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

Chapter 610: Liaodong is too cold, I will not lead the expedition in person (Part )

The Liangyi Hall suddenly became quiet.

It was so quiet that you could even hear your heartbeat.

In fact, all the ministers in the palace could see that there were some problems with this sudden case of treason.

But now, Tang Jian has completely exposed the problem.

The emperor had long known that Princess Gaoyang and others were plotting a rebellion, but he had always condoned it until now when he suddenly arrested them.

This method is not the right way for an emperor!
Especially if there is any instigation, it means that the emperor is deliberately killing people.

If this is the case, who among the ministers in the palace can be at peace?
Li Chengqian sighed, then nodded gently and said, "Yes, ever since they tried to win over my uncle, I have known that they were planning a rebellion."

Changsun Wuji glanced up quickly, then quickly stood up.

Li Chengqian smiled bitterly and said, "At first, someone impeached my uncle for his drunken remarks. I had no choice but to demote him from General of the Right Guard to General of the Left Guard. After that, I had him secretly train with Xue Rengui in Beiyuan for the war against Goguryeo."

Xue Wanche and Xue Rengui both came from the Liaodong battlefield.

Xue Wanche had stayed in Liaodong for a longer time, and he knew best the key points that needed to be paid attention to when fighting in the extremely cold weather in Liaodong.

It was most appropriate for the emperor to let Xue Wanche train his troops in secret.

The ministers nodded in agreement.

Li Chengqian sighed and said, "I only asked my uncle to keep it a secret. However, for some reason, they actually thought that my uncle had been demoted from General of the Right Guard to General of the Left Guard, and that he had suffered a great injustice. That's why they tried to win him over."

Many people in the hall had their mouths twitching slightly.

Xue Wanche was the General of the Right Guard and the Commandant of the Imperial Son-in-law. He was impeached and resented, and then demoted to the General of the Left Guard. Naturally, some people would think that he was wronged.

Moreover, if we look closely at Xue Wanche's drunken remarks, who would have thought that the emperor would secretly entrust him with such an important task.

Who would have thought that he was actually the emperor's spy.

"May I ask, Your Majesty, who was the one who approached and tried to win over the Duke of Wu'an?" Tang Jian bowed solemnly, as some details had to be clarified.

"Well, uncle, you tell me about this." Li Chengqian turned sideways and looked at Xue Wanche.

Xue Wanche bowed and said, "Your Majesty, Prime Minister Tang, this is Princess Gaoyang's husband, Fang Yiai. On the first anniversary of Prime Minister Fang's death, I went to pay my respects and burn incense. Someone urged me to drink, so I drank a few more. Afterwards, the husband came over to chat for a while, and there were some hints in their conversation. I may have answered a little vaguely, and since then, the husband has come more often."

"When did the Duke of Wu'an realize that something was wrong?" Tang Jian asked immediately.

"Fang Yiai said that the Prince of Jing once dreamed of holding the sun and the moon in his hands. Then the Prince of Jing wrote to him personally, asking what the dream of holding the sun and the moon meant." Xue Wanche looked at the letter in Tang Jian's hand and nodded heavily. "That is the Prince of Jing's personal letter."

Tang Jian's face became serious.

Prince of Jing Li Yuanjing had a special status. He was the oldest of Emperor Gaozu's surviving sons.

Especially after the death of Xiangyi County Prince Li Shenfu last year, he was the oldest among all the close royal relatives and had a special status.

Similarly, this kind of peculiarity can sometimes breed ambition.

"As for the final confirmation, it was at the end of last year at Princess Gaoyang's villa. I accompanied Fang Yiai to meet with Prince Jing, Yang Sina, the Minister of Justice, and Princess Gaoyang." Taking a deep breath, Xue Wanche turned to look at Li Chengqian and bowed, "It was after that that I informed Your Majesty of the matter."

Li Chengqian nodded slightly.

Tang Jian pondered for a moment and asked, "Princess Gaoyang was implicated because of the incident involving Bian Ji, which was already mentioned in her confession. Fang Yiai was implicated because of his own career setbacks, and Prince Jing had his own ambitions. What about Yang Sina? He was the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice. Why was he implicated in this matter?"

Yang Sina, the core of this matter lies with him.

He was a direct descendant of the Hongnong Yang family. Once he was confirmed to be plotting treason, many people would be involved in this matter.

"How would I know?" Li Chengqian shook his head slightly and said indifferently, "Logically speaking, I have treated the Hongnong Yang family quite well. Yang Sina is now the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice. He could be the Minister of the Six Ministries or even the Prime Minister in one step. Besides, they are not descendants of Yang Guang."

As soon as the word "Yang Guang" came out, the hearts of the ministers in the hall sank.

Although the emperor said that Yang Sina was not from Yang Guang's lineage, they were former members of the Sui royal family.

Over the years, from Emperor Gaozu to the previous emperor to the current emperor, although many efforts have been made to win over the Hongnong Yang family, in reality, they have suppressed them more than they have won them over.

This was clear to everyone present.

There is no need to explain the reasons.

If we discuss which family among the world's aristocratic families has the most members who are reluctant to leave the former Sui Dynasty, then there is no other family except the Hongnong Yang family.

……

Li Chengqian turned sideways to look at Xue Wanche and said, "Uncle, continue."

"Yes!" Xue Wanche bowed, then looked at Zhangsun Wuji, Tang Jian, and the others and said, "They seem very certain that Your Majesty will personally lead the army if the war against Goguryeo goes smoothly. They are also absolutely certain that Quan Gaisuwen will be able to stop the Tang offensive in Pingrang City."

The faces of all the ministers present suddenly turned gloomy.

Quan Gaisu Wen will definitely be able to withstand the Tang Dynasty's offensive. Given the weather in Liaodong, that means that the Tang Dynasty's attack on Pingrang will end in failure.

Even a crushing defeat.

"They also said that once the army is defeated, countless court officials and soldiers will be killed or injured. At that time, someone will need to take the blame." Xue Wanche looked at Changsun Wuji nervously, and everyone present immediately understood that that person must be Changsun Wuji, the current Sikong and Shangshu Zuo Pushe.

Changsun Wuji clenched his fists tightly, and a hint of ruthlessness flashed in his eyes.

"At that time, they will sneak into the palace, kidnap the queen and the prince, then forge an imperial edict and send people to take over Luoyang. Before Your Majesty can react, they will lead the army north to rebel in the name of clearing the court." Xue Wanche said this and bowed solemnly.

Clear the court.

Xue Wanche's words connected everything from the beginning to the end, forming a closed loop.

No one can question it anymore.

Tang Jian turned to look at Li Chengqian and said, "May I ask Your Majesty, will Your Majesty personally lead the expedition against Goguryeo?"

Everyone turned around and looked at Li Chengqian.

The reason why Yang Sina and others wanted to rebel was that they were certain that Li Chengqian would go to Goguryeo in the future.

Li Chengqian shook his head and said with a bit of amusement, "I was going to lead the army in person, but why did I never know? In fact, all these years, I have always said that I would not personally lead the army to Goguryeo. Many arrangements, both internal and external, were made based on my decision not to personally lead the army to Goguryeo. If I wanted to personally lead the army to Goguryeo, why would I do this?"

Zhangsun Wuji pondered for a moment, then bowed and said, "Your Majesty, if the war with Goguryeo goes smoothly and the army besieges Pingrang City, wouldn't Your Majesty be tempted?"

Li Chengqian blinked, leaned back, closed his eyes and thought for a moment. Finally, he said calmly, "No, I know myself well. A gentleman does not stand under a dangerous wall. I know very well in my heart that even if the battle on the front line goes smoothly, I will only go to Pingzhou for a while and then return to Luoyang. Liaodong is too cold and I don't like it."

When the ministers heard this, they couldn't help but look up.

Liaodong is too cold and Li Chengqian doesn't like it.

Looking down, they couldn't help but feel a little funny.

In fact, they all understood Yang Sina's logic. When faced with the easy opportunity of destroying a country, even the emperor could not hide his excitement.

They hadn't thought of this before, but now that they think about it, this possibility is indeed not small.

If there were one or two more people who instigated this, the emperor would almost certainly go to the Liaodong army and reap the wonderful fruit of destroying the country.

Especially for an emperor like Li Chengqian, whose predecessor had made great achievements, it was inevitable that he had the idea of ​​surpassing his predecessor.

In this case, it was almost inevitable that he would go to the front line of the army.

I have to admit that Yang Sina and others are really good at understanding people's hearts.

Generally speaking, when encountering such a situation, it depends on whether the people around the emperor can persuade him.

Usually this person is Zhangsun Wuji, who will leave Chang'an and go to the emperor to dissuade him, but Yang may have other means.

By then, the Emperor and Zhangsun Wuji would probably go to the Goguryeo front together. If the army was defeated by Yang's tactics, then...

This is another Yang Xuangan coup, another logically closed loop.

……

The ministers could not help but look up at Li Chengqian who had a calm expression.

But unexpectedly, the emperor finally decided not to go to Liaodong.

Because Liaodong is too cold.

This reason was enough to convince most people in the hall, including Tang Jian.

Because people who have been to Liaodong know how cold the winter is there, so even if they were asked to go now, they would not go.

Li Chengqian raised his head and looked at everyone, his expression slightly colder. "My Lords, I have to admit that their plan was very reasonable. They might even have succeeded. It's just a pity that Gao Yang couldn't help but send people to spy on the palace and observe the celestial phenomena in advance. They ran into the imperial guards on patrol, and because of their guilty conscience, the whole conspiracy was exposed."

The ministers nodded slightly and looked back at everything. It was inevitable that Princess Gaoyang sent people to spy on the palace.

But she did it too early, the emperor hadn't left yet.

I can't help it.

"To be honest, my lords, when I first captured Chen Xuanyun, I was also a little hesitant. After all, the Tang Dynasty's eastern expedition to Goguryeo is imminent. Exposing this conspiracy now would be extremely dangerous." Li Chengqian looked at everyone in the hall.

Everyone bowed their hands.

They understood that the most dangerous person here was Yang Sina.

Yang Sina's father, Yang Gongren, was the Shizhong in the early years of the Wude period, and later served as the Zhongshu Ling and the Inspector General of the Left Guard.

Although Yang Gongren was dismissed from the position of prime minister in the early years of Zhenguan, within a few years, Yang Shidao succeeded Wei Zheng as the Shizhong and became the prime minister.

The entire Hongnong Yang clan had a deep connection with the Tang Dynasty. There were not necessarily many princes-in-law and princesses, but almost every emperor had concubines from the Yang clan in his harem.

No one knows how many descendants of the Yang family there are in the court, and no one knows how many officials have marriage ties with the Yang family.

Once the entire Hongnong Yang family is forced to rebel, should the Eastern Expedition continue, and should the Tang Dynasty continue?

Even if these people did not openly rebel, even if they only changed the tax figures, deceived the court and failed to collect taxes, and oppressed the people and forced them to rebel, these alone were enough to throw Li Chengqian and the entire court into chaos.

Li Chengqian turned sideways to look at Xue Wanche, sighed, and said, "When I first heard about this conspiracy, I had already thought about how to deal with it."

The ministers looked up subconsciously.

"That is, when I am on my eastern tour of Luoyang, I will transfer Yang Sina from the position of Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice to the position of Governor of Yazhou, and have the Prince of Jiangxia and Lu Chengqing keep an eye on him."

Li Chengqian looked at the ministers and said, "Also, his brother Yang Siyi, I transferred him to the post of Governor of Guizhou in March. And Yang Sixun was transferred to the post of Governor of Hongzhou last year. The three brothers are separated in the north and south, so it will be difficult for them to cause rebellion."

Yazhou is in the southwest of Bashu, Guizhou is in the south of Qianzhou, and Hongzhou is in Jiangyou.

Yazhou, Guizhou, and Hongzhou.

The three places are located in different parts of the world, thousands of miles apart. Not only is it difficult to transmit information, but they are also unfamiliar with the place and are being monitored. Any desire to rebel is just a dream.

The ministers nodded slightly, feeling that the emperor's actions were indeed careful and steady.

"Even if the three brothers try to rebel in the future, the war with Goguryeo will be over by then, and I will have time to calmly extinguish their ambitions."

Li Chengqian slammed his palm heavily on the table, looked at everyone and said, "However, Gao Yang allowed Chen Xuanyun to spy on the palace and observe the celestial phenomena, and even observed the celestial phenomena more than once. This shows that they can't wait any longer. It is even possible that they will disrupt the army's logistics and cause the defeat of the Goguryeo War, thus achieving their ambitions. This is especially true when I have no intention of going to Goguryeo."

The ministers nodded and sighed, this was indeed the case.

If the emperor does not go to Goguryeo, their plans will be greatly hindered.

At that time, do you think they would stop all their plans or take a gamble and risk everything?
If it was planned by the Hongnong Yang family, they would most likely endure it and wait for the next time, but with Princess Gaoyang around, everything would be out of control.

The ministers couldn't help but sigh, wondering why the Yang family had found Princess Gaoyang to join forces.

Princess Gaoyang is uncontrollable, and there is also Chen Xuanyun who always causes trouble whenever he does something.

He was caught by the imperial guards for spying on the palace and observing the celestial phenomena, and the emperor was helpless.

"Your Majesty's words make sense. I agree with arresting him." Tang Jian bowed and said, "I just don't know what Your Majesty plans to do next."

Li Chengqian took a deep breath and said, "We need to control the situation. After all, the army is about to march east, and I don't intend to implicate too many people. Therefore, if we want to arrest anyone, we must have solid evidence. We can't just arrest someone based on their nonsense... like the King of Jing."

The ministers looked up subconsciously.

"Prince Jing is my uncle and the head of the royal family. We cannot convict him based solely on Gao Yang's confession. However, Gao Yang's confession, plus his uncle's accusation and the handwritten letter, I think are enough to confiscate Prince Jing's mansion. What do you think?" Li Chengqian looked straight at everyone.

"Yes!" The ministers bowed in agreement.

"First, thoroughly investigate the Jingwang Mansion. At the same time, pry open Fang Yiai's mouth and find all evidence of crimes committed by Princess Gaoyang and the Jingwang Mansion." Li Chengqian paused and looked at the ministers. "If we can find any evidence of Yang Sina's involvement in the rebellion in these two houses, then arrest him."

"Yes!" The ministers could not help but bow.

At this time, no one could express any objection.

"Very good. Search and confiscate the Prince of Jing's mansion. The Duke of Pengcheng will be in charge, with the Ministry of Justice, the Dali Temple, the Censorate, the Imperial Clan's Imperial Court, and the Yongzhou Prefecture also participating." Li Chengqian turned to look at Zhangsun Wuji and said, "As for Yang Sine, send people to keep a close watch on his mansion. If anyone escapes, arrest them immediately. If anyone burns anything, rush into the mansion and seal it off."

"Yes!" Changsun Wuji bowed solemnly.

"My Lords," Li Chengqian said, looking up at the crowd. "I have decisively decided to act, partly because the situation compels me to do so, and partly because, at this moment, their plans are still in the planning stage, not the time to act. If we act then, we will kill many people."

The ministers were instantly awed and all bowed their hands, saying, "Your Majesty is wise."

"Everyone, get busy." Li Chengqian raised his hand while sitting on the imperial couch, then said, "After seven days, I will go to Luoyang as usual. Within seven days, I will investigate whatever steps I can take and will not involve anyone else."

"Your Majesty is benevolent." This time, the ministers finally felt relieved.

If the emperor leaves Chang'an as expected, things can be controlled to the greatest extent possible.

This is something everyone wants to see.

……

The Liangyi Hall fell silent again.

Li Chengqian turned sideways and looked to one side.

Xu Jingzong, Liu Rengui, Li Yifu, Pei Yan and others subconsciously stood up and bowed.

Li Chengqian said calmly, "Do you think I've been too lenient this time? Will there be too many hidden dangers?"

The four of them looked at each other in bewilderment.

In the end, Xu Jingzong was the first to bow and said, "I think your majesty has handled it very appropriately."

"Why?"

"Your Majesty has explained everything clearly today. The ministers are naturally grateful, but also wary." Xu Jingzong bowed and said, "It will be difficult for others to do anything in the future. At least during the Eastern Expedition, the world is stable. As for the future, if the Eastern Expedition is victorious, people's hearts will naturally be at peace."

"Xu Qing is still very good at talking." Li Chengqian nodded in satisfaction, then said calmly, "Issue this decree. From today onwards, during the Eastern Expedition, all county and prefecture clerks and military officers will submit monthly reports on local affairs to the Ministry of Personnel to monitor local lawlessness."

"Yes!" Xu Jingzong, Li Yifu, Liu Rengui and Pei Yan bowed subconsciously. However, Li Yifu and Pei Yan's eyes lit up first.

The registrar was in charge of recording all the documents in the Cao department, reporting good and evil, and supervising the affairs of local officials.

All of a sudden, the emperor's hand penetrated into the local prefecture and county supervision through the Menxia Province.

The power of the Menxia Province also increased greatly.

Unfortunately, it was only during the army's eastern expedition.

(End of this chapter)