Chapter 1764: Emperor and Ministers
"He won't do anything," Yang Heshu said. "He'll say that His Majesty has already investigated the whole matter and knows that this matter has nothing to do with you and your son. It's just that there's no solid evidence to prove that it was your uncle who did it. You and your son agreed to it voluntarily. The Emperor always dotes on his children. He knows that you're worried about your uncle, and he only feels sorry for you. He thinks you're innocent and filial, so how could he blame you?"
Yang Heshu said, "Even if he's angry, it's only temporary. After the New Year, if Your Highness is more filial, His Majesty will be fine. Just look at how His Majesty treats the Third Prince. No matter how wrong his sons are, they're still his sons. Even a tiger won't eat its own cubs, let alone His Majesty's sudden doting on the Fifth Prince."
Bai Shan and the other two were stunned. If they hadn't seen the silent expression on Yang Heshu's face, they would have almost believed it.
Yang Heshu could almost guess the expression on his father's face when he said this. He sighed softly and said, "The imperial concubine entered the palace early and has deep feelings for the Yang family. She and her cousin also have a deep brotherly relationship, so I'm not sure."
Manbao was concerned about another thing. To be honest, she still wasn't sure who the enemy of the brothers Xu Yu and Xu An was.
"So those spies in the palace were all trained by Yang Rong?"
Lord Tang didn't say anything. How could the case be exposed to the public?
Yang Heshu, however, had little qualms and said with a smile, "I'm afraid it's not just Yang Rong's family. There are other families involved, such as the Cui family, the Wang family, and the Lu family. And within this family, there are many branches, such as my Yang family. My father probably didn't participate in that incident, but he must have people in the palace."
Manbao asked in surprise, "Why?"
"There are so many reasons for this," Yang Heshu said. "It's hard to say whether it's right or wrong. If you really want to know why, it's probably for the whole family."
He said, "I don't expect them to do anything. They just need to do their job well. If a woman from the Yang family becomes the head of the harem in the future, they can be used. If there is a disaster for the Yang family in the future, they can give warnings. The rest is just to gather some information."
Manbao asked in disbelief, "Isn't this wrong?"
Yang Heshu smiled faintly and said, "Do you think that the families of the nobility are pure? My family has spies from other families, and there are also spies from the palace. They don't intend to harm us right now, they are just being prepared. If we want to judge right and wrong, we will have to go back hundreds of years."
Not only Manbao, but also Bai Shan and Bai Erlang, who came from aristocratic families, were stunned. "You have spies in your family too?"
Yang Heshu smiled and nodded, "Of course, other families may not have that. My family is the patriarch's branch. During the chaos of the previous dynasty, we had 70,000 to 80,000 soldiers under our command. How could all of them be loyal people?"
He spoke openly in front of the three people, "This has always been the case throughout the dynasties. The ruler and his subjects can both get along and attack and defend each other. But Your Majesty cares about the world. We shouldn't just focus on the glory of our clan, but also consider the people outside the clan, and even look to the future."
Yang Heshu looked at Bai Shan and Man Bao approvingly and said, "Perhaps you two are the ones who understand best. Since the ruler and his subjects share the same goal, that is, to rule the world together, trust should be the first priority. In today's world, we appoint people based on their merits. When the ruler acts according to his duty, his subjects should fulfill their obligations. Then the world will naturally be peaceful. My uncle and father have overstepped their bounds."
Tang He looked at him in surprise. This was the first time he heard him say such a thing. He couldn't help but sit up straighter and asked, "Do you really think so? The people of the world are more important than your family?"
Yang Heshu nodded slightly, glanced at Bai Shan and Zhou Man, and said, "I remember you two told me that after a hundred years, people are just dry bones. And after a hundred years, the blood relationship should be five generations old. After another hundred years, the blood relationship will have faded to ashes. Counting back thousands of years, haven't all people descended from Yanhuang? Instead of being so narrow-minded and only focusing on the interests of your own clan, why not consider the interests of all people in the world?"
Bai Shan and Man Bao looked confused and pointed at their noses and asked, "Did we say that?"
Yang Heshu frowned and tilted his head, asking, "Don't you remember? During the autumn harvest that year, I went to Qili Village to inspect the harvest and saw you harvesting rice in the fields. At noon, you finished your work and rested in the shed. Someone pulled out a book of unofficial histories with many short stories. One of them was about Cao Cao asking Xun Yu, 'Which is more important, family or the state?' Xun Yu replied, 'family.' Those were the words you exchanged at that time."
Bai Shan and Man Bao looked at each other and realized for the first time that their memories were a little off. They both looked at Bai Erlang, puzzled: "Did we say that?"
They didn't remember, and Bai Jilang didn't remember even more.
Seeing that they had truly forgotten, Yang Heshu smiled and said, "Forget it if you've forgotten it. Although that book is unofficial history and the stories are fabricated, what it says is true. For most people in this world, family is indeed more important than the monarchy."
Manbao thought about it and said, "I don't think so."
Bai Shan also said: "That's not true."
Yang Heshu reached out and patted their shoulders with a slight smile.
Zhou Man wasn't from an aristocratic family, and his clan was small, so there weren't many conflicts. Bai Shan had been away from his clan since he was young, so his family had little influence on him. Therefore, they were probably the only two people in the world who understood him best in this regard.
He turned to look at Tang He and asked, "Do you want to meet the Fifth Prince?"
Tang He was confused and hesitated for a moment before he stood up. "I'll go take a look."
Madam Tang stopped him and looked at Yang Heshu disapprovingly, "Uncle Shi is your father after all. Shouldn't you be the one to persuade him?"
Yang Heshu sighed and shook his head slightly. Tang He quickly explained to Madam Tang, "Changbo didn't mean to harm me. He must have tried to dissuade me. I went over there without saying a word. If Uncle Shi saw me, he wouldn't raise such a question with the Fifth Prince again."
Besides, Lord Yang was not stupid. He would have guessed that Yang Heshu had told him why he went there. If that happened, it would still be a conflict between father and son. Even if Lord Yang was angry, he would have been directed at Yang Heshu. So he didn't mean to harm him.
Madam Tang held him tightly and lowered her voice, saying, "My father has been asking you to behave yourself lately. You've just provoked so many spies, and you still don't know how to restrain yourself now?"
Manbao and Baishan's little heads were filled with questions, endless questions. Since they had something to ask, they volunteered, "Let's go. We're friends with the Fifth Prince and are the same age, so going to play with him would be perfect. But I still have so many questions. Who can tell me?"
Seeing that Yang Heshu and Tang He were both looking at her, she twisted her body uncomfortably and said, "Of course, it's not that we want to pry into your privacy. We just wanted to be able to answer any questions that the Fifth Prince might have."
"That's right," Bai Shan said, "If the Fifth Prince insists on asking who is trying to harm the Crown Princess and the Emperor's grandson, we can't just give the same answer as Brother Yang did just now. All the spies we've found in the palace have given such general answers, right?"
In fact, the relationship between the monarchy, the aristocratic families and the common people has always been very complicated. If you say that the aristocratic families are bad, many policies that weaken the aristocratic families and stand from the perspective of the people are proposed by officials from aristocratic families; if you say that the aristocratic families are good, they have been encroaching on the living space of the people.
See you next chapter at 11pm
(End of this chapter)
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