A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 1320 Challenge
At the temple gate,
Li Ji was waiting for him with a smile. Huaiyu had also heard the story of how Li Ji took his grandson Li Jingye to hunt, but he set fire to drive away the prey and 'accidentally' surrounded his grandson Li Jingye in the sea of ​​fire. Li Jingye killed his mount and hid in the horse's belly to escape.

I also heard that he wanted to take his son-in-law to the north for an expedition, but his son-in-law was so scared that he ran away to Mount Zhongnan to live in seclusion.

"I heard that Erlang was kept in the palace by His Majesty last night," Li Ji said with a smile.

Wu Huaiyu didn't like Li Ji very much. In the past, Qin Qiong, Cheng Yaojin and others also didn't get along with Li Ji.

I would rather learn from the three sworn brothers in Peach Garden than from the one incense stick in Wagang. I am not saying this casually.

Li Ji invited him to the government hall.
Wu Huaiyu smiled and refused, "I just returned to Chang'an and haven't even entered the house yet. I have asked for leave from His Majesty and will rest at home for a while. I will not go to the government hall for the time being. I will have to trouble the Duke of Yingguo, the Duke of Zhao and other ministers."

Li Ji was a little stunned.

Wu Huaiyu was banished to the island of Luzon in the South China Sea for eight years. Wasn't he idle enough? Zhangsun Wuji stayed in Yangzhou for eight years. As soon as he received the recall order, he rushed back without delay. As soon as he returned to Chang'an, he immediately began to act like a senior official.
In the government hall, he was even more domineering and wanted to get involved in everything.

Even after Li Ji left Diezhou, Longyou, he felt that he had finally let out the anger in his heart and wanted to show his skills.

How come Wu Huaiyu doesn't seem to be in a hurry at all?

"It's better to go home and rest for a few days," Li Ji said with a smile, and then asked in a low voice, "I think there will be more waves in today's incident with Prime Minister Chu. How do you think Erlang will deal with this matter?"

Wu Huaiyu just smiled faintly, "Your Majesty has handed this matter over to the Dali Temple for investigation. Let's wait for their results."

Li Ji glanced at Wu Huaiyu, smiled slightly and turned away.

Wu Huaiyu looked at his back. Many people still regarded Li Ji as just a military leader, but Wu Huaiyu did not think so.

Leave the palace and go directly back to Xuanyangfang.

After eight years, I returned to my home in Chang'an.

The Wutou Gate remains as imposing as ever, with long spears lined up inside the gate.

A row of dismounting stones outside the gate demonstrates the nobility of the Wu family.

A large group of 100 imperial guards accompanied Wu Huaiyu back home. Someone had already come to inform the mansion that he was back.

"Alang is back,"

The first person to come and greet them is always the hunchbacked gatekeeper Wu Cheng. His back is more hunched and his hair is gray, but he still stays at the Wu family gatehouse.

"Are you feeling well?" Huaiyu dismounted and greeted him with a smile.

"Thanks to Alang and Dalang and the others taking care of me, I'm doing fine," the hunchback said with a smile. His son A Mao Asansi, a Jinshi, was a county magistrate, then a county magistrate, and a state military officer. Now he is the Sima of Xizhou in the Western Regions.
It is already the sixth rank.

The hunchback was unwilling to return to the countryside to be a landlord, so he was willing to stay in the Wu family's gatehouse.

"Today, Dalang and the others have taken a leave and are staying at home waiting for Alang to come home. The little boys didn't go to school on purpose." The hunchback said with a smile.

Arriving at the door,

Dalang Wu Chengsi, his brothers, as well as the women and children from each room, were there to greet them at the door, making it quite lively.

When Huaiyu went to Luzon, he left his seven married sons in Chang'an. In the past eight years, the other sons also returned to Chang'an one after another, got married, and became officials.

Although Huaiyu is not in Chang'an,

But even if the brothers who inherited the throne got married, they still lived together in Xuanyangfang. It was not because they had no place to live, but because the house in Xuanyangfang covered an area of ​​more than 200 acres and had many courtyards.
Brothers living together without separating their families also appear to be more united and friendly.

"Aye."

Chengsi took the lead and went forward to greet his father.

Huaiyu patted the eldest brother. He hadn't seen him for eight years. The boy was already 25 years old. He was the father of eight sons and had seven children.

The eldest daughter-in-law, Princess Lanling, also came up to pay her respects. This princess had been living here since her marriage and had not lived in the large mansion in Yankangfang that was awarded to her by the emperor and that originally occupied half of the area by Li Tai.

During the eight years that Fan Xuanfu was away from Chang'an,
Here in the mansion, the eldest daughter-in-law, Princess Lanling, is in charge of the backyard of the house, and she does a very good job. Not only does she take in many concubines for the purpose of inheritance, she also maintains a good relationship with the concubines, and also gets along well with the sisters-in-law from other rooms.

Chengye, Chengping and others also came to pay their respects to their father.

The sons have grown up.
However, there are many young grandchildren in the family.

The old family alone has eight sons and seven daughters. The older ones have been in school for two or three years, and the younger ones are only a few months old.

Chengye and his family all have children.

The large population of the Wu family was the most envied by the nobles in Chang'an. The Wu family was particularly fertile. When Wu Huaiyu left Chang'an eight years ago, he already had more than 20 sons. As a result, he was particularly idle during the eight years in Luzon, so he took in some concubines, and his wives and concubines gave birth to more than 30 children for him.

And his dozen or so sons are already married and having children one after another.

The eldest son inherited the family and there were fifteen children in total. The others had about ten at most and six or seven at least.

There are more children and it is more lively in this big house than when Huaiyu was here.

What made the people of Chang'an envy the most was not only the Wu family's ability to give birth, but also the fact that very few children died young. In the past twenty years or so, Wu Huaiyu had only three children who died young.

Basically they are all very healthy.

How can she not be able to give birth and raise children? How can she not make others envious? The new emperor is thirty-three years old and has only eight princes.

Wu Huaiyu hugged this grandson and lifted that granddaughter. He was surrounded by a group of children. Although it was a little noisy, he was quite happy as he had long been accustomed to having many children.

Asking names, giving gifts, everyone gets one. I was busy for a long time, but in the end I still couldn't remember all the names of these grandchildren.

Chengsi told his father somewhat excitedly that the emperor had summoned him for a talk a few days ago and wanted to appoint him as the Junior Secretary.

"This is a good thing." Huaiyu said to his eldest son. The Secretary-General is a fourth-rank official position, three levels below the third rank.
As the deputy head of the Secretariat, the Junior Secretary had a very high rank. Although the Secretariat was called a province, as one of the three inner provinces, it was a government office without much real power but very noble. It was in charge of classics and books and served the emperor. At least it could show its face in front of the emperor often.

Wu Chengsi had been a county magistrate in Luoyang for five years and had very good performance in the imperial examinations. He was promoted to the imperial court and served as a secretary for three years. Now he was to be transferred to the position of secretary of the imperial court, which was a definite promotion.

"Just do your job well and serve your term. Then you can seek to become a provincial governor." Wu Huaiyu had high hopes for his eldest son.

Luzon is the retreat route, and the third brother Chengzhi's group is responsible for it.

However, for the Wu family to develop in the long run, they certainly cannot leave the Central Plains. Not only can they not leave, but they must also maintain their political influence in the core of the imperial court, and they must have successors.

After being appointed as a Secretary of the Imperial Secretariat, he will be assigned the position of a Governor. When he returns to the court, he can seek to be a Secretariat Minister or a Yellow Gate Minister, or a Personnel Minister or something like that. He can also transition to one of the Nine Ministers first. As long as he does not make any big mistakes and has so many resources to support him, he can move forward on time and eventually he will be able to enter the Council of State.

"The current Secretary General is Zhang Sun Chong." Chengsi said.

Chang Sun Chong is also the emperor's son-in-law, so Chengsi has to call him brother-in-law.

"That doesn't matter. Although Changsun Wuji is a bit overbearing, Changsun Chong is a decent person. You two are brothers-in-law, so you should be able to get along well."

The second brother Chengye told Huaiyu a piece of news, "Senior Brother Pei may be demoted to the position of Chief Clerk of the Western Province Governor's Office."

He heard the news accidentally from his father-in-law's house.
His father-in-law is the emperor's uncle, Zhangsun Wuji. A few days ago, when he accompanied his wife back to her parents' home, he also heard the news by accident.

Pei Xingjian was Qin Qiong's adopted son, Wu Huaiyu's student, and his daughter's relative. Nine years ago, he returned to Beijing from his post as the Chief of Xizhou to be appointed as the magistrate of Chang'an County. He performed very well in this position and was one of the few people who served as the magistrate of Chang'an County for five full years. After completing his term, he was promoted to the Secretary of the Secretariat and served as such for another four years.

Now Zhangsun Wuji and Chu Suiliang are discussing to kick Pei Xingjian to Xizhou. The difference from nine years ago is that nine years ago Pei Xingjian was the chief of Xizhou, but now they are going to kick him to be the chief of Xizhou Military Governor's Office.
Although his rank was higher, he had served as the Secretary of the Secretariat for four years, and his duties and powers were very different from those of the Chief Clerk of the Western Region Military Governor's Office.

As for why he offended Changsun Wuji,
In fact, it was Chu Suiliang who bought the land at a low price. The translator of the Ministry of Personnel had also worked in the Ministry of Central Secretariat and was Pei Xingjian's old subordinate. After the incident, he asked Pei Xingjian for help. Pei Xingjian went to find Chu Suiliang, but Chu Suiliang did not give Pei Xingjian this face and still bought the land by force.

Naturally, Pei Xingjian was very dissatisfied with this matter. He went to find Changsun Wuji and wanted him to persuade Chu Suiliang. However, Changsun Wuji ignored him.

Pei Xingjian was furious and reported the matter to the Imperial Censor Cui Yixuan. Pei Xingjian's teacher Su Dingfang was a relative of Cui Yixuan.

Unexpectedly, Cui Yixuan turned around and sold out Pei Xingjian and told the matter to Changsun Wuji. Then Changsun Wuji and Chu Suiliang planned to kick Pei Xingjian to the Western Regions to help Chu Suiliang cover up the matter.

Unexpectedly, although the Censorate helped to suppress the matter, before Changsun and his men had the chance to take action against Pei Xingjian, the Beijing newspaper broke the news first.

Wu Huaiyu smiled and said to the second son, "You didn't hide this from your father-in-law."

"Father, my son's surname is Wu," Erlang Chengye said frankly. Although he married Changsun Wuji's daughter, and Changsun Wuyi also married a daughter as a concubine, he did not forget that he was a member of the Wu family.

"Your senior brother Pei's care for you in the past was not in vain." Huaiyu patted his son's arm.

"I know the importance of this." Erlang said proudly. He is now the General of the Imperial Guards and has a bright future ahead of him. "Will Aye help Senior Brother Pei?"

"Don't worry, Shouyue will be fine this time. Chu Suiliang made a big mistake this time, and he should be eliminated."

Yesterday, Emperor Li Chengqian said he wanted to overturn Liu Li's verdict and kick Chu Suiliang out of the court. Wu Huaiyu advised him to be patient for three years.

But today's incident is different. It is not the right time to overturn Liu Li's case.
But it does not mean that Chu Suiliang cannot be punished this time. You are the prime minister, and since you were so foolish as to hand the handle of the knife to someone else, you should stop complaining.

Today in the court,
Xu Jingzong has already bitten.

"Erlang."

"Aye,"

"I brought back some local specialties from Luzon. Please go to your Senior Brother Pei's house and give him his share."

Huaiyu also gave Chengye a list of local specialties with a letter inside.

"Would you like to invite Senior Brother Pei to your house for a meal?"

"No need to meet for the time being,"

Wu Huaiyu planned to have a good rest at home for a while and was not in a hurry to go to the Council of State. The emperor appointed him as the Minister of the Central Secretariat and concurrently in charge of the affairs of the three ministries and the Ministry of Personnel. He had no intention of really taking charge of the affairs of the three ministries and managing the Council of State.

Since Changsun Wuji likes to seize power so much, let him show it first.

Wu Huaiyu did not need to personally attend the Chu Suiliang incident, nor did he need to meet with his confidants such as Xu Jingzong, Zhang Xingcheng, Li Yifu, Pei Xingjian, and Lai Ji to discuss the matter.

A few secret letters would suffice.

However, Pei Xingjian has been the Secretary of the Central Secretariat for four years, so it is time for him to make some moves. After this incident, perhaps we can give him a push and get him the position of Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, which would be quite good.

In the afternoon,

The housekeeper came to report that the young man from Prime Minister Chu's family had come to deliver a visiting card and also brought a cart of gifts, saying that Prime Minister Chu wanted to pay a visit tomorrow.

Wu Huaiyu waved his hands and neither met Mr. Chu nor accepted Chu Suiliang's gift, even though there were several authentic works of Wang Xizhi on the gift list.

"Just say that I'm returning to Beijing from Luzon and I'm feeling a little unwell after the long journey. I can't entertain you for now. I'll come to visit you in person in a few days."

After some time, I'm afraid Chu Suiliang will no longer be in Chang'an.

(End of this chapter)