Tang Dynasty Xie Lu Lang

Chapter 54 Morning Morning
Generally speaking, the morning court was merely a routine meeting for briefings among the various departments of the imperial city. If there were any major ceremonies to be held, imperial decrees to be issued, or key personnel appointments to be made, they would either be held during the grand court on the first and last day of the lunar month, or on a special day specifically chosen.

Of course, there are exceptions. For example, when the Censorate was preparing to impeach the Minister of the Central Secretariat Zhang Shuo, they originally planned to do it on the first day of April. However, they encountered some obstructions and troubles. Cui Yinfu and others had to postpone it for a few days and chose a regular court day to catch Zhang Shuo off guard.

Today's morning court was also not a grand court day, but the twists and turns of what happened and the shock it brought to the court officials were even greater than the day when Zhang Shuo was impeached a few days ago.

At the beginning of the morning court session, the Censorate took the lead in launching an attack. The Chief Censor Yuwen Rong personally came forward to report that Wang Hanli, the Deputy Director of the Imperial Guard, had disrupted the court order and violated etiquette in the imperial city, and directly stripped him of his official position.

This action seemed fierce and ferocious, as if the Censorate was about to launch a new round of fierce offensive, but all the officials in the court knew what happened last night, and they all believed that the Censorate's actions were just hysterical revenge and would not cause much damage.

As expected, what happened next was just as the ministers had guessed. The Censorate was soon severely damaged, and the Chief Censor Li Linfu was demoted to the Sima of Junzhou because of his improper handling of affairs.

The imperial court has always had the rule of prioritizing the interior over the exterior, prioritizing Guanzhong over Guandong, and prioritizing the north over the south when appointing officials. Junzhou is located in the south of the mountains and is a subordinate state, so Sima is only a sixth-rank official.

Li Linfu was demoted and exiled, which was a very severe punishment, second only to exile to Lingnan. So after hearing the punishment, Li Linfu's face turned pale. Such a punishment was tantamount to directly ending his political career!

It should be noted that although the position of Chief Censor he currently holds is only a fifth-rank official position, the Censorate has its own responsibility to supervise all officials. It is the most important department in the imperial city, and its chief officer, the Grand Censor, is even on par with the prime minister.

As long as Li Linfu stays in the position of Chief Censor for a while, he can directly transfer to the six ministries in the Southern Province as a vice minister and become a formal reserve high-ranking official. If nothing unexpected happens, he can endure a few more years and strive for the positions of vice minister of the two provinces such as the Secretariat and the Imperial Household, and he will be one step away from being appointed as prime minister!
For example, the newly appointed Prime Minister Li Yuanhong was transferred from the position of Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue to Vice Minister of the Secretariat, and at the same time was appointed as Co-Prime Minister, officially becoming the Prime Minister.

Li Linfu had been staying in the court since he was dismissed from office and took up his official post. But now he was kicked out of the court and sent to Shannan. He had no experience in governing a local area, and it was impossible for him to make any political achievements in Junzhou, Shannan. It was like falling from heaven to hell. It would be a dream for him to maintain his previous successful career!

The ministers in the hall looked at Li Linfu, whose face looked as pale as death, and felt a secret sympathy in their hearts. At the same time, they couldn't help but sigh that things in the world are impermanent. A few days ago, Li Linfu followed Cui Yinfu and Yuwen Rong to attack Prime Minister Zhang Shuo, as if he wanted to change the situation in the court, but in the blink of an eye, he got himself involved.

At the same time, everyone had different looks in their eyes when they looked at Zhang Shuo who had returned to the court.

Originally, Zhang Shuo had no power to resist the fierce attack of the Censorate and looked like he was at the mercy of others. However, he did not expect that the situation would suddenly reverse. Zhang Shuo completed the reversal and counterattack with the help of one of his grandsons.

Now that the personnel of the Censorate have suffered such a severe blow, the attacks against Zhang Shuo will naturally be unsustainable. It seems that Zhang Shuo will still be the main figure in the court in the future!

Not to mention what the ministers were thinking, Zhang Shuo couldn't help but smile for a moment after hearing the punishment of Li Linfu.

As for Prime Minister Li Yuanhong, who had just taken charge of the Secretariat, his expression couldn't help but become a little serious.

Although he did not directly participate in the siege of Zhang Shuo this time, he was promoted as the person to replace Zhang Shuo. If Zhang Shuo returned to the Secretariat, it would naturally not make him too happy.

Zhang Shuo's control over the Secretariat and its members was far beyond what he had achieved in the past few days. Once a conflict arose between the two sides, he would inevitably be at a disadvantage. He might even follow in Li Linfu's footsteps in the near future.

Just as Li Yuanhong was still considering whether to strengthen cooperation with Shizhong Yuan Qianyao, the punishment for Zhang Shuo was also announced.

When they heard that the sage ordered Zhang Shuo to retire, all the ministers in the court were shocked for a moment, and even the smile that had just appeared on Zhang Shuo's face froze.

The sage sat upright in the hall, looking down and taking in the expressions and actions of his ministers. When he saw the surprise on their faces, he couldn't help but smile.

He really enjoyed this moment of manipulating all the ministers at his fingertips and demonstrating his strong control over the affairs of the court. No matter whether it was Zhang Shuo or anyone else, no one could hope to escape from his control!

That being said, the treatment of Zhang Shuo did deviate somewhat from the sage's original vision. Zhang Shuo certainly had many faults, but he had also made significant contributions to the success of the civil administration. It was somewhat inappropriate to suddenly erase all of his achievements, especially after he had accompanied the emperor on the Fengshan ceremony.

Moreover, Zhang Shuo had been in power for many years and had very deep-rooted personnel relationships in the court. Suddenly overthrowing him would cause chaos in the court and make it difficult to control.

The subsequent prime ministers may not be able to take Zhang Shuo as a warning. They may be more keen on purging and excluding Zhang Shuo's followers and seizing important positions, which will intensify the intensity of personnel struggles in the court.

Therefore, the sage originally wanted to only remove Zhang Shuo from his position as the prime minister, but keep him in the court, and gradually eliminate Zhang Shuo's influence while ensuring the stability of the court.

However, the sudden change at the Censorate had thrown the court into disarray. Leaving Zhang Shuo in office would undoubtedly have significantly diminished the blow he had previously dealt, so he was simply ordered to retire and return home. Despite the shock of the other officials, Zhang Shuo quickly recovered after a brief moment of shock.

He was certainly a little disappointed, but when he thought about how he had been living in fear and worrying about his life before this morning, and now that he had retired and returned home, he felt that his life was saved and his family had avoided suffering even more harsh and cruel purges, so it was still acceptable.

So after Zhang calmed down a little, he hurried out of the class to kowtow and express his gratitude, and his words and tone were quite sincere.

After the morning court session, the ministers came in one after another to congratulate Zhang Shuo. Although Zhang Shuo was not very popular, he had been in power for many years and had a group of friends of his own.

The officialdom itself is a big circle. People may have conflicts and contradictions while they are in office, but these conflicts will become less severe after they leave their jobs. As long as it is not a life-and-death feud, it is nothing to exchange a few words when meeting. Even Prime Minister Yuan Qianyao came forward to exchange a few words with Zhang.

However, the Imperial Censor Cui Yinfu still looked at Zhang Shuo with a somewhat unfriendly look. Firstly, he was somewhat dissatisfied with the result. Secondly, the Imperial Censorate was disturbed by Zhang Shuo's grandson, and Henan Prefecture was also in a state of unrest, which made Cui Yinfu somewhat anxious.

After leaving the court, before he had time to return to the office, he was summoned by the emperor into the palace to inquire about matters related to Henan Prefecture.

After Zhang Shuo dealt with the greetings of his colleagues, he went to the Secretariat to pack up his personal belongings that he had not had time to sort out before.

During this process, the officials of the Secretariat tried their best to avoid any direct contact with him. Firstly, many officials of the Secretariat were severely punished or even executed for their association with Zhang Shuo and their own misconduct. Secondly, the Secretariat also had a new leader, so they naturally did not dare to risk offending the new boss by trying to please the old boss.

But there are exceptions. After Zhang Shuo returned to the province, the Secretary of the Central Secretariat Zhang Jiuling followed him all the way, and no one was surprised by this.

Zhang Jiuling was highly appreciated by Zhang Shuo and was strongly promoted. Moreover, they were of the same clan. Zhang Jiuling was a dignified man with a righteous mind, so naturally he would not distance himself from Zhang Shuo to avoid suspicion.

"I've often been in and out of this garden, but I never felt so redundant today. The scenery really disgusts me. I should leave immediately!"

After Zhang Shuo finished packing his personal belongings and walked out of the hall, he saw a group of Zhongshu Province officials pretending to be busy and not daring to approach. He couldn't help but laugh at himself, then turned to Zhang Jiuling and said, "I won't bother you with your case anymore, and you don't have to follow me anymore. If you have anything to say, we can talk about it when I go to my house tomorrow."

Zhang Jiuling just bowed his head in agreement, but when Zhang Shuo walked out of the Secretariat, he still followed him out and followed him all the way to the Wucheng Gate outside the Xuanzheng Hall.

At this time, Zhang Luo was also led to the gate of Wucheng to wait for an audience. Seeing Zhang Shuo coming, he hurried forward and said, "Grandfather."

"This is your virtuous brother, Zhang Sheren, a fellow clan member. He has elegant scholarship and profound moral principles. If you can emulate even a little of his qualities, you will have a secure and worry-free future!"

Zhang Shuo nodded first, then pointed at Zhang Jiuling behind him and introduced him to him.

"Zhang, Brother Zhang..."

Zhang Luo quickly raised his hand and bowed to Zhang Jiuling. He had just arrived in this world and it was the first time he saw Zhang Jiuling. He couldn't help but look at him carefully.

Compared to the outgoing Wang Han, Zhang Jiuling's personality was much more dignified and serious. He didn't show much enthusiasm when he saw Zhang Luo. He just nodded slightly in response and said, "Last night's deeds were very magnificent. It is truly rare that he can single-handedly promote the beauty of the family tradition and make people admire Zhang Libu's good upbringing."

Zhang Luo was a little unhappy after hearing this. If you want to praise me, just praise me. Why are you talking about that unlucky thing?
After sending Zhang Shuo here, Zhang Jiuling said goodbye and left. Zhang Luo came to Zhang Shuo's side and said with his head bowed, "I heard that your father retired. Was it because of my son's disturbance in the imperial city?"

Originally, history hadn't shown him any involvement in this matter; Zhang Shuo was merely dismissed from his position as Minister of the Central Secretariat, while his other official titles remained the same. But now, after all this trouble, he discovered that the outcome was even worse. Honestly, Zhang Luo felt a bit embarrassed.

"Disaster is imminent, and there is no escape. I am fortunate to be given a lighter sentence. How dare I expect to maintain my status and position!"

Zhang Shuo saw that he looked quite ashamed, so he patted his shoulder and said with a smile, "You are still very limited in your knowledge and haven't fully understood the dangers of human affairs. You have made an invaluable contribution to resolving this crisis. My family will be able to live safely at home in the future, and we should also thank you for your dedication in spite of such hardships!"

Zhang Luo was happy again when he heard this. He knew in his heart that he had done more harm than good this time, but in the eyes of Zhang and his family, his efforts really saved his family from danger. It was a blessing for the entire Zhang family to have him!
(End of this chapter)