Early Tang Dynasty: forge ahead

Chapter 541: Humble and Open-minded
Chengqian Palace!
Based on Chen Qingsi's suggestion, Li Hong also gave appropriate punishment to Pei Yan.

Pei Yan knew that his crime was punishable by death, but the result was a simple exile.

Even if Pei Yan had deep evil thoughts towards Chen Qingsi, there was a hint of emotion in his eyes at this moment.

Li Hong was also surprised by this.

When things developed to this point, Li Hong was the one who felt the most self-blaming and at a loss.

He listened to Li Jingxuan's advice and changed the number of assistant ministers from one to three, which was indeed due to his selfishness. As he said, it was not that he did not trust Chen Qingsi, but as an emperor, he had an innate hostility towards assistant ministers.

The contradiction between the power of the prime minister and the power of the emperor is a problem that Li Hong must face.

In order to suppress the power in Chen Qingsi's hands, letting Pei Yan and Li Jingxuan share Chen Qingsi's power was the best choice. However, unexpected exceptions occurred one after another, and even triggered a mutiny, which was completely out of control.

Li Hong then realized his own stupidity and thought: If I had followed my father's arrangements in everything, I wouldn't be in this situation today.

But now, Li Jingxuan and Pei Yan are so bold and presumptuous that they abuse their power, not only resorting to assassination, but also intending to launch a mutiny.

Li Hong regretted his decision and felt more afraid.

Li Hong knew that his plan had most likely been leaked. Now that Li Jingxuan and Pei Yan were both down, how would Chen Qingsi deal with him?

As it turned out, Chen Qingsi had no intention of killing Pei Yan. He only exiled him. And the place he was sent to was not desolate places like Lingnan and Nanzhong, but to Japan in the east.

Although Japan is remote, it is not plagued by any miasma or wild beasts, so you won't suffer.

As for Li Jingxuan, this involved rebellion, which completely touched the bottom line.

Not to mention that Chen Qingsi was ruthless, even if I were to do it, I would not condone this matter.

The Northern Ya Forbidden Army was the emperor's private army, protecting the emperor's safety. How was Li Jingxuan's unauthorized mobilization of the Northern Ya Forbidden Army any different from rebellion?
"This matter should not be made public. It will damage the reputation of your majesty and the court. The sooner it is handled, the better. The more low-key it is, the better. What do you think, your majesty?"

Chen Qingsi is calm, rational and wise.

Li Hong said: "Just follow what you said, sir."

He glanced at Pei Yan and said, "Take Pei Yan away!"

With Pei Yan's departure, only Li Hong and Chen Qingsi were left in the hall.

After hesitating for a while, Li Hong said, "Sir, I am to blame for this matter. I have never doubted you, but..."

"His Majesty!"

Before he finished speaking, Chen Qingsi interrupted him and said, "I don't understand what you are saying. If it was because of Pei and Li, there is no need to worry about it. Who would have thought that they would be so bold? They dared to deceive Your Majesty like this. Now they have received the price they deserve, and Your Majesty does not need to blame yourself. Your Majesty has only been on the throne for a short time, and the war in the Western Regions is still going on. You should look forward and not worry too much about these unimportant things."

Chen Qingsi knew that Li Hong had not fully adapted to his identity as emperor, or maybe that was just his character. He was like this when he was the crown prince, humble and kind, and he would correct his mistakes as soon as he realized them.

But now Li Hong is the emperor. How can an emperor apologize for no reason?

Especially this kind of thing.

Li Hong also reacted. Looking at Chen Qingsi who was pretending to be stupid, he was secretly moved and thought: Sir, you are kind and generous, but I am so petty. It is really wrong.

Seeing Li Hong's expression, Chen Qingsi knew that his goal had been achieved. He also noticed that his face looked a little strange, and knew that he had been quite frightened today. He stopped disturbing him and left.

Walking out of the hall, watching the sunset in the sky, he knew that after this incident, he could really let go and do things. In the next few days, the temple was cleaning up the remaining forces of Li Jingxuan.

Mobilizing troops is tantamount to treason. Li Jingxuan said nicely that he would only kill Chen Qingsi. But who can guarantee that after killing Chen Qingsi, he would not take the opportunity to turn the gun against the emperor and threaten him?

No one dares to be careless about such a big thing.

Almost all of the people that Zhang Wenguan entrusted to Li Jingxuan were implicated, dismissed from office or demoted...

As for Pei Yan's confidants, Chen Qingsi was much gentler and focused on winning them over. Even if they were not of the same mind and could not see eye to eye, as long as they could work hard, Chen Qingsi would not make things difficult for them.

This is the tolerance that Chen Qingsi deliberately displayed.

This is also the experience that Chen Qingsi has gained from his many years in politics. In the absence of absolute strength, any one-man rule will lead to the collapse of things.

Faced with the power that was within reach, Chen Qingsi did not become arrogant and regard himself as a powerful official like Yi Yin and Huo Guang.

Yi Yin and Huo Guang had a solid background. Yi Yin followed Shang Tang to establish the Shang Dynasty and was a founding noble. Huo Guang was Huo Qubing's younger brother. He followed Emperor Wu of Han for more than 20 years and accumulated a large number of connections...

Although Chen Qingsi was born in a humble family, he had gained a certain status and connections through his abilities. However, Li Zhi was an emperor who had been coerced by powerful ministers, and he had a strong resistance to them.

He is extremely strict in controlling the temple and will not allow the emergence of a second Changsun Wuji.

Therefore, during his years as emperor, there has never been a powerful prime minister in the court, and even prime ministers who have served for more than three years are rare. The only one, Xu Jingzong, did the dirty work...

From another perspective, this is also the reason why Empress Wu was able to successfully usurp the throne, because she lacked a prime minister with real power and background.

Chen Qingsi is currently the most powerful person in the temple, but he is the tallest among the short ones, and is still far from the power that a truly powerful official should have.

If Chen Qingsi behaves too domineeringly at this time, it will cause potential threats.

But now he is still the same, humble and open-minded, and even leaves some leeway for his opponents, which makes people convinced and draws praise from the court and the public.

Xiao Miaochen didn't say anything about this, but Li Hongqing was a little unhappy.

Although she was already a wife and a mother, her chivalrous spirit had never diminished. People in the martial arts world looked down upon those who betrayed their friends. When Pei Yan sent someone to assassinate Chen Qingsi, she could not swallow this anger and complained that Chen Qingsi was too kind.

Whenever Chen Qingsi heard Li Hongqing say this, he just smiled and said nothing.

Everyone thought that Pei Yan would live well on the Japanese island, but only he knew that Pei Yan's life on the Japanese island might not be better than being exiled to Lingnan or Nanzhong.

The Tang army general currently guarding the Wa Island is named Zhao Chiman, a general promoted by Chen Qingsi.

Chen Qingsi was the emperor in Japan back then, and the Japanese government revered him like a god. Could Pei Yan really live a comfortable life?

Anyway, Chen Qingsi thought it was unlikely.

Chen Qingsi spent half a month to make adjustments to the imperial court. He promoted Zhang Da'an of the Qingliu faction to be the Shangshu Zuo Pushe and recommended him as prime minister. He also recommended Zhao Renben to be the Zhongshu Province's assistant minister and Dai Zhide, formerly of the Eastern Palace, to be the Menxia Province's assistant minister and recommended him as prime minister.

This move was beyond the expectations of many people, and made Li Hong feel even more guilty, as if he was judging others by his own standards.

With an old official from the Eastern Palace by his side, Li Hong felt much more at ease and always agreed with Chen Qingsi's suggestions.

(End of this chapter)