Chapter 969: Drawing fire from the bottom of the cauldron
At night, Li Fuguo came to see Li Heng again.
"Your Majesty, I talked with King Qi's special envoy Liu Sima this afternoon."
Li Heng perked up and asked quickly: "What did he say?"
"Liu Sima said that he could agree to the first item of returning the coffin of the Supreme Emperor and the third item of sending the emperor's brother to Chang'an on behalf of His Highness King Qi. But as for the jade seal and the return of the palace treasures, he said that he could not make the decision and needed to ask King Qi for instructions."
"Ah! How long will that take?"
"He said he could send an eagle letter to Chengdu and there would be a reply soon, but he had to wait until the financial rights negotiations were completed before asking the King of Qi for instructions."
After a pause, Li Fuguo continued: "Liu Sima had an in-depth discussion with Bei Shi. He suggested that the current agreement be divided into four parts and the agreements be concluded separately. The financial rights part can be discussed slowly, and it will not be used until at least early next year."
Li Heng is not stupid. If he keeps dragging on his financial power like this, he will just let it go and the court will get nothing in the end.
But he was more worried that the Six Treasures of the Jade Seal would become useless. Li Heng began to feel a little anxious and couldn't help but said angrily: "Is it true that we can't find a compromise?"
Li Fuguo bowed and said, "There may be some words that I don't like, but I still want to say them."
"You can speak up."
"Your Majesty, Tian Chengsi forcibly occupied Texas at the beginning of this year. This matter is actually very serious. However, the political hall did not express any position, not even a letter of condemnation. Then it was ignored. We all pretended that nothing happened.
occur.
Now Li Ye has also occupied Bashu. He did not take it from the imperial court, but from the hands of the traitor Li Lin. His Majesty's edict is in front of him. We cannot accuse him of sending troops. If he ignores them like Tian Chengsi,
What about the political hall?
Now that Li Ye has given face to the court and even given us the power to appoint and remove officials, the political hall is still not satisfied. It will continue to do this or that, and must take back all the power. Your Majesty, Li Ye's former nickname was "Ground".
Zang Mo really pissed him off and simply stopped the negotiation. In the end we got nothing. What to do with the Emperor’s coffin? What to do with His Majesty’s jade seal? Who is going to get them back for His Majesty?”
Li Heng nodded, "You are right. If he really doesn't want to negotiate, there is nothing we can do against him. If we cancel the previous agreement, we will break up the relationship. I am also worried that he will rebel in anger."
"Your Majesty, in fact, Li Xian is the only one who insists on refusing to agree. Even Xiangguo Pei is worried. If this stalemate continues, it will end in nothing. I'm afraid we will get nothing."
What Li Fuguo said was very reasonable. Li Heng pondered for a moment and asked, "What do you think?"
"Your Majesty, let the prime ministers vote! I believe that not every prime minister is so stupid that he hangs himself in the end and gets nothing."
"Okay! Let's vote then."
Li Heng finally made up his mind. He was also worried that nothing would be gained if the stalemate continued, and that the Six Treasures of the Jade Seal that he had longed for would be shattered again.
The five prime ministers were all invited to the royal study by Li Heng. Li Heng said to the five of them: "I don't want Bashu to follow in the footsteps of Dezhou. Regarding the ownership of Bashu's financial power, I hope that the political affairs hall will take a vote now."
Li Heng brought the two plans to the table, "On the left is the plan proposed by King Qi, and on the right is the plan previously agreed upon by the Political Affairs Hall. Now I want to know, please raise your hand if the Prime Minister agrees to end the financial negotiations with King Qi's plan."
The first person to raise his hand was Wu Qi, and then Pei Mian also raised his hand. Li Xian suddenly said anxiously: "Pei Xiangguo, yesterday we said that we must stick to our principles, what's wrong with you?"
Pei Mian sighed and said: "As His Majesty said, I am also very afraid that Bashu will follow the footsteps of Dezhou. In fact, I don't value financial power. I only value the power to appoint and remove officials."
At this time, Li Kui also raised his hand, and he said slowly: "I agree with Pei Xiangguo's concerns, and I am also worried that I will get nothing in the end."
If three of the five prime ministers raise their hands, it means that the political hall has approved the King of Qi's plan to end the financial negotiations.
Li Heng nodded and asked again: "If you agree to stick to the established plan, please raise your hands!"
Only Li Xian raised his hand, and everyone looked at Pei Zunqing. Pei Yaoqing shook his head and said to Li Heng: "Your Majesty, Wei Chen does not support both options. Wei Chen is more inclined to exchange financial power for supervisory power, but it seems impossible.
, so Wei Chen gives up his right to vote."
Li Xian looked ugly, but he had no choice. Three to one, he was completely defeated.
Li Heng said decisively: "I am also worried that the night will be long and the dream will be too much. In the end, even the Emperor's coffin will not be able to come back. So be it! If you can't get it on the battlefield, don't fight at the negotiation table."
After walking out of the imperial study, Li Xian walked a few steps quickly and caught up with Pei Zunqing in front of him. He lowered his voice and said, "Why did Mr. Pei give up his principles?"
Pei Zunqing said coldly: "The emperor has compromised, so why should we fight? To be honest, I would rather support the King of Qi than drop the heavy treasure of Qianyuan on the heads of the people of Bashu."
After saying that, Pei Zunqing walked away quickly. Li Xian was stunned on the spot. For a long time, he let out a long sigh.
During the financial rights negotiations, the imperial court finally compromised and agreed that taxation and transshipment rights should be vested in Guanlongjiedu Prefecture, while taxation rights should be vested in the imperial court, with each local government responsible for implementation.
In addition, the two sides also reached a tax-sharing plan. The taxes, taxes, and grain collected by Jiannan Road and Shannan West Road were divided according to the ratio of seven to three. Guanlong Jiedu Prefecture's military expenses of seven and three and fifty thousand for the imperial garrison were borne by Guanlong Jiedu Prefecture.
The official salaries and government expenses of local governments were borne by the imperial court.
At this point, all negotiations are over, the emperor also approved the military power plan, all negotiations were signed in the form of a contract, Liu Yan signed on behalf of Li Ye, five prime ministers also signed, and stamped the seal of Zhongshu's family, Emperor Li Heng issued the decree
, formally approved this agreement.
The imperial court immediately sent Wang Jin, a doctor from the Ministry of Personnel, as a special envoy to lead officials from the Ministry of Personnel to Jiannan Road and Shannan West Road to find out the situation of state and county officials.
At noon that day, Li Fuguo walked into the imperial study room with a large sandalwood box in his arms, placed the box in front of Emperor Li Heng, and opened it with a smile.
Li Heng's eyes widened. Six jade seal boxes were neatly placed in the big box. He trembled and looked at them one by one.
There are six imperial seals in total, plus the Emperor's Travel Seal and the Emperor's Letter Seal that he had obtained before, the Emperor's Eight Treasures are finally complete.
At this moment, Li Heng was extremely excited. After receiving the Eight Treasures of the Emperor, he finally became a complete emperor.
Li Heng slowly calmed down, and he immediately ordered: "Immediately order Fu Baolang to see me!"
Not long after, two Fu Baolangs, Zheng Weiliang and Zhou Zhen, hurried over and bowed together, "See your Majesty!"
The two of them have been serving as Fu Baolang since the Tianbao period, and they are responsible for appraising the jade seal.
"Come and take a look!" Li Heng pointed to the big box on the desk.
Their eyes lit up and they quickly stepped forward, "Your Majesty, the box is right. It has always been this big sandalwood box."
"Look at the Six Treasures again!"
The two people quickly looked at it one by one, screened it carefully, and finally nodded, "Your Majesty, there is no problem, it is the real Six Treasures of the Jade Seal!"
Li Heng felt relieved and sat down slowly, although he had guessed that Li Ye originally wanted to give the Six Treasures to him, otherwise how could he get it so quickly?