Chapter 5: The Strange Man Cen Wenben ()

After leaving the palace, Li Ke came down to the most prosperous western market in Chang'an City under the guidance of Xiao Baozi.

The prosperity in front of us is at its peak. There are many shops on both sides of the street, and Hu merchants from the Western Regions come out to shout from time to time.

White tea horse gang walking on the street, men and women holding arms, leisurely overseas tourists, and employers bargaining in various accents.

Li Ke did feel that the historical description of Chang'an City was indeed true, and it was not an exaggeration to say that all nations came to the court.

However, seeing Li Ke’s thoughts were full of worries, he was obviously not at the bustling west Chang'an market in front of him.

In history, if you want to be appointed as the crown prince and eventually sit on the dragon throne, there are two necessary conditions: one is to be recognized by the emperor, and the other is to be supported by civil and military ministers. However, in addition to these two necessary conditions in the Tang Dynasty, there is another condition, which is to be supported by aristocratic families.

The Li Tang Dynasty was established by three forces: one is the Guanlong Group, the other is the Shandong Group, and the other is the Jiangnan scholar.

The Guanlong Group is a military group composed of the Xianbei nobles of the Northern Wei Dynasty, including the Han people in Huhua and the Hu people in the Western Regions. Most of the Guanlong Group are honorary relatives of the Li family, and some of them have established military achievements during the founding of the Li Tang Dynasty, such as Li Shentong, Li Daozong, Li Xiaogong and others.

The Shandong group includes two parts: Shandong gentry and Shandong heroes. The Shandong gentry has a long history, strong economic strength, and has a strong clan village foundation, which produces huge political energy. Advance can control the government and retreat can control the countryside. The Shandong heroes are poor landlord groups that rose in the chaos at the end of the Sui Dynasty. In other words, they were local tyrants whose powers quickly rose in the great turmoil at the end of the Sui Dynasty. The so-called Shandong heroes promoted social status through violence, to put it bluntly, they were gangsters.

The scholars of Jiangnan were a family that had existed before the Sui Dynasty unified the south. On the one hand, they participated in the political system of the Tang Dynasty and formulated rules and regulations, and on the other hand, they continued to exert influence in the Jiangnan region. These three forces played a great role in the establishment of the Tang Dynasty and the recovery and strengthening of national strength in the early stages.

Li Ke was thinking that if he wanted to become the crown prince and become the emperor of the future Tang Empire, he had to pay attention to these three forces.

However, paying attention is to paying attention, but to make these three forces recognize themselves and support them, this is not something that can be done in a short while, and it requires long-term planning.

In addition, the primary problem is to develop one's own strength. No one can do anything, and now Li Ke lacks the most is people. Now he has no one around him who trusts, let alone the kind of confidant who gives advice for him.

The bloody history made him understand one thing: a prince without power is a powerful minister who cannot fight against a powerful person without real power. Therefore, if he competes with Li Chengqian for the throne and Li Tai and Li Zhi for the throne, he must have power.

Therefore, what he needs is a group loyal to himself, civil service group and military group. Only with such a force can he have the ability to compete with them for the throne and be qualified to embark on the road of hegemony.

When it comes to civil servants, the first thing he thinks of is Cen Wenben. This top power struggle master who is described as a demon in "The Long Song of Zhenguan".

A top power strategist must first be a talented person. This is actually the rule of tens of millions of industries. Technology allows you to stand firm and deal with the world allows you to take steps. And Cen Wenben is such a talented person. He is loyal to the Tang Dynasty and Li Shimin.

Therefore, even if Li Shimin knew what he did, he could not do anything to him.

In the top dialogue in the whole drama of Taizong notifying Cen Wenben of the appointment, Li Shimin said: "In the past ten years, I have known that you are in Cao's camp and are in the Han Dynasty. You have given up all your desires and endured unbearable humiliation. I really want to expose you, but I can't find any handle for you. Now, I can only give you this position, otherwise, the history books will definitely say that I can't use wise men."

During the Zhenguan period, because Li Shimin served as the Minister of the Secretariat when he was King of Qin, this position was vacant for more than ten years. In the end, the official title of the head of the prime minister was Cen Wenben. It was Cen Wenben's loyalty and wisdom that he made Li Shimin concessions like this.

As Li Ke's teacher, he worked hard all his life for Li Ke to enter the Eastern Palace. He was finally defeated by Changsun Wuji and died with hatred. It cannot be said that Cen Wenben is not smart, but Li Ke's performance was too strong and too ostentatious, which made Cen Wenben's final failure.

Cen Wenben was the first scholar of Jiangnan. He led the entire Jiangnan literati group in the late Zhenguan period. Moreover, he himself was a child of a Jiangnan family.

Therefore, getting his support is equivalent to the support of Jiangnan scholars and families.

Li Ke is no longer the Li Ke in history. Since he wants to be Li Ke again, he must let Cen Wenben use all his strategies and let him see the day he entered the East Palace. Thinking of this, Li Ke couldn't help but feel secretly proud.

He suddenly left the palace today, nominally shopping, mainly because he wanted to go and see Cen Wenben and wanted to pull him into his camp in advance.

So, he asked Xiao Baozi, "Do you know where Mr. Cen lives?"

"Mr. Cen?" Xiao Baozi asked in confusion: "Are you talking about that scholar? The scholar who followed Master Feng?"

"Yes, it's him." Li Ke asked anxiously: "Do you know where he lives?"

"It seems to be in Yongxingfang."

"Take me here quickly." Li Ke urged him.

In Yongxingfang, Cen Wenben was reading a book in the study, and he was waiting for the appointment of the court.

Because of Yang Fei's love, he was recommended by Feng Deyi to be a historian as a writer. Although Feng Deyi asked Cen Wenben at that time that he had two positions to recommend Cen Wenben, one was from the Ministry of Revenue Officer of the Sixth Grade, and the other was from the historian of the Seventh Grade, and the other was from the editor of the Seventh Grade, and asked him to choose one.

But he chose the historian because, in his opinion, the Ministry of Revenue Secretary Wailang was a fat man from the sixth rank. However, in the Ministry of Revenue, there were Shangshu, left and right servants, and left and right doctors. It would be difficult to be promoted if there was no one to take care of the Ministry of Revenue.

But it is different in historians. What every emperor cares most about is what impact his actions will leave in history. Li Shimin is no exception. This is a position that is easy to see the emperor. Even if he cannot see the emperor, he can also use his talents. Therefore, he weighs the pros and cons and decides to become a composer of the historian.

It was here that he heard a scary report that the prince of Changsha was coming to visit.

He hurriedly got up and brought the housekeeper to greet him and said, "My de Cen Wenben pays homage to Your Highness."

Looking at the man in his thirties and dressed in a scholarly outfit, Li Ke secretly lamented his talent and loyalty. Seeing Cen Wenben bowing to him, he hurriedly stepped forward and returned the courtesy: "Sir, how can Ke bear such a great gift?"

When Cen Wenben heard Li Ke call him a gentleman, he knew that Li Ke was now serving him as a disciple. He was a little moved and then bowed to greet him: "Your Highness, please."

So Li Ke was ahead, and Cen Wenben followed him into Cen's mansion half a step later.

When he arrived at the living room, the maid took the tea and stepped out. The little Baozi also stood outside the door tactfully. Li Ke explained first: "Ke was injured due to falling off a horse, and has not yet recovered. Today I asked my mother to come out to visit the husband. I hope the husband will forgive me." Then, he took a sip of tea and continued: "My mother asked me to say hello to her on her behalf."

Cen Wenben was very respectful to Li Ke and Concubine Yang. After hearing Li Ke say this, he hurriedly bowed: "Thank you for your concern and Your Highness, Wenben is extremely grateful."

Li Ke said: "Mr. He was awarded the Secretary by his father and was a full-time secretary. He walked between the inner-speaking and Hongwen Hall. Ke congratulated him."

Cen Wenben said modestly: "Wenben is worthy of being given the support of the Empress and Lord Feng's recommendation."

"Sir, I'm still used to life?" Li Ke looked at Cen Wenben's simple mansion and asked with concern.

Cen Wenben was a little moved: "Thank you for your concern. I was not used to it at first, but now I am used to it."

After drinking a sip of tea, Li Ke and Cen Wenben asked some questions about academic matters, and Cen Wenben carefully answered Li Ke. After talking like this, Li Ke felt that there was still a gap between the two. If this barrier was not removed, it would be difficult for Cen Wenben to truly belong to him. So he said, "In addition to congratulating Mr. Ke today, he also needs to ask Mr. for help." After that, he stood up and gave a tribute: "Sir, please agree."

Cen Wenben was startled by Li Ke's actions and hurriedly supported him and said, "What's the matter with Your Highness? As long as Wenben can do it, he will do his best."

Li Ke said: "I want to report to my father and ask Mr. to be my teacher, but I hope Mr. Don't refuse."

Cen Wenben was deeply moved by Li Ke's behavior. He and Li Ke were introduced to Chai Shao in Chai Shao's army. Li Ke admired his talent very much and wanted him to be his teacher very much. At that time, Cen Wenben thought that Li Ke was just an impulse and might not be out of sincerity, so he did not agree. Unexpectedly, he came here today for this matter. If Li Ke directly asked the emperor to issue an edict, Cen Wenben would not dare to disobey the emperor's order. But Li Ke did not use his power to suppress him, but came to solicit his opinions personally. It can be seen that Li Ke respected him. Cen Wenben was just a scholar, a secretary of the seventh rank, and could make a prince invite him twice with integrity. This was similar to Liu Bei's three visits to the cottage back then. What else could he be more touched than this? He choked up and said, "Your Highness does not care that I am shallow in my knowledge. I will guide you in your knowledge."

Li Ke said happily: "Was that gentleman agreed?" He stood up and bowed to Cen Wenben and said: "Ke has met Mr.

Cen Wenben said: "Your Highness does not need to perform this great gift to me. Your Highness loves me so much, how can I not agree?"
Chapter completed!