Chapter 116 The Emperor’s Wrath, a tour of Langzhou City
Chapter 116: The Emperor’s Wrath, a tour of Langzhou City
"Exactly!"
Wang Gui frowned slightly and said in a deep voice.
He didn't see the change in Li Shimin's expression, otherwise he wouldn't have answered so quickly.
"Does Prime Minister Wang really understand the situation in Liaozhou?"
"They don't know why. As a servant, do you come to me without checking?"
Li Shimin suddenly became furious.
Throw the memorial I just photographed away.
With a few snaps, the memorial in secret fell to the ground and landed at the feet of Wang Gui and the others.
"Your Majesty, the people of Liaozhou are suffering terribly!"
Wang Gui and Pei Ji looked at each other, and Pei Ji also took a step forward.
Now the two of them are not talking about Fang Yuan's evidence, but about Fang Yuan's management in Liaozhou.
Liaozhou is so big, no matter how good policies Fang Yuan makes, the interests of some people will always be infringed.
Among them, the aristocratic families in Liaozhou have been affected the most, and they are almost becoming deprived, and they still have to please those untouchables.
"It's so miserable, but what I see is that some aristocratic families in Liaozhou are doing whatever they want and want to rebel!"
"I am so tolerant of Hedong that some evil forces dare to rebel, and even dare to kill the current governor to claim their own status, etc."
"I am new to the throne, so the local evil forces don't take me seriously, right? Do you think my sword is not sharp enough?"
Li Shimin’s voice was louder.
The momentum also became more surging.
Like an angry tiger, roaring with the spirit of a king.
Similarly, Li Shimin has also learned about what happened in Liaozhou.
The Wang family of Liaoshan and his son dared to take advantage of the absence of the governor to launch a coup and unite with the family to seek the position of governor.
If Fang Yuan hadn't been prepared, if the news had reached his ears now, it would have become Fang Yuan's plan to poison the people, and Wang Chengzhe, the county magistrate, turned the tide and saved Liaozhou from danger.
As a result, he was concealed, and the governor of Liaozhou became the new governor of Liaozhou naturally with the recommendation of many aristocratic families!
It's disgusting, it's so disgusting, it's completely intolerable!
"Your Majesty, calm down!"
"That's Fang Yuan's trick!"
Pei Ji's expression changed and he said in a deep voice.
There is no doubt that Li Shimin was referring to Sang and scolding Huai.
Criticize the Pei family, scold the Wang family, and the two families are the chief culprits.
At the same time, he also secretly cursed himself and Wang Gui for being blind and unable to see the truth.
"Prime Minister Pei is indeed old."
"I think it's time for Prime Minister Pei to retire."
Li Shimin's eyes turned cold, he stared at Pei Ji and said in a deep voice.
"Your Majesty does not trust the old ministers, but he allows them to become officials. Aren't you afraid of hurting the hearts of your ministers?"
"The veteran minister dedicated his life to the Tang Dynasty and worked tirelessly for the founding of the Tang Dynasty. There is no credit but hard work!"
Pei Ji also had a cold look in his eyes and said in a deep voice.
Today, he wanted to ease the relationship with the emperor.
Otherwise, when Pei Ji encounters a problem, he will go directly to the Supreme Emperor to complain.
However, his own initiative to show weakness was rewarded by Li Shimin's request to become an official.
This made Pei Ji very angry and unwilling, and was very dissatisfied with Li Shimin.
"Prime Minister Pei has made many mistakes. I am afraid that the outstanding talents of the Tang Dynasty will be destroyed in Prime Minister Pei's hands."
"For the good of Prime Minister Pei, for the good of me, and for the good of the Tang Dynasty, please accept the appointment of Prime Minister Pei!"
Li Shimin said calmly.
He seemed polite, but stared at Pei Ji with angry eyes.
Pei Ji had a dark face and was about to fight back, but suddenly, there was a sound of reading from outside the imperial study room.
"According to reports from Liaozhou City: Wang and his son from Liaoshan, together with Pei Yinghua and others, poisoned workers in major factories in Liaozhou, resulting in more than 3,000 people being poisoned."
"The Wang family of Liaoshan and his son took the opportunity to seize control of the Liaozhou Governor's Mansion, led three hundred tribesmen to surround the Fang Mansion, and tried to forcibly convict Liaozhou Governor Fang Yuan, but Fang Yuan, who pretended to leave, saw through and fought back."
"The Wang family of Liaoshan and his son admitted their crimes. At the same time, Yushe County Magistrate Zhou Kaile exposed many evidences of Wang Chengzhe's crimes. The evidence of the father and son's crimes was conclusive, and they have pleaded guilty and are waiting to be executed."
"Pei Yinghua cooperated with the Wang family and his son in Liaoshan to riot in Liaozhou City, which put the people in Liaozhou City in panic. According to Qin Liangcai's evidence, Pei Yinghua was a supporter of the Taiyuan bandits and participated in the deaths of previous Liaozhou governors. The evidence was conclusive and he committed suicide.
Plead guilty!"
Du Ruhui walked in.
Also coming with him were Fang Xuanling and Changsun Wuji.
The three of them were invited by Li Shimin and had been waiting outside the palace for a long time. When they heard roaring sounds coming from inside, they came in immediately.
"Can Prime Minister Du be sure that the evidence here is true?"
Pei Ji took a deep breath and said in a deep voice.
He had exchanged letters with Pei Yinghua many times.
But I have never heard that the Taiyuan Bandits were secretly supported by Pei Yinghua.
Wang Gui on the side lowered his head, worry flashed in his eyes. He felt that he had entered a whirlpool: the emperor wanted to use this problem to remove Prime Minister Pei.
A person who is too emperor cannot be in such a high position.
There are not many ministers in the DPRK and China who are unaware of the conflict between the two.
"If Mr. Pei doesn't believe it, you can go and check it yourself."
Du Ruhui said softly.
At this moment, he was not as aggressive as last time.
After today, Pei Ji will most likely be demoted to give some face to his colleagues.
"Your Majesty, I take my leave!"
Pei Ji said in a deep voice with a dark face.
He turned around and walked outside Tai Chi Palace.
"Prime Minister Pei, I hope to receive your resignation in seven days!"
Li Shimin said expressionlessly.
As a veteran minister and founding hero, he has given Pei Ji a good look many times.
If Pei Ji still doesn't know what's interesting, don't blame yourself for not giving him the face of being an old minister.
Pei Ji stopped and everyone looked at his figure, but Pei Ji did not respond to Li Shimin's words.
He just paused for a moment, and then walked towards the door, but his figure became much more blurred.
After leaving the imperial study, Pei Ji stood at the door for a moment. Instead of returning directly to the Pei Mansion, he headed to Tai'an Palace.
"Your Majesty, I will retire first."
Wang Gui whispered.
I want to take the opportunity to leave the palace.
He wants to save face for the Wang family.
I am also very dissatisfied with Fang Yuan and want to take this opportunity to teach Fang Yuan a lesson.
But it was obvious that he came at the wrong time. Du Ruhui and the other three were the emperor's confidants, and they followed him to conquer the world.
Now is not the time to save face.
"Why is Mr. Wang so anxious? I'm here. I just have something I want to discuss with Mr. Wang."
Li Shimin called Wang Gui expressionlessly.
Wang Gui's abilities as a servant are somewhat lacking.
But considering that Wang Gui might have control of the property left by Prince Yin, Li Shimin forcibly promoted him.
Because Wang Gui was related to the Wang family in Taiyuan, there were very few people in the court who opposed it, so Wang Gui became the minister without any resistance.
"Your Majesty, please speak clearly."
Wang Gui said.
Thinking about what Li Shimin is going to say.
"I want to attach great importance to the imperial examination and implement it comprehensively. I wonder what the king's opinion is?"
Li Shimin said in a deep voice.
Since the last conversation with Fang Yuan, he has been thinking about the imperial examination.
It is certain that the implementation of the imperial examination and the emphasis on the imperial examination will be able to dissolve the control of the aristocratic family over the local area.
For example, what happened in Liaozhou this time, if Fang Yuan had not been there and someone else had been the governor, the Wang family and his son might have succeeded.
Because they are all local aristocratic families, the magistrates of the three counties are not only members of their own counties, but also members of Liaozhou. After the aristocratic families in Liaozhou have discussed it, they can take action.
But at this time, if there are more officials who are not local or from various aristocratic families, then they will not agree to this happening, and the aristocratic families will help.
In order to entrust the family with control of the local area as soon as possible, Li Shimin decided to implement the imperial examination from now on.
It just so happens that we can use the momentum of retreating from Pei Ji to reduce the opposition of more people.
"Your Majesty, the imperial examination is a relic of the previous dynasty, so shouldn't we take it too seriously?"
"History may say that we in the Tang Dynasty have no one and will only copy things from the previous dynasty."
Wang Gui pondered for a moment and said in a deep voice.
"Your Majesty, I suggest you consider it carefully!"
Du Ruhui stood up and said.
He did not know in advance that the imperial court would attach great importance to the imperial examination.
"Your Majesty, please be careful!"
Changsun Wuji and Fang Xuanling also spoke one after another.
It was obvious that the four ministers present knew for the first time that Li Shimin had the idea of valuing the imperial examination.
"The tyranny of the Sui Dynasty was attacked by the whole world. This is the will of the people of the world."
"However, the Sui Dynasty also has things that our Tang Dynasty can learn from, and there are also things that we can learn from."
"We do not deny the good of something, nor cover up the bad of something. As long as there is something worth learning from, we can learn from it."
"I want to attach great importance to the imperial examination and promote the imperial examination. Starting from all the prefectures and counties, I ordered the court to vigorously publicize it. At least the villagers will know that the imperial court attaches great importance to the imperial examination."
Li Shimin said in a deep voice.
His eyes gradually became sharper.
Apart from Wang Gui, Du Ruhui and the others can be said to be the most trustworthy ones.
But even the most trustworthy group is also the group that opposes the emphasis and implementation of the imperial examination.
Because they essentially come from major aristocratic families and have thousands of interests and relationships behind them.
"Your Majesty, now that the imperial court is about to start a war against the Eastern Turks, will the imperial examination be planned slowly?"
Wang Gui pondered for a moment, but still didn't want to agree.
The imperial examination was of great importance and triggered the interests of too many aristocratic families.
The demise of the previous dynasty was partly due to the implementation of the imperial examination.
"Yes, Your Majesty, please be careful!"
Du Ruhui and others all agreed.
"War and imperial examinations are two different things."
"The imperial court only needs soldiers to fight, not everyone."
"If the imperial court doesn't have to do anything because of the war, then what's the use of keeping the princes of the Manchu Dynasty? Can't it be enough to follow Pei Ji to become an official?"
Li Shimin said in a deep voice.
We still insist on attaching importance to and promoting the imperial examination.
Fang Yuan's words and what just happened in Liaozhou made him completely determined to attach importance to the imperial examination.
If the imperial court had enough money, he would also support the student's travel expenses according to Fang Yuan's wishes.
"Your Majesty is wise and I support you!"
Wang Gui sighed in his heart and said respectfully.
Obviously, Li Shimin is warning not to forget what he just committed.
This is the end of Pei Ji. He hasn't investigated his own issues yet, so he has to agree to his policy.
As a last resort, Wang Gui agreed to Li Shimin's policy.
"Du Xiang, where are you?"
Li Shimin looked at Du Ruhui aggressively.
"I support you!"
Du Ruhui sighed in his heart and said respectfully.
Li Shimin pressed Sun Wuji and Fang Xuanling again, and finally they agreed.
"Very good. Tomorrow morning we will discuss the issue of attaching importance to the imperial examination and promoting the imperial examination."
Li Shimin nodded with satisfaction.
Send Wang Gui, Du Ruhui and others away.
Although the idea was initially realized, Li Shimin couldn't be happy.
After all, the aristocratic family is still too rampant. It's fine in the imperial capital, but it's hard to control the place.
It would be great if there were more officials like Fang Yuan, and his imperial power could be more concentrated.
Thinking of Fang Yuan, Li Shimin began to worry that although Fang Yuan only attacked the Pei family and the Wang family this time, he made the world's famous families dissatisfied. It is estimated that many aristocratic families will target Fang Yuan in the future.
......
When Li Shimin was worried about Fang Yuan.
Fang Yuan and his party have truly left Liaozhou City and set off for Langzhou.
This time, Fang Yuan and Zhang San took along Hongxu, Qinggao, the Xue family siblings and others.
Fang Yuan needed Xue Bowu's protection, and Xue Jiaoyan didn't want to stay alone in Fang Mansion, so she went with him.
For four days in a row, everyone was rushing on the bumpy official road, and it was better to enter the Langzhou area.
Currently, in addition to Wuling County and Liaozhou, there is also one cement road in Langzhou, which was built by Fangyuan when he built Wuling County.
There is only one way to reach Langzhou City.
But because of this road, there is a lot of traffic in Langzhou City.
Many caravans doing business in Wuling County may pass through Langzhou City, which has boosted the local economy.
Although Langzhou City at this time was located in the remote south, it was no less backward than Liaozhou today.
"Oh, we finally arrived in Langzhou City, but I'm exhausted."
Xue Jiaoyan got off the carriage with a pale face.
She had not traveled so hard, and she actually vomited several times on the way.
"Sister, are you okay?"
Xue Bowu patted her back with concern from behind.
But Xue Bo's martial arts skills are not serious, and this slap almost knocked Xue Jiaoyan away.
"You want to murder your sister?!"
Xue Jiaoyan coughed repeatedly and jumped up to give Xue Bowu a chestnut.
There was a bang, and the pain caused Xue Bowu to cover his head and push away, looking at Xue Jiaoyan pitifully.
"Jiaoyan, you always use so much force, aren't you afraid of breaking Bowu's brain?"
Fang Yuan frowned slightly.
He has wanted to say this for a long time.
Normal people are prone to concussion if their brains are knocked in this way.
Moreover, Xue Bowu's brain itself was not good, and he even doubted whether it was Xue Jiaoyan's fault.
"I want you to take care of it."
Xue Jiaoyan glared at Fang Yuan.
Then he muttered: Do you think I want to knock his brains out?
But Fang Yuan didn't hear what he said next, so he rolled his eyes at her and stopped mentioning the matter.
Fang Yuan felt that he should not interfere too much in the matter between the two siblings, so as not to make them unhappy.
Soon, Zhang San and Hong Xu Qinggao bought a lot of fruits and so on in Langzhou City and set off for Zhao Mansion.
The Zhao family is also quite prestigious in Langzhou City. It is not a poor family, but comes from the Nanyang Zhao family and is a branch of it.
Therefore, the Zhao family's residence is stately and luxurious, not comparable to Fang Yuan's Fang Mansion in Liaozhou.
After the announcement, someone soon came out to greet me.
The leader was a girl in yellow clothes, about fifteen or sixteen years old, trotting out like an oriole flying out, accompanied by laughter like silver bells.
When she was running close to Fang Yuan and others, she suddenly slowed down and walked towards Fang Yuan with a brisk pace like a little girl, and shouted shyly: