The film and television world begins with the battle for the throne in Kowloon

Chapter 1120: Different Thoughts (Part )
"Your Majesty, I am guilty."

Zhang Sun Wuji looked heavy-faced. He knelt on the ground and knocked his head on the ground, saying, "First, the assassination of the Right Wise King happened on the grassland. Later, the Turkic Khan and the Right Wise King's tribe fought in Hengling. I should have thought that a large-scale Turkic invasion of Liaodong might occur this winter."

"It was my negligence. I am the head of the Ministry of Chancellery and I cannot deny my guilt. Please punish me, Your Majesty."

"Master Changsun, what are you doing?"

To retreat in order to advance, Li Yan cursed inwardly, they are all old foxes who have been in the officialdom for a long time, and they are all masters of acting!
Li Yan quickly stood up and walked out of the imperial desk, stepped forward to support him and said, "I don't understand what you are saying. Why do you say that?"

Changsun Wuji knelt on the ground with a guilty look on his face. Li Yan quickly looked at the other ministers. Xiao Yu was silent and thoughtful, Liu Bo seemed to want to talk but stopped, Ma Zhou and Chu Suiliang looked surprised, and only Cen Wenben stood up, clasped his hands and said with a look of self-blame on his face.

"Your Majesty, the Right Wise King has been commanding the princes on the grasslands in accordance with the emperor's orders. He has sidelined the Great Khan Shiluodi and rebuilt the royal court in the Irtysh River Valley in the west to consolidate his strength and control the entire grassland."

"Although the trade between the Turks and the Tang Dynasty has continued over the years, most of the benefits have been to the western ethnic groups. The Right Wise King has concentrated all resources in the Western Royal Court and maintained a repressive rule over the Khanate of Urge."

"In order to befriend the Right Wise King, we in the Tang Dynasty have basically cut off trade with Urge."

Cen Wenben explained: "Now that the Right Wise King has been assassinated, Shi Luodie has regained control of Urge and will inevitably take back the ruling power of the entire eastern grassland tribe. In fact, after the Hengling War, the Turkic Khanate has split into two major forces."

"Because of the good relations between the West and the Tang Dynasty in recent years, the trade routes are smooth and goods are constantly flowing in and out. Even in winter, there will be a large amount of food, cloth, sugar, salt, iron and other daily necessities imported. These tribes have no worries about survival and naturally will not go south to plunder."

"But the situation in the east is different. Once they fall out with the Right Wise King, all the supplies to the east will be cut off immediately. In order to survive, Shiluodi and those tribes will inevitably return to their previous nomadic nature and invade the Tang Dynasty from the south."

"We are all veteran officials in the court. We should have thought of this long ago and strengthened the deployment in Liaodong in advance and required all border cities to strengthen their defenses. However, due to the long period of peace, we neglected the defense against the Turks."

"Now that the war has reignited in the border areas, are we all responsible?"

After Cen Wenben finished speaking, he knelt on the ground and kowtowed to apologize. Then Ma Zhou and Chu Suiliang, who had figured it out, also stood up and knelt on the ground. Although they were promoted later, as assistant ministers, they should also take responsibility for such an incident.

When Xiao Yu and Liu Bo saw that everyone had knelt down, they decided not to appear so innocent, and soon everyone kowtowed and apologized.

When Li Yan saw this scene, he secretly praised that this cheap uncle was really cunning!
The mistakes in planning for the country led to the damage to the border, and Changsun Wuji, as the chief minister, could not escape responsibility. Moreover, the actual defense responsibility of Liaozhou was on Changsun Shunde, the chief historian of the Liaozhou Grand Military Governor's Office, who had been guarding the city for many years.

He was unable to stop Shi Luodie and even lost many cities, which made him even more guilty.

Changsun Wuji took a step back to advance, and by apologizing in this way, he would certainly bring along all the important officials in the central government. This proactive admission of guilt showed his extraordinary noble character, and Li Yan could not pursue it too much.

Furthermore, the law does not punish everyone, and when the important officials of the central government all pleaded guilty, Li Yan could only lift it up high and let it go lightly, focusing on resisting the Turks. After all, with 300,000 Turkic troops approaching, the emperor could not lose his composure and punish his own people first.

In this way, even Changsun Shunde was relieved.

However, Li Yan had no intention of holding anyone accountable, and even Changsun Shunde did not intend to blame him, not to mention Changsun Wuji. Although he was the emperor, his influence was insignificant, and even if he punished the ministers, it was symbolic.

Not to mention confiscating property and executing people, even lesser means such as dismissal from office, deprivation of title and exile were never used.

When ministers made mistakes, Li Yan would at most reprimand them and fine them some of their salary, but rarely used beatings with a stick.

In this situation, there is no point in giving a punishment that is not painful or itchy.

His clone had an army of 300,000 in Liaodong. Conquering cities and seizing land was as easy as drinking water, and confiscating properties and exterminating clans was as easy as pie. He could kill whomever he wanted and do whatever he wanted. Those stubborn aristocratic families who were to the Tang Dynasty were trampled under the iron hooves of the army.

Like a quail in a storm, trembling and wagging its tail for mercy, the power of the Changsun family that has taken root in the peninsula is also within Li Yan's range of elimination.

"Master Changsun, all the nobles, please stand up."

Li Yan saw this and said directly: "The situation changes rapidly. No one could have imagined that the internal strife in the grassland thousands of miles away would actually affect our Tang Dynasty. If you are right, as the emperor, I should also bear some responsibility."

"We dare not!" the ministers said in unison.

Li Yan sighed. He somewhat understood how Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang felt when Oboi pleaded guilty to her after threatening Emperor Xuanye in the Kangxi Dynasty. Although the minister was kneeling there, he was fully polite to himself.

But in everyone's mind, they were the ones standing, while they were kneeling. Their arms were thicker than their thighs.

"Forget it, since it has already happened, let's face it calmly." Li Yan returned to the imperial desk and waved his hand: "Let's discuss how to defend against the enemy next."

The scenes were almost the same. After the blame was passed, everyone stood up and thanked Li Yan again. However, after everyone stood up, Zhang Sun Wuji still knelt on the ground and said, "Your Majesty, you are only assistants, but I am the chief minister."

"You can ignore the guilt of others, but I cannot. First of all, none of you have been to Liaodong, so you naturally would not have thought of this place. It is understandable that you have been careless. In the ninth year of Zhenguan, I led troops to pacify the Liaodong states."

"I cannot escape the blame for my negligence."

"Secondly, my uncle Changsun Shunde has the responsibility to defend the land. I will also bear the responsibility for his crime."

"Third, if the emperor does not punish the emperor for such a big mistake, it would seem that the court's laws are a joke. As the prime minister, I cannot ignore the laws of the country."

Changsun Wuji also had his own troubles. He was smart and familiar with the details of Liaodong. He knew that the Liaohe Plain was flat and that an army of 300,000 strong would be unstoppable if it moved south. All the cities north of Liaozhou would probably be lost.

It takes more than ten days to travel from Liaodong to Chang'an, which means that the war reported in the military newspaper is from more than ten days ago. The war has just begun, and there will be continuous military reports in the future, and more cities will surely fall by then.

Rather than causing a shock to the court and all officials, it is better to take the initiative to plead guilty now and let the emperor punish me, which is somewhat lighter. When the situation becomes serious later, they will let me go because I have sincerely pleaded guilty and have dealt with it.

Otherwise, if the losses really get serious, he might not even be able to keep his position as Prime Minister.

Cen Wenben pondered for a moment, understood Changsun Wuji's idea, and secretly called him an old fox, but he did not say anything. Changsun Wuji had a special relationship with the emperor, and as an outsider, he could never catch up.

The emperor asked me to restrain Zhangsun Wuji only to prevent him from becoming too powerful, and he had no intention of asking me to replace him.

Moreover, the Empress Dowager is protecting him, and Changsun Wuji's position will not be shaken in the short term. At this time, the other party has shown his status, and they are uncle and nephew. Whether to deal with it or how to deal with it is up to the emperor.

The rest of the people were silent, but Xiao Yu said, "Master Changsun is right. The country has been lost, the enemy has invaded, and three cities have fallen. Someone in the court must take some responsibility. The emperor should punish them!"

"Otherwise, the civil and military officials will be dissatisfied, and Lord Changsun will be uneasy and have no energy to resist the enemy."

Li Yan saw that the other ministers were silent, obviously agreeing with Xiao Yu's opinion. Li Yan glanced at Xiao Yu and nodded silently: "Since Old Master Xiao also said so, then Master Changsun, how do you think I should punish you?"

Under the new power structure, what surprised all the civil and military officials in the court was that the most favored person was not Zhangsun Wuji, the emperor's uncle, nor Cen Wenben, the confidant selected by Li Yan himself.

Instead, it was the oldest one, Xiao Yu, which was something no one expected.

Xiao Yu was well-known for his filial piety since he was young. He was upright, just, and aboveboard, and he had a deep understanding of Buddhist principles. He was not greedy for money and profit, and Yang Guang and Li Yuan both rewarded him with a lot of land and houses.

However, he distributed it all to his clan members and kept only one ancestral temple for sacrifices.

However, he was strict and upright, unwilling to tolerate others' shortcomings, and not good at handling interpersonal relationships. Both during the reigns of Li Yuan and Li Shimin, he was repeatedly reused, but in the end, because they could not tolerate his straightforward temperament, he was sent to serve as an official at the local level.

This old man has great experience, high prestige in the court, and a good reputation throughout the world. He is a more upright and honest minister than Wei Zheng.

In the first year of Zhenguan, Xiao Yu served as prime minister and Shangshu Zuo Pushe, helping Li Shimin to stabilize people's hearts. Later, because of his rigid approach, poor adaptability, and inability to be flexible, he spoke briefly and bluntly in court, repeatedly disobeying the emperor's will.

He was dismissed from his post by Li Shimin, but was reinstated shortly afterwards.

During the Zhenguan period, Xiao Yu was demoted five times and reinstated as prime minister five times. It can be seen that Li Shimin both hated and loved this straightforward old man.

He was eventually listed as one of the twenty-four heroes in the Lingyan Pavilion.

On June 24, the 22nd year of Zhenguan, Xiao Yu died of illness. He left a will to be buried in a simple manner with a single layer of clothing. The court posthumously awarded him the title of Sikong and the governor of Jingzhou. Li Shimin gave him a poem: "The strong wind knows the strong grass, and the turbulent times know the loyal ministers. How can a brave man know righteousness? A wise man must be kind."

In this world, Li Shimin left suddenly, and before leaving, he placed Xiao Yu, a ruthless, impartial, and righteous pillar of support, at the core to protect Li Yan. How could Li Yan abandon him?

Not only should we use it, but we should also use it extensively.

(End of this chapter)