Chapter 5361 The King Under the Law

Chapter 5361 The King Under the Law
With this question, the atmosphere in the side hall instantly became ambiguous.

How could Fang Jun forget the promise he made in Wanchun Palace that day?
However, he always believed that it was just a little trick the empress used to keep him in suspense, and he would never carry it out.

But since then, Empress Su has brought up that promise several times...

Perhaps Empress Su really did have that intention?
Fang Jun carefully chose his words: "Your Majesty really doesn't need to do this. The Crown Prince is the heir apparent of the Eastern Palace and the foundation of the country. It is my duty to be loyal to the Crown Prince. What I have done is to uphold the rightful ruler. I would gladly give my life for him without any regrets."

Empress Su stared at him, pursed her lips, and said, "My beauty is not worthy of the Grand Commandant's attention?"

Fang Jun smiled wryly and said, "Your subject dares not have any disrespectful thoughts."

Empress Su persisted: "Is it that you dare not, or that you have never?"

It wasn't that she was promiscuous or dissolute; it was simply that the urgent situation in the Eastern Palace after the New Year made her restless and fearful, and she was willing to give up everything to ensure the stability of the Eastern Palace.

Compared to the crown prince's position and her own future happiness, what does it matter if she offers herself to him and submits to him?
Perhaps, future generations will also refer to him alongside "Empress Dowager Xuan"...

As for Fang Jun's so-called "loyalty and righteousness," she could just listen to it and let it go. Although she didn't understand the affairs of the previous dynasty, wasn't the reason why His Majesty and Fang Jun had a falling out precisely because Fang Jun constantly restrained imperial power, thus causing His Majesty's dissatisfaction?
For outstanding individuals like Fang Jun, simple "loyalty and righteousness" are no longer the ideal they pursue.

Their life's pursuit was to ensure that their aspirations, ambitions, and groundbreaking systems would be remembered for generations to come.

By submitting herself to him as an empress, she could ensure that he would always retain the image of the empress and the crown prince in his heart...

Fang Jun shook his head: "The Empress can do whatever she wants. This humble subject has nothing to say."

However, such a perfunctory attitude angered and humiliated Empress Su. Whether she was willing to submit to him was one thing, but Fang Jun's "discarding her like worn-out shoes" was another.

Empress Su frowned, her voice tinged with displeasure: "Could it be that I am blind, that the Grand Commandant is actually a gentleman?"

If you were a decent person, that would be fine, but are you?
I've already debased myself so much and lost all my dignity, and you still look at me with such disdain. This is simply intolerable!
I can't be worse than Princess Baling, can I?

Fang Jun said helplessly, "The Empress's promise is too far-fetched. How about we try paying some interest first? I need to taste some sweetness before I'll be willing to serve you!"

Empress Su was unaware of the other meaning of "the service of dogs and horses." Although she tried her best to hide it and pretended not to care, she had never experienced such verbal teasing before, and her face immediately turned red with embarrassment.

She glanced at Fang Jun with eyes full of autumn water, and said with a huff, "Dream on! If you take advantage of me and then deny it, wouldn't I be at a huge loss?"

Fang Jun raised an eyebrow: "If the Empress denies it afterward, wouldn't I also suffer a great loss?"

Empress Su's heart pounded. She had never been so intimately flirted with a man in her life. She felt a mix of embarrassment, nervousness, and a touch of excitement...

The air inside the hall seemed to warm up.

Fang Jun stopped there and patiently said, "Your Majesty, rest assured, as long as the 'Divine Machine Battalion' is in the Eastern Palace, there is absolutely no way the edict to depose the heir will be issued. His Majesty always speaks of 'benevolence' and 'generosity' in everything he does. If he were to forcibly depose the heir, wouldn't he be cutting himself off from the world? Therefore, even if the heir is deposed, it must be done naturally. Before the situation is fully under control, the Eastern Palace will not be in danger."

Empress Su's eyes swept across Fang Jun's face, she bit her lip lightly, and hesitated before saying, "But have you considered another possibility? The Crown Prince is still young, and his smooth growth may not be guaranteed..."

What could be a more natural way to establish a new crown prince than the sudden "death" of a young crown prince?
The saying goes, "All the world's hustle and bustle is for profit, and the greatest profit in the world is imperial power." Therefore, from ancient times to the present, the struggle for imperial power has been extremely fierce, with fathers and sons killing each other and brothers fighting each other being commonplace.

The story of Emperor Taizong is not far off.

Whether Emperor Taizong was forced to retaliate out of desperation or had planned ahead with ruthless methods, the outcome was clear: the Crown Prince and Prince Qi, who were born of the same mother, were exterminated along with their entire families, and Emperor Taizong ascended the throne as emperor as a matter of course.

When faced with enormous profits, even family ties are disregarded!
In order to demonstrate his authority and prevent his successor from becoming a puppet under the control of the "Hall of State Affairs" and the "Grand Council," His Majesty is capable of taking any measures.

The so-called "benevolence" and "compassion" are merely labels. For an emperor who holds supreme power in the world, such qualities may exist, but they are certainly not abundant...

Fang Jun's expression turned serious. Although he was reluctant to believe that Li Chengqian would go that far, the possibility did exist.

"So the Empress resides in the Eastern Palace and no longer manages the affairs of the six palaces?"

Empress Su snorted: "In my eyes, the Crown Prince is everything. If there were no Crown Prince, what would I be as Empress?"

Initially, the crown prince was chosen because of the empress.

However, nowadays, the empress is chosen based on the crown prince.

If Li Xiang is unharmed, then she is the Empress of the Tang Dynasty, the Queen of the Nation, and the mother of the nation.

With Li Xiang in trouble, she, as empress, will inevitably be deposed immediately.

It seems highly unlikely that the young prince would be adopted by her, his "legal mother," and raised in her care, because someone would definitely have to take responsibility for the crown prince's deposition.

As the empress, she had no choice but to shoulder the responsibility...

Fang Jun sighed: "But if this continues, won't the rift between husband and wife deepen? It might not even come to that."

Empress Su's phoenix eyes gleamed, and she gritted her teeth slightly: "When he conceived the idea of ​​deposing the crown prince, did he ever care about the bond between husband and wife? In his eyes, blood ties and marriage are ultimately no match for the word 'power.' As long as he holds power, he doesn't care whether his son is a legitimate son or a son born out of wedlock."

The Empress and the Crown Prince are one, sharing both glory and ruin. The day the Crown Prince is deposed is also the day the Empress is deposed. How can one blame her for her resentment?

Fang Jun had nothing to say, and could only say gently, "Your Majesty, I will say the same thing again: I will definitely protect the Crown Prince... and the Empress."

This had nothing to do with any ambiguous relationship with the Empress; it was precisely the "lineage succession" system that he had consistently upheld for so long.

The Tang Dynasty's national strength was already unmatched in the world, and there were no external enemies that could threaten its destiny. The Tibetan Empire on the plateau was plagued by internal strife and was barely surviving. The only powerful country, the Abbasid Caliphate, was too far away, and the peace treaty signed this time would surely maintain peace for several decades. All that was needed was to accumulate wealth, consolidate national strength, enlighten the people, improve the legal system, and wait for a bottom-up reform.

The key to all of this lies in the word "stability".

A stable succession system, stable government operations, stable foreign relations, and stable national laws.

When imperial power is no longer so supreme, and when the rise and fall of a nation is no longer determined by the wisdom or folly of a single emperor, everything will inevitably fall into place.

There is no perfect system in the world, but we should try to make it as perfect as possible.

How is the "approaching perfection" of a system manifested?
It's just four words.

The king is subject to the law!

*****
Jayavarman rode in a carriage out of the inn of the Honglu Temple, turned onto Zhuque Avenue, and was immediately overwhelmed by the sight before him.

On the day he arrived in Chang'an, Jayavarman was filled with anxiety and panic, fearing that the Tang emperor would take him, the barbarian king, to the ancestral temple as a "captive" and then execute him as a warning to others. Therefore, he had no mind to appreciate the scenery of Chang'an or the grandeur of the Tang Dynasty. In his dazed state, he only remembered the heavy shadow of the city walls pressing down like a mountain, making it difficult to breathe and causing him to lose his senses.

This morning, he received an imperial edict from the Tang emperor to receive him at the Taiji Hall, which finally put his mind at ease. He then requested that officials from the Court of State Ceremonial accompany him on a tour of Chang'an.

The Vermilion Bird Avenue stretched straight south like an arrow, a hundred paces wide enough for twelve carriages to ride abreast. Locust trees lined both sides of the street, and Jayavarman even jumped off his carriage and ran to the roadside to look at the clear, rushing water in the drainage ditches hidden under the trees, and couldn't help but exclaim in admiration.

The alleyways in the imperial city on both sides of the main street are straight and the houses are neatly arranged. Pairs of imperial guards in bright armor patrol past from time to time. Many officials dressed in various official robes ride horses or carriages, coming and going in a hurry.

Looking north, the towering Chengtianmen gate tower in the distance stands majestically like a celestial palace, exuding luxury, grandeur, and authority!
The carriage traveled south out of the imperial city through the Zhuque Gate and turned right. Occasionally, a pair of cavalrymen could be seen escorting a fine carriage and a precious horse galloping by. Embroidered gold curtains hung on the carriages—these were the singers and dancers from Pingkang Ward heading to a banquet for a nobleman.

When passing through the Western Market, Jayavarman requested to stop the carriage. After getting out, he entered the Western Market accompanied by officials from the Honglu Temple.

Treasures from all directions were gathered there; Persian gems, Arabian glass, and Indian spices shimmered in the shops. A Uyghur woman with her hair in a bun sold wine at a counter, while musicians from Kucha played the pipa in the tavern.

They strolled around, taking in the sights with great interest.

Stopping at a street corner, Jayavarman pointed to a strangely shaped small temple, where many worshippers dressed in white robes were going in and out, and asked, "Where is that?"

An official from the Court of State Ceremonial glanced at it and said, "That's the Ao Temple."

"Ancestral hall?"

An official from the Honglu Temple explained, "It is a temple built by the Zoroastrian religion from Persia."

Jayavarman asked curiously, "Wasn't Taoism the state religion of the Tang Dynasty?"

The official from the Court of State Ceremonial was even more curious than him: "That's true, but is there a problem?"

Jayavarman asked incredulously, "Since the state religion of the Tang Dynasty is Taoism, why does it allow the existence of other religions?"

The official from the Court of State Ceremonial understood why he had asked that question and smiled, “Taoism is the root of Chinese civilization and has a long history, but other religions are also allowed to exist. The laws of the Tang Dynasty have never prohibited the people from believing in any particular religion. However, religions like Zoroastrianism are relatively niche and are almost not believed by the Tang people. Their believers are mostly Persians and Sogdians.”

Jayavarman shook his head repeatedly.

Whether it is Lin-yi, Zhenla, or Pyu, they will never allow the existence of heretical sects.