In the study, Prince Li Shi was busy writing and reviewing memorials. He had been out for seven or eight days and had accumulated a lot of unfinished court affairs. Perhaps because he was traveling around, his skin was slightly tanned.
Guo Song stepped forward and bowed, "See His Highness the Crown Prince!"
Li Shigong pointed his pen at an embroidered pier beside him and said with a smile: "Mr. Guo, sit down for a moment and I will finish approving the memorial in my hand."
Guo Song sat down aside, and a palace maid came in and placed a cup of tea on the small table next to him.
The study was very quiet, filled with a touch of sandalwood. The only sound was the rustle of Li Shi writing. Guo Song took a sip of tea and looked around the prince's study.
This was his first time here. The study room was very large, at least two hundred square meters. There were bookshelves placed against the walls, with books, albums, porcelain and various small furnishings on them. In the middle was an ebony and white jade screen.
There are landscapes drawn on it.
At this time, Li Shi put down his pen and said with a smile: "I'm sorry for keeping Guo Shijun waiting for so long."
Just when Guo Song was about to stand up and salute, Li Shi quickly waved his hand, "Just sit like this and let's chat casually."
Li Shi added: "We reached an alliance with Tubo last autumn. In fact, we jointly annihilated Tuyuhun who was entrenched in Hehuang. In the past ten years, Tuyuhun has been attacking Longyou year after year, destroying production, plundering people and property, and bringing it to Longyou.
This time I went to Fengxiang to inspect the army and boost morale. I hope to completely wipe out Tuyuhun within two or three years and get rid of Longyou, a serious problem."
Speaking of this, Li Shi asked Guo Songdao: "What do you think?"
Guo Song smiled and said: "Your Highness is taking my test! Of course, I also support the annihilation of Tuyuhun and the reconstruction of the Hehuang defense line, but we should not have too many illusions about Tubo. Once Tuyuhun is destroyed, we will inevitably face Tubo East.
Invasion, so building a capable and powerful army is the most important, even more important than the alliance itself."
Li Shi nodded, "You are right. Your Majesty is considering forming an alliance with Tubo to jointly destroy Tuyuhun. In fact, it is to buy time. We have also calculated that after Tuyuhun is destroyed, Tubo will also need to recuperate. They will not be able to do so for at least five to ten years.
Sending troops to the Tang Dynasty will buy us enough time to concentrate on wiping out the internal feudal separatist regimes."
Guo Song secretly sighed, how could it be possible to wipe out the feudal system in five to ten years? Even the Tang Dynasty failed to eliminate it. Didn't the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms evolve from the feudal system?
What's more, there are also the Uighurs. They have completed their struggle with Tubo and are beginning to set their sights on the Tang Dynasty. The Shatuo Army should start to become active.
He did not express his position and remained silent.
Li Shi glanced at him and asked: "Recently, I saw an impeachment letter from Yushitai, saying that you embezzled 100,000 gold trophies. To be honest, I don't believe it. You don't value it.
You are a man of wealth, but Yushitai also swore that the evidence was conclusive, so I am a little confused and I want to hear your own explanation."
Guo Song sneered and said: "I wonder what the conclusive evidence that Yushitai swears by is referring to?"
"They confirmed that Jubao Pavilion is half of you, don't deny it!"
"Wei Chen does not deny it!"
"Here's the problem. All the gold vessels shipped from Fengzhou were sent to the Jubao Pavilion. The chief shopkeeper and another owner also signed to acknowledge the matter. What do you say?"
"Then what?"
Guo Song asked: "What did Yushitai say about what happened next?"
Li Shi shook his head, "The report of what happened next was not mentioned, it just proves that you sent the gold to your store."
Guo Song sighed softly and said: "Your Highness, this is a frame-up for Wei Chen. They cut off the confession of the chief shopkeeper of Jubao Pavilion and kept the side that is not conducive to Wei Chen, but the truth was concealed. Shouldn't Your Highness
Investigate Yushitai for his crime of deceiving the emperor?"
"I want the truth, just tell me!"
Guo Song restrained the anger in his heart and said: "The matter is not over yet. I handed over 8,400 taels of gold to Jubao Pavilion, and Jubao Pavilion took out 100,000 taels of silver as the price for accepting this batch of gold. One hundred thousand taels
The taels of silver were transported back to Fengzhou and given to the families of the 1,500 soldiers who died defending the city. Each fallen soldier received a pension of 50 taels, leaving about 25,000 taels of silver left to build the ferry.
Building the school is the end of this matter.
Your Highness, out of one hundred thousand taels of silver, not a penny fell into the pockets of humble officials. Why didn’t the Yushitai investigate the matter clearly and then eagerly framed the ministers? Who are they trying to please?”
Li Shi's expression changed several times. After a long while, he finally couldn't help but asked in a low voice: "Does Shijun Guo have a personal grudge against Chang Xiangguo?"
Guo Song sneered and said: "I have never met Chang Xiang before, so there should be no personal grudges, but I may have offended his relatives."
"Offend relatives?"
Li Shi was stunned, "Where do you start talking about this?"
"Chang Xiangguo's mother's surname is Zhang, and she is from Fengzhou. The Zhang family in Fengzhou is a local powerful, and the county captain of Jiuyuan County belongs to the Zhang family. But when he granted land to the refugees last year, he did something secretly...
....”
Guo Song told Li Shi in detail what happened last year, and finally said: "Wei Chen also gave the Zhang family enough face to not pursue the matter anymore, but the premise is that the county captain Zhang Wenlong must leave Fengzhou and cannot become Fengzhou's leader."
The black sheep, this should be the case, I have offended Chang Xiangguo."
A flash of anger flashed in Li Shi's eyes, "The dignified Prime Minister, if he wants to retaliate even for such a trivial matter, he is no longer qualified to be the Prime Minister."
He immediately said to Guo Song: "I know about this matter. I believe I will uphold justice for you and will never let this kind of false accusation against you succeed!"
"Thank you, Your Highness! Does Your Highness have anything else to ask the minister?"
"There's nothing else. The court will definitely commend you for your efforts in protecting the soil. Wait patiently and have a good rest these two days. In a few days, you will report on your duties. You should also be well prepared."
"Wei Chen bids farewell!"
Guo Song bowed and then left. Li Shi took the memorial to impeach Guo Song and fell into deep thought.
After pondering for a moment, he handed the memorial to an eunuch and said: "Give this memorial to Chang Xiangguo and let him handle it impartially!"
........
Guo Song came out of the Qinzheng Hall and just walked down the steps when he saw an official approaching. The two of them met and Guo Song vaguely felt that he looked familiar, as if he had seen him somewhere.
The official was stunned for a moment, and after walking a dozen or so steps, Guo Song suddenly heard someone calling him from behind, "Shijun Guo, please stay!"
Guo Song turned around and saw that it was the official just now. He hesitated and asked: "Guo Song in Xia Fengzhou, your Excellency looks familiar. Have we met?"
The official stepped forward and smiled slightly: "I met Guo Shijun once when the Zhao family celebrated his birthday, but Guo Shijun probably has never seen me."
"But I think you look familiar."
The official laughed and said, "That's because my daughter looks a lot like me. I am Xue Tao's father, Xue Xun."
Guo Song suddenly realized that he looked familiar because he was Xue Tao's father.
He hurriedly saluted, "Junior is rude, please forgive me, Uncle Shi!"
"Where! I should be the one saluting you to express my gratitude. Guo Shijun helped Tao'er and solved our family's urgent need. Our whole family is very grateful to you. When you are free, please come to Humble House for a meal."
Xue Xun invited Guo Song sincerely.
"this......."
Guo Song hesitated for a moment, but then readily agreed, "Okay, Uncle Shi will arrange it."
Xue Xun was overjoyed and said quickly: "Then let's do it tomorrow! Tomorrow evening, I will invite Mr. Guo to come to my humble house as a guest. Mr. Guo knows the place."
"Okay! I will definitely come."
"Then we've settled."
Xue Xun bowed his hand to Guo Songgong and walked quickly into the inner hall. Guo Song did not expect that he would meet Xue Tao's father. With his character of being unyielding and unyielding, he was lucky that he had not been demoted yet.
.........
Chang Gun took the memorial that Prince Li Shi forwarded to him, and was really confused. This impeachment memorial was not handed to the Prince himself, but submitted directly by the Yushitai. After the Prince read it, it should be forwarded to the Holy Emperor, who would then
Even if you don't agree with the decision, you should reject it to the Yushitai, but now you have to call it back and ask yourself to handle it impartially. What does this mean?
Chang Gun paced back and forth in the official room with his hands behind his hands. After a while, an attendant hurriedly came in and reported, "I have reported to the Prime Minister that my humble position has been clearly investigated. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince did receive Guo Song early this morning."
Chang Gun took a breath of air. Apparently, the prince decided to hand over this memorial to him after talking to Guo Song. Could it be that the description of this impeachment memorial was wrong?
He had personally reviewed the original transcript of the confession before and confirmed that there were no problems before asking Chen Lun to submit the impeachment report to His Highness the Crown Prince. Now he was actually beaten back.
Chang Gun was a little uneasy and immediately ordered: "Go to the Yushitai and find the supervisory censor Chen Lun to see me!"
Supervisory censor Chen Lun was a protégé of the Chang family and Chang Gun's confidant at the censor's desk. The last time he impeached Guo Song was nothing, and the impeachment report was written by Chen Lun.
This time, the Zhang family provided important clues. Chang Gun provided the clues to Chen Lun and asked him to find out the matter. Unexpectedly, Chen Lun came up with a report very quickly.
Not long after, Supervisory Censor Chen Lun hurried to Chang Gun's official room. Chang Gun threw the report on the table and asked sullenly: "What's going on with this report? His Highness the Prince just typed it back to me, and even
There is no approval, is there something else you are hiding from me?"
Chen Lun said for a long time: "How could His Highness know that something was wrong?"
"Guo Song has come to Beijing. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince received him this morning. Please tell me the truth. Is there anything wrong with this report?"
When he heard that Guo Song came to Beijing, Chen Lun's face suddenly turned pale. After a long time, he hesitated and said: "Why don't you humble yourself and go check it out?"
"fart!"
Chang Gun was furious, "I've already reported it to the prince, and you told me to check again. Tell me the truth. Is there anything wrong with your confession? Tell me quickly!"
Chen Lun was forced to have no choice but to lower his head and said: "Actually, there is another confession, which is slightly different from this one."
"What's the discrepancy?"
"Jubao Pavilion took out one hundred thousand taels of silver, and the other party transported it back to Fengzhou. I guess the silver was stolen by Guo Song."
Chang Gun was so angry that his eyesight turned black. He threw the report in Chen Lun's face, "You idiot, you want to kill me, get out of here, get out of here!"