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

Chapter 44: Shallow Knowledge, Worse Than a Young Son

Standing on the Danbi, Li Chengqian keenly caught the astonished expression on the face of Zhao Yuankai, the Minister of the Ministry of Agriculture.

Didn't he know he was being impeached?
Or did he not know that he was impeached because of this incident?
Or maybe he never thought that he would be impeached because of this matter.

Li Chengqian's gaze passed lightly over the Shangshu Youcheng Wei Cong in the queue and fell on Shangshu Zuocheng Lu Chengqing.

Poor guy, he didn't even realize the trap here.

But it's also true that this matter was a trap from beginning to end.

The firewood sold by the Sinong Temple was more expensive than that sold by private individuals. On the surface, this itself seemed to be a harm to those who needed more firewood in Chang'an City.

Li Chengqian lowered his head slightly with a solemn expression.

The emperor's voice rang out from the Danbi: "Duke Liang, what do you think?"

……

Li Chengqian looked at the jade sceptre in his hand and raised his eyes. Has this matter been asked to Fang Xuanling?

If Fang Xuanling gave a wrong answer...

Li Chengqian couldn't help but prick up his ears, and he turned his head slightly and looked at Fang Xuanling.

Fang Xuanling, the Minister of the Left and Duke of Liang, stood up. He wore a seven-beam crown and a scarlet robe, his temples gray. For some reason, Fang Xuanling's eyes hesitated, but he still held his hu tablet and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty, I believe what the Minister of the Left said is reasonable."

Li Chengqian's eyes suddenly widened and he looked at Fang Xuanling in disbelief. This old fox fell into the trap just like that?

"However." Fang Xuanling's words made Li Chengqian's expression calm down immediately.

Fang Xuanling continued to bow and said, "However, Your Majesty, listening to both sides leads to enlightenment, while listening to only one side leads to ignorance. I think you should listen to what Zhao Sinong has to say. Perhaps Zhao Sinong has other considerations. Who knows?"

After Fang Xuanling said this, all the ministers in the hall couldn't help but nod slightly, even Lu Chengqing did the same.

Smooth and sophisticated?

No, Prime Minister Fang is a mature and wise man planning for the country.

……

The emperor sitting on the dragon bed was very calm, and his cold eyes swept lightly over Zhao Yuankai.

Zhao Yuankai immediately bowed.

Li Shimin turned to look at Li Chengqian with a gentle expression, and asked with interest, "What do you think, Prince?"

Li Chengqian bowed respectfully and said, "Your Majesty, I believe that the Minister of Agriculture has done nothing wrong in this matter, and is not guilty of anything."

"Oh?" Li Shimin looked at Li Chengqian in surprise and asked directly, "What do you mean?"

All the ministers in the hall looked at Li Chengqian at once.

There is no fault, no sin.

What does this mean?
Li Chengqian held up his tablet and bowed, saying seriously, "Your Majesty, after learning of this matter, I sent someone to investigate the details. I discovered that it wasn't that the firewood sold at the Sino-Agricultural Temple was too expensive, but rather that firewood sold by the common people was cheaper this year."

Li Chengqian turned gently and looked at Zhao Yuankai, the Minister of Agriculture, and said, "The firewood sold by the Ministry of Agriculture to Chang'an this year is actually the same price as last year. Zhao Sinong followed the previous example, but he overlooked that Chang'an had a mild winter this year.

This year's winter in Chang'an is warmer than last year, so the demand for firewood has decreased, so firewood cannot be sold at a high price, and the price among the people is naturally lower than last year."

Under Li Chengqian's gaze, Zhao Yuankai finally breathed a sigh of relief, then bowed with a slight expression of gratitude.

He really has nothing to hide about corruption.

He was just following last year's prices, without any selfish motives.

The ministers in the hall also nodded slightly, with a look of sudden realization on their faces.

"Zhao Sinong did fail to pay attention to the changes among the people." Li Chengqian stood up slightly and said solemnly, "However, it is precisely because of this that during this warm winter, when Chang'an City had little demand for firewood, selling it at last year's prices, which were higher than the price paid to ordinary people, allowed the people to sell more of their firewood, giving them another way to make a living. This is not wrong, nor is it a crime. It is even a meritorious service!"

The word "meritorious" was so decisive that Zhao Yuankai couldn't help but look at Li Chengqian with gratitude in his eyes.

The other court officials in the hall couldn't help but nod their heads slightly. What the prince said was the way to serve the country.

……

Sitting on the dragon bed, Li Shimin looked at Li Chengqian in surprise.

He didn't expect that Li Chengqian actually saw through the mystery of this matter.

Yes, it’s a warm winter this year.

Many things that were common in the past will change this year.

Li Shimin turned to look at Fang Xuanling and asked calmly, "Duke Liang, what do you think?"

"I think what Your Highness the Crown Prince said is absolutely correct." Fang Xuanling held his hu tablet and bowed, then said, "Minister Zuo Cheng, you haven't given this matter enough thought."

With just one word of thought, Fang Xuanling easily rescued Lu Chengqing from the predicament.

Li Chengqian looked at Fang Xuanling in surprise, and his eyes became serious.

After he learned about this, he investigated internally and externally, and after much deliberation, he finally came up with a countermeasure. Fang Xuanling's words of "not enough thinking" helped Lu Chengqing escape the trap. He was indeed a "Fang Mou", but...

"The Crown Prince is still young, yet he has such insight." Li Shimin looked up at Lu Chengqing, shook his head slightly in disappointment, and said, "Lu Qing, it's not that you lack perspective, it's that you are shallow in knowledge, even less than a young boy."

When the emperor said this, Lu Chengqing was stunned at first, and then his whole face turned pale.

Limited knowledge!

The Shangshu Zuocheng has limited knowledge and is not even as good as a young son.

Shangshu Zuocheng, the first person below the six ministers.

Although they were both of the upper fourth rank, even if they were the Minister of the Court or the Minister of the Secretariat, as long as they did not concurrently serve as the Vice Prime Minister, their status in the court would not be as high as his, the Minister of the Left.

Not to mention other slightly inferior positions such as the Vice Minister of Personnel and the Junior Secretary of the Ministry of Rites.

As for the Zhongzhou governor of the same level, he is far behind.

The Shangshu Zuocheng was the first person in the entire Shangshu Province, below the Shangshu Zuo Pushe and Zuo Pushe, and was responsible for communicating orders from top to bottom.

Even the six ministers had to be polite to him.

Even the next step for Shangshu Zuocheng is either to be the Minister of the Secretariat and the Minister of Menxia, ​​who also serves as the Vice Prime Minister of the Three Ministries; or to be the Minister of the Six Ministries, in preparation for the next step of being promoted to the Minister of the Secretariat and the Minister of the Three Ministries.

But today, the emperor said that Lu Chengqing was shallow-minded, so he could forget about becoming the prime minister.

He had no place among the six ministers of the ministries, or even the nine ministers of the temples.

His best outcome would be to be transferred to a local area to serve as a governor of a state.

Of course, if the Shangshu Zuocheng, who is a fourth-rank official, is sent out to other provinces, then he should at least be a third-rank governor of a higher state. However, he is destined to be sent out to other states for the rest of his life.

After serving a few terms, it's time to retire.

Not to mention the prime minister and the six ministers of the six ministries and the nine temples, even compared with the current Shangshu Zuocheng, there is no telling how far behind he is.

Especially since he was the Duke of Fanyang.

He shoulders the future of the entire Fanyang Lu family.

……

Seeing Lu Chengqing with a confused look on his face, Wei Zheng, the special advancer, the director of the Ministry of Personnel, and the vice-chancellor, couldn't help but stand up and advise him.

Just one comment from the emperor almost ruined Lu Chengqing's entire future career.

This kind of thing, this kind of method, is already very bad.

Just as Wei Zheng took a step, his eyes swept over Li Chengqian who was standing on the Danbi, looking at Lu Chengqing with pity. Silently, Wei Zheng gently retracted his steps.

He didn't know what to say.

How to defend Lu Chengqing.

Because the emperor was right, Lu Chengqing did not act properly in this matter.

The prince could find something that he, the Shangshu Zuocheng, could not find.

Either he was short-sighted or he was negligent in his duties, and he almost got the Minister of Agriculture, one of the Nine Ministers, convicted.

Even Wei Zheng could not defend himself on this point.

If he really spoke frankly and didn't speak well, Lu Chengqing would be demoted immediately.

Wei Zheng couldn't help but sigh in his heart. He couldn't do anything about this matter.

It is true that their emperor was willing to accept advice with an open mind, but he did not change even though he listened with an open mind.

Wei Chong, the Shangshu Youcheng, who was standing not far behind Wei Zheng, saw all of Wei Zheng's movements and a hint of fear flashed in his eyes.

The emperor's description of Lu Chengqing will probably not only be recorded in the Ministry of Personnel, but may even be recorded in history books.

Didn’t you see that Prime Minister Wei, Prime Minister Fang, Prime Minister Gao, and Minister Changsun, none of them spoke?

……

The emperor's words silenced all the ministers.

"Let this be." The emperor looked at his ministers calmly and said, "For the sake of the people, the Ministry of Agriculture will sell the firewood at the original price. However, this year's action is due to the warm winter, so this action is beneficial to the people. If it were not for this winter, it would have caused harm to the people. Therefore, the Ministry of Agriculture has committed a crime and will be fined one month's salary."

Zhao Yuankai immediately stood up and said, "I accept your order."

The moment he lowered his head, Zhao Yuankai couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. Compared to Lu Chengqing, he was already very lucky.

"Father, I have something to say." Li Tai suddenly stepped forward and bowed to ask for permission.

"Tell me!" Li Shimin frowned slightly.

"Father, since you want to implement a policy that benefits the people, why don't you simply stop the Sinong Temple from selling firewood to outsiders? Now that the market price has risen, it will be more beneficial to the people." Li Tai looked up and bowed, his expression very excited.

(End of this chapter)