Early Tang Dynasty: forge ahead

Chapter 495 The man of the hour
There was a hint of shock in Chen Qingsi's eyes. If everything was as he thought, then things would be serious.

Judging from the information at hand, almost all the criticisms were directed at one person... Li Yifu.

When Chen Qingsi decided to overthrow Li Yifu, he used himself as bait, taking advantage of Li Yifu's superstitious weakness to lure him into the trap.

This action completely offended Li Yifu.

Apart from Li Chongde, Chen Qingsi is the person who least wants Li Yifu to come back.

After Li Yifu was demoted, Chen Qingsi often targeted the officials promoted by Li Yifu, and would not feel at ease until he was sure that all the core figures were driven out of the temple.

Therefore, Chen Qingsi was certain that there were no confidants of Li Yifu in Chang'an City...

So who else could it be?

There are only two possibilities: either Yuan Gongyu, Wang Dejian and his group sneaked back to Chang'an, or it was Li Yifu himself.

Chen Qingsi was more inclined to the latter, because people like Yuan Gongyu and Wang Dejian were just accomplices. They were demoted, but not directly exiled like Li Yifu, who was demoted to commoners. Most of them retained their official status, but were demoted to serve as officials in remote places.

It was almost impossible for them to sneak back. After all, the disappearance of a living person, who once caused trouble in the government, how could it not attract attention?
Returning to Beijing without being recruited would be a serious offense.

Anyway, Li Yifu is different, he is dead.

Who cares about a dead person?
At least before all the doubts pointed to Li Yifu, Chen Qingsi had never thought that Li Yifu might be alive in this world.

Now after careful analysis, we find that this is possible.

Empress Wu had always lacked capable assistants and had to rely on Grandma Yang and Lady Hanguo to help her with her affairs. These two women were more likely to cause trouble than to accomplish anything.

She had always wanted to recall Li Yifu to the capital and use him for her own purposes, but she ruined the plan.

Li Yifu also died of anger due to this...

Li Zhi issued a special decree stipulating that Li Yifu was not included in the amnesty, which was enough to show that he had no intention of re-employing him.

Rather than dying of old age in southern Xinjiang, it makes sense for Li Yifu to fake his death and come to the capital to make plans for Empress Wu.

But Empress Wu was too bold. She dared to use Li Yifu in such a situation?

If Li Zhi really knew about this, she, the queen, would probably die in an accidental man-made death.

Li Zhi would not depose the queen, Chen Qingsi was very clear about this.

Things had come to this point, there was no way Li Zhi would depose the empress, even if Empress Wu had caused a huge mess.

Li Zhi no longer has the energy to train another crown prince. His body can't support it. If he really deposes Empress Wu, how will the current crown prince cope with it?
Accidental death or not appointing another queen are both more likely than deposing her.

But no matter what the outcome was, there was no way Empress Wu could turn things around.

After careful study, Chen Qingsi was able to understand why Empress Wu had such courage.

At the same time in history, Empress Wu had gained political capital for herself through the Fengshan ceremony, and during this period she had become an indispensable political partner of Li Zhi.

The Emperor and Empress of Heaven are here to rule...

Now, because of her own intervention, Empress Wu missed many opportunities and failed to please Li Zhi, and her status is far inferior to that of her in history.

Before and after the Fengshan ceremony, Empress Wu was suppressed by rumors. At this time, Li Hong no longer discussed state affairs with his mother for various reasons. The situation had become extremely bad.

Chen Qingsi never doubted Empress Wu's courage.

Now that I think about it, Empress Wu's change did indeed coincide with the time of Li Yifu's "death" after the Fengshan ceremony.

But all of this is just my own speculation, without any evidence.

What's more, your own speculation may not be accurate.

Chen Qingsi's face was uncertain. He closed his eyes and reorganized his thoughts. Suddenly, he said, "Don't alert Wan Guojun yet. Since we know he exists, he can't escape. We have alerted him once, so we shouldn't do it again in the short term. He is a person with hidden motives and is very suspicious. Once will make him think too much. If it happens again, it will be bad. Let's let him go for now."

"You arrange for someone to go to Yizhou and investigate Li Yifu's situation and the details of his death. If necessary, dig up the grave and perform an autopsy. Find an experienced and trustworthy coroner. I want to confirm whether the person lying in the grave is Li Yifu."

"Also, Wang Dejian, Yuan Gongyu, Hou Shanye and other former subordinates of Li Yifu, send people to their places of exile to confirm whether they are serving there and whether they have been away from their posts for a long time."

"That Cui Zhu, he also has connections with Li Yifu. Jing Shi of the Jiangguo Mansion used 500,000 yuan to buy an official position from Li Yifu. But I have never figured out what use Cui Zhu has for him? Forget it, let Taoist Jingxia continue to contact him."

Chen Qingsi couldn't figure it out for a moment and was too lazy to think about it.

"We've found the rat hole, so we won't have to worry about catching the rat."

"Go!"

Zhou Kui took the order and left.

Chen Qingsi watched Zhou Kui leave, thinking in his mind how to involve Di Renjie.

Di Pangpang is a good mouse catcher, even though he is not fat yet.

"We can find a way to get him to investigate Li Chongde... who knows, he might be able to find out what evidence Li Yifu has against him."

Chen Qingsi was thinking about how to make good use of Di Renjie's trump card.

Chen Qingsi did not act in a hurry. He was still unsure whether the mouse behind the scenes was Li Yifu. This matter was too unbelievable and of great importance.

As a mere Minister of War, there was no reason for him to get involved in this. He just had to find truly reliable clues and then hand them over to Di Renjie.

No one is more suitable for this task than Di Renjie.

November 6th.

Chen Qingsi married Li Hongqing into his home in a sedan chair carried by eight people.

The second lady of the family not only did not suffer any criticism, but instead became a good story because of Chen Qingsi's two poems.

On the day of the wedding, Li Zhi's decree was also conveyed, conferring the title of county lady on Li Hongqing, with a status equal to that of Xiao Miaochen.

Xiao Miaochen was originally a county lady, but because Chen Qingsi humiliated the prime minister in public for Su Dingfang, she was demoted to a lower level.

In ancient times, a wife was honored by her husband. When he was demoted, Xiao Miaochen also followed him and they were both made county ladies.

Time flies, and two months have passed in a flash.

Chen Qingsi had already received news about Wang Dejian, Yuan Gongyu, Hou Shanye and others, and confirmed that they were all serving as officials in the places where they were demoted and had not been away for a long time.

As for the investigation into Li Yifu, no news has been received yet.

This is understandable, as the city of Xizhou where Li Yifu was demoted is located in southern Xinjiang, and the journey is long and difficult.

What's more, it will take some time to investigate whether Li Yifu's death was real or fake.

Chen Qingsi did not put personal interests above public ones and neglected preparations for war. Various military equipment and strategic materials began to be stockpiled in Xizhou, and the strategic focus of the entire court began to shift toward the west.

That day, the Ministry of War received news from the Haidong Peninsula.

"Minister Chen!" "Call him Shilang!" Chen Qingsi corrected.

Zhang Ming said: "In my heart, Minister Chen is Minister Chen. It is only a matter of time before he is transferred back."

Chen Qingsi was indeed punished for both disobeying the prime minister and breaking the law knowingly, but Li Zhi's favoritism was obvious.

Although Chen Qingsi was demoted, he still acted as the Shangshu. As for the three-year salary fine, it was indeed a real punishment, and it looked harsh, but only a month later, Li Zhi found a reason to reward Chen Qingsi with a large sum of millet, money, and cloth, which was exactly Chen Qingsi's three-year salary.

Even a fool wouldn't believe that this was a coincidence.

Chen Qingsi did not correct it a second time, but said: "You and I are like this behind others, so we must be careful in front of others."

Chen Qingsi also felt comfortable with Li Zhi's favor.

There is no denying that as long as you are useful to Li Zhi and can create value for him, Li Zhi is still a very good emperor.

Chen Qingsi took the news about Haidong handed over by Zhang Ming and was overjoyed when he saw the content of the official document.

"What a great Liu Rengui and Xue Rengui. They really made it happen..."

Chen Qingsi was overjoyed.

Good news came from Haidong.

Liu Rengui and Xue Rengui, one a civil official and one a military official, successfully subdued the Changbai Mountain Jurchens and the Pulumaoduo Jurchens.

"Are the Changbaishan Jurchens and the Pulumaoduo Jurchens worthy of the Shangshu's attention?"

Chen Qingsi said: "That's not the case, I'm just going with the flow and increasing my strength."

In order to control the Haidong Peninsula and Japan, a strong East China Sea Fleet is necessary.

At the suggestion of Chen Qingsi, the imperial court launched a surprise attack in the Lingnan Sea, controlled the ships of the Arab Empire traveling to and from the Guangzhou Tonghai Road, and arrested them openly on the grounds of tax evasion.

The Tang Dynasty has always attached importance to land power and has no understanding of sea power.

The main reason is that Chang'an is too far away from Guangzhou and has a rigid mindset.

Lingnan in Guangzhou is a desolate place full of miasma and mountains, and it is a place for exile of criminals.

This is indeed the case. There are still many inconveniences on the roads in Lingnan today.

But Guangzhou, which is close to the sea, is completely different. Stimulated by maritime merchants, Guangzhou's development is changing with each passing day, and the number of Western merchants gathered in the city is even no less than that of Chang'an.

Li Zhi, who was far away in Chang'an, was not aware of all this. Influenced by his rigid mindset, he thought that as long as Lingnan was not in chaos, it would be fine. How could he expect Lingnan to pay much taxes?

Due to neglect, Guangzhou's commercial interests were encroached upon by merchants from the Arab Empire and powerful people within Guangzhou.

When Li Zhi grabbed a large number of people, he caught all of them, including the radishes and mud, and almost caused a riot.

Fortunately, Li Zhi listened to Chen Qingsi's reminder and said that in order to prevent pirates, the merchant ships of the Arab Empire had a certain amount of armed forces and gathered in large numbers, so he had to dispatch troops and prepare.

Faced with the imperial army, the merchant fleet of the Arab Empire and the wealthy local tyrants in Guangzhou joined together to raise enough funds to form the East China Sea Navy.

People in later generations say that the Japanese are good at learning, but in fact, the people who are really good at learning are the Chinese.

Our ancestors left us a saying in the Spring and Autumn Period: "When you see a virtuous person, you should try to emulate him; when you see an unvirtuous person, you should reflect on yourself." This means that when you see someone who is stronger than you, you should emulate him instead of deceiving yourself; when you see someone who is weaker than you, you should not be blindly arrogant but should reflect on yourself.

Why did people in the Tang Dynasty like to play polo?
It was because Li Shimin discovered that this thing was a real way to practice riding skills that he took the lead in learning Tibetan culture.

Faced with the navigation experience and ships of the Arab Empire, the craftsmen of the Tang Dynasty were not only able to learn with an open mind, but also to draw inferences from one instance, and to learn as much as possible from the other party's cultural skills and turn them into their own.

Having learned from the navigation experience of the Arab Empire, Haidong's trade network became smoother, and a large amount of silver flowed into the Central Plains, where it was either consumed internally or converted into various handicrafts and dumped in the Western Regions.

The conditions for the establishment of the East China Sea Navy have been completely met...

The only thing missing is people.

The imperial court was thinking about where to recruit from, and Chen Qingsi thought of a historical story about Japan, the invasion of Japan.

Later generations joked that it was an expedition launched by the Northeastern people against Japan a thousand years ago.

In fact, it was the looting of Japan by the Changbai Mountain Jurchens and the Pulumaoduo Jurchens.

The Changbai Mountain Jurchens were distributed in the Changbai Mountain and its southern Langlin Mountains. The Pulumaoduo Jurchens were located in the middle and lower reaches of the Burhatung River to the coastal areas of North and South Hamgyong Provinces. Both were fishing and hunting peoples who lived on the sea.

This group of fishing and hunting people have been tested by harsh environments and their individual combat capabilities are extremely strong.

In order to survive, they sailed south along the coastline in small wooden boats, and were invincible on Kyushu Island, killing the self-proclaimed brave Japanese people and making them cry for their parents.

They called this period of history "Daoyi's Invasion."

It is true that people in the south of the Yangtze River are good at swimming, but their expertise is mostly in lakes and rivers, and they do not have much real experience at sea.

The Changbai Mountain Jurchens and the Pulumaoduo Jurchens relied on the mountains and seas for their livelihood. They were able to rely on small wooden boats to cross the entire Haidong Peninsula from the northeast and reach the territory of Japan. This shows their ability.

Moreover, compared with the people of Jiangnan, the individual combat qualities of the Jurchens are indeed stronger.

Chen Qingsi wanted to subdue the warlike people from the Northeast and incorporate them into the army so as to form combat effectiveness as soon as possible, which might be effective in the future decisive battle with the Arab Empire.

So he suggested to Liu Rengui that they recruit Jurchens into the army and incorporate the warlike barbarians from the northeast directly into the army.

Liu Rengui actually accomplished this task. He used gentleness to appease and show kindness, and used Xue Rengui's bravery to intimidate. By combining both hardness and softness, he recruited 3,000 Northeastern Yi people and incorporated them into the East China Sea Fleet.

"In this case, Xue Rengui can't move."

Chen Qingsi pondered.

Chen Qingsi has been hesitating whether to transfer Xue Rengui to the Western Regions to strengthen the power of the Western Regions.

The only reason why no action was taken was because Xue Rengui had done an outstanding job in taking down Pyongyang with two arrows. He was in charge of the northeast and could rely on his invincible bravery to make Goguryeo submit as soon as possible.

Now Xue Rengui not only subdued Goguryeo, but also all the tribes in the northeast obeyed him, so it was inconvenient to mobilize them.

"I wonder if Xue Rengui has a talent for water combat!"

Chen Qingsi muttered secretly. Liu Rengui was capable of naval warfare and was one of the few naval commanders in the Tang Dynasty. Chen Qingsi felt relieved to let him take charge of the East China Sea Navy...

It would be great if Xue Rengui could also develop a talent for naval warfare.

Chen Qingsi reviewed the official document submitted by Liu Rengui and then handed it to the Council Hall.

After finishing the things in hand, Chen Qingsi returned to the Chen residence somewhat anxiously, then went into the backyard to listen to the gossip of the maid Qianyan.

The protagonist of the gossip is Di Renjie.

During these two months, Di Renjie officially replaced Ming Chongyan and became a prominent figure in the Tang Dynasty.

(End of this chapter)