Elegy of Tang Dynasty

Chapter 290 Use magic to defeat magic

The Minister of Revenue was assassinated! Still in Chang'an, in full view of the public, still on the bustling Zhuque Street!

The suspect identified the person behind the scenes as Right Chancellor Li Linfu, and the person responsible for the assassination was Fang Chongyong, the governor of Hexi Province!

This kind of thing, no matter what dynasty it happens in, is shocking and outrageous.

Even people who have never read a book and have only a small amount of knowledge can easily judge that this is an extremely crude and clumsy way to frame someone!

Not to mention that Pei Kuan was nearly seventy years old and could die at any time. Li Linfu had no reason to kill him in the street.

Even if he really wanted to assassinate him, if a passerby pretended to be casual and bumped into Pei Kuan, he might be able to break up the elderly Minister of the Ministry of Finance and take him away in a wave.

Not to mention Li Linfu's status and skills. He has a hundred ways to get rid of Pei Kuan, it just depends on the price. If that doesn't work, just let him out as a senior member of the party and wait for the other party to die.

As for the Hexi Jiedushi, there are groups of Qiu Ba who are good at conquering and fighting. It is not difficult to choose a few assassins from among them, and there is no need to do it personally. He just needs to explain and someone will do the work for him.

You can even go to the kind of professional killer who "takes money to eliminate disasters".

Pei Kuan was assassinated. This incident seemed to be a plot to draw trouble to Li Linfu and Fang Chongyong. But the true purpose of the culprit behind the scenes is far from coming to light.

However, there are indeed some "coincidences" in this assassination that are not coincidences.

First, when Pei Kuan was killed, Fang Chongyong was within a few feet of him and even witnessed the entire assassination process with his own eyes.

Is this a coincidence, or is it confirmed by Fang Chongyong as a trader on the spot?

Secondly, in the past few days, Fang Chongyong and Li Linfu had frequent contacts. On the day of the incident, Fang Chongyong was still discussing with Li Linfu's eldest son Li Xiu in Xinghua Tower about handing over a son.

Did Fang Chongyong really only talk to Li Linfu about Jiaozi and not about assassination?

Third, the assassin committed suicide after identifying the "real murderer", which eventually became a death certificate. No matter how Fang Chongyong and Li Linfu defend themselves, the assassin's testimony will not change. This shit basin is tightly secured. If the real murderer cannot be found, I am afraid that later history books will also write that Li Linfu and Fang Chongyong were the real murderers of Pei Kuan.

When Fang Chongyong was caught up by Bian Lingcheng at the inn outside Jingyuan County, he was confused when he learned about this.

He took a deep breath and asked:

"The chamberlain said that in this case, a certain person received instructions from the right minister and ordered his assassins to kill Pei Kuan, right?"

After listening to Bian Lingcheng's description, Fang Chongyong didn't know how to explain it to him in detail.

If there are too many flaws in a thing, it will be impossible to talk about it.

This is like Bian Lingcheng pointing to Fang Chongyong and saying that he is a female panda from more than a thousand years later.

So should he argue that he is not a panda, or should he say that he is not from more than a thousand years in the future, or should he prove that he is not a female?

If there are too many fallacies in a proposition, there is no need to explain or complain.

"Oh, Fang Jieshuai, don't say I don't believe this, even a saint thinks it's nonsense.

But the saint has the majesty of the saint. The assassination of the Minister of Hubu is a provocation to the saint, and the framing of Fang Jieshuai and the right prime minister is also a provocation to the saint.

In any case, this incident made the saint feel insulted, and he must have an explanation. If Fang Jieshuai doesn't return to Chang'an, he may be criticized secretly by villains.

Moreover, there is one small thing that is very detrimental to Fang Jieshuai. "

Seeing Fang Chongyong hand over a stack of jiaozi, Bian Lingcheng put it away calmly, and then lowered his voice and said.

"what's up?"

Fang Zhongyong asked in a deep voice, secretly complaining in his heart.

"The assassin also wears a border army identity card. He is affiliated with the Doulu Army. I remember, the Doulu Army seems to be deployed in Shazhou, Hexi.

Fang Jieshuai should be familiar with this army when he was still the governor of Shazhou, right? "

Bian Lingcheng's voice made Fang Chongyong feel helpless.

The identification tags of frontier army sergeants not only have almost no anti-counterfeiting technology, but also it is not difficult to obtain the "original version".

What Fang Chongyong knew was that in his previous life, it was not uncommon for him to study in college for others. If someone wants to frame someone up and make Qiu Ba, who was born in Hexi, an assassin, that's just stupid!

This is like how Fang Chongyong could easily find a sharp soldier in the Hebei frontier army, assassinate court officials in Chang'an, and then blame An Lushan.

Fang Chongyong couldn't control his mind. The Doulu Army had 7,000 soldiers back then. How could he ensure that every one of them would be loyal to him, so that he would sell his sons and daughters without any regrets?

It has to be said that the manipulator behind this matter has very vicious intentions.

This kind of "unnecessary" routine is scary to anyone.

"Minister, let's return to Chang'an now.

In this section, Shuai goes directly to Xingqing Palace to meet the saint. "

Fang Chongyong nodded slightly and said without pretense or justification.

"Fang Jieshuai, don't worry. It looks like someone is throwing dirty water on this matter, and Jieshuai will definitely be fine.

The saint only ordered the slave to come back to recover Fang Jieshuai, and had no other instructions. "

Bian Lingcheng comforted Fang Chongyong and said.

"I hope so."

Fang Chongyong sighed. The impact of many things does not lie in the rights and wrongs of the matter itself.

He rode on his horse and galloped towards Chang'an. Fang Chongyong was thinking about how to deal with it.

It is useless to defend yourself when others frame you. Only by muddying the water can you escape like a chestnut in the fire!

In other words, the only thing that can defeat magic is magic!

Fang Chongyong already had a decision in his mind.

……

In the imperial study room of the main building of Xingqing Palace, Emperor Li Longji of the Tang Dynasty was leaning on the bed with a straight face, staring at the tea stove where Gao Lishi was making tea not far away. On the cushions in front of him, Li Linfu, Zheng Shuqing, Fang Chongyong and others were kneeling.

The atmosphere in the study was a bit depressing and breathless.

"Let's talk about how to deal with Pei Kuan's incident."

Brother Ji said a little tiredly and sighed, feeling extremely fed up.

Brother Ji directly bypassed the "rights and wrongs" of the matter, and then dealt with the "aftermath" as the core task of dealing with the problem. This seems a bit unbelievable, but if you think about it carefully, it is just a matter of course.

Obviously, Brother Ji hates being played like a monkey, especially knowing that he has to deal with being played like a monkey and follow the pace of the person who set up the situation, which makes him even more irritated.

It was Li Linfu who promoted Pei Kuan's upcoming appointment as an interview envoy to Hebei Province.

Even Pei Kuan himself knew about this. This was not the kind of life-and-death power struggle, but under Brother Ji's watchful eye, the two sides "stopped it."

Pei Kuan still controlled the local supervisory power, while Li Linfu took control of the Ministry of Household Affairs to prepare for the next step of spreading Jiaozi. Without the constraints of outsiders, from now on the Ministry of Accounts will allocate funds in conjunction with Jiaozi issuance.

Pei Kuan just gave up his position knowingly!

At this time, what was Li Linfu doing to kill Pei Kuan?

Brother Ji started his career through power struggles and succeeded in many coups before he was able to secure the throne. Could he not see these tricks?

The mastermind behind the scenes is about to realize his plans!

"A saint can only be a thief for a thousand days, but there is no one who can guard against a thief for a thousand days.

The people behind this incident are so bold. If they can't be dealt with with thunderous force, I'm afraid the next Pei Kuan will appear soon.

I would like to ask how the officials of the imperial court should deal with themselves, and how the saints should deal with themselves?

Clearing up the source and bringing justice to Pei Shangshu are also necessary measures to deal with the aftermath. "

Fang Chongyong was the first to speak.

"Well, it's true. What Fang Guozhong said is true."

Brother Ji leaned on the couch, then raised his chin with one hand and continued to ask: "Who do you think is the most suspicious in this matter?"

If it is still theoretically possible for Li Linfu to kill Pei Kuan, then Fang Zhong's brave killing of Pei Kuan is purely stupid and funny! Brother Ji knew very well that the mastermind behind the assassination brought Fang Chongyong in just to muddy the waters! Cover up your true purpose!

Everyone knows that Fang Chongyong is innocent, but if he is involved, the political situation in Chang'an will be confused, and the logic behind the incident will become distorted and difficult to discern.

The true purpose of the mastermind behind the scenes will also be cleverly concealed.

This is like saying that a businessman from the Western Regions purchased a large amount of silk in the West City of Chang'an. His intention is easy to guess, and he definitely wants to transport it to the Western Regions for sale.

But while this businessman was buying silk, he was also buying spices from the Western Regions, so his intentions were hard to guess.

"Returning to the saint, Wei Chen thinks that this matter should be the one behind the scenes of Pinglu Jiedushi An Lushan. No one can benefit from Pei Kuan's assassination except him." Fang Chongyong directly threw a powerful blast bomb!

Is this okay?

Li Linfu, who was next to Fang Chongyong, raised his eyebrows and his face twitched, but he still didn't respond. Instead, he lowered his head and pondered silently.

However, Zheng Shuqing, who was the minister of Dali Temple, could not help but remind Fang Chongyong:

"Fang Jieshuai has not been in Chang'an for a long time. He came and went in a hurry. He may not know the case yet.

The available evidence so far shows that the assassin came from Hexi, and was even a barbarian from the Western Regions.

An Lushan... has nothing to do with it at all. What Fang Jieshuai just said was a bit outrageous. "

Lao Zheng desperately hinted that Fang Chongyong should be careful in his words and deeds!

Brother Ji also frowned slightly, looking unhappy.

The main reason why he was unhappy was that he had imagined many possibilities before, but there was no situation where the border town Jiedushi would send people to Chang'an to assassinate central officials.

Mainly because this kind of thing is too magical.

Chang'an is a huge city with several palaces. Not only are the affairs complex, but also the population is large. To assassinate a specific court official on the street in such a large city is no less difficult than finding a stone in a haystack, which is better than finding a needle in a haystack.

"Guozhong, why do you think it's An Lushan and not Huangfu Weiming?"

Brother Ji waved his hand to signal Zheng Shuqing not to talk nonsense, and asked Fang Chongyong a very crucial question.

As soon as he heard this, Li Linfu knew that Brother Ji was not confused and was not easy to fool.

You know, there are two Jiedu envoys over there in Hebei, but they are not the one-spoken officials of Anlu Mountain! Even if the Jiedushi serves as the interviewer, it may not necessarily be An Lushan's turn. Taking such a huge risk to assassinate court officials, in the end, he still couldn't ensure that the flowers would fall into his own family.

Is there such a stupid person in the world?

Li Linfu felt that there must be something fishy about this matter.

"Because the sage would not let Huangfu Weiming concurrently serve as the envoy to Hebei Province. And once Pei Kuan is unfortunately assassinated, for the sake of smooth government affairs, the sage will probably let An Lushan, the envoy to Pinglu Jiedu, serve as the envoy to Hebei Province."

Fang Chongyong saluted Brother Ji with his hands crossed.

Brother Ji was speechless for a moment.

The young ambassador to the Western Regions in front of him was so reasonable that he, the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty, could not refute it!

Why couldn't Huangfu Weiming be awarded the title of envoy of Hebei Province?

This is Brother Ji's power play. It smells bad and tastes delicious. It cannot be mentioned on the table.

Because once Huangfu Weiming is awarded this official position, when his term expires and he returns to Chang'an to report on his duties, he will enter the "prime minister preparation circle."

Next, Huangfu Weiming only needs to serve as an official in the central government, and then wait for Brother Ji to be promoted to prime minister!

Served as an official under the Six Ministries or Zhongshu, served as a supervisory official at the central or local level, and served as a military envoy at the local level. These are almost the necessary conditions for serving as the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty.

Of course, there is only one sufficient condition: the trust and promotion of Brother Ji himself.

The Huangfu family had quite a relationship with Li Heng's family, and Huangfu Weiming's clan sister was a very favored princess during Ji Gelongqian's time. Therefore, if Huangfu Weiming becomes a general or becomes a prime minister, he will naturally become a "blue chip stock" that the princes will compete for.

I would like to ask such a person, how could Brother Ji let him serve as the Hebei interview envoy? Compared with Huangfu Weiming, An Lushan's "advantage" is too great!

The fact that barbarians were not allowed to serve as prime ministers was a ceiling in the design of the political system of the Tang Dynasty.

No matter how An Lushan plays, he can never change from a side general to a prime minister. If Pei Kuan could not become the Hebei interview envoy on his own, then it would be logical to use this position to "reward" An Lushan.

Fang Chongyong’s statement can be described as hitting the nail on the head.

Brother Ji folded his arms and was silent.

Although what Fang Chongyong said made sense, he still couldn't convince him, the emperor who controlled the overall situation.

For local military envoys, it is not really necessary to get the position of interview envoy, as long as they do not aspire to become prime ministers.

For a certain Jiedushi, even if he could get it, it would actually only be the icing on the cake, especially from the perspective of a foreign Jiedushi.

If An Lushan really wanted to kill Pei Kuan and then "continue to take charge", he could wait until Pei Kuan went to Hebei and use some small means to make Pei Kuan "die of illness".

After all, Pei Kuan is nearly seventy years old! To get rid of such a waning old man, is it really necessary to play such a big game and send assassins to assassinate him under the eyes of the emperor?

Brother Ji felt that Fang Chongyong was a bit alarmist, but he was very cautious and did not say whether An Lushan was suspected.

"Loyal to the country. After Pei Kuan was assassinated that day, I immediately ruled out your suspicion. Do you know why?"

Brother Ji looked at Fang Chongyong and asked.

"Back to the saint, because I have been in the border town for many years and have not found all the roads in Chang'an City. I cannot know all the big and small affairs in the city. How can I find an important minister in casual clothes?"

Fang Chongyong said with a wry smile.

Brother Ji smiled and nodded, obviously agreeing with Fang Chongyong's judgment.

One of the most easily overlooked facts in this assassination case is that Pei Kuan was a simple man and wore casual clothes, which was almost equivalent to an "invisible" state!

To accurately assassinate Pei Kuan in this situation, you need a very powerful logistics support team that maintains constant surveillance on Pei Kuan and is familiar with the streets of Chang'an City.

Otherwise, a single-handed assassin would not even know where Pei Kuan was, whether he was going out, or whether he had any guards around him, so how could he kill someone?

Fang Chongyong has only been back to Chang'an for a day or two, so how could he possibly plan such a thing!

This is the most important reason why Brother Ji eliminated Fang Chongyong's suspicion.

Now, this reason, like a boomerang, can also be placed on An Lushan.

Now An Lushan is far away in Hebei, and he has a dark eye on the situation in Chang'an City, even Fang Chongyong is not as good as Fang Chongyong. This barbarian Jiedushi didn't even know it wasn't raining under Chang'an City!

He sent people to Chang'an to assassinate an important court official. How big of a team would he need to support him?

Although it is very simple to send an assassin and keep it secret, the only way to kill is to break into a house and kill on the street. It is almost impossible to kill on the street.

If many people are sent to assassinate him, Pei Kuan will be kept under surveillance for a long time. This can indeed increase the success rate of the assassination, but it is also likely to be exposed due to various trivial matters. The risk of the assassination is too high, and it will be difficult for the team to leave Chang'an afterwards.

After Pei Kuan was assassinated, Jinwu Guards blocked all city gates and searched people when entering or leaving. When ordinary people go out of the city, they need the official of their residence to issue a document for leaving the city; while for officials going out of the city, they need the supervisor of the yamen to issue a document for leaving the city.

If An Lushan sent out such a large assassin team, how could they escape?

To put it simply: Brother Ji believes that what Fang Chongyong can’t do, An Lushan can’t do as well!

"Tomorrow, Wei Chen will go to Dali Temple to report the case, accusing Pinglu Jiedushi An Lushan of sending an assassin to assassinate Pei Kuan, the Minister of Household Affairs, and then frame Wei Chen.

This is to rectify the source and bring justice to Pei Shangshu.

Ask the sage to make the decision for the minister, and issue an imperial edict for An Lushan to come to Chang'an and Dali Temple to confront someone face to face. "

Fang Chongyong knelt down in front of Brother Ji and made a bowing salute.

Now, not only Brother Ji, but also Li Linfu, who was pretending to be dead, was no longer calm!

"Fang Jieshuai, the truth about Pei Kuan's assassination is actually known to all the officials and saints in the court. It must have nothing to do with you.

Fang Jieshuai really doesn't need to compete with An Lushan. Military affairs in the Western Regions are more important, and it's about border defense! "

Li Linfu persuaded from the side, it was hard to tell whether he was trying to stop the fight or making trouble.

Of course, it is more common for Jiedushi to be sued and reported than chicken feathers on a rooster. This is also one of the characteristics of the Tang Dynasty. Cats and dogs will not feel strange when they see it.

In the early years, Wang Yu, the Jiedushi envoy of Jiannan, was impeached. The person who impeached him was Zhangchou Jianqiong, the envoy of Jiannan regiment. This person has now replaced Wang Yu as the Jiedushi of Jiannan, which can be said to be a piece of cake.

Fang Chongyong's father-in-law, Wang Zhongsi, is often the target of "complaints" and can even be said to have "bad records" in this regard.

Just at the beginning of this year, a batch of new ordnance that was supposed to be sent to Longyou was finally sent to Yingzhou. Wang Zhongsi wrote a letter to impeach An Lushan, but in the end Brother Ji slapped him with 50 blows each and left the matter unsolved.

Fang Chongyong insists that An Lushan is the mastermind behind the assassination of Pei Kuan. This move may not solve the unresolved case, but is very likely to lead to a "dog eats dog" ending.

Not only was there no way to make An Lushan injured, but he might also become disgraced. Because even if Fang Chongyong does nothing, he can still be cleared of suspicion. Is it necessary to fight with An Lushan?

This is the kind of battle that can result in a draw at best and a loss at worst.

"That's fine too."

Brother Ji nodded slightly and said to Li Linfu:

"Ge Nu, please write a document to notify An Lushan and ask him to return to Beijing to report on his work. Don't talk about Pei Kuan.

If An Lushan can't escape and come to Chang'an, his entire family will be killed. "

He looked at Fang Chongyong again and said casually: "Guozhong, don't rush back to Liangzhou. Please help your right minister to go over Jiaozi's affairs in detail, so that you can sharpen your sword and chop wood."

Li Linfu found that Brother Ji's attitude toward Fang Chongyong seemed to be much better than before. He felt strange in his heart, but he just crossed his hands and saluted respectfully without saying a word nonsense.

(End of this chapter)