A person’s identity and growth environment determines his or her life’s ambitions.

Everyone has their own desires to a greater or lesser extent. Poor families want to have food and clothing, businessmen want to make a fortune, and powerful families want to be promoted to the title. As for princes, what they want is naturally the throne that commands the world.

Li Zhi is an exception. He does not have much yearning for power. All he wants is to be a free prince for life, without having to be in power or getting rich, play and play every day, and when he is older, he understands the romantic and romantic life of the world, and has more hobbies, such as having fun with friends, having a brothel with a beautiful girl, etc.

Li Zhi is very similar to Li Su in many aspects, especially his personality is not in a strife with the world and has no ambitions. If you don’t care about age differences, Li Su is like Li Zhi’s father, his biological son.

This may be one of the reasons why the two got together. After all, it is really not easy to find two products with no ambitions in the world.

But Li Su can have no ambitions, but Li Zhi cannot. It can be said that from his birth, some things will be destined to fall on him. Even without Li Su's participation, what should come will eventually come.

More than a dozen princes have the possibility of becoming crown princes, and the competition is too great. However, when Li Su suddenly said "If you establish a legitimate position or not, you will not establish a concubine", Li Zhi seemed to have opened the door to a new world, and his eyes suddenly widened.

Since ancient times, there has indeed been a rule that "establishing legitimately but not establishing a concubine". "Legitimate" means "legitimate", "legitimate" means "limited", and "limited" means "limited", and the teachings of sages, and the principles of the rule of the rule. These principles are deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Whether in the palace royal family or ordinary families, there is a big difference between "legitimate" and "limited" and "limited" and it can be said that it is a world of difference. Later men envied the so-called "polygamy" system in ancient times. In fact, it is a misunderstanding. No dynasty has the saying that "polygamy" is said to be "polygamy", which is contrary to ethics. Some are just "one wife and many concubines" system. This "many concubine" is also conditional, such as the official position of the male master, or how old the man is still without a descendant when he is a wife, etc. The rules of each dynasty are different, so men are allowed to take concubines.

In ancient times, every man could only have one wife, who was the only wife. When getting married, they tied their hair together and tied a knot. This is the origin of the "haired couple". Only one wife is qualified to "haired" with this man.

As for the man who wants to marry another woman after his wife, he is so embarrassed. You can marry him, but it is impossible to hold a grand wedding for this woman. Usually, a sedan chair is carried into the house in a short night and can be regarded as a ritual. Secondly, any woman other than the wife, even if she is as beautiful as a fairy, no matter how a man hurts her to the bone, her status is still a "concubine". The concubine does not have much human rights. She wakes up early every day to greet her. Whenever she encounters anything, she must report to her and wait for her instructions.

If both the wife or concubine have children, the difference between the children will be even more obvious. The children born to the wife are "legitimate". The legitimate child is destined to inherit all the inheritance of the father, including official positions and titles and property. The concubine's child is "participated". The status of the polite child in the family is the same as that of the concubine. Any good things, food, clothing and use must be selected first. Only when the legitimate child is selected by the legitimate child is the turn of the polite child. As for the father's property and title, there is basically no child born in the family, it is still the same rule. It is reasonable to see whether the legitimate child is given or not.

Throughout the ages, the distinction between "wife" and "concubine" has been established, and the royal families of all dynasties naturally have this rule. For example, Empress Changsun was Li Shimin's only wife, so the three sons of Li Chengqian, Li Tai and Li Zhi, born by Empress Changsun, are the legitimate sons of the Tian family. If they are ranked in the order of inheritance, these three naturally occupy the top three positions. The other eleven princes were all from Li Shimin's concubines. The concubines are the "concubines" in the folk family and are naturally born into illegitimate children. Therefore, even if some of these princes born into illegitimate children are older than Li Zhi, they can only be honestly ranked behind Li Zhi without any discussion or exception.

Rules are rules. Sages and sages determine the world by rituals. "Rites" means rules. The ethics of the world for thousands of years are all in the "Rites" set by sages and cannot be violated. The royal family is especially serious. People in the world are all staring at the royal family. If the royal family does something that violates the etiquette system, the etiquette in the world will be messed up.

Li Zhi is young, but the principles of "legitimate" and "universal" are still very clear. However, before Li Su reminded him, Li Zhi did not think about this at all. Because his father did something that violated the etiquette system, that was the Xuanwu Gate Incident, the court officials and the princes could not understand Li Shimin's merits. They all thought that since the current emperor could do something that violated the etiquette system, he would definitely not care about doing one more, so maybe the prince who was born in illicit has a chance.

After sorting out this logic, the real princes who were born, such as Li Zhi, did not feel that they had much advantage. The princes who were born, such as Li Ke, King of Wu, Li You, King of Qi, did not feel that they were in a disadvantageous situation, and there was still a certain possibility of winning the crown prince of the Eastern Palace.

In addition, Li Shimin's ambiguous attitude, misunderstood praise and rewards, etc. For example, when Li Chengqian was the crown prince, Li Shimin loved Li Tai almost more than Li Chengqian. For princes who were born in vain, such as King of Wu Li Ke, Li Shimin once said in front of important officials such as Changsun Wuji, such as the very obvious suggestive words of "The King of Wu is like me", which gave King of Wu Li Ke endless hope.

No one can tell what purpose Li Shimin made the candidate for the heir of the country so ambiguous. It is unclear. It seems that every prince saw hope in Li Shimin's words and felt that he was a different firework. If Li Shimin is compared to a woman in love in later generations, a woman like Li Shimin is simply a white lotus green tea bitch who shows mercy everywhere, and is despised to death.

"Your real opponent is only King Wei Li Tai, and only this one, do you understand?" Li Su stared at Li Zhi seriously.

Li Zhi's expression was still shocked. Obviously, even if he had only one opponent left, he did not feel much excitement.

"It's too difficult, Brother Zizheng, it's better not to mention this matter." Li Zhi shook his head and said.

Li Su said dissatisfiedly: "You can't even beat an opponent?"

"Brother King Wei is too powerful, I really can't compete with him." Li Zhi admitted defeat very barely.

“Why?”

Li Zhi glared at him: "Do you really don't know or fake? Since the prince's brother was deposed and his rebellion was deposed, the court began to purge. The prince of Wei has arranged a large number of staff to take important positions in the court. Moreover, the father's favor for him recently seemed to be more generous than before. Silk cloth and silver were sent to the palace of the King of Wei. Among all the princes, only the prince of Wei received this honor. Now the court officials and the people are talking about it. They all think that the next prince of the Eastern Palace is the King of Wei. With the King of Wei, the position of the Prince of the Eastern Palace cannot be someone else's. Now many court officials have gone to the King of Wei."

"You can see this?"

Li Zhi smiled embarrassedly: "How can I understand these things? I heard Uncle Li Ji say. He is the chief minister of the Bingzhou Governor's Office. I like to stroll and play in his mansion..."

"Uncle Li also thinks that King Wei is the next prince?" Li Su asked with a frown.

"This is not the case. Uncle Li is very cautious. When chatting with me, he just shook his head and said that the situation is not clear at the moment. The so-called holy heart is unpredictable. What everyone guessed may not be the result. There are very large variables."

Li Su nodded. The old fox is an old fox. Even if he does not have the ability to predict history, he can see it more thoroughly than others. Li Su believes that this is not just Li Ji's opinion. Maybe veterans such as Li Jing, Cheng Yaojin, Niu Jinda should all have the same opinion.

"Your Highness, if there are variables in this matter, this variable can only be on you. Have you ever thought of being the crown prince?" Li Su asked in a low voice.

Li Zhi shook his head: "I am too young and too weak to be the prince. My father has always been dissatisfied with my personality. I know. So it is impossible for me to be the candidate for the prince."

Li Su sighed: "Your Highness is so rude. Have you ever thought about what kind of person His Majesty hopes the next emperor of the Tang Dynasty will be?"

Li Zhi said depressedly: "Anyway, it's not someone like me."

"This is a bad statement. Your Highness imagines the current national power of the Tang Dynasty. It has been more than twenty years since Emperor Gaozu raised his army in Jinyang until the Zhenguan year. In these twenty years, Your Majesty has led a group of loyal veterans to fight south and north. There are not many powerful countries around the Tang Dynasty. From the Cave and Turks, to Xueyantuo, and then to Tuyuhun, they have been pacified by the Tang Dynasty's kings, or become subordinates of the Tang Dynasty. Now, the only things that have not been conquered are Tubo in the west and Goguryeo in the east. These two countries are believed to have been included in Your Majesty's strategy for the next five to ten years. It can be said that no matter whether it can be realized, at least in Your Majesty's lifetime, there are indeed plans to destroy these two countries. So, in Your Majesty's heart, after destroying these two countries, will the Tang Dynasty still have enemies?"

When Li Zhi heard such a novel analysis for the first time, he couldn't help but become very interested. He thought for a moment when he heard this, and then shook his head.

Li Su continued: "The government and the people thought that Your Majesty's ambition to expand the country was endless, so the Tang Dynasty would inevitably conquer endlessly from generation to generation. But I don't think so. Your Majesty is a powerful emperor. He could not know the principle of "prosperity and decline". No matter how powerful a country is, once it reaches the point of being powerful and powerful, the country will gradually weaken. At that time, internal and external troubles will arise frequently, and the country will fall into storms. This is what Your Majesty will definitely not want to see. So, let me ask you again, what do you think Your Majesty wants the next generation of emperors to be?"

Li Zhi hesitated for a moment and said carefully: "The King of Guardians?"

Li Su smiled: "Yes, the country that the Tang Dynasty should conquer was almost settled in His Majesty's lifetime. There are not many enemies in the future. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is invincible in the world. China has been prestigious for thousands of years. The Tang Dynasty has reached its peak and its historical glory is unparalleled. But on the other hand, in the more than 20 years since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, it has been used to large-scale foreign troops almost every year. Whether the people or the food and grass in the country have been damaged again and again. Your Majesty must be very clear that it is time to let the people and

The treasury was time to rest. In the past, Qin destroyed the Han Dynasty and the Emperor Liu Bang became emperor and wanted to do great things. At that time, Prime Minister Xiao He advised Liu Bang to govern without action. Liu Bang accepted his advice and implemented benevolent policies in the internal affairs and left Qin law. Later, Cao Shen became prime minister, Xiao ruled Cao followed, and followed the way of Huang Lao inaction. After several generations of emperors, they all had no action to rest the people. The people were able to breathe, and the country became stronger. After Wen and Jing ruled, they even accumulated a solid family foundation. Only when Emperor Wu of Han had the confidence to sweep the Huns and promote the power of the Chinese and Han Han."

"Your Highness, history is like the cycle of Buddhism, which is always repeated and cycled, and it is the same now. I believe Your Majesty can see this clearly. Now the candidate for the crown prince can only be selected from the legitimate son, and the legitimate son is only you and the King of Wei. Looking at the King of Wei Li Tai, it is undeniable that he is indeed much better than you. He reads poetry, sings, books, and pianos at a young age, is versatile, is smart, and is good at observing words and expressions. More importantly, the King of Wei has ambitions, he pursues power, is competitive and competitive. If such a person becomes the next emperor of the Tang Dynasty, he will never be willing to be a successful king in any case. In order not to live under the shadow of his father and to prove to the subjects of the world that he is stronger than his father, his ambition to expand his country will only be stronger than his father, he will only use military service and corvee in the middle of the country more frequently, and the people will only live more difficult and have greater casualties than now..."

"Once it really becomes a fact, the Tang Dynasty will definitely fall into danger. Your Majesty knows a little about the character of the King of Wei. Two legitimate sons, one is strong and the other is weak. After comparing the two sides, does Your Highness think he really can choose the one with a strong personality?"

ps: Another update...(To be continued.)

Chapter 698: The Marquis’ Mansion discusses the situation:
Chapter completed!