The bells of the Bell and Drum Towers echoed melodiously over Chang'an City.

The palace door was wide open, and there were many guards standing there. The courtiers were silent, everyone arranged their clothes and made their appearance meticulous. The eunuch stood in front of the palace door with a whisk in his hand, and loudly announced that all ministers could enter the palace to attend the meeting.

Strangely, the courtiers did not move, and everyone was looking at Gu Qing.

Gu Qing did not move, standing with a serious expression at the front of the court, but not at the front. According to the rules, at the front was Guangping King Li Yu, Li Heng's eldest son. After Li Heng became emperor, Shuofang's army was led by Guo Ziyi and

Li Yu took charge of the army together.

After Li Heng returned to Chang'an, there had already been rumors in the court that Li Yu, King of Guangping, was likely to be crowned crown prince at today's court meeting.

Today is the first court meeting of the new dynasty. In terms of emotions and reasons, King Guangping Li Yu should be ranked first in the court.

However, when Gu Qing stood quietly in the courtroom, no one moved, and even Li Yu looked at him hesitantly.

A strange aura filled the courtroom, and the courtiers looked at each other in confusion. The veteran Guo Ziyi half-closed his eyes, looking like an old monk in trance, completely unaware of this strange aura.

The eunuch in front of the palace gate was quite strange. He called the courtiers twice to enter the palace, but no one paid any attention to him. Everyone looked at the young man in the crowd, but the young man looked calm and unwavering.

Any further delay would delay the court meeting. The eunuch looked at the sky anxiously and saw that the court was full of powerful and important ministers. The eunuch did not dare to rush, so he had to bow and stand in awe after stamping his feet.

After a long time, Guangping Wang Li Yu finally couldn't calm down anymore. He walked out of the courtroom and turned around to face Gu Qing, staring at him with a smile.

Gu Qing hurriedly saluted: "I pay my respects to His Royal Highness King Guangping."

Li Yu smiled gently and said: "Deputy Commander Gu, we are not new acquaintances. We have met several times when we were in Chang'an. Today is my father's first court meeting. Vice Commander Gu has made great achievements in battle and is the Duke of the state. Why?

You are so humble, standing silently in the court? As a commander-in-chief, you can stand shoulder to shoulder with me."

"I don't dare. I was just ordered to quell the rebellion. I did some trivial things, and may have done a small job, but I can't compete with Yingyue."

Li Yu said with a smile: "Gu Shuai is so humble, I am ashamed of myself. There are rules in court meetings. The Ministry of Etiquette has rules about who should stand in what position in the court class. If Gu Shuai doesn't change his position, none of his colleagues will."

Dare to move."

Gu Qing straightened up and looked around, and saw countless courtiers nodding their heads. Several courtiers smiled and made gestures to Gu Qing, asking him to move forward a few places.

Gu Qing laughed a few times, but since everyone expected him, he was not polite.

So Gu Qing calmly walked to the front of the class, ranking third behind Li Yu and Guo Ziyi.

When the eunuch in front of the palace gate saw that everyone had finally arranged their seats, he breathed a sigh of relief and once again shouted in a high voice that all the ministers should come into the palace for the meeting.

When the ministers entered the palace, there were so many people that they could not be seen from beginning to end.

Although it was the new dynasty of Zhide, there were nearly a thousand courtiers who followed Li Heng back to Chang'an and local officials near Guanzhong. Of course, this was still smaller than the nearly 5,000 courtiers in Beijing during the heyday of Kaiyuan.

a lot of.

After entering the main hall of Xingqing, the officials stood quietly for a while, and the eunuch announced that the emperor had arrived.

The ministers all bowed and called him a saint.

Li Heng was dressed particularly grandly today. After all, it was his first court meeting in the capital. He finally sat on the coveted chair in the palace of Chang'an City.

After the etiquette of the meeting between the monarch and his ministers was completed, Li Heng sat down and slowly scanned the ministers, his eyes specifically staying on Gu Qing for a moment.

The first person to stand up was Li Yu, King of Guangping. On behalf of his ministers, Li Yu congratulated the king's division on regaining Guanzhong, the emperor had returned to power, the rebels had retreated to the north, and the people of the world had returned home. All in all, the situation was excellent.

All the ministers immediately echoed and sang praises to Li Heng.

The Tang Dynasty has long lost the pragmatic style of the early Tang Dynasty. After the prosperity of the Kaiyuan Dynasty, the atmosphere in the court has formed a trend of flattery. Li Longji is so good at this, the ministers will naturally not let him down. This kind of court meeting that praises Germany

Gradually it became a routine, and the trend of pragmatism became more and more biased. After a court meeting, there were not many things that were really discussed and dealt with, but all the flattery was done.

Gu Qing was quite disgusted with this atmosphere and stood in the courtroom without saying a word.

Li Heng, who was sitting in the hall, was not disgusted at all and looked very much enjoying himself.

After taking pictures for a long time, Li Heng was finally satisfied. He stood up and said to the ministers: "Chang'an has returned. I will personally govern the country. The new dynasty has been established and I can pardon the prisoners in the world."

Among the crowd, a courtier stood up and said: "Your Majesty, there are some prisoners who cannot be pardoned."

Li Heng was stunned: "Who can't be forgiven?"

"After the rebels occupied Chang'an, some court officials were captured by the rebels. In order to survive, they broke their integrity and served the two masters. They became the accomplices of the tiger and became the minions of the rebels. These dishonest people cannot be forgiven."

Li Heng nodded and said slowly: "These people...are indeed unforgivable."

Li Yu interjected: "Father, as far as I know, the original left prime minister Chen Xilie was an unjust minister. After the rebels occupied Chang'an, Chen Xilie was captured by the rebels and later became the prime minister of the puppet dynasty. This year

In the middle of the year, because Chen Xilie was too old and sick to bear the burden, he resigned from the rebels to recuperate, and the puppet left prime minister was replaced by a man named Feng Yu."

The hall was suddenly filled with murmurs. In this era of limited information, many people did not even know that Chen Xilie had become the left prime minister of the puppet government, and they were shocked.

Li Heng's face turned gloomy and he snorted coldly: "Chen Xilie was a submissive person in the Tianbao years. He only knew how to have both sides, but he didn't expect that he would cherish his life so much. Once he was captured, he immediately betrayed and served his master. What a special thing.

Shameful! Such people cannot be kept."

"Pass the decree, the chamberlain will send poisonous wine to Chen Xilie's house, and he will be sentenced to death. All his family members will be forced to live in the church, and they will not be allowed to leave for three generations."

Li Yu added: "Father, it is said that more than 300 courtiers defected when the rebels occupied Chang'an. For example, the original official doctor, Wang Wei, also defected to the enemy and took up official posts in the puppet government..."

The ministers were shocked again. Wang Wei was a celebrity during the Kaiyuan Tianbao period. His fame was not due to his official position and political achievements, but for his poetry. Wang Wei was a poet as famous as Li Bai, He Zhizhang and others.

However, there are no poets in the eyes of the emperor. No matter how awesome the poet is, they are just playthings in the eyes of the emperor. Those who are as awesome as Li Bai will get out if Li Longji tells him to.

So Li Heng frowned and said: "All these traitors..."

Before he finished speaking, he was suddenly interrupted by a loud shout from among the officials.

"Your Majesty, I have something to offer, and I ask Heaven to listen to it."

Li Heng was a little angry when he was interrupted. He looked around and saw that the person who interrupted him was Gu Qing.

So Li Heng had to work hard to smile and said: "Gu Qing, if you have anything to say, just say it."

Gu Qing stood up and bowed and said: "Rebellious ministers are certainly hateful, but I believe that these hundreds of traitorous ministers should be tried first before being charged. Many of them had no time to escape from Chang'an. Not only were they captured, but their families were also killed by the rebels.

Control, with the sword on the necks of family members, it is difficult for anyone to sacrifice the lives of their family members and maintain their loyalty. Even if they have to commit themselves to being a thief, there are unavoidable reasons. This is human nature, please distinguish it clearly before making a decision."

Li Heng said with some displeasure: "Rebellion is betrayal, how can there be any excuse? Losing integrity is immoral. Even if the lives of family members are hijacked, we should take care of our loyalty and would rather die than surrender."

Gu Qing smiled.

I really love this unreasonable look.

You are so loyal and righteous, why are you eager to ascend the throne in Lingzhou and proclaim yourself emperor without even issuing an imperial edict?

"Your Majesty, in addition to loyalty, there is also courtesy and filial piety. If your parents are kidnapped, whether you are loyal or filial depends on your personal choice. I think that no matter which choice you choose, you have no choice, but you can't say that he made the wrong choice."

Gu Qing said without giving in.

Seeing Gu Qing's resolute expression, Li Heng finally realized that Gu Qing was serious and that he really planned to intercede for the dishonest courtiers.

Is this a big deal? Of course not. Killing or not killing has no impact on Li Heng, and it will not involve any government affairs.

Li Heng was very sensible. In the first court meeting of the new dynasty, he did not want to have a stalemate with the powerful ministers. This matter was within the scope of compromise.

So Li Heng was silent for a long time and said: "Since Gu Qing insisted, I am also a remonstrating king, so I followed Gu Qing's instructions. Those officials who have lost their integrity can not be executed, but can be taken to prison and handed over to Gu Qing for interrogation."

Bar."

Gu Qing bowed and said, "I would like to thank Your Majesty for your kindness and righteousness."

Li Heng added: "However, Chen Xilie must die. He is the chief culprit. No matter what the reason, the culprit must be eliminated. Otherwise, how can he win the hearts of the people in the world?"

Hearing the determination in Li Heng's words, Gu Qing also compromised very wisely: "Yes, Chen Xilie must die. I have no objection."

The first confrontation between king and minister, Gu Qingsheng.

Next comes a new topic, counterinsurgency.

Although Wang Shi regained Guanzhong, it cannot be said that the world is at peace. The rebels were defeated and still occupied the area north of the Yellow River. These places must be recovered.

"Old General Guo, Gu Qing." Li Heng called by name.

The two stood up to attend class.

"Both of you are deputy marshals of the world's soldiers and horses. Do you have any good strategies on how to suppress rebellion?"

Guo Ziyi glanced at Gu Qing quickly. Gu Qing stood quietly with a smile on his face and seemed to have no intention of speaking.

Then Guo Ziyi said: "My veteran thought that we should mobilize all the troops in Guanzhong, cross the Yellow River north, pursue the victory, recover the towns in the north, and annihilate the rebels."

Li Heng looked at Gu Qing, smiled and said, "What do you think, Gu Qing?"

Gu Qing lowered his eyebrows and said slowly: "I second the proposal."

Li Heng's eyes flashed and he said in a deep voice: "For the soldiers in Guanzhong, there are Shuofang Army and Anxi Army in Chang'an City, as well as more than 10,000 Shu Army and 10,000 Hexi Army. These are the entire military strength of the imperial court. You two think

How should we allocate troops and horses to cross north?"

Gu Qing's eyelids twitched, he knew that these words would be the drama of today's meeting.

After all, Li Heng still had the idea of ​​dividing the Anxi Army.

Although the counter-rebellion was imminent, Gu Qing could not accept that after the counter-rebellion, his strength would be completely reduced. At that time, he would become a pig and sheep to be slaughtered, and his end would not be as miserable as usual.

"Your Majesty, since the Anlu Mountain Rebellion, the Anxi Army has been responsible for most of the battles to counter the rebellion. After many battles, Guanzhong and the southern part of Datang were defended by the Anxi Army, but the Anxi Army also suffered heavy casualties. Many soldiers have already died.

He is disabled for life and cannot fight again. I believe that the Anxi army should not go north to attack the enemy and should stay in Chang'an to rest and recuperate."

Li Heng frowned. He guessed that Gu Qing would avoid the enemy to preserve his strength, but he didn't expect that Gu Qing would speak so straightforwardly and didn't even bother to be tactful.
To be continued...