Chapter 5358: The Rolling Trend

Chapter 5358: The Rolling Trend
Li Chengqian's face was ashen as he stared directly at Fang Jun: "Have you finished speaking? I must thank the Grand Commandant for his loyal advice. I will certainly keep it in mind. Otherwise, wouldn't we be facing the destruction of our country and clan, and leaving a lasting stain on our reputation?"

Fang Jun said in a deep voice, "Honest advice is hard to hear; I have been presumptuous."

Li Chengqian fell silent.

The atmosphere inside the Imperial Study was so intense it seemed like you could wring water out of it.

After a long while, Li Chengqian slowly exhaled: "They are all my loyal ministers and pillars of the state. How can I not humbly accept their advice? What are you all standing for? Quickly rise and take a seat. Your Highness has traveled a long way back from Huating Town. You have been exhausted from the journey. After arriving in Chang'an, you have not stopped for a moment. Sit down and have a cup of tea. Tell me about the war in the Indochina Peninsula and Mesopotamia."

"Here!"

Fang Jun and Dugu Lan respectfully acknowledged the order and took their seats together.

Wang De, the chief eunuch, personally served tea.

Dugu Lan took a sip of tea, then stood up and said, "This old minister still needs to return to the Imperial Guard to handle the aftermath, so I will take my leave for now."

Although he had been humiliated by Fang Jun, he had at least completed the task assigned by His Majesty and did not want to stay here any longer, lest he be bitten by that scoundrel Fang Er again.

It was truly terrifying...

After Dugu Lan took his leave, the atmosphere in the Imperial Study relaxed.

Li Chengqian beckoned Fang Jun to sit on the floor mat by the window, and asked Wang De to brew another pot of tea and bring over a few plates of pastries. The two, the emperor and his minister, sat facing each other.

After Wang De left, Li Chengqian clicked his tongue and complained, "When are you going to change your temper? You are now a key minister of the empire, and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call you the 'number one person in the military.' How can you still be as unruly and lawless as before?"

Fang Jun took a sip of tea and said in surprise, "Your Majesty, aren't you saying the opposite? You are Your Majesty, the ruler of the Tang Dynasty. Only you can act lawlessly."

Li Chengqian angrily said, "No matter how lawless I am, I would never threaten to report one of the Nine Ministers, an old minister, to the Jingzhao Prefecture on charges of 'incest'!"

Fang Jun said calmly, "That's just a matter of personal morality, but it can't compare to His Majesty's trampling on the law, acting perversely, and endangering the entire country."

Li Chengqian's face darkened: "Don't you think such rebellious words are going too far?"

Fang Jun refused to back down: "Your Majesty is fully aware of the consequences of trampling on the law, yet you disregard them for your own selfish reasons, even at the cost of the complete chaos of the national system. You are truly going too far."

Li Chengqian was not angry at such blunt words; instead, he fell silent.

Fang Jun looked serene and acted naturally. He ate a piece of pastry, took a sip of tea, sighed softly, and said, "So today, I ask Your Majesty once again, do you want to act arbitrarily, speak with absolute authority, enjoy supreme imperial power and control the lives and deaths of hundreds of millions of people, or do you want the empire to last for thousands of years and the people to live in peace and prosperity?"

Li Chengqian glared at him angrily: "In your heart, am I a tyrannical ruler who brought about the downfall of his country, just like Emperor Yang of Sui?"

This is intolerable.

Although he claimed that he was not as talented and ambitious as Emperor Taizong, he was still qualified to be a ruler who maintained the status quo.
Fang Jun chuckled lightly and said gently, "Everyone in the world condemns Emperor Yang of Sui as absurd, rebellious, tyrannical, and cruel. So, does Your Majesty also think so?"

"Is not it?"

Fang Jun said softly, “Everything has two sides, and we cannot look at things one-sidedly. Your Majesty only sees Emperor Yang of Sui’s conscription of laborers, his militarism, and his extravagant lifestyle, but why can’t Your Majesty see the dredging and opening of the Grand Canal, the creation of the imperial examination system, and the impact of these things on the country and even the whole of China?”

After a pause, he concluded, "Emperor Yang of Sui was guilty in his time, but his merits will last for generations!"

"Emperor Yang of Sui was indeed a ruler who brought about the downfall of his country and serves as a negative example for all monarchs, but not just anyone could become Emperor Yang of Sui."

"Therefore, even Emperor Yang of Sui had both merits and demerits, and was both praised and criticized."

Li Chengqian retorted, "In your opinion, do I need to learn from Emperor Yang of Sui?"

Fang Jun frowned, puzzled: "Emperor Taizong once said, 'Use bronze as a mirror to straighten one's clothes; use history as a mirror to understand the rise and fall of dynasties; use people as a mirror to understand one's gains and losses.' Everyone has something worth learning from, so how could Emperor Yang of Sui be an exception? Scholars and common people may condemn him, but emperors must take a higher perspective to view people and events, choosing the good and following it, and correcting the bad. The root cause of Emperor Yang's downfall was his tyranny, arrogance, and willful behavior. Emperor Wen was diligent and frugal, and the wealth he accumulated over a lifetime was squandered by Yang Guang in just over ten years, even leading to the downfall of the country and the extermination of his clan. If Yang Guang's imperial power had been restrained and he could not have acted arbitrarily, how could the dynasty have perished after only two generations? With Emperor Wen's wealth, he could have lasted for fifty years!"

Li Chengqian's eyes flickered, and anger was evident: "So, Erlang still believes that I am very likely to be the next Emperor Yang of Sui?"

Fang Jun shook his head: "You and I are in a relationship of ruler and subject, but in reality, we have a deep bond. So I do not shy away from speaking in front of His Majesty. Just like what I said earlier, the world thinks that Emperor Yang of Sui was tyrannical and absurd, but in reality, not everyone can compare to Emperor Yang of Sui."

"what?!"

Li Chengqian laughed angrily: "Are you saying that I'm not as good as Emperor Yang of Sui?"

Fang Jun shook his head: "If His Majesty does not heed advice and insists on his own way, he may really be no better than Emperor Yang of Sui."

"Is what you call 'advice' just being used by you civil and military officials to create a puppet emperor?"

"Your Majesty must understand the principle that 'human strength has its limits.' Even sages cannot be all-knowing and infallible. Our responsibility is to assist Your Majesty and govern the country. Your Majesty is always the ruler of the world and the king of the four seas."

Li Chengqian said no more and lowered his head to drink his tea.

Outside the window, a rumble of autumn thunder came from afar, rolling and low, followed by a light drizzle that slanted against the windowpane. Looking out from inside, the scenery in the courtyard outside was blurred and indistinct.

*****
"It's a bit too hasty."

Inside the study of the Fang family mansion, Fang Jun came here with his father as soon as he returned home. He recounted his conversation with His Majesty in the Imperial Study in detail, hoping to receive his father's corrections and suggestions.

Although he possessed the essence of over a thousand years of world civilization, when it came to political wisdom, he was far inferior to Fang Xuanling, who had spent his entire life navigating the treacherous waters of officialdom and remained steadfast throughout.

His question was not "what should be done", but "how should it be done".

Therefore, after careful consideration, Fang Xuanling gave the assessment of "eagerness".

Fang Jun humbly replied, "It's not that I'm impatient, but that His Majesty is too eager and his methods are almost unscrupulous. If I don't put some pressure on him, I'm afraid he will become stubborn and willful. I really don't want to take the time to become completely opposed to him."

Even now, although Li Chengqian has many grievances against him, he also makes many important use of him, and there is still a delicate balance between the emperor and his minister.

However, if they continue to follow Li Chengqian's wishes, they will inevitably come to an end and become irreconcilable enemies.

This is something Fang Jun tried his best to avoid.

Fang Xuanling took a sip of tea, his expression grave: "Why did Qin Shi Huang boast of 'virtue surpassing the Three Sovereigns and achievements exceeding the Five Emperors,' and thus create the supreme and universal authority of 'Emperor'? It wasn't because he swept across the land and unified the eight directions, but because he unified the divine and royal powers passed down from ancient times. From then on, 'the power of the Emperor' was above all else. For nearly a thousand years since Qin, the ethereal 'divine power' has long been replaced by 'imperial power.' The so-called 'divine right of kings' is nothing more than a legal principle. 'Imperial power' simply means supreme. How difficult it is to restrain and limit imperial power, so that the rise and fall of a nation will no longer depend on the wisdom or folly of its rulers?"

Ultimately, what Fang Jun wanted, in a sense, was to unify Qin Shi Huang's "divine power" and "royal power" into the "Emperor," returning to the ancient rule that "the gods are above the king," so that even the ruler of the world and the master of the four seas would be subject to the constraints of "divine power" and could not act arbitrarily.

However, nearly a thousand years have passed since the Qin Dynasty. During this period, how many emperors have tasted the supreme power? Even the Confucian concepts of "divine right of kings" and "interaction between heaven and man" have become mere legal principles, and no one has taken them as gospel. Which emperor would be willing to give up the power he has acquired?
The establishment of "imperial power" has undergone a long period of trials and tribulations. Similarly, gaining universal acceptance of "imperial power" will inevitably be subject to limitations and will require a long process.

It is absolutely impossible to achieve this overnight.

Fang Jun nodded and sighed softly: "However, according to His Majesty's current intentions, it will definitely cause great damage to the foundation of the empire, and the efforts of the past few years may be destroyed in an instant."

He strongly advocated the "primogeniture system" and always believed that a stable succession of imperial power was far better than choosing a so-called wise monarch. He argued that if His Majesty successfully changed the heir apparent, all his efforts would be in vain.

Fang Xuanling laughed and said, "Let's not say that His Majesty has no great talent or strategy, nor has he reached the highest level. Even if he did, so what? Emperor Taizong wanted to change the heir, but he failed."

He pointed at his son and said meaningfully, "Nothing in this world is absolute, so there is no such thing as 'absolute supremacy.' As the saying goes, 'The world is bustling, all for profit; the world is bustling, all for profit.' Everything in the universe revolves around the rule of 'profit,' and seeking profit and avoiding harm is the law of the universe."

Seeing that his son seemed to be deep in thought, he had clearly understood his hint.

He then countered with, "What exactly are you trying to achieve by expanding overseas and developing industry and commerce all these years? You always talk about 'quantitative change leading to qualitative change,' but what exactly is this 'change'?"

Fang Jun paused for a moment, then suddenly understood.

"I deeply admire Father's strategies and insights! My conversation with Father has been truly enlightening!"

He embarked on the most difficult path, attempting to shorten the millennia-long journey between "feudalism" and "nationalism" as much as possible, through external expansion, commodity dumping, wealth accumulation, and natural sciences...

He was convinced that this was the right path, one that would allow China to bypass many detours and achieve success directly.

However, social development requires time to accumulate, settle, and mature; it cannot be changed by the will of any one person.

We cannot be impatient for quick success, nor can we achieve results overnight.

Now that the foundation for change has been laid, all that remains is to leave it to time.

When all the trickles eventually converge into a mighty river, any obstacle will be destroyed and washed away in the face of such an overwhelming force.

(End of this chapter)