Fortunate Young Gentleman

Tang Qi looked at Tang Zhao and asked in a deep voice: "Do you know Zhang Bin?"

"Zhang Bin?" Tang Zhao was startled when he heard this, and after thinking for a while, he said: "It sounds familiar..."

Tang Qi said sternly: "Do you know him?"

Tang Zhao shivered and said: "I think I had such a person under my command before, but I haven't had any contact with him for at least two years..."

Tang Qi stared at him and asked: "In other words, he was indeed under your command before?"

"It seems!"

"Don't seem!"

...

Tang Zhao shivered again in fear and said hurriedly: "I am sure, I am sure and certain that Zhang Bin was indeed under my command before..."

Tang Qi trembled, held the door, and closed his eyes in despair.

Even the Tang family could find out that Zhang Bin was Tang Zhao's subordinate before, so how could the court not find out, and how could His Majesty not find out?

His Majesty was gentle and mellow at Prince Duan's place because Prince Duan was his son. This gentle and mellow, when it came to the Tang family, it was very likely to be a storm.

Tang Zhao looked at the two people with very bad faces and asked tentatively: "Dad, uncle, what happened?"

"The imperial edict has arrived, Minister of Rites Tang Huai receives the edict."

As soon as Tang Zhao finished speaking, the eunuch's sharp and thin voice sounded outside the door.

Tang Huai and Tang Qi looked at each other and walked out slowly. Tang Huai looked at the eunuch in front of him, calmly tidied his clothes, and knelt down and said: "I receive the edict."

Wei Jian stepped forward, unfolded the imperial edict in his hand, and read: "The edict says: I inherited the unique learning from the hundreds of saints, and explored the subtle words in the six classics. I will rise from this culture and remember the old people. Although the rituals and punishments are unseen, there are still simple policies to seek..., Minister of Rites Tang Huai, in addition to the position of Minister of Rites, specially awarded the title of Prince Shao Shi, respect it."

This imperial edict is very long, but most of the content is the official documents of the ceremony.

The only really useful ones are the last few sentences. Minister of Rites Tang Huai, in addition to the position of Minister of Rites, specially awarded the title of Prince Shao Shi.

As the name implies, only the prince's teacher can receive such an honor. The prince's teacher is a second-rank official. The highest official position in the capital that holds real power is only the second-rank.

The positions higher than the prince's teacher, such as the Grand Tutor and the Grand Master, are all honorary positions, of course, including the prince's teacher.

This position is generally given posthumously by the court to those officials with great qualifications after retirement or death. Tang Huai's qualifications are not up to this level.

If there is no previous sentence "except the position of Shangshu", this is a great honor for the Tang family. With this sentence, the meaning is completely different.

Although he was given a second-rank honorary position, he was kicked out of the Ministry of Rites. One is a real position and the other is an honorary title. There is no need to say which is more important.

This is His Majesty's punishment for the Tang family. Since then, the Tang family has only a negligible influence in the court, which is less than one-tenth of its heyday three years ago.

Wei Jian looked at Tang Huai who was kneeling on the ground, sighed lightly, and said: "Lord Tang, please accept the order."

Tang Huai raised his hands and said in a deep voice: "Minister, thank your majesty for your grace!"

Wei Jian nodded and said: "The imperial edict has been delivered, and we have to return to the palace to report."

Tang Huai stood up and said with a smile: "Send it to Eunuch Wei."

"No need to trouble you." Wei Jian waved his hand and turned away.

Tang Huai held the imperial edict tightly. Tang Zhao got up from the ground and said happily: "My uncle was appointed as the prince's tutor. Why did my cousin Prince Duan become the prince?"

"Shut up!" Tang Qi glared at him sternly and asked: "When was the last time Zhang Bin contacted you?"

Tang Zhao touched his head in confusion and said: "That was two years ago. What happened?"

Tang Huai put away the imperial edict and sighed: "What a good plan."

Tang Qi clenched his fist unwillingly. From now on, the Tang family has passively withdrawn from the court and can only rely on Prince Duan alone.

He looked at Tang Huai and asked, "Is it Prince Kang, Prince Huai, or Tang Ning?"

"It doesn't matter." Tang Huai shook his head and said, "Some people don't want me to enter the East Palace smoothly, but they forget that the Tang family is not their opponent, but your majesty is."

Tang Qi said, "But your majesty still regards the Tang family as an opponent."

In the past few years, everyone in the capital has witnessed your majesty's suppression of the Tang family. This time, as long as they investigate carefully, the Tang family can clear the suspicion, but he directly issued an imperial edict to completely knock the Tang family down.

Tang Huai waved his hand and said, "The process is not important, the result is important..."

Although Tang Qi looked unwilling, he could do nothing about it.

If your majesty did it on purpose, it would be futile for the Tang family to do too much. Only when Prince Duan came to power, the Tang family would have a chance to rise again.

No matter what tricks those villains behind the scenes use, Prince Duan's coming to power is an unchangeable fact. If anyone wants to change it, they must face the emperor directly.

Thinking of this, Tang Qi suddenly expected those people to make another move.

Tang Zhao looked at him in confusion and asked, "Dad, what happened to King Kang, what happened to King Huai, and what happened to Tang Ning?"

"Shut up." Tang Qi glanced at him and said, "Go to the ancestral hall and kneel down..."

"..." Tang Zhao looked at him and was speechless.

He said in confusion, "Dad, can I ask you what I did wrong this time?"

Tang Qi glared at him and said, "Kneel down when I told you to, why don't you go!"

"I won't go!" Tang Zhao stared at him and said angrily, "I didn't do anything, and you made me kneel, what a lousy head of the family, who will be the head in the future, I won't be the head anymore, I'm going to Jiangnan..."

Tang Qi said angrily: "Whose father are you?"

"I am my own father, can't I?" Tang Zhao said angrily as he walked out of the house: "I will leave if you let me go, and I will come back if you let me come back. Whatever happens is your fault." I don’t want to serve you anymore..."

…

royal palace.

Emperor Chen did not review memorials in the imperial study, nor rest in the palace of his beloved concubine. Instead, he walked alone in the imperial garden.

Wei Jian walked over from behind and followed him slowly. Emperor Chen asked calmly: "Has the imperial edict been delivered?"

Wei Jian nodded and said, "Delivered."

Chen Huang asked: "What did he say?"

Wei Jian smiled and said, "Master Tang said, thank you for your grace."

"It's good to be an emperor." Emperor Chen smiled and said, "Thank them for rewards and thank them for punishments. No wonder there are so many people vying to be emperor."

He shook his head and added: "We all see the benefits of being an emperor, but we don't see how much blood is shed and how many people die each time in order to fight for this position?"

He smiled with some disdain and said: "What they are playing has been ruined by my royal brothers, so can't they come up with some new tricks?"

Wei Jian followed him, smiling and saying nothing.

He walked in the imperial garden and said calmly: "Let the spies keep an eye on it. Whether someone is plotting to kill King Kang or someone is plotting against King Duan, as long as they take action again, they will definitely reveal their flaws..."

Wei Jian bowed and whispered: "I obey the order."

…

In Tang Huai, the position of Minister of Rites was removed and a prince was granted the title of Young Master.

Although the official position of Prince's Young Master is respected, it is usually given to dead people. I don't know if Emperor Chen has any deep meaning in it.

Tangning didn't know this.

From the third grade to the second grade, people who don't understand may think that this is Emperor Chen's commendation to the Tang family, but people with a little common sense will know that Tang Huai has been ignored.

The Ministry of Rites is the nominal head of the six departments. The position of the Minister of Rites is already respected and he still holds real power. However, the position of the Minister of Rites was removed and he was given a prince and young master who was of little use. If the Tang family had not made any major mistakes , Huang Chen could not possibly treat him like this.

Someone with a quick mind has connected this matter with the assassination of King Kang, strung it into a story, and deduced many versions, which spread in the capital...

Regardless of whether these rumors and stories are true or false, there is one fact that everyone agrees on.

The once prosperous and extremely prominent Tang family has fallen into decline.

No matter whether the Tang family will make a comeback after King Duan comes to power, at least for now, the decline of the Tang family is a fact...