The hawk dead in his robes
Taizong got a fine hawk and was playing with it perched on his arm when he saw Wei Zheng approaching from afar and hurriedly hid it in his robes. Wei Zheng, memorializing, deliberately dragged on and on. By the time he withdrew, the hawk had suffocated in the emperor’s robes. That an emperor feared a minister so much was fear not of the man but of the rules he had acknowledged with his own mouth — Wei Zheng’s whole power was to keep reminding the emperor, "you said you would be a wise ruler."
I must kill this country bumpkin
Returning from court one day in a fury, Taizong stormed into the palace: "I must kill this country bumpkin!" When Empress Zhangsun asked who, he said Wei Zheng was forever humiliating him in open court. The empress withdrew, put on formal court dress, and bowed solemnly: "I have heard that when the ruler is wise the ministers are upright. Wei Zheng dares speak straight precisely because Your Majesty is a wise ruler, and so I offer congratulations." Taizong’s anger turned to delight. The secret of the Zhenguan era of good rule hides in this scene: an upright minister, a wise ruler, and an empress ready at any moment to catch the emperor’s temper — remove one link and it falls apart.