehead of villains. They often show a loyal and honest appearance, so that you can't see through their tricks. Wei Zheng had repeatedly warned Li Shimin to be close to virtuous people and stay away from villains, but treacherous people seem loyal. A sensible person like Li Shimin has also been bewitched.This is about Yu Wenshu's youngest son, Yu Wenshiji, who is the younger brother of Yu Wenhuaji and Yu Wenzhiji. Fortunately, Li Shimin didn't lose his head. He, a guy with a huge voice, finally revealed his secrets in the summer of this year. One day, Li Shimin and everyone rested on the way, cooling off under a whirling tree.The big trees are like car covers, and Li Shimin likes her graceful figure under the summer afternoon sun.Li Shimin pointed to the tree and said, "This tree is so beautiful!" The words stirred up a thousand layers of waves, and after hearing this, Yuwen Shiji also pretended to admire the tree, savored it carefully for a few seconds, and then began to marvel. "This tree is beautiful. The leaves of this tree are like laughter, light and agile, dancing and changing in the light and shadow of summer." Li Shimin was puzzled, looking at Yuwen Shi and praised what he had just praised. "That lightness, that Pingting, she is, Xianyan. The crown of hundreds of trees is hers. She is innocent, solemn, and the moon bends every night. The flowers of this tree and the tree are the swallows in the bushes. Whispering in." Yu Wenshi was a little excited, and recited the last poem: "You are love, you are warmth, you are hope, you are the June of the world!" Probably like this, Li Shimin was so disgusted by Yuwen Shiji that he almost vomited. Good vocabulary, why does it feel so disgusting for this guy to say it?There is always a taste of flattery in his words, which makes Li Shimin squint his eyes, "Wei Zheng once advised me to stay away from traitors. I didn't know who he was talking about at the time. I suspected it was you. Now it seems that you didn't run away!" Yu Wenshi When he heard the words, he was so frightened that he fell to the ground and kowtowed violently. I don't know if it's because as long as Li Shimin scares someone, that person will be depressed for life, or because Yuwen Shiji is not as strong as Feng Deyi. In short, in October of the sixteenth year of Zhenguan (642), Yuwen Shiji let go and went west. Personally, I think that Yuwen Shiji is not a villain. Yuwen Shiji is very different from his two elder brothers. When he was a local governor, he was also very popular with the people.Although he likes to flatter Li Shimin, he will never commit any crimes. If he could, he would have committed them long ago.He has a compassionate heart by nature, likes to help orphans, and is generous in his actions. People have a good relationship with him. But this man's problem is fatal. The reason why Li Shimin thinks he is treacherous is because he really likes to follow Li Shimin's words, and secondly, he spends a lot of money, and the ceremonial guards when he goes shopping are very luxurious. His principle of buying things is: not seeking the best, only seeking the most expensive. Therefore, after his death, Li Shimin asked him to be buried with Zhaoling in consideration of his great achievements. But when it came to the choice of posthumous name, he was not so tolerant, and gave him the word "vertical".Originally, the ministers proposed the word "gong" for "respectful". Comrade Liu Jie, the servant of Huangmen, believed that the word "zong" for "indulgence" was the best for Yuwen scholars and extravagant by nature. Li Shimin agreed with this view. I think the villain that Wei Zheng is alluding to is not Yuwen Shiji, but Quan Wanji. Quan Wanji assisted Li Ke, and the effect was good, so Li Shimin transferred him away and asked him to assist Qi Wang Li You, who needed a lesson even more.Quan Wanji's tactics are well practiced, but Li You doesn't like that. Li You's previous teacher was named Xue Dading, who was the parent official of the Cangzhou people. He had a very good reputation and integrity, but he couldn't control Li You.Li Shimin was very angry when he learned that Li You and Li Xiaowu didn't study well, thinking that the teacher was lazy, so he dismissed Xue Dading's official, let him go home to cool off, and let Quan Wanji, who has the power to do so, go. Quan Wanji came to Li You's residence in Qizhou (Jinan, Shandong) with a serious face. This is Spring City, where Li You traveled in the mountains and rivers. Seeing Quan Wanji's hideous face, he suddenly had the urge to ask, "Brother Quan, do you still remember Xia Yuhe by the Daming Lake?"Yes, even if Wei Zheng came, he couldn't control Li You anymore.Li Chengqian is the boss, even if he is dead, there is still the fourth brother standing there, what kind of mess am I?Frustrated with politics, Li You began to indulge in playing, not doing business, and running around every day without knowing where to go. Li You, who tossed away many teachers, didn't pay attention to Quan Wanji at all. Seventeen is a shameless age, since Li Shimin did to Li You's biological mother what Li You loves to do now, Li You's tragedy was doomed.His biological mother was just an ordinary concubine, and according to normal procedures, it was impossible for him to inherit the throne. Then, Li You said: "Can we not take the usual path?" Most of the Qizhou staff (mainly composed of many muscular men) have the same opinion, and they dare to pull the emperor off his horse even if he is willing to cut himself to pieces! Wei Zheng: The king is the boat; the people is the water.Water can carry a boat, but it can also capsize it! Li You: Upstairs, so I want to overthrow my father's brutal rule!