Chapter 606: Wei and Zhang's dispute

The next morning, officials were constantly coming in the Political Affairs Hall located in the Secretariat Province. This was a joint post by the Left Prime Minister Zhang Yun and the Secretariat Minister Pei Min, asking all members of the Political Affairs Hall, all members of the Privy Council, and officials from the third rank or above to come to the Political Affairs Hall to discuss major events.

Zhang Yun invited him one by one, and the officials came one by one. Seven or eight officials had arrived in the conference hall of the Political Affairs Hall.

Today, Zhang Yun was determined to win. Last night, he found Pei Min and received his support. Then he found Cui Ping again, and both sides understood it.

The time is very tight, which makes Zhang Yun feel powerless. If he is one day later, he can calmly win more people to support him. But Zhang Yun also knows that he is fighting for him and Wei Tao is fighting for him. There is actually no difference between getting one day earlier and one day later. The key is to find the core figure.

Early in the morning, Zhang Yun blocked Zhang Hao, the Minister of Works, on the street. Zhang Yun conducted a test and proposed the possibility of alliance, but Zhang Hao refused.

"The ministers of the Tang Dynasty should unite and go to the national crisis together. At this time, each has his own thoughts and compete for power. This is not a blessing for the court! I think twice about the prime minister and the country."

Although Zhang Hao rejected Zhang Yun's alliance, he agreed to end the assassination dispute of Pei Zunqing as soon as possible, support Zhang Yun to hold a meeting, and calm the chaos in the court. In fact, this is what Zhang Yun wanted. To form an alliance with Zhang Hao, he did not have that extravagant hope. They did not have the basis for an alliance. All he wanted was Zhang Hao to support him to lead today's Political Affairs Hall meeting.

Zhang Hao was already in his seat and was whispering to Cui Ning, the assistant minister of the Ministry of Justice.

Zhang Yun's eyes fell at the door again, and his eyes suddenly lit up. Liu Yan, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue and the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, walked into the hall from the side door. Liu Yan was a member of the Privy Council, known as the God of Wealth, and controlled the financial income and expenditure of the Tang Dynasty treasury. He was the Anxi faction and one of Li Qing'an's confidants. No one would doubt that Liu Yan would become the prime minister sooner or later. Although Liu Yan had great power and had a strong backstage, he was very low-key, never surpassed his position, nor offended others, and had a good reputation in the court.

As soon as Liu Yan entered the door, Zhang Yun came up, "Shishou Lang is here, and he took his time to invite the Shishou Lang. Zhang Yun was ashamed and accused him of the Shishou Lang first!"

After leaving Pei Min's mansion last night, Zhang Yun went to Liu Yan's mansion again, but it was too late and Liu Yan was unwell and had already fallen asleep, so he could not see him.

Liu Yan is the person Zhang Yun must win over, or in other words, he must get the support of Liu Yan. Liu Yan is a backbone of the Anxi clan and one of Li Qing'an's most valued confidants. If he can support himself, this will give people a hint that Li Qing'an supports him, Zhang Yun.

Zhang Yun could not tell everyone nakedly that Li Qing'an asked my son to send me a secret letter. He could not say such words, and he could not mention that Li Qing'an asked him to take charge of government affairs, but he also had to know that Li Qing'an supported him, so Liu Yan's support for him was a kind of indirect attack on everyone.

Liu Yan had a cold and was dizzy. He didn't want to come at first, but Zhang Yun came to visit him last night and he didn't meet him. Now Zhang Yun posted another post for him. If he didn't come, he would be a little disgraceful of others. He had to come with a sick body.

He pointed to his forehead and smiled bitterly and replied: "I felt sick last night and my head hurts. I went to bed early last night. It was so rude to let the Prime Minister Wu go to a trip."

"Hey! It's me that I'm rude. Mr. Liu is sick and I'm still pulling him over. How about it? Can I hold on? If I don't, go back. There is a good doctor in my house and I'll let him show him to the minister."

"Thank you, Zhang Xiangguo. It's okay. You can hold on. Go back after the meeting! I wonder what to discuss today?"

Zhang Yun looked at both sides and saw someone, he pulled Liu Yan to the lounge next to him and whispered: "His Royal Highness Zhao has come back, does Mr. Liu know?"

Liu Yan was stunned. He didn't know, "When will His Highness King Zhao come back?"

"I just arrived last night. Now I am stationed in Baqiao, so I will ask the dog to bring me a message."

"Oh?" Liu Yan was a little doubtful. How could Li Qing'an find Zhang Yun, so he asked, "Your Highness has returned for the matter of Pei Xiang?"

“That’s right!”

Zhang Yun sighed and said, "His Highness Zhao is very worried that the situation in the court will be unstable and affect the battle on the front line. Please ask me to calm the situation as soon as possible, so today I call everyone for a meeting for this."

"I see!"

Liu Yan nodded. He understood what Zhang Yun meant to find him. He just wanted to get his own support, but since Li Qing'an found him, he should support him in terms of emotion and reason.

Liu Yan pondered for a moment and asked, "I don't know how Zhang Xiangguo dealt with the matter of Pei Xiang."

Zhang Yun smiled slightly and said, "His Royal Highness Zhao means to maintain the stability of the government. In other words, the murderer cannot be within the court. Does Mr. Liu understand what I mean?"

"Is Zhang Xiangguo's guide to the north?"

"South!"

"I understand, I will definitely support Zhang Xiangguo."

Liu Yan bowed his hand and turned around and left.

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Zhang Yun smiled and came out of the lounge. He swept the conference hall. Sixty percent of the officials had arrived, but there were still several important officials who had not arrived. Wei Tao, Wang Jin and Lu Huan had not arrived.

"Zhang Xiangguo!"

An official came and asked, "Zhang Xiangguo, do you want to start first?"

"Wait a little longer!"

Zhang Yun glanced at him and saw Yan Zhenqing sitting aside and silently. He slowly walked forward and said in pain: "Envoy Yan, I already know about Yan's affairs, please feel sorry!"

Yan Zhenqing only learned about the murder of his clan brother Yan Gaoqing this morning. He was very sad. The two brothers were both officials in Hebei and had a deep friendship. Moreover, Yan Gaoqing was generous and kind to the people and gained fame. He was murdered by the thief army, which was also a heavy blow to the Yan clan.

Zhang Yun's concern made Yan Zhenqing feel a little moved. He quickly stood up and said, "Thank you for your concern, it's okay to be a humble position."

Yan Zhenqing was appointed as the Minister of Personnel and was also a powerful minister. He was one of the five ministers of the Privy Council and was highly valued by Li Qing'an. According to Zhang Yun's strategy of winning over a group of people and opposing them, Yan Zhenqing was undoubtedly the one he wanted to win over.

Zhang Yun pondered for a moment and said, "His Highness of the King of Zhao proposed to posthumously enthrone General Cheng Qianli, but I thought that Yan Taishou was loyal and righteous as the country, and was loyal and unyielding. There are also Yuan Fuqian, Jia Shen County Magistrate, Jiang Xiaotong Sima, etc. These Hebei righteous men all died in order to defend the Tang Dynasty and protect the people of Hebei. I am already drafting the order to pursue Jia. As long as the Political Affairs Hall is passed, it will be issued to the whole country, so that the people of the world can know Yan Taishou's righteous deeds and let the heroes rest in peace."

Yan Zhenqing nodded silently, "Thank you, Xiangguo Zhang for your intention."

Zhang Yun smiled slightly, patted his shoulder, and walked towards the front desk. Wei Tao and Wang Jin had already come in, and Lu Huan was also behind. It was obvious that the three of them had just touched their heads.

Zhang Yun sneered, it seemed that Wei Tao was really going to compete with him for dominance.

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Just like Zhang Yun actively wining over important officials, Wei Tao has been trying to win the support of court officials since last night. His concept is contrary to Zhang Yun. He insists on investigating Pei Zunqing's assassination case to the end, finding out the truth, severely punishing the murderer, giving Pei Zunqing an explanation, and also preventing the next political terrorist incident.

His view is very clear. If it is left alone this time, then political assassination will inevitably spread next time and will sooner or later.

Not only did Wei Tao have the opposite concepts of Zhang Yun, but the route he took was also completely different from that of Zhang Yun. Zhang Yun took the high-level route and almost won the support of all the Privy Councils, while Wei Tao took the middle and lower-level route, winning the support of middle and lower-level officials.

It should be said that Wei Tao's views are still very marketable, especially middle and lower-level officials, who hope to find out the truth of the assassination. They consider it more from the perspective of maintaining justice. They will not consider the overall stability, which is not the scope they are considering.

Therefore, most of Wei Tao's support comes from middle and lower-level officials below the fifth rank. Since he was busy last night, he has just completed a signature letter of support from 200 middle and lower-level court officials.

A thick stack was placed in front of him, and Wei Tao also gained an unexpected gain. Early in the morning, Lu Huan, a member of the Political Affairs Council, a backbone of the Pei Party, and a subordinate minister, took the initiative to find him and support his claim to find out the assassination case.

Lu Huan and Pei Zunqing are family friends and one of the few ministers who respect Pei Zunqing. After Pei Zunqing was assassinated, Lu Huan wrote to the Political Affairs Hall three times, calling for the establishment of a joint investigation department by the Ministry of Justice, Dali Temple, and the Censorate to thoroughly find out the truth of the assassination. However, the joint investigation department he hoped could not be established, nor could it be established. All the evidence and witnesses were taken away by Li Qing'an's inner guard, so they had no way to investigate.

Despite this, Lu Huan still refused to give up. At this time, Wei Tao raised the banner to thoroughly investigate the truth, which coincided with him. He was disgusted with Zhang Yun's insolvency, so he and Wei Tao naturally got together.

Lu Huan's surrender made Wei Tao both surprised and surprised. There were only six people left in the Political Affairs Hall. With Wang Jin, there were three people on his side, half to half with Zhang Yun. In addition, he had the support of middle and low-level officials, Wei Tao felt confident and walked into the venue with his head held high.

In this way, a dominant battle with Pei Zunqing's assassination quietly kicked off in a hasty and uneasy atmosphere.

"Dang!" The bell in the upper right corner rang, and the sound was crisp, which calmed the whole audience. The person who presided over the meeting was Pei Min, the Minister of the Secretariat. The death of the Secretariat, Pei Min, was temporarily the head of the Secretariat and was temporarily in charge of the daily affairs of the Secretariat.

He will also preside over this temporary meeting of the Political Affairs Hall. Seeing that the audience was quiet, he stood up and said, "Except for Taichang Qing Zhang Jieran, who was sick and Wang Chengye, the Minister of Weiwei Temple, could not attend the meeting in Hedong, all officials from the third rank or above have arrived. Today is the temporary request of the Left Prime Minister to hold this informal meeting...."

He stopped without saying anything, and a guard at the door made a gesture to him. Soon, a loud shout came: "The Queen Mother is here!"

All the officials in the Political Affairs Hall conference hall stood up, and everyone showed surprise on their faces. The Queen Mother never attended the Political Affairs Hall conference. Why did she come today?

Even the two protagonists Zhang Yun and Wei Tao showed a hint of uneasiness. The arrival of the Empress Dowager will inevitably bring changes to today's meeting, and neither of them knew the Empress Dowager's attitude.

A group of guards came in, and the empress dowager Chen Zhenzhu of the Tang Empire surrounded by more than a dozen palace maids and eunuchs and walked into the conference hall of the Political Affairs Hall.

"I will meet with the Queen Mother, I wish the Queen Mother a thousand years old!"

Chen Zhenzhu's complexion was radiant, as if the land that had just been wet by a spring rain was full of vitality. She waved her hand and smiled slightly, "Ai's good friends, I'm just here to listen. Pei's good friends, please continue."

Pei Min had just met Empress Dowager Chen the day before yesterday. At that time, she looked haggard and sickly. Why did she suddenly become so energetic today, as if she had changed her own? His wife also said that the Empress Dowager was pitiful, but she showed that she looked like she was now without a trace of pitifulness.

Pei Min hurriedly bowed and said, "Please go to the front row and sit!"

"Let's sit in the back!"

Several eunuchs quickly placed a soft chair against the wall, and Shen Zhenzhu sat down. She didn't like to sit opposite the ministers and was watched in full view.

The Empress Dowager sat behind her and was a bit unethical, but Pei Min had no choice but to ring the bell again, "Please sit down!"

Everyone sat down slowly, Chen Zhenzhu was a little distracted, her face suddenly turned red, and she didn't know what she was thinking about, Beichi couldn't help but bit her lips gently. ． ． ． ．

The meeting continued, Pei Min continued: "As we all know, Pei Xiangguo was assassinated five days ago, which aroused condemnation from all the civil and military officials of the court. Five days have passed, and this case is still clueless and cannot be investigated. However, it has seriously affected the normal operation of the government. People are panic and suspicious. Unprocessed files are piled up. More importantly, it has affected the battle between the soldiers on the front line against An Lushan. The food and grass that should have been sent three days ago has been in the warehouse. The sheep wine that should have been transported to the military camp the day before yesterday has not been sent. Therefore, based on the current situation, the temporary meeting proposed by the Left Prime Minister is hoped that the impact of the assassination of Pei Xiangguo on the court will be affected as soon as possible."

The more Pei Min said, the more dissatisfied Wei Tao became. Pei Min was just a meeting host. His job was to hold meetings and arrange speeches. Other substantive contents of the meeting had nothing to do with him. But now, he said too much and had begun to guide the officials present to Zhang Yun. It would be fine if Pei Min was just a Secretariat Minister, but he was the former Right Prime Minister and had been removed for less than a year and still enjoyed prestige among all officials. Pei Zunqing's greed for power made all officials miss him more and respect him, hoping that he could return to the right Prime Minister.

Even such a person with strong influence, his words will undoubtedly greatly enhance Zhang Yun's weight. Wei Tao regretted it. He should have visited Pei Min last night. Pei Min is a very principled person, one is one, two is two. With his original intention, he will not agree with Zhang Yun's theory of stability. Moreover, Pei Zunqing is still his uncle no matter how he can convince Pei Min last night, then Pei Min should be unable to explain the truth and will be difficult to convince the public.

Regret was useless, and Wei Tao felt anger in his heart, anger that he could not get it but was taken away by others.

He immediately raised his voice and said, "Mr. Pei, you don't say what you said."

He put his tone heavily on the word "Shilang Pei" to remind him not to forget his identity and what should he do?

Wei Tao stood up and said to everyone: "I don't agree with Mr. Pei's statement. I think the chaos in the court was not caused by the assassination of Pei, but the court did not take corresponding measures after the assassination, such as establishing an investigation department to investigate the case, but it did not. Inaction in this way made all officials panic and distracted, which seriously affected the operation of the court. So today I propose that the Ministry of Justice, Dali Temple, and the Censorate immediately establish the joint investigation department of the Grand Three Departments to thoroughly find out the truth about the assassination of Pei's country, give an explanation to the people of Pei's country, give an explanation to all officials, and give an explanation to the people of the world. In this way, the court will be able to settle down."

After saying that, he unfolded the signature paper and said loudly: "This is the voice of two hundred officials. This is just something I collected in one morning. There are still many people I didn't ask. I believe that most officials have this voice. Are you willing to do this assassination again and again?"

After Wei Tao finished speaking, there were whispers below, and Lu Huan also stood up and said, "What Secretary Wei said is my voice. I firmly support the investigation of this case, severely punish the murderer, and prevent such assassination from happening again!"

Wei Tao was so angry that the meeting trend suddenly turned. Perhaps it was because Wei Tao had accusations in his tone just now, and Pei Min was silent. If he came from his former heart, he firmly supported Wei Tao's point of view and thoroughly investigated the case. He did not like to deal with it vaguely. However, when Zhang Yun found him last night, he clearly pointed out that ending the dispute and restoring the government was what Li Qing'an meant, and Zhang Yun was just implementing Li Qing'an's order.

After the pain after a fall, Pei Min gradually began to mature politically. The scholarly spirit in his bones has been wiped out a lot. He began to become more pragmatic, and he saw through Wei Tao's hypocrisy and unrealistic.

Wei Tao's views seem to be very convincing, but in fact they are not realistic at all. He keeps pursuing the case thoroughly and forms a junior department for trial. How can he check it? All the evidences are in the hands of the inner guards, and the inner guards themselves are also investigating it. If they do not cooperate, the so-called senior department for trial will be useless, and there will never be a day to close the case. What's even more terrible is that if the case is not settled, the officials will always live in a state of uneasiness. This is the huge impact on the operation of the government. Wei Tao will not know that he just wants to be the right prime minister.

Pei Min was angry and extremely hypocritical, and threatened himself. In comparison, Zhang Yun's move to stabilize the court was more pragmatic than Wei Tao.

He was about to say something again, but Liu Yan, who was sitting in the second platoon, stood up and said in a muffled voice: "Since this meeting was proposed by Zhang Xiangguo, let's listen to Zhang Xiangguo's opinions!"

The conference venue suddenly became quiet and everyone could see that the God of Wealth Liu Yan was talking to Zhang Yun. Liu Yan was Li Qing'an's confidant brought from Anxi. So does Liu Yan's attitude imply something about Li Qing'an?
Chapter completed!