Northern Dynasties

Chapter 1297 Prime Minister Resigns

The Liangyi Hall in the Forbidden City is located to the north of the Qianyuan Hall. It is the hall where the inner court is held. When the emperor is not in the outer court, he often stays in this hall to handle affairs and work, and summons ministers to discuss matters.

There has been a lot of turmoil in the outer court recently. Except for daily court meetings, Li Tai usually does not go to the outer court, but stays in the Liangyi Hall to handle some daily affairs.

That afternoon, he had just finished dealing with his desk affairs and was planning to order the eunuchs to go to the two provinces of the outer court to collect today's memorials, when a eunuch outside the palace suddenly came to report that Shang Shu Zuo Pushe Cui Qian was asking for a meeting outside the palace.

"No, I will order Cui Pushe to return to his province to deal with the affairs for the time being. He does not need to come to see me without the imperial edict."

When Li Tai heard this, he immediately frowned and said impatiently.

However, just as he finished speaking, Cui Qian's voice rang out from the steps below the palace: "Today's provincial affairs have been settled. There is only one matter that I need to report to the emperor in person, so I come to ask for an audience!"

As he was talking, Cui Qian had already arrived in front of the hall and was about to walk into the hall. Li Tai frowned even more after seeing this. He stood up from the hall and was about to leave from the other side, but Cui Qian came forward and grabbed his belt. At the same time, he said sternly: "I am an unworthy minister, but I am honored to be promoted by the Supreme Lord and take the position of Prime Minister. How can a Prime Minister not listen to the Holy Spirit's teachings for a day? How long can the Holy Spirit avoid me?"

"Avoid it if you can! Let go..."

Li Tai lowered his head to look at the belt that Cui Qian was holding tightly in his hand, then looked up at the determined expression on his face. Seeing that he could not extricate himself, he turned around and sat back in the hall, keeping silent.

When Cui Qian saw the Supreme Emperor return to the palace, he also walked into the palace and asked the servant to present a memorial to the emperor. He then stood silently before the emperor with his head bowed.

Li Tai did not look at the memorial on the table. The depressing atmosphere continued for a long time. He sighed helplessly and said, "Cousin, why bother? Since you are in such a powerful position, it is inevitable that people will say good or bad things about you. Even I am always worried about whether the public opinion is good or bad. How can a prime minister be so anxious to resign because of fear of public opinion?"

Recently, public opinion in Beijing has been very heated. In addition to Zhao Yanshen and other three evil ministers of the Northern Qi Dynasty who have been widely criticized, personnel issues in the Tang Dynasty court have also been implicated.

In particular, Cui Jishu, who came from the Bo Ling Cui family, was criticized to the extreme by public opinion, but was not punished by the court for a long time. Therefore, Prime Minister Cui Qian, who also came from the Bo Ling Cui family, was also criticized by the people of the time. People accused him of using his power to protect Cui Jishu in order to preserve his family's reputation.

  Such controversy did not weaken due to Cui Jishu's sudden death, but became more intense. Even some people in Guanzhong joined in and criticized Cui Qian. Such a murder in the capital was naturally related to the prime minister's mismanagement!

After all, most people in this world are frustrated. Many Northern Qi veterans criticized Zhao Yanshen and other treacherous officials for harming the country. There were also many talented people in Guanzhong who were not appreciated. Seeing that Zhao Yanshen and his ilk were criticized and died to apologize, the fighting spirit of the Guanzhong people was also high. They did not dare to attack other high-ranking officials directly, but Prime Minister Cui Qian was naturally surrounded by criticism because of his uncle Cui Jishu.

Because of this, Cui Qian submitted a letter to resign from the position of prime minister after the court meeting ended a few days ago, hoping that his resignation would prevent the court from being subject to further controversy.

Li Tai recently took the initiative to stir up these public opinions. His main purpose was to criticize and purge the personnel in Hebei. He never thought of pointing the spearhead at himself, and especially never thought of leaving the fate of the prime minister to public opinion.

The court could ignore these opposition voices. After all, even if Zhao Yanshen, who had lost his power, insisted on being scolded, public opinion would not hurt him in the slightest. However, Cui Qian's resolute attitude to resign still caught Li Tai off guard.

He had no intention of adjusting the prime minister team. Cui Qian had been in charge of his government affairs for many years, and they cooperated well with each other. At a time when all parties needed political unification, Li Tai certainly did not want Cui Qian to resign, so he simply avoided him. However, he did not expect Cui Qian to stubbornly follow him into the inner hall.

"The position of prime minister is to lead all the ministers, gather the voices of all officials to the ears of the emperor, and listen to the orders of the supreme ruler to announce the government orders. If one is in such a powerful position and cannot get approval from the people above and below, then the ears of the emperor will be blocked, the government orders will be blocked, the coordination between the upper and lower levels will be lost, and the governance will not be far away!"

When Cui Qian heard Li Tai's sigh, he said seriously: "I am not difficult to replace because of my talent. I have gained prominence because of the great favor of the emperor. Now I am surrounded by public criticism. If I still cling to my position and refuse to leave, the desire of one person will harm the country and damage the government, which is a serious crime! Moreover, the king's cause is now vast and wide, and he wants to embrace all rivers and recruit talents. How can he harm the way of promoting talents because of me!" Having said this, Cui Qian paused, and then said in a low tone: "The criticism I have suffered is not unprovoked. Who can easily give up the relationship between blood and relatives? My cousin suffered this misfortune. It is true that he was infected and blamed himself, but I also wanted to preserve the reputation of my family. I did not say or do anything to appease the public criticism, so there is a later incident. I have failed the emperor's grace and am also deeply troubled by the friendship. I sincerely ask the emperor to allow me to find a quiet place."

After saying this, Cui Qian bowed deeply again in the hall. Seeing this, Li Tai was speechless for a moment.

Some people who were far away from the court might not have a clear idea of ​​what he was thinking, but Cui Qian, who was the prime minister and had worked with him for many years, could see it.

Whether it was declaring that the Zhaojun Li family and other Hebei clans were unforgivable, or now indulging public opinion in criticizing Cui Jishu and others, one of Li Tai's major intentions was to undermine the reputation of these Guandong clans and thus squeeze their encroachment on political resources in the Tang court.

Cui Qian was born in the Bo Ling Cui family and was the prime minister of the current dynasty. In politics, he must keep pace with the current sage, but as a living person, he was inevitably entangled by the requests of family and hometown ties, so he was in a dilemma in the process. Now, taking advantage of the boiling public opinion and taking the initiative to resign from the center, he also wanted to avoid this series of disturbances.

Li Tai knew in his heart that keeping Cui Qianqiang in the court might not be good for him at the moment. It would also make it difficult for some people of the time to see clearly some of the court's proposals on personnel matters. Even as public opinion and the situation developed, their relationship with each other would be overshadowed.

So after hesitating for a long time, he spoke again: "So after my cousin resigned from the central government, who can take over? Where will you go, cousin? Nowadays, the internal and external affairs are very busy, and the confidants who can take on important tasks must not be left idle!"

Cui Qian also had his own ideas about this issue. After hearing this, he hurriedly said, "The King of Hanzhong is the elder of the Emperor's family, with rich experience, shrewdness and ability. It is appropriate for him to come to the court to assist in the administration. The people of Shuzhong are very helpful to Guanzhong. They have been governed by a good herdsman before. I would like to go there and follow Xiao Gui and continue his good governance."

Hanzhong King Li Pei is the oldest among Li Tai's cousins, and now serves as the governor of Liangzhou. Li Tai has many cousins, but most of them are now appointed as governors, and none of them are serving in the court. Now that the court has settled down, it is reasonable to recall Li Pei to the court to serve as prime minister.

Due to its special geographical environment and location, Yizhou really needs a trustworthy person to govern. Previously, Li Pei was transferred from Yizhou to Liangzhou, and Li Yunxin was appointed as the governor of Yizhou. Now that Cui Qian has resigned from the central government, it is indeed a good choice to arrange for him to go to Yizhou.

Since Cui Qian had already figured out his way out, it was clear that he was determined to leave. Li Tai did not try to persuade him any more, but he could not help but sigh, "When I was young and insignificant, I thought that I would be able to do whatever I wanted in the world after I gained power. But now that I am in this high position, there are still many people and things that bother me. The Yongjia disaster, the Five Barbarians' Invasion, and the chaos of wars have brought no peace. For hundreds of years, there have been people with lofty ideals who wanted to create a peaceful world, but they often failed. Now we are fortunate to be chosen by God, and we must act cautiously to avoid the disaster of subversion and the danger of recurrence in the world."

After hearing this, Cui Qian also nodded and said: "The saint is blessed by heaven and is a man of heroic character. We, the ministers, have risen up with him. We have made some small contributions, and we only hope that we can help the saint create a more prosperous era in this life. How dare we be confused and lose our minds because of our own selfish desires!"

At this point, the dialogue between the monarch and his subjects was full of their true feelings. As an emperor, Li Tai naturally disliked the monopoly and control of political resources by the Guandong nobles, and hoped that the court would have more room to select officials, but he also had absolute trust in Cui Qian and other people who had followed him since childhood.

As for Cui Qian, although he was born into the Cui family of Boling, he also knew that the achievements he had today were not due to his family background, but were developed step by step under the leadership of the current Supreme. He also hoped that he could create a new prosperous era together through his lifelong efforts, rather than parting ways with the Supreme for personal gain and repeating the same mistakes.

Therefore, in the next court meeting, the court made a series of personnel adjustments. Cui Qian, the Minister of the Left, resigned, and Changsun Jian, the Right Minister, took over as the Left Minister. Li Pei, the governor of Liangzhou and the King of Hanzhong, came to the court to serve as the Minister of the Right Minister, and Cui Qian was appointed as the governor of Yizhou.

After Cui Qian left the court, Li Tai recalled Cui Ji, who was stationed in Hedong, to the court to serve as the Minister of War. The former Minister of War Lu Teng was appointed as the governor of Xuzhou, Li Yantou was sent out as the governor of Puzhou in Hedong, and Li Yunxin, the former governor of Yizhou, was transferred to be the governor of Yuzhou.

Among this series of appointments, there is one personnel appointment that is not very eye-catching, but is closely related to the public opinion and controversy that has been rampant recently. That is, the Imperial College Doctor Xiong Ansheng was appointed as the Shaoqing of Taichang.