I was the emperor in the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 223 Another secret?

When everyone heard this, they were all amazed.

"What, did I hear correctly, Li Shangshu actually took the initiative to participate in it?"

"Tangbe, why are you so confused, how can you... how can you... participate in this kind of thing?"

Li Tian gave a soft drink.

"Don't be noisy, let him continue talking."

The more Li Qing spoke, the more excited he became, and he stood up on his own initiative without being ordered.

He pointed to the north with his big hand, and said loudly,
"The first emperor conquered Mongolia five times and made peace for at least 20 years for my Ming Dynasty. No one can deny such achievements.

But the five expeditions have almost exhausted all the accumulation of Ming Dynasty since the first emperor ascended the throne.

There was also a problem with the taxation of the imperial court, and the food and salaries of the Nine Frontier Army were often unable to be paid. "

Having said that, he paused slightly, then cupped his hands to Li Tian,

"Your Majesty, since you have read the letters between the minister and Uncle Wu Yuan, you should also know that the Nine Frontier Guards are actually not as good as before.

In fact, there are not one out of ten guards that can still be fully staffed, and what's more, even less than half. "

"Dare to ask Your Majesty, how can the frontier army's food and salary be guaranteed under such a corrupt guardhouse?"

Li Tian had already understood what he said, and after listening to it, his face was as usual, calm.

But except for Yang Shiqi and a few other courtiers, it was the first time for other courtiers to hear the news, and they were all inexplicably shocked.

"Li Shangshu is joking, this kind of thing is not easy to joke."

"This is impossible. The Nine Borders is a critical place for the imperial court. How could it be corrupted to this point?"

Li Qing ignored everyone's exclamation and continued,

"In order not to cause riots in the frontier army, I have no choice but to take this countermeasure...Your Majesty, there is nothing I can do about it!"

Before Li Tian could express his opinion, Yang Shiqi snorted coldly,
"Since Li Shangshu already knew the seriousness of this matter, why didn't he report it to His Majesty? Do you think His Majesty can't even deal with such a trivial matter!"

Li Qinghong said with eyes wide open,
"Elder Ge doesn't know that the most ferocious days of the frontier army's turmoil were when His Majesty fainted. Even if I want to report to Your Majesty, I can't do anything about it."

"Hmph, sophistry, even if His Majesty was unconscious at that time, there was still the Empress in the palace to handle government affairs.

There are also a few of our cabinet ministers in the court to assist, do you have to solve it privately, the minister of the Ministry of war! "

Li Qing was at a loss for words.

He shook his head with a wry smile, as if he was dead, and didn't say much.

In fact, he did it for a reason.

Many people know that Xuanfu and Datong are the two most important military towns in the Nine Borders.

Among them, the position of Xuanfu is the most critical, it can be said to be the last pass to guard the capital.

However, Wu Kezhong, the guard of the Xuan Mansion, Gongshun Hou, and Zhu Rong, who guarded Datong, have never dealt with each other.

Zhu Rong always wanted to replace him, and he often fought against him in the court.

And many officials in the court supported Zhu Rong and asked him to replace Wu Kezhong.

Li Qing is one of them.

Others may not know about the corruption of the Nine Border Guards, but how could Li Qing, who is the minister of the Ministry of War, not know.

He secretly communicated with Zhu Rong, and offered to get food to help him tide over the difficulties.

He just wanted to wait for Wu Kezhong's Xuanfu to go wrong, and try to find a way to lobby the court to get the Xuanfu for him.

He did this for two purposes.

One, of course, is to consolidate its position in the court.

The second is Wu Kezhong, father, son and brother. Although he has made great military achievements, he is a Mongolian after all, so he is naturally distrusted by many courtiers.

Letting him stay at Xuan Mansion, the gate of the capital, all year round actually made many people feel uneasy.

In contrast, Zhu Rong, a member of the royal family, is naturally more trustworthy than Wu Kezhong, who was born in Mongolia.

And Zhu Rong dared to collude with the people in the imperial court to embezzle ink and official food, which is actually the reason for this.

But everyone knows this kind of thing well, and it's fine to support it secretly, but colluding in person is another matter.

After all, colluding with the generals of the frontier army, no matter what the reason is, is an unforgivable felony.

Having said all that can be said, Li Qing also knows at this time that if he only admits to helping others resell official food, he may still have a chance of survival.

But if even the generals who colluded with the frontier army are admitted, they will really lose their lives.

After repeated investigations, although Li Tian learned a lot of inside information, there are still many things that he hasn't fully understood.

It is a fact that the Nine Frontier Guards were corrupt, and it is also a fact that he smuggled grain to temporarily quell the Nine Frontier riots.

Adding these two items together, at first glance, Li Qing's actions were indeed justifiable.

But it is also true that he secretly colluded with the generals of the frontier army, not to mention what his real purpose is, this alone is enough to kill him three or five times.

hum softly,
"That's the end of Li Shangshu's talk? Is there nothing to add!"

Li Qing looked eagerly at the generals, expecting them to say something nice for him.

But the generals who had united with him before were all silent at this moment, and even Xue Lu looked around and refused to meet him.

In desperation, Li Qing had no choice but to try.

So he trembled and said,

"Your Majesty entrusted me with failing to manage the Nine Sides well, so please punish me."

Li Tian glanced coldly at the people in the hall, and saw that they all kept silent, as if no one interceded for him, and he probably understood the thoughts of these people in his heart.

I thought to myself, "This group of guys are more impassioned when they are in the limelight, but when they really get serious, they are all dumb."

"Since you yourself think that the crime is unforgivable, then I will fulfill you."

After all, wave your hand,

"Come here, temporarily dismiss Li Qing and take him into custody. We'll make a decision after all the facts come to light."

In a word, a majestic Minister of the Ministry of War, one of the nine ministers, will be dismissed if he says he will be dismissed.

One can imagine how shocked everyone was.

Li Qing was also completely dumbfounded. He thought that even if he was wrong, at most he would be reprimanded, and he would be demoted and retained.

Unexpectedly, Li Tian acted so swiftly that he was dismissed and investigated, which was almost equivalent to a direct sentence of death.

Immediately, his heart was ashamed, feeling that everything was over, kneeling on the ground motionless, as if waiting to die.

At this time, Yang Shiqi and others also stood up and said,
"Your Majesty, Li Shangshu did make mistakes first, but he did it because of the stability of the court. He did it out of necessity. Isn't this kind of punishment too much?"

Xia Yuanji also said, "Your Majesty, read that Li Shangshu is old, please spare his life, don't let the old courtiers feel cold."

Huang Zhun didn't expect Li Tian to be so decisive, so he hurriedly comforted him.

"Your Majesty, please think again. Although Li Shangshu is at fault, he has no selfish intentions. Your Majesty should deal with it lightly!"

Seeing someone pleading for him, Li Qing hurriedly begged for mercy, "Your Majesty, I know I was wrong."

(End of this chapter)