Recreating the prosperous Tang begins with summoning players

Chapter 321 Court meeting, impeachment of King Jianning
The emperor was a little upset.

The war between the two capitals is not going well, Suiyang City is in danger, but the imperial court has no soldiers to rescue.

Li Heng is a very insecure emperor.

When he was the crown prince, Li Heng fought with Yang Guozhong, the prime minister of power, and he was trembling every day, for fear that he would be deposed by his father.

When Li Heng was the prince, he was taciturn and didn't drink a single drop of alcohol, for fear that his drunken words would be recorded by the spies of the East Palace.

After so many years in the East Palace, Li Heng is still on the verge of deposing the prince.

Li Heng naturally knew how miserable the situation of the abolished princes in the past dynasties was. He tried his best to play the role of a submissive but capable son, and carefully maintained his position in the court.

But if compared with the later days, being a prince was pretty good.

An Lushan rebelled, and the emperor fled from Xijing.

While on the road, Li Heng saw soldiers mutiny more than once.

The night at Maweipo was even more unforgettable for Li Heng.

In order to appease the soldiers, the emperor personally ordered the execution of his favorite concubine, and killed the powerful minister Yang Guozhong.

In order to appease the soldiers, the emperor gave all the treasures brought out of the palace to the soldiers so that they could move on.

Li Heng separated from the emperor at that time, and with the help of Shuofang Jiedu envoy staying behind, he went north to Lingwu and stayed in the Central Plains to suppress the rebellion.

Along the way, there were also constant dangers. Li Heng tried his best to raise gold and silver, and he had to appease the soldiers every day.

Even Zhang Jieyu, who was serving her, had to mend the soldiers' clothes when she was pregnant, so as to buy people's hearts.

Thinking of this, Li Heng smiled. During the days when he went to Lingwu in the north, he was the loyal bodyguard of King Jianning, and saved himself from danger several times.

After arriving in Lingwu, although Li Heng ascended the throne, he was often bullied by the unruly Lingwu generals.

Li Heng had to put on a magnanimous look, and he had to keep raising military funds to buy these arrogant soldiers.

This is also one of the reasons why Li Heng immediately left Lingwu when the war in the Central Plains became a little more secure.

What really made Li Heng feel the power of being an emperor was when he moved to Fengxiang Mansion.

Jianghuai's taxes were continuously delivered to Fengxiang Mansion, and Li Heng, who had money and food in his hands, became hardened.

With the supply of the army under control, he can challenge a general like Guo Ziyi, and even force Guo Ziyi to attack the two capitals first.

After controlling the money and food, Li Heng can also support his officials, and those officials who fled from the two capitals gathered in Fengxiang Mansion.

All these things made Li Heng understand an important thing—

The emperor cannot be without money!

How could the emperor have no money?

But the money in the treasury does not represent the money that the emperor can control privately.

The money from the national treasury can be used to distribute salaries to officials and rewards to generals, but every penny of the treasury is used, from the prime minister down to the little Du Zhilang.

The emperor wanted to take out some money to reward his beloved concubine and his confidant, the treasury would make irresponsible remarks, and even directly refute the emperor's request for money.

Li Heng gradually understood that the money in the national treasury is not his own money, and the money in the internal funds that can really be used freely.

This time, King Jianning offered [-] livestock to himself, which reminded Li Heng of his capable son again.

What the son gave to Lao Tzu was, of course, money from the internal treasury. Li Heng sent Yu Chaoen, a confidant eunuch of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, to order him to count the horses, cattle and sheep sent by King Jianning to Fengxiang Mansion, and send them to the internal treasury.

But the Yu Chaoen sent out today reported back, and the Ministry of Households also received the news, and sent Duzhilang Yuanzai to intercept the horses, cattle and sheep at the gate of the city.

As a result, the two sides argued for a long time, but they could not decide whether to send these horses, cattle and sheep to the national treasury or internal money.

"Everyone, forgive me!" Yu Chaoen knelt on the ground and said to Li Heng who had already taken off his court clothes.

Most of the time, Li Heng was still a generous emperor.

Years of trembling as a crown prince have worn away his edges and corners. Li Heng's ears are soft, which is known to the entire inner court.

But today's emperor is different from the previous ones. At this moment, he is sitting on the imperial table, looking coldly outside the door.

Li Heng really couldn't figure it out, he was also the emperor, his own father, the emperor Li Longji was able to manipulate the ministers, thunder, rain and dew were all the favor of the emperor, and the ministers worshiped the emperor and obeyed his words.

Li Heng still remembered the feast of bliss that the emperor hosted for Yang Yuhuan, which really filled the pond with fine wine.

At the banquet that day, Li Bai fell drunk by the wine pool, and Gao Lishi held Li Bai's boots and wrote a poem praising Yang Yuhuan.

Li Heng also participated in the blissful banquet. Except for the huge wine pool, all the wine glasses in the whole banquet were made of gold, and the huge hall was filled with precious spices.

All kinds of rare foods that even the prince Li Heng had never seen were brought up, and even Li Heng ate Yang Yuhuan's favorite lychee on that Lantern Festival!
What a luxury, what a gorgeous night.

The emperor can burn money like this, and his son will give him a gift, and the household department will come to grab it.

Li Heng didn't understand why these courtiers treated him like this.

But in the current situation, it still depends on the support of these courtiers.

Li Heng said: "Forget it. I want these miscellaneous animals to reward the soldiers. Since the Ministry of Households wants them, let them be handed over to the Ministry of Households."

Probably the emperor also felt aggrieved, and he said again: "If the soldiers ask for rewards, let them go to the Ministry of Households to ask for rewards in the future!"

After hearing this, Yu Chaoen knelt on the ground and couldn't stand it anymore, and said in a crying voice: "I am incompetent! I am ashamed of everyone!"

Then he knocked his head loudly.

Hearing the voice, Li Heng couldn't bear it. Yu Chaoen had been with his eunuch since he was in the East Palace, and he said, "It's not because you didn't handle this well, so go on down."

At first, the emperor thought that if he backed down, all the officials would stop, but what he didn't expect was that at the next day's court meeting, another minister jumped out and output.

First, a young censor came forward to impeach Yan Yunzang, the judge of the Marshal's Mansion, for his ineffectiveness in fighting in the Battle of Qingqu, leaving his post and fleeing the battlefield without authorization.

After the impeachment memorial was presented, Li Heng's heart skipped a beat.

He first looked at Yan Zhenqing, Chengyan Zhenqing, who was standing in the line of important ministers, and found that there was no reaction on the other party's face, and then looked at Wei Jiansu and others in the line of prime ministers.

Who is Yan Yunzang? The commander-in-chief of the world's soldiers and horses is the prince of Donggong, Li Chu, the king of Guangping.

The judge of the Marshal's Mansion is the official of the Marshal's Mansion, that is, the official of the Prince.

And Yan Yunzang is the younger brother of Yan Zhenqing who just took office as Yushi Zhongcheng!
More importantly, the reason why Yan Yunzang left his post without authorization and temporarily withdrew from the battlefield was to protect King Guangping who had escaped from the battlefield!
Of course, the emperor knew about this matter. The responsibility for the Battle of Qingqu was the crown prince's rush to force Guo Ziyi to march, and the emperor also knew about it.

But in order to maintain the East Palace, this matter was naturally suppressed by the emperor.

The battle to clear the canal was clearly settled, and Guo Ziyi took all the responsibility.

Now the censor jumped out to impeach Yan Yunzang, whose order was this?
It can't be Yan Zhenqing, the emperor quickly made a judgment.

Censor Zhongcheng nominally leads Censor Terrace, but the Censor of the Tang Dynasty had great powers, which seemed to be independent prosecutors of later generations. He often went his own way and did not fully obey the command of Censor Zhongcheng.

Not long after Yan Zhenqing took office as Yushi Zhongcheng, he hadn't sorted out the intricate relationship between Yushi, and it was impossible for him to instigate someone to write a letter to impeach his younger brother.

The emperor patrolled several suspects, but it was too difficult to see the clues from the faces of these old foxes.

Naturally, this issue cannot be discussed at the Great Court Meeting. If it is dug deeper, it will be a major blow to the face of the prince and even the Tang royal family.

Li Heng was also angry that the prince rushed forward and ruined the elite army in his hand.

But as the emperor, he knew very well that the prestige of the royal family was one.

Maintaining the face of the East Palace is also protecting the face of the royal family, and it is even more important to protect the face of the emperor.

Sitting on the throne, Li Heng said:

"The prime minister has already reached a consensus on the battle of Qingqu, and the chief general Guo Ziyi has been punished by me. Now that the two capitals have not been restored, the civil servants and military generals still need to work together. It is not appropriate to have any troubles at this time."

"What does Xiang Wei think?"

Li Heng asked a minister he thought was the most suspicious.

Prime Minister Wei Jiansu came forward and said, "Your Majesty's words are absolutely true. The battle of clearing the canal has been concluded and there is no need to discuss it."

Li Heng nodded, thinking in his heart that he didn't instigate it?

But Wei Jiansu did not stand back in the line of the prime minister, but continued:

"There is no need to discuss the battle of Qingqu, but the minister has a plan to play."

Li Heng's heart skipped a beat, with an ominous premonition.

But today is the court meeting, and the prime minister wants to speak, Li Heng has no reason to stop him, so he can only let Wei Jiansu speak.

I only heard Wei Jiansu say:

"My minister impeached King Jianning, Li Yan, the chief of Longyou, falsely reported his military achievements, and searched for the people's anointing and flattery to offer!"

After saying these words, there was a lot of discussion in the court.

Li Heng didn't expect that the censor's mention of the battle of Qingqu before was just a feint!
The real killing move turned out to be here!

Li Heng was even more certain that Wei Jiansu was instigated by Yu Shi to impeach Yan Yunzang, but Wei Jiansu's real goal was to attack King Jianning!

In the battle of Qingqu, all parties in the court were inappropriate. Just now Li Heng suppressed Yushi's impeachment with the court's consensus.

But now that Wei Jiansu is impeaching King Jianning, the emperor has no way to continue suppressing it.

"These old foxes!" Li Heng cursed secretly, so the ultimate move is here!
However, King Jianning is also his own son, and the chief manager of Longyou was also appointed by himself.

Li Heng said: "Longyou is far away from the road to the Central Plains, otherwise let the Zhengshitang select a few capable censors and go to Longyou to investigate and make a judgment."

What Li Heng thought of was a strategy of slowing down the troops, sending Yushi to Longyou, it would take two or three months to go back and forth, as long as it can be delayed.

But Wei Jiansu was already prepared, he said: "Li Daoyuan, the Sima of Prince Jianning's mansion, has already entered Fengxiang Mansion, and the Uighur envoy is also in the post house of Honglu Temple. Please Your Majesty summon the two to confront the emperor. Did King Jianning lie about his military achievements? Naturally, it's clear."

(End of this chapter)