When Kong Yingda heard Li Mu's proposal to challenge him, his heart skipped a beat. The memories of the past came to his mind and were a little scared. But he thought again that he was absolutely reasonable about today's affairs. Even if Li Mu was so skillful, he could not say the black ones to white ones, and there was nothing scary.

Thinking of this, Kong Yingda said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, I am willing to confront Zhulu Hou."

"Okay!" Li Shimin said: "Since that's the case, the two Qing families will argue. I and all officials are witnesses. Whoever is right or wrong will be a public opinion."

Kong Yingda came to Li Mu's left, and the two turned around and faced each other. Li Mu signaled Kong Yingda to say first, and Kong Yingda was not polite, and asked: "The facts are all there. Tang Guan is your step brother. If you recommend him, you are nepotism and form a clique for personal gain. What else do you have to say?"

Li Mu did not answer, but asked, "Kong Jijiu, I heard that you are well-educated and learned that I want to ask for advice today."

"You ask."

"What is forming a clique? What is private?"

"Hi-connection is to form a clique, and seek personal gain is to make private interests."

"Sure enough, I'm very knowledgeable. Then I don't understand. Who am I forming a clique with and why is my personal interests?"

Kong Yingda looked at Tang Jian with a gray face and gritted his teeth and said, "Others dare not say it, but I dare to say it. You formed a clique with Tang Jian and seek personal gain for his son."

"Haha!" Li Mu sneered and said, "Kong Jijiu, in order to retaliate against me, do you even slander the important officials of the court? Tang Jian is my stepfather, but don't forget that he is the first-class Duke personally appointed by His Majesty and has made great contributions to the country. The chaos at the end of the Sui Dynasty was his advice to take action, which led to the Supreme Emperor to raise an army. At the beginning of the founding of the country, he was lonely and betrayed, and he was imprisoned and humiliated, and did not forget the court, and passed on news to quell the rebellion. This time, he destroyed the Turks, and he put his life and death out of his way, and went on a mission to go alone, went deep into the enemy camp, and numb the enemy, so that General Li Jing took advantage of the fog to destroy the enemy. Do you think your Majesty will forget him? He needs to form a clique with me, a junior who has been an official for less than three months? Or do you think that Your Majesty is a foolish monarch, and will ignore loyal ministers and heroes?"

Kong Yingda dared not take the blame, and quickly said, "I don't mean this, don't slander it!"

"You don't? You have!" Li Mu shouted loudly and continued: "As far as I know, the stepfather Tang Jian has a total of seven sons, and the first six sons have been favored by His Majesty. Only the youngest son Tang Guan is left. I believe Your Majesty has made arrangements in his mind. Even if Your Majesty has not arranged, Kong Jijiu, have you heard of the Tang family in Bingzhou? The three dynasties are famous. Will he give up his face to ask me, a young boy, for the sake of his youngest son? Perhaps only Kong Jijiu will do such things."

"How dare you insult my family!"

"I dare not." Li Mu took the words back and said to Li Shimin: "This is my explanation for 'forming cliques for personal gain'. Please give your Majesty a clear guide."

"His Majesty……"

Li Shimin looked at Kong Yingda and said, "Kong Aiqing, the name of forming a clique for personal gain is indeed far-fetched. Tang Jian has made countless contributions to my important minister of the Tang Dynasty. I have made arrangements for his descendants. Moreover, I have always known Tang Jian's character, so he will never form cliques with others. Since you are impeaching Li Mu, don't involve others."

Kong Yingda sighed, bowed and said, "I know that I am guilty of my crime, and it may be untrue to form a clique for personal gain, but since the Marquis of Zhulu was ordered by His Majesty to select and edit the editors at Hongwenguan, Chongwenguan and Imperial College. He did not choose, so he decided to set up Tangguan. This is inevitable that he would be nepotism and perfunctory!"

"Kong Jijiu, this is a bad statement."

"You still have to argue?"

"No, Confucius, I just want to ask for advice. If Your Majesty asks you to find someone to do something, your son is the most suitable, what would you do?"

Kong Yingda was full of righteousness and said, "I should recommend others."

Li Mu immediately said: "Kong Yingda, you are deceiving the lord!"

"How do I deceive the emperor? I am avoiding suspicion!"

"Is Confucius's wine important? Is it important for His Majesty to teach you? Or is your reputation important? You put your reputation above His Majesty's will. You are not deceiving the king, so what is considered deceiving the king?"

"You!" Kong Yingda was speechless and could not speak. Li Mu continued: "I think personal reputation is not important, but completing the things that Your Majesty taught is the most important. Since I think Tang Guan is the most suitable, I cannot recommend him because Tang Guan and I are relatives, so I should recommend him. A wise man should not avoid relatives and enemies! Tang Guan is my step brother, so I naturally know that recommending him will cause criticism, but I don't care. A real man stands between heaven and earth, openly and honest, and has his own righteousness to protect him, and fearless people say!"

"Nonsense!" Kong Yingda was so angry that his beard was raised and he stomped his feet, "Tang Guan was ignorant, and there were many students who were better than him. How could he be the most suitable candidate?"

"Kong Jijiu, you were wrong again!"

Wrong, wrong, wrong... Kong Yingda didn't know how many "wrong" he had heard. He was dizzy and confused. He seemed to hear the voice of a young child being scolded by his father when he was reading. Either it was wrong here or there. When he was scolded by his father, Kong Yingda had nothing to say, but there was a young boy standing in front of him. He was scolded by him and was wrong. How could he hold his face? He gritted his teeth and said, "Marquis Zhulu, you have said I was wrong several times, but you can understand, so why did I go wrong!"

"I invented the Datang Daily. Only I know what kind of editor is needed. That's why Your Majesty arranged for me to select talents. Whether it is good or bad, the standards are determined by me. You think good students may be worthless in my eyes. And time is tight. The Datang Daily will be published every day. How can I choose with great fanfare? Only Tang Guan, I know his character and ability. I think he is very competent in the editorial position. Can't I recommend him? Do I have to let me choose talents according to the standards of Kong Jijiu? Kong Jijiu is so satisfied? How am I so ambitious about Kong Jijiu? Because you are better than Confucius, are you superior to others? Others will have to rely on you for your advice? Such a great temperament is even better than His Majesty. Kong Jijiu, what do you mean!"

Kong Yingda's head was fooled and almost fell back. After finally standing still, her mind was blank. She closed her eyes and slowed down for a while, straightened Li Mu's words, understood the meaning, and fell to the ground crying.

"Your Majesty is clear and the words of Zhulu Hou are sharp. The old minister can't say anything about him, but what he said is definitely not the original intention of the old minister. The old minister just thought that Tang Guan's talent was not enough to be competent. Hongwenguan, Chongwenguan, and Imperial College all have better talents than him. Zhulu Hou's actions are unfair to them, and the old minister has no other intentions!"

Kong Yingda was so full of tears, it was really pitiful. Li Shimin couldn't bear it, but he was angry. You old guy, now you can't tell me. You just now didn't listen. Li Shimin glanced at Li Mu and said, "Don't talk nonsense, I believe that Kong Jijiu is not that kind of person. Moreover, what Kong Jijiu said is not unreasonable. I also know some of Tang Guan's reputation. His studies are indeed not good. In a hurry, if you ask him to be an editor, I don't blame you, but if you don't choose someone, you can't escape the suspicion of perfunctory."

"Your Majesty, I am not perfunctory." It has reached this point, how could Li Mu admit it? He knew that Li Shimin wanted to give Kong Yingda a step, but today Kong Yingda has angered him, and he doesn't want to give this step.

When Li Shimin saw Li Mu say this, he glared at him, but Li Mu had no intention of retreating. Li Shimin became a little angry and said, "Then tell me why don't you choose someone? Give me an explanation!"

"Your Majesty, Confucius said just now that Tang Guan was not good at studying, often skipped classes and scattered among the market. In Hongwenguan, the evaluation was always inferior. I want to say that this is the reason why I wanted to choose Tang Guan."

Li Mu frowned and said, "Why is this?"

"Your Majesty, the Tang Dynasty Daily is for the people. If you are too knowledgeable, can the people understand what they wrote? Moreover, whether it is Hongwenguan or Chongwenguan, they are all noble children. How can they know the suffering of the people? Even the students of the Imperial College, under the guidance of professors such as Kong Jijiu, are afraid that there will be no grains. The articles they wrote are only suitable for them to read. Tang Guan likes to wander among the market, and he knows what the people know. So I think he is the most suitable person, at least for now. As for others, I will choose them later."

When Kong Yingda heard this, he got up from the ground and pointed at Li Mu and said angrily: "How can you insult the students so much? What they have learned are all the sage classics that come to yours. How come it is so unbearable!"

"Ha!" Li Mu chuckled and said, "Kong Jijiu, I'm sorry, whether it's Chongwenguan or Hongwenguan, the students of the Imperial College are included. They all, please note that I'm talking about everything, and no one can do to Yao and Shun! What they learned has no effect on Yao and Shun!"

"Crazy!" Kong Yingda pointed at Li Mu and said, "Your Majesty, this person is crazy. Just because he is prejudiced against the aristocratic families, he actually attacked the classics of the saints. This person is crazy! Your Majesty, this person is crazy!"

Li Shimin also felt that Li Mu had said it a little too much, and he lowered his face and said, "Li Mu, you must not speak nonsense. You can judge the classics of saints?"

"Your Majesty, Confucius was wrong again. I did not judge the classics of the saints, I just said this."

Kong Yingda was so angry that she smoked her orifices, and pointed her fingers at Li Mu with trembling eyes, unable to speak anymore.
Chapter completed!