Tiantang Splendid

Chapter 4968 Where did the generals go?

Being ordered to thoroughly investigate the royal family's treason case will be of great benefit to boosting power, but at the same time it will also bring extremely serious backlash.

A major case of treason is bound to involve far-reaching consequences. If the presiding judge is an ambitious person, it can even be extended indefinitely, leading to crazy involvement and retaliation. Those who obey me will prosper, and those who resist me will perish, which is even more arbitrary.

But the royal family is the royal family after all, and their interests are intricately intertwined and almost inseparable. If some of them are imprisoned or even executed today, they may have to suffer backlash for today's actions every day in the future.

Don't think that the throne is inherited from one generation to the next and that the interests of father, son and descendants will always be the same. The wind direction in the court is changing anytime and anywhere. Once the interests of a certain emperor change, his position will inevitably be different from before. Past criminals may be rehabilitated, and past heroes may be thrown into prison.

There is no right or wrong in politics, only interests.

Therefore, when Liu Li was appointed by Li Chengqian to thoroughly investigate the case of treason, he did not feel any joy at all. Instead, he was worried and regretful.

If I had known this would happen, I shouldn’t have spoken just now.

I was clearly trying to relieve His Majesty's worries, but His Majesty probably thought I was a soft persimmon and kept picking on me...

The rest of the people looked at their noses with their eyes and their hearts with their noses, pretending not to hear anything and staying out of it.

After all, the workload of presiding over a major case of treason is not small. It is completely reasonable to find one or two more people to assist Liu Li. However, no one would be willing to get involved in such a matter unless they are ambitious.

Since His Majesty has already appointed you, then you, the Minister of the Secretariat, should shoulder the responsibility and move forward with the heavy burden. We will certainly support you and cheer you on...

The eunuch walked in quickly from outside the palace, and when he arrived in front of the throne, he reported: "Your Majesty, the Prince of Hejian, the Junior Secretary of the Imperial Clan, and other ministers are outside the palace gate begging for an audience."

Li Chengqian hummed and said, "Let them all come in."

After the eunuch left and went to the palace gate to announce the decree, he looked at Fang Jun and asked, "What's the situation in the East Palace?"

Fang Jun replied respectfully, "Due to prior preparations, the 'Shenjiying' had sufficient ammunition and solid defenses. It withstood the fierce attack of the rebels with dozens of times the force for an hour and remained impregnable. The Crown Prince, the Queen, and the two princesses are all safe and sound."

At this time, the natural answer is simply "The Prince is fine", but the achievements of Cen Changqian and others should be slightly highlighted, but it is not good to exaggerate it, as too much is as bad as too little.

Li Chengqian nodded, remained silent for a moment, and said, "Come with me to the East Palace later."

"Here."

In this attempt to "lure the snake out of its hole" and annihilate the rebellion within the royal family, Li Chengqian not only used himself as bait and walked into danger, he also used the Eastern Palace as part of the bait, and entrusted all defense to Fang Jun. Not only did he not ask any questions, he even forbade the Eastern Palace's defense to increase in order to ensure that the fish would take the bait, so as not to alert the snake.

To be honest, it is a bit unfair.

I wonder if Li Chengqian feels a little guilty...

Li Chengqian suddenly remembered something, looked around, frowned and asked, "Has Lord Ying not entered the palace yet?"

It would be fine for others, but why didn't Li Ji, as the Shangshu Zuo Pushe and the de facto prime minister, and even a giant in the military, enter the palace?

Fang Jun spread his hands, looking helpless. "Prince Ying went to the East Palace with me earlier. Seeing that the Crown Prince was safe and the rebels were annihilated, he was relieved and wanted to go to Wude Hall. I was worried about your majesty's safety and suggested climbing over the wall. Prince Ying scolded me for being unbecoming, so he led people to take a detour through Xuanwu Gate... I didn't care if it was unbecoming, I just wanted to reinforce your majesty as quickly as possible, so I knocked down the palace wall behind Chongwen Hall and took a shortcut. I happened to meet Li Wenliang and his group fleeing there, and captured them in one fell swoop... But by this time, Prince Ying must have arrived."

The ministers in the palace looked at each other in bewilderment. Although they didn't know what the situation was, they could easily come to the conclusion from Fang Jun's description that "Li Ji was too proud of his status to climb over the wall, and Fang Jun was too eager to save the emperor to do so." What was particularly important was Fang Jun's previous sentence, "He rushed into the East Palace out of concern for the prince's safety, and after seeing that the prince was safe, he was too concerned about his manners to climb over the wall to rescue His Majesty."

Is the prince still before Your Majesty?
From Fang Jun's remarks, it is clear who is a loyal minister and who is a treacherous minister.

Liu Li endured the pain and said, "Taiwei, what you said is wrong. It is understandable that Ying Gong took a detour to Xuanwu Gate. How can you slander Ying Gong in front of the emperor?"

This guy is slandering in front of so many people. He is definitely not a good person.

Fang Jun was surprised and asked, "How did the Minister of the Central Secretariat know that I was slandering Lord Ying?"

Liu Li frowned and said, "Isn't it?"

Fang Jun disagreed: "When Lord Ying comes later, you can ask me if I have said anything false. If so, I will kneel down and apologize to Lord Ying, and let Your Majesty decide. If not, what will you do as the Minister of the Central Secretariat?"

Liu Li had been fooled by this trick many times, but he refused to fall into it: "Whether it is true or not, the people will know right from wrong. The commander is making false accusations and making innuendos, which is not what a gentleman does."

Fang Jun said calmly: "Whether he is a gentleman or a villain, it is not up to the Zhongshu Ling to decide. However, as the prime minister, you should be self-disciplined and serve the public. I hope that you will enforce the law impartially during the trial of the treason case, and never harm the public interest for personal gain."

Was I slandering Li Ji? I was clearly helping him. Otherwise, do you think Li Ji couldn't see my intention of asking him to take a detour and arrive later?
That is Li Ji's true style of doing things.

There is still some tacit understanding between me and Li Ji...

Liu Li was deeply touched by Fang Jun's words and no longer had the heart to argue with him.

The vast majority of those involved in the major treason case were members of the royal family, and whoever could be involved with the royal family was not of high status and power? With so many people involved in the major case, some were serious, some were minor, and some were serious, so naturally someone would come to him to plead for mercy.

If favors were given, once this precedent was set, there would certainly be an endless stream of people coming to ask for mercy, and he would certainly be targeted by the censors, attacked and impeached, and get into endless trouble.

But if he didn't give favors, it would be tantamount to offending countless people, and they were all extraordinary people. Maybe no one could do anything to him as the Minister of the Central Secretariat, but it would also plant countless hidden dangers, which would be a huge source of disaster when facing Jing...

It's really a dilemma, a hard choice.

The eunuch came to report that Li Ji had arrived...

Li Chengqian summoned him immediately. Soon, Li Ji strode into the palace. Seeing Li Chengqian sitting on the throne safely, he breathed a sigh of relief. He bowed and said, "I am here to see your majesty! The traitors have wreaked havoc in the palace and shaken the country. Their crimes are unforgivable! I failed to detect them beforehand, causing the traitors to run rampant and the king to be frightened. I failed to stop them afterwards, allowing the traitors to offend the king and cause chaos. I know I have failed in my duty. I hope your majesty will punish me."

After saying this, he knelt on the ground and pleaded guilty sincerely.

Li Chengqian exhaled slowly, his anger eased a little, and he said gently: "The bandits are rampant, with no law or order in their eyes, and they are lurking deep and unnoticed. How can it be the responsibility of Lord Ying alone? Lord Ying has outstanding prestige, and he has guarded the capital and kept the world in order. This is already a great achievement, so there is no need to belittle yourself. Please get up quickly and help me deal with the mess."

No matter how dissatisfied he was with Li Ji, he could only endure it.

Today, Li Ji and Fang Jun are two giants in the military. The former represents the meritorious officials of the Zhenguan period, and the latter represents the rising new army. Any army in the military sequence of the Tang Dynasty can be traced back to these two people.

There was a mutiny in the palace today, and the prince is in danger. As a result, no military figures have shown up until now except Li Ji and Fang Jun. This is the military expressing their dissatisfaction. In other words, both Li Ji and Fang Jun have complaints about his plan to put themselves in danger this time.

Things are actually not obscure, but very clear.

All we need to do is send out the Left and Right Leading Army Guards and the Left and Right Jinwu Guards, and all the rebels can be captured before they launch an attack. The rebels headed by Li Shenfu have been planning for a long time, so how could there be no clues? Just finding a little bit of evidence is enough to eliminate this matter invisibly. Why should the king take risks and lure the snake out of its hole?
The reason is very simple. Once the case is handled by the military, the military's strength will inevitably increase to a great extent. Not to mention other things, but just after the case is solved, the military will present a list of meritorious personnel and ask for promotions and titles as rewards one by one. How many deputy generals, lieutenant generals, and main generals will be created?
The military's power will expand unprecedentedly.

The consequence was unstable imperial power and turbulent situation.

Faced with these "two mountains" of the military, he could only win over the weak and fight against the strong, dividing them and defeating them one by one.

Although Li Ji had more seniority, greater achievements and more power, due to the promotion of firearms and the strength of the navy, the up-and-coming Fang Jun had a stronger momentum and more influence, and was seemingly replacing the other party's position as "the number one man in the army."

So he decided to win over Li Ji and suppress Fang Jun.

Would Li Ji not know the benefits of showing loyalty to the king at this time? Of course he knew it, but he was unwilling to do it.

No matter what his reasons were, Li Chengqian could not pursue them and could only pretend to be ignorant.

After all, without military power in his hands, he, the emperor, is like duckweed on the water, floating and drifting when the wind blows.

Perhaps, it is time to transfer Cheng Yaojin back to Chang'an...

At this time, Li Xiaogong and others asked for a meeting outside the palace. Li Ji said no more and bowed to agree.

There were hurried and chaotic footsteps outside the hall. Obviously, a lot of people were coming. When they entered the hall, it was as expected. Led by Prince of Hejian Li Xiaogong, followed by Junior Secretary of the Imperial Clan Li Xiaoyi and dozens of officials of the fourth rank and above, they rushed into the hall, causing the flames of the candles to shake for a while...

"Your Majesty, I respectfully wish you the best of health!"

"I am in good health, my dear ministers, please stay calm!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Everyone stood up, looked around, and stood on the left and right.

Normally, the audience should follow the same rules as in the court, with civil officials on the left and military officials on the right, in a strict and orderly manner. However, there is no military official in the palace now, only Cheng Wuting standing outside the palace gate...

Although they didn't know what was going on, the civil officials were happy to occupy all the seats and gather on both sides of His Majesty.

In this way, wouldn't it further highlight the loyalty of civil officials?
Li Chengqian, who was high above, saw this situation and found it very jarring.