Tang Dynasty, my wife Wu Zetian

Chapter 40 Xu Jingzong and Shangguan Yi

Li Zhi has been very busy these two days.

Near the end of the month, the Ministry of Personnel's assessment work was nearing completion and the results had been submitted to him.

Officials below the fifth rank can be promoted or demoted according to the procedures, but senior officials within the fifth rank need to be carefully considered.

According to the Tang system, there should be seven regular prime ministers in the Tang Dynasty, namely two Zhongshu Ling, two Shizhong, one Shangshu Ling, one Shangshu Zuo Pushe and one Shangshu You Pushe.

Li Shimin served as the Minister of the Chancellery, and no one dared to take up this position, so the quota became six.

There are exactly six prime ministers in the court right now.

They were: Zhongshu Ling Zhangsun Wuji and Lai Ji; Shizhong Cui Dunli and Han Ai; Shangshu Zuo Pushe Yu Zhining; and Li Ji, a third-rank official in the Secretariat.

The first five were regular prime ministers, while Li Ji only had the decision-making power in the Council of State, and was considered an extra-staff prime minister.

The currently vacant Shangshu You Pushe position is a very critical position that will determine the changes in the situation in the court.

The court is like a bowl of water. If it tilts too much on one side, the water will spill out.

By then, the court would be in chaos, problems would occur frequently in various places, and the emperor's daily workload would increase significantly, which was something Li Zhi did not want to see.

Therefore, even if he wanted to slowly support his trusted and wise ministers, he could not do as he pleased. He had to carefully consider the candidates to minimize the disturbance.

He wanted to appoint Liu Rengui as prime minister, but Liu Rengui's official position was too low and he was not sure how the officials would react.

Therefore, the last time he personally selected Liu Rengui to participate in the test explosion, it was a test.

He was very satisfied with the result.

Li Ji, Xu Jingzong and Zhangsun Wuji all guessed that Li Zhi would appoint him as prime minister, and their reaction was to win him over rather than reject him.

This shows that in the minds of the ministers, Liu Rengui's promotion to a high position was acceptable.

This is actually normal. Although Liu Rengui has a bad reputation, his qualifications are high enough.

Han Ai scolded him for being illiterate, but as they worked in the same government office, he knew that Liu Rengui was indeed talented, but he just didn't want to admit it.

In everyone's mind, Liu Rengui was classified as a person with a bad character and unsuccessful career, just like Xu Jingzong before him.

Now the emperor suddenly wants to use him. It is because he has worked hard for many years and his luck has finally come. Although he is jealous, he is not jealous.

If Li Zhi had directly appointed Di Renjie as prime minister, the ministers would have been furious and would have given up and laid down, and Emperor Li Zhi would not have been able to rule the country.

Having said that, although Li Zhi chose Liu Rengui, it was only because of his good reputation in history.

Historical books can be used as reference, but they cannot be fully trusted. Xu Jingzong, Li Yifu and others are examples of this.

That's why Li Zhi called Liu Rengui over and wanted to interview him in person.

When Li Zhi saw Liu Rengui enter the hall, he was about to speak when he suddenly saw Liu Rengui bow to him and then perform a "dance ceremony".

Li Zhi recalled the time when Xue Rengui first met him alone, smiled slightly, raised his hand and said, "Mr. Liu, there is no need to be restrained. Just sit down and talk."

Ask Wang Fusheng to move a chair over.

Liu Rengui thanked him and sat down.

Li Zhi pondered for a moment and asked, "Liu Qing, both Tubo and Tuyuhun have accused each other of attacking them. What do you think of this?"

Liu Rengui pondered, "One of the two countries must be lying. Tuyuhun has been plagued by internal strife lately and should have no energy left to attack Tubo. Therefore, I believe Tubo is more likely to be lying."

Li Zhi nodded and asked, "What do you think about the war with the Western Turks?"

Liu Rengui said: "I believe that when dealing with Turkic cavalry, we should focus on speed and surprise, making it difficult for them to gather. Even with a small number of troops, we can still win."

Li Zhi smiled and said, "Fu Sheng, pour Liu Qing a cup of tea."

Liu Rengui was pleased to see that his answer satisfied the emperor, and he felt a little more encouraged. He took a sip of tea and said, "Your Majesty, I think we should add a department to the Ordnance Supervisory Office to specialize in the research of gunpowder-related ordnance."

Li Zhi smiled and said, "There's no rush. Let's wait until the Sanmenxia waterway is opened before we consider the military use of gunpowder."

Li Zhi asked Liu Rengui several other questions, and Liu Rengui's answers were very insightful.

Li Zhi finally felt relieved and ordered Liu Rengui to leave, while he lowered his head to continue dealing with the memorial.

After an unknown amount of time, Wang Fusheng's gentle voice came from the side.

"Everyone, you've been reviewing memorials for over two hours. Do you want to go out for a walk?"

Li Zhi twisted his neck and asked, "What time is it?"

Wang Fusheng said, "It's past noon."

Li Zhi nodded and said, "There are only a few left. Finish reviewing them before leaving."

He continued to review the documents with his head down, when he suddenly saw a memorial sent by the Secretary General and frowned.

This was Shangguan Yi's impeachment memorial, impeaching Xu Jingzong. The Lunar New Year's grand court meeting was approaching, and envoys from various countries would present tribute, and the Tang Dynasty would respond with gifts. Xu Jingzong proposed increasing the return gift to twice the tribute.

Officials from both provinces had no objection, so it was sent directly to Li Zhi.

It just so happened that when Li Zhi was reviewing memorials, he was most impatient with the trivial matters of the Ministry of Rites, so he passed them without reading them carefully.

Li Zhi looked up at Wang Fusheng and ordered, "Send an order to summon Xu Jingzong and Shangguan Yi to the audience."

Although Xu Jingzong was old, he was diligent in his official duties. He was the last one to leave the office on weekdays and arrived at Ganlu Hall a quarter of an hour later.

"Your Majesty, I wonder why you summoned this old minister to see you?" Xu Jingzong's heart was pounding.

Because the emperor summoned him at this time, it was very likely that he wanted to appoint him as prime minister.

Li Zhi waved his hand and said, "Don't be impatient, wait a moment."

Shangguan Yi arrived later than expected, and seemed to have a smell of alcohol on him. Li Zhi could smell it from a distance.

"Your Majesty, I am Shangguan Yi. I pay my respects to you." Shangguan Yi bowed.

When Xu Jingzong saw him, his heart sank.

Because Shangguan Yi could not be appointed as prime minister, the emperor summoned both of them at the same time, which was another matter.

Li Zhi raised a memorial in his hand and said slowly, "Shangguan Qing, this is your memorial impeaching Minister Xu. I have read it and now I want to hear your opinion in person."

Shangguan Yi was stunned and didn't say anything for a while.

Xu Jingzong grew increasingly furious, but he was a man of great cunning, keeping a straight face. He bowed and said, "Your Majesty, could you please allow me to see Shaoqing Shangguan's memorial?"

Li Zhi ordered Wang Fusheng to give it to him.

After reading it, Xu Jingzong felt relieved and said, "Your Majesty, this is indeed my suggestion. I think that since we are currently at war with the Western Turks, if we befriend these Western Regions envoys, they will not cause trouble for us."

Li Zhi said calmly, "Shangguan Qing, what do you say?"

Shangguan Yi felt a little regretful at this time. He shouldn't have drunk too much just now.

He impeached Xu Jingzong in order to attract the emperor's attention and transfer him to the Censorate or other important departments.

However, he did not expect that the emperor would ask him to confront Xu Jingzong.

He took a few breaths, his mind clearing slightly, and said seriously, "Your Majesty, I believe that when dealing with barbarians, no matter how much etiquette and morality we talk about, it is useless. It is a waste of national wealth."

Xu Jingzong said, "Shangguan Shaoqing is mistaken. If the barbarians really had no respect for etiquette, why would the Huihe people always help our dynasty in foreign wars?"

Shangguan Yi said, "The Huihe people are willing to serve our dynasty out of gratitude, not out of courtesy. This is earned by the bloody battles fought by our soldiers."

Xu Jingzong said, "The Huihe people are willing to submit to the Tang Dynasty not only to repay their gratitude, but also because of our great reputation. If we give more gifts to small countries, more small countries will come to pay tribute, and the prestige of our Tang Dynasty will become even greater!"

Shangguan Yi said: "The dignity of a country does not lie in how many foreign countries come to pay homage, but in the prosperity of its people and the bravery of its generals."

Xu Jingzong said calmly: "No matter how rich the people are, or how powerful the generals are, if they don't have a strong reputation, others will still attack them if they don't know about it."

Shangguan Yi said, "The people are the foundation, the army is the cornerstone, and later, we can demonstrate our prestige and reputation. If we fail to prioritize the former and only pursue empty fame, we are putting the cart before the horse."

Xu Jingzong smiled secretly, thinking, "You finally said the wrong thing." He slowly said, "According to Shangguan Shaoqing, our Tang Dynasty is not rich and our generals are not powerful, so we can't show our power to the outside world yet?"

Shangguan Yi secretly cursed and hurriedly glanced at Li Zhi. Seeing that the emperor was not angry, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

He said slowly, "In the past, Emperor Shang of the Sui Dynasty, in order to attract foreign envoys, ordered people to spread carpets in the market, hang silk from tree branches, and provide it to taverns and inns for free. However, the Hu people mocked him, saying why didn't the Sui people give the silk from the trees and the food from the taverns to beggars on the streets? Our dynasty should learn from this!"

Xu Jingzong's face darkened. "Shangguan Shaoqing, are you comparing our Tang Dynasty to the impending Sui Dynasty and Your Majesty to the Sui Emperor who lost his country?"

Shangguan Yi hurriedly said, "I have absolutely no such intention!"

When Li Zhi heard this, he shook his head secretly.

Shangguan Yi was undoubtedly right, but his eloquence was not as good as Xu Jingzong's, so he was at a disadvantage in this argument.

He said slowly: "We should learn from the lessons of the Sui Dynasty, but we should not emulate Yang Guang's actions."

Xu Jingzong reacted quickly to the emperor's statement, clasping his hands and saying, "Your Majesty's concern for the people is something I, an old minister, have failed to understand. I beg Your Majesty to punish me."

Li Zhi said slowly, "A king's rule emphasizes the fundamentals and suppresses the trivialities. You are well-versed in history books, so how could you have forgotten this? When you return, draft the return gift and present it to me. You all may withdraw."

The two of them bowed and left together.

After leaving the hall, Xu Jingzong and Shangguan Yi walked side by side without speaking.

When they returned to Chengtianmen Street, Xu Jingzong suddenly asked, "Shangguan Shaoqing, was it Liu Jieshi who asked you to impeach me?"

Shangguan Yi was stunned for a moment and asked, "Why do you say that, Mr. Xu?"

Xu Jingzong squinted his eyes and smiled, then turned and headed towards the Secretariat.

(End of this chapter)