Thief Emperor

Chapter 145 The Court and Old Friends

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince left Chongde Hall anxiously. It was not until he walked out of the hall that he held on to the pillar, gasping for breath!

The conversation just now was indeed a bit scary. It was obvious that the emperor brought up the affairs of Yuezhou just to pick a topic. His real purpose was to lead to the subsequent conversation.

That was the sudden death of Xuanzhou Governor Tian Jing and Xuanzhou Sima Cao Rong.

As the crown prince, he naturally has his own team and his own circle to run.

But after all, he has not yet succeeded to the throne, does not hold the highest power, and does not even have personnel power, so it costs money for him to run his own team.

Therefore, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has expenses, especially in recent years, the expenses are not small.

It was also for this reason that his brother-in-law helped him to gain influence and collect some money.

Originally, Xuanzhou was just a very inconspicuous place. When Mr. Pei went to Xuanzhou, he just thought of it as a place to relax and do a small thing.

But somehow, the matter was leaked, so that Gu Wenchuan went to Xuanzhou again and almost caught all the officials in Xuanzhou.

Among them, Tian Jing and others have implicated the prince.

Because this matter was of great importance, in order to prevent the dirty water from being thrown on the crown prince, the people on the crown prince's side could only find a way to deal with Tian Jing, Cao Rong and others.

However, Gu Wenchuan and others from the Censorate refused to give up, and the matter was eventually reported to the Emperor, which led to today's conversation between the father and son.

Fortunately, His Majesty the Emperor only used this incident to give the Crown Prince a slight reprimand and did not investigate further.

In the end, the price the prince had to pay was to exile his brother-in-law from the capital.

Since the emperor did this, he probably knew everything the prince had done in recent years and wanted the prince to stop and be more restrained in the future.

But even so, the conversation just now still made His Royal Highness tremble with fear. It was not because of how much this matter cost him, but because of some things that he thought were very secretive...

It turned out that all of this was seen by his father, the emperor who was not very diligent in his work!
After taking several deep breaths, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince gathered his thoughts and went to the Council Hall with the memorial in his hand.

At this moment, there were three prime ministers in the government hall. When they saw His Royal Highness the Crown Prince coming, they all stood up and bowed. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince pressed his hands down and said, "No need to be so polite, gentlemen."

"By order."

The prince took Su Jing's memorial and handed it to the nearest prime minister, Wang Du, and said, "Give Su Jing's memorial to the prime ministers."

The prince paused for a moment, then continued, "I order you to let me and the other ministers work together to decide how to deal with this memorial."

After Wang Du received it, he read it once before passing it to Prime Minister Cui Yuan. Soon, all three prime ministers read it once. At this time, the prince had already sat down in the government hall and asked, "What do you think should be done?"

The three prime ministers looked at each other, and finally, Prime Minister Cui smiled and said, "Your Highness, there are five prime ministers in the Council of State Affairs. Since the emperor wants us to handle it together, should we invite the other two as well?"

The prince thought about it, then nodded: "Okay, I will wait here for a while."

Soon, the other two prime ministers also rushed to the Council Hall. After seeing the prince, they were a little surprised. After reading the memorial, the two prime ministers sat down.

The upright Wang Du was the first to speak.

"Your Highness, General Su has just arrived at the front line and has achieved such a result. It is not easy. In addition, the soldiers fighting on the front line are all temporary recruits. What is most needed right now is to boost morale."

"I think this is why General Su specifically mentioned this lieutenant named Li Zhao."

"Li Zhao played an indispensable role in the victory on the front line. I think he should be promoted as an exception and rewarded generously."

What Wang Du said was common sense and reasonable. However, the other prime ministers did not express their opinions immediately after hearing it, but looked at the prince.

The prince was thinking about his brother-in-law at the moment, and was a little distracted. When everyone's eyes were on him, he came back to his senses and said suddenly, "I didn't hear it clearly. Please say it again, Prime Minister."

Wang Du patiently repeated his words. After listening, the Crown Prince nodded first, then said, "Prime Minister Wang's words make sense, but we cannot believe all of what Su Jing reported."

He coughed and said, "I think Li Zhao is just a local county magistrate. He has never led troops and it is impossible for him to have any great ability. Even this memorial says that it was Su Jing's son Su Sheng who guarded Linshui together with Li Zhao."

"Su Sheng is a captain accompanying the army, and Li Zhao is at most a lieutenant. It is obvious who is in charge of Linshui."

The prince looked at everyone and continued, "Due to his status, Su Jing is not in a position to ask for merit for his son, but the court cannot turn a blind eye to it. What do you think?"

Wang Du frowned and was about to speak, but Cui Yuan was already stroking his beard and said with a smile: "Your Highness has a keen eye, and what you said makes a lot of sense."

Several other prime ministers also echoed this.

His Royal Highness nodded in satisfaction and said, "That's it, let's promote Su Sheng to general and let him follow his father to pacify Yuezhou."

"As for this Li Zhao..."

The prince frowned, thought for a while, and then said, "Reward him and promote him to the rank of lieutenant."

Li Yun is now just a temporary captain of a temporary army. After being appointed by the court, he will be a formal captain of the court.

From this perspective, this is already a huge promotion. But compared to Su Sheng's promotion, it is still too small.

Su Sheng was promoted directly from a captain to a general with a given title. From then on, he was on par with Deputy General Jiang Yan!
Several prime ministers looked at each other, and only Wang Du was slightly dissatisfied. The other prime ministers nodded and agreed to this plan.

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince stood up and waved his hand, saying, "Then let's do it this way. Send the imperial commendation document as soon as possible. I have other things to do, so I won't stay any longer."

He stood up and strode away.

At this time, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince did have something to do. He had to go find his father-in-law to talk about where his brother-in-law was.

After His Royal Highness the Crown Prince left, Wang Du read Su Jing's memorial again, shook his head and sighed, "If what General Su said in his memorial is true, the court's treatment will probably cause this young man named Li Zhao to turn against the Su family father and son immediately."

Cui Yuan patted Wang Du on the shoulder and said with a smile: "With Su Jing here, Yuezhou won't be in chaos for too long. Since it won't be in chaos for too long, what's the big deal about a lieutenant?"

"The king hasn't figured it out yet."

Cui Yuan said calmly, "I'm afraid your Majesty is still angry with General Su."

Wang Du frowned.

"More than a decade has passed. Besides, how can it be involved in state affairs?"

"He's just a lieutenant, and has nothing to do with state affairs."

Prime Minister Cui smiled and said, "Prime Minister Wang, you are too serious. If you are too serious, you can't be a prime minister. You will be exhausted to death."

Upon hearing this, the other three prime ministers also laughed.

"That's right. If you take it too seriously, you won't be able to accomplish anything. The Prime Minister must know how to make choices."

Wang Du sighed.

"It's already been decided. I don't expect to change anything, but I just feel that it's not right."

Several prime ministers came forward, smiled and gave him some advice, then returned to their respective positions and went back to work.

With the urging of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, the imperial commendation document was quickly sent out, at an express speed of 600 miles, to the front line.

At this time, three full days had passed since Li Yun’s first “Linshui Defense War”.

For three whole days, after the rebels suffered a great defeat, no more rebels came. Li Zheng and some smart men were almost at the gate of Qiantang City, but no rebels were seen coming out of Qiantang City.

In this way, several days passed, and the rebels remained in Qiantang City without any movement.

On the seventh day agreed upon by Li Yun and Su Jing, General Su brought 3,000 troops and officially entered Linshui, turning Linshui into a "bridgehead" for attacking Qiantang.

After General Su settled the army, he took his son Su Sheng and Li Yun, as well as a hundred cavalrymen, out of the city. They headed eastward until they could see Qiantang City, where they stopped.

General Su jumped off his horse and looked at Qiantang City from afar. After a long while, he sighed and said, "The Zhao thieves are much smarter than we thought."

He narrowed his eyes and said, "It seems that he is no longer planning to leave Qiantang, nor is he planning to march westward. Instead, he is planning to switch from offense to defense and use Qiantang City to keep us out."

"And the Yuezhou rebels are expected to expand to the southeast."

General Su said slowly: "Mingzhou and other states cannot resist the Yuezhou rebels. If they really occupy several states, they will become a force to be reckoned with in a few years."

Li Yun was talking to Su Sheng at the moment, and did not pay attention to General Su's mumbling. After the old man muttered a few words and no one paid attention to him, he turned around and glared at Su Sheng and Li Yun.

"You two are getting along better!"

Su Sheng quickly lowered his head and dared not speak.

Li Yun stepped forward and said with a smile: "I heard from Brother Su that the Zhao thief who occupied Qiantang is the general's junior."

"It seems that he does have some skills."

General Su glared at his son, then looked at Li Yun. He did not answer directly, but turned his head to look at Qiantang City and sighed: "In a blink of an eye, so many years have passed."

Li Yun stepped forward, walked behind General Su, and asked, "What are you going to do, General?"

"Now that he has shrunk, we have more time. We can continue training near Linshui for a few more months and just keep an eye on them."

"As for the Southeastern States..."

General Su looked at Li Yun, then looked into the distance.

"Let's... think of another solution."

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(End of this chapter)