People in the early Tang Dynasty: I compete with Wu Zhao for the throne

Chapter 1478 Su Gui, Cheng Qian's brother-in-law

In the Mingli Hall of the Eastern Palace, Li Xian, who had just returned from the Zhenguan Hall, walked into the hall with a solemn expression.

Li Xuan, Su Liangsi, Yao Lingzhang, Xue Yuanchao, and Liu Rengui all stood up at the same time, bowed and said, "Greetings, Your Highness."

"My lords." Li Xian glanced at all the ministers, and finally lightly touched Li Xuan, and then sat down in the main seat thoughtfully.

Li Xian raised his head and said, "Today, there are too many things to deal with, and they are complicated. I can't figure out the details of some things. Can anyone help me understand them?"

Li Xuan sat at the upper right side with a solemn expression.

The others had the same expression, and no one spoke for a long time.

A hint of surprise appeared on Li Xian's face. This didn't seem right.

At this time, Liu Rengui stood up and bowed to Li Xian, saying, "Your Highness, you may not know that His Majesty has just ordered that Yuan Wanqing's head be sent to all provinces and departments, including the Eastern Palace. Everyone was in a state of confusion and didn't know what to say for a moment."

"Ah!" Li Xian was extremely surprised and couldn't help asking, "When did this happen? Why didn't I know about it?"

"Just now." Xue Yuanchao stood up, bowed his head and saluted, saying: "Your subjects know that Yuan Wanqing's actions this time were really deceitful and unforgivable. Exile and beheading are acceptable, but sending his head to the central government is really... difficult to accept."

Saying that it's hard to accept is a nice thing to say, and not saying that the rabbit dies and the fox mourns, which is already good enough.

Li Xuan stood up, bowed and said, "Your Highness, the snow has melted today and the weather is cold. Your Highness may ask the Queen Mother to send some firewood to the homes of the ministers."

After a short pause, Li Xuan smiled bitterly and said, "It has snowed heavily for three days, and the price of firewood in the city has already risen. The officials are still holding up. Ordinary people are probably freezing and starving. There are many left in the palace, so why not give them to the officials? At the same time, it will also prevent them from competing with the people for profits, and this way the price of firewood in the city can also be reduced."

"In this way, all officials will also remember my kindness." Li Xian's words revealed the deeper meaning behind Li Xuan's words...using the prince's kindness to dilute the panic brought about by the killing.

Yao Lingzhang stood up and bowed, saying, "Your Highness, it is better to do something at this time than to do nothing."

"Okay." Li Xian nodded, looked at Su Liangsi and said, "Sima, please write a memorial for me now."

"Yes!" Su Liangsi walked to the desk beside him without hesitation and started writing quickly.

Li Xian retracted his gaze, then looked at the four people standing and said, "Please take a seat, gentlemen. Today's affairs, first of all, are the affairs of the Minister of Rites and the Vice Minister of Justice. These are all expected, but what impact will the transfer of the Prime Minister have on the Eastern Palace? What is the impact? What do you think?"

The impact of the change in the prime minister's position on the court and the Eastern Palace is not something that can be simply explained.

Li Xuan and Yao Lingzhang looked at Liu Rengui at the same time.

Even Xue Yuanchao looked the same.

Liu Rengui thought for a moment and said, "Your Highness! Today, the political situation has changed. Your Majesty replaced Cui Zhiwen with Liu Jingxian just to make him have fewer distracting thoughts.

However, Pei Xiang was transferred from the Ministry of Personnel. Given Wang Dezhen's personality, his relationship with Liu Jingxian would not be too bad. The two of them would allow the Ministry of Personnel to speak with one voice, which was also His Majesty's original intention. "

Li Xian nodded slightly. Although the emperor had said a lot to him, Li Xian still had some shortcomings in many details.

"As for the Secretariat, with Prime Minister Xue here, there is naturally nothing to worry about." Liu Rengui turned and looked at Xue Yuanchao.

Xue Yuanchao forced a smile and then bowed to Liu Rengui.

When he was the Minister of the Secretariat, he didn't feel anything. Now he became the Shangshu You Pushe, the Right Prime Minister. When the Left Prime Minister was vacant, he was the head of all the prime ministers.

Xue Yuanchao felt somewhat nervous as he would inevitably have to confront Empress Wu alone in the future.

What he was particularly worried about was the emperor's attitude.

Over the years, too many people have seen clearly what the emperor has done.

"Pei Yan has been transferred to the position of Zhongshu Ling. He has Prime Minister Li to assist him. He has Prime Minister Xue and the Shangshu Province above him, and Prime Minister Wang and the Menxia Province below him. With mutual cooperation and mutual supervision, the government should be able to run harmoniously." After Liu Rengui finished speaking, everyone in the hall nodded at the same time.

Liu Rengui’s words are in the second half of the sentence, mutual supervision.

Pei Yan was a strong person, and if one wanted to check and balance him, they could only rely on the cooperation of the Menxia Province and the Shangshu Province.

"As for the affairs of the court, putting aside personnel issues, as for other matters, if we can reach a consensus, it is better to work together for the country." Li Xuan raised his eyes and looked at Xue Yuanchao.

Xue Yuanchao was slightly stunned, then nodded.

Li Xuan breathed a sigh of relief and turned to look at Li Xian: "Your Highness."

"That's it." Li Xian nodded, then looked at Su Liangsi and said, "Sima, since my father has ordered the Ministry of Justice and the Dali Temple to work with the Luozhou Prefecture to monitor the public security in Luoyang, then Sima will have to take care of everything."

"Don't worry, Your Highness. I know what to do." Su Liangsi bowed in response.

Li Xian sighed and said, "As for today's matter, there are three vacancies in the court. Du Shenyan was promoted to Zhongshu Sheren, which is a good person. Hengzhou Changshi Su Gui was promoted to Zuosi Langzhong. My dear ministers, what kind of person is he? Does anyone know?"

When everyone heard this, they turned slightly and looked at Su Liangsi who was writing a memorial at the back.

"Let me speak." Yao Lingzhang stood up and bowed earnestly, saying, "Su Gui was a military officer in the palace when the deposed crown prince was made King of Pei in his early years. Later, he was appreciated by the left scholar Zhang Da'an and was transferred to serve in other places, until he became the Chief of Hengzhou."

As they were talking, everyone was already looking at Li Xuan.

Li Xuan quickly waved his hand and said, "Mr. Zhang has been in Changzhou and Fanzhou for many years. He hasn't returned to the court for a long time. I really don't know whether he is still in contact with Su Gui."

So that's how it is. Everyone nodded subconsciously.

Li Xuan breathed a sigh of relief, and had to admit that Zhang Daan and Su Gui did have some favors. Moreover, Li Xuan believed that anyone who could be valued by Zhang Daan must not be an ungrateful person.

In fact, no one tried to tempt Su Gui to do anything. After all, given his background, no one could give him anything.

Although Su Gui is now the Zuosi Langzhong, this position is extremely sensitive, so Li Xuan should not get too close to him for now.

Li Xian nodded and said, "I see. However, they are related to each other. With Lord Zhang and Uncle Wang... something is not right. Since he is appreciated by Lord Zhang, why is he only a Hengzhou official? Why didn't we see him in the East Palace later? Why didn't we even hear about him?"

"Because his father is Su Dan, the lord of Wugong County, and his sister is the Princess of Hengshan." Yao Lingzhang looked at Li Xian deeply.

Li Xian was slightly stunned, and then couldn't help but sigh: "If that's the case, it means that Su Gui has been in Hengzhou for many years and has never been promoted?"

"Yes!" Yao Lingzhang nodded slightly. How could the brother-in-law of the deposed Crown Prince Li Chengqian be reused in the current dynasty?

Li Xian nodded and said thoughtfully: "Now that Su Gui has been transferred to serve as the Zuosi Langzhong, his ability is definitely sufficient, then father..."

"If your majesty lifts the ban, at least the Su Tan lineage will rise. Even the entire Wugong Su family, the descendants of Su Wei's lineage, will also enter the core." Li Xuan nodded in agreement.

Su Tan was the grandson of Su Wei, the former Shangshu of the Sui Dynasty, and the father-in-law of the deposed Crown Prince Li Chengqian.

His son Su Gui was appointed as the Zuosi Langzhong. With one more step, he would become the Zuo and Zuo Cheng-cheng of the Shangshu and the Vice Minister of the Six Ministries.

Su Gui is capable and has served as a local official for many years. He has sufficient qualifications. As long as the emperor appreciates him enough, he may become prime minister in a few years.

"Your Highness!" Su Liangsi stood aside and handed over the memorial in his hand.

Li Xian looked at Su Liangsi and asked, "Sima, are you familiar with Su Gui?"

"We knew each other when we were young. Although we are from the same clan, we are also five generations apart. His lineage was originally the main branch, but ever since the Prince of Hengshan was deposed as the crown prince, his lineage has gradually declined. The family originally had several governors, but none of them were promoted. My branch also rose later." Su Liangsi sighed.

The deposed prince, the deposed prince.

Once the crown prince is deposed, countless people will be implicated.

Li Jiancheng, Li Chengqian, Li Xian, countless talented people fell into obscurity and were unable to make further progress.

Now that the emperor has appointed Su Gui as the Zuosi Langzhong, it means that Li Zhi will no longer pursue the matter of Li Chengqian.

In this way, it will be easier for Li Xian to employ people in the future.

Li Xian smiled and said, "Sima, I don't know..."

"Your Highness." Li Xuan interrupted Li Xian directly, then looked at him seriously and said, "Sima Su and Doctor Su are both from the Su family of Wugong. Their relationship is even closer than that of Prime Minister Pei and Duke Wenxi. This is not necessarily a good thing."

Li Xian was stunned for a moment, then he immediately understood. He looked at Su Liangsi with an apologetic look on his face and said, "Sorry, Sima, I didn't react at the moment."

"It's alright, Your Highness." Su Liangsi bowed slightly, looked at Li Xuan with gratitude, and then looked at Li Xian and said, "Su Gui is a dozen years younger than me. I am now the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, and Su Gui is the Doctor of the Left. I believe that I will be appointed as the Prime Minister many years earlier than Su Gui. At most, I will be like Prime Minister Cui and Minister Cui, but not like Prime Minister Pei and the Duke of Wenxi."

Cui Zhiti and Cui Zhiwen are brothers. Cui Zhiti was the Minister of Revenue, and Cui Zhiwen was originally the Minister of the Imperial Household, a third-rank official in the Secretariat.

Pei Yan and Pei Xingjian are brothers from the same clan. When they were young, they studied together in the Imperial Academy, but now they are at odds with each other. The reason for this is that they both had the opportunity to become prime ministers at the same time.

Even if there was a difference of three to five years, it wouldn't be like this.

Although Su Liangsi and Su Gui are from the same clan, Su Liangsi is now the Minister of Justice and a close confidant of the Crown Prince. It is easier for him to be appointed as Prime Minister than Su Gui.

"I will personally go and talk to Su Gui about this matter." After a brief pause, Su Liangsi said, "There is no need to be too hasty. The East Palace has some good intentions. As for the rest, let him act according to the law."

"Good!" Li Xian smiled with satisfaction, then calmed down and said, "Su Gui is appointed as Zuo Si Langzhong, and Du Shenyan is appointed as Zhong Shu Sheren, but even so, there is still a vacant Zhong Shu Sheren position?"

Su Gui replaced Dou Sitai as Zuosi Langzhong, and Du Shenyan replaced Yuan Wanqing as Zhongshu Sheren. However, there was another Zhongshu Sheren, Guo Zhengyi, who was promoted to Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel.

There is still a vacancy for the position of Zhongshu Sheren.

"Your Highness!" Li Xuan said, looking at Li Xian, "How can everything be perfect? ​​Yang Jiong will be transferred to the Hongwen Academy as a scholar, and the Chongwen Academy will promote someone from the Eastern Palace. As for the Zhongshu Sheren, that is the business of your Majesty, the Empress Dowager, and even Prime Minister Pei. We'd better wait and see."

Li Xian was stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized what was going on and said with a smile, "Uncle Wang, what you said is very good. Let's do it this way."

"Here!" Everyone cupped their hands at the same time.

"The rest is the Zheng family's business." Li Xian looked at everyone with a serious expression and said, "When I left Zhenguan Palace, my father had instructed that on the 19th day of the first lunar month, the Eastern Palace would take Zheng Liangti into the palace and everything would remain the same. However, Zheng just had a funeral... How can we make it more appropriate?"

"Zheng's house in Luoyang is not a manor outside the city, and the manor outside the city is not suitable for holding a wedding."

Liu Rengui spoke calmly, "In this case, let Zheng hold the funeral outside the city and the wedding inside the city."

"His Majesty said that the funeral will be held for three days." Li Xuan raised his head and looked at everyone and said, "Today is the 15th, tomorrow is the 16th, and the day after tomorrow is the 17th. At noon on the 17th, they will set off to return to Xingyang."

"That way, we can go to pick up the dowry on the 18th." Yao Lingzhang finally confirmed the time.

"Okay, let's do it this way." Li Xian looked at Li Xuan and said, "But I have to trouble Uncle Wang. The Zheng family had a funeral before a wedding, so it's inevitable that they will have some resentment. Uncle Wang, please comfort them in the next few days."

Li Xuan smiled and cupped his hands, saying, "Don't worry, Your Highness. I am the best at this."

(End of this chapter)