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

Chapter 654: Coin Casting Furnace Explosion (Part )
On the sixth day of September, the autumn weather is bright and beautiful.

Li Chengqian, dressed in a black robe with a golden dragon pattern, calmly walked into the Liangyi Hall.

Nine prime ministers including Zhangsun Wuji, Li Ji, Tang Jian, Liu Dewei, Yu Zhining, Zhang Xuansu, Ma Zhou, Lai Ji, and Yan Lide, as well as six ministers including Zhang Xingcheng, Yin Jun, Cui Dunli, Zhangsun Xiang, and Chu Suiliang all stood on both sides of the hall.

When Li Chengqian sat down on the imperial couch, everyone raised their tablets and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty, we pay our respects to you. May your Majesty live a long and healthy life."

"Please stand up, everyone." Li Chengqian raised his hand slightly.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!" The ministers stood up.

Li Chengqian glanced at everyone and asked with a smile, "How have you all been these past five days?"

On the first day of September, after awarding military rewards, Li Chengqian directly gave all officials a five-day holiday to enjoy the great victory.

During these five days, the entire Chang'an city was as lively as the New Year.

A large amount of rewards were distributed from the palace, the Shaofu, and the Taifu, and then flowed into the people through the hands of soldiers and officials.

All the ministers couldn't help but smile.

Of course, there are also a lot of copper coins.

Zhangsun Wuji stood up and said, "Your Majesty, the victory of the great battle has brought joy to the whole nation. Congratulations to Your Majesty!"

"Congratulations, Your Majesty!" The ministers followed suit and bowed, their expressions becoming serious.

"Congratulations to the Tang Dynasty!" Li Chengqian smiled and sighed, then raised his head and asked, "How are the soldiers in the army?"

"Your Majesty, the soldiers who stayed in Chang'an for garrison have been given a three-month leave and are allowed to return home to visit their families; those who were transferred back to the local Zhechoufu have already set out to return home." Li Ji stood up seriously.

Li Chengqian nodded and said, "The rewards have been distributed. For those involving local prefectures and counties, we will supervise them to ensure that they are fulfilled."

"Yes!" Li Ji bowed and said, "Your Majesty, there are bound to be some..."

"Let the local Zhechoufu restrain them." Li Chengqian raised his head and looked at Li Ji calmly. "If there is anything, let the local Zhechou Duwei come forward to negotiate."

"Yes!" Li Ji bowed and then stepped back.

"This matter is of great importance, and all the nobles must pay close attention to it. Our Tang Dynasty established the world through military achievements, and we cannot allow our soldiers to shed blood and tears." Li Chengqian swept his eyes over everyone present.

"Yes!" The ministers looked solemn.

"Next February's imperial examination will be the largest since I ascended the throne. This time, Duke Ying will be the chief examiner." Li Chengqian looked at Li Ji, nodded, and said, "There have been no imperial examinations for two years. I wonder how many scholars are sharpening their swords for next year. Therefore, the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Rites, and Yongzhou Prefecture must cooperate with Duke Ying to handle this properly."

"We obey your order!" All the ministers bowed in unison.

"Very good. This year's autumn grain must be delivered to the Wannian Granary as quickly as possible." Li Chengqian looked at Yan Lide and said, "Mr. Yan, you will be in charge of this matter."

"I obey your order." Yan Lide stood up and bowed solemnly.

Li Chengqian breathed a sigh of relief, then asked, "What else do you have to say?"

Tang Jian stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, King Go Baozang of Goguryeo, King Kim Chunchu of Silla, and King Buyeo Yici of Baekje request an audience."

"No." Li Chengqian waved his hand and said, "Let's put the affairs of the three countries aside for now. There might be some conflicts between them. The Honglu Temple should make detailed arrangements for this matter.

The affairs of An Dong cannot be completely abandoned just because peace has been achieved. A large amount of food and fodder still needs to be sent to the army every year. Only when the Three Kingdoms are destroyed can the affairs be put to rest."

"Yes!" All the ministers bowed in unison, their expressions solemn.

The ultimate goal of the Tang Dynasty is to destroy the three kingdoms of Dongdao. This is what the officials in the court need to understand most clearly.

At present, the destruction of Pingrang City has only greatly weakened the national military strength of Goguryeo.

Next, he provoked Baekje and Silla to plot against Goguryeo.

Their second step is to use the strength of these two countries to destroy Goguryeo together.

Of course, this is only the second step.

The third step was that the people of Goguryeo were angry that their country was destroyed by Baekje and Silla, and then turned around and used the power of the Tang Dynasty to exterminate Baekje and Silla.

After the Three Kingdoms were destroyed, the remaining people of the Three Kingdoms could no longer unite, and even opposed each other.

In this way, they will not resist the rule of the Tang Dynasty.

Unifying the Three Kingdoms in this way would ensure that the people's livelihood in the Three Kingdoms was sufficient to guarantee the minimum standard, and the burden on the Tang Dynasty would be minimal.

The people's hearts turned to the Tang Dynasty, and the world was at peace.

This is the ultimate goal of Li Chengqian and the other officials in the court.

"What else?" Li Chengqian raised his head and looked at the ministers.

All the ministers shook their heads. They had just returned from a five-day vacation, so what else could there be to do?

"Okay, then today..." Before Li Chengqian finished his words, suddenly, a muffled "bang" sound came from outside the hall.

The sound is not loud, but very deep and muffled.

Li Chengqian suddenly raised his head and looked outside the hall.

While the officials around were solemn, many people couldn't help but look back slightly.

"Come here, what happened?" Li Chengqian suddenly shouted angrily. "Your Majesty!" Li Xuansi, the Imperial Guard's General, walked in quickly and said with a bow, "Your Majesty, there seems to be an explosion coming from Mount Zhongnan. The whole city can hear it. What is it? I have sent people to investigate."

Li Chengqian tapped the imperial desk lightly and turned to look at Zhangsun Wuji: "Uncle, why does that sound a bit like thunder?"

Zhang Sun Wuji suddenly raised his head, then glanced outside the palace and said, "Your Majesty, it does look like it, but it's a sunny day today, so it shouldn't be. Is there really something wrong?"

These days, the most talked about thing in Chang'an City is nothing more than the details of the army's destruction of Pingrang City.

As the army that conquered Pingrang City returned to the capital, the news spread throughout Chang'an City.

There were stories like Xue Rengui killing Gai Suwen with a spear, using a kite to attract lightning and destroy Pingrang City, etc. Especially the latter, this magical method of attracting lightning was even more attractive, especially when he was connected with the emperor, it attracted even more attention.

So even in late autumn, you can still see many people attracting lightning outside Chang'an.

But how could thunder be caused by such weather?

But now something has happened.

"Qiu Shenjie!" Li Chengqian suddenly looked to the side.

Qiu Shenji, the general of the Right Jinwu Guard, dressed in red and golden armor, strode out from behind the pillars and bowed solemnly to Li Chengqian, "Your Majesty!"

"You go and see for yourself what's going on." Li Chengqian narrowed his eyes.

"Yes!" Qiu Shenji bowed, then turned around and strode quickly out of the hall. Soon, a faint sound of horse hooves was heard outside the hall.

There was a solemn atmosphere in the hall.

Li Ji stood behind Changsun Wuji and looked at him carefully.

It seemed that Changsun Wuji was more immersed in the experiment of someone trying to attract lightning, and he did not notice that the emperor had been demonstrating his control over Chang'an intentionally or unintentionally.

General Qiu Shenqi of the Right Jinwu Guard, General Xue Rengui of the Left Jinwu Guard, General Li Anyan of the Left Thousand Oxen Guard, General Xue Guwuren of the Right Thousand Oxen Guard, Dai Zhide, Junior Secretary of the Dali Temple, Qiu Xinggong, Governor of Yongzhou, and the legendary Hundred Cavalry Division, the city of Chang'an was already in the hands of the emperor.

Li Ji lowered his head slightly. Everything about Changsun Wuji now seemed very contradictory.

He was happy to see the emperor's control over the world increase, but he was determined not to give up his own power...

Li Ji vaguely smelled something bad.

……

Qiu Shenji strode into the hall and bowed earnestly to the emperor on the imperial couch, saying, "Your Majesty, we've investigated thoroughly. It wasn't some lightning incident. It was a furnace in a valley in Mount Zhongnan that suddenly exploded, causing a massive blast that was heard throughout Chang'an."

The valley has a special terrain and is not too far from Chang'an, so the sound was transmitted to Chang'an City in an instant, and even the imperial palace in the north of the city could hear the sound clearly.

Li Chengqian breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Since it wasn't a lightning-induced incident, that's good. By the way, what kind of furnace was that? The explosion was so loud, how many people were injured? Have the people from Yongzhou Prefecture gone there?"

"Your Majesty!" Qiu Shenji bowed heavily and said, "Your Majesty, it's a coin-minting furnace!"

Li Chengqian was slightly stunned, his head seemed to be confused for a moment: "What did you say?"

"Your Majesty, it was a coin casting furnace that exploded. It had been in operation for a long time and was used to cast counterfeit coins." Qiu Shenji bowed and said, "I don't know what went wrong, but the coin casting furnace exploded directly, and the fragments injured dozens of people inside and outside."

Li Chengqian's eyes narrowed. "Whose coin-casting furnace is it?"

"We don't know yet." Qiu Shenji bowed slightly and said, "I've done some investigation and found that most of the people inside and outside the palace were Kunlun slaves. Some were guards who had already escaped. Several of the people in charge were killed in the explosion."

Killed by explosion?
Li Ji raised his head slightly.

Was he really killed in the explosion, or was it just a fake one?
Is the emperor setting up this trap?
Li Chengqian took a deep breath and said, "Investigate. The Left and Right Qianniu Guards, the Left and Right Jinwu Guards, the Dali Temple, the Ministry of Justice, and the Yongzhou Prefecture. This matter is under the command of the Duke of Tianshui County. The person behind this must be found out thoroughly."

"Yes!" Qiu Shenji bowed solemnly.

"Also, transport all the bad coins and copper ingots stored in the mountains back to the Shaofu and have them melted down to make new coins." After a brief pause, Li Chengqian gritted his teeth and said, "As long as the person behind this can be found, all the new coins made by the Shaofu will be rewarded to those involved."

"Yes!" Qiu Shenji responded loudly.

All the officials in the hall couldn't help but look up, trying to figure out how huge the number was.

When the money was distributed, everyone would get at least one string of coins.

"Okay, that's it." Li Chengqian stood up expressionlessly.

All the ministers bowed and said, "We respectfully send your Majesty off!"

……

Li Chengqian walked out of the Liangyi Hall and sat on the imperial sedan chair.

His expression had completely calmed down.

Turning sideways, he looked at Xu An beside him and said, "Pass the order, let Concubine Du sleep with you tonight!"

"Yes!" Xu An bowed solemnly, then walked quickly towards Ganlu Gate.

Li Chengqian raised his head, closed his eyes slightly, and tapped lightly on the armrest with the five fingers of his right hand.

again and again.

(End of this chapter)