Jiuxi

Chapter 760 758 [Underwater Confrontation]

Li Zongben has always had a question in his mind.

Xue Nanting is already over fifty years old, why is he still as cold and hard as he was twenty years ago?

No wonder even though he was the left prime minister, the head of all officials, his status in the court was not as good as that of Li Daoyan at the beginning. He was not like Li Daoyan who could command the support of hundreds of people.

As a cold observer over the past few years, Li Zongben never questioned Xue Nanting's ability to govern. He just found it difficult to understand how a man of his temperament could rise step by step to the top of the civil service.

For example, at this moment, even though he had already given in, Xue Nanting still refused to give in, and his last words pushed him into a corner.

Just when Li Zongben was in a dilemma, another person stood up and said, "Prime Minister Xue, can you listen to me?"

Everyone looked in the direction of the voice and saw that it was Xiao Wangzhi, Duke of Rong and Chief Military Minister.

Xue Nanting respected him very much and nodded immediately, saying, "Please speak, Duke."

Xiao Wangzhi said slowly: "Marquis Yongyi should be punished for his defeat in battle, and it is natural for him to be dismissed from office. It is also appropriate to demote him. But in my opinion, the words 'never employ him again' should be used with caution."

Xue Nanting's eyes narrowed slightly: "Please speak clearly, Duke."

Xiao Wangzhi said calmly: "Looking at the beginning of the defeat at Kaocheng, the biggest mistake made by Marquis Yongyi was that he did not see through Wu Yanshu's strategy of luring the enemy. Wu Yanshu was bold and careful, and would not make decisions without confidence. If he did not have a backup plan, he would not actively seek a decisive battle. When the battle was in the middle stage, the Jing army still did not show signs of defeat, which means that Wu Yanshu must have a backup plan. Marquis Yongyi was confused by the opponent's tactics and did not leave enough room. By the time the Jing army's reinforcements appeared and the armored heavy cavalry charged into the battle, our army had no means to counterattack, which led to a great defeat."

"Marquis Yongyi was wrong, but this is a situation that is difficult to avoid on the battlefield. When we review the situation afterwards, we can certainly see through all the conspiracies and intrigues, because those are all real events. If you were in the situation, you might not be able to see through them. Just now, Prime Minister Xue said that we should reward the merits and punish the mistakes. I agree with this, but if we put Marquis Yongyi down, I am worried that it will have a bad impact on future border wars, because no one can guarantee that every decision they make is correct."

"If this continues, it may cause the border army commanders to become more and more conservative when making decisions. No one wants to completely ruin their own future and that of their descendants because of a wrong decision."

Under the gaze of the emperor and his ministers, Xiao Wangzhi spoke in a sincere tone. Finally, he looked at Xue Nanting and said, "Dismissing the Marquis of Yongyi from office and demoting his title is enough to show the attitude of your majesty and the court. Do you agree with this, Prime Minister Xue?"

Xue Nanting remained silent, no longer as resolute as before.

At this time, his heart was indeed full of doubts.

Xiao Wangzhi did not live an easy life after entering the capital. The emperor was far from trusting him. If the defeat at Kaocheng had not endangered the border, this chief military minister would have been completely sidelined.

As the emperor's confidant, Han Zhongjie formed alliances within the Military Academy and opposed Xiao Wangzhi at every turn.

Unexpectedly, at this time, Xiao Wangzhi would actually speak for Han Zhongjie.

Li Zongben, sitting on the dragon throne, had even more complicated feelings.

He didn't think Xiao Wangzhi had any ill intentions, because the other party didn't need to do anything and just had to watch quietly.

Xue Nanting's accusation was so powerful that it completely blocked all possibilities for Li Zongben to pardon Han Zhongjie. If he did not want to make the news known to the world, especially if he had to take into account the feelings of the border troops towards him as the emperor, then adopting Xue Nanting's advice was his only option.

Seeing that Xue Nanting remained silent, the other two military ministers, Zhang Xu and Chen Lanyu, expressed their opinions one after another. They definitely supported Xiao Wangzhi's suggestion, which was essentially to help the emperor out of trouble.

The commander of the Imperial Army, Shen Yulai, stood there in silence as usual.

Li Jingda, who now had no soldiers under his command, lowered his head slightly and looked at the golden brick floor at his feet. He did not express his support for Xiao Wangzhi as clearly as usual, and of course he did not raise any questions.

After Zhang and Chen expressed their opinions, there was also movement among the civil officials. Minister of Rites Hu Jingwen and Minister of Personnel Li Shizhi successively echoed Xiao Wangzhi's opinion. The right prime minister Zhong Cheng remained silent from beginning to end, as if this fierce conflict had nothing to do with him.

Or perhaps it was the relentless impeachments by the censors in recent times that made this usually cautious right prime minister even more silent.

Xue Nanting sighed secretly in his heart, lowered his head and said: "The Duke's words make sense."

This shows the attitude.

Li Zongben felt relieved. Whether he was demoted or dismissed from office, Han Zhongjie would definitely feel uncomfortable, but time could smooth out all entanglements. In addition, he would allow him to return to the court at the appropriate time in the future. He believed that this problem could be solved smoothly without leaving any hidden dangers.

This issue was hastily concluded, and the final result was that Han Zhongjie was dismissed from all his positions and demoted to viscount. The imperial edict was drafted and became the resolution without having to wait for Han Zhongjie to return to Beijing to defend himself.

Xue Nanting returned to his seat, feeling somewhat disappointed and puzzled.

He felt that no matter from which perspective, Xiao Wangzhi had no reason to excuse Han Zhongjie. Perhaps, as the other party said, he was just worried that completely destroying Han Zhongjie's hope of redeeming his sins would cause the generals in the army to have concerns and thus delay military opportunities.

Never mind, I have tried my best.

Xue Nanting looked solemn and a little desolate.

According to Li Zongben's instructions, the next thing should have been to discuss the rewards for those who had made contributions, but everyone was obviously still immersed in the conflict just now, and Li Zongben found it difficult to concentrate. In the end, he just set the tone of rewarding those who should be rewarded, but did not determine the specific reward level.

Li Zongben looked at Xiao Wangzhi and said very kindly, "Duke Rong, the Military Academy should first draft a rule for this matter."

Xiao Wangzhi responded, "I obey your order." The court meeting ended here.

The ministers left the palace and returned to their homes.

Li Jingda had already arrived at the street in front of the mansion, but he asked the coachman to turn the horses around and head straight towards the Duke Rong's Mansion.

When they arrived at the front hall of the Duke's Mansion, Xiao Wangzhi seemed to have expected him to come and said gently, "Please take a seat."

After Li Jingda sat down, he frowned and asked, "Brother, why do you do this?"

Xiao Wangzhi asked back, "What kind of person do you think Han Zhongjie is?"

Li Jingda blurted out without even thinking: "He is treacherous, ambitious but incompetent, stubborn and self-righteous. He has not inherited even a little of Han Gong's skills. He only knows how to be mean all day long. He is a mean person! In fact, he is very similar to me before I went to Dingzhou."

Xiao Wangzhi couldn't help laughing and said, "Why do you have to involve yourself in this?"

"It is precisely because I know what kind of person I was before that I can conclude that Han Zhongjie is a villain."

Li Jingda was frank and persistent, and asked: "Brother, why did you save him? Judging from the situation at the time, the emperor had no choice but to agree to Prime Minister Xue's request, otherwise Prime Minister Xue would make him lose face completely."

Xiao Wangzhi took a sip of tea, sighed softly, and then said: "There are two reasons. First, Prime Minister Xue is good at planning for the country but not for himself. It's not that he doesn't understand the connection, but he disdains to do so. But he doesn't seem to realize that the current emperor is not the previous emperor, and now there is no old Prime Minister Li to protect him. If he is allowed to continue to force the palace, the emperor will give in this time, but he will definitely be ruthless to Prime Minister Xue in the future."

Li Jingda was stunned.

Xiao Wangzhi shook his head and said, "Do you think those civil officials can't see it? Why are they keeping silent? Because the fall of Prime Minister Xue is definitely a good thing for them. As for the losses it will cause to Da Qi, they don't care. Or they are confident enough to take over the government affairs on behalf of Prime Minister Xue."

Upon hearing this, Li Jingda couldn't help but say coldly: "These sons of bitches."

Xiao Wangzhi smiled and continued, "Secondly, Han Zhongjie is not good at commanding troops. In fact, Han Gong did not have much experience in commanding a large army. Li Tianrun and I have always been in charge of the frontier wars. He is better at recruiting soldiers, training soldiers, and coordinating logistics in the rear. This is just a different division of labor, and there is no difference in superiority or inferiority. It doesn't matter whether Han Zhongjie is a villain or a gentleman. As long as he has a chance to rise again, the emperor will not take risks and point the spearhead at Lu Chen."

The deeper meaning behind these words was a bit confusing, and it took Li Jingda some time to figure it out.

He raised his hand and touched his forehead, and suddenly realized, "That's right. If Han Zhongjie is completely finished, the emperor's suspicious nature might become even crazier."

"That's the truth."

Xiao Wangzhi put down the teacup and said calmly: "Han Zhongjie cannot fall now, at least he cannot disrupt the balance in the emperor's heart for the time being."

In fact, he had another reason in his mind, the reason he didn't say it explicitly was not because he didn't trust Li Jingda, but because he didn't have solid evidence.

Li Jingda said with some fear: "Fortunately, my brother stopped it in time, otherwise the border troops would have finally turned the situation around, and the court might have been in chaos again."

Xiao Wangzhi smiled and said, "Don't think too much. As long as Lu Chen can stabilize the situation on the border, the chaos in the capital will have a limit."

Li Jingda felt relieved and chatted for a while before getting up to say goodbye.

Xiao Wangzhi personally escorted him to the door, then stood in the corridor and looked quietly towards the north.

At the same time, in the Lee Mansion.

In the inner study, Li Shizhi sat alone at the desk with his hands clasped in front of him.

His confidant Li Jinshan stood respectfully by his side, not daring to make a sound.

"Pity."

Li Shizhi finally spoke, as if talking to himself: "Did Xiao Wangzhi come forward today unintentionally?"

Li Jinshan already knew what happened in Chongzheng Hall, and said cautiously: "Master, Duke Rong would never guess that you were the one pushing this secretly."

"It doesn't matter whether he guessed it or not. The key point is that he put out the fire."

Li Shizhi laughed at himself and said slowly, "I only knew that Duke Rong was a good leader before, but now I know that he is very scheming and extremely perceptive. I still underestimated him. Whether he did it intentionally or not, he made Xue Nanting stop and prevented His Majesty from getting angry so quickly. It also forced me to cancel my previous plan."

"Forget it. Since Han Zhongjie was able to escape this disaster, you should stop moving and wait and see what happens."

Li Jinshan bowed and said, "Yes, sir."

Li Shizhi stood up and walked to the window, saying softly, "Now it seems that we can only make plans after the young duke returns to Beijing."

(End of this chapter)