Thief Emperor

Chapter 1068 With an imperial edict issued, nothing is difficult.

When Li Yun sent the Crown Prince on the tour, it was partly to let the Crown Prince experience the new policies, and partly to gain a deeper understanding of the Crown Prince's character.

After all, being by his father's side as the emperor, he would naturally have officials from the Eastern Palace teaching him how to be a virtuous crown prince, or how to pretend to be one.

When you're at a distance, your true nature might be revealed to some extent.

As a father, this was clearly inappropriate, but as an emperor assessing his successor, it was perfectly acceptable.

Throughout history, almost every emperor has done this.

However, the Crown Prince did not deviate from the rules during his journey eastward and continued to follow the proper procedures.

At least that's how it is in the eyes of Li Yun, or rather, the Nine Divisions.

He barely even touched women.

This is clearly unreasonable. Even Li Yun indulged himself for quite some time in Chenzhou back then.

This means that there must be someone around the Crown Prince trying to figure out His Majesty the Emperor's thoughts and then offering him advice. And this person is particularly accurate in his guesses; he basically guessed what Li Yun was thinking.

However, what this person did not expect was that Li Yun wanted to see the Crown Prince's unrestrained and indulgent side.

For Li Yun, his son's fondness for women was not a bad thing, and even his indulgence and mischief were not a bad thing, as long as he was not inherently evil and was not a born villain, he was a qualified heir in Li Yun's eyes.

Ironically, this perfection made him feel somewhat uncomfortable.

Six months.

The Crown Prince remained the same Crown Prince in Luoyang.

Du Xiangong had served the emperor for twenty years. Although he couldn't quite fathom the emperor's strange and peculiar governing philosophies, he could still grasp about 70-80% of the emperor's thoughts. Upon hearing the emperor's words, Du Xiangong sighed.

He looked around and, seeing that no one was around, Du Xiangong quietly said, "Your Majesty, I have a few words to say to you privately."

Emperor Li looked at him and said, "Speak quickly, speak quickly."

Prime Minister Du openly said, "Your Majesty, you are overly supervising His Highness the Crown Prince. Under such supervision, no one can know what His Highness is thinking."

He lowered his head slightly and sighed: "However, this has always been a difficult matter throughout history. I am not in Your Majesty's position, so it is difficult for me to understand Your Majesty's feelings."

Li Yun looked at him and asked, "Brother Shouyi, if you were in my position, what would you do?"

Minister Du smiled wryly and said, "I don't know either."

"Therefore, I say this is an age-old problem."

His Majesty the Emperor remained silent.

Minister Du glanced at the emperor's desk again.

The two stacks of documents were stacked high, which meant that His Majesty the Emperor devoted almost as much attention to the Crown Prince as he did to state affairs.

He hesitated for a moment, then said, "Erlang, let nature take its course."

“If the Crown Prince does something wrong, then he should be disciplined. But if he does nothing wrong, I think it’s better to be more lenient.”

Emperor Li nodded: "That's the same thought. Spending too much effort on him might backfire. Let's wait until he returns from Jinling."

"Let's do as you say, Brother Shouyi."

Du Qian then lowered his head and said, "Your Majesty is wise."

Next, Prime Minister Du gave Li Yun a detailed report on the progress of the new policies in Jiangdong. Emperor Li listened quietly for a while, then looked at Du Qian and said with a smile, "Overall, there has been progress, and progress is a good thing."

He thought for a moment and said, “Send Zhang Sui a private message and tell him what I said. This is a matter of national importance. Tell him to take it seriously, lay a solid foundation, and accumulate experience.”

"If things go well in Jiangdong, he will be a great hero. I will immediately appoint him as a regional governor to promote the new policies throughout the country, once things are almost done."

His Majesty the Emperor said solemnly, "I grant him permission to enter the Council of State Affairs."

Upon hearing this, Du Qian bowed his head deeply: "After I return, I will write a letter to him."

Li Yun nodded, chatted with Du Qian for a few more minutes, and then remembered something important. He said, "The Nine Departments reported a couple of days ago that there has been progress in the assassination case from last year's Emperor's Birthday. The Prince of Chen of the old Zhou..."

"Traces have been found."

His Majesty the Emperor said calmly, "Liu Bo told me that there's a high probability we'll be able to apprehend the suspect this month, and then the case can be considered closed."

Upon hearing this, Minister Du was taken aback, then looked at Li Yun and whispered, "Your Majesty, how many officials have the Nine Departments found to be involved?"

"a lot of."

"Moreover, almost all of them were former officials of the Wu Zhou dynasty."

His Majesty the Emperor said quietly, “Some officials, even if they are not directly involved, have relatives and friends involved. My idea is to take this opportunity to remove all these former officials from important positions, and then select some well-known officials from among the former officials of Wu Zhou and arrange for them to serve in the Ministry of Rites and the Nine Temples.”

His Majesty the Emperor said quietly, "Isolate them from the core." Prime Minister Du's expression was complicated. He lowered his head and said, "Your Majesty, may I see who is involved? This way, the Ministry of Personnel can make specific arrangements to fill the vacancies as soon as possible and prevent the court from falling into chaos."

"Of course it's okay."

His Majesty the Emperor smiled and said, "We are nominally ruler and subject, but in reality, we are like brothers. Which important matter of the country is not discussed by us?"

He pulled a document from the right side of the desk and handed it to Du Qian.

At this moment, Prime Minister Du suddenly realized that the thick stack of documents on the emperor's right side might not all be about the Crown Prince's words and deeds.

The Nine Offices also had other important documents included in it.

Prime Minister Du took the document and examined it carefully. His expression grew increasingly grave. Finally, he looked up at Li Yun and murmured, "Your Majesty, are these... are these people all involved in last year's assassination attempt?"

"That's not true."

His Majesty the Emperor smiled and said, "It was just by following the clues that we found them. They may not have been involved in last year's assassination attempt, but they did indeed have contact with Prince Chen, or his former retainers."

"Some of these people were actually retainers of the Prince Chen's mansion in the past."

At this point, His Majesty the Emperor glanced silently at Du Qian.

Minister Du rose, knelt on the ground, and bowed deeply, saying, "Your Majesty, many of these people were recommended by me. I deserve death..."

In the past, the imperial court was severely short of personnel, so the task of vacating official positions naturally fell to Du Qian, the Minister of Personnel. Many former officials from Guanzhong who served under the Wu Zhou dynasty entered officialdom because of this.

His Majesty the Emperor stepped forward, helped Du Qian up, patted off imaginary dust from his body, and said with a smile, "Even the Nine Departments investigated these people for more than half a year before they could uncover some of their connections. At that time, the court had just been established, so how could Brother Shouyi have seen through their intentions?"

"This matter has nothing to do with Brother Shouyi. The Ministry of Personnel only needs to handle the subsequent filling of vacancies."

After getting up, Prime Minister Du sighed deeply and remained silent.

After a long pause, he couldn't help but ask, "What does Your Majesty intend to do with these people?"

His Majesty the Emperor said calmly, "Those involved in last year's assassination plot shall all be punished as treason."

"The rest are connected to or implicated with the traitor Wu of the old Zhou Dynasty. We should arrest Wu first, interrogate him, and then deal with him accordingly."

At this point, Emperor Li looked at Du Qian and said solemnly, "At the very least, these people should be demoted and exiled, and their direct relatives should be barred from holding office."

"If there are other reasons, the punishment will be more severe."

"Those who are indirectly implicated, but not directly connected with the Wu rebels, should also be dismissed from their posts."

Upon hearing this, Du Qian took a deep breath and bowed his head deeply: "Your Majesty is benevolent."

He knew that Emperor Li had already shown mercy.

If it were any other emperor, everyone on the list would probably be executed along with their entire family, turning this into a major case that would implicate at least a thousand people, and possibly even several thousand.

Even Du Qian himself could be drawn into it.

I don't care whether it's benevolent or not.

His Majesty the Emperor waved his hand: "I'm just doing what I feel I should do."

"Alright, this is nothing serious. The new policy is the real issue. Brother Shouyi, go ahead and get busy. Don't forget to write a letter to your student."

Du Qian bowed respectfully and left Ganlu Hall.

After he left, Emperor Li opened a document that the Nine Departments had just handed over.

The nine departments will close in and capture Wu Heng, the Prince of Chen of the Wu Zhou Dynasty, in the next day or two.

That's one of the advantages of being an emperor.

No matter what the matter is, no matter how difficult it is, such as capturing the former King Chen of the Zhou Dynasty or taking back Jinchuan Prefecture, as long as he issues an imperial edict, countless people will naturally do the work for him, and do it perfectly.

One after another.

Especially now, at the height of the nation's power, there are certainly things that Li Yun cannot accomplish with a single imperial edict.

But there aren't many anymore.

After reviewing the documents from the Nine Departments for a while, Emperor Li summoned Gu Chang and asked, "Has Meng Qing returned to Luoyang yet?"

Eunuch Gu entered the Ganlu Hall and bowed deeply: "Your Majesty, General Meng has entered the Jingzhao Prefecture and is expected to return to Luoyang to meet Your Majesty tomorrow."

Emperor Li nodded and said, "Keep an eye on him. When he returns, bring him to see me immediately."

Eunuch Gu knelt on the ground and kowtowed respectfully.

"The slaves obey."

(End of this chapter)