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

Chapter 657: Minister Gao Zhizhou, the Chief Censor, impeaches Prime Minister Lai Ji (Part )
"Your Majesty, this thing has probably been prepared for some time." Changsun Wuji raised his head and looked at Li Chengqian with a serious expression.

Li Chengqian nodded calmly and said, "Two years ago, during the confiscation of the Yang family's property, a large number of copper coins were seized. So I asked Li Yifu to secretly investigate the current situation of bad coins throughout the country. The results were shocking, uncle. Every time there is a major war in the court, there is an overflow of bad coins throughout the country. This time, during the eastern expedition to Goguryeo, it was the same. Someone has taken advantage of the loophole again."

"What is your Majesty's plan?" Changsun Wuji handed the memorial back.

"Let's take it step by step." Li Chengqian raised his head slightly and said, "Inside the Ministry of Finance, we will set up a Ministry of Finance to specifically control the illegal money in the world. It will be directly controlled by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Personnel. If there is any movement, the Qianniu Guard and the Jinwu Guard will be directly dispatched to deal with it. At critical moments, local government troops can be called in."

"What about the Ministry of Justice?" Changsun Wuji looked up. The Ministry of Justice was the key to handling this matter legally.

"The Ministry of Justice!" Li Chengqian sighed softly and said, "Uncle, don't you understand? The reason why bad money is so rampant is because of the inaction of the Ministry of Justice, as well as the local Sima and the Fa Cao. But what you said does make sense. Let the Minister of Justice be involved in this in name only. How about you take charge?"

The Minister of Justice represents the entire Ministry of Justice. With him in it, who can say it is wrong!

"I obey your order." Changsun Wuji bowed solemnly.

"Uncle, take your time." Li Chengqian's expression grew serious, and he said, "Let's ignore the bad money first. Let's kill people first. Find the people who minted and distributed the bad money and kill them in large numbers. Then we can decide on the issuance and recall of the money. If we do this in the same way as uncle did before, they will think this is a continuation of the Du family case."

Changsun Wuji suddenly looked up and looked at Li Chengqian in astonishment.

It turns out that all of this was the emperor's trick from the very beginning.

"Yes!" Changsun Wuji bowed seriously.

He knew in his heart that the emperor was protecting the imperial power.

However, his methods were so accurate, numerous, and silent that even Changsun Wuji had not noticed anything before.

However, Changsun Wuji never imagined that the emperor's methods were far from over.

……

November 26th.

Liangyi Hall, morning court.

When the emperor, dressed in a scarlet and yellow dragon robe, sat down on the imperial couch, Zhangsun Wuji, standing at the head of the ministers, led them in a joint bow and said, "Your Majesty, we pay our respects. May Your Majesty live a long and healthy life."

"All of you, please stand up." The emperor's voice came from above.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Changsun Wuji bowed calmly and stood up straight.

The eunuch from the Ministry of Internal Affairs stepped forward and said loudly, "If you have anything to say, please report it. If not, please dismiss the court."

"Your Majesty, I, the Chief Censor Gao Zhizhou, have a report." Gao Zhizhou calmly stood out from among the ministers, then held the tablet and bowed.

Changsun Wuji leaned slightly to the side, his expression calm, but with a hint of surprise in his eyes. Who was going to be in trouble?

"Tell me!" Li Chengqian raised his head calmly.

"Your Majesty!" Gao Zhizhou bowed and said, "The other day, the Luozhou Recorder reported that a hundred hectares of hidden farmland had been discovered in Luoning County, Luozhou, where taxes had not been paid for six years. Further investigation revealed that this farmland was part of a six hundred hectares farmland owned by a high-ranking official in the court in Luoning."

"Six hundred hectares isn't a huge number. Which of the royal families has six thousand hectares?" Li Chengqian raised his head slightly and asked, "Is this the total six hundred hectares, or just a portion of it?"

"Your Majesty, it is part of it. The official's family has 2,000 hectares of land registered, but it is in Guanzhong. 600 hectares of land are not registered in his name, but in the name of his old servant. 500 hectares of land are taxed, and 100 hectares of land are taxed."

"One hundred hectares, ten thousand mu, hidden fields, this is not a small number!" Li Chengqian sighed and said, "Tell me, who?"

"Your Majesty, it's the Imperial Court Assistant Minister Lai Ji," Gao Zhizhou said, bowing. "I, the Chief Censor Gao Zhizhou, impeach Prime Minister Lai Ji for concealing his land and evading taxes. Your Majesty, please investigate thoroughly."

Lai Ji, Prime Minister.

All the ministers in the hall couldn't help but look at Lai Ji, even Lai Ji himself was stunned.

Changsun Wuji's face was even darker.

Lai Ji, is he just greedy for this little money?

Originally, Changsun Wuji wanted Lai Ji to participate in the investigation of illegal money, but now everything is ruined.

In the Liangyi Hall, Lai Ji quickly stepped forward, bowing and anxiously saying, "Your Majesty, I don't know about this matter!"

Li Chengqian looked up at Gao Zhizhou and asked, "Not everyone dares to investigate the prime minister's land. How did you find out about this?"

"Your Majesty!" Gao Zhizhou bowed and spoke seriously, "Dozens of meritorious soldiers from the Hengnong Zhechong Prefecture, while receiving their granted land in Luoning County, noticed an error in the amount. They eventually discovered that the Prime Minister's family was appropriating the land. They were originally planning to file a complaint with the Emperor in Chang'an, but the Luozhou Prefecture got ahead of them and reported it to me."

Changsun Wuji suddenly turned sideways and glanced at Li Ji behind him out of the corner of his eye.

The distribution of land to meritorious soldiers in the army was Li Ji's responsibility. Why was it not Li Ji who reported this matter, but Gao Zhizhou who came to impeach?

If it was Li Ji who made the memorial, there would be some room for maneuver, but Gao Zhizhou was the Chief Censor.

Once he impeached, there was no room for maneuver.

And you can't say anything about him.

Because this matter involved meritorious military officers who were about to come to Chang'an to file a complaint with the emperor. If things really came to that point, it would be troublesome.

Could it be that Gao Zhizhou is Li Ji's man?

But in an instant, Changsun Wuji shook his head and rejected this idea.

If Gao Zhizhou was really Li Ji's man, then Li Ji would never expose Gao Zhizhou just because of this incident...

In an instant, Changsun Wuji's breathing became much lighter.

Everything is so obvious, who else could it be?

Of course it’s the emperor.

The emperor had been pushing for the practice of granting land to soldiers with military merit to check the land, but he simply handed it over to Li Ji to be responsible for it.

Changsun Wuji knew all of this very well. The reason he didn't intervene before was that he never thought that this matter would involve Lai Ji.

Over the years, Lai Ji and Zhang Sun Wuji have been very close. Of course, Zhang Sun Wuji didn't know whether the emperor knew about it, but now, Lai Ji was not careful and was used as a "chicken" to scare the monkeys.

"Bang, bang, bang!" A series of crisp knocking sounds were heard on the table, and Changsun Wuji's expression suddenly became solemn.

……

Li Chengqian sat on the Danbi, his eyes fixed indifferently on Lai Ji. He sighed softly and said, "Lai Qing, I remember that your honors, titles, official positions, and official positions all paid you quite a bit. Do you really need the taxes from these one hundred hectares of land?"

"Your Majesty!" Lai Ji couldn't help but kneel down on the ground. This time he kowtowed directly and said, "I acknowledge my guilt."

Li Chengqian looked at Lai Ji deeply, shook his head, and said, "No, you don't know. I believe that you have been unaware of this matter from the beginning, and even now. But are you really unaware? I think you are obviously deliberately unaware."

The ministers in the hall were in a slight uproar for a moment.

The Lai family occupied 600 hectares of farmland in Luoning County. Is this a lot?

not much.

Lai Ji was the Yellow Gate Minister and the Prime Minister who also participated in government affairs.

There is also Lai Heng, who is the Prince's Secretary.

However, the one who really calls the shots in the entire Lai family is Prime Minister Lai Ji.

There are many things that the people below do that they deliberately don’t want the people above them to know, but do they really not know?
"Aren't you surprised that such a huge amount of money comes in every year?" Li Chengqian's words revealed the deepest reality here.

Who doesn’t check accounts at the end of the year?

Even the emperor would call on the Duzhi Langzhong and the three provinces and six ministries to review the accounts of the whole country at the end of each year to calculate the expenses and income of the year and make preparations for the next year.

A small amount of money is fine, but tax evasion on hundreds of hectares of land is not a small amount!

"Your Majesty!" Lai Ji could not help but kowtow and said, "Your Majesty, I am guilty!"

With one word, all the ministers in the hall glanced at Ji lightly.

Everyone was smart and understood immediately that even if Lai Ji didn't know about this matter, he must have heard a sentence or two about it.

However, he chose to turn a blind eye.

But now everything has been found out.

Li Chengqian raised his head calmly and said, "The Prime Minister is taking the lead in concealing taxes. This is not a good sign. Imperial Censor, what do you think should be the punishment for this matter?"

"Your Majesty!" Sun Fujia stepped forward, clasping his hands and saying, "According to the law, he should be dismissed from all official positions, given sixty strokes of the cane, and have his outstanding taxes repaid."

"Just sixty strokes of the cane?" Li Chengqian looked at Sun Fujia in surprise.

"Your Majesty, the law is this: for every acre concealed, ten lashes will be imposed. Ten acres will be punished with an additional lash, up to a maximum of sixty lashes, and so on." Sun Fujia bowed and said, "If you exceed this limit, you could easily be beaten to death."

The breathing of the ministers in the hall became heavier.

This old guy Sun Fujia was actually provoking the emperor.

Li Chengqian sneered softly and said, "Come here, pass on the order..."

"Your Majesty!" Zhangsun Wuji couldn't help but stand up and said with a bow, "Your Majesty, the law has been established, and it must be so. Your Majesty can revise the law in the future, but you cannot punish today for today's crimes based on tomorrow's laws."

Li Chengqian raised his eyes slightly, then leaned back slightly and asked, "What do you think, gentlemen?"

The ministers' breath was held in their throat. How could they respond to this?

"Your Majesty!" Xu Jingzong stood up from the crowd of ministers and said with a bow, "Your Majesty, I believe that what the Minister of Justice said is correct. It is not appropriate to punish a present crime based on future laws. However, Your Majesty, for many years, you have required all officials to strictly discipline themselves and abide by Tang laws. However, what the Prime Minister did today is quite deceiving the emperor."

Changsun Wuji's face darkened and he turned sideways to look at Xu Jingzong with a terrifyingly cold look in his eyes.

Xu Jingzong looked calm and bowed solemnly to Changsun Wuji.

"Your Majesty, I think it should be so!" Li Yifu stood up from a position behind and reported with a bow.

Even if the ministers in the palace were slow to think, they could instantly see that Xu Jingzong and Li Yifu, two people who had been with the emperor for many years, must be speaking in the emperor's opinion.

I thought quickly and immediately understood the real reason.

Lai Ji was the Yellow Gate Minister and the Vice-Chancellor, and Xu Jingzong happened to be the Yellow Gate Minister. Only when Lai Ji was dismissed from his position did Xu Jingzong have the opportunity to take a step further and become the Prime Minister.

Once he became the prime minister, Xu Jingzong would no longer have to care too much about Changsun Wuji.

There is also Li Yifu. As a Censor-in-Chief, he was obviously eyeing the Yellow Gate Minister left behind after Xu Jingzong was promoted.

On the one hand, these two guys agreed with the emperor, and on the other hand, they also paved many paths for their own future.

"Pass the order." The emperor's voice sounded again, and all the ministers immediately bowed.

Sitting on the imperial couch, Li Chengqian narrowed his eyes and spoke, "The Imperial Court Assistant Minister Lai Ji has been convicted of concealing ten thousand acres of land and evading taxes. According to the law, all his honors, official titles, and noble rank shall be revoked. He shall also be dismissed from his posts as Imperial Court Assistant Minister and Vice Minister of State Affairs, fined one hundred acres of land, and ordered to pay back taxes. In consideration of his long service, he shall be demoted to the position of Governor of Tingzhou and shall not be allowed to return to the court without imperial decree."

He was expelled from the capital and was not allowed to return to the court without permission.

This means that my life here will be like this, and there will be no chance to come back again.

Changsun Wuji wanted to say something, but he didn't know what to say for a moment.

The emperor simply stripped Lai Ji of all his honors, official positions, and titles, removed him from his position as prime minister, and demoted him to the position of local governor.

Even if Changsun Wuji pleaded again, the final result would not be better than this.

Besides, the emperor has already issued an edict.

Finally, Zhangsun Wuji and his ministers could only bow and say, "Yes!"

(End of this chapter)