Tiantang Splendid

Chapter 4926: No Return to Beijing
Li Chengqian unfolded the battle report with a gloomy face. After reading it quickly, he became more and more angry. However, he was not angry at Pei Xingjian's unwarranted interference, but at Cheng Yaojin's ineffective fighting. An Yuanshou led his men to retreat in Fanhe City, which was tantamount to putting himself in a dead end. However, Cheng Yaojin had the advantage of time, place and people but failed to win the victory in one go. As a result, An Yuanshou asked Pei Xingjian for help, and the battle situation became reversed.

Incompetent!
Is this still the Cheng Yaojin who was invincible during the Zhenguan period?
He deeply hated An Yuanshou's betrayal and only hoped that Cheng Yaojin would destroy the city and annihilate him and his entire family into exile. How could he be willing for the An family to escape and come to Guanzhong to reproduce and thrive?

But things had come to this point, and he had no choice but to hold his nose and bear it.

It was not just An Yuanshou who betrayed him at the beginning. It would have been fine if Cheng Yaojin had defeated him with a thundering blow, but now that he has failed to achieve his strategic goal, he cannot continue to kill An Yuanshou. Otherwise, those aristocratic families and Zhenguan nobles who betrayed him openly or secretly at the beginning will surely tremble in fear and become suspicious.

"Everyone, please take a look. The evidence is irrefutable that An Yuanshou is plotting treason. How should we deal with him?"

Li Chengqian placed the battle report on the desk and let the ministers circulate it, his tone was gloomy and he looked very unwilling.

The battle report was circulated among everyone. The imperial study was silent and no one responded to His Majesty's questions.

Because this matter is very strange.

Your Majesty deeply hated An Yuanshou's betrayal, so he secretly instructed Cheng Yaojin to attack him. All of this was expected. After all, An Yuanshou deserved to be put to death. However, the crime he framed was very convincing. They were all smart people and could tell at a glance that this was a means of frame-up. The problem was that this method could obviously be extended - large sums of money were sent to Guanzhong mixed with dragon robes and jade seals. Who were they sending them to?
Logically speaking, whoever An Yuanshou said he was going to give it to, that was who he was going to give it to, and whoever His Majesty wanted An Yuanshou to give it to, An Yuanshou had to say he was going to give it to...

Of course, the prerequisite is that An Yuanshou was defeated, captured, or killed.

But now An Yuanshou is safe and sound, and with Pei Xingjian's mediation, the war has ended, so naturally there is no question of giving the dragon robe and jade seal to anyone...

But things have already happened and it is impossible to pretend that they never happened - so who does Your Majesty want An Yuanshou to give these things to?
Liu Li was very troubled. Military generals were the most troublesome. It was easy for them to develop rebellious thoughts with a knife in their hands. Even if you didn't have any, you might not be able to refute when others said you did. It was a tangled mess that was difficult to sort out, but you couldn't just ignore it.

"Your Majesty, you can see clearly that the biggest threat to the Tang Dynasty right now is Tubo. Pei Xingjian is afraid that the war between Cheng and An will cause chaos in Hexi and affect Tubo's strategy, thus giving the Gar tribe an opportunity to take advantage of it. So it is reasonable for him to act this way. Now that things have come to this, let's do this according to the wishes of all parties."

This was said to Li Chengqian, but also to everyone else. This matter was completely over, and some of the hidden problems were exposed. Don't get to the bottom of it...

Li Xiaogong rubbed his temple and agreed, "What the Minister of the Central Secretariat said makes sense. After all, the An family is a powerful family in Wuwei, with deep roots and far-reaching influence. If they are severely punished, it may cause chaos in the entire Hexi area, which is not worth the loss."

He doesn't care about An Yuanshou's life or death. He only cares that His Majesty instructed Cheng Yaojin to frame An Yuanshou. Who is the real intention?
Regardless of success or failure, or willingness or not, there are many people who can rebel, such as Li Ji and Fang Jun, who are present. After all, they hold military power, so it is possible that they will take a risk. However, not many people can use the "dragon robe and jade seal" for rebellion, at least Li Ji and Fang Jun. Even if such a general succeeds in rebellion, he will only support a member of the royal family as a puppet and stand aside to wait for the opportunity, instead of directly wearing the dragon robe and ascending the throne.

Only those who could ascend the throne and rule the world if their rebellion succeeded would prepare dragon robes and jade seals in advance.

This kind of person can only be a member of the royal family...

To whom does Your Majesty want An Yuanshou to "give" the dragon robe and the imperial seal?
Li Chengqian looked at Li Ji, who was always quiet, and asked Fang Jun, "What does the Grand Commandant think?"

Fang Jun said: "Just as the Minister of the Central Secretariat said, the An family is just a minor problem, while Tubo is the real threat. At present, Tubo is in civil strife, Gongri Gongzan is dead, and Songtsen Gampo is seriously ill. This is a rare opportunity. Even if we cannot completely destroy them, we can make them fall into division and greatly weaken their strength. We must not miss this opportunity because of other things."

At that time, all the knowledgeable people in the Tang Dynasty knew that Tubo would become a strong enemy of the Tang Dynasty. The two sides might even be entangled in a bitter battle for a long time. After all, Tubo’s geographical advantages were too good, and the plateau barrier was almost an insurmountable natural barrier for the Tang Dynasty soldiers.

But no one could realize that Tubo would fight with the Tang Dynasty for a hundred years, how much money, food, and troops the Tang Dynasty consumed, and how cruelly it persecuted the Tang Dynasty...

Liu Li and Fang Jun had most of the disagreements and were at odds with each other in the court, because the interests they represented were completely opposite. Now that he has received Fang Jun's approval and affirmation, it can be said that he has "combined the civil and military forces" and "dominated the court." No one opposes him anymore, and no one can oppose him. This feeling is really refreshing and makes him look down on everyone.

However, he immediately came to his senses and said, "Although there is solid evidence that An Yuanshou was plotting treason, Duke Lu was responsible for guarding Wuwei County. He started the war without the permission of the court, which almost led to the corruption of Hexi and affected the strategy of Tubo. It also caused an uproar in China and abroad. His crime is unforgivable! The Grand Council, the Political Affairs Hall, and the Ministry of War should jointly discuss a decision, hand it over to Your Majesty for consideration, and then announce it to the world to serve as a warning to others!"

How could he not know that Cheng Yaojin must have secretly received instructions from His Majesty to launch an attack on An Yuanshou? However, the interests of the civil and military officials conflicted. Once Cheng Yaojin returned to the court, with his qualifications as a meritorious official in the Zhenguan period and the power of a general, the military's strength would surely surge and his voice would become more important. Therefore, he would rather displease His Majesty than not try to stop him.

Besides, Your Majesty may not be willing to let Cheng Yaojin come back.

When An Yuanshou responded to the rebels' call to attack Chang'an from Guzang, he was certainly guilty of treason and deserved death, but Cheng Yaojin watched the fire from the other side and wavered. Your Majesty must have felt resentful...

Li Chengqian nodded slightly, then looked at Li Ji: "What do you think, Lord Ying?"

Li Ji then spoke up: "Duke Lu brazenly started a war and handled the situation inappropriately. He really needs to be reprimanded."

Ma Zhou, who was very quiet today and didn't say much, said: "Duke Ying is wrong. What Duke Lu did was lawless and disrespectful. Without an imperial decree or an order from the Military Affairs Council, he brazenly launched a war against another army guarding Hexi. Is it enough to just give him a warning? He deserves the death penalty!"

He was a man of upright character and didn't care whether Cheng Yaojin had received instructions from His Majesty in private. You said that An Yuanshou was plotting treason, but Cheng Yaojin attacked Fanhe City without authorization, so how was that different from treason?
When can the general decide to go to war on his own?

Can the Left and Right Jinwu Guards and the Left and Right Leading Army Guards also fight whenever they want and attack whomever they want?
Liu Xiangdao immediately agreed: "Duke Lu is lawless and arrogant. This precedent must not be set, otherwise everyone will follow suit and it will be a sign of the country's demise! Since the three judicial departments are jointly trying the Zhaoling case, and the personnel of each department are gathered together, why not also try the Fanhe War at the same time!"

Li Chengqian began to have a headache. He did not expect the civil servants to react so violently.

He did have some resentment towards Cheng Yaojin, but after all, he had privately promised Cheng Yaojin that he would be allowed to return to Beijing if he completed the task. Now he was actually going to use the three judicial departments to investigate him. Wasn't he breaking his promise?
As representatives of the empire's highest judicial body, the cases that are worthy of being reviewed by the Three Courts must be major cases that attract the attention of the world. In other words, as long as the Three Courts intervene in the trial, regardless of whether the person is guilty or not, the case will ultimately be found guilty. Otherwise, the authority of the Three Courts will be damaged, leaving endless disasters.

After a moment's silence, he looked at Fang Jun and asked, "What do you think of this, Commander?"

Fang Jun looked up, exchanged glances with Li Chengqian, and said slowly, "It is indeed inappropriate for Duke Lu to start a war without authorization, but after all, Guzang is thousands of miles away from Chang'an, and it is inconvenient for information to be exchanged. If he asks for instructions first and then listens to the decision of the central government, it will inevitably miss the opportunity to fight. Your Majesty should issue an imperial edict to reprimand him, but it is not appropriate to be too harsh. Just make him sincerely repent in Guzang."

Li Chengqian nodded immediately: "What the commander said is indeed sound, let's do it this way."

If Cheng Yaojin had completely defeated An Yuanshou and let him vent his anger, he would have let Cheng Yaojin come back reluctantly. But now a great victory has been ruined, and Cheng Yaojin still wants to return to Chang'an smoothly?
Humph, let’s stay in Guzang for a few years.

Cheng Yaojin, who was far away in Guzang and was eager to see Chang'an, didn't know that the day of returning to the capital was already far away...

Ma Zhou knew that the matter was a done deal, and Cheng Yaojin would probably not be able to come back for a while, but he did not care about this. Instead, he asked, "If the Anxi Grand Protectorate's mediation method is followed, the An family will move to Guanzhong. Where would Your Majesty like them to be placed?"

He was the prefect of Jingzhao, and in charge of 22 counties including Wannian, Chang'an, Xinfeng, Weinan, Huayin, Lantian, Hu, Zhuoying, etc. In order to keep an eye on the An family, they must be placed within the jurisdiction of Jingzhao Prefecture after they move inland, but the specific location of their placement still needs to be carefully considered.

Li Chengqian said: "You can discuss it in detail."

Liu Li frowned and said, "The An family has been entrenched in Hexi for several generations. They have many descendants and a large population, so they must need a lot of land to settle them. But the counties under the jurisdiction of Jingzhao Prefecture are all in the capital area. Since the founding of the country, many meritorious officials and nobles have been rewarded with fiefs here. Where can we settle so many people at once?"

The rewards for meritorious officials were naturally mainly in the form of land, and most of them were near the capital. At the beginning of the country, Emperor Gaozu gave one round of rewards, and Emperor Taizong gave another round of rewards after he ascended the throne. This had already made the land in Guanzhong stretched to the limit. When the An family moved to Guanzhong, they certainly needed a large piece of land to settle them, but this was a huge problem.

(End of this chapter)