A thousand-year-old family begins with one fighting against ten thousand.

During the early reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, Li Longji, a large number of scholars composed numerous popular poems that described the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty.

Li Bai, Zhang Jiuling, He Zhizhang, Meng Haoran, Cui Hao, Wang Zhihuan, Wang Changling, Wang Wei, Gao Shi, Cen Shen...

They traveled throughout the country, writing poems praising the scenery, border regions, and the imperial court, which became widely circulated.

This golden age lasted until the twenty-fourth year of the Kaiyuan era, when Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, Li Longji, dismissed Zhang Jiuling and appointed Li Linfu as the sole prime minister.

The prosperous Tang Dynasty ushered in a period of decline.

In the twenty-fourth year of the Kaiyuan era, at the Prince of Yan's residence.

Wei Wen, Li Bai, and Wei Mai sat by the river fishing and chatting.

They then brought up the matter.

"Teacher, although Li Linfu is a member of the imperial family, his moral character is despicable."

"As the current prime minister, he is jealous of talent and incompetent, and he says one thing to people and another behind their backs. With him in charge, I don't know how long the country's prosperity can last."

"Anyone whose talent and achievements surpass mine, or who is favored by the emperor and whose power and position threaten my own, I will do everything in my power to get rid of them; I am especially wary of scholars, and I will either pretend to befriend them, use sweet words to lure them into my trap."

This is how the common people describe Li Linfu: a hypocrite with honeyed words and a treacherous heart.

Li Bai always looked down on this kind of person.

"Li Linfu is a hypocrite, narrow-minded, and wields great power; he is bound to cause trouble."

Wei Wen nodded slightly. "Since the Han Dynasty, over the course of a thousand years, people similar to Li Linfu have emerged one after another. What will happen next has already been determined in history books."

"However, the only lesson people learn from history is that they learn nothing from history."

Li Bai and Wei Mai looked at each other, but they had to admit that Wei Wen's assessment was spot on.

Liang Ji and the Ten Attendants of the Han Dynasty, Jia Chong and Zhao Gui of the Qianlong Emperor, and Yuwen Huaji of the Sui Dynasty—each of them could destroy a promising situation in the imperial court in an instant.

The countless resources accumulated by the wise rulers and famous ministers of the past were all lost in a single day.

"Especially His Majesty, who was once a wise ruler, whose creation of a prosperous era was almost no less than that of Emperor Taizong."

"But as His Majesty grows older, and with peace prevailing throughout the land and all nations submitting, His Majesty has become dazzled by this prosperous era and has begun to indulge in pleasure."

"He used his so-called imperial tactics to control his court officials, regardless of right or wrong, only focusing on power."

"This is the beginning of a nation's political collapse. The emperor only thinks about using political means to control his officials, and no longer thinks about how to govern the country. How can the country not decline if this continues?"

"Now that Li Linfu is the sole prime minister and holds absolute power, there are no more obstacles. He will inevitably take revenge on his former political enemies and purge dissidents."

"Something big is about to happen in the court."

Throughout history, when these treacherous officials came to power, they would instigate major cases to maintain their position.

"Hey, who do you two think Li Linfu will target?"

Wei Wenkao taught Taoism.

"Zhang Jiuling!"

The two said in unison.

Although Zhang Jiuling was dismissed from his post as prime minister, his status and power in the court were extremely large, far exceeding that of Li Linfu.

If Li Linfu wanted to secure his position as prime minister, he would have to eliminate Zhang Jiuling and his cronies.

At the same time, in Xingqing Palace, Li Linfu came before Li Longji.

"Your Majesty, the court officials have expressed their dissatisfaction with the dismissal of Zhang Jiuling, and the censors have repeatedly submitted memorials requesting Your Majesty to reinstate Zhang Jiuling as prime minister."

"Some even slander the emperor to gain a good reputation and mislead the people; their intentions are despicable!"

During the twenty-four years of Li Longji's reign, the world was at peace, and a golden age was created. He considered himself no less than the sage rulers such as Emperor Taizong of Tang and Emperor Wen of Han, and his civil and military achievements reached their peak.

Naturally, he felt that whatever he did was right and could not tolerate any questioning from others.

What is his identity? What is his status? What are his abilities? What are his merits and demerits? Yet he dares to refute his views.

"How dare they interfere in matters of state?"

"A bunch of officials who only know how to talk big, but are helpless when faced with important matters. I really want to lock them all up in prison."

Li Longji retorted with dissatisfaction, "How could he be so wise and powerful? How could his decrees be wrong?"

Do you really think that mere remonstrance officials are more capable and insightful?

"Your Majesty is right."

Li Linfu echoed this.

"Your Majesty has created a prosperous era, bringing peace and prosperity to the world. The weather is favorable, and the people can live and work in peace and contentment. All of this is due to Your Majesty's efforts."

"However, there are always some people who feel that this is their achievement, and they take pride in it and use it to dictate the course of history."

"Nowadays, the court is full of people who talk big but lack real talent."

"All the affairs of the world fall on Your Majesty's shoulders. Every day, I watch Your Majesty reviewing memorials until late at night, and my heart aches with pain."

"If there were more capable officials in the court, would His Majesty be so overworked?"

Li Longji wholeheartedly agreed.

"Prime Minister Li, you are the only prime minister in the court now. You must shoulder the heavy responsibility of reforming the court."

"The atmosphere in the imperial court still needs to be changed."

Li Longji spoke warmly to Li Linfu.

Li Linfu was overjoyed and quickly bowed, saying, "Your Majesty, rest assured, I will do my utmost to transform the atmosphere of idle talk in the court into one of pragmatism."

Upon returning, Li Linfu summoned his advisors and drafted a policy document, which he then presented to Li Longji.

"Your Majesty, I intend to reclaim the power to select officials from the Ministry of Personnel, reformulate the evaluation standards for officials, and transfer the power to evaluate the promotion of middle and lower-ranking officials to the Secretariat and Chancellery."

"These are the selection criteria set by your humble servant. They place more emphasis on practical matters and assess the actual work and achievements of officials. Everything depends on their actual contributions."

Li Longji picked up Li Linfu's memorial and began to read it, nodding as he did so, clearly extremely satisfied with its contents.

This prosperous and glorious era was created by Li Longji, so how could the credit be shared with those officials?

The content of this policy document is quite good. Officials will be rewarded based on the amount of practical work they do, and those who have accumulated enough merit will be promoted. This will curb the idle talk in the court and make all officials more pragmatic.

"allow!"

After Li Longji finished reading it, he stamped it with his seal and wrote a red annotation.

"Your Majesty is wise."

Li Linfu happily said that with Li Longji's red approval, he could seize the power to appoint, dismiss, and promote officials in the court. All officials who wanted to be promoted had to get his approval.

He wanted to see who else would dare to oppose him!

After receiving Li Longji's permission, Li Linfu did not rush to make the announcement. Instead, he ordered people to secretly investigate the intelligence of some officials who advised the emperor and the officials under Zhang Jiuling.

Zhang Jiuling had a large number of administrative officials under his command, who were mostly responsible for administrative tasks on a daily basis.

On the surface, these efforts did not seem to contribute much to the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty.

But in reality, it is indispensable.

Li Linfu wanted to appear outwardly as if he had no contribution to the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty. He used this as a pretext to purge a large number of people from the court and promote more officials who only knew how to do things but lacked integrity and independent thought.

At the grand court assembly, Li Linfu publicly issued an imperial decree, immediately dismissing and removing from office some censors, officials who had spoken out against the emperor, and officials from Zhang Jiuling's faction.