Chapter 460: Using His Way (Part 1)

Wei Tao's arrival was expected by Li Qing'an. Wei Jiansu was taken away by the Guanzhong army. Regardless of whether he was released or not, once he was confirmed to have an affair with the Southern Dynasties, his position as Minister of War would not be saved anyway. Wei Jiansu was dismissed, which would be another heavy blow to the Wei family. It would be strange if Wei Tao did not come to him and Li Qing'an.

"Please come in!"

After a moment, Wei Tao hurried in, he bowed and said, "See General!"

"Is the envoy Wei coming for the matter of Minister Wei?"

This time, Li Qingan did not go around the circle, but went straight to the topic. The circle that should be circled has been bypassed in the morning. At this moment, Li Qingan needs to use concise methods to comfort Wei Tao's anxious heart and give him hope.

Wei Tao took the tea cup handed over by the soldier, drank the tea in one breath, and said anxiously: "General, please tell me how serious the situation is?"

"Serious?" Li Qing'an smiled, "It depends on who it said, the matter is not serious to us, and it may be a good thing, but for the Jianguo and Wang Gong, the matter may be a bit serious."

Wei Tao was stunned for a while and hesitated for a while, "What the general means is that Wei Jiansu has nothing to do?"

"No!"

Li Qingan denied: "Wei Jiansu affair with Li Longji and betrayed the secrets of Guanzhong military. The crime is unforgivable. This is also the reason why I did not stop him from arresting him. He should be arrested and convicted. However, if Wei Jiansu is arrested, I will compensate the Wei family and double the compensation."

"Can the General make it clear?"

"The secret of heaven cannot be revealed!"

Li Qingan smiled slightly with his hands behind his back: "You can wait patiently for a few more days, and you will see the results at the latest one month."

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Chengdu Prefecture has been renamed Shujing at this time, and it is the capital of Li Longji. Although there is no towering and magnificent palace community like Chang'an in the city, there is a large area in Hanlinfang, the north of the city. This palace was originally the Shu Palace. It was a palace specially built for himself after the Shu King Li Yu entered Shu. It covers an area of ​​more than 200 acres. The water flows gurgling, and strange flowers and plants can be seen everywhere. The elegant and unique palaces and pavilions in the palace are hidden among the dense trees. Although it does not have the majesty of the Daming Palace, it is exquisite and luxurious, but it is even better than the Daming Palace.

After Li Longji entered Chengdu, the palace was renamed Nanming Palace, which was where Li Longji lived. The hundreds of palace maids and eunuchs in the palace were changed to serve Li Longji. Although there was a warm and mellow climate in Shu, although the rich clothes and food were as usual, and although the palaces were enough to allow Li Longji to live a fairy-like life, Li Longji missed Chang'an, his Daming Palace, his Xingqing Palace, and his 40,000 harems. The satisfaction obtained by occupying thousands of women was enough to make him feel the accomplishment of dominating the world, but Chengdu did not have this feeling.

Li Longji was in a very bad mood these days. He received news that hundreds of small countries in the Western Regions sent princes or special envoys to Chang'an to congratulate the new emperor ascend the throne, but in his Chengdu, only Nanzhao sent a prince to meet him.

The people who came to pay tribute should be the honor of Li Longji, but now they were stolen by his great-grandson, a young emperor who had ruled the Tang Dynasty for forty years was driven into a corner. This strong sense of loss made Li Longji very sad and vent his anger on the palace maids and eunuchs all day long.

Yang Guozhong quickly walked past Zichen Hall. He looked at this small palace, which was about the size of his living room, and couldn't help but smile bitterly. Is this worthy of being called Zichen Hall? The palace in front that can only accommodate more than a thousand people is also called Hanyuan Hall. It seems that Li Longji is really a bit obsessed with it and regards this place as the Daming Palace.

Yang Guozhong shook his head, walked into the inner palace quickly, and said to the two guards at the entrance of the inner palace corridor: "Please report to the emperor, just say that I have important things, and I must report to him immediately."

The guards said to Yang Guozhong with a bitter face: "Prime Minister Yang, why not wait tomorrow! The emperor was furious again. A palace maid was beaten to death today."

"What's wrong with him?" Yang Guozhong frowned.

"Actually, there is nothing big. The palace maid forgot to add candy to the bird's nest porridge that the palace maid gave him. He got furious and said that the palace maid also bullied him, so he dragged the palace maid out and beat him to death."

"Then are you called Empress Wu?"

"It's useless. I heard that even Empress Wu was slapped by him in the face. Now I'm crying in the harem!"

Yang Guozhong scratched the back of his head and said, "You should go and report it to me, just say I have brought him good news."

"Okay, the Prime Minister wait a moment, I'll report now."

Yang Guozhong paced back and forth at the entrance of the corridor with his hands behind his back. He was a little upset. This afternoon, he received a letter from his eldest son Yang Xuan. In fact, Li Qing'an had given a new task. Now Yang Guozhong felt that he had become Li Qing'an's puppet and instructed him to do this and that. It seemed that everything was taken for granted. He regarded him as a slave, but he couldn't do it. His son was in the hands of Li Qing'an. There was no way to leave a way out. It was clearly Li Qing'an's hostage. When he thought of this, Yang Guozhong was indignant. He didn't like this feeling of being played with by Li Qing'an, but he had no choice.

Also, Li Longji also made him upset. As the emperor, he should only be concerned about major matters. Ordinary government affairs are managed by Yang Guozhong, but Li Longji is not like this. He has to ask about everything, manage everything, and hold on to all power. It would be fine if he had enough energy, but he was in poor health and could not do anything, which made many important major matters unconclusive and over time, it would be left alone. For example, checking household registration and renting taxes, this matter is quite urgent, but he had already handed over the plan and arranged the personnel. Li Longji just refused to approve it, making it difficult to conduct household registration and checking household registration.

It is even more difficult for Li Longji to deal with it. If he cares about something, he will break the casserole and ask the question to the end, which makes Yang Guozhong exhausted and paranoid. Yang Guozhong sighed secretly. Gao Lishi told him that Li Longji has become very stubborn now. It is almost impossible to convince and change the things he decided to change. Sometimes he is extremely smart, and sometimes he is as stupid as a pig.

At this time, the guard ran out and said, "Prime Minister Yang, the Lord summoned you to see you!"

Yang Guozhong had a headache. He didn't want to see Li Longji, but this damn Li Qingan forced him to see him. He sorted out his clothes and walked quickly towards the inner palace.

As soon as I walked to Li Longji's bedroom, I heard Li Longji's scolding, "Did I say I want to drink ice bird's nest? Yesterday was yesterday, today is today. Why don't you ask me in advance, do you bully me in a stupid and old age?"

Yang Guozhong's neck became a little cold. He bared his teeth and looked into the palace. He saw more than a dozen palace maids and eunuchs kneeling in the palace. He was so scared that he was trembling like a flock of lambs. Li Longji was hunched with his back, his eyes were showing fierce light, staring at these palace maids and eunuchs like a wild wolf.

Yang Guozhong suddenly didn't want to find Li Longji. Li Qing'an's affairs were discussed another day. He turned around and was about to leave, but the guards said a long report: "Prime Minister Yang is here!"

Yang Guozhong almost didn't fall. He sighed inwardly, turned around dejectedly, waiting for the summons.

"Your Majesty has an order to summon Yang's country to meet."

Yang Guozhong had no choice but to walk into the hall and reach the door. Li Longji cursed angrily, "Drag it out, each person will beat him thirty sticks again. If you dare to neglect me, you will beat him to death!"

The guards dragged more than a dozen palace maids and eunuchs out like wolves and tigers. Yang Guozhong was so scared that he flashed to the side. The crying of the palace maids and eunuchs and begging for mercy made Yang Guozhong's scalp numb. Will Li Longji drag him Yang Guozhong out too?

At this time, Li Longji's confidant eunuch Yu Chaoen walked out and said to Yang Guozhong: "Prime Minister Yang, the emperor invites you to come in."

Yu Chaoen has been serving Li Longji in Xingqing Palace. For a while, he was dismissed by Li Longji's suspicion. After Li Longji escaped, he stayed in Xingqing Palace. Since Chang'an launched a tide of going south, Yu Chaoen also quietly protected Wu Xianyi and fled to Chengdu. At this time, Li Longji began to get tired of Gao Lishi's constant persuasion. There was no eunuch around him. Yu Chaoen's arrival just made up for this shortage.

Under Wu Xianyi's beautiful words, Li Longji thought that Yu Chaoen had been loyal to the Lord, so he reused him again and appointed him as the eunuch supervisor and the secretary of the imperial pen. This was because Li Longji was hunched and it was difficult to correct memorials, so he dictated that Yu Chaoen was in charge of the imperial pen for him. Although it had not reached the level of Gao Lishi's independent review of memorials, he was also very powerful. It was obvious that Yu Chaoen had gradually become the second-rate trend of Gao Lishi. Yang Guozhong also tried every means to please him, and sent people to Chang'an to secretly transport his gold, silver and fine materials back to Chengdu, and arranged a large mansion for him. Yu Chaoen also reciprocates and often gave Yang Guozhong good words in Li Longji's ears that he would deduct any memorials that were not conducive to him, so that Yang Guozhong could win the trust of Li Longji without Yang Yuhuan.

Yang Guozhong took a quick step and asked in a low voice: "Mr. Yu, I wonder why the emperor is angry?"

Seeing that there was no one around, Yu Chaoen also whispered: "The emperor heard that hundreds of countries in the Western Regions entered Chang'an to pay homage. He was angry. The prime minister was careful, so he must not mention this matter."

Yang Guozhong's eyes rolled and he smiled and said, "I know what I know, thank you Mr. Yu."

Yu Chaoen suddenly remembered something and asked again: "Secretary Yang, I wonder how the last time the ten hectares of land was done?"

"Don't worry, Yu Gong has already transferred the property to Yu Gong's name, and the Tianqi will be released tomorrow."

Yu Chaoen nodded with satisfaction and took Yang Guozhong into the hall. In the hall, Li Longji paced back and forth with his hands behind his back, and his face was still angry. Yang Guozhong walked in and hurriedly stepped forward and knelt down and said, "My son Yang Guozhong will meet your majesty! Please calm down your anger. I have two news reports."

Li Longji sat down slowly, waved his hand and said, "Don't kneel down in the future, I know you are loyal."

"Report to Your Majesty, I have been getting used to it since the fifth year of Tianbao."

"Well! People's hearts are seen over time. I remember that in the past, the censor impeached you to deliberately please me. After a long time, I realized that you were sincerely kneeling down on me. Unlike some people who say it nicely, they think of another thing. You know people but don't know your heart!"

Yang Guozhong jumped in his heart and said quickly: "That's the first news first."

"Tell me! What's the matter?"

"I met a Tocharian merchant the day before yesterday. He came to the Tang Dynasty with the prince of their country. The prince went to Chang'an to meet him..."

Yu Chaoen next to him was shocked. Didn’t he tell him not to say anything? Why did he mention this? Yu Chaoen secretly looked at Li Longji and saw that his face was gloomy and he couldn’t help but complain in his heart. What should I do?

"What?" Li Longji's face became more and more gloomy, and he was about to get angry again.

Yang Guozhong said calmly: "I was very angry at the time and asked the merchant, why didn't the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty come here to meet him? The merchant said that in fact, the king did not want to come at all, but if he didn't come, Li Qing'an would send troops to attack them. Fearing Li Qing'an's tyranny, these kings had to send envoys to come."

At this time, Yu Chaoen breathed a sigh of relief and gave a thumbs up secretly. Yang Guozhong was indeed clever and grabbed Li Longji's soft spot. This person is worth making friends with.

Sure enough, Li Longji's face improved greatly. He snorted heavily and said in great dissatisfaction: "I have known for a long time that Li Qing'an is clearly the local emperor of Anxi, and these small countries are clearly here to pay homage to him!"

Although he was dissatisfied with his words, the knot in his heart was untied. He couldn't help but laugh and said, "Where is this businessman? I want to see him."

Yang Guozhong was confident and said calmly: "Your Majesty, this businessman went to Zizhou yesterday, and I will send someone to find him immediately."

"Okay! I'm waiting to see him."

At this time, Yang Guozhong turned to the topic today. He took out a letter and said with a smile: "Congratulations to Your Majesty. I have good news to report to Your Majesty."

Li Longji was in a good mood and took the letter and said, "Who wrote this letter? What good news."

"Your Majesty, this is a letter written by Cui Huan, the Minister of War of Chang'an. He intends to surrender to Your Majesty."

"Ah! Is this happening?"

Li Longji was overjoyed. Cui Huan was the head of the Cui family. If he defected to him, it would mean that the entire Cui family belonged to him. The Cui family's children were widely distributed as officials in various parts of the Tang Dynasty. This was a powerful local force!

Li Longji was furious. He opened the letter and read it carefully twice. In the letter, Cui Huan's tone was extremely sincere, and he was willing to serve the emperor.

"I just knew that Cui Huan was a loyal and righteous man, and it was worth it. I wrote a letter to recruit him last time. It's great. I hope that all the old officials in Chang'an will be the same as him."

Seeing that Li Longji believed it, Yang Guozhong carefully suggested: "Your Majesty, I think Cui Huan should do better for His Majesty in Chang'an. After all, Cui Yuan has become the prime minister. It is probably difficult to settle Cui Huan when he comes again."

Li Longji nodded. Yang Guozhong’s words made sense. It is indeed inappropriate for two families to be prime ministers. It is more beneficial for him to let Cui Huan be an insider in Chang'an.

"Then let Cui Huan stay in Chang'an according to the words of the prime minister."
Chapter completed!