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

Chapter 1520 Empress Wu's repeated actions and fierce revenge

In the Mingli Hall, Yao Lingzhang and Li Xuan sat opposite each other, while Wei Hongmin, Wei Ji, Cheng Wuzhong, Jiang Yan and others were guarding outside the door.

"Your Majesty wrote a short note to Prime Minister Pei, hoping that I could be appointed as the Left Palace Attendant and the third rank official of the Secretariat." Yao Lingzhang looked at Li Xuan and said solemnly, "But there is no reward for me on the list of the Secretariat... I think someone wants to limit Your Majesty's control over the Council of State. May I ask, Your Majesty, what should we do?"

"Left Palace Attendant, third rank in the Secretariat, this was the path that Xue Shang took in his youth." Li Xuan nodded slightly while sitting on the couch. This suggestion was undoubtedly made by Yao Lingzhang to Li Xian.

With the honorary title of Zuo Sanqi Changshi, the third rank official of Zhongshu Menxia, ​​he could become the prime minister and also accompany the emperor.

After a few years, he was appointed as the full-time Minister of the Interior, and in this way, the problem of insufficient qualifications would be solved.

When Li Xian was the King of Ying, the late emperor appointed Yao Lingzhang as the Chief Clerk of the King of Ying, and he has been the Prince's Secretary until now. There is a reason for this.

Li Xuan raised his head and looked at Yao Lingzhang thoughtfully: "May I ask the Chief Secretary, who told the Secretary of the Imperial Household this news?"

The list of rewards was initially drawn up by the Ministry of Personnel, then summarized, added, deleted and modified by the Secretariat, finalized by the Emperor and stamped by Empress Wu.

Now it is still far from the hands of the emperor or Empress Wu.

Yao Lingzhang understood what Li Xuan meant and nodded slightly, saying, "It's Zhongshu Sheren Du Shenyan."

A big reason why Du Shenyan was able to become the Secretary of the Central Secretariat was that he bore a deep imprint of the Eastern Palace.

Li Xuan lowered his head and said softly, "In that case, the person who leaked the news to the East Palace should be Prime Minister Pei. Prime Minister Pei was also telling the East Palace that the person who didn't want the Chief Secretary to be the Prime Minister was not him."

Now, there are only three people who can truly decide whether Yao Lingzhang will become prime minister, Pei Yan, Li Xian and Empress Wu.

Li Xian naturally wanted Yao Lingzhang to enter the Council of State, but Empress Wu was the last one to want that.

As for Pei Yan, he is a sly guy and neither side wants to offend him.

"I'm afraid Prime Minister Pei wants us to have a conflict with the Queen Mother so that he can benefit from it." Yao Lingzhang looked at Li Xuan with concern.

The current political situation is a three-way confrontation.

For Pei Yan, although he was a regent, he was unwilling to confront Empress Wu and the emperor head-on, and his final situation would be that the Eastern Palace would be against Empress Wu.

The same goes for the Eastern Palace. If Pei Yan could stand up and fight against Empress Wu, then the Eastern Palace would have it much easier.

Of course, Empress Wu also liked to see conflicts between the Eastern Palace and Pei Yan.

……

"So, what should we do now?" Yao Lingzhang's face became serious.

As soon as Empress Wu intervened, Pei Yan let go.

This is extremely unfavorable to the Eastern Palace.

Li Xuan took a deep breath and said, "Your Majesty, you don't know about this yet, right?"

"Your Majesty doesn't know." Yao Lingzhang nodded affirmatively. He wanted to discuss a response strategy within the Eastern Palace and then find Li Xian.

After all, although Li Xian is a kind person, he is mediocre in handling state affairs, so it is difficult for him to come up with any good solutions.

"Then how about this." Li Xuan raised his head, looked at Yao Lingzhang, and said seriously: "Your Majesty, please write a letter to transfer Pei Xiang to the position of Shangshu Zuo Pushe, Wang Xiang to the position of Zhongshu Ling, and the Changshi to the position of Shizhong directly. How do you think it is?"

Yao Lingzhang was stunned. What kind of operation was this?

In fact, for Yao Lingzhang, his best place was to be the Minister of one of the six ministries, but now all the ministers of the six ministries have been adjusted, and there is no place for him at all.

Therefore, for him, the only option is to go one step further and become prime minister.

He was not directly appointed as Shizhong or Zhongshu Ling, but first became a third-rank official in the Zhongshu Menxia, ​​accumulated enough qualifications, and then became the prime minister.

Now Li Xuan wants him to be the minister directly, this is not right...

Yao Lingzhang suddenly understood something and said softly, "My Lord, do you still want to win over Prime Minister Pei?"

Li Xuan nodded gently and said, "In the current court situation, it is still His Majesty and the Queen Mother who are trying to win over Prime Minister Pei."

The conflict between the emperor and Empress Wu was irreconcilable.

The only person who made this mistake now is Li Zhi.

Li Zhi believed that the conflict between Empress Wu and Li Xian could be reconciled, so as long as Li Xian could be patient for three to five years, become familiar enough with state affairs, and cultivate enough confidants, after three years, he could take direct control of the government.

But unfortunately, Empress Wu would not give Li Xian this opportunity.

Too many people have realized this.

Those who were willing to help Li Xian were mostly middle and lower-level officials in the court, and not many senior officials were willing to take action.

There are even many people who believe that Empress Wu is carrying on the late emperor's will and is now helping him to look after the entire court.

Because they know who the real enemy of the entire court is.

But they were all wrong, just like Li Zhi. What Empress Wu wanted was not to watch over the country for the late emperor, but to seize the entire world.

Therefore, if Li Xian wanted to stabilize the court, he had to win over Pei Yan.

Taking a deep breath, Li Xuan looked at Yao Lingzhang and said apologetically, "Now, I'm afraid the chief historian will have to make some sacrifices."

"Please speak, Your Highness." Yao Lingzhang's expression became solemn.

"This time, Changshi should give up on becoming the prime minister."

Li Xuan looked at Yao Lingzhang and said apologetically, "How about the Chief Secretary and the Inspector of the Secretariat?"

"Secretary of the Secretariat?" Yao Lingzhang was slightly stunned. He was going to inspect the Secretary of the Secretariat?
To be the Prince's Secretary, who is of the third rank, and to inspect the Secretary of the Secretariat, who is of the fourth rank?

Li Xuan nodded seriously and said, "Your Majesty asked the Chief Secretary to work with the Third Rank of the Secretariat because he actually needed a helping hand in the Political Affairs Hall. But Prime Minister Pei obviously doesn't want your Majesty's people to enter the Political Affairs Hall. So, we will take a step back and become the third in command of the Secretariat, the Secretary of the Secretariat."

The Secretariat was headed by the Regent Minister Pei Yan. The Secretariat Order Liu Shenli was still fighting in the Western Regions. The Secretariat Assistant Minister, who was also a third-rank official under the Secretariat, Li Yiyan, was the second-in-command. The Secretariat Assistant Minister, who was also a third-rank official under the Secretariat, was the third-in-command.

Historically, the three-rank Zhongshu Shilang and Huangmen Shilang of Zhongshumen were all used as positions for retirement, just like Cui Zhiwen and Yang Wu.

Cui Zhiwen was not so bad, but because he was indecisive, he was finally demoted to the third rank of Zhongshu Menxia by the emperor, but at least he was given the right to organize the imperial examinations next year together with the Ministry of Personnel.

But the one who was really unlucky was the former Secretary of the Central Secretariat Yang Wu.

Last year, Yang Wu was directly dismissed from office because he was involved in the Yue King's treason case.

This was the harshest punishment the emperor had ever dealt.

Ever since Yang Wu was dismissed from the position of Secretary of the Secretariat, the position of Secretary of the Secretariat has been vacant.

“If the Chief Secretary was four or five years older, that position would be a place for retirement. But now, he is young and strong and ready to do things.” Li Xuan looked at Yao Lingzhang solemnly.

If Yao Lingzhang wants to help Li Xian maintain his position, it depends on whether he is doing it for himself or for Li Xian.

Yao Lingzhang looked at Li Xuan seriously and asked, "How many years will it take?"

"It can be as short as one year, but no longer than three years."

Li Xuan looked at Yao Lingzhang and said worriedly, "If the Chief Secretary stays in the position of Zhongshu Shilang for three years, then the world will really be in trouble."

Yao Lingzhang's expression suddenly became solemn, and then he nodded solemnly and said, "Okay, that's it."

"As for the other colleagues in the Eastern Palace." Li Xuan looked up at Wei Hongmin, Cheng Wuzhong and Wei Ji outside and said softly, "It depends on which of them can win the positions of Guanglu, Weiwei, Taichang and Taifu."

Yao Lingzhang raised his head and looked at Li Xuan in disbelief.

What Li Xuan meant was that the Eastern Palace should completely abandon some official positions that seemed to be in high positions but had no real power, and directly seize those official positions that held real power but were at lower positions.

For example, the Secretary of the Central Secretariat.

What a good idea!

"it is good!"

……

In the blink of an eye, a whole day passed.

The 29th day of the twelfth lunar month, outside Chengtian Gate.

Li Xuan, who had stayed in Songshan for a day, waited for Liu Jinyu and Pei Shitong to go out with their three children after the morning sacrifice.

The day after tomorrow is the day when the emperor will be enthroned. Many matters in the court will be settled completely in these two days, including the appointments of officials in the Eastern Palace.

"Your Highness!" Wei Hongmin, wearing a scarlet robe, stood beside Li Xuan and said with a cupped hand, "It's settled."

Seeing Wei Hongmin walking beside Li Xuan, everyone around looked over subconsciously.

Yesterday, there was already a rumor in the court that the Empress Dowager was unwilling to allow Yao Lingzhang, the Prince's Secretary, to serve as a third-rank official in the Secretariat.

The Eastern Palace had no choice but to call Prince Peng over to discuss the matter. Now, after a whole day, it seems that there is a result.

Li Xuan nodded calmly and asked in a low voice: "What's going on?"

"Prime Minister Pei declined the position of Shangshu Zuo Pushe, but agreed to be the Chancellor of the Secretariat." Wei Hongmin breathed a sigh of relief. Now it seemed that Pei Yan accepted the emperor's kindness.

Li Xuan nodded slightly. It was not surprising that Pei Yan accepted this condition.

After all, he was the prime minister. The emperor had already taken a step back and was willing to let Yao Lingzhang not be the prime minister but instead be the secretary. If he made excuses again to decline, then the next person to face the attack from the Eastern Palace would be Pei Yan.

Although Pei Yan, the regent, had many confidants in the court, not many of them could actually play a role.

Over the years, the late emperor and Empress Wu have been in charge of the government and have always been on guard against people forming cliques for personal gain, so even if a real private clique exists, it would not be large in scale.

If Pei Yan is given three to five years, perhaps he will really become the next Changsun Wuji, but he is still far from it now.

It is not surprising to accept the emperor's kindness as long as the emperor took a step back and could give an explanation to Empress Wu.

"What else did Prime Minister Pei say?" Li Xuan turned sideways and looked at Wei Hongmin.

Wei Hongmin looked at Li Xuan in surprise, and then quickly whispered, "Prime Minister Pei said that he hopes that Zhanshi will be able to do things according to the regulations after entering the Secretariat."

What does it mean to follow the rules? It simply means that after Yao Lingzhang enters the Secretariat, he must follow Pei Yan's orders in everything.

"This is as it should be." Li Xuan turned sideways to look at Wei Hongmin and said softly, "Isn't this what we have always wanted the most?"

Wei Hongmin was stunned, and then looked at Li Xuan with great admiration.

They have always wanted Pei Yan to stand up and face Empress Wu, but Pei Yan has always been cunning and unwilling to do so. Now that Yao Lingzhang has entered the Secretariat, he can promote this matter better.

With just a slight move, Li Xuan forced Pei Yan to stand against Empress Wu.

Li Xuan looked up in the direction of Zhenguan Palace and said softly, "Be careful, this matter will not be resolved so easily."

"Yes!" Wei Hongmin suddenly became solemn. If the Queen Mother saw through their plan, revenge would come immediately.

……

The 30th day of the twelfth lunar month, New Year's Eve.

As usual, the ministers paid homage to the late emperor.

Li Xuan, dressed in white linen mourning clothes, had just walked out of Chengtian Gate when Wei Hongmin approached quickly from behind with a serious expression.

Others subconsciously made way.

"Your Majesty, something has happened!" Wei Hongmin clasped his hands and said, "The Crown Princess invites you!"

"Huh?" Li Xuan was stunned.

(End of this chapter)