At nightfall, the city gates of Chang'an were closed and the drums were beating at the square gates. People who were eating out or visiting rushed home one after another. They still had some time, and they had to finish one hundred and eight drums before closing the door completely.
However, a carriage stopped in front of the residence of Prime Minister Han Huang. Shangshu Zuopu Sheyan Zhenqing got out of the carriage. On the steps, Han Qun, the eldest son of Han Huang, had been waiting for a long time.
Han Qun hurriedly came up to greet him and said, "My father is already waiting in the study. He has specially ordered my nephew to come and greet Shibo."
Yan Zhenqing smiled slightly and said, "I'm really sorry to disturb your father so late."
"Where! Uncle Shi is too polite. Please follow my nephew into the house."
"I have a good nephew."
Yan Zhenqing followed Han Qun into the mansion and went directly to Han Huang's study room in the atrium. Han Huang was already at the entrance to greet Yan Zhenqing.
Han Huang said with a smile: "The drums of Guanfang have been beaten. Do the Qing ministers carry the Xiangguo tablet? If not, I can lend it to you."
Yan Zhenqing patted his pocket, "Of course I brought it with me. How could I dare to go out at night without a sign?"
The two walked into the study with a smile, and the guest and host took their seats. A maid served them tea.
The main reason why Yan Zhenqing came to visit Han Huang when the gate was closed was to avoid some criticism.
However, a series of abnormal situations occurred in the court, forcing him to come again. Last month, two major events occurred in the political hall. Cui Youfu drank with prostitutes in the church, and let the prostitutes pretend to be prime ministers to discuss affairs.
This matter was immediately reported by Chang Gun, which made the emperor Li Yu very dissatisfied. He thought Cui Youfu had lost his decency, so he dismissed Cui Youfu and demoted him to Shaoyin of Henan Prefecture. Within a few days, Liu Yan fainted twice in a row during the court meeting.
His health deteriorated, and he immediately asked the emperor to resign as prime minister.
In just half a month, two prime ministers were missing. Emperor Li Yu had no idea of adding more prime ministers. The political affairs hall had to be suspended. However, Emperor Li Yu was very fond of Chang Gun, which created an opportunity for the right prime minister Chang Gun to monopolize power.
condition.
Yan Zhenqing felt deeply anxious and decided to visit Left Prime Minister Han Huang tonight.
"The political affairs hall has been discussed since the early Tang Dynasty, and it has become a common practice after Emperor Gaozong. Why it is no longer there now, and it is left to Chang Youxiang to monopolize the power. I really don't understand."
Han Huang smiled lightly and said: "I discussed this issue with the Crown Prince a few days ago, and the Crown Prince also relayed the opinions of the Holy One to me. The Holy One believed that the voting system of the political hall has become an equal phase, which does not reflect the rights of the right prime minister.
Authority, this is also an issue that Chang Xiangguo constantly responds to. As the right minister, he is rejected in everything, so what should he do as the right minister?"
Yan Zhenqing snorted, "It's nothing more than the matter of impeaching Guo Song. If he had no selfish motives, how could he be rejected? He should examine himself first."
Han Huang shook his head, "The problem is that the Holy Emperor supports him now, and the prince also believes that the traditional political affairs should be discussed by the left and right ministers meeting, rather than by the vote of all the prime ministers. Qing minister, can't you figure out the key here?"
"Brother Han, forgive me for being stupid, can you explain it clearly?"
Han Huang sighed and said: "It's very simple. If the affairs of the Zhizhengtang have been voted by the Prime Minister, what else does the Holy One have to do? Didn't you find that the voting system of the Prime Minister actually empties the Holy One?"
Yan Zhenqing hesitated and said: "But the voting system of the Prime Minister State was originally implemented by the Holy Father. Why is he opposed now?"
"It's just one moment and the other. It was because Yuan Zai had monopolized power and in order to prevent another Yuan Zai from happening again, the Holy One proposed the political affairs hall to vote. But the problem now is that if the political affairs hall has passed the vote, then the court meeting will discuss it again.
What’s the significance? Is the Holy Spirit approved or not?
In fact, the political hall voting system not only threatened the power of the right prime minister, but also gradually threatened the monarchy, which is why the Holy Emperor showed an ambiguous attitude on this matter and turned to support Chang Xiangguo's request."
Yan Zhenqing walked a few steps with his hands behind his back, and finally he looked at the roof and said helplessly: "If the right prime minister decides everything, then what is the need for ordinary prime ministers like us to exist? The court can just appoint the left and right prime ministers, and I will do it tomorrow.
Forget about resigning."
Han Huang saw Yan Zhenqing's inner disappointment and comforted him with a smile: "The Holy One does not agree with the political hall voting system, but it does not mean that he opposes the multi-phase system. In my opinion, multi-phase consultation will be adopted in the end, and the right prime minister will make the final decision.
As for the system, brother Qingchen, don’t worry too much. As far as I know, the Holy One plans to put you in charge of the Ministry of Personnel and concurrently as the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel."
Yan Zhenqing understood now that the emperor actually wanted to restore the system of real and virtual phases. The left and right phases were the real phase, and the other prime ministers were all virtual phases. They only had the title of prime minister, but no longer had the real power of the prime minister. Only the Holy Majesty convened an important meeting.
He only attended the military affairs and participated in the discussions. The emperor planned to appoint himself as the minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, which can be regarded as a kind of compensation!
"Then it doesn't actually matter how many prime ministers there are in the court, right?"
Han Huang nodded, "That's true, but I heard that Duan Xiushi will be given the title of Prime Minister and will be in charge of the Ministry of Justice, and Li Mian will also be given the title of Prime Minister, but he will still be in charge of the Central Plains."
Yan Zhenqing was really a little frustrated. His Majesty abolished the voting system of Zhengshitang, and Chang Gun actually won.
In fact, Yan Zhenqing also knows that it is biased to say that the voting system of the Prime Minister is traditional. The traditional deliberations of the Prime Minister are just a system of consultation between the left and right.
The Right Prime Minister is the Secretary of the Central Committee, responsible for drafting the imperial edict, and the Left Prime Minister is the servant of the Zhongshu, responsible for reviewing the imperial edict.
For example, if Zhongshu ordered the right minister to ask Zhongshu Sheren to draft an imperial edict, and after submitting it to the emperor for approval, it would be transferred to the hands of the servants. If the servants felt it was inappropriate and vetoed the edict, then the emperor's approval would be of no use.
It's meaningless.
Therefore, in order to prevent the imperial edict from being rejected after it was approved by the emperor, the right prime minister and the left prime minister met and negotiated in advance before the emperor approved the imperial edict. After reaching a consensus, the imperial edict was handed over to the emperor for approval.
The system of consultation between the left and right ministers was implemented during the reign of Emperor Gaozong. This is the traditional political hall discussion. The voting system of the prime minister actually started ten years ago. The original motive was to check and balance Yu Chaoen and prevent Yu Chaoen, the leftist prime minister, from
Chaoen used his veto power to interfere with government affairs, and later to check and balance Yuan Zai.
Since both Yu Chaoen and Yuan Zai have been overthrown, there is no need for the voting system of the Prime Minister to continue to exist.
After a long silence, Yan Zhenqing said again: "Then what does it mean that Chang Gun deliberately withheld the commendation of Fengzhou Army? The impeachment of Guo Song failed last time, and this time he deliberately ignored Guo Song's contribution to defending the territory. Brother Han, I really don't understand.
Why does Chang Gun hate Guo Song so much and always makes things difficult for him and suppresses him?"
Han Huang smiled and said: "Chang Gun was not a party to Yuan Zai, so what did he do to suppress Guo Song? The Qing officials were a little worried. In fact, Chang Xiangguo's reasons were reasonable. The defense of Fengzhou and the dispatch of troops by Shuofang Army to Xue Yantuo were the same.
matter, so he proposed to wait until the war between Shuofang's army was over, and then consider it together. Both the emperor and the prince agreed. The Qing officials should stop worrying about this matter. He really refused to give Fengzhou credit. The prince
You won’t agree to it, right?”
Yan Zhenqing sneered, "I'm afraid the final result will be beyond our expectations."
........
At the same time that Yan Zhenqing visited Han Huang at night, Chang Gun also received an urgent letter from Li Huaiguang in his house.
The contents of the letter made Chang Gun extremely angry. When Li Huaiguang was annihilating Xue Yantuo's tribe, he fought fiercely with Si Jie's tribe. In the end, he was defeated miserably, with more than 9,000 casualties among the 20,000-strong army.
Li Huaiguang stated in the letter that they were attacked by the Sijie tribe, but the reason why the Sijie tribe attacked them was unclear.
Of course, the purpose of Li Huaiguang writing this letter was to hope that Chang Gun could protect him. Chang Gun also knew in his heart that if the emperor was angry, Li Huaiguang would be dismissed from his post as Shuofang Jiedushi.
But how can I protect him?
Chang Gun paced back and forth in the study with his hands behind his hands. He read the letter again. In the letter, Li Huaiguang finally passed the responsibility to Guo Song, the strategic envoy of the three towns. It was Guo Song who had promised to hand over Xue Yantuo's department to Sijie without authorization.
, which led Sijie to fall out with the Tang army over the competition for Xueyantuo herdsmen.
Is it really because of Guo Song's promise to Si Jie that Si Jie's tribe and Tang Jun fell out?
Chang Gun felt that Li Huaiguang thought of the problem too simply. Not to mention whether Guo Song had made a promise to the Sijie Department. Even if he had made a promise, Sijie Khan would not take it seriously unless it was Guo Song who falsely conveyed the imperial edict.
But this possibility is slim.
Although Chang Gun was very dissatisfied with Guo Song because of the incident with the Zhang family in Fengzhou, it was okay to give Guo Song some shoes. However, when it came to military and state affairs that the emperor was strongly concerned about, Chang Gun was more careful and would not show his personal emotions easily.
But Li Huaiguang was one of his men. He recommended Li Huaiguang as the governor of Shuofang against all opinions. But he was defeated miserably in the first battle. How could he explain to the emperor?
Although Chang Gun was very angry, Li Huaiguang definitely wanted to guarantee it, but he really had to think carefully about how to guarantee it and how to share the responsibilities.
........
Two days later, a shocking news quickly spread throughout the government and the public. When the Shuofang army was wiping out the remnants of Xue Yantuo, it was attacked by the Sijie and Uighur coalition forces. The Tang army fought back hard, but was unfortunately defeated, with more than 9,000 casualties.
This is just a brief and whitewashed message, and no specific details have been released.
What shocked people was not only the defeat of the Tang army, but also the fighting between the Sijie tribe and the Tang army. A few years ago, Sijie Khan came to Chang'an for pilgrimage, and the two sides formed an alliance. In just a few years, the two sides turned against each other mercilessly and started fighting each other.
In the imperial study room, Li Yu looked very ugly. On the imperial desk in front of him was a detailed report sent by Shuofang Jiedu Mansion. The report described in detail the cause of the incident, as well as the several fights between the two sides, and the final outbreak.
The details of the large-scale battle.
Li Yu tapped the report on the imperial case with his knuckles and said to Chang Gun: "There are still many questions in this report that are not clearly explained. Why did Sijie attack the Tang Army tribe? Xue Yantuo's backstage was the Geluolu people, not Sijie.
People, they are enemies of the Sijie tribe, and there is no need for the Sijie army to rescue them."
After a pause, Li Yu added in a more serious tone: "The report said that the Sijie tribe was to compete with the Tang army for population and land, but the Tang Dynasty never captured the grassland population, let alone occupied the grassland land. This is already known to everyone.
Common sense, doesn’t Si Jie know about it? Also, the report finally said that Guo Song made a promise to Si Jie Bu in private. I want to find out about this, whether he had any unauthorized contact with Si Jie Bu, and whether he had any
What do you promise to the Ministry of Thought?"
"Your Majesty, your Majesty, there is actually another matter about Guo Song, which Wei Chen feels it is necessary to find out."
"What's up?"
"The Yushitai received a report from someone that after the Tang army defeated Xue Yantuo in Fengzhou, they seized a large amount of materials, including nearly 10,000 taels of gold vessels worth hundreds of thousands of taels. Guo Song ordered people to secretly transport them to Beijing and give them to
He went to Jubao Pavilion Jewelry Store in Dongshi. According to the investigation, Guo Song has a close relationship with this jewelry store. Yushitai hopes to open a case to investigate the matter."
Li Yu knew the relationship between Jubao Pavilion and Guo Song very well. He nodded and said, "Major meritorious service must be rewarded, and violations must be severely punished. The court must make rewards and punishments clear. The Yushitai must first find out the facts. If they are true, they will open a case for investigation. In addition,
, convey my will and summon Li Huaiguang and Guo Song to Beijing!"