Five years as county magistrate, hundreds of millions of kilograms of grain shocked Li Shimin Chapter 363: Demoted from Chang'an City, the whole city panics at the bad news
Chapter 363: Demoted from Chang'an City, the whole city panics at the bad news
It’s dawn the next day.
The people of Chang'an City woke up in panic.
Many people walked towards the city gate as soon as they got up to see what was going on.
After seeing that although the city gate collapsed, the soldiers were guarding it, they breathed a sigh of relief.
There are still blood stains on the ground that have not been cleaned up, so people know that there was a bloody battle here last night.
Not long after, someone came to replace the door, and the people left one after another, asking about what happened last night.
In the palace, there was no morning court today, as Li Shimin was not allowed to attend, but he called Fang Yuan and other court ministers.
"I believe you have heard about what happened last night!"
Li Shimin's eyes were bloodshot and he said slowly.
He thought for a long time last night about how to deal with Li Chengqian.
After almost staying up all night, Li Shimin finally made a decision.
"Your Majesty, have you found the person who blew up the city gate?"
Changsun Wuji was the first to speak.
Everyone nodded, their eyes full of anger.
Fifty thousand Tsing Yi troops approaching the city didn't make them angry, but blowing up the city gate was the bottom line.
The gates of Chang'an City are strong and cannot be taken down by ordinary siege, but it is different if they are blown up.
Fortunately, the Fire Gun Army showed up to guard the city gate last night, otherwise Chang'an City would have been captured by the Tsing Yi Army, and everyone's physical and mental health would not be guaranteed.
"Found it, it's Li Chengqian."
Li Shimin said expressionlessly.
"Ah? This?"
Changsun Wuji's face suddenly fell.
I was originally indignant, but now I am embarrassed and speechless.
No matter what, Li Chengqian is his nephew and he is his uncle.
This kind of thing is not good for me as an uncle, no matter what I say or how I deal with it.
Everyone was in an uproar and looked at each other. It was a little hard to accept this result for a while.
Immediately, Liu Zhenghui, Li Daozong and others looked at Fang Yuan, and when they saw that Fang Yuan was silent, they knew that the matter was true.
"Everyone, tell me, how should I deal with that traitor?"
Li Shimin said in a deep voice.
After the words fell, everyone looked at each other again.
After a while, someone finally spoke.
"Your Majesty, I thought I could be given a lighter sentence."
"After all, no substantial casualties were caused."
Fang Xuanling was the first to stand up and express her opinions.
He knew Li Shimin very well. When he heard Li Shimin say that he was a traitor, he knew that Li Shimin actually did not want to punish Li Chengqian severely.
Although he is speechless, Li Chengqian has no position now and only has one life. It is impossible to kill Li Chengqian, so it is better to be given a lighter sentence.
"Your Majesty, I also think that I should be given a lighter sentence."
Wang Gui also stood up and expressed his opinions.
Everyone present was a smart person, and they all understood the reason why Li Shimin did not go to the morning meeting to call them in private.
It's just that he doesn't want to punish Li Chengqian severely. After all, he is the eldest son, and losing his position as prince is miserable enough.
Although I made a mistake again, it did not cause any substantial consequences, so I can still try to give it a chance.
"Your Majesty, why don't you demote me out of Chang'an City and demote me to the rank of common people, and promise you a lifetime of glory and wealth?"
Liu Zhenghui said in a deep voice.
His face is not very pretty.
This is the kind of treatment only a prince can receive.
If it were anyone else, beheading would be easy, and the entire clan could be implicated.
"I second the proposal!"
The remaining ministers seconded the proposal.
"Fang Shangshu, what do you think?"
Li Shimin frowned slightly, not very satisfied with this punishment.
It’s okay to be demoted from Chang’an City, but if you become common people, won’t the descendants also become common people?
Everyone looked at Fang Yuan and then remembered that Fang Yuan had not spoken.
"I obey your Majesty!"
Fang Yuan said calmly.
Whatever happens, so be it.
I have said that I will not interfere in the struggle for imperial power.
No matter how the ministers decide to deal with Li Chengqian, it is up to them.
"In this case, let's follow what Liu Shangshu said and demote him out of Chang'an City and demote him to a commoner."
Li Shimin said in a deep voice.
He wanted the punishment to be lighter.
But the punishment is too light, which makes it difficult to convince the public and can easily lead to serious consequences.
For example, it will have a bad impact on the princes: the punishment for making mistakes will not be too severe.
"Your Majesty is wise!"
Everyone saluted.
"Ministry of Industry, repair the city gate as soon as possible and check the city problems."
"Yes!"
"The Ministry of Rites, calm people's hearts and warn the people of Chang'an City not to be afraid!"
"Yes!"
"The Ministry of War is always on standby. I don't want any mistakes to be made in mobilizing troops!"
"Yes!"
"Ministry of Punishment, there will definitely be a lot of villains in the city recently. You and Dali Temple must prevent villains from causing trouble!"
"Yes!"
"The Department of Household Affairs, regarding financial expenditures, has been approving first and then reviewing them during the recent period to ensure that there is no shortage of money in every link!"
"Yes!"
"The Ministry of Personnel supervises all officials and prevents officials with low quality from doing things they shouldn't do."
"Yes!"
Li Shimin issued orders to the six subordinates respectively.
The tense atmosphere immediately made Fang Yuan and others feel anxious.
This is not an ordinary time, but a critical moment, a time when the fate of the Tang Dynasty is related.
If anyone slips up at this time, Li Shimin will definitely be very strict in pursuing the case.
After all, everyone is not Li Chengqian, and it is impossible to forgive like Li Chengqian.
"Let's all disperse."
Li Shimin waved his hand and said in a deep voice.
"Your Majesty, please retire!"
Everyone stood up and left.
"Fang Shangshu, please stay for a while."
Li Shimin suddenly stopped Fang Yuan.
Everyone’s eyes changed slightly, but they still dispersed in an orderly manner.
Recently, Li Shimin often asked Fang Yuan to stay, which made everyone a little unhappy.
"Your Majesty, is something wrong?"
Fang Yuan said directly.
"Is the money enough?"
Li Shimin said in a deep voice.
Not long ago, due to the issue of seven-star banknotes, banks were losing a lot of money every day.
Nowadays, coinage and money printing are being done at a rapid pace, but people are exchanging banknotes and copper coins every day, which puts great pressure on banks.
"There is a lot of pressure. I will try my best to cooperate with various departments in using money."
Fang Yuan said in a deep voice.
Money is tight now, and the national treasury is almost empty.
If it weren't for the money being printed, the court would have been out of money.
Now we can no longer worry about subsequent inflation.
However, Fang Yuan is still working hard to control the amount exchanged every day.
If the credibility of Datang Baochao can be maintained, then the subsequent problems will not be too big.
"I feel relieved if I have you."
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"Come with me to see Zheng Zaiyou. I have to torture him to find out the whereabouts of the fire gun."
Li Shimin breathed a sigh of relief and said in a deep voice.
Among the six departments now, the one under the greatest pressure is actually the Household Department.
Without money, it will be difficult for other departments to do well, and chaos may occur.
So Li Shimin personally stayed with Fang Yuan and asked about Fang Yuan's situation to determine what to do.
"Okay."
Fang Yuan nodded.
He was also curious about where Zheng Zaiyou hid the firecracker.
Yesterday, the Tsing Yi troops outside the city came because of Zheng Zaiyou and others.
But if it weren’t for the arrival of the firecrackers, we wouldn’t be sure.
The city gates were blown open. I wonder if the firecrackers were secretly taken out.
You still have to ask Zheng Zaiyou to know all this.
Not long after, Fang Yuan followed Li Shimin to Tianlao.
Prisoners held in Tianlao are severely punished, and they almost never have the chance to escape in their lifetime.
Many of Sun Simiao's human experiments were executed and transported there.
Soon, Fang Yuan and Li Shimin saw Zheng Zaiyou, sitting peacefully in the corner of the cell.
At this time, Zheng Zaiyou was leaning against the wall, holding a black round pill in his hand, with a tangled look on his face.
After hearing the footsteps of Fang Yuan, Li Shimin and others, Zheng Zaiyou looked at the two people in a panic, and then swallowed the pills in his mouth.
"Zheng Zaiyou, what are you going to do?!"
Fang Yuan was shocked and quickly wanted to stop Zheng Zaiyou.
However, the voice could not stop Zheng Zaiyou from taking the pill.
"Quick, open the door and call for the imperial doctor!"
Li Shimin was also shocked and immediately ordered to open the door and call the imperial doctor.
Swallowing black pills at this time is definitely not a good thing. It is very likely to commit suicide by taking poison.
Where was the fire gun that I was about to get from him now? How could I just let him die like this?
The jailers were very fast. They immediately opened the city gate and rushed into the cell as quickly as possible.
Several jailers were very experienced. While holding down Zheng Zaiyou's body, they hit Zheng Zaiyou's stomach, trying to spit out what Zheng Zaiyou had swallowed.
However, Zheng Zaiyou tried his best to curl up and tighten his body, holding on tightly to prevent the jailers from succeeding.
After a few times, Zheng Zaiyou vomited blood, but did not see the black pill spit out.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty."
The jailers looked at Li Shimin tremblingly.
They tried their best, but still couldn't get the pills out of Zheng Zaiyou's stomach.
"Back off!"
"Zheng Zaiyou, what on earth did you eat?"
Li Shimin looked ugly, and after approaching Zheng Zaiyou, he said in a deep voice.
Damn it, it’s so damned, who sent him the pills?
"Didn't Your Majesty guess it?"
Zheng Zaiyou coughed up blood and laughed wildly.
He struggled to get up, but fell down again due to severe pain in his abdomen.
"Asshole!"
"Where is the gun?"
Li Shimin was furious and shouted.
But what he faced was Zheng Zaiyou’s cold laughter.
"Laugh, it's so funny."
"We will ask all your clan members to go down and accompany you, especially your close relatives!"
Fang Yuan suddenly interrupted and said coldly.
He was also very angry and very dissatisfied with Zheng Zaiyou.
Not only did he despise himself at first, but now he also despises the laws of the court.
What's even more outrageous is that there are actually poisons in Tianlao, and the infiltration of Wu Xing Qi Wang is too terrifying.
This kind of family is really terrible, they must be suppressed.
"Not bad!"
"If you don't tell me, I will definitely send your parents, wife and children down to you!"
Li Shimin raised his eyebrows and said in a deep voice.
I don’t know how Zheng Zaiyou’s poison is. Now I can only force the other party to tell him the whereabouts of the fire gun.
"Emperor, the crime is not worthy of the family, the crime is not worthy of the family!"
Zheng Zaiyou's expression changed and he said in a panic.
He struggled and finally stood up and begged Li Shimin.
At this time, his lips began to turn purple, and the donated blood flowing out of the corners of his mouth turned black.
"Then tell me the whereabouts of the fire gun!"
When Li Shimin saw this, his expression darkened, and he understood how poisonous Zheng Zaiyu was, and he would probably die soon.
"I really don't know where the gun is."
"After I got him, I gave him to the person who took care of him. I don't know where he is now or who he gave it to."
Zheng Zaiyou tried his best to explain.
As he spoke, he vomited more blood, which was all black.
Finally, he knelt down at Li Shimin's knees, grabbed Li Shimin's clothes, and begged again.
"Who is he?"
Fang Yuan asked loudly.
Li Shimin also raised his eyebrows and looked at Zheng Zaiyou eagerly.
"Yes, yes"
Zheng Zaiyou struggled, black blood kept coming out of his mouth.
Before he finished speaking, he was completely speechless, and finally fell to the ground on his face and died completely.
"Ah ah ah, I'm so angry!"
Li Shimin was so angry that he kicked Zheng Zaiyou's body away.
Fang Yuan's brows suddenly furrowed into the Chinese character "Chuan", he quickly approached Zheng Zaiyou and pressed his fingers on Zheng Zaiyou's neck.
Dead.
Li Shimin saw Fang Yuan's expression and was so angry that he kicked him again.
But this time it was the jailer who was kneeling on the ground who was kicked. The jailer was kicked away and his face looked hideous in pain.
"Let's go, Your Majesty."
Fang Yuan sighed and said.
The whereabouts of the fire gun remain a mystery.
It is no longer certain whether he will be taken out or not.
The only good thing is that Fang Yuan was well prepared from the beginning and gave them inferior firecrackers.
"Is it possible to find the lost firecracker?"
Li Shimin said as he walked, his face ugly.
"The possibility is almost zero."
"Let's think about the current problem."
Fang Yuan followed and said in a deep voice.
The current problem is already a headache, and I don’t have much energy to think about it.
Since the fire gun has been given to the Zheng family in Xingyang, they are already prepared not to get it back.
"That's all it can do."
Li Shimin sighed deeply and left the prison.
There are indeed many things going on in Chang'an City, such as the construction of city gates, the appeasement of people's hearts, the surveillance of aristocratic families, and the problems left behind by the seven-star banknote
After coming out of the Tianlao, Fang Yuan and others had no time to rest and were busy every day.
Because of everyone's busy work every day, the situation in Chang'an City slowly returned to normal, and the city gates were repaired.
After the fighting that night, the 50,000 Tsing Yi troops suffered more than 10,000 casualties and disappeared, never to be seen again.
But under unknown circumstances, Li Chengqian was secretly demoted from Chang'an City.
Although Li Shimin deliberately did not let the people know that the blowing up of the city gate was related to Li Chengqian, in the end, the news could not be contained and the news was spread.
For a time, people had great opinions on the royal family. They felt that it was because of the royal family that they and others almost lost their lives.
But before the matter could ferment, bigger news came back.
During the war between Datang and Tuyuhun, Tuyuhun retreated steadily and was no match for Datang.
However, Tubo suddenly sent troops to sneak attack the Tang army, and attacked the Tang army with Tuyuhun, causing the Tang army to lose. The battle situation reversed, and the Tang army almost collapsed and was unable to recover.
Although the Tang army finally gathered under the guidance of the military god Li Jing, the losses were still very heavy and the casualties were heavy.
This kind of news cannot be concealed, and sooner or later it will be leaked. In addition, Li Shimin and others believed that this battle was bound to win and did not deliberately conceal it, so more people knew about it.
"How could it be? Has the God of War also been defeated?"
"Oh my God, it won't cause other countries to attack our Tang Dynasty, right?"
"The Tsing Yi Army was scary enough last night. It won't be like the situation in the ninth year of Wude, right?"
"Do you want to run away? Do you want to run away? I think those big families have been preparing to run away for a long time!"
People were panicking, like a stone weighing on their hearts, and the entire city of Chang'an became even more depressed.