People in the early Tang Dynasty: I compete with Wu Zhao for the throne

Chapter 1703 Zhang Jianzhi, three steps to prime minister
In the backyard of the palace, the snow was three feet thick and footsteps were sparse.

"Hahaha..." A silver bell-like laughter came from the swing. Princess Fuchang, who was wearing a thick fox fur coat, sat on the swing and jumped out high.

Li Xuan stood on the swing and with a little effort, the swing flew to a height of more than two meters.

In mid-air, you can vaguely see the distant view of Chang'an City.

It is particularly charming in the heavy snow.

A heavy sound of footsteps was heard at the backyard door, and Liu Jinyu shouted unhappily: "Husband, the weather is so cold, aren't you afraid that Xia'er will catch a cold?"

"At her age, it's time for her to be beaten." Li Xuan turned around and looked at Liu Jinyu, who was wearing a purple skirt and had an angry face, standing at the gate of the courtyard.

Li Xuan lowered his head and looked at Xia'er, whose face was red, and said, "Okay, Princess Fuchang, your mother is angry, let's stop here today."

"Oh!" Xia'er shrank her head smartly and looked scared.

Li Xuan couldn't help laughing. He slowly stopped the swing, jumped off it, and then untied the belt around Xia'er's waist.

In order to prevent Xiaer from falling, Li Xuan made a lot of preparations.

Especially if he is not around one day, Xiaer, Zhaoer and the others would insist on playing around, so they developed the habit of wearing belts, which could ensure their safety to the greatest extent.

Li Xuan picked up Xia'er and walked under the pavilion.

Liu Jinyu carefully checked Xia'er, then looked at the maid behind her and said, "Give the princess two bowls of medicine. If she doesn't obey, tell Yuwu and I will feed her the medicine myself."

Hearing this, Xia'er's face suddenly became bitter, but she had no choice but to follow the maid and leave.

"My husband, I'm not saying anything bad about you. If you go play with Zhao'er in this kind of thing, I won't say anything. But the same cannot be said for Xia'er. When she grows up, it might be difficult for her to get married." Liu Jinyu couldn't help but complain to Li Xuan.

Xia'er is already eight years old in age, which makes her a big girl.

In another four or five years, you’ll have to consider marriage leave.

"As my daughter, I am worried that no man in the world is worthy of her, so how can I still lack someone to marry her?" Li Xuan gently grabbed Liu Jinyu's wrist with a proud look on his face.

"Alright." Liu Jinyu patted Li Xuan's arm in annoyance and said, "Stop talking nonsense. Oh, someone has brought Di Renjie's recommendation letter. Go to the front hall and take a look."

"Oh!" Li Xuan's expression suddenly became serious.

Li Xuan is now the chief academic officer of the Imperial College. Since Li Chongjun's situation in the palace has improved, he has begun to intervene in and manage the affairs of the Imperial College on a large scale.

Ouyang Tong previously held a concurrent position as a doctor at the Imperial College, and enjoyed teaching the younger generation every day.

With his style, the atmosphere in the Imperial College was naturally clean and upright.

Moreover, he was also the Left Palace Attendant, and before that he was the Minister of Revenue, and the third rank of the Secretariat.

Everyone knows that with his relationship with Li Xuan, as long as there is a vacancy in the position of the six ministers of the ministries, or even if there is a vacancy in the position of prime minister, he will definitely be the first to fill the position.

Therefore, naturally, many students submitted their papers to him.

He also welcomes everyone who comes.

Later, many people who thought they were talented came to him.

With Ouyang Tong's ability, it would be easy to determine whether he was a talent or not in just a few words. After that, it would be easy to recommend him to Li Xuan or Wang Dezhen and others.

Now, Li Xuan started to show up more often in the Imperial College, and more people began to look for Li Xuan.

However, apart from the Imperial College, Li Xuan mostly stayed in the imperial palace and Kaihuafang.

Except for the students of the Imperial College, no one else can enter the Imperial College. As for Kaihuafang...

Just kidding, this is where the royal family gathers.

Although it cannot be said to be the residence of the Sixteen Kings, it is almost the same idea.

Especially since Li Xuan has held great power in the past few months and has blocked the way of too many people, there is no telling how many people want to assassinate him.

There are four teams of imperial guards stationed in front and behind, and people from the Qianniu Guards, Jinwu Guards, Ministry of Justice, and Dali Temple are watching in front and behind.

Especially since Li Xuan transferred Song Jing back to serve as the magistrate of Wannian County last month, there are very few people who can enter Kaihuafang.

Now someone not only appeared in Kaihuafang, but also held Di Renjie's recommendation seal.

No matter what, I have to meet Li Xuan.

……

In the main hall, Li Xuan flipped through the recommendation letter in his hand and looked at the green-robed official opposite him with some surprise: "Zhang Jianzhi, the assistant general of the Cang Cao of Prince Xu."

"It's you, my humble servant." Zhang Jianzhi couldn't help but stand up.

Li Xuan waved his hand slightly and said, "No need to be polite, just sit down."

"Yes!" Zhang Jianzhi then sat down carefully.

Li Xuan looked at Zhang Jianzhi, whose temples were gray, and said with a sigh, "This prince and Prince Xu have not had much contact. Even if we met, we would separate immediately, so I have never seen a military officer."

Zhang Jianzhi lowered his head slightly, with a hint of sadness on his face.

The number of times Prince Xu and Li Xuan met was not just infrequent, it was extremely infrequent.

Prince Xu was the son of Emperor Gaozong and Consort Xiao Shufei. Empress Wu kept them under house arrest for many years until Emperor Gaozong's death, when she slightly relaxed the restrictions.

"But I still want to ask, when did you get to know Di Huaiying?" Li Xuan couldn't help but look up.

Although it was rare for two people with the same name Zhang Jianzhi to appear at the same time, or even to be good friends with Di Huaiying, he still hoped to rule out any human errors. "That happened during the Xianqing period, and we happened to both be studying at the Imperial Academy."

After a short pause, Zhang Jianzhi said bitterly: "Although I am older than Huaiying, I came from a poor family, so I entered the Imperial College only two years earlier than him. He was a Jinshi in the fourth year of Xianqing, and I was a Jinshi in the second year of Longshuo."

"The fourth year of Xianqing?" Li Xuan asked curiously, "Join the army, who was the top scholar in the fourth year of Xianqing?"

"The fourth year of Xianqing?" Zhang Jianzhi thought for a moment, then said, "It was He Yang, but he was later exiled because of Shangguan Yi's incident, but he died soon after."

Li Xuan nodded and said, "So after joining the army, you became the military officer for King Xu?"

"Your Highness, you are joking. Xu Wang's military officer is at least a sixth-rank official. I was only the eighth-rank Qingyuan County Magistrate at the beginning. Later, because I offended someone, I was transferred to Xu Wang's mansion as a seventh-rank official. Later, I was favored by Xu Wang and promoted to a seventh-rank military officer."

Li Xuan nodded slightly. Now that she was here, many things made sense.

Because of his experience of working in Prince Xu's palace, Zhang Jianzhi's official career was destined to be limited.

It was not until Empress Wu Zetian ascended the throne and started to select talented people, without any restrictions on the selection of talents, and with the recommendation of Di Renjie, that Zhang Jianzhi gradually ascended to the position of prime minister.

Li Xuan calmed down, looked at Zhang Jianzhi, and said, "Join the army, I believe in Di Huaiying's vision, but I need a good reason to employ people. So, I will ask a question and ask the soldier to answer it. Then, based on the soldier's answer, I will decide where the soldier will go."

"Thank you, Your Highness." Zhang Jianzhi couldn't help but stand up and bowed deeply to Li Xuan.

To be honest, this is the first time in all these years that Zhang Jianzhi can clearly see his future.

Li Xuan hesitated for a moment, then looked at Zhang Jianzhi and asked, "General, where do you think the root of the problem in the Tang Dynasty is today?"

Zhang Jianzhi was slightly stunned, but then his expression became embarrassed.

Li Xuan waved his hand and said, "To be frank, I have seen through some of these problems ten years ago."

"Yes!" Zhang Jianzhi breathed a sigh of relief, and then continued: "It's taxes. Although the world is supported by the Western Regions Trade Route and the Southeastern Grain Tax, and even a few years ago, the prince proposed to investigate hidden farmland, the rate of increase in taxes is still slowing down, and may even decrease in the future. Once a war or natural disaster occurs..."

Li Xuan waved his hand gently, and Zhang Jianzhi stopped talking immediately.

"Go to the Censorate, join the army and serve as a Censor-in-Chief. Keep an eye on the collusion between officials and nobles to embezzle land. Be careful not to let anyone see any clues." Li Xuan raised his head, took out the seal from his waist, then picked up a piece of paper and wrote a few words, handed it to Zhang Jianzhi, and said, "Read more, talk less, and impeach if there is any problem."

"Yes!" Zhang Jianzhi's expression suddenly became excited.

In the eyes of knowledgeable people from humble backgrounds like Zhang Jianzhi, Li Xuan was a rare wise minister in the court.

Even the prince and the prime minister don't dare to touch things like land easily, but he has always been keeping an eye on this aspect, and it seems that he will make big moves in the future.

Censorate, Censorate.

Anyone who really understands the court would know that Li Xuan always liked to put people in the Censorate, and he also liked to use people who came out of the Censorate, and used them as his confidants.

Lu Yuanfang, Di Renjie, Yao Chong, Song Jing, Zhang Hongyu, and Li Zhaode are all like this.

Even He Zhizhang, Zhuge Minghui and others, if Changzhou had not needed people at that time, Li Xuan would have stuffed them into the Censorate.

But these people are doing a good job in the Secretariat now.

……

Standing in front of the mansion gate, Li Xuan watched Zhang Jianzhi leave like that, and his expression became serious.

He did not give Zhang Jianzhi any gold or silver, but only gave him a remote courtyard to live in from the confiscated house of Wu Sansi.

It is not easy to live in Chang'an, and the reason why it is difficult is because of the housing.

The housing problem has been solved, and as for food, we should be able to get by with the salary of the Imperial Censor.

As for personnel, if someone like Zhang Jianzhi really cares so much about personnel, then he can forget about having a future.

Li Xuan turned around and went back home, Liu Jinyu was already waiting in the hall.

Liu Jinyu looked outside the mansion door curiously, and asked sideways: "Husband, is this person very talented? You actually sent him to the mansion door?"

"It's okay, slightly worse than Di Huaiying." Li Xuan smiled, then walked back to the main seat and sat down.

"He is just a little bit short of being the Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Revenue and is now the Governor of Yingzhou. He has always had the talent of a prime minister. Doesn't that mean he is just a little bit short of being a prime minister? At least he has the foundation of a minister." Liu Jinyu couldn't help but raise his eyebrows.

"Yeah!" Li Xuan nodded, and then said: "But he is not young anymore. But this is also good. When he does things in the future, he doesn't have to worry about the consequences."

"That means this person can be of great use." Liu Jinyu's expression became serious.

"Hmm!" Li Xuan raised his head, looked outside the mansion gate, and said softly: "Become the Imperial Censor first, and if you make achievements, you will be transferred to the Imperial Censor, and then the Imperial Secretary..."

"Third rank official in the Secretariat." Liu Jinyu immediately said what Li Xuan was about to say.

Li Xuan nodded slightly. A truly talented person is only three steps away from becoming a prime minister.

Li Xuan will investigate the fertile land in the world in the future. How to ensure the stability of the world to the greatest extent while doing so? The key is to use the right people.

Among the people under his command, there were not many suitable ones, but Di Renjie and Zhang Jianzhi were both suitable.

"Okay, let's not talk about this anymore." Li Xuan waved her hand and said, "It's not easy for my husband to take a day off..."

"Da da da..." A burst of hurried horse hooves interrupted Li Xuan's voice. Li Xuan turned around and looked towards the gate of the mansion.

Li Lang, the General of the Left Jinwu Guard, had already appeared in front of the door. He then dismounted from his horse and quickly rushed into the main hall.

He did not even have time to salute Li Xuan and Liu Jinyu, and directly bowed and said: "Your Majesty, there is a letter from Yangzhou, and the emperor's whereabouts have been found..."

"What?" Li Xuan stood up in surprise.

(End of this chapter)