Chapter 5195 Change of tune

Chapter 5195 Change of tune
As the so-called "number one prince in the world", Li Tai, although he fled to Luoyang and was far away from the central government, his every word and action were cautious and treading on thin ice. He urgently needed a way to guide himself to avoid the worst situation.

Before this, he followed Zhang Xingcheng's advice, made friends as much as possible and tried his best to facilitate the noble families, hoping to win the favor of the noble families and rally them together at the critical moment to save his life.

Even though the aristocratic families have gradually declined compared to the beginning of the nation's founding, they are still powerful behemoths entrenched in various parts of the world. Once they all work together, even the central government will be wary.

But Fang Jun scoffed at this and gave an almost completely opposite suggestion.

"Rules are limitations and constraints, but they are also protection. If you break the rules and destroy the umbrella of protection, others can reduce your costs without limit. Then how can you blame others when the knife is on your neck?"

Listening to Fang Jun's words, Li Tai slowly let out a breath.

He looked at Zhang Xingcheng and asked sincerely, "What do you think, Prefect?"

In fact, he had already made up his mind. Compared with Zhang Xingcheng, he naturally trusted Fang Jun more. Whether it was protecting him or having personal abilities, Fang Jun was better than him.

Zhang Xingcheng also understood what Li Tai meant, and said with a guilty look on his face: "I almost made a mistake, Your Highness. Fortunately, the Grand Commandant saw through the situation and put things right. Your Highness should change his ways."

Li Tai nodded and looked at Fang Jun: "Then I'll listen to you."

Fang Jun shook his head: "No matter what you think in your heart or how determined your ambition is, you can't just say it with your mouth, but you have to do something for others to see."

He looked at Zhang Xingcheng and smiled faintly: "Since Zhang Fuyin gave Your Highness a bad idea earlier, which almost cost Your Highness his life, I wonder what you think?"

Zhang Xingcheng looked unhappy and sighed: "The commander has given me a difficult problem."

Of course, he understood the meaning of Fang Jun's words just now, "action is worse than words." You said that you gave the King of Wei bad advice out of kindness, but who knows if you did it on purpose? Only by doing something can you prove your innocence.

What to do?

Naturally, it was a counterattack against the aristocratic families who had been tolerated and won over before.

However, Zhang Xingcheng, as a representative figure of Shandong aristocratic families in the court, turned against the aristocratic families. This was tantamount to becoming a traitor and betraying the aristocratic families. Isn't this digging his own grave?
What's worse, will the other aristocratic families suspect that the Shandong family did it on purpose, and then launch a counterattack against the Shandong family?

After doing this, Zhang Xingcheng became a nobody.

Li Tai couldn't bear it, and said hesitantly: "It doesn't have to be like this, right? It will be the same even if I come forward."

Fang Jun snorted and sneered, "Your Highness is two-faced, what do you want to do?"

Li Tai kept silent.

He wanted to express his attitude to the outside world, but he couldn't do it directly because that would be tantamount to admitting that his previous actions had ulterior motives.

It’s better to do nothing.

But looking at Zhang Xingcheng's embarrassed expression, he couldn't bear it.

Fang Jun took a sip of wine and said calmly, "Your Highness, you don't have to feel bad for Prefect Zhang, and Prefect Zhang doesn't have to look so embarrassed. After all, this matter is Prefect Zhang's attempt to gain benefits for the aristocratic families. Aristocratic families can't just eat meat and not get beaten, right? If Prefect Zhang really feels embarrassed, then it's the same if I take action, and you can just stand by and watch."

Zhang Xingcheng shuddered, his heart skipped a beat, and he quickly shook his head: "How dare I trouble the commander? Although this matter is difficult, since it was caused by me, I should solve it."

What a joke, asking Fang Jun to take action?
Who doesn't know that it was he who caused the current predicament of the aristocratic families?
Since the time of Emperor Taizong, this fellow has been advocating for weakening the power of the aristocratic families and assisting His Majesty in reforming the imperial examination system. This seems to be of great benefit to the aristocratic families, but it has already cut off the foundation on which the aristocratic families rely to maintain the inheritance of their interests, that is, the official selection system.

The "Nine-Rank System" that emerged during the Cao Wei period lasted for more than two hundred years. It granted the privilege of the official selection system to aristocratic families, resulting in "no commoners in the upper ranks and no gentry in the lower ranks" during this period. The aristocratic families remained long-lasting and increasingly prosperous.

The political resources were monopolized for a very long time, and even after the reform of the imperial examination system, it seemed that the beneficiaries were still the "upper-class" gentry and aristocratic families, but in fact the nature of the system was completely opposite.

The reason why the children of the gentry and the aristocratic families were still the beneficiaries of the imperial examination system was because of the long-standing monopoly of educational resources, which caused the gap between the upper and lower classes. However, with the popularization of printing, the improvement of papermaking, the rise of county schools, township schools, and even private schools, the education monopoly was no longer something that the gentry and the aristocratic families could firmly control.

The social upward channel has been completely opened, and "being a farmer in the morning and ascending to the emperor's palace in the evening" will become the norm.

The decline of the gentry and aristocratic families was almost foreseeable.

From this perspective, how cruel and resolute was Fang Jun's attitude towards the gentry and the aristocratic families?
If he were to take action against the noble families and clans who had gathered in Luoyang to participate in the construction of the Eastern Capital, one could imagine how violent the situation would be...

He suggested that the King of Wei win over the gentry and the powerful families, and now he has asked Fang Jun to "harm" them. How will those people view him after they have suffered a great loss?

It would be better for him to take action himself. Although he would inevitably be branded as a "backstabber", at least there would be room for maneuver.

Fang Jun naturally had no objection, nodded, and raised his glass to toast.

The rest of the people raised their glasses and drank together.

After three rounds of drinking, the four of them drank tea in a nearby elegant room to sober up. Li Tai and Zhang Xingcheng were a little distracted and kept losing their focus...

Ashina Zhong held the kettle and poured tea for Fang Jun, and asked, "I heard that in this battle in the Western Regions, Ashina Helu traveled thousands of miles and followed the counter-espionage plan set by the Grand Commandant, thus making great contributions?"

Not long after the Western Region battle report arrived in Chang'an, Luoyang only knew the brief process of the war, but did not know the details.

Fang Jun nodded and said, "Helu has indeed performed well this time, and your majesty has specially commended him."

Ashina Zhong asked again, "So the rebellion of Mishe and Buzhen was a deliberate attempt by the Grand Commandant to deceive the world?"

"It's true that they tried to conceal the truth, but those two really hoped that Helu would die in Kesan City and never return."

"Tsk tsk..."

Ashina Zhong clicked his tongue, looking quite regretful.

Fang Jun smiled and said, "Why, Duke Xue, do you regret that Helu didn't die in the battle so the city can be dispersed, or do you regret that the rebellion of Mishe and Buzhen was fake?"

Ashina Zhong did not hide his feelings and said frankly: "It is best to take both into account."

Fang Jun laughed: "Duke Xue is really kind!"

Ashina Zhong also laughed and said, "Although I have some petty intentions, I am really unhappy with their faction. They are neither loyal to the Tang Dynasty nor willing to fight to the death. Instead, they are fickle and wavering. Apart from creating chaos and stirring up trouble in the Western Regions, they are good for nothing."

Although they both have the surname "Ashina", Ashina Zhong and Helu are both Turkic royals, but in fact they have never met. When Duke Yingguo Li Ji conquered the Eastern Turkic, Jie Li Khan was defeated and fled to Ashina Su's tribe. Ashina Su ordered his son to capture Jie Li Khan and present him to the Tang Dynasty. Emperor Taizong, in recognition of his merits, appointed him as the General of the Left Tunwei, gave him the name "Zhong", and married him to the Princess of Dingxiang, the daughter of Concubine Wei, and later granted him the title of Duke of Xue.

Ashina Helu was the fifth-generation grandson of Shidianmi Khan, who founded the Western Turkic Khanate...

However, both sides were members of the "Ashina" tribe. Ashina Zhong's Eastern Turks had long since perished, while Ashina Helu's Western Turks were still lingering on. For both public and private reasons, Ashina Zhong did not want to see Ashina Helu fare well.

Fang Jun said: "If Helu really submits to the Tang Dynasty and settles his entire clan in the Western Regions, there will naturally be long-term peace and prosperity, and the family lineage will continue. But if he really has evil intentions and is indecisive, he will be destroyed in an instant."

Now, not only is the entire Western Region under the jurisdiction of the Anxi Protectorate, but even the Seven Rivers Basin and the Central Asian region are all subject to the Tang Dynasty. If Ashina Helu rebels as he did in history, he will have no way to heaven or hell, and the only way out is defeat.

However, whether it was the Seven Rivers Basin or the Transoxiana region, the Tang Dynasty's control over these areas was naturally far inferior to that of the Western Regions. Therefore, it was easy to destroy Ashina Helu, but it was too difficult to annihilate the entire Western Turkic tribe. As long as they continued to migrate westward and join the Arabs, the Tang army would be out of reach.

Historically, the remnants of the Western Turks roamed and multiplied in Central Asia, and were always hostile to the Tang Dynasty...

*****
As the battle reports of the Anxi Army continued to arrive in Chang'an, various commendations and awards for merit were constantly coming in. These were handled by the Ministry of War. Fang Jun was impatient with all that, so he hid in Luoyang City and went out to play with Wu Meiniang every day, leaving his footprints in various scenic spots.

Although Wu Meiniang was not a jealous person, her husband belonged to her alone during these days. The couple lived in harmony during the day and loved each other at night. She was naturally happy and smiled from ear to ear.

However, in Luoyang City, the situation was turbulent and the atmosphere was heavy.

Perhaps Zhang Xingcheng conspired with the Shandong noble family and obtained Li Tai's approval, so he began to audit and inspect various construction and renovation projects in Luoyang City. He would not tolerate or show any leniency for cutting corners, falsifying accounts, and abusing the laborers, and would severely punish them. This caused the noble families who were invited by Li Tai to participate in the construction to complain bitterly and be furious.

All the cancelled projects were quickly taken over and continued to be built by Shandong Shijia...

In this case, how could the Hezhong clans, Jiangnan gentry, etc. not understand that they were being kicked out?

This made them furious.

After all, it was King Wei Li Tai who made the invitation and exchanged various projects for the support of the aristocratic families. Now for some unknown reason, they have suddenly turned against each other. How can we let this go?
Naturally, they did not dare to blame Wei Wang Li Tai too much, so they vented all their anger on Zhang Xingcheng.

The dignified Henan Yin, one of the most powerful officials in the country, was blocked in his yamen all day long by a group of second-generation people from aristocratic families. They cursed him loudly outside the door and slandered him in every possible way, denouncing him as a "two-faced" and "traitor" who would kill the donkey after it has done its work, and even called him "the shame of the aristocratic families."