Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 177 Extremely Hypocritical
"Dang...dang...dang..."

After the fire was gone and the lights were gone, there were sixty people with flat heads.

In a trance, the seventh year of Dazhong has become history, and people all over the world have ushered in the eighth year of Dazhong.

With the whitewashing of all the dignitaries, the past few years can be described as "prosperous".

The imperial court "recovered" eleven prefectures in Longyou, including Hexi and Longxi. The Hetao Dangxiang were pacified and the bandit rebellion in Sanchuan was suppressed.

All these things seem to be telling people all over the world that the Tang Dynasty has been revived!

However, the dignitaries in the temple know better than anyone what the current Tang Dynasty is like.

In the Tang Dynasty, the Spring Festival was called New Year's Day. According to the "Holiday Order" during the Kaiyuan period, "New Year's Day and Winter Solstice are each given a seven-day holiday." Therefore, there was a total of seven days of holiday for New Year's Day in the Tang Dynasty.

The only difference is that these seven-day holidays are the three days before the New Year and the three days after the New Year. Although New Year's Day is also a holiday, the court still holds a morning court ceremony to celebrate the New Year.

It seems that at this moment, officials in Beijing are wearing formal attire and going to the Hanyuan Hall of the Daming Palace for a grand court meeting.

In the early Tang Dynasty, due to the exhaustion of Guanzhong and the large number of officials in the capital, production was unfavorable. Therefore, during the reign of Emperor Taizong, the number of officials in the capital was reduced to more than 600.

This move reduced the burden on the people in Guanzhong, but with the end of Zhenguan, the number of Tang officials in Beijing increased day by day.

During the Kaiyuan period, the number of officials in the capital of the Tang Dynasty reached more than 2,600, and the number of officials outside the capital reached more than 16,000, which brought considerable pressure to Guanzhong, and eating in the Eastern Capital became the norm.

Although the Anshi Rebellion broke out afterwards, the number of Tang officials in Beijing did not decrease. Instead, the number of officials of various ranks and with honors increased.

Just like now, although there are officials on duty in the three provinces and six ministries, the number of officials entering the Daming Palace still exceeds two thousand.

Officials in Beijing walked into the palace gate, crossed the Longshou Canal, and what lay before them was the grand and majestic Hanyuan Hall.

As the main hall of the Daming Palace, the Hanyuan Hall is located on a three-story high platform. The base alone is five meters high, and the palace is thirty-eight meters long from east to west and fourteen meters wide from north to south.

The entire palace is a complex of buildings. The main hall is eleven rooms wide and is located on a three-story platform.

Slightly in front of the left and right sides of the hall, there are Xiangluan Pavilion and Qifeng Pavilion. The two pavilions are in the form of three-layer mother-and-child pavilions, with tall brick piers underneath.

On both sides of the hall are the bell and drum towers, and below the hall there is a 37-meter-long Dragon Tail Road that spirals up along the wall of the platform.

Standing in front of the gate of Hanyuan Hall, you can feel the broad view and the majestic and magnificent scene in the front court of Daming Palace, and you can overlook the entire imperial city.

Poems such as "Thousands of officials look forward to Chang'an, and tens of thousands of nations pay homage to Hanyuan" and "The palace gates of the nine heavens are opened, and people from all nations dress in formal attire to pay homage to the crown" are descriptions of the grand occasion of the grand court meetings in Hanyuan Hall by poets who once served as officials.

At this moment, more than 2,000 officials were either standing outside the hall or inside.

They wore cage crowns on their heads, wide-sleeved shirts with a front opening, skirts, jade pendants, and ribbons, and held tablets in their hands as usual.

"Joining the class..."

As the singing of the ceremony began, officials of all ranks took their places one by one, and the singing of the ceremony continued.

"Congratulations..."

As the chanting began, all the ministers held their tablets and bowed their heads, singing: "May your majesty live a thousand years..."

As soon as he finished speaking, Li Chen, dressed in a crown and robes, also walked up to the golden platform and slowly took his seat.

"Pingshen..."

The singing stopped again, and all the ministers stood up, holding their tablets and waiting for the process to end.

The grand court meetings on New Year's Day are mostly just a formality and no real business is discussed. After all, there are too many people and too many opinions, and really important matters will not be discussed on such occasions.

As the heads of the three provinces, six ministries, nine temples, five academies, the Censorate and other government offices successively presented their congratulations to Li Chen, the New Year's Day grand court meeting came to an end.

Before dismissing the court, Li Chen looked at the officials reluctantly.

Whenever he faced such a grand scene, he always felt that the Tang Dynasty under his control had returned to what it should have been like during the Kaiyuan and Zhenguan periods.

It’s a pity that the event will eventually come to an end, and he has to turn around and leave.

When he left, all officials left their posts one after another, but Linghu Tao, Pei Xiu and Cui Xuan from the three provinces did not leave.

They followed Li Chen's footsteps and went to the Zichen Hall to discuss matters.

When Li Chen changed into his regular clothes and sat on the Golden Stage, the three of them tacitly decided to start with Longxi.

"Your Majesty, there was no heavy snow in Longxi last winter, so there might be a drought."

"At present, the prisoners sent by the court from Guannei, Shannan and other places have arrived in Longzhou, and the rewards for the Longxi army have also been drafted. Please review it, Your Majesty."

Pei Xiu stepped forward to present the memorial, which was soon handed over to Li Chen by the eunuch.

Li Chen opened it and frowned slightly: "20,000 pieces of silk, isn't that too little?"

Even though Li Chen did not want Liu Jilian to become too powerful, he also did not want people in the world to say that he was petty.

When the people of Qinzhou and other three states and seven passes surrendered to the Tang Dynasty, he rewarded them with 150,000 pieces of silk in one go. Later, he rewarded Jingyuan with 60,000 pieces, Lingwu with 50,000 pieces, Fengxiang with 40,000 pieces, and Bining with 40,000 pieces each.

Now Liu Jilian has recovered the three states. Although the number of people rescued is not as many as that of the original three states and seven passes, at least he has recovered the lost territory.

He really couldn't afford just 20,000 pieces of silk.

"Your Majesty, this reward is only given to the Longxi generals, not the entire Longxi Army."

"We, the ministers, hope to use this reward to see the status of the generals under Liu Jilong."

Pei Xiu spoke slowly, and Li Chen also reacted.

This batch of silk was handed over to Liu Jillong, and naturally he had to distribute it. How he would distribute it and to whom he would distribute it... these were all the information the court needed.

"Even so, it's still too little. Let's increase it to 40,000 pieces."

Li Chen closed the memorial, and in order to show that he had the magnanimity of Emperor Taizong, he increased the reward to 40,000 pieces of paper with a wave of his hand.

Pei Xiu looked at Linghu Tao, but Linghu Tao remained silent, and Cui Xuan naturally could not stop him.

The more chips there are and the more goodwill is released, the more likely Liu Jilong will let down his guard.

Besides, he came here today not just for a little Liu Jilong.

"Your Majesty is wise!" Cui Xuan praised:

"In this way, people all over the world will only say that Your Majesty has shown favor to the righteous army, and that the vassal states all over the world know the benefits of working for the court!"

"However, Your Majesty, Liu Jilong is entrenched in Longxi. Although the Lingwu and Tianxiong armies are controlling his east and north, he has no control over the south."

"Now that the Tanguts have been pacified, why not send Bai Sikong to serve as the governor of Chengdu and the governor of Nanxichuan?"

Cui Xuan did not want Bai Minzhong to return to the court and take away the power of the prime minister, so his solution was to send Bai Minzhong away.

Hearing this, Li Chen frowned slightly: "Let me think about this matter."

"Yes..." Cui Xuan was not in a hurry, but just nodded in agreement.

"Do Prime Minister Pei and Mr. Zizhi have anything else to say?"

"I have nothing to say..."

Li Chen looked at Pei Xiu and Linghu Tao, and seeing that they had nothing to say, he waved his sleeves and said, "If that's the case, then leave."

"I will take my leave now. May you live for tens of millions of years..."

The three of them left the Zichen Hall, and Cui Xuan left the hall in a hurry.

Pei Xiu frowned when he saw this, but he didn't know what he wanted to do, so he didn't chase after him. Instead, he followed Linghu Tao back to the Southern Court.

After leaving the Purple Palace, Cui Xuan did not stay in the Taiji Palace, but walked out of the Taiji Palace and got on the carriage.

On the carriage, a Taoist priest in a Taoist robe was waiting there. When Cui Xuan saw him, he could not help but nodded and said:

"The Supreme has already made up his mind. Now it's up to you..."

"Don't worry, Prime Minister Cui. I have made all the arrangements." The fifty-year-old Taoist nodded to comfort him.

Seeing this, Cui Xuan ordered his men to drive the carriage to the imperial city.

An hour later, the Daming Palace was set up to the Taimiao as in previous years.

Li Chen took his children to the Taimiao to pay homage to his father, Emperor Li Chun.

As the person who initiated the Yuanhe Restoration and suppressed the Lianghuai and Zibo-Qingdao vassal states, Tang Xianzong Li Chun enjoyed an extremely good reputation among all officials.

Because of this, Li Chen often managed the father-son relationship between him and Li Chun.

After Emperor Xianzong of Tang was murdered by eunuchs, the eunuchs Liang Shouqian and Wang Shoucheng supported Li Chun's third son Li Heng as the new emperor.

After that, Emperor Jingzong of Tang, Emperor Wenzong of Tang and Emperor Wuzong of Tang were all sons of Li Heng.

After Li Chen ascended the throne, he repeatedly stated that he regarded the four dynasties of Li Heng as a false dynasty, and that he was the prince favored by Li Chun.

In order to create this kind of fatherly and filial relationship, Li Chen would pray and tell fortunes in front of Li Chun's tablet to make decisions on many important matters, thus showing to the outside world that he was the legitimate emperor chosen by Li Chun.

Soon, the imperial carriage arrived at the Taimiao, and Li Chen brought his favorite Prince Kui Li Zi into the Taimiao.

As for the eldest son, Prince Yun Li Wen, and the other princes, they were left waiting outside the palace.

"Shiro, please pay respect to your grandfather."

Li Chen looked at Li Zi, his eyes revealing kindness. Li Zi was a delicate and pretty girl, with eyes that were clearly black and white, very bright.

Seeing that his father asked him to salute, he immediately obediently bowed and burned incense towards the tablet of Emperor Xianzong of Tang, Li Chun.

After he stood up, Li Chen turned his gaze to the tablet, bowed his head respectfully and burned incense, and silently recited in his heart about Bai Minzhong's appointment as the Jiedushi of Jiannan Xichuan.

He picked up the bamboo tube used for divination, and soon shook out a long stick with good meaning.

Seeing this, Li Chen nodded with satisfaction, then took Li Zi out of the palace and looked at Prince Yun Li Wen with a normal expression.

Li Chen had ten sons, but only seven are still alive today, of whom Li Wen is the eldest.

The second and third sons had both passed away, and only the fourth son was his favorite.

Li Chen thought about appointing Li Zi as the crown prince several times, but considering that Li Wen was the eldest son, he was worried that violating the system of primogeniture would affect his image, so he delayed appointing a crown prince.

Therefore, when facing Li Wen, Li Chen felt both regretful and unhappy.

"Go in and pay your respects."

His tone was complicated. Li Wen bowed and then carefully led his brothers into the hall to pay their respects.

Seeing his timid look, Li Chen could only shake his head helplessly, then left with Li Zi.

The next day, Cui Xuan's memorial was passed. Bai Minzhong, who was then the co-prime minister and concurrently the governor of Bining, was not recalled to Chang'an, but was instead appointed as the prefect of Chengdu and concurrently the governor of Jiannan Xichuan.

At the same time, Pei Xiu urgently dispatched 40,000 pieces of silk to Longzhou, and sent Xue Kui, Gao Pian, and Wang Zonghui as angels to escort prisoners and rewards to Weizhou.

It was already early March when Liu Jilong learned all this.

"The court will send us people and rewards?"

In the fields of Longxi, Liu Jilong, wearing winter clothes and holding the hoe he had improved, took the documents from Chen Jingchong with a puzzled look on his face.

Behind him was a field of wheat that had grown to two feet high, and further away, people were driving oxen and cultivating the land.

Liu Jilian simply read the document sent from Qinzhou. Although he didn't know why the court was so generous to send him more than 3,600 people and 40,000 pieces of silk, he couldn't hide the smile on his face.

"No matter what means the imperial court uses, I will accept these people and silk."

Liu Jilong closed the document, but Chen Jingchong said worriedly: "Among these people, there may be spies sent by the court."

"No problem." Liu Jilong shook his head to comfort him, and turned around to show:
"Take a look at this batch of wheat that I planted myself."

The temperature in Longxi during the Tang Dynasty was slightly higher than in later generations, so it was not difficult to grow wheat in Longxi.

However, when Longxi was recovered, it was already September, and it was October when the battlefield was cleared and sowing was carried out, so the growth of wheat in Longxi was not good.

Chen Jingchong was not in the mood to look at the wheat now, but when Liu Jilong asked him to, he pretended to take a look and praised, "The wheat planted by the governor is slightly higher than that of others."

"What you said is really ridiculous..."

The smile on Liu Jilong's face suddenly disappeared, leaving only helplessness and speechlessness.

Seeing that Chen Jingchong had no interest in discussing wheat, Liu Jilong could only comfort him:

"Don't worry, no matter what the court does, it can't shake us."

"But the 40,000 pieces of silk they brought this time can be used as a reward to you, and some can be left to strengthen Longxi."

"Oh, right." Liu Jilong looked at Chen Jingchong and asked, "Did they say when they would come to Longxi?"

"They are waiting for your response."

Chen Jingchong explained: "But they might bring armored soldiers with them, you see..."

"No problem, just let them bring it."

Liu Jilong smiled heartily, and then ordered: "Then let's set the date for March 5th, three days later."

"Yes..." Chen Jingchong bowed in response, then he and Liu Jilong squatted on the edge of the field and started weeding the wheat field.

After a busy day, Chen Jingchong told the news to the Qinzhou light cavalry, and the light cavalry took three hours to turn back and deliver the news back to Luomenchuan.

Luomenchuan at this time is no longer the flat land it once was, but a rammed earth fortress stands on the south bank of the Wei River.

Not only that, there were tens of thousands of laborers outside the city digging stones and piling them up at the base of the city wall, layer by layer.

Apparently Xue Kui and his men learned about the new catapults in the Longxi army from Lu Ruyue, so they tried their best to make this "Wushan County" as impregnable as possible.

"Three days from now?"

In the newly built Wushan County Government, Xue Kui heaved a sigh of relief when he learned that Liu Jilong had allowed them to escort border prisoners and silk cloth to Longxi.

Then he looked inside the hall. Wang Zonghui looked calm and composed, while Gao Pian, Zhang Lin, Lu Ruyue, Lin Ruzhen and other generals were all looking at him.

Seeing this, Xue Kui said to everyone: "On the fifth day of March at 11:00 a.m., gather five hundred elite cavalrymen and escort the prisoners and silk cloth to Longxi."

"I obey your command!" Lu Ruyue, Zhang Lin and others bowed one after another.

Seeing Lu Ruyue bowing, Xue Kui comforted her and said, "Lu Youyi and Lin Ruyouyi don't have to go."

He told the two men's current official positions, which were Chengzhou Youyishi and Wuzhou Youyishi.

What Liu Jilong could think of, Xue Kui and the others could naturally think of as well.

After the three prefectures in Longxi were recovered, the only areas where Liu Jilian could expand his power were the seven prefectures in Longnan.

Therefore, Gao Pian suggested to Xue Kui that they should recommend Lu Ruyue and Lin Ruzhen as the traveling envoys of Chengzhou and Wuzhou respectively.

If Liu Jilian sent troops to Longnan by then, even if he recovered Wu and Cheng states and appointed a governor, Qinzhou would be able to rely on Lu Ruyue and Lin Ruzhen to stir up the troubled waters in the two states.

Of course, they are not needed now, and they have a grudge against Liu Jilong, so taking them with them will only intensify the conflict.

If Liu Jilong killed both of them, it would be a waste of time and effort.

It was for this reason that Xue Kui indicated that the two did not need to follow.

Hearing this, Lu Ruyue breathed a sigh of relief, while General Lin Ruzhen clenched his fists.

In the eyes of General Lin Ruzhen, no matter how bad Shang Yanxin was, he was still his benefactor.

These days, whenever he thought of Shang Yanxin's death at the hands of Liu Jilong, he wished he could go into battle to avenge Shang Yanxin.

In the past, he would naturally not have had such an idea, after all, he was not strong enough.

But now he has the support of the Tang Dynasty. In the past six months, the Tang Dynasty has trained all the foreign troops under his and Lu Ruyue's command into an army.

Although the armor had not been completed, the two of them each had two thousand elite cavalry.

If the two of them become powerful in the future, it is possible that they will take revenge on Liu Jilong.

"Since the day has been set, let's disperse."

Wang Zonghui didn't want to see Xue Kui trying to win people's hearts here, because there was no need.

The Northern Division has already sent him news that the Supreme is very dissatisfied with Xue Kui and the Southern Court, and Xue Kui will be transferred away soon.

By then, the governor of Qinzhou and the governor of Tianxiong Army could only be Gao Pian, and Gao Pian was their man, so no matter what Xue Kui did, it would be useless.

"Let's go our separate ways."

Xue Kui also knew that his end would not be good, and Wang Zonghui's move further confirmed that his end would not be good either.

In response, Xue Kui's expression darkened, and he dismissed the generals without waiting for them to speak.

"I will finally retire..."

The generals took their leave and then walked out of the yamen together.

Wushan County had just been built. Although the city walls and government offices had been completed, the streets and buildings within the city were still not completed.

To the east of the city was the camp of the Shen Ce Army, to the west of the city was the camp of the Tian Xiong Army, and outside the west gate were the camps of Lu Ruyue and Lin Ruzhen.

The three forces are intertwined, and if there is no strong man in charge, conflicts will easily arise.

Fortunately, Xue Kui and Wang Zonghui were both loyal to Gao Pian, and Gao Pian took advantage of their inaction to facilitate banquets for the three generals on many occasions.

Lu Ruyue was not good at marching and fighting, but he was good at observing people's words and expressions.

He knew clearly that if he wanted to keep his position, he had to find a backer, and Gao Pian was the backer he chose for himself and Lin Ruzhen.

Therefore, when the generals left the government office, Lu Ruyue immediately flattered Gao Pian in the official language with a strong foreign accent:
"Yu Hou, I had someone prepare some mutton this morning. If you don't mind, you can take General Zhang and the others to eat outside the city."

Although Gao Pian's official position was not as high as Lu Ruyue's, everyone could see that Xue Kui and Wang Zonghui had intentions towards Gao Pian.

It was only a matter of time before Gao Pian was promoted to their superior.

Gao Pian naturally understood what Lu Ruyue and the others were thinking, so he quickly looked at several generals of the Tianxiong Army.

"Zhang Yaya, if you don't mind, why don't we go together?"

Zhang Yaya was a veteran of about forty years old. When he saw Gao Pian's invitation, he bowed and said, "It would be disrespectful for us to refuse the invitation since it is the Lord of Yu's invitation!"

As soon as the words fell, everyone followed Gao Pian to the outside of the city. Gao Pian became the leader of the three generals...

(End of this chapter)