Jiuxi

Chapter 816 814 [Broken Wrist]

In front of the pond halfway up the mountain, there is the Happy Pavilion at Li Mansion.

"Can you play chess?"

Li Daoyan asked with interest.

Lu Chen replied: "A little bit, but not much."

Li Daoyan smiled and turned to look at Li Gongxu. The young man understood and left.

Lu Chen has never been a person with shallow knowledge. Not to mention what he had seen and heard in the past thirty years of his previous life, he was born into a top wealthy family in this life, had been to the imperial palace of Heluo City, and had seen many magnificent mansions of the powerful. However, he was still a little shocked when he saw the profound heritage of the Li family's ancestral home with his own eyes today.

The half-mountain pond in front of him was probably no smaller than the Yumochi Pond in the imperial palace in the capital, and this was only a corner of Li's residence.

Standing inside the mansion, it is difficult to form an intuitive impression of this mansion that occupies half of East City.

Noticing Lu Chen's gaze, Li Daoyan couldn't help but recall the past, his tone slightly vague: "The Jinlin Li family rose to prominence more than 300 years ago, and experienced a hundred years of dying struggle during the Former Zhou Dynasty, and then more than 60 years of chaos and warlord melee, and then grew and prospered during the nearly 170 years of the Great Qi Dynasty. To this day, more than 70% of the farmland in Jinlin County is registered under the name of the Li family, and the vast majority of officials in the county government are members of the Li family."

“It’s almost like a country within a country.”

Lu Chen's comments were sharp and slightly exaggerated.

The old man did not refute. He just turned his head to look at the lotus leaves in the pond halfway up the mountain and said with a sigh: "When I took over this responsibility from my father, my idea was actually very simple. Do you know what it was?"

Lu Chen thought for a moment and said calmly, "What the old prime minister was thinking about at that time was how to maintain the status of the Jinlin Li family among the Jiangnan clans in the chaos that was about to overturn. That's right. After all, if a person does not work for himself, he will be punished by heaven and earth. Not everyone is born with the sentiment of sacrificing his own family for the sake of the greater good. But the old prime minister met the late emperor. In the past sixteen years, the late emperor has subtly changed the old prime minister's original intention. The safety of the Great Qi and the prosperity of the Li family are equally important in your heart."

"Yes, but not entirely."

Li Daoyan adjusted his sitting position slightly, changing to a more comfortable posture, and slowly said: "The late emperor was an extremely rare wise ruler. At first, Lord Han and I supported him to ascend the throne, but we didn't want the rich land of Jiangnan to fall into the hands of the Jinglian people. Everyone knows how cruel and violent those northern barbarians are. Compared with Lord Han's selflessness, I have always had selfish motives, which is difficult to hide. In the fifteen years I have been in power, the Jinlin Li family has finally stood out from the Jiangnan clans and can be compared with the status of the Zhailin Wang family in the north."

Lu was silent.

He and Li Daoyan had not met privately very often in the past few years, and every time they had a deep conversation, it was mainly about his affairs. As far as he could remember, this was the first time the old man had taken the initiative to bring up such a topic.

Li Daoyan continued, "People living in this world are always bound to have entanglements and contradictions. Take Xue Zhangxian for example. How many people as upright and tough as him have ever been appointed as prime minister? But even if he is loyal and almost perfect, he will make concessions and exchanges. For example, this time he let Ding Hui go to Dingzhou in order to keep my son out of the Secretariat and welcome Xu Zuo to Beijing. In fact, this must have violated the principles he has always adhered to."

Lu Chen said: "I believe in Prime Minister Xue's character and will not hold any grudge against him because of this incident."

"That's natural. You usually appear strong and overbearing in front of others, but you actually have a generous and broad mind."

The old man smiled slightly, and then said frankly: "In terms of being a good person, I am far inferior to Xue Zhangxian. He has been in the Secretariat for nearly ten years, but he has only a handful of confidants. The Qingyuan Xue family has not benefited from it and eventually drifted away from him. On the contrary, the Li family's disciples and old friends are all over the court and prefectures. Jinlin County has even become a country within a country as you said. These are all things I have done personally. The late emperor knew this very well, but he needed me to suppress the aristocratic families in Jiangnan, so he never stopped me."

Lu Chen gradually understood the profound meaning of the old man's words.

This time he made a special trip to visit Li Daoyan. On the one hand, he didn't want to continue staying in the capital and the situation with Li Zongben would become more and more strained. On the other hand, he always believed that even if the old man in front of him returned to his hometown to retire, he would still have a strong influence on the capital and the court.

No matter what Lu Chen wants to do next, Li Daoyan's attitude is very important.

He didn't believe that Li Daoyan couldn't see his intention. Now that the other party only talked about the past, he was actually telling him that most of the time things in the world are not as we wish, and no one can do whatever they want.

So he looked up at the old man and changed the subject: "The deaths of Lu Shizhou and Gui Qiuliang were very strange."

Li Daoyan's eyes narrowed slightly and he sighed softly.

Footsteps were heard outside the pavilion, and Li Gongxu walked in carrying a chess board and chess box.

Li Daoyan turned his head and glanced at the young man, then said to Lu Chen: "Play a game of chess with me."

Lu Chen was not in a hurry. Anyway, he was not in a hurry to return to Beijing and had plenty of time to think and make a decision. So he smiled and said, "Old Prime Minister, please don't laugh at my poor chess skills."

Li Daoyan played black first, and he made his first move at the Tianyuan position. He said with emotion: "No matter how good your chess skills are, you now have the strength and confidence to make a layout on the chessboard."

Lu Chen placed his chess piece at the corner and said softly, "It's not a layout, I just don't want to be too passive."

"No matter what your original intention is, at least this time it will make my son very worried."

Li Daoyan threw a piece sideways and said meaningfully: "But he and the emperor are now on good terms. Although your conspiracy is difficult to solve, it is difficult to shake his position in the emperor's heart."

Lu Chen smiled calmly and said calmly: "My little trick is definitely not enough. If the old prime minister is willing to take action, Minister Li will definitely be seriously injured."

Hearing this, Li Daoyan stared at him in a daze, and finally smiled helplessly.

...In the capital, in the imperial palace, in the imperial study.

Li Zongben felt very complicated as he looked at the three piles of memorials in front of him impeaching Li Shizhi, the Minister of Personnel and Hanlin Academician.

These memorials came from different ministries and agencies. Apart from the Ministry of Personnel, there were also memorials from the Secretariat, the Five Ministries, the Nine Temples, the Seven Institutions, and even the Hanlin Academy. All of them used sharp words, directly accusing Li Shizhi of abusing his power and using the name of the imperial inspection to eliminate dissidents and cultivate his own faction.

At the same time, Li Zongben also had two pieces of confidential information in his hands, which were the details of the Beijing inspection that Su Yunqing and Yuan Yuji helped him to find out and organize.

The contents of these two reports are roughly similar. Since this imperial inspection, a large number of officials have been involved, either for corruption or for occupying their positions without doing anything. These crimes may not lead to their heads being separated, but it would be extremely difficult for them to get a medium to low rating in the Ministry of Personnel.

In short, the number of officials dismissed and demoted after this imperial inspection will be the highest in history, which can be called a shock in the court.

Li Zongben also knew that most of these officials had no connection with Li Shizhi, at least not on the surface.

Li Shizhi was able to rise rapidly in the past two years and was almost able to compete with the prime minister of the time, largely because of the emperor's high regard for him. Li Zongben continued to give him more power and even let him take charge of two important government offices, the Ministry of Personnel and the Hanlin Academy.

Before this imperial inspection, Li Shizhi did not disappoint Li Zongben. He tried his best to help Li Zongben promote his confidants. Although he inevitably sought benefits for himself in the process, Li Zongben understood very clearly through Qu Hongyi that Li Shizhi's actions were not excessive at all.

The problem is that the situation this time is different. Li Zongben did not ask Li Shizhi to make a big move. Once there are a large number of vacancies in the court, how can the emperor, who has been on the throne for less than two years, have so many confidants to promote? Who will be the biggest beneficiary?
The answer is self-evident.

When he heard the news just now, Li Zongben was really angry. He thought that granting power to Li Shizhi did not mean that this person could do whatever he wanted. But then he thought, Li Shizhi was loyal to him, and even recommended Ding Hui to Dingzhou to monitor Lu Chen, and he spared no effort to help him with advice.

It was difficult for Li Zongben to make up his mind to punish such a useful minister.

Perhaps Li Shizhi was just too proud for a moment...

Thinking of this, Li Zongben said expressionlessly: "Yuan Yuji."

"The servant is here."

"Keep these impeachment reports in the palace. Go to the Ministry of Personnel and tell Li Shizhi that the imperial examination cannot be delayed for too long. I want to see the results as soon as possible."

"The slaves obey the order."

Yuan Yuji took the order and left.

Half an hour later, in the Ministry of Personnel's office, the Shangshu was on duty.

Li Shizhi sent Yuan Yuji away, then returned with steady steps, and seemingly nothing unusual happened.

The duty room was very quiet, and Li Shizhi's confidants were patrolling outside.

Li Jinshan looked at Li Shizhi's solemn expression and said softly, "Master, why don't you tell His Majesty that someone is secretly plotting against you?"

"Do you think His Majesty will believe it?"

Li Shizhi walked to the table and sat down, saying calmly, "Your Majesty is suspicious by nature. I am not afraid of him getting angry, but I am afraid of him having wild thoughts. If this matter ends here, at most, Your Majesty will think that I am blinded by power. If I accuse others at will, Your Majesty will only think that I have other intentions. I have finally gained Your Majesty's trust in the past two years. How can I lose the big picture because of a small thing? Besides, who else has the ability to drag so many officials into this water at once?"

Li Jinshan said cautiously: "Duke Qin..."

Li Shizhi suddenly smiled and shook his head, saying, "He doesn't have such a deep foundation in your majesty's heart, and you don't understand the principle of overdoing it. If you force it to Lu Chen, it will make your majesty doubt my previous intentions."

Li Jinshan's face looked a little ugly, and he asked with difficulty: "His Majesty's oral order has arrived, how should I decide?"

If the imperial examination was ended hastily, perhaps Li Shizhi could avoid becoming the target of attack by court officials, but his prestige in the court would be greatly damaged, and his indispensable position in the heart of the emperor would be reduced. More importantly, it would make civil and military officials feel that the Minister of Personnel was an erratic and ambitious person.

But if the Beijing inspection continues to be implemented according to the current situation, Li Shizhi will inevitably become the target of public criticism.

No one could sit idly by and watch a Minister of Personnel wield power so unscrupulously.

Li Shizhi took a deep breath, frowned, and said in a deep voice after a long while: "If you don't investigate, you are guilty. The most you can do is not to expand the scope. However, the officials whose problems have been exposed should be evaluated truthfully according to the regulations."

Li Jinshan was shocked.

Doing this would probably offend too many people. One has to know that the court is complicated and intertwined with all kinds of relationships including in-laws, close friends, teachers, and classmates. A single imperial inspection would involve dozens of officials, which would actually offend countless interest groups.

He was about to advise, but Li Shizhi had calmed down and said slowly: "This matter is not as serious as you think. The Ministry of Personnel is only responsible for the assessment, and the decision is in the hands of Your Majesty. Although I will be embarrassed this time, the game has just begun."

"Don't worry."

(End of this chapter)