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

Chapter 1793 How to Completely Dismember a Top Family

In the Wanfu Hall, Pei Shitong held Li Zhichang and stood opposite Ouyang, looking at Princess Linhai and Pei Jingxian.

We were all one family, and the atmosphere in the hall suddenly became much more relaxed.

The white-haired Princess of Linhai sat on a short couch and said to Li Xuan, who was sitting below Ouyang, "Originally, I would not ask about other matters, but the people of the Yang family came to ask for favors, and I couldn't refuse. It's because of this boy who married the daughter of the Yang family that I have no choice but to trouble Your Majesty and ask for mercy for the Yang family."

"What are you saying, aunt? It's rare for you to come to Chang'an from Hedong. I wish you could stay in the palace for a few more days to accompany mother." Li Xuan looked at Princess Linhai with a sincere expression.

Among these daughters of Emperor Gaozu Li Yuan, every one of them who was still alive was the strongest supporter of Li Xuan's ascension to the throne.

Although King Han Li Yuanjia and King Huo Li Yuangui did not tell anyone about the affairs of Cao Wang Li Ming, Yue Wang Li Zhen, and Langya Wang Li Chong, they did not hide it from the King of Lu and the Grand Princesses Huainan, Qianjin, and Changle.

Therefore, when Li Xuan ascended the throne, not only King Han, King Huo and King Lu strongly supported him, but also these eldest princesses.

To put it bluntly, even if Li Chongzhao really came back alive, it would be difficult for him to get the support of the royal family.

No one wants to go back to the days when Emperor Taizong’s descendants were in power and there was a lot of fear and trepidation.

After pacifying Princess Linhai, Li Xuan looked at Pei Jingxian and said, "As for the Yang family's affairs, I understand their intentions, but one thing is one thing.

There has been a lot of rain in summer and autumn this year. Auntie should have felt it. I have been in Luoyang for more than ten days, and it has been raining most of the time. Luoyang has almost become a water city now."

Princess Linhai nodded solemnly.

Not to mention Luoyang, even in Hedong, it has been raining continuously since the beginning of summer.

Although it is not as hot as in previous years, if the rain continues, it will definitely not be a good thing for the dealers.

"Regarding Shanzhou's affairs, the Yang family should explain clearly to the provincial government. As for matters involving them..." Li Xuan looked at Princess Linhai and said, "As long as the Yang family can help Shanzhou and successfully overcome this year's flood without harming the people, then anything is fine."

The Yang family has hidden a lot of fields and minerals in Shanzhou, which Li Xuan sees very clearly.

Although the Yang family was implicated because of Empress Wu's affairs, don't forget that the Yang family is a great family with a long history. The only family that was really close to Empress Wu was the lineage of Prince Guan. And even within the lineage of Prince Guan, there were many people who had little interest in being close to Empress Wu.

Therefore, many people still retained their official positions after Wu Zetian's death, and even many retired elderly people of the older generation still retained their titles and honors.

However, during the two years that Li Xuan was in power, there was not a single member of the Yang family among the admitted Jinshi.

The Yang family requested to be granted an official title, but the Ministry of Personnel kept dragging its feet.

Even among the Yang family members in officialdom, none of them were promoted in the past two years. Many of them were even found to have made mistakes and were immediately dismissed from their posts.

They are even held accountable.

The Yang family had a hard time.

The fundamental reason was that they were too hasty in their relationship with Empress Wu, and were very close to Li Chengqi, Li Chongjun, and Li Chongzhao.

If they want to start an uprising, they may not need 100,000 people, but they can definitely gather 10,000 or 20,000 people.

Shanzhou is located between Chang'an and Luoyang, and its geographical location is very important.

That's why Li Xuan appointed Prince's Right Guard General Liu Dingyuan as the Governor of Shanzhou, with the purpose of asking him to help keep an eye on the Yang family.

And what he did was actually very good. If he hadn't brought up the Yang family's affairs that day, Li Xuan wouldn't have been able to intervene so easily.

But now that Princess Linhai brought it up, Li Xuan had to take a step back because the Yang family had been forced into a corner.

If we push them any further, who knows what they will do.

The example of Yang Xuangan is still there.

……

Princess Linhai also breathed a sigh of relief.

She originally didn't want to interfere in the affairs of the Yang family, but to be honest, their family was able to remain safe and sound during the Wu Zetian period, all thanks to the care of the Yang family, and she had to repay this kindness.

"With your Majesty's words, I have explained the matter of the Yang family." Princess Linhai shook her head and said, "As for the matter of marrying off the daughter entrusted by the Yang family, I will not trouble your Majesty. I will refuse their request and ask them to find someone else to intercede."

"Wait a minute, what about marrying off a daughter?" Ouyang was originally drowsy, but she suddenly woke up when she heard the word "marrying off a daughter".

Li Xuan looked at Ouyang with helplessness on her face. Princess Linhai said that she would not talk about this matter, but she only needed to bring up a reason and Ouyang would immediately take over the conversation and the matter would be continued.

Li Xuan nodded gently to Princess Linhai, and Princess Linhai then said with a smile: "The Yang family has a daughter of similar age who has not yet been engaged. The Yang family asked me to inquire and see if she is qualified to enter the palace."

"The daughter of the Yang family must be good." Ouyang turned to look at Li Xuan and asked, "Emperor, what do you think?" Li Xuan could only smile and nodded, saying, "It must be so, but the specific matter of entering the palace still needs to be decided by the queen. After all, the queen has been in charge of the palace's affairs in the past few years."

"That's right." When Ouyang heard Li Xuan mention Liu Jinyu, she immediately turned to look at Princess Linhai and said, "Let the emperor and the queen discuss this matter. Since Sixteenth Sister has come to Luoyang, she can stay for a few more days so that she can spend more time with me. By the way, Emperor, isn't Fuchang going to Luohe for a trip? Go and make arrangements. In a few days, the queen mother will also go."

"Yes!" Li Xuan stood up immediately and took the order seriously.

……

In the Zhuangjing Palace, Liu Jinyu looked at Li Xuan with amusement and said, "That's good now. The Dou family's matter hasn't come to a conclusion yet, and the Yang family has come up again."

"The Dou family's matter is easy to handle, so let's do it secretly first. But the Yang family." Li Xuan handed over the memorial in his hand and said, "The daughter chosen by the Yang family is indeed a first-class talent. The only problem is that her father is the governor of a state. If she marries into the palace, I'm afraid she will also need an imperial decree to be promoted. Moreover, she has many brothers."

"Why, Your Majesty, do you want to marry a girl from the Yang family who has few offspring and a low-ranking official and bring her into the palace." Liu Jinyu took the memorial and looked at Li Xuan with surprise.

Li Xuan nodded and said, "It's rare for the Yang family to take the initiative to approach us, so we can't just reject them directly. Otherwise, if the Yang family really makes trouble, it will be very difficult to deal with them."

"Yes, the Yang family is willing to offer their daughter to the palace, which means they have given up the idea of ​​betting on Taizong's lineage. At least most of the family will join the husband. As for the others, even if there are two or three people in the family who miss the old dynasty, they will not be a problem without the support of the family." Liu Jinyu saw it very clearly.

At this time, accepting the daughter of the Yang family into the palace is their best choice.

If they rejected the Yang family, unless they sent troops now and completely uprooted the entire Yang family, it would be best to do so.

It is not a good thing to spend a huge price to eradicate the family that has already surrendered to them. Not only will it affect the future, it will also make the families that have surrendered to them before feel uneasy.

The pros and cons are here, and it is clear how to choose.

"In fact, if you want to deal with the Yang family, I have a good idea." Liu Jinyu looked at Li Xuan and said softly, "Since my husband wants to choose a girl from the Yang family with a clean and simple background to enter the palace, then why not go ahead and choose one openly from the Yang family."

Li Xuan was slightly stunned, frowned and said: "This is not good, isn't this a public humiliation?"

The royal family openly selects concubines from the Yang family, and all women of appropriate age in the Yang family will be chosen from the palace.

Li Xuan was absolutely certain that Liu Jinyu would make things difficult for the Yang family because of this matter. She might even find out all the shortcomings of all the marriageable-age women in the Yang family and announce them to the world. In this way, the marriages of all the young marriageable-age women in the Yang family would be ruined.

"There's nothing wrong with this." Liu Jinyu shook his head and said, "After all, the Yang family once defected to the Wu family, so it's only right that they receive some punishment. Otherwise, anyone would think that they have betrayed His Majesty in the future, and then marry a woman into the harem to erase everything. This is not acceptable."

Li Xuan sighed helplessly and said, "Okay, I'll leave everything to the Queen."

……

Liu Jinyu calmly put down the memorial in his hand, then looked at Li Xuan and asked, "It is inevitable that the Yang family will marry their daughter into the palace, so how does Your Majesty plan to treat the Yang family?"

"The branches of the Yang family that are closely related to the Queen Mother will not be used." Li Xuan shook his head slightly and said, "I think they should know the situation themselves. As for the other branches, those in office will not be moved for the time being. Those who have arrived or left will be transferred to Anxi, Changzhou, Fanzhou, Jiannan and the Hunan-Guizhou area. The same goes for other descendants."

"Your Majesty doesn't want them to intervene in Henan and Hebei when Your Majesty attacks Silla?" Liu Jinyu understood a little.

"Hmm!" Li Xuan nodded gently, and then said thoughtfully: "Although the Yang family has surrendered now, this does not mean that my attack on the Yang family has ended."

"What does Your Majesty plan to do?" Liu Jinyu stood up and poured a cup of tea for Li Xuan.

Li Xuan took a sip before continuing, "If the children of the Yang family are married to ordinary noble families, they can be used as usual. If they are married to large families, they will be given a lower rank when they take the examination in the Ministry of Personnel in the future."

"My husband, are you going to cut off the marriage between the Yang family and other families?" Liu Jingyu looked at Li Xuan in surprise.

"Marriages between aristocratic families often affect the civil service examination, thus suppressing the real talents." Li Xuan looked at Liu Jinyu and said, "Not only the sons of the Yang family, but even the daughters of the Yang family, if they marry men from aristocratic families, then the examination grades of these men will also be downgraded."

Liu Jinyu's expression changed involuntarily, and he looked at Li Xuan and said, "If this continues, who will dare to marry into the Yang family?"

"We must sever the basis of their marriage alliance." Li Xuan raised his head, looked at the golden dragon in the hall, and said softly: "From Emperor Taizong, Emperor Gaozong, to me, what we have always done is to dismember the great families in the world, and severing their marriage alliance is a method that has been proven to be effective."

Liu Jinyu nodded. This was especially true for the Cui, Lu, and Zheng families. If it weren't for Cui Zhiwen, they wouldn't have even had a prime minister in the past three years.

But because of Cui Zhiwen, it would be extremely difficult for them to find another prime minister in the future.

"If it were a peaceful time, how could I have such a good opportunity to dismember one of the top aristocratic families in the world?" Li Xuan sneered lightly. If the Yang family had not chosen Empress Wu, it would have been difficult for Li Xuan to find an opportunity to completely dismember them.

……

"And it's not just the Yang family, the Wei family can do the same." Li Xuan grabbed Liu Jinyu's wrist, and then said seriously: "Sanniang, if you and I can silently dismember the Yang and Wei families in this lifetime, then in the future, even if Zhao'er's qualifications are a little worse, he will be enough to be a wise ruler."

Liu Jinyu nodded heavily.

Dismembering the aristocratic families is equivalent to consolidating the imperial power.

(End of this chapter)