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

Chapter 1805 Taizhou Sima Gu Zhang, Ling Chi

The flags are fluttering and the long spears are like a forest.

Countless cavalrymen of the left and right guards, holding swords and spears in their hands, slowly moved northward along the Hang Canal, in a steady and heavy manner.

On the Yangzhou dock, Li Xuan looked calmly at Duan Baoxuan, Heng Yanfan, and a group of local governors.

Behind him, Liu Jingxian, Cen Changqian, Xiao Siye and others stood solemnly.

"My Lords, I will entrust the affairs of Jiangnan to you. You will guard the area on behalf of the Heaven and educate the people." Li Xuan said sincerely, "The magistrate of Le'an County is the most typical example of the opposite. When you govern the local areas, besides the people's wealth, the people's honor and disgrace are also very important. The sage said, 'When the granaries are full, people know etiquette; when they have enough food and clothing, they know honor and disgrace.' Please don't disappoint me."

"We, your Majesty, will follow your instructions." The ministers bowed solemnly.

The story of Xu Pu, the magistrate of Le'an County, made them clearly understand how a place should be governed.

If this could be achieved, the world would be blessed.

Li Xuan nodded slightly and said, "In that case, I will return to the court. Except for Heng Qing and Shi Qing, who will accompany the guards out of Yangzhou, no one else needs to see you off."

"Yes!" All the ministers bowed.

Li Xuan turned around and headed towards the imperial ship. Others including Liu Jingxian, Cen Changqian, Xiao Siye and others also hurried to catch up.

……

The planks were lifted, and the entire imperial ship began to move slowly northward.

Duan Baoxuan, Chang Yu, Li Ai, Li Xu, Wang Fanglin, Zhang Qian, Zhang She, Jing Hui and other provincial governors all bowed and said loudly: "Your Majesty, we respectfully send you off."

The ministers looked up slightly and saw Li Xuan waving at them gently.

The next moment, the wind blew the sails, and the speed of the entire ship began to gradually increase.

At this moment, a burst of hurried horse hoof sounds sounded beside him, and Duan Baoxuan looked up in surprise.

Suddenly, Cheng Chubi got off his horse, bowed to Duan Baoxuan, and handed over an imperial edict, saying, "Chief Secretary, His Majesty has an imperial edict for you."

Duan Baoxuan took it in surprise, took a look, and his expression changed slightly: "Taizhou Sima Gu Zhang, Lingchi."

……

"The Jiangnan Gu family." Li Xuan stood at the bow, looking calmly at the two banks of the canal ahead.

The person involved behind the Taizhou incident this time was actually the famous Jiangnan Gu family.

In the old days, Wang Xietang was in front of Yan.

Fly into the gates of Gu, Lu, Zhu and Zhang.

Gu Zhang of the Jiangnan Gu family received the position of Le'an County Magistrate from Le'an County for three consecutive years, as well as large tributes from several large families.

It was because of his cover-up that Jing Hui, a governor of a state, could be deceived so easily.

Liu Jing stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, after returning to Chang'an, I'm afraid the whole country will need to investigate this matter."

"Then let's investigate." Li Xuan took a deep breath and said, "But first spread the official document to the world, so that they have some time to clean up, otherwise when we really investigate, it will cause war all over the world."

"Yes!" Liu Jingxian's expression changed slightly.

There are definitely many such things in the world, and he knows them best.

But these things are closely connected.

If all were to be revealed at once, the whole world would probably be plunged into turmoil.

There are even many places that, because they are forced into a corner, finally take risks and even directly rise up in rebellion.

Li Xuan’s target now is Silla, not the local area.

Only after he conquers Silla will he begin to truly reorganize the place, and this process may even last for quite a long time.

If he could achieve this, then his world could be called clear and bright.

However, local powerful families have always been a difficult point in governing the country. Even Emperor Wen, Emperor Wu, Emperor Taizong and Emperor Gaozong had difficulty in eradicating them, let alone him.

If you want to govern the local nobles, you need a method...

Li Xuan leaned over and asked, "The third year of Kaiyuan is almost over, and the new year is coming. My three dear ministers, who do you think would be the most suitable examiner for the new year's imperial examination?"

Liu Jingxian, Cen Changqian, and Xiao Siye all looked at Li Xuan in surprise. Why did the emperor suddenly talk about the imperial examination?

Liu Jingxian bowed slightly, smiled bitterly and said, "Your Majesty, it seems that you have not considered me at all?"

Li Xuan was slightly stunned, glanced at Liu Jingxian, and then quickly waved his hand: "I have considered Liu Xiang, but Liu Xiang is the chief examiner of the imperial examination, so it is not suitable for him to stay in these two years. Let's wait for two years."

Liu Jingxian raised his eyes, listened to Li Xuan's words, and nodded vaguely.

Li Xuan looked at Cen Changqian again and said, "Prime Minister Cen was the chief examiner of the imperial examination, Prime Minister Wang was the chief examiner of the imperial examination, and Minister Ouyang was the chief examiner of the imperial examination. This year, how about Prime Minister Zhang?"

Seeing the emperor pondering, Xiao Siye asked carefully, "Your Majesty, are you worried about Prime Minister Zhang's health?"

Li Xuan nodded slightly and said, "After all, Prime Minister Zhang has been with me on the plateau for many years. His health has never been very good, and the imperial examination is a laborious matter... Let alone Prime Minister Zhang, the Duke himself is no exception."

Zhang Da'an is not young, and Xiao Siye is even older than Zhang Da'an.

"I am very happy that I can go back to Jiangnan again." Xiao Siye bowed lightly and said, "I have not yet thanked Your Majesty for your great grace."

Xiao Siye was able to accompany Li Xuan on this southern tour because he was personally chosen by Li Xuan.

Xiao Siye was originally from Jiangnan, and the Xiao family was also a first-class aristocratic family in Jiangnan. It was a pity that Xiao Siye followed Yang Guang's queen Xiao deep into the north and returned many years later. After that, he had been serving in the north. After many years of fighting, he had not returned to Jiangnan for a long time.

Li Xuan took him back to Jiangnan this time, and didn't let him do much, just to see the mountains and rivers, meet relatives and friends, that's all. "If the county lord takes care of his health, it will be the greatest blessing for me and the Tang Dynasty." Li Xuan smiled, and then made up his mind and said, "Forget it, let Li Xiang be the chief examiner for this imperial examination. He is the Minister of the Central Secretariat and also supervises the national history. It's the most suitable person to preside over the imperial examination."

"Yes!" Liu Jingxian, Cen Changqian, and Xiao Siye all bowed.

"The last thing left is the matter of the imperial examination quota." Li Xuan looked ahead, his eyes gradually becoming serious.

……

Qizhou, the governor's office.

Feng Yuanchang sat in his study, reading the official bulletins sent from Luoyang, his eyes gradually becoming serious.

In the darkness, Guo regretted walking out, looked at Feng Yuanchang and asked, "Is there anything wrong?"

"Did you notice it?" Feng Yuanchang didn't look up, but just looked at the document calmly.

"The emperor has made a lot of moves in Jiangnan, but his moves are very chaotic." After a brief pause, Guo Hui said solemnly, "I always feel that he is planning something, but I can't tell what he wants to do, so I hurried to you."

Feng Yuanchang nodded slightly and said, "For many things, when you are standing outside and can't see clearly, then you should try to look at the problem from the perspective of an insider... Let me ask you, if you were the Sima of Yuezhou and something happened in Taizhou, what would you do next?"

"Investigate all matters within the country to avoid being implicated by this matter?" Guo Hui looked at Feng Yuanchang with some uncertainty.

"What else?" Feng Yuanchang continued to ask.

"What else?" Guo said regretfully, "Perhaps in the next few years, I will be more careful, because I can feel that the emperor's eyes will fall on me at any time. After all, Taizhou is so close to Yuezhou."

"Then will the emperor's eyes be on you at all times?" Feng Yuanchang's words made Guo Huiyue stunned.

He subconsciously raised his head: "Then what about Tang Jianri?"

"He's finished." Feng Yuanchang shook his head with a heavy face and said, "I have a feeling that the emperor deliberately threw us into different corners of the prince. I have the important task of cleaning up the Yellow River, and Tang Jianri has Wang Fanglin watching over him. As for Di Renjie and Zhang Jianzhi in Hebei, they are both in Hebei, and Governor Dou can't move at all. We have been cut off."

The four sides are completely separated, unable to contact each other, let alone join forces.

"And the Yang family." Guo regretfully nodded and said, "The Yang family was also thrown to the west, in the farthest corner of the southwest, and they can't do anything."

"So, could it be that he already knows what we are going to do?" Feng Yuanchang looked at Guo Huiyue with a serious expression.

Hearing him say this, Guo Hui felt somewhat relieved. He looked at Feng Yuanchang and said, "Do you know what I'm going to do?"

Feng Yuanchang was slightly stunned. He was about to say that it was just to cut off the emperor's food supply in Hebei...

Suddenly, Feng Yuanchang frowned.

The emperor was going to march to Silla, so there couldn't be only one grain route in Hebei. Guo Huiyue certainly didn't know about it, but he really didn't know how it was arranged specifically.

"The emperor's purpose in going to Jiangnan this time is nothing more than to stabilize Jiangnan and deceive the Silla people. After that, he will return to Chang'an to make further preparations for the expedition to Silla. The mobilization of manpower, soldiers, and materials is not an easy task, so he will transfer various unstable factors to all directions."

After a short pause, Guo Huihui squinted his eyes and looked at Feng Yuanchang, saying: "At the same time, he is also giving you a chance. If you stay in your place honestly and steadily, then when he comes back from the expedition to Silla, he may reuse you, or even transfer you back to the center, especially you, either to the six ministries or the prime minister."

Seeing Guo Huiyue quietly grasping the hilt of the knife, Feng Yuanchang shook his head with a bit of amusement and said, "Others haven't figured out who the emperor is, but haven't I figured it out yet?

From the investigation of hidden fields during the reign of Emperor Gaozong, to the cleansing of the aristocratic families when he ascended the throne, to keeping such a close eye on the local areas, all he did was to prevent the aristocratic families from annexing land.

Seeing this clearly, how many people in the world are willing to follow him...at least I am not one of them."

"It's good that he's not here." Guo regretted hiding the hilt of the knife, and then said to Feng Yuanchang: "I'll ask you to keep an eye on the transfer of grain and grass in Dengzhou. I'm going to Hebei to see what kind of chaos there is."

"Okay!" Feng Yuanchang nodded slightly.

Guo regretted taking a step back and retreating into the darkness. The next moment, he completely disappeared from Feng Yuanchang's sight.

"Dengzhou." Feng Yuanchang chewed on these two words, his eyes narrowed slightly: "Do you have people in Dengzhou?"

……

In Luoyang, the sun is shining and the autumn fragrance is everywhere.

The people were all happy. Luoyang had another good harvest this autumn. Even if the emperor did not exempt taxes, it was enough for the people of Luoyang to have a prosperous year.

And the key point is that the emperor returned from Yangzhou.

Not only did the emperor return from Yangzhou, he also brought back a large amount of Yangzhou cloth, salt fish, and three large ships of seafood. The prices of cloth, grain, and fish in Luoyang plummeted instantly.

……

Under the cover of night, the palace gates gradually closed.

In the Qianyang Palace, candles were brightly lit.

Li Xuan sat on the imperial couch and handed over a memorial, saying, "This is everything I did on this trip. Queen, please take a close look at it. If you find anything wrong, we can discuss it again."

"Yeah!" Liu Jinyu, who was sitting next to Li Xuan, nodded, then opened the memorial and read it carefully.

This book records everything that happened during Li Xuan's southern tour, and was recorded by the Zhongshu Sheren who followed Li Xuan.

Of course, many times, it is just glossed over.

For example, on the fourteenth night, nothing happened!

It is impossible for Li Xuan to have something to do every day and every moment. When there is nothing to do, it will be glossed over. It is even more so when there is something to do. The real thing will be covered up.

"Li Yong." Liu Jinyu frowned and looked at Li Xuan, asking, "What is this?"

"He is the son of Li Shan from Yangzhou College." Li Xuan sighed and said, "Li Shan will not live for many years. I am taking care of his son in advance. By the way, Li Shan is the commander of the Yangzhou Secret Guard."

"Oh!" Liu Jinyu immediately understood.

(End of this chapter)