A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 684
Save under the door.

Hou Junji was the first to enter the political hall, holding a purple clay teacup in his hand but looking at the top position.

On the desk, there is a set of the four treasures of the study, and the pen holder hanging on it is the Zhengshitang pen.

After a while, the prime ministers came in one after another.

"Today is the middle of August," he reminded the prime ministers.
In the first ten days of the month, it was Wei Zheng who was in charge of writing, "it is Wu Qingyang's time to write in this ten days."

Hou Junji said impatiently, "The person named Wu doesn't have time to come to the political hall. I think it's customary to just go ahead."

Along the way, behind Wu Qingyang is Hou Junji.

With that said, Hou Junji stood up and went up, impatient to write the official script.

"Xiang Hou,"

Zuo Pu shot Fang Xuanling and called him to stop him.
"Housekeeper?"

"Xianggong Wu has returned to Beijing, and the saint asked him to attend the meeting today,"

"Since he is back, he should be the one to write today."

Hou Junji had just stood up. He was either standing or sitting. He gritted his teeth and said dissatisfiedly, "Since Wu Huaiyu is busy with errands in Sanyuan, he should concentrate on foreign missions. I will come back every now and then to participate once or twice." The meeting left again,

There is no need to let him write anymore,"

Xiao Yu retorted, "Is Mr. Hou dissatisfied with the rule of taking turns holding pens?"

Hou Junji didn't want to argue with Xiao Yu. This old guy didn't give anyone face. If you can argue, you can't get off the stage, so he simply sat down and said, "What about Wu Huaiyu? Are we all waiting here for him? I'll wait." They all hold important positions. They discuss affairs in the court hall in the morning and wait for the department in the afternoon. The affairs of the government hall are also heavy. How can we have so much time to wait for him? "

Hou Junji is right.

After Li Shimin became emperor, he continued to increase the power of the Zhengshitang. In fact, he had usurped most of the power of the prime ministers of the three provinces.
Although the three high-ranking officials are all prime ministers, they are still different from the political affairs hall. The biggest difference is that there are many prime ministers in the political affairs hall. Not only are there three high-ranking officials, but the emperor can also join the political affairs with other officials or even lower-level officials. The hall is the prime minister.

Originally, the three provinces were reviewed by Zhongshu's decision-making department, and executed by Shangshu. However, now that the three provinces work together, and other prime ministers with additional titles appointed by the emperor have been added, the original power distribution pattern has been broken.
The emperor's authority greatly increased.

Naturally, the Zhengshitang has become increasingly important. After the official establishment of the Zhengshitang Wufangtang Houguan, the prime ministers basically work in the Zhengshitang every morning, and only go to their respective offices after lunch at noon.

The affairs of the political hall are very important. They must discuss not only the instructions directly issued by the emperor, but also the memorials forwarded by the emperor, as well as matters reported by the central and local governments, as well as some matters that the prime minister thinks should be discussed.

These matters were discussed by the ministers of the political affairs hall, and the decisions were made by the prime minister Bingbi and reported to the emperor. After the emperor approved, they were handed over to Zhongshusheren in the form of an edict to draft the imperial edict, and then it was passed to the political affairs hall by the prime minister Bingbi and stamped under the Zhongshu family. The seal will be issued by the Ministry of Menxia and handed over to the Secretary of the Ministry of Finance for execution.

Compared with the past, when the three provinces were separated, especially the decision-making and deliberation between the Zhongshu and the subordinates were separated and even unclear, now the political hall directly jointly makes decisions and goes through the process after the results are obtained. It is indeed much more efficient.

But in this way, the prime ministers of the political affairs hall do have a lot of things to do, especially for most of the prime ministers who are also three high-ranking officials.

Li Jing, the servant on the right, suddenly said, "Xiang Hou, in addition to participating in political affairs, you only have a right-guard general, and you have no official duties to do. The three senior officials are not in a hurry, so why are you in a hurry?"

Hou Junji choked at these words and his face turned red.

Very angry, "You Pushe is deliberately favoring his own students?"

Li Jing ignored him.

Hou Junji took the opportunity to say that Wu Huaiyu deliberately delayed everyone's time, etc.

"Everyone, I'm late,"

Wu Huaiyu came in.

Hou Junji continued to attack, "Mr. Wu is so arrogant that he forced me to wait here for two quarters of an hour."

"Thank you for waiting, Mr. Hou. I originally came early today, but was summoned by the saint."

Hou Junji was stunned for a moment.

Wei Zheng took the words and asked, "The imperial court had a system before. The ministers and ministers performed duties, and the ministers and ministers followed them to the palace one after another. They were not allowed to stay alone. Those below the minister were not allowed to go to the palace alone to beg.

The prime minister of the imperial court is not allowed to act alone, otherwise the cabinet will be reported to the Yushitai for impeachment. "

"Mr. Wu, why are you acting alone? Are you openly ignoring Chao Gang?"

Ministers are not allowed to meet the emperor privately to perform affairs. This has its own purpose. The main purpose is to prevent ministers from carrying private goods. Therefore, it is stipulated that ministers must be accompanied by corresponding officials when they meet the emperor. For example, ministers and ministers must be accompanied by doctors and ministers when performing affairs. Yuanwailang,

When the three high-ranking officials perform affairs, they must also be accompanied to the palace by the left and right prime ministers or ministers, or the ministers, ministers, admonishers, and regular attendants.

Even those below the rank of minister are not qualified to go to the palace alone.

Wu Huaiyu smiled and said,

"What Xiang Wei said is that the prime minister is not allowed to act alone or stay in person to submit submissions, except for the purpose of paying homage, transferring rank, being dismissed due to thanks and Chen begging."

"His Majesty just invited me to have breakfast and discuss the saint's family affairs."

Hou Junji was angry and said, "The emperor has no private affairs. Family affairs are state affairs. Your solo performance violates the system and should be impeached by the censor. Mr. Zhang, you are the censor, so you cannot neglect your duties."

Wei Zheng asked, "May I ask what kind of private affairs of the Heavenly Family the Prime Minister Wu discussed with the saint?"

"Prime Minister Wei, I can't say it, otherwise wouldn't it be revealing forbidden Chinese language? This is a serious crime!"

The more Wu Huaiyu acted like this, the more Hou Junji pressed closer and closer, "Ms. Zhang, join him." Zhang Liang ignored Hou Junji. He was not Hou Junji's dog, he was the prime minister.

Hou Jun gathered with Wei Zheng to ask questions, but Wu Huaiyu refused to answer and caused a huge fuss.

Hou Junji therefore insisted that Wu Huaiyu, as prime minister, had violated regulations and wanted to impeach him.Wu Huaiyu had an indifferent attitude.

"Xiang Hou, don't be anxious. If you want to impeach, that's your business, but should we discuss it first? I finally returned to Chang'an. I heard that it will be my turn to be in charge of the pen this ten days. Don't delay. It’s getting late.”

Hou Junji stood there, pointing at Wu Huaiyu, "You still have the face to stay here, and you still want to govern. You should go back and reflect behind closed doors now, and write a letter to apologize."

"Whether you are guilty or not is not up to you. The saint summoned me to discuss the emperor's family affairs, but he did not violate the rules."

Hou Junji refused to let go, wishing that Wu Huaiyu would get out of the political hall now.

Seeing that today's meeting was going to fail, Fang Xuanling spoke up.

"Xiang Hou, why don't you and Ya Xiang go to see the saint now and ask for instructions?"

Sure enough, Hou Junji stood up immediately and wanted to take Zhang Liang, the censor doctor, to go to the court to impeach Wu Huaiyu.
Zhang Liang didn't want to go.

The emperor soon learned that there was a lot of noise in the palace and sent Zhang A'an to deliver the order.

Zhang Ananda stood facing the north and proclaimed the holy edict.

"I summoned Huaiyu to have breakfast and discuss Princess Changle's dowry by the way. This was not a separate discussion about military and state affairs. Hou Junji, please stop arguing."

The emperor's words came out of Eunuch Zhang's mouth. Although they were a bit feminine, Hou Junji was frightened when he heard them, because the words directly mentioned Hou Junji's name and said he was unreasonably dissatisfied.

"I dare not,"

After Eunuch Zhang finished delivering the message, he turned around and saluted the nine prime ministers with folded hands, "The sage's words have been conveyed. Sirs, you'd better hurry up and discuss matters. I'll take my leave."

The atmosphere in the hall was a little solemn for a while.

Everyone didn't expect to actually talk about the emperor's family affairs. Princess Changle is the eldest daughter of the emperor and the empress, and the fifth among the princesses. She is betrothed to Changsun Chong, the eldest son of the empress's brother-in-law, Sun Wuji, and she is married to her. marriage.

Princess Changle is ten years old this year, and she is starting to prepare a dowry at this time. It is quite authentic. There is nothing wrong with the emperor talking about this with Wu Huaiyu.

This is indeed a family matter and cannot be taken over the line.

Although Hou Junji felt that it was impossible for the emperor and Wu Huaiyu to just talk about the princess's dowry, they must have also talked about important military and political matters. For example, he originally asked Ying to send troops to conquer Ashinasheer in the west, but the result was never fruitful. He suspected that Wu Huaiyu must have discussed this matter with the emperor in private, and he must have discussed it with the emperor today, and even deliberately opposed and blocked him from uniting his troops in the Western Expedition.

But he has no proof.

Wu Huaiyu walked directly to the top and sat down in that position.

Picking up the Zhengshitang pen, he chuckled,
"Mr. Hou, sit down. What are you doing like a door god? No matter how tall you are and how fat you are, you still won't be able to exorcise evil spirits and control the door like General Qin and General Yuchi. You can't do that. The door god’s.”

"Hurry up and sit down. Don't think that standing makes you really better than all the gentlemen."

Hou Junji sat down with shame.

Wu Huaiyu was not afraid of his gaze, "Gentlemen, let's start the discussion. I looked at the materials given to me by the court officials earlier. The first thing I want to discuss today is that Ashinasheer deceived the Western Turks and defeated Si Yehu Khan. He won ten With the remaining [-] men and horses, seizing half of the land of the Western Turks and establishing themselves as Dubu Khan?

Let’s discuss how the court should respond. "

Hou Junji stood up again,

Wu Huaiyu pressed his hand on him and said, "Xiang Hou, if you have something to say, just say it. There is no need to stand up. You stand so high and I have to look up at you. My neck is sore."

Hou Junji had no choice but to sit down again, "Ashinashe'er was originally the son of Chuluo Khan of the Eastern Turks and the younger brother of Yusheshe. He originally guarded Mobei with Yugushe..."

"Xiang Hou, there is no need to repeat these things that everyone knows. There is no need to waste everyone's time. Just focus on the key points."

Hou Junji suppressed his anger and said, "The imperial court previously issued a decree to grant She'er an official title, but he refused to submit. Now he is still taking advantage of the situation in the Western Regions and actually captured half of the Western Regions with more than [-] troops. I suggest that the imperial court should Immediately send troops to conquer, and we must not let him take the opportunity to gain power, otherwise there will be endless troubles.

I am willing to lead the troops in the western expedition, capture She'er in one fell swoop, and never give the Eastern Turks a chance to resurrect and make a comeback. "

Wu Huaiyu looked at him and just shook his head.

Hou Junji was furious, "What does Mr. Wu mean?"

"You are no match for She'er, you can't win."

"Don't bully others too much!"

Wu Huaiyu asked Li Jing, "Do you think what I said makes sense?"

Li Jing just glanced sideways at Hou Junji and said disdainfully, "You are right. Why did Hou Junji dare to request an order to lead troops to the west and destroy She'er? Did he have the qualifications to stand alone? , does he have any impressive achievements? Has he ever been to the Western Regions, and has he defeated the Turks?"

"No, then isn't he just making fun of military affairs? He is making fun of the soldiers of the Tang Dynasty?"

"Sun Tzu said: Soldiers are important matters of the country, the place of life and death, and the way of survival. But Hou Junji is such a child's play. What qualifications does he have to talk about uniting the army in the Western Expedition?"

"He can't even shoot an arrow accurately, and he's not even qualified as a cavalry captain, let alone commanding a battle. He studied the art of war with me for several years, but I don't think he even learned it."

Li Jing, who rarely spoke in the political hall, mocked Hou Junji mercilessly without saving any face.

(End of this chapter)