First Minister of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 626: What did the governor teach me?
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Although Jiaozhou is located in a remote place, it once had its short-lived glory. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, when the world was in chaos, many Central Plains scholars fled to Jiaozhou to escape the chaos. After the Five Husbands in the Central Plains, the Jin Dynasty moved south to Lingnan. Including Jiaozhou, once again ushered in large-scale southward migration.

Since the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, aristocratic clans have gradually emerged. To be precise, it should be the direct promotion of the Nine-Rank Zhongzheng System. As long as there are people, there will be many clans, and the same is true in Jiaozhou.

Headed by Jiaozhou are the Du family and the Tao family. The Tao family started from Tao Ji, the governor of Jiaozhou in Soochow, and came from the Danyang Tao family. Although the Danyang Tao family declined in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, it was still very powerful in the Wei and Jin Dynasties, such as Tao Qian, the governor of Xuzhou in the late Han Dynasty, Tao Kan, a famous general in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Tao Hongjing, a famous doctor, and Tao Yuanming, a famous scholar, all came from the Tao family in Danyang.

There are also Shi clans, the most famous of which is Shi Xie, the governor of Jiaozhou in the late Han Dynasty; Yu clan, represented by Yu Fan, a famous minister of the Eastern Wu Dynasty. Yu Fan comes from the Yu clan of Kuaiji. Yu Fan offended Sun Quan and was demoted to Jiaozhou and lived in Jiaozhou for more than ten years. Until his death, his descendants also multiplied and established themselves in Jiaozhou.

Du Zhidao, Sima and Commander-in-Chief of the Army, who is currently in charge of the military power in Jiaozhou, comes from the Du family in Jiaozhou. In terms of his foundation, he comes from the Du family in Jingzhao. His origin is also quite extraordinary.

The origin of the Du clan in Jiaozhou can be traced back to the early years of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. At that time, there was a man named Du Yuan among the Du clan in Jingzhao. He was worshiped as the prefect of Ningpu County, which is near Jiaozhou. Later, due to the invasion of the south by Wuhu, Du Yuan was stranded in the Central Plains. Lingnan, he settled in Jiaozhou from then on.

Du Yuan's son, Du Bao, became the governor of Jiaozhi County. Du Bao's son, Du Yuan, became the governor of Jiaozhou. Du Yuan's son was Du Huidu, a famous general in the Liu Song Dynasty. Fenglong became the county marquis.

After that, Du Hongwen, the son of Du Huidu, took over as the governor of Jiaozhou. Starting from Du Bao, he was in charge of Jiaozhou for four consecutive generations, which shows the strength of the Du family.

To put it simply, since the Eastern Han Dynasty, Jiaozhou has been controlled by powerful families such as Shi, Tao, and Du. However, it has declined a lot now and is far less powerful than it once was. After Qiuhe took over as the governor of Jiaozhi (i.e., the governor of Jiaozhou) at the end of the Sui Dynasty, it was even more consolidated. The wealthy family controlled the military and political affairs of Jiaozhou with tyranny.

After Li Shou came to Jiaozhou, he was not as powerful as Qiu He. He was greedy for pleasure and ignored government affairs. After understanding the situation in Jiaozhou, he handed over government affairs to the Tao family and military affairs to the Du family. It was easy to borrow the reputation of the two families. The control of Jiaozhou can also check and balance the two families, so that they can't have the same mind.

I have to say that Li Shou made the right move, and it was his cleverness that played a big role. Li Shou himself had no ability to govern. If the Jiaozhou clan unanimously resisted his foreign chief, then he would be in trouble. Jiaozhou will be unable to move forward.

In this current situation, with military and political coordination, he can enjoy himself with peace of mind, which is considered the best outcome.

Tao Qian and Du Zhidao despised him, and Li Shou knew it well, but he just wanted to have fun and had a stable mentality. After all, he didn't expect to make much achievements in Jiaozhou, nor did he expect To gain fame, it doesn't matter if they don't like him, as long as they are not monolithic.

"It's De." Li Shou poured a cup of tea for Du Zhidao with his own hands, and his words were full of appreciation. "Your name and character are really good. The way of the university is Ming Ming De. I believe you are also Ming De." "You know how I treat you."

"The governor's kindness in promoting me will be engraved in my heart," Du Zhidao said seriously.

Seeing Du Zhidao's appearance, he actually showed no intention to follow the path, and Li Shou's face slowly turned gloomy.

"In that case, I will tell you frankly." Li Shou pondered for a while, looking directly into Li Shou's eyes, "You were also involved in Zhenla's matter, and now it has been leaked."

Du Zhidao was shocked when he heard this, looked at Li Shou in surprise, and then said bluntly: "I haven't touched that portion."

"Ha", Li Shou sneered, "Can it be considered as not participating if you haven't touched it? Zaide, why are you so naive?"

Hearing this, Du Zhidao's expression suddenly changed and his eyelids trembled, "Captain, what do you mean?"

"Don't be nervous." Li Shou's face turned, he smiled, and stretched out his hand to comfort him: "If there is any guilt, it will be on me alone, and you will not be involved."

Seeing Du Zhidao's doubtful expression, Li Shou said directly: "Concealing the turmoil among the barbarians in the southwest affected Lingnan maritime trade, and even affected the implementation of the Guangzhou Shipping Department. This time I have failed. I believe that soon, the imperial court will Then a decree came, and the best result for me was to be dismissed from office."

Du Zhidao was frightened when he heard this, "Captain, it shouldn't happen, it shouldn't happen, you are a member of the royal family."

"Bah," Li Shou spat, and sneered with disdain: "Shit clan members are sometimes worse than outsiders. You have to know that the imperial court wants to clean up the administration and ensure fairness and discipline, especially for those of us so-called royal clans. My dear, he is even more merciless. This is the same crime as the common people when the prince breaks the law."

Du Zhidao also understood this. The emperor wanted to establish prestige and show fair enforcement of the law. If he did not punish the royal family members, he would be merciless. Once he was punished, he would be merciless. The purpose was to show to outsiders that the court was selfless.

"After I leave..." Li Shou changed into a comfortable position, leaned on the back of the couch, and sighed slowly and leisurely: "The position of Governor of Jiaozhou and Governor of Jiaozhou is vacant."

This soft sentence touched Du Zhidao's heart. He immediately understood what Li Shou meant, but at the same time he was also a little uneasy and asked hesitantly: "What does the governor need to do?"

"Simple." Li Shou immediately sat up straight and stared at Du Zhidao with burning eyes. "Just pretend to be dumbfounded."

"Pretending to be dumbfounded?" Du Zhidao's eyes widened with a look of confusion on his face, "Please tell me clearly, Commander-in-Chief."

Li Shou did not show any impatience, but just lowered his voice and laughed: "If it is as expected, Tao Qian must be working hard now in order to seek the position of governor or even governor. He has controlled the state affairs for several years. He is familiar with the affairs of Jiaozhou, and if he works actively, he might really be able to succeed."

Du Zhidao's expression changed again and he frowned, "Mr. Tao, are you really that capable? Could it be that he still has connections in the court?"

"Confused", Li Shou shook his head and pointed at Du Zhidao and said with a smile: "You are not as good as Tao Qian in this regard. As the saying goes, the county magistrate is not as good as the current governor. The imperial court is far away in Guanzhong, but the Jinglue Mansion is close to Lingnan."

"You mean he might be clinging to the general?" Du Zhidao's heart dropped to the bottom.

"Why is it impossible?" Li Shou narrowed his eyes.

"Then the governor thinks he, he might succeed?" Du Zhidao asked reluctantly.

The Tao and Du families have been living side by side in Jiaozhou for hundreds of years. It has always been a situation where you are superior to me, and I am subordinate and you are superior. Although there are marriages, and the relationship is acceptable on the surface, in fact the two families have been secretly competing with each other. This is the saying that one mountain cannot tolerate two tigers.

"You didn't read the newspaper?" Li Shou raised his eyebrows and asked, "You don't know about the changes in the officialdom in Lingnan? Why did Pang Xiaotai of Baizhou, Chen Longshu of Longzhou, and Tandian of Luozhou rise to the top? Isn't it just a recommendation from Gao You? "His words of recommendation are worth your Du family's efforts to destroy Lin Yi again."

The person with the greatest achievements among the Du clan in Jiaozhou was undoubtedly Du Huidu, who conquered Linyi and reorganized the counties.

Du Zhidao's expression was very complicated. After struggling for a long time, he got down and bowed deeply to Li Shou, "Please also ask the Governor to teach me."

If it were for other things, he might have treated Li Shou duplicitously because he looked down on Li Shou's character, but now he didn't dare, because once Tao came to power again, it was destined that his Du family would be at a disadvantage. This was because he, as the Du family The head of the family cannot accept it.

If the two families are on par, he can barely match his ancestors. After all, there were times when he was not as good as Tao. But if during his tenure as the head of the family, he made Tao rise to the top and put him above Du, how could he be so shameless in the future? Goodbye ancestors. "I'm teaching you right now." Li Shou twisted his beard and said with a smile: "Turn a deaf ear to the outside world and return to the military mansion to concentrate on running the army. No matter whether people from the imperial court or the Jinglue Mansion come to ask, you can just ask I don’t know, of course, the most likely possibility is that the Jinglue Mansion comes to inquire.”

"I asked three questions and I don't know?" Du Zhidao looked puzzled, "Wouldn't that offend the people in the Jinglue Mansion? Maybe they thought that someone was so uncooperative on purpose."

"Confused!"

Seeing that Du Zhidao was so dishonest, Li Shou finally couldn't bear it anymore. He slapped the table and scolded him with a glare: "You run the army in the military mansion and rarely go out. What do you know? Everyone in Jiaozhou knows that all the state affairs are What can you know if Tao Qian handles it? The barbarians in the southwest are in turmoil and no envoys have been sent to Jiaozhou. What can you know? The refugees are also settled by Tao Qian, what do you know?"

Du Zhidao was stunned when he heard this. Then he thought about it and his eyes lit up. "Is the Governor passing the responsibility to Tao Qian?"

With a bang, Li Shou slapped the case again and reprimanded him, "That's nonsense! I am not that kind of person! I trust Tao Changshi very much, and I entrust all state affairs to him."

"I, I am greedy for pleasure. I travel around the mountains and rivers every day. I don't know anything!"

Du Zhidao was completely shocked!

These remarks are really unheard of, "I am greedy for pleasure...", Commander, you really dare to tell the truth!
Du Zhidao swallowed his saliva and said, "I understand."

At this moment, he felt that Li Shou was not just a waste who only wanted to enjoy himself. At this moment, Li Shou was very scary. Why were there so many people in the capital? Du Zhidao was even a little lucky. Fortunately, he did not go against Li Shou, and even once Working together... no, they fought side by side.

Thinking of this, Du Zhidao suddenly asked: "Why, why did the governor treat Tao Gan like this? But he offended you?"

Li Shou's eyes narrowed when he heard this, and he asked in a deep voice with an unkind expression: "How did I treat Tao Changshi? Du Sima might as well say it clearly."

"I have made it clear in my memorial that the government affairs of Jiaozhou depend heavily on Tao Changshi. I am well aware of the hardships of Tao Changshi's governance and specially express my merit for him. This is why I treat Tao Changshi so favorably."

"Treat me kindly..." Du Zhidao's mouth twitched, and he nodded and said: "What the governor said is absolutely true."

Li Shou's game was a little complicated, which made Du Zhidao very confused.

Did you retreat to advance?Take the initiative to plead guilty, admit the crime of negligence, and use your status as a clan member to impress the emperor in order to get a lighter punishment.

Then he showed his merits to Tao Qian and gave all the credit for managing the state affairs to Tao Qian. In this way, I really didn't know that the barbarians in the southwest were in turmoil. Tao Changshi was responsible for all government affairs.

In the end, all the credit and fault lies with Tao Qian.

Li Shou, the governor of Jiaozhou, is greedy for pleasure and has committed the crime of negligence. He should plead guilty and be punished. He should be dismissed from office.

The way of Sima Du in Jiaozhou was to devote himself to running the army and not get involved in state affairs. He didn't know anything about it. There was another layer of implication. The Tao family was in power, and the Du family was suppressed and could only stay in the military mansion. The Tao family had monopolized power!
After thinking about these contents, Du Zhidao felt endless admiration for Li Shou.

"Captain, what a brilliant idea," Du Zhidao sighed sincerely.

"Just understand." Li Shou saw that Du Zhidao finally understood. He was also tired. He stood up and stretched his waist. "Remember what I said. Return to the military mansion early tomorrow morning. Eat and sleep. Eat after sleeping. Just keep your mouth shut." .

"I will obey your orders!" Du Zhidao stood up and solemnly promised.

After leaving Du's house, Li Shou looked up at the stars in the sky, looked back at the gate of Du's house, took the reins handed over by the attendant, got on his horse, shook his head and sighed: "Jiaozhou... is boring."

In this era, not all people who eat official meals are superior people. For example, the post envoys have to travel every day, which is very hard. Although the post envoys are only responsible for delivering goods within the county this week, they still have the hardship of rushing around on horseback. The same goes for ordinary people. can not stand it.

Official documents starting from Jiaozhou exited Lingnan and entered Jingnan via Yongzhou, Liuzhou and other places, then entered Shannan from Xiangzhou, Yunzhou and other places, and then entered Guanzhong from Shannan and went straight to Chang'an. Along the way, they passed by foot, fast horse, waterway, etc. transfer.

After more than a month, the memorial to Jiaozhou was finally delivered to Chang'an City.

The Tang Dynasty inherited the post system of the Sui Dynasty, and it has been relatively complete. Basically every state has an official post. Historical records show that more than a hundred years later, during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, An Lushan rebelled in Fan Yang, while Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty was at the Huaqing Palace at that time. The two places are three thousand miles apart. Tang Xuanzong received the news only six days later, which shows that the organization and transmission speed of Datang Station have reached a high level.

Jiaozhou is far away in Lingnan and the roads are blocked. It takes more than a month for an urgent letter to reach Chang'an, which is already very impressive.

As expected or unexpectedly, Li Shimin was furious after seeing Li Shou's memorial. He was already dissatisfied with the high-ranking officials of the clan and royal relatives, and only a few clan members were recognized by Li Shimin, such as Li Xiaogong, Li Daoxuan, etc. People, those are real achievements before them, and it is justifiable for them to enjoy high-ranking officials and generous salaries.

As for Li Shou and others, they had no merit, but they were in such high positions because of their friendship with the same clan. Li Shimin was planning to reduce his rank, so Li Shou was sent to him.

The next day, Li Shimin went to the Chang Dynasty and ordered Zhang Anan to announce Li Shou's confession in public. After hearing this, all the ministers secretly shook their heads. The courtiers were all human beings. They were very aware of the emperor's recent actions and were planning to take action against the clan. As for the sword, Li Shou, who was far away in Lingnan, didn't know it and tried to influence the emperor with his friendship with the same clan.

Zongzheng Temple Qing Dou Dan, Zongzheng Temple Shao Qing Li Changwen and other officials of Zongzheng Temple lowered their heads and lowered their eyebrows after hearing this. Yesterday, a private message from Li Shou was sent to Chang'an along with the memorial.

After seeing Li Shou's private message asking for help, Dou Dan immediately summoned the assistant officials of Zongzheng Temple. After a short discussion without hesitation, they unanimously decided... to remain silent!

Dou Dan was the first person in the Tang Dynasty to hold the post of Zongzheng Temple as an in-law. He was originally a direct descendant of the Fufeng Dou family and the son-in-law of the Supreme Emperor Li Yuan. His father Dou Kang was the nephew of Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty Yang Jian and was also Li Yuan's wife Taimu. The queen's younger brother, Dou Danzhen, has a profound background.

Dou Dan had always been on good terms with Li Shimin. When he was conquering the Western Qin Dynasty, Dou Dan also made great achievements. Later, because of Dou Dan's outstanding knowledge, he also served as the imperial wine minister. Li Yuan and his disciples were young, and all the more than ten princes who were underage were in the Imperial Academy. Accept Dou Dan's teachings.

When Li Shimin first ascended to the throne, in order to quickly stabilize all parties, he sent Dou Dan, who was close to Liangzhou, as the governor of Liangzhou to take charge of Longyou. He made the governor of Liang Jiyang, Ba Xingbi and the six states' military forces deeply trusted.

After Li Shimin secured his position and successfully ascended the throne, he did not forget that Dou Dan recalled him to Chang'an and made him the general of the army. He was promoted to the Duke of Shen and concurrently served as Minister of Zongzheng Temple. Li Xiaogong, the original Minister of Zongzheng Temple, was moved to the position of Minister of Rites.

(End of this chapter)