At the court meeting the next day, Li Longji sat on the throne with a pale face, looked around at the court officials, and said nothing for a long time.
When the civil and military officials saw that Li Longji, who had not been in charge of the government for a long time, suddenly reopened the court meeting, they looked at each other with uneasiness in their hearts.
Li Longji shouted in a deep voice: "Tubo invaded Shazhou and chaos broke out everywhere in Longyou, but I was the last one in this palace to know about it!"
When all the officials heard this, they all condemned him.
Li Longji looked at Li Linfu who was at the front of the table and asked: "I heard that after Wang Si took charge of the Daqi Trading Road, he made a lot of money and lost his moral integrity in the Longyou prefectures, causing all the border people to join Tubo. Is this possible?
"
Li Linfu looked calm, nodded slowly and said: "It is indeed true. The old minister was responsible for negligence when he recommended Wang Zhi. He is guilty of betraying the divine grace."
As soon as this statement came out, all the officials were shocked.
When Li Linfu said these words, he completely gave up on Wang Fei and convicted the latter.
Li Longji asked again: "A few months ago in Anxi, memorials were submitted to the three provinces to clarify the crime of Wang Fei, but these memorials were withheld. Is this happening?"
Li Linfu hesitated for a moment without saying a word.
When Li Longji saw this, he looked to Yang Guozhong on one side.
Yang Guozhong understood this and took out Anxi's memorial against Wang He from his arms, and said loudly: "Your Majesty, this memorial was already in the court three months ago. The right minister deliberately concealed it in order to protect Wang He!"
Li Longji stared at Li Linfu: "Right Prime Minister, is Taifu Yang telling the truth?"
Li Linfu: "Your Majesty, the memorial was withheld by an old minister, but it was not to protect the king."
When Li Linfu personally admitted that he had withheld the memorial, Li Longji laughed angrily: "I originally believed in you and regarded you as my right-hand man, but in the end, this is how you deceived me?!"
Li Linfu kowtowed first, then took out several memorials from his arms, placed them on the floor in the hall, and said to Li Longji: "These are all memorials from Longyou, and most of them are complaints from Jisi Prefecture. Your Majesty, please
Take a look."
Li Longji was stunned for a moment, then looked at Gao Lishi beside him, who took the memorial and showed it to the emperor.
Among the memorials, there were complaints from the Anxi garrison envoys, complaints from the Frontier Exchange Bureau, and complaints from small foreign countries.
The defendants are all kinds of people, including Wang Zhi, Hedong Pei family, Jingzhao Wei family, Hedong Liu family, Hongnong Yang family, Henan Yuwen family...
Most of the charges were just one, which was to occupy trade routes, collude, and seek personal gain.
Li Longji looked at the long list of names of aristocratic families, many of which were even relatives of the emperor. He slowly realized that something was wrong and asked, "What's going on?"
Li Linfu: "Three feet of ice did not freeze in a day, and the deterioration of the Daqi Trading Road was not the fault of Wang Xian alone. The Daqi Trading Road made a lot of profits. Since the news spread, many people
People are trying to get a piece of it.”
When Li Longji heard this, he slowly understood the deeper meaning. What followed was deep anger.
Daqi Trading Road was a source of tax revenue that he valued. When he was responsible for handling it, he had already issued an imperial edict and strictly ordered that no mistakes should be made.
Unexpectedly, what I said would turn a deaf ear to many people, who acted recklessly, regardless of the government's policy, and wantonly grabbed profits, eventually causing a disaster.
Li Longji thought of this, put down the memorial in his hand, looked at Li Linfu and said: "What the Prime Minister said is true, there are many people involved in this matter." When Yang Guozhong saw this, he hurriedly shouted: "Your Majesty, don't forget that the Prime Minister has secretly detained you.
Writing a memorial is a serious crime of deceiving the emperor and should not be spared lightly!"
Li Linfu kowtowed again: "Your Majesty has great trust and entrusts political affairs to Lin Fu. The old ministers work hard every day for fear of betraying the holy grace. The Daqi trade route involves many people, and it also makes the people of Longyou uneasy. I don't want to embarrass your Majesty."
, so I first withdrew the memorial and consulted with the king, hoping to find a solution first. Unexpectedly, the king was ineffective and failed to resolve the dispute over production. This caused the Anxi prefectures to become disloyal and Longyou was in chaos. I have great troubles.
Yes, please forgive me!"
Li Longji looked at the pile of memorials in front of him and began to think about how to deal with this matter.
Regarding the Daqi Trading Road dispute, Wang Xie, as the official in charge, failed to complete the tasks assigned to him and sown the seeds of great chaos. In terms of crime, he was naturally the most guilty.
The Pei family of Hedong, the Wei family of Jingzhao, the Liu family of Hedong and other aristocratic families pursue profit, form cliques for private interests, replace government-owned enterprises with private companies, and harm the internal treasury tax revenue. This should be a serious crime, but considering that many people are involved, we can only
Depending on the severity of the crime, the one or two families that cause the greatest harm will be singled out and investigated and dealt with strictly to serve as a warning to others.
As for Li Linfu, he was indeed suspected of deceiving the emperor by detaining the memorial in private. However, many of the aristocratic families who committed the crime had connections with the royal family. If he found out about this matter, it would be difficult for him to deal with it. Therefore, the purpose of Li Linfu's move was
It was to share worries. Although the actions were biased, the intention was good.
Thinking of this, Li Longji sighed and said: "The Tubo invaded the border and chaos broke out in Longyou. The Ministry of War quickly came up with a strategy. As for the king, he was escorted back to Chang'an and imprisoned in Dali Temple for strict investigation and handling."
After all the arrangements, the only thing left out was the punishment of Li Linfu.
Anyone with a discerning eye can see that His Majesty is trying to make Li Linfu's crime of deceiving the emperor a big deal and making it a trivial matter.
Yang Guozhong looked stunned when he saw Li Longji getting up and leaving.
Li Linfu stood up, glanced at Yang Guozhong coldly, and left the hall.
After leaving the imperial city and returning to the mansion, Li Linfu was sitting in the hall, with his son Li Xiu waiting beside him.
Li Linfu said slowly: "Zhou Jun had an affair with the imperial concubine. I thought that after the incident was exposed, Princess Wanchun would be sentenced to divorce and the Yang family would be devastated. However, unexpectedly, something strange happened. In the end, the two families were able to survive.
Get away."
Li Xiu bowed and said, "Father, do you need to make more arrangements in the palace?"
Li Linfu shook his head and said: "This matter is over, don't act rashly. Right now, the biggest trouble is the Daqi Trade Road."
Li Xiu was puzzled: "Wang Qi did not manage the Daqi trade route well and allowed the private sector to replace the government sector, which made it difficult for the court to collect taxes and harmed his majesty's internal treasury profits, which in turn caused the instability of the people of Longyou and caused great disasters.
, all of this naturally has nothing to do with our Li family, so why should father worry?"
Li Linfu glared at Li Xiu: "In order to protect the king, I even risked being suspected of deceiving the emperor and made a memorial in private. Do you know why?"
Li Xiu shook his head in confusion.
Li Linfu: "Since Wang Si took charge of the Daqi Trade Road, in order to find my support, he has sent hundreds of thousands of dollars of wealth to the Li family. Not only that, the Li family has been on the Daqi Trade Road.
In the name of business, the trading company also sent a lot of goods to the courtiers and the palace, so as to spread the influence and bribe the ministers. Even the arrangements in the harem this time were all managed by the top and bottom.
, and then it can be executed. If Wang Zhi is tried and confesses on a tray, then at the end of the trial, the culprits who have benefited the most from Daqi Shanglu are not those noble families, but our Li family."
Li Xiu thought of the goods sent from Anxi, frowned, and asked Li Linfu: "Is father worried that he will get into trouble?"
Li Linfu: "Today in the court, I put all the blame on Wang Xian. In the future, once he is taken to Chang'an, the saint will be responsible for the Dali Temple inspection. In order to seek self-protection, Wang Xian will definitely tell the whole account. His Majesty learned that
From now on, I will definitely not give up."
Li Xiu lowered his voice: "Father, just don't do one thing and two things..."
Li Linfu tapped his fingers on the desk and thought for a long time.
Finally, Li Linfu nodded slightly and said to Li Xiu: "Go and make arrangements, remember to act safely."