Tang Dynasty, my wife Wu Zetian

Chapter 339: Economic Sanctions from the Tang Dynasty

When Wu Meiniang heard that Li Zhi was going to summon Xiao Siye to her palace, she winked at Zhang Duohai.

After a while, four more palace maids appeared in the hall.

These four people were palace maids who had been strictly trained by Wu Meiniang and had learned martial arts.

When Wu Meiniang wanted to summon someone she didn't trust, she would let four people accompany her to prevent accidents.

More than half an hour later, Xiao Siye arrived at the Lizheng Hall.

"Your Majesty, I am Xiao Siye. I pay my respects to Your Majesty and Her Royal Highness the Queen!" He bowed.

Li Zhi looked at him without saying a word.

Xiao Siye waited for a while, but when there was no response, he looked up at Li Zhi and asked in surprise, "Your Majesty, what's wrong?"

Li Zhi had actually guessed long ago that Xiao Siye would not directly confess his guilt.

The crime of treason lies with the entire family, and no one can directly admit it no matter who it is.

He summoned Xiao Siye just to find a flaw in his face.

However, there was no flaw on Xiao Siye's face. His expression was a mixture of surprise, astonishment, and uneasiness.

Any normal minister would show a similar expression when seeing his current attitude.

Li Zhi was silent for a moment, then said calmly, "Xiao Siye, do you admit your guilt?"

Xiao Siye was startled and knelt down, saying, "I do not know what crime I have committed. Please, Your Majesty, direct me."

Li Zhi said, "You thought you did it perfectly, but you didn't expect that someone was watching you the whole time, right?"

Xiao Siye was stunned and said, "I am stupid and don't understand what Your Majesty is talking about."

Li Zhi said slowly, "You deliberately transferred Hao Chujun away. Did you think he was completely unaware of this? He's been deeply involved in the Ministry of War for many years and has a deeper foundation than you. He's been watching your every move."

Xiao Siye was stunned.

Wu Meiniang echoed the sentiment, saying, "Xiao Siye, do you think you're the only smart person in the world? You deliberately approached the Wu Mansion and tried to curry favor with me in order to lower my guard. Little did you know, I've also planted people around you."

Xiao Siye was silent.

Li Zhi continued, "You underestimated Di Renjie. He saw at a glance that Yu's case was a carefully orchestrated plot to lure him towards the King of Han. He deliberately arrested the King of Han to lower your guard."

Xiao Siye sighed.

Seeing his expression, Li Zhi asked, "Are you willing to plead guilty?"

Xiao Siye whispered, "I bear unshirkable responsibility for Your Majesty's assassination. I deserve to die. Your Majesty wants me to take all the blame, and I have nothing to say."

His tone was filled with deep sadness, as if the emperor couldn't find the murderer and wanted to use him as a scapegoat.

Li Zhi frowned and said nothing.

Wu Meiniang sneered, "Xiao Siye, you transferred Hao Chujun to Luoyang the day you acted, exposing yourself. How dare you quibble?"

Xiao Siye glanced at Empress Wu and said, "Your Highness, I did not transfer Hao Chujun to Luoyang; he requested to go there on his own initiative. If you don't believe me, you can summon him to an audience. I am willing to confront him."

Wu Meiniang said calmly, "That was just a trick you played to lure him to Luoyang."

Xiao Siye sighed, "If Your Highness says so, I have nothing to say. I will die immediately."

Li Zhi and Wu Meiniang looked at each other, and for a moment, neither of them could find any flaws in him.

Li Zhi waved his hand and said, "You can leave first."

Xiao Siye knelt on the ground, kowtowed and said, "I'm leaving." He staggered away, as if he was about to die unjustly.

After he left, Wu Meiniang said, "Your Majesty, regardless of whether this man is pretending or not, he is a hidden danger and cannot be kept in the court any longer."

Li Zhi nodded and said, "I understand. If Di Renjie still can't find evidence at the grand court meeting today, I will use the charge of dereliction of duty to demote him to another province."

Xiao Siye returned to the Xiao Mansion in a daze. He didn't respond to anyone who spoke to him, as if one of his three souls was missing.

After returning to the study, he sat quietly and looked up at the ceiling.

Xiao Zhizhong suddenly came into the room and said, "Chief, Prince Consort Zhou wishes to see you."

Xiao Siye said, "No, from today on, I will not see anyone who comes to visit me."

"Chief, His Majesty summoned you to the palace, but for..."

Xiao Siye suddenly looked at him and said, "Zhizhong, how many people are left who know the truth?"

Xiao Zhizhong said, "Besides my nephew, there are five other people, all of whom are trustworthy. The rest have been dealt with."

Xiao Siye sighed and said, "Let's deal with these five people as well."

Xiao Zhizhong's face turned pale instantly. This sentence showed that the emperor had already suspected the Xiao family.

After a long silence, he whispered, "Nephew, I understand. After I deal with them, I will end my own life."

Xiao Siye raised his hand and said, "No, they can die, but you can't, and neither can I."

Xiao Zhizhong was stunned for a moment.

Xiao Siye said in a deep voice, "They are in the dark, and no one would know if they died. But you and I are different. If we die, in the eyes of the emperor, it will be nothing more than suicide out of fear of punishment. The Xiao family will still not escape their fate."

Xiao Zhizhong's face became even uglier.

In other words, he had to stay alive and keep the secret without revealing any flaws during the brutal torture in the Dali Temple, which was more painful than death.

Xiao Siye said in a deep voice, "I know this is difficult. It's all my fault for not planning well, which led to this result. If you want to die, I won't stop you."

Xiao Zhizhong took a deep breath and said, "Everything is for the family. The patriarch cannot be blamed. My nephew is going to do something." He turned and left.

……

After Li Zhi returned to Chang'an, he had a lot of things to do.

Seeing that Xiao Siye did not reveal any flaws, he did not have the time to waste his attention and threw the matter to Di Renjie to deal with.

There are only two days left until the official date, and he needs to review the evaluations submitted from all over the country to decide on personnel changes for the next year.

Since Xu Jingzong went crazy, the position of Minister of Rites became vacant.

Li Yifu was also involved in this incident, and he was the one who promoted Yuan Gongyu and the other three.

Although according to Yuan Gongyu's confession, he was not involved in the incident, he still bears great responsibility and the prime minister must be dismissed.

As a result, the position of Zhongshu Ling becomes vacant and a new Zhongshu Ling needs to be selected.

This requires him to consider carefully.

After two busy days, the time finally arrived for the grand court meeting.

Early in the morning, all the ministers gathered outside the Suzaku Gate.

The emperor was like a ballast stone. When he returned to Chang'an, the court officials suddenly felt reassured and no longer had the anxiety of the previous few days.

The case of the Eastern Palace has been handed over to the Dali Temple for trial, and no one cares about it anymore.

Ministers are more concerned about their own immediate interests and year-end evaluations!

In recent years, the political situation has been chaotic, and the pro-military faction and the aristocratic family faction have successively lost power.

Only after experiencing a small setback can the clear stream slowly gain momentum again.

Since Liu Rengui was dismissed from his post as prime minister, Xu Xiaode followed Shangguan Yi's advice and cancelled the gathering of the Qingliu.

Everyone kept their distance, and the situation in the court became even better.

Xu Xiaode had already firmly established himself as the Minister of Personnel. Although Liu Rengui was in Yingzhou, his prestige in the court did not decrease but increased day by day.

Shangguan Yi accompanied the emperor on this tour and was appointed as the envoy of promotion and demotion. He did a lot of things along the way and was highly valued by the emperor.

A few days ago, many people were discussing that after Li Yifu was dismissed from his position as prime minister, he would be replaced by Shangguan Yi.

It was not until yesterday that Xu Xiaode received accurate news that the emperor had already drafted an edict to appoint Shangguan Yi as the Minister of the Central Secretariat.

Because of this, when Shangguan Yi's carriage stopped outside the Suzaku Gate, a large group of court officials surrounded him.

The former Prime Minister Li Yifu was no longer in the limelight. He stood alone in a corner, silently looking at Shangguan Yi who was surrounded by ministers.

After exchanging pleasantries with everyone, Shangguan Yi came to Xu Xiaode, cupped his hands and said with a smile, "Congratulations, Mr. Xu. Your son will be transferred back to Chang'an soon."

Xu Xiaode's son was named Xu Qidan, who served as a teacher in the Eastern Palace.

Later, because Xu Jin was promoted to Jieyushi and Xu Xiaode was promoted to Minister of Personnel, Xu Qidan took the initiative to request an imperial decree to be sent away.

He had made remarkable achievements in local administration and enjoyed an excellent reputation. The emperor had already drafted an edict to transfer him back to Chang'an to serve as a deputy minister of the Ministry of Rites.

Xu Xiaode bowed and smiled, "I also want to congratulate Brother Shangguan on his appointment as Prime Minister."

After a few pleasantries, Xu Xiaode asked about Liu Rengui's situation.

Shangguan Yi smiled and said, "I met him once in Youzhou. You may not believe it, but Old Liu looks much better than before. In my opinion, he is more comfortable as the governor of Yingzhou than as the prime minister."

Xu Xiaode smiled and said, "He has made us proud. In the past, when those generals discussed military affairs with us, they were all arrogant and thought they were great. Now they have restrained themselves a lot."

Shangguan Yi sighed, "Actually, Brother Liu is a special case. Not all civil servants transferred to the border can become as famous as him."

Xu Xiaode twirled his beard and smiled, "That's true. If I were to lead the troops to fight against those barbarians, I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to sleep peacefully at night."

Shangguan Yi glanced at him and said, "Brother Xu is also a special case."

Xu Xiaode glared and said, "Are you saying that I'm a coward?"

Shangguan Yi smiled, and suddenly saw Zhang Jianzhi coming over. He bowed to him and said, "Brother Xu, I'll excuse me for a moment."

He walked towards Zhang Jianzhi.

Zhang Jianzhi's eyes turned, as if he was looking for someone. When he saw Shangguan Yi coming over, he bowed and said, "Mr. Shangguan, you are polite."

Shangguan Yi smiled and said, "Minister Zhang, you and I are companions on the emperor's tour, so our relationship is different from others. There's no need to be so polite."

Zhang Jianzhi was stunned for a moment and said, "Minister?"

Shangguan Yi smiled and said, "Brother Zhang, you may not know this yet, but His Majesty has already drafted an edict to promote you to the position of Zhongshu Shilang. From now on, you and I will be colleagues again."

A hint of joy flashed across Zhang Jianzhi's face, and he bowed and said, "Then I'll ask for your continued care in the future."

Shangguan Yi smiled and said, "Of course. Come on, I'll take you to meet some people."

Zhang Jianzhi bowed and said, "Thank you for your kindness, sir, but I have something to ask Prime Minister Li." Shangguan Yi was stunned for a moment, then turned his head to look at Li Yifu, only to see that he was also looking over here.

Zhang Jianzhi was originally a disciple of Li Yifu. Now that Li Yifu has fallen from power, he has remained loyal to him, which can be regarded as a man of loyalty and righteousness.

Shangguan Yi thought of this and stopped getting annoyed. He said to Zhang Jianzhi, "Okay, go ahead."

Zhang Jianzhi bowed again, turned around and walked towards Li Yifu.

Arriving at Li Yifu's side, he saw that he looked pale and said to him, "Prime Minister Li, the world is ever-changing and unpredictable. Keep your heart and remain calm. I believe that in a few years, His Majesty will re-employ you."

Li Yifu said in a deep voice, "No, this time I misjudged people and I deserved it. Your Majesty has been magnanimous in not expelling me from the court."

Zhang Jianzhi didn't know the whole story and was about to ask.

Li Yifu said, "Jianzhi, don't ask too much about this matter. It won't do you much good if you know."

Zhang Jianzhi nodded and didn't ask any more questions.

Li Yifu looked at him and smiled, "No matter what, at least I didn't misjudge you. Jianzhi, you must be more careful in the court from now on, especially when promoting subordinates. You must keep your eyes open."

Zhang Jianzhi bowed and said, "I'll keep this in mind."

Li Yifu suddenly turned his head and looked towards the cross street, only to see Xiao Siye walking towards him from a distance.

Zhang Jianzhi followed his gaze and was slightly stunned.

Xiao Siye's appearance at this time was 80% similar to Li Yifu, with a gloomy, pale face and a depressed expression.

Li Yifu was about to be dismissed from his position as prime minister because he was implicated by Yuan Gongyu and suffered an unexpected disaster.

Why did Xiao Siye have this expression?

"What happened to Minister Xiao?" Zhang Jianzhi asked in surprise.

Li Yifu frowned and said nothing.

Because of Yuan Gongyu, he knew the case very well.

It was originally thought that Xu Ang planned this matter, but later Yu was killed and Di Renjie arrested King Han, which made him realize that this matter was not that simple.

Recently, the Dali Temple seemed to be investigating the Xiao Mansion again, so he thought that this matter might be related to the Xiao Mansion as well.

Seeing Xiao Siye's appearance at this time also confirmed this.

The emperor must have suspected Xiao Siye, so Xiao Siye was frightened and depressed, which led to this situation.

Looking at Xiao Siye's appearance, he is most likely the same as him, just implicated for no reason.

At this time, Li Yifu could understand Xiao Siye's situation and felt a sense of sympathy.

Fortunately, because of Yuan Gongyu's letter of confession, the emperor did not suspect him, and his situation was better than Xiao Siye's.

Li Yifu retracted his gaze and sighed, "He is just a pitiful man."

In the northwest corner, Di Renjie and Li Yuanfang were also looking at Xiao Siye.

"Di Siqing, you are finally wrong this time. Look at Xiao Siye, how could he be the person behind the scenes?" Li Yuanfang said with a smile.

Di Renjie stared at Xiao Siye and said slowly, "People can disguise themselves, but evidence cannot. Unless there is conclusive evidence that this matter has nothing to do with him, we cannot rule him out as a suspect."

Li Yuanfang said, "But we've already thoroughly searched the Xiao Mansion, interrogated Xiao Zhizhong and several others, and even tortured them, but there's nothing suspicious!"

Di Renjie said, "Don't forget, this time we're dealing with someone who dares to assassinate the emperor. How could it be so easy for us to find a flaw?"

Li Yuanfang's heart trembled: "That's true."

A quarter of an hour later, bells and drums sounded, and Shangguan Yi stood outside the Suzaku Gate and shouted, "Enter the court!"

The rules for the grand court meeting on the main day are stricter than usual.

Officials in Beijing, provincial governors and envoys from various countries all entered the court in strict order.

Dao Chen and Jin Yan, as the chief and deputy envoys of Baekje, also lined up in the crowd.

The Tang Dynasty officials from the capital entered first, followed by officials from other places, and the foreign envoys walked in last.

Daochen was very happy at this time because the Tang Dynasty placed Baekje just ahead of Silla.

He glanced at Jin Famin behind him and saw that his face was livid. He felt even happier and said to Jin Yan with a smile, "Some people keep saying they won't come to the Tang Dynasty to pay homage, but they still come anyway. Their words are like farts!"

Ever since King Kim Chunchu of Silla heard that the Tang Dynasty and Baekje had clashed, he felt like there was something stuck in his throat and couldn't sleep well at night.

His biggest goal was to recapture Baekje and unify the Three Kingdoms of Han.

Now that Baekje is in civil strife, it is a godsend opportunity, but the Tang Dynasty wants to intervene and stop his ambitions. How can this not make people angry?

Later, a minister told him that the Tang Dynasty had not sent an envoy to Baekje to enthrone Buyeo Boksin.

After some discussion between the king and his ministers of Silla, they all felt that the Tang emperor was worried that Silla would be dissatisfied, so he did not dare to confer the title at will.

At the suggestion of Crown Prince Kim Beom-min, Silla announced that if the Tang Dynasty wanted to make Baekje a vassal state, Silla would no longer be subject to the Tang Dynasty.

In other words, it means telling the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty that you can only choose one, whether to choose Baekje or Silla, it’s up to you.

Baekje is now in chaos and its strength is far inferior to that of Silla.

If the Tang Dynasty wants to deal with Goguryeo, Silla is the best helper.

Therefore, the rulers and ministers of Silla all felt that the Tang emperor would definitely choose them.

As a result, not long after, the envoys of the Tang Dynasty went to Baekje, recognized Baekje's vassal status, and appointed Buyeo Boksin as the King of Baekje.

When Jin Chunqiu learned about this, he was very angry and announced to the outside world that he would not pay tribute to the Tang Dynasty this year, but would send envoys to Goguryeo and Japan to exchange friendly views.

As a result, at the end of the year, envoys from Silla appeared in Chang'an City, and the leader of the envoys was Crown Prince Kim Beom-min.

Jin Famin was already feeling depressed because of this matter, and after hearing Daochen's cold words, he could no longer bear it and shouted angrily: "You Baekje will disappear soon, what are you so proud of?"

Daochen ignored him and asked Jinyan, "Did you hear the dog barking?"

Jin Yan laughed and said, "I heard it, and I was a little furious."

The veins on Jin Famin's forehead bulged, and he was almost unable to hold back and take action.

Suddenly, someone in front of me shouted in Tang language, "Little country behind us, be quiet!"

Jin Beommin was furious and said, "I am the crown prince of Silla. Which country are you from? How dare you call yourself a great power in front of my Silla?"

The envoy said with a sullen face, "I am the Tibetan envoy, all right!"

Jin Famin suddenly dared not say anything.

Although Tubo was defeated by the Tang Dynasty and driven to India, it is said that it has recently reconciled with the Tang Dynasty.

Back then, Tubo was a powerful country that could compete with the Tang Dynasty and the Arab Empire, and it was very famous!
Although it has weakened a lot now, it has only been in the past few years. In the minds of other countries, Tubo still cannot be easily provoked.

Jin Renwen, who was standing by, pulled Jin Famin aside and whispered, "Brother, don't forget the purpose of our trip."

Jin Famin nodded, took the opportunity to back off, and dared not say anything more.

They came to the Tang Dynasty this time because the Mohe people, who had originally traded with them by sea, suddenly stopped selling horses to them.

Silla had a poor geographical location and was unable to produce good horses locally. There were only two places around where one could buy horses: Tamra and Goguryeo.

Goguryeo was hostile to Silla, so it was naturally impossible to sell horses to them.

Tamra was a vassal state of Baekje and only supplied horses to Baekje, and it was even less likely that they would sell them.

Silla had no choice but to take the sea route to buy horses from the Mohe and the Tang Dynasty. Although the sea route was dangerous and they could not buy too many horses, it was Silla's most important source of horses.

Seeing that a war was about to break out on the Liaodong Peninsula, with both Japan and the Tang Dynasty getting involved, Silla naturally had to make adequate preparations for war.

A few months ago, Jin Chunqiu ordered the minister in charge of sea transportation to buy more horses from the Tang Dynasty and Mohe in preparation for the war.

Unexpectedly, the Tang Dynasty suddenly issued a ban, refusing to sell horses to Silla.

Silla declared to the outside world that it was normal for them not to sell anything, unlike the Tang Dynasty which paid tribute.

As a result, not long after, the Mohe people suddenly refused to sell horses to them.

When Jin Chunqiu asked, he found out that it was the Yingzhou Governor Liu Rengui who suddenly issued a strict order to the Mohe, forbidding them to supply horses to Silla.

Less than two years had passed since the Khitans were destroyed, and the Mohe people dared not disobey the Tang people's orders, so they had to terminate the transaction.

After hearing this, Jin Chunqiu felt angry, but also scared.

He hurriedly sent Jin Famin and Jin Renwen to the Tang Dynasty to try their best to repair the relationship between the two countries and resolve the issue of the horse embargo.

Since he needed a favor from the Tang people, Jin Famin had to keep his anger to himself. He followed the Baekje envoys silently and passed through the Suzaku Gate.

After entering the gate, walk north along Chengtianmen Street and you will soon arrive at Chengtianmen.

At this moment, a fat Tang man came over from a distance, approached the envoys, and shouted loudly, "Where is Jin Yan, the deputy envoy of Baekje?"

Jin Yan recognized the man as Zhang Duohai, the eunuch beside the queen, and said quickly, "I am Jin Yan. Your Excellency is honored to meet you."

Zhang Dahai smiled and said, "Her Majesty the Queen has ordered an audience with Deputy Envoy Jin Yan."

When these words were spoken, envoys from various countries were moved.

They had been paying homage to the Tang Dynasty for so many years, but this was the first time they saw the Tang Queen invite the deputy envoy over.

Who is this deputy envoy of Baekje and how could he be favored by the Queen of Tang?

Xiruo asked the deputy envoy beside him, "Which country is Baekje? Why have I never heard of it?"

The deputy envoy said, "It's a small country of about the same size next to Silla. It used to be a vassal of Goguryeo and opposed the Tang Dynasty. It's unknown when it finally submitted to the Tang Dynasty."

Xiruo nodded.

For a time, envoys from various countries were whispering to each other, discussing the Baekje Kingdom.

Many people even greeted Daochen politely.

When Jin Famin saw this, he felt angry and envious.

Daochen was overjoyed and actively engaged in friendly exchanges with envoys from various countries to develop diplomacy.

Jin Yan followed Zhang Duohai eastward, entered the palace from Changle Gate, and headed towards Lizheng Hall.

(End of this chapter)