Chapter 205 Who is the left prime minister?

There were already clouds in the sky, and the weather was cold, with a group of thin white and rose-colored clouds, with horns broken, like thawing ice in winter, as if birds frightened by the sound of drums, floating rapidly.

乐游原一带已人山人海,近十万长安市民赶来一睹宗室子弟的演武盛况,跑马场内旌旗招扬,鼓声隆隆,上万士卒在四周警戒并维持秩序,这场盛会,官方的说法是让李唐子弟缅怀先祖创业的艰难,使日益霏靡的皇室少年重兴尚武之风；而李隆基的目的却是因玉环深宫无聊,烽火不能乱点,便想到此办法,光面堂皇且公私兼顾；对于诸王之弟,这却是一个敬上的机会,大唐以武立国,若能傲视群雄,给皇上所留下的印象绝非施点粥所能比拟.

But for Chang'an citizens, this is a lively and wonderful event, giving them a little more excitement in their ordinary and boring life. It is rare to see it in a year, that's all.

Although officials and the people enjoyed each other, the hierarchy was very strict. The racecourse was divided into two, and the south was ordinary citizens and low-ranking officials, which had already been crowded into a sea of ​​people. The large open land in the north was dedicated to officials of sixth rank and above, with long stands built and arranged according to the rank. In the middle was a tall and wide wooden platform, built overnight. At this moment, it was closely guarded by thousands of Yulin soldiers, with seats for the Emperor Li Longji and the royal family.

Li Qing's carriage slowly drove into the venue area. A sergeant specifically checked his identity at the entrance. Officials above the sixth rank went to the right, and the rest walked in an orderly manner and without any confusion. Not far to the right, under a towering poplar tree, a black and thin eunuch was standing under the tree and looking anxiously.

He saw Li Qing from a distance, and a surprise flashed across his eyes. He jumped and shouted loudly: "Shilar Li! Li Qing! Here, here."

Li Qing tied the reins and saw that it was his old friend Bian Lingcheng, so he turned his horse's head and went to him, laughing and said, "Are you waiting for someone?"

Bian Lingcheng rushed forward and grabbed his horse's reins, fearing that he would run away, and kept saying luck, "I'm afraid you won't come today, otherwise I will not be able to submit the order. Come with me quickly and the emperor will call you to meet you."

Li Qing hesitated for a moment, looked back at the carriage of Yan'er, and smiled apologetically: "My dear Bian saw me for a moment that night, and let me settle my wife and daughter before going."

"It's not a problem for Mr. Li to pay attention to his position. All officials have names. I'll send someone to take them."

Bian Lingcheng turned around and called an eunuch, whispered a few words. The eunuch nodded and led the carriage on the curtain to the parking area.

"Mr. Li is very honored. He was received by the emperor on his first day of office." Bian Lingcheng led the way in front, but his mouth kept saying, "Actually, the emperor wanted to find you yesterday, but suddenly the prince was assassinated, so he couldn't care about you."

Bian Lingcheng's voice suddenly became weak. He approached Li Qing, looked at the place where there was no one around, and whispered: "This matter is of great importance. If the emperor asks about this, you will only say no and don't talk nonsense."

Li Qing pointed a little, and he naturally understood what Bian Lingcheng suddenly became enthusiastic, and said gratefully: "Thank you, Mr. Bian. There are still some local products in the Western Regions in my mansion. I will send someone to Mr. Bian to send them to Mr. Bian one day, which is to pay homage to Mr. Bian's old age."

"Haha! You're so polite."

Leyou was originally a scenic spot in Chang'an. The Emperor of the Tang Dynasty set up a palace here, only one mile away from the racecourse. The palace was apricot yellow and covered a small area. It was like a temple. It was located in a forest with deep trees and beautiful scenery. In front of it was a gurgling stream, which was not frozen all year round and winded southward.

At this moment, the place was also very cautious. Li Qing was taken into the palace after three passes of searching and interrogating. In a room in the middle of the palace, Emperor Li Longji of the Tang Dynasty discussed the personnel changes after the Wei Jian case with Prime Minister Li Linfu.

In just one night, Li Linfu seemed to have been five years old. His spirit was full of energy on the day of Yuan Ye, and now he was gone. A series of unexpected things happened, especially the assassination of the prince, which shocked the court and the public. Public opinion immediately turned to Li Heng and lost the environment for deposed prince. Although Li Longji did not make a clear statement, it can be guessed that he was undecided from his delay in issuing an edict to depose the decree and enactment, and he could not even be retained. The emperor's heart is never understood. It has no right or wrong, and it is in balance all the time.

Li Linfu sighed secretly. He knew that the prince had actually escaped this disaster, otherwise Li Longji would not have attacked Wei Jian so quickly.

Forget it! Let’s just cut off the prince’s gangs first. Thinking of this, Li Linfu said firmly: “Your Majesty, Wei Jian has formed a party for personal gain and corrupt the court’s principles. This is absolutely not a good thing. I think that all Wei Jian’s party must be demoted or dismissed, and Huangfu Weiming has a new private placement army. This seems to be a rebellion, and we should not let go. Please punish him together.”

Li Longji's eyelids were slightly closed, and only a gap was revealed in his eyes. There was no expression on his face. He was lying on a high chair and flipping through the Wei Dang list drawn by Li Linfu, as well as some of Huangfu Weiming's confidants.

He called Li Linfu not to clean up the princelings. On the contrary, except for some of the backbone of the princelings, he planned to keep the rest to lay the foundation for Zhang Qiujianqiong to form the Zhang Qiu Party. He called Li Linfu to discuss with him the matter of Chen Xilie. Once the left prime minister and the right were occupied by the party, this was by no means a good thing. The ruling affairs were almost in the hands of Li Linfu alone, which was not normal.

With a 'bang!', Li Longji closed the memorial gently, put it on the table, and smiled faintly: "Wei Jian, I have a preliminary idea of ​​the case of Huangfu Weiming, and it will be announced in a few days. Naturally, it is difficult to take the post of Minister of Justice again, but it can be added by Minister of Works Lu Jingrong. In this way, the post of Minister of Works will be vacant. I want to transfer the former governor of Yizhou, Li Daofu, the current governor of Yuezhou, to serve as the chief minister of the Ministry of Works. I don't know what the Prime Minister wants to do? "

Li Linfu naturally understood that this was Li Longji's intention. On the surface, he was to value his confidant, but in fact he was preparing for the next step to promote his eldest son as the junior chief Li Xiu. He suddenly had an idea that the prince would not fall, and it might not be a bad thing to him. He pondered slightly, but said: "Li Daofu was the governor of Shangzhou, and his qualifications need not be said, but he was demoted for less than two years for his crime. Now he is using him, and the old minister is worried that someone in the court will not accept it."

“This doesn’t have to be considered.”

Li Longji waved his hand and smiled, "He is just a crime of misunderstanding in the Hai family's smuggling case, so there is no need to blame him too much. As the Prime Minister said, he has good qualifications and talents, so it is not a pity. Since the Prime Minister has no objection, I will decide that Li Daofu will serve as the Minister of Works and General as the Supervisor."

Li Linfu was overjoyed and thanked Li Longji: "I have thanked His Majesty for Li Daofu."

Li Longji squinted his eyes and sneered in his heart. After a while, he smiled and said, "I'm going to invite the Prime Minister today. I want to discuss with the Prime Minister. Is the candidate for the Shangshu Youpushe? Do you have a good idea?"

The highest chief of the Shangshu Province of the Tang Dynasty was the Shangshu Ling, and his deputy was the left and right Pushe. However, because Emperor Taizong Li Shimin served as the Shangshu Ling, in order to avoid suspicion, he did not set up the Shangshu Ling and appointed the Shangshu Ling as the highest chief of the Shangshu Province. Later, the Zhongshu Ling and the subordinate Shizhong divided the power of the six ministries. The left and right Pushe was gradually undermined and became a void position, mainly used to appease local officials. In the 13th year of Tianbao, An Lushan was named the Shangshu Youpu She, which was his conquest.

Li Linfu suddenly had an unknown premonition. Li Longji suddenly promoted Li Daofu to Shangshu. Could it be that he was a foreshadowing for this matter?

He had a long time to be aware of this matter. The Minister of Revenue Zhang Yun was always a secret supporter of Prince Li Heng. Although he did not care about practice, he had a great impact on the Ministry of Revenue and was the biggest obstacle to his intervention in the Ministry of Revenue. Li Linfu always wanted to move him, but Zhang Yun was the eldest son, with a rich family background and mixed forces, so he should not be easily shaken. If he was allowed to be moved to the Minister of Shangshu Youpushe and then defeated Xi Yu, he would be vacant to the position of the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Rites. He was the Minister of Revenue and Chen Xilie was the Minister of Rites. What a wonderful thing this was, but Li Longji took the lead in using Li Daofu as the Minister of Works, and it was difficult to express his words.

After hesitating, Li Linfu said slowly: "If the emperor asks the old minister about his opinion, the old minister thinks that Zhang Yun, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, is the most suitable position for him. He has basically taken turns to be promoted to the Minister of the Shangshu, and it is justified."

Li Longji shook his head and said, "Although Zhang Yun has a rich family background, he is not qualified to serve as a pu She, and he still needs to be trained well. I am going to order him to serve as the Imperial College Priest and cultivate a group of talents for our Tang Dynasty."

He detected the chart of all officials, looked carefully for a long time, glanced at Li Linfu before slowly saying: "I want to transfer Chen Xilie to the right servant of the Shangshu, what do you think about the prime minister?"

Li Linfu seemed to step on the air. He shook his eyes twice and almost fell to the ground. It turned out that Li Longji ordered Li Dao to serve as the Minister of Works. His real intention was to use a Minister of Works to exchange for a Left Prime Minister. He thought he had taken advantage of it. In fact, he fell into Li Longji's trap. He was bitter and astringent in his mouth. He quickly defended Chen Xilie: "Although the Prime Minister Chen is not strong enough, he is more calm and stable. He has only been the Left Prime Minister for more than a year and has not had the opportunity to display his talents. The old minister just had a tacit understanding with him. It would be better for Your Majesty to give him another three or five years of opportunity to help him complete the recruitment of troops and reorganization. It would not be too late to transfer it."

"There is a long way to go to recruit soldiers and reform. I am worried that Prime Minister Chen is too calm and lacks intent, so I want to change to someone who is good at governing the army and has been in charge of politics for a long time. I have decided on this matter, so the Prime Minister doesn't need to say more."

When Li Linfu heard this, he knew that this was something that Li Longji had planned long ago and the matter could not be saved. He took a long breath and asked in a deep voice: "I don't know that your Majesty is going to use that minister as the left prime minister."
Chapter completed!