Elegy of Tang Dynasty

Chapter 783 The Wind of Progress
When the emperor passed away, he issued a general amnesty, and many of the prisoners who were originally "trapped" in Shanyuan Villa to farm were pardoned for their minor crimes.

Privately, these people were not at all grateful to the puppet emperor who died unexpectedly, but instead complained that the emperor died a good death, died on time, and died in a great way.

As for the fact that the Li family's imperial power was declining and shaky, what did it have to do with these unfortunate people? When the emperor was surrounded by beauties, he didn't even give them two beauties to warm their beds. Why did they have to be the ones to mourn?
The glory of imperial power cannot be eaten, but early release is a real benefit. Afterwards, these people came to the gate of the Bianzhou government in Kaifeng County, knelt down and thanked the government for its kindness, bowed three times and kowtowed nine times.

These people seemed to have forgotten that it was Fang Qing who ordered the house searches and sent them to Shanyuan Villa for "re-education through labor."

To some extent, it is appropriate to punish past mistakes, warn future ones, and cure diseases and save lives. This kind of "labor reform" was very successful.

Yan Gaoqing had lived in Shanyuan Villa for a few years. Seeing his cousin Yan Zhenqing scolding these people at home for being spineless and without ambition, he comforted him and said, "When I was doing labor reform in Shanyuan Villa, all the prisoners I knew would shout about the benevolence of the government and the justice of the court every day before getting up and going to bed. They were afraid that Fang Qing didn't hear these things, so they never complained. This is seeking benefits and avoiding harm, which is beyond reproach."

Hearing this, Yan Zhenqing remained silent.

Fang Qing arrested those people and brought them to Shanyuan Villa, so those people should blame Fang Qing?
No, no, no, it was precisely because those people had been severely beaten that they knew better than anyone else that Fang Qing was all-powerful and had the power of life and death.

Of course they would praise Fang Qing's good points day and night. Who knows, if Mr. Fang is in a good mood, he might just ignore them.

You scolded Fang Qing, do you want to spend the rest of your life in jail? What else can you do except say a few words to make yourself feel good?
Human nature may seem absurd, but when considered in terms of interests and gains and losses, it becomes natural.

The former emperor Li Qi was buried somewhere in Guoqiao. It was heard that the imperial court intended to designate this place as the imperial mausoleum of the Li family, and that all members of the Li family would be buried here after their death.

However, there is a lot of controversy within the court, and the relevant laws have not yet been implemented. But I think it is only a matter of time.

Since all of Li Qi's children were still young (the eldest son was only in his teens), Fang Zhongyong proposed that Empress Dowager Wu be the regent and rule the country from behind the curtain. In addition, four regent ministers were appointed to assist the Empress Dowager and the young emperor in governing the country.

The four regent ministers were Fang Qing, Yan Zhuang, Li Quan and Wei Zichun.

Except for Wei Zichun, the other two are Fang Qing's confidants.

The court also announced the cause of the emperor's death: the Tibetan great minister Dazalugong sent assassins disguised as monks, who took advantage of the opportunity to participate in a celebration and ritual to poison the emperor.

It is a pity that the government was in Shouzhou at the time and was unable to prevent this tragedy from happening.

The government said: The Tibetan clown has committed heinous crimes, and the Tang Dynasty's rulers, ministers and people will fight him to the death.

In addition, the court also gave very specific punishment measures for the institutions and officials related to this matter:

Due to negligence, all the guards of the imperial palace in Bianliang City were dismissed on the spot and were waiting for the Ministry of War to dispatch them. The Ministry of War had also issued an official document: from now on, capable and loyal guards should be re-selected from the imperial army and redeployed in the imperial palace in Bianliang City.

Only loyal people with clean records are selected, and loyalty comes first!
At the same time, the Intelligence Department was to blame for its slow response to the assassination of the emperor, and the court will disband the Intelligence Department of the Privy Council.

The internal inspection department and the external military intelligence department were newly established, and they were still under the Privy Council. All intelligence was gathered in the Privy Council for easy comparison. The two departments were not subordinate to each other, and the intelligence was kept confidential. They were under the command of the Privy Council.

And the Privy Councilor of the Privy Council was undoubtedly Fang Qing.

Considering that the assassin is an Indian monk, the imperial court will then crack down on lewd monks and temples in the country, crack down on violations in temples, and investigate illegal temple properties.

All non-compliant monks will be ordered to return to secular life and their place of origin, and a zero-tolerance policy will be implemented.

All officials involved in the assassination attempt on the emperor were demoted. To set an example, Fang Qing, Yan Zhuang and other high-ranking officials in the Bianzhou court were fined for one to three years as a punishment.

And then... no more.

The matter of the emperor's unexpected death was thus completely settled. Apart from having an additional excuse to fight against Tubo in the future, other people and matters will not be pursued any further, and the matter ends here.

The government has asked to reduce its own salary, and has issued a general amnesty. What else do you want?

Apart from the major event of the emperor's death, the situation in the world entered a brief period of stability after the imperial court sent troops to Guanzhong to drive out the Tibetans.

The loss of Lanzhou was a major blow to the Tibetans, as it meant that their defense line had shifted from strategic offense to strategic defense.

The Shuofang Army faced direct pressure from the Tibetans and had to rely on the Bianzhou court in name only to survive the encirclement between the Tibetans and the Uighurs.

The Tibetans' march into Guanzhong consumed a large amount of food and fodder, which could not be effectively replenished, and suffered heavy casualties. They had no choice but to focus on Liangzhou, abandon Longxi, shrink their territory, and plan to operate the Hexi Corridor for a long time before planning for the future.

A new war vortex was gradually forming around the Hexi Corridor. It was just that the Bianzhou court felt that the time was not yet ripe for sending troops, so it remained silent for the time being.

In Bianzhou, Fang Chongyong was also busy.

Under his advocacy, the Ministry of Personnel established a new "Official Training School" in the city of Bianliang, abbreviated as "Official Training School".

All non-local officials who come to serve in the central government must undergo official training and only be able to take up their posts after passing the training.

All the imperial examination candidates who were sent to local places had to study in official training for one year and could only go to other places to take up their posts after passing the examination.

In principle, scholars who passed the imperial examinations were not allowed to directly take up positions in the central government.

The imperial court also made minor adjustments to the imperial examination system itself. In principle, people without "work experience" were not allowed to participate in the national-level imperial examinations held in Bianzhou.

However, local government schools could recommend "outstanding students" to serve as clerks in local government offices, and issue "practicing certificates" after three years. Those who passed the local imperial examinations could also apply to serve as clerks in local government offices.

Only with a "practicing certificate" in hand can one come to Bianliang City to take part in the national-level imperial examination.

The original intention of the policy was to allow those who took the imperial examinations to understand the operation of government agencies and to prevent the families of local officials from monopolizing grassroots government affairs.

There was much controversy within the Bianzhou court regarding this policy.

The imperial court had obviously increased the management and assessment of bureaucrats. The imperial examination was no longer a final threshold, nor was there a path to "rapid promotion" that relied on one trick to succeed everywhere.

Some people think that this move is a waste of tax money; some people think that it creates barriers out of thin air, hinders the advancement of "geniuses" and prolongs the time it takes for them to get to the top; some people think that this move is a criticism of current ills and improves the problem that those who pass the imperial examinations are not familiar with practical matters.

Some are opposed to it, while others strongly advocate it.

But no matter what, the imperial court is constantly fine-tuning its talent selection policies, which just goes to show that the imperial court is continuing to select talents through different channels!

If official channels can provide a ladder for advancement, then who would be willing to rise up in rebellion?
People with sharp minds have already smelled something interesting from the new policies that the court is constantly issuing!

For a while, a large number of people from wealthy families in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, who had previously not taken the imperial examinations in Bianzhou seriously, migrated to Bianzhou to study, or migrated to Bianzhou by changing their place of origin.

Their arrangements were very good. They first changed their place of origin, then studied in the official school in Bianzhou, and then entered the local government of Bianzhou as clerks. After obtaining their practicing certificates, they directly participated in the imperial examinations.

As the saying goes, every policy has its own countermeasure.

But that's all later. At the end of the year, another major event happened in the court:
One of the regents, Wei Zichun, the chief minister of the Dali Temple, wrote to the emperor, saying bluntly, "There is a precedent of Wu's chaos in the country, and the officials in the court are afraid that Wu Zhou will reappear." He used this as an excuse to ask the empress dowager to return power to the emperor. There are many examples in history of what happened when the young emperor ruled the country.

Wei Zichun's memorial did not mention Fang Qing at all, but every sentence was about Fang Qing. He was once an aide to Prince Yong Li Lin, and he also stayed at Shanyuan Villa. It was difficult for outsiders to associate him with Fang Qing's diehard fans.

When the imperial court appointed a regent, the appearance of Wei Zichun was very unexpected and was considered by some to be the "fuse" to check Fang Qing's power grab.

However, no one expected that the first person to cause trouble would be Wei Zichun!
Upon learning that the regent who was least likely to defect to Fang Qing had made such a radical move, Yan Zhenqing, who was concerned about Li Tang but had resigned from his post and lived at home in despair, became so worried and angry that he fell ill.

Fortunately, Fang Chongyong asked the Council to reject the memorial on the grounds that "the late emperor's instructions cannot be easily abolished" and publicly supported the empress dowager in governing the country.

He wrote to the court to refute Wei Zichun's memorial, saying: The Wu family is huge, with many children, and many of them serve as officials in the court. Among them, there are mediocre people, and there are also pillars of the country. If the court predestines that all members of the Wu family are traitors, it would be better to order the Wu family to change their surnames, so that they will not feel physically and mentally uncomfortable when they hear the word Wu in the future.

After hearing the news, Yan Zhenqing's condition miraculously improved! The Yan family had already begun to prepare for Yan Zhenqing's funeral, but unexpectedly, the old man was back to normal, which made the Yan family, who had already bought burial objects in a shop in Bianzhou, very embarrassed.

This day was the last day of the New Year. Fang Zhongyong traveled with a small group of people and gifts to visit Yan Zhenqing at Yan's residence outside the city of Bianliang. He was accompanied by Chen Cangqi, the director of the Imperial Hospital.

"Mr. Yan was just angry. Once the mental illness is gone, the disease will naturally heal."

After taking Yan Zhenqing's pulse, Chen Cangqi said calmly.

Then he packed up his medicine box, wrote a prescription and left it, then he saluted with his arms folded and left the bedroom.

"The Tibetans are trying to assassinate the emperor. Isn't that helping you ascend the throne?"

Seeing that there was no one around, Yan Zhenqing sighed and looked at Fang Chongyong and asked.

It was really inconvenient for Fang Chongyong to force a puppet emperor like Li Qi to abdicate. But on the other hand, before recovering Hexi, Fang Chongyong was not suitable to ascend the throne and become emperor.

On the contrary, the internal strife in the Bianzhou court would distract the Bianzhou army and prevent it from concentrating on conquering Hexi.

The situation is calm now because Fang Chongyong did not declare himself emperor, so all parties have nothing to say and no one can put the blame of regicide on him.

But if Fang Chongyong could not help but ascend the throne, Yan Zhenqing would not see him at all. Not taking part in the rebellion was already a sign of restraint.

"The evil monk did come from Tibet, but he was not sent by Dazalugong. He just wanted to seek a position that he shouldn't want."

Fang Chongyong waved his hand gently and said.

In fact, in this era, there are more similar evil monks and evil Taoists than fish in the river, but the powerful people just believe in them.

For example, Marshal Baochen in history became blind immediately after taking the golden elixir and died suddenly three days later. These are all living examples.

"As expected, I guessed that it couldn't be the Tibetans. But the court blamed it on the Tibetans, which would help boost morale when fighting against the Tibetans later."

Yan Zhenqing nodded slightly.

"Wei Zichun must be afraid of you, so he took the initiative to express his stance before you liquidated him.

I have finally figured it out these days."

Yan Zhenqing continued, not sure if it was because he was sick, but his complexion did not look very good.

"Mr. Yan has a sharp gaze."

Fang Zhongyong gave a concise evaluation.

Why did Wei Zichun want Empress Dowager Wu to give up "power"?
Because he wanted to create a situation where "the ruler is young and the country is in doubt". Only when the ruler is young and the country is in doubt, will it be natural for the young ruler to give up his throne to the powerful minister.

Wei Zichun also took this opportunity to take sides and show that he was not a stumbling block to any official.

Fang Zhongyong's plan was obviously to make Wu the nominal "Wu Mei Niang" and remind the officials of the horrific rule of Wu Zhou! Putting Wei Zichun on the throne also served as a buffer.

The Li imperial power is declining, and there are more people who have the ability to seize power than just Fang Qing!

Yan Zhenqing saw through this layout, but could do nothing about it.

One is deep-frying over high heat, the other is slow cooking over low heat, but they essentially serve the same purpose.

"Mr. Yan, what kind of world do you want to restore to the Tang Dynasty?"

Fang Zhongyong suddenly asked, his attitude very sincere.

Yan Zhenqing thought about it, a look of longing appeared on his face, he shook his head and sighed: "What's the point of saying this now? I have no personal grudge against the government. If I can return to the situation during the Kaiyuan period, I will die without regrets."

"Mr. Yan, are you talking about a world where the father is an official and the son is an official? Or is it a world where the whole country supports Chang'an?

Is the Tang Dynasty the Tang Dynasty for all people in the world, or is it the Tang Dynasty where only a small circle has the final say and dominates the fate of others? "

Fang Chongyong asked rhetorically.

Seeing that Mr. Yan did not answer, Fang Zhongyong continued:

"Back then, Fang was the top scorer in the imperial examination, but Fang did not go to the imperial examination. It was Li Kui who took the examination for me. Now he is also an official in the court, and his position is not small. There were so many absurd things like this back then that it is impossible to count them all.

"Mr. Yan is also a Jinshi. Could it be that you passed the Jinshi exam just because of your literary talent? Does it have nothing to do with your family background or connections?"

Yan Zhenqing still did not answer, but his face showed a thoughtful look.

"I have always believed that not all the powerful people in Chang'an back then were beasts. They just didn't regard the common people as their own kind.

Since we do not regard them as the same kind, it is understandable to treat them cruelly, and naturally we will not feel ashamed.

Just like you and I all eat pork and mutton, we all know that we cannot live without meat and that meat tastes delicious, but no one would ask whether pigs and sheep have a hard life or whether they deserve to die, right?

I cannot say Mr. Yan's ideal is bad, but Mr. Yan still did not answer my question: In your mind, what kind of people are considered human beings in the Tang Dynasty? What kind of people are no longer considered human beings?

Since Mr. Yan can't figure this out, he naturally can't understand what Fang is trying to do?"

After saying that, he left the gift and turned to leave the house.

(End of this chapter)