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

Chapter 707: Self-preservation Hu Lixian

The generals looked at each other, their eyes flickering and their expressions flustered. Although they were all wearing the armor of generals and standing in the military camp with a sanctimonious look, they were actually just some dandy young men who had been hanging around in Chang'an City before.

There are even many people who do not even have the most basic military literacy and have never been in a military camp. They only know how to rely on their fathers' connections to bully others and do evil things.

Now that the crown prince is away, he has become confused as he faces restrictions on his freedom, Wei Zheng who holds the imperial edict, and Hou Junji who has the power of life and death.

Since Duan Dadan dared to kill him, he would not dare to touch them.

Everyone looked at each other for a long time, and faced with Wei Zheng's proposal, they were all tempted to retreat. However, due to face, no one dared to be the first to defend themselves.

Some people tried to walk towards the camp gate to see if they could get out.
As a result, the fully armed soldiers in helmets and armor, with swords drawn and bows strung, had already surrounded the Flying Tiger camp tightly in front of the camp gate.

All the weapons in the Flying Tiger Army were taken away, and there were teams of soldiers patrolling inside the camp with murderous intent. Ordinary soldiers didn't even have the chance to leave their tents and walk around the camp. When some generals saw this situation, they knew that the Flying Tiger Army was now completely locked up.

So they returned to their camps and hid in their tents, feeling worried.

"Report, General, the imperial envoy Wei, who is ordered to investigate the case, has summoned you to the central military tent for questioning." A messenger came in to report from the vanguard camp.

When General Hu Lixian heard that the first person to be recruited was him, he was shocked. After all, Hu Lixian was just a scholar before, and had never seen the world. He had no experience in officialdom, let alone military affairs.

Originally, he just wanted to make a career in officialdom through his uncle's relationship. However, although Cen Wenben was a third-rank official in the court, he never promoted him. His aunt had mentioned it several times, but Cen Wenben always declined on the grounds that Hu Lixian was not good at literature but at martial arts.

Last time, he accidentally heard his aunt complaining that Cen Wenben had recommended him to the prince to serve as a tutor in the Eastern Palace. The prince had clearly agreed, but Cen Wenben rejected it. Hu Lixian was furious and ran directly to the Eastern Palace with a long-suppressed anger.

Unexpectedly, when he told the prince that he was Cen Wenben's nephew, the prince readily agreed to let him serve as a tutor in the Eastern Palace. After entering the Eastern Palace, Hu Lixian originally wanted to serve the prince well. Later, the King of Shu found him again and planned for his future and contributed money and effort.

Hu Lixian did not take the matter of buying an official position too seriously. It had been like this in officialdom since ancient times and it was no big deal.

What's more, this is the Flying Tiger Army, the prince's business, and the King of Shu is paying for it. He will be promoted and in power, so he might as well refuse it. At worst, he can have the best of both worlds. With the endorsement of the two princes, he will have the best of both worlds.

But unexpectedly, there is someone who dares to disrupt the prince's business, and that is the emperor.

Hu Lixian had never seen such a big scene before. Looking at Hou Junji's cold face, who looked like he was used to big scenes and who treated human life as nothing, and the two thousand battle-hardened soldiers he had transferred, all the officers and soldiers of the Flying Tiger Army who had relied on nepotism and money to get to their positions were uneasy.

When Hu Lixian thinks about it now, his legs still tremble and his heart shakes.

Hu Lixian had been overwhelmed by the joy of being suddenly promoted to the rank of Fourth-rank General of the Imperial Household, but now, after being washed down with a basin of cold water, he was completely sober.

Thinking about it, the prince was too bold before. He dared to accept any money and even dared to promote himself, a commoner, to the fourth-rank military general. If it were someone else, Hu Lixian would definitely sneer at him, but it was all because the prince's reputation was too strong.

I was actually bewitched and believed that by "supporting military expenses of one million strings of cash", I could get the position of Fourth-Rank Lieutenant General of the Flying Tiger Army. Now it seems that it was just a game, and the so-called military position was just to comfort myself, and it would definitely not be realized in the end.

Thinking of this, Hu Lixian was very angry. He could not stay here any longer. Hou Junji killed people without blinking an eye. He was involved in such a big corruption case. The secret operation of one million strings of cash could not be concealed at all. Not to mention his uncle Cen Wenben, I am afraid that the King of Shu could not save himself either.

Didn't you see that even the prince didn't show up?
Fortunately, there were too many powerful people who might be implicated, so Wei Zheng did not dare to deal with it according to the Tang Dynasty law and gave a three-day deadline.

Seeing the patrolling soldiers outside with cold eyes looking at him as if they were lambs to be slaughtered, Hu Lixian could no longer sit still. No one could save him now and he could only rely on himself. As for the promises made by the King of Shu that he could take charge of the military power if he advanced or frame the prince if he retreated, he no longer cared about it.

Hu Lixian figured everything out, straightened his clothes and armor, and returned to the general's tent with the visitor.

At this time, there were many soldiers waiting outside the general's tent, but when they entered the tent, they found that only Wei Zheng was sitting behind the desk, looking through a stack of documents.

Hu Lixian quickly called out his name and reported: "Hu Lixian, the inspector of the front guard of the Flying Tiger Army, meets the imperial envoy Wei."

He pronounced the word "Jianxiu" very loudly, for fear that Wei Zheng couldn't hear it.

"Well, come in!" Wei Zheng did not even raise his head, and picked up a piece of paper from the pile on the table, and read it expressionlessly: "Hu Lixian, a native of Yanling, Yangzhou, his aunt married the then-official Cen Wenben as a concubine, and he entered the Eastern Palace as a servant through Cen Wenben's relationship."

"Later, he spent another 1 million strings of cash to obtain the position of General of the Front Guard of the Flying Tiger Army from Wang Xuance, the proofreader of the Eastern Palace."

"After entering the army, he manipulated the army and sold the military positions of Langjiang, Xiaowei, and Lieutenant to the sons of the wealthy families in Beijing for tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of yuan, making a total of 1,389,600 strings of cash."

"Hu Lixian, have I wronged you?"

After Wei Zheng finished speaking, he stared at Hu Lixian with sparkling eyes, as if a lion was staring at a sheep.

Wei Zheng took the detailed account book that Li Yan handed over and said coldly, "How many generals, lieutenants, commanders, captains, even fire captains and ordinary soldiers under you gave you how much money. I have checked it all clearly."

"You sold official positions and titles without the Crown Prince's knowledge and made so much money. This is simply lawless and appalling. Since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, I have never seen anyone embezzle millions of taels at a time. If I report this alone to the Emperor, I will be punished."

"Your Yangzhou Hu family has more than 200 members, and not a single one of them can be saved. Even those who are married far away and have relatives in the intermarried families are doomed."

Hu Lixian was so frightened that he felt as if he had fallen into an ice cellar. He felt cold all over and his legs went weak. He could no longer stand and fell to the ground, half-lying and half-kneeling. Although he had come here with the intention of giving a confession, he did not expect that Wei Zheng had investigated the matter so thoroughly.

The horrific scene described by Wei Zheng instantly broke down Hu Lixian's psychological defenses. He immediately kowtowed like crazy, sobbing and crying uncontrollably: "Master Wei, please spare my life. I have committed such a heinous crime, and I really deserve to die."

"I don't know what's wrong with me. When I see others being greedy, I can't control myself."

In order to mitigate his crime, Hu Lixian began to drag in the fate of a big shot: "I want to report that this matter of selling official positions was not initiated by me, Your Highness the Crown Prince."

At this point, Hu Lixian saw Wei Xia's glare, and his heart suddenly became excited. His lips trembled, and he changed the words on his lips and said quickly: "Fang Xuance, the proofreader beside His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, was the first to receive the money. He hinted to me that as long as I donate one million strings of cash to the Flying Tiger Army, I can get the position of Lieutenant General, so I..."

"Humph! What a mean person! He still hasn't forgotten to frame others!"

Wei Zheng slammed the gavel he had found from somewhere and said loudly and righteously, "It is true that Fang Xuance is raising military funds on behalf of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. The one million strings of cash you donated has long been recorded and reported to the Emperor by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

"See for yourself"

After saying that, Wei Zheng threw a memorial in front of Hu Lixian. Hu Lixian picked it up and saw that it was the memorial from the prince to the emperor.

He wrote a letter to the Eastern Palace attendants Hu Lixian, Liang Sijin, Zhou Yande, and Luo Ensheng, voluntarily donating one million strings of silver to fund the establishment and training of the Flying Tiger Army. Due to their great contributions, the prince suggested that they be put on the priority promotion list and be placed on trial in the position of Inspector General of the Central Army.

If several people are qualified, they can be officially appointed by the court on the day the army is formed. If they are unqualified, they will be rejected and not hired.

Hu San and Zhou Yansi also voluntarily donated 600,000 strings of cash and were given priority for the position of inspector general. There was also a note in red ink from Li Shimin:

The voluntary donations from the people are a great blessing to the country and deserve praise. If their qualities meet the military standards, they can be given priority for recruitment. However, this matter should not be made public, lest other officials from poor families follow suit and disrupt the court etiquette - Li Shimin.

After seeing the emperor's handwritten instructions, Hu Lixian was completely devastated.

It's over. I just said it casually at the time, but I didn't expect it to be true. Wang Xuance was not a tool for the prince to make money, he was actually raising military funds. However, the emperor's words that all qualities must meet the standards blocked his possibility of promotion.

How could a scholar like me who had never been on the battlefield for a single day be qualified for the post of General of the Central Army, a post in the most demanding Flying Tiger Army?

Seeing the densely packed list of donation recipients and amounts, Hu Lixian realized that several people he knew about the inside story were all on the list, and the amounts were exactly the same. It seemed that the prince did not take a single cent, but he actually thought that they were the instigators who were making huge amounts of money.

The prince, and Wang Xuance, these people have really screwed themselves over.
With a "bang", Wei Zheng's gavel struck Hu Lixian's heart like thunder.

"I thought you were sincere in serving the country, but I didn't expect you to be a scum who bought an official position with money and then sold it to make money."

(End of this chapter)