Elegy of Tang Dynasty

Chapter 33 Across the Ocean to See You

Fang Chongyong took an ox cart to Zheng County, Huazhou to find his future wife, and his life was not too bad.

The house was found, although it was not very spacious, but fortunately the location was good, in the downtown area of ​​Chang'an, separated by a wall from Li Longji's residence, it was not bad.

The money is three thousand guan. Although this money is nothing and there is no way to get a job in Chang'an, at least I have enough food and clothing to worry about.

Ma Zi has also been found. Although it will take many years to marry and return home, it is basically impossible to escape.It's not like many young people in the previous life, who can only take over a "tired" little fairy when they have to get married.

Moreover, although there are so many problems in Datang nowadays, none of them fall on Fang Chongyong himself, so he still feels that his life can go well.

However, some people in high positions in Chang'an City felt that life seemed to be difficult.

In the office building of Xingqing Palace, Li Longji was discussing important matters with several important ministers.One of the most important things is who is better to sit in the vacant aspect.

During the Kaiyuan period, Tang Ting's high-level executives basically formed a customary custom, and the prime minister was 2-3 people, not more, not less.Basically every three or four years, the appearance needs to be changed.

Now that Pei Yaoqing has been dismissed as Prime Minister, it is only natural to choose another person to take his place.

Why did the prime ministers of the Kaiyuan period have to change a batch every few years?

Many courtiers believed that Li Longji was afraid that the power of the prime minister would be too great, but some courtiers believed that although the Tang Dynasty had a strong national power during the Kaiyuan period, there were many problems.Every time something goes wrong, the prime minister needs to take the blame and resign.

It can't be said that all this is the fault of the emperor, is it the fault of the sage?Don't you change the prime minister for the emperor?
So changing a prime minister is equivalent to removing some scapegoats, and then the emperor of the Tang Dynasty will always be the saint who never makes mistakes, which seems to be more in line with realistic logic.

Today, Li Longji didn't want to delay any longer. He asked Li Linfu and Zhang Jiuling to come up with their own proposals, and each nominate a favorite person as the new prime minister, that is, who should be awarded the position of third rank under Tongzhongshu.

Although the group minister system is one emperor with several prime ministers, these prime ministers are actually divided into big and small according to the default rules.Zhongshu Ling is the largest, referred to as "right minister"; servants rank second, referred to as "left minister"; the third rank of the same Zhongshu sect is the emperor's favorite officials who can be promoted exceptionally to check and balance left and right ministers, so they can only ranked third.

Now that Zhang Jiuling and Li Linfu occupy two positions, the person they nominated has become very important, and his weight is enough to affect the court situation.

By analogy, the weight of this candidate can be compared with Han Xin who won Hebei during the Chu-Han War.

"My minister recommends Yan Tingzhi to be prime minister. He is the Minister of Zhongshu, he is familiar with government affairs, and he can quickly take over the vacancy after Pei Yaoqing's resignation as prime minister."

Zhang Jiuling bowed deeply to Li Longji and said.

"Ge Nu, what do you think?"

Li Longji frowned slightly, looked at Li Linfu and asked.Obviously, Yan Tingzhi is not the No. 1 choice in Li Longji's mind, and the reason is very simple.

At the beginning, Zhang Jiuling, Pei Yaoqing, and Li Linfu formed a partnership. Zhang Jiuling was in charge of military affairs in the north and related matters related to farming, while Pei Yaoqing was in charge of reforming water transportation, and Li Linfu was in charge of making money, streamlining the imperial government, increasing revenue and reducing expenditure.

Now that Pei Yaoqing is gone and the other two are still there, the DPRK actually lacks a minister to manage economic operations.

And Yan Tingzhi and Zhang Jiuling came from the same yamen, and the government affairs they are good at also highly overlap with Zhang Jiuling.Then if Yan Tingzhi gets into the picture, Zhang Jiuling must leave, because Yan Tingzhi is the weakened version of Zhang Jiuling.

"My minister thinks that Yan Ting is frivolous and should not be a prime minister."

Li Linfu's serious nonsense aroused Li Longji's interest.

It's not surprising that Li Linfu opposed this suggestion, but what's strange is that the reasons he gave were so speechless. What is the reason for "frivolous"?

"how you said that?"

Li Longji looked at Li Linfu and asked.Obviously, if the other party didn't give him a satisfactory answer, then the matter would not be over at all.

"Back to the sage, Yan Tingzhi first had a wife, Pei, and reconciled with him. Later, he had a wife, Zhou, and reconciled. After that, he had a wife, Wu, and the reconciliation ended. Now Yan Ting's wife is Cui. .

In addition, his eight-year-old son killed his concubine Aying, which caused an uproar for a while.

To govern the country first, to govern the family, Yan Tingzhi successively reconciled with Li's four wives, and his son killed his concubine, which shows that he has no way to manage the family.Such a person, no matter how talented he is, cannot be a good friend.

How can one govern a country if he cannot manage his family well? "

After Li Linfu finished speaking, he also bowed deeply to Li Longji and said.

This angle is so tricky!

Zhang Jiuling was speechless for a while.Needless to say, Li Linfu had done his homework long ago, Yan Tingzhi's crap must be true.Of course, this bit of dirty laundry does not mean that Yan Tingzhi will not be able to serve as an official, but it may be enough to prevent him from becoming a prime minister.

You change wives so diligently, and you are still changing in your 50s. Isn't there a problem with your life style?An eight-year-old son dares to kill a concubine, isn't it because the father has no education?

Zhang Jiuling also had to admit that there was indeed a problem with Yan Tingzhi's family tradition.

Li Linfu's malicious complaints may not necessarily work, but at the very least, Li Longji's current impression of Yan Tingzhi may not be very good!
"These things are irrelevant, and the central affairs are complicated, brother slave should not talk about him."

Li Longji scolded Li Linfu impatiently.

Although he said this, he had already listened to Li Linfu's words for seven or eight points. Afterwards, he asked someone to inquire a little bit. Yan Tingzhi's marital status and family status were easily found out.

It's not uncommon to get divorced, but if you remarry after remarrying, marry and reconcile again and again, there must be something wrong with this person.

In some public institutions in Fang Chongyong's previous life, background checks were required when managers were promoted. Those who divorced, married, and then divorced in a short period of time would definitely be subject to key investigations. These are actually just human nature, no different from ancient times to modern times.

As for the concubine whose underage son dared to kill his father, it could even more explain that there was a problem with the family education. The so-called "it is the fault of the son not teaching his father".

Cultivate one's morality, regulate one's family, govern the country, and bring peace to the world. If you can't handle the front, you can't do the latter.Li Linfu's criticism of Yan Tingzhi is true, but he is not talking nonsense without any scruples. At least the whole thing still falls within the reasonable range of "narrative distortion", rather than fabricating facts out of thin air.

In this wave, Zhang Jiuling was beaten by Li Linfu, so he was caught off guard!

"Back to the sage, if Yan Tingzhi is only because of some family affairs, then the humble minister will not talk about it. But other than that, Yan Tingzhi also bends the law for personal gain. Please learn from the sage. Not only can such a person not enter On the contrary, it is necessary to demote officials and punish crimes."

Hearing this, cold sweat broke out on Zhang Jiuling's forehead.He thought about it left and right, and didn't know what went wrong with Yan Tingzhi, so he could only wait patiently for Li Linfu to finish speaking.

"Even though Brother Nu is the prime minister on the left, he can't just talk about it!"

Li Longji said sternly, making it clear that he didn't believe Li Linfu's one-sided words.

"Wang Yuanyan, the governor of Weizhou, was picked up for taking bribes and breaking the law, and now he is under investigation by the court as a criminal.

Wang Yuanyan's ex-wife, Pei Shi, is Yan Ting's ex-wife.This woman pleaded with Yan Tingzhi for Wang Yuanyan, and Yan Tingzhi pardoned Wang Yuanyan by using his power.

The saint was completely unaware of such a big thing.Yan Tingzhi deceived the superiors and concealed it from the subordinates, and covered up favoritism, not talking nonsense.

Moreover, Wang Yuanyan used to join the army in the Zhongwangfu (Li Heng), if Yan Tingzhi defended Wang Yuanyan so much, if it wasn't because of his ex-wife's pleading, could it be for some other reason? "

Li Linfu asked rhetorically.

Cold sweat broke out on Zhang Jiuling's forehead, and he quickly cupped his hands and said to Li Longji: "Sage Mingjian, Yan Ting's ex-wife has now reconciled with Wang Yuanyan and remarried. This matter may not be as Zuo Xiang said."

"We will send someone to investigate Yan Tingzhi later, to see if Brother Nu's words are suspected of being exaggerated."

Li Longji instructed Gao Lishi beside him.

"Does Genu have anyone to recommend?"

Although he had already sentenced Yan Tingzhi to death in his heart that he had no hope of becoming a prime minister in this life, Li Longji still showed an appearance of "receiving advice with an open mind" on the surface.

"Hexi Jiedushi Niu Xianke is proficient in government affairs, and he has stepped from the grassroots to the position of Jiedushi. He is widely praised in Hexi. During the years when Niu Xianke was Hexi Jiedushi, the Hexi Fanzhen was full of grain and grass. , the treasury is full, and the armaments are in order. If you want to come, you can enter the center as a prime minister to regulate people's livelihood.

Cui Xiyi, the new Hexi Jiedu envoy, also praised Niu Xianke for being a prime minister.Therefore, I recommend Niu Xianke as the prime minister, and ask the sage to make a decision. "

Hearing this, Li Longji nodded slightly. Li Linfu is the prime minister who knows the general situation.

Yan Tingzhi is from Zhang Jiuling, and is still working in the same yamen, so he can tell from his nostrils that the two are wearing a pair of trousers.What is nepotism and forming a party for personal gain?

This is Zhang Jiuling!
And Niu Xianke, who was far away in Hexi, obviously could not be Li Linfu's confidant.Moreover, Cui Xiyi also praised Niu Xianke's talents, which shows that Li Linfu is very important.

As long as you find out what kind of people Yan Tingzhi and Niu Xianke are after the fact, you will understand.

Thinking of this, Li Longji already had a conclusion in his mind.

"Both gentlemen, go back and rest, I will think about it again."

Hearing what Li Longji said, Zhang Jiuling wanted to say a few more words, but in the end he was speechless and bowed to leave.He was going to ask Yan Tingzhi what was going on with Wang Yuanyan.

After both of them left, Li Longji turned his head and asked Gao Lishi, "What does Lishi think?"

"I think that Mr. Zhang is very selfish, but Niu Xianke is not a prime minister."

Gao Lishi said cautiously.

"Of course I know this too. Niu Xianke has done a good job in Hexi, but whether he can be competent for the affairs of the DPRK and China is yet to be determined.

It's just that Yan Tingzhi is very disappointed in me, and he must never be a friend. You should check carefully to find out what is his relationship with the Wang Yuanyan case.

By the way, whether Wang Yuanyan's embezzlement has something to do with the Zhongwang Mansion, and what is the relationship between Yan Tingzhi and the Zhongwang Mansion, you will also check it out by the way. "

After Li Longji talked for a long time, he recovered from his fear and felt that he was making a fuss out of a molehill.

For him, his sons are all scumbags, even if it is his favorite longevity king Li Wei, what else does he have besides having Concubine Wu Hui as his mother?
Only the loyal king, Li Heng, had an astonishing power behind the scenes, and his energy was so great that Li Longji had to deal with it carefully.

Wei Jian, Huangfu Weiming, Wang Zhongsi... These people are all Li Heng's confidantes and even his brother-in-law. Among his princes, who can recruit so many capable courtiers?
Wang Yuanyan, who was sacked this time because of corruption, is also a loyal king.

The question that needs to be clarified now is, how many "Wang Yuanyan" are there on Li Heng's side?Where are they located?How capable you are of rebelling.

Li Linfu's sentence "Wang Yuanyan once joined the army for the Prince Zhong's Mansion" directly hit Li Longji's lungs.

……

If Wang Zhongsi's house in Chang'an looked shabby, then the house in his hometown in Hua County fully explained what the word "forced style" meant.

Visually, it covers an area of ​​no less than a few hundred square meters. Not only that, the white walls and blue tiles of the Zhumen have an aristocratic style.

It is indeed a combination of Taiyuan Wang's and Longxi's Li's living together.Going to Chang'an, the high prices there only look at the money, and it doesn't reflect the real strength of the family at all.

Homeland land, tenants, properties, houses, etc.These are the strengths of aristocratic families.

If you really think about it, Fang Youde, who is now known as "Fang Jieshuai" in Youzhou, may only be regarded as a nouveau riche with no more than three generations of wealth on Wang's side.

Calling the door, entering the hall, explaining the purpose of coming, after a set of procedures, Fang Chongyong didn't even see the shadow of the legendary childhood sweetheart Wang Yunxiu.

Instead, she was repeatedly scrutinized by Mrs. Li, who was still beautiful in spite of her middle age, and the atmosphere fell into an awkward silence for a while.

"It's easy to add flowers to the cake, but hard to send charcoal in the snow. Now Fang Jieshuai can be said to have a high position in Youzhou, and he has won the trust of the sages. But my family, Alang, was demoted to Dongyang. I don't know when he will have a bright future.

If your husband doesn't come to regret your marriage, he is already a man of great faith and promise. It's rare for him to deliver a message thousands of miles away. Please accept my respect. "

After reading the letter, Mrs. Li bowed deeply to Fang Chongyong.

"You're welcome, you're welcome."

Fang Chongyong hurriedly said politely, that can't really make his mother-in-law kneel down and salute to him.Also, I have traveled thousands of miles to come here, where is my cute wife?
Fang Chongyong wanted to mention this, but he didn't know where to start.

"The matter of the marriage contract is written in black and white, naturally it is logical. But Mr. Lang is still young, so there is no need to think too much about such things.

As for my Alang's rebirth, I might as well speak frankly.King Zhong has already sent someone to mention this matter to my concubine. He will send someone to mediate and operate. After the saint's anger dissipates, Alang will naturally recover and resume his former official position.

Although Mr. Lang is extremely intelligent, but...not suitable for interfering in this matter. "

Li Shi declined Fang Chongyong's suggestion, even though Wang Zhongsi told her in the letter that she would follow Fang Chongyong's arrangements.Mrs. Li was born as a daughter of an aristocratic family, and she is not someone who is completely ignorant of political affairs.

Fang Chongyong is just Fang Youde's son, who is not even ten years old.He came to operate Wang Zhongsi's promotion, how did it work?

Do you want to ask for an official?
Do you want to give a gift?

Do you want to find a way?

Can Fang Chongyong handle these things?

But Li Heng was different. He was a prince, and he had a close relationship with Wang Zhongsi. They had played together since childhood.Li Heng not only has the resources to do this, but he can also do it well.

As for this marriage, Li made two plans.

Either marry with Prince Zhong's Mansion and become a princess in the future.If it doesn't work, it won't be too late to make Fang Chongyong his son-in-law.Who knows how long Fang Youde can be prosperous?It is not too late to drag first.

In Li's view, Fang Youde is nothing more than a person who has taken advantage of the merits of Conglong.No family background, no foundation, all relying on Li Longji's favor, maybe one day he will fall from the sky to the mortal world.

Li felt that Fang Chongyong was not a good match, even if the child looked ridiculously smart.Since Wang Zhongsi wants to be a good person, let her "mother-in-law" be a "wicked person".

"In that case, I forgive you for disturbing me."

Fang Chongyong handed the red paper with Wang Yunxiu's birth date to Mrs. Li. After bowing deeply, he turned around and left.Li hesitated for a moment and did not send anyone to stop him.

After Fang Chongyong came out, Zhang Xun, who was feeding the cows and grazing outside the door, asked doubtfully, "Did you come out so soon?"

"Yes, back to Chang'an!"

Fang Chongyong said calmly.

Still counting on Li Heng to save his life?

Hurry up and laugh for a while now, and see if your tears will dry up by then!

You will definitely cry!
Fang Chongyong cursed fiercely in his heart.

(End of this chapter)