The third emperor of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 599

The heat waves pouring out of the hall continued to bake, and the snow on the eaves was gradually melting, and the snow water hit the bluestone board drop by drop, and the body was smashed to pieces.The door of the imperial study room was open, and there was a handsome and dignified official kneeling in front of Li Yuan.

Li Yuan glanced at the memorabilia in his hand, his face was very ugly, and his kind eyes were tinged with sternness, which made people shudder... And the handsome man in front of him was his son-in-law Zhao Cijing, who was the Minister of the Ministry of War, and he trusted and relied most on him. One of the relatives asked in a condensed voice: "The country's affairs are difficult, and you actually want to resign. What's going on?"

The anger on Zhao Cijing's face was still there, and he said loudly: "Your Majesty, I really can't do this as Minister of the Ministry of War. I would like to resign and return to my hometown. Please allow me!"

Although Li Yuan was very displeased, he also knew that Zhao Cijing was loyal, filial, and magnanimous, and he was not a person who was just looking for trouble. He knew there must be a reason, so he asked patiently: "You are already a father, can you stop being so bookish?" ? Don't threaten me with resignation at every turn, get up and tell me clearly, what happened?"

"The minister did not threaten the Holy Majesty!" Zhao Cijing stood up and saluted: "The ten subordinates of the minister had dinner at the Weinan restaurant at noon, but they were all arrested by Wu Chuan in the public. I found out when I went to King Qi for an argument. Eight of the ten subordinates have been beaten to death. Although the other two are still alive, they were also beaten to death, and life and death are unpredictable. The king of Qi showed the minister a confession, and the charge was colluding with the Sui Dynasty and attempting to cooperate with the outside world. This minister As Minister of the Ministry of War, but let the enemy infiltrate under his nose, he feels a heavy responsibility, and he can no longer serve as Minister of the Ministry of War, so he must take the blame and resign, please approve it!"

In the end, Zhao Cijing was trembling with anger. Li Yuanji was so lawless that he couldn't imagine that the dignified officer would kill him if he said he would kill him. If the emperor was still protecting him, he wouldn't do anything

Hearing this, Li Yuan was speechless for a long time. It was his approval to establish the Wuchuan Division, and it was also his intention that Li Yuanji supervised all the officials, but this time it seemed that he had gone too far. He took out a gold medal and handed it to the The guard said: "Immediately order the King of Qi to release the people, send the injured to the imperial medical office for treatment, and return the dead body to their families. In addition, let the King of Qi come to see me quickly."

"Here!" The guard saluted and hurried away with the gold medal.

Li Yuan said to Zhao Cijing in a calm tone: "You don't have to be so angry. You are not an outsider. It's okay to tell you some things. I got the exact news. Many, many officials saw that the situation in Tang Dynasty was not good, and they were fighting with the Sui Dynasty. Secret contacts, ready to cooperate with the inside and outside when the Sui army violated the border. I just didn't take action because I was worried that it would cause turmoil, but if I didn't suppress them with deterrence, these people would be presumptuous, and more people would secretly defect to the Sui Dynasty, so I asked The king of Qi properly killed one to scare the hundred and frightened Xiangyang, and it is estimated that you, the officials of the Ministry of war, have hit the knife."

Zhao Cijing said angrily: "The Holy Majesty wants to kill a hundred people, but he can use the spies who colluded with the Sui Dynasty. Why kill innocent people indiscriminately."

Li Yuan smiled bitterly, "Some people, once I deal with them, will cause more turmoil, and it's not easy for me to do so, do you understand?"

Zhao Cijing felt extremely sad in his heart, Li Yuan's words made him understand a truth.

That is - anyone with a big backer, even if he commits a crime of treason, he will live in peace, will not be punished, will not receive the death penalty, and can continue to be a high-ranking official, sitting on the heads of many, many people Blessings; and those officials who do not have a good background and no big backer, no matter how loyal they are to the court, how diligent they are to their duties, and how high their personal status is, they are just pawns used by the court to sacrifice.

"I also feel very sorry for this incident, but the people are already dead, and even the emperor I can't bring them back to life. The only thing I can do is to bury them generously with titles and give them more care for their families. Go to Haosheng to appease them!" Li Yuan sighed.

Zhao Cijing was speechless with grief and indignation, he knew that the emperor had no intention of punishing Li Yuanji, at most he just reprimanded Li Yuanji, but those military officials died in vain.For a while, Zhao Cijing only felt disheartened. He really didn't want to be Minister of the Ministry of War. If he couldn't do it, he would be a prefect in the local area. Out of sight, out of mind.

At this time, an eunuch reported outside the door: "His Royal Highness, King Qi, please see me!"

Li Yuan and Zhao Cijing were taken aback, Li Yuanji obviously entered the palace by coincidence.

Zhao Cijing didn't want to see Li Yuanji, so he stood up and said, "I want to appease my subordinates, so I will take my leave first!"

"Okay, I will ask clearly and explain to you."

"Thank you, Your Majesty, I will leave!"

Zhao Cijing walked out of the imperial study room, met Li Yuanji head-on, put aside Li Yuanji who greeted him with a smile, and passed him with a cold face; Li Yuanji looked at the direction Zhao Cijing was going away, snorted coldly, and walked quickly to the imperial palace. study.

"My son sees my father."

"No gift to be flattened!"

"Thank you, Father."

Li Yuan was extremely dissatisfied and said: "What's the matter with the officials of the Ministry of War? Why did you arrest them and beat them to death?"

Li Yuanji already had a countermeasure, and he cupped his hands in a calm manner: "Father, they really talked about the court and spread rumors. The people of Wu Chuansi heard with their own ears that they were rude to the court and the father, so they arrested them on the spot. They also admitted that they complained about the court. As for beating people to death, it was not the son's intention. It was entirely because the interrogator was eager to get a confession and flattered him. "

Li Yuan's expression softened a little, and he didn't ask what the interrogator's name was. He just needed a reasonable excuse to respond to Zhao Cijing.He felt that the death of an official from the Ministry of War could make more people shut up, so he was willing to compensate and reward them with titles.

Li Yuanji looked at his father's face, felt relieved, and continued: "Secondly, my son found that the wind direction in Xiangyang City is very abnormal. Now rumors are spreading and people are panicking. Some self-righteous people think they represent public opinion. He opened his mouth and said that the Tang Dynasty must perish, and ordinary people are ignorant and ignorant. Affected by this, they dare not even leave the door. The whole of Xiangyang is like a dead city. I believe that this unhealthy trend must be stopped. I believe that in troubled times, heavy codes should be used and more resolute measures should be taken. Please give your permission! Otherwise, Xiangyang will be in chaos just after the Sui army reaches the other side of the Han River."

Li Yuanji spoke very well. He didn't deny the arrest, but his subordinates did it after hearing the lie from the officials of the Ministry of War. He didn't deny the interrogation, but let him say that the interrogator tortured him in order to curry favor with him, the prince. As a result, he beheaded the interrogator in the end, not only giving an explanation to the court, but also showing that he himself is an upright person who does not like slanderous officials and does business in business.Immediately afterwards, he shifted the responsibility for the city's ups and downs to those who spread the rumors, thereby taking advantage of the situation to demand higher power and further expand the surveillance power.

Li Yuan thought for a moment, then said: "It's very bad and immature for you to arrest and kill people openly. Not only will this not achieve results, but it will cause even greater panic. Your people are not regular officials, and they don't have the skills to arrest people." The right to kill people is easy to give people a handle. This is not leading troops to fight, it is the way of an assassin. You have to be smarter in the future, many things can only be operated in secret. Not only that, but also support a group of mouthpieces that speak for the court. Kill the people who spread rumors, while encouraging people's hearts with the mouthpiece, so as to appease the people, do you understand?"

In his heart, he agrees with Li Yuanji's words, and also supports the expansion of supervision, because the current situation in Datang is unstable, and it is necessary to use iron and blood methods to control public opinion. If rumors are allowed to spread unscrupulously, it will shake Li Tang's foundation, but he does not want Li Yuanji With your own support, do it aboveboard, and be reserved.

Li Yuanji knew that his father agreed with his opinion, and said overjoyedly: "Please rest assured, my son, I will definitely do my best and never allow anyone to destroy the stability of the Tang Dynasty."

"I'm tired, go down." Li Yuan leaned on the dragon couch, and slowly closed his eyes.

"My son, leave." Li Yuanji said softly, and then stepped back lightly. Before he went out, Li Yuan thought of something again, opened his eyes, and asked: "What I asked you to do a few days ago, How are you getting ready?"

Li Yuanji turned back and said: "Please rest assured, my father, I have already collected the information of all the big merchants under the Tang Dynasty. There are more than [-] households in total. I will ask Wu Chuansi to carry out the investigation in the name of reselling military funds tomorrow." Clean up, raise the money and food that the father needs in the shortest possible time."

"Let's attack those merchants who have nothing to do with the powerful and powerful in Guanlong, and those who escaped from Nanjun."

"Here!"

Li Yuanji left in a hurry.

But Li Yuan couldn't sleep again, and lay on the dragon couch with his eyes closed, thinking silently.

The gap in the court's finances is a big hole, and it doesn't make sense to cut expenditures, so we can only increase revenue.

Taking action against the big merchants is also the first choice of the emperors of all dynasties in the face of crisis, and Li Yuan is of course no exception.

But the gap is too big, and a large number of troops must be raised. To deal with the next year's war, the merchants' wealth is far from enough. Therefore, apart from the merchants of the Tang Dynasty, the richest group at present is the Guanlong dignitaries.

However, Li Yuan also knows that in the past few years, he has exploited and demanded too much from the powerful and powerful in Guanlong. In the past, they had no choice but to fully support the Li and Tang Dynasty. Not giving benefits to the bleeding will trigger strong resistance from the powerful in Guanlong, which is not in line with his next plan, so he has to give these people some benefits appropriately to relax their vigilance.

Li Yuan thought for a long time, got up and wrote a letter, stamped it with a personal seal, and handed it to the old eunuch, "You send this letter to the East Palace, and give it to the crown prince as soon as possible!"

"Old slave obeys!" The old eunuch obeyed respectfully, carefully covered Li Yuan who was lying down again with a brocade quilt, and then took off the handbook and left.

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(End of this chapter)