Li Chengqian of the Tang Dynasty: Please say long live His Majesty

Chapter 186 Li Chengqian: Li Tai’s Power is Too Weak (Part )
Chongde Hall of the Eastern Palace.

Li Chengqian was wearing a light yellow dragon robe and sitting calmly on the couch.

Zhang Xuansu, Ma Zhou, Linghu Defen, Xiao Jun, Pei Xuanji, Zhang Daxiang, Zhao Hongzhi and others sat on the left.

Changsun Xiang, Dugu Dabao, Helan Chushi, Liu Renshi, Xue Wanbei, Qin Huaidao and others sat on the right.

Zhang Xuansu placed the memorial on the table and said with a smile, "Congratulations, Your Highness! The official document transferring the Chief Secretary to the position of Imperial Secretary has arrived. If nothing unexpected happens, it won't be long before the Chief Secretary becomes the Vice Minister of State Affairs and becomes the Prime Minister. He will be the only Prime Minister to have emerged from the Eastern Palace in recent years."

Yu Zhining was the Prince's Left Secretary, Silver and Green Guanglu Doctor, and Yellow Gate Minister, so his rank was high in itself.

Moreover, in the Menxia Province, there is only one prime minister, Liu Li, unlike the Zhongshu Province, where Zhongshu Ling Yang Shidao and Zhongshu Shilang Cen Wenben are both prime ministers.

All the ministers now understood that if Hou Junji could not become the Minister of the Imperial Household, then Liu Li would become the Minister of the Imperial Household. At that time, Yu Zhining would definitely become the Prime Minister and the Vice-Minister of State Affairs.

This is very important for the officials in the Eastern Palace.

Once Yu Zhining becomes the prime minister, it means that all of them will have the opportunity to become the prime minister.

Zhang Xuansu, Ma Zhou, Linghu Defen, these people are all looking forward to it.

Li Chengqian smiled slightly, then looked at the ministers and said, "The Chief Secretary himself is one of the Eighteen Scholars. Now he has the opportunity to become the Prime Minister, as is known to his qualifications. It is good for the ministers to look up to him, but he also needs to be sincere in his work."

"Yes!" All the ministers bowed solemnly.

"Okay, let's talk about business." Li Chengqian looked at Ma Zhou.

Ma Zhou took out a memorial from his sleeve, Li Anyan took it and handed it to Li Chengqian.

Ma Zhou said, “This is the memorial just forwarded by the Secretariat. Supervisory Censor Hu Yu impeached Tongzhou Governor Li Xiyu for beating Fanhe Cheng Liu Wu to death with a cane out of personal vengeance while serving as Liangzhou Governor. The Censorate requested a punishment.

Yesterday, Li Xiyu returned to Chang'an and will soon be tried at the Dali Temple. The Secretariat asked the Eastern Palace if they should send someone to investigate.

Li Anyan, who was standing beside Li Chengqian, gave a slight glance without revealing his expression.

Li Chengqian nodded calmly and said, "Why was Fanhe Cheng Liu Wu caned?"

"Because of reselling grain from the treasury." Ma Zhou bowed and said, "This matter should have been dealt with according to the law, but Li Xiyu was a straightforward and impatient person, and the Xueyantuo were ready to make a move at the time, so he decisively sentenced him to fifty strokes of the cane. Unexpectedly, he beat him to death."

"That means Liu Wu deserved to die." Li Chengqian paused for a moment and asked, "I know that matters like this usually go unpunished. Why would someone suddenly impeach Li Xiyu? Who's behind this Liu Wu?"

"It must be a local family in Liangzhou." Ma Zhou shrugged and said, "They must be angry, so they leaked the news to the Censor."

"So it's the old clan of Ganliang!" Li Chengqian nodded calmly, while Li Anyan on the side couldn't help but raise his eyebrows.

"No matter what, it wasn't in accordance with the law. Strictly speaking, it's murder." Ma Zhou shook his head and said, "Although the Xueyantuo were making some moves at the time, Your Majesty didn't issue an order to mobilize the troops, so it wasn't considered wartime. Furthermore, according to investigations, Li Xiyu and Liu Wu had a personal grudge, seemingly related to a power struggle between Liu Wu's elders and him."

Li Chengqian nodded. Li Xiyu was from the Longxi Li family. Although he was not a member of the royal family, he was very close to the royal family in blood.

When the Tang Dynasty was founded, Li Xiyu was summoned to the court by Emperor Gaozu to serve as the Junior Secretary of the Ministry of Finance and the Duke of Ankang County.

Later, he held important positions such as Governor of Luzhou, Chief Secretary of the Grand Marshal's Office of Yangzhou, Inspector General of Jiangnan, Minister of the Imperial Household, and Governor of Liangzhou.

Or to be more precise, he was an old minister of Emperor Gaozu.

……

"After all, someone died!" Li Chengqian looked at Ma Zhou and asked, "According to the law, how should we deal with it?"

"The murderer must pay with his life, but considering Liu Wu's guilt and the accidental killing, he may be exiled." Ma Zhou shook his head slightly and said, "The impeachment by the censor is one of the reasons. Many officials from Liangzhou have also submitted letters of impeachment."

"For murder, dismissal and exile are not excessive, but it depends on where." Li Chengqian pondered for a moment and said, "In my opinion, either exile to Anxi or exile to Liaodong. Both places are considered military fronts. After all, the Duke of Ankang is familiar with the army and the local areas. In Anxi and Liaodong, he can play a greater role."

"Your Highness is right." Ma Zhou nodded and said, "I will make some suggestions to Your Majesty."

"Hmm!" Li Chengqian said, "What else?"

"Your Highness," Xue Wanbei, the Crown Prince's Right Guard Commander, bowed and said, "The day before yesterday, the Crown Prince's Right Guard Commander Sima was transferred. At the same time, Qianniu Guard Commander Duan Baoxuan was transferred to the position of Crown Prince's Right Guard Commander Sima."

"Who?" Li Chengqian looked up in surprise.

"Duan Baoxuan, the Qianniu Guard." Xue Wanbei bowed and said, "He is the nephew of Duke Bao. Before Duke Bao's death, His Majesty wanted to appoint his son as a fifth-rank official, but Duke Bao begged His Majesty to pass the title to his brother Duan Zhigan and to take care of his clan members. His Majesty agreed and appointed Duan Zhigan as Lang Jiang of the Left Guard. At the same time, Duan Baoxuan, the Qianniu Guard, was transferred to the position of Sima of the Crown Prince's Right Guard."

Duan Baoxuan, Li Chengqian nodded slightly. Although Duan Baoxuan's name is very similar to that of Baoguogong Duan Zhixuan, they are actually uncle and nephew within the five degrees of mourning.

"The fact that he was chosen by our father from among the many descendants of the Duan family is enough to prove his excellence." Li Chengqian looked at Xue Wanbei and said, "Train Xue Qing well so that he can serve the country in the future."

"Yes!" Xue Wanbei bowed solemnly. The emperor once said that the Eastern Palace had the ability to reserve talents for the country. Duan Baoxuan's transfer to the Eastern Palace as the Crown Prince's Right Guard Commander was inevitable.

Not only that, Duan Baoxuan's cousin Duan Zhigan was the General of the Left Guard and was very useful at the critical moment.

Li Chengqian breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Alright, gentlemen, what else can I do for you?"

"Your Highness..." Just as the Crown Prince's groom Linghu Defen was about to speak, a burst of hurried footsteps came from outside the palace.

Gao Zhenxing, the Crown Prince's attendant, led Lai Ji into the hall and said earnestly, "Your Highness, His Majesty has ordered that Your Highness, the Crown Prince's Secretary, and the Crown Prince's Junior Secretary, come to the Liangyi Hall immediately to discuss an important matter."

"Yes!" Li Chengqian looked serious.

……

Under the cover of night, the sedan chair slowly drove towards the East Palace.

The court meeting one day has only just ended.

Li Chengqian entered the Chongjiao Hall and then sent a message to the harem that he would rest in the Chongjiao Hall today and would not return to the harem.

The candles were lit, and Li Anyan carefully helped Li Chengqian lie down. He dismissed the attendants and then hesitantly asked, "Your Highness, did you know in advance that the Western Turkic Khan Yibiduolu would invade the Western Regions and send troops east to attack Yizhou?"

The Anxi War broke out again, and the Western Turks attacked Anxi.

Today in the court, Li Chengqian conveniently suggested that the Tongzhou governor Li Xiyu, who had made the mistake, be transferred to serve in the Anxi Army.

The emperor allowed that, while transferring Liangzhou Governor Guo Xiaoke to serve as Anxi Protector-General and Xizhou Governor, he also dismissed Tongzhou Governor Li Xiyu from all his posts and exiled him to Anxi.

Although he was exiled, in fact, considering his identity and the situation in Anxi, he was just a commoner serving in the Anxi army.

Li Anyan is the person who knows the inside story best.

It was Li Chengqian who impeached Li Xiyu, and it was also he who suggested that Li Xiyu be transferred to serve in the Anxi Army.

Li Anyan also couldn't understand the details. Why did Li Chengqian know about the invasion of Western Turks in advance? Why could he calculate all this just right? What was his purpose?
The questions here are so big that even Li Anyan can't help but wonder.

Li Chengqian chuckled softly and said, "Indeed, I knew in advance that the Western Turks were going to invade the East. This is not difficult to infer. You forgot that I have been paying close attention to the affairs of Tubo, Tuyuhun, and Xueyantuo for the past six months. It is normal for me to also pay attention to the Western Turks."

After a brief pause, Li Chengqian said, "The Western Turkic Khan, Yibiduolu, killed the Western Turkic leader, Yaguru Shaboluo, this year and annexed his tribe. Now that he's strong, he's heading south to attack Tokharistan and destroy it. With such arrogance, he's bound to become arrogant. He'll then invade the Western Regions and send troops east to attack Yizhou. It's foreseeable."

Li Anyan nodded seriously. Many of the reports Li Chengqian had read in the past six months were sent by Li Anyan.

"As for how to infer that they would take action at this time, it's not difficult." Li Chengqian raised his head and said softly, "It's already autumn, and if it's any later, the Western Region will turn cold."

The weather in the Western Regions gets cold earlier than in the Central Plains, so if they want to take action, it will definitely be at this time.

Of course, that’s what he said, but Li Chengqian was able to know it because he paid special attention to it in his previous life.

Not only that, impeaching Li Xiyu was actually something the old Ganliang clans had wanted to do a long time ago, and they had done it in their previous life.

However, the result in his previous life was that he was dismissed from office, demoted to a commoner, exiled to Quanzhou, and then died.

Li Xiyu was considered one of Emperor Gaozu's old ministers, so the emperor naturally would not show him any extra favor. It was already quite good that he could atone for his sins with his merits.

However, when Li Chengqian suggested that Li Xiyu be spared, Li Shimin did not care and agreed to it.

……

"As for why I did this, it was of course because of Duke Xun." Li Chengqian looked up at Li Anyan, his eyes dark as he spoke, "Although the impeachment of Li Xiyu was done by the old Gan and Liang clans, Duke Xun was involved behind the scenes. So, as long as Li Xiyu can make merit again and fight his way back, the old Gan and Liang clans will naturally be under pressure."

The old clans of Gan and Liang, Zhang Liang and Li Tai.

Li Chengqian was gradually leading Zhang Liang towards Li Tai.

If Li Tai really wants to do something now, his strength is too weak. It is time to help him increase his strength.

"But Your Highness, when will Li Xiyu be able to make another contribution and come back? Just attacking the Western Turks is not enough, right?" Li Anyan was still puzzled.

"Of course it's not enough!" Li Chengqian said softly with a hint of pride on his face, "Don't worry, it will be quick."

.

(End of this chapter)