There were all well-dressed officials coming and going in front of the solemn official gate. On this day, a woman in ragged clothes staggered over. She knelt down in front of the censor's desk and knelt down on the ground.
She didn't say a word, but her stooped and humble posture easily let people know that she was here to complain.
The matter quickly reached the ears of Cui Youfu, the censor Zhongcheng.
"What's the matter?"
"The person who came to complain was Xin, the wife of Feng Xiaogou, the commander of the bad deeds in Hu County. She came to sue Zheng Zhizhai, the magistrate of Hu County, for unjustly killing her husband."
Cui Youfu pondered for a moment, and soon remembered that he had heard of Zheng Zhizhai's name, so he got up, walked to the Duobao shelf, glanced at the neatly arranged files, and soon took out a volume from it.
He had seen this case before. Feng Xiaogou, the delinquent commander of Hu County, used his power to bully others. He once took advantage of the war to massacre five members of the family. This matter was widely spread in Hu County at that time, and the evidence was conclusive. Zheng Zhizhai took office. After an investigation, he ordered people to take down Feng Xiaogou for punishment. Unexpectedly, Feng Xiaogou relied on his martial arts skills and openly resisted arrest. One of the government officials who went to arrest him was killed and two others were injured. Zheng Zhizhai ordered people to shoot Feng Xiaogou.
The file was opened, and more than a dozen confessions, evidence lists, and approval documents from Hu County, Jingzhao Prefecture, Dali Temple, and the Ministry of Punishment were all in order. This case was originally closed, but unexpected troubles arose.
After Cui Youfu was re-employed, he submitted to the imperial court five methods for eradicating long-standing abuses. One of them was to try the unjust cases in the world, clear up the local backlog left during the war, and reorganize the rules and regulations. Zheng Zhizhai followed this example.
"Zhongcheng, that woman is still kneeling outside the censor's platform. Have you seen her?"
"Go and see her." Cui Youfu handed the file to his subordinate and said, "I'll tell her to stop messing around."
"Here."
Cui Youfu then continued to deal with various tedious official affairs.
He is smart, upright, and diligent. Since he took office, he has performed the duties of the censor Zhongcheng extremely well. He is in charge of the country's criminal constitution, laws and regulations, purifying the judiciary, impeaching violations of discipline, and supervising all officials.
It has to be said that after Xue Bai took charge of the country, the state affairs were able to stabilize quickly, and he took a lot of credit.
Recently, the imperial court has been confiscating the temple property, which has caused some turmoil. Some people are communicating privately, including some elders from the Cui Youfu clan who also came to him and gave him a few words of tactful advice. This means that the prince is the The Jianguo government started to seize the land from Buddhism, which seemed very unstable. It would be better to ask the Supreme Emperor to come out and take charge of the overall situation.
Facing the elders, Cui Youfu was neither humble nor overbearing, and persuaded them patiently.
"The country is in troubled times and the country is running out of resources. Someone advised His Highness to reform the tax system and levy taxes based on the number of acres of land. His Highness thought again and again, fearing that the foundation would be shaken. According to the wishes of your uncles, if the Supreme Emperor is in charge of government, there will be no shortage of land and people? Your Highness is like the rising sun. Sheng, how dare you abandon His Highness and prevent the Supreme Emperor from enjoying his old age?"
In fact, they all know that if the Supreme Emperor takes power, the tax increase will naturally be imposed on the people of the world. Not only will they not have to worry about it, they will also be able to take the opportunity to continue to annex fields.
But there are also people with long-term vision like Cui Youfu among the big families. After learning the lessons of the Anshi Rebellion, they know that if the country, the country, and the country can no longer be the same as before, some changes must be made.
Cui Youfu proposed five methods to eliminate evil, and Xue Bai supported him. Now that Xue Bai wanted to deal with Buddhism without hurting the foundation of the family, he offered his support and expressed his support.
In this matter, he convinced some people not to participate in the treacherous conspiracy.
He only dealt with official duties and purged the Tang Dynasty.
In the evening, Cui Youfu finally looked up from his papers, stood up, and left the censor's desk.
When he left the gate of the government office, he saw a ragged woman kneeling there. The woman had her head knocked on the ground and she didn't know whether she saw him or not. She neither shouted injustice nor spoke, looking quite pitiful.
Cui Youfu thought that the people who were harmed by her husband were even more pitiful, so she left straight away.
When he returned to the mansion, a big drop of rain hit his nose. He looked up and after a while, a heavy downpour fell.
The next day, Cui Youfu arrived at the Yushitai and saw the woman still kneeling there. Her tattered clothes were wet and dry, and the traces of washed away soil made her look like she was going moldy.
He shook his head and arrived at the official house. After a while, the case lingered in his mind, and finally someone called Mr. Xin in.
"Xin Di, a daughter of the people, came to capture the bad handsome man Feng Xiaogou from Hu County to complain about his injustice. Zheng Zhizhai, the magistrate of Hu County, killed my husband unjustly because of a personal grudge."
She had said this sentence countless times, and she was very familiar with it, but she was actually a woman who had never read or read and was poor at speaking.
Cui Youfu said: "On the second day of the first lunar month of the thirteenth year of Tianbao, in the south of Hu County, Feng Xiaogou broke into Ge San's house, occupied Ge San's daughter, and then massacred his family of five, and threatened, 'If the thieves come to the city, they will be used as soldiers. The military rations were also sold, so what crime am I guilty of?' There are thirteen witnesses and seven exhibits on this matter, and people in Huxian County say that Feng Xiaogou has a bad temper and often beats and scolds his subordinates..."
"No, he didn't kill anyone, nor did he occupy Ge Erniang."
"Zheng Zhizhai has evidence for his crime. Do you have evidence?"
"He didn't! I know he didn't!"
"I have read the files of this case many times." Cui Youfu said: "Whether Feng Xiaogou is unjust or not depends not on you, but only on the evidence."
Xin Di burst into tears and kept saying that her husband was unjustly accused, but no evidence could be produced.
"Go back."
"Why? The world is so chaotic. Those defeated soldiers are killing people and robbing everywhere. If the court doesn't kill their heads, why should they punish my man?"
Cui Youfu understood, and he knew that the reason why Xin Di went around shouting injustice was because she was not convinced. It was a troubled time at that time, human lives were at a loss, and there were indeed many worse crimes happening.
"What I'm dealing with is your luck-based mentality. The Tang Dynasty is still there, and the court's rules and regulations are still there. Killing Feng Xiaogou is to let the world know that the world is not in chaos yet!"
The official authority was so overwhelming that Xin Di had nothing to say, so she could only cry.
Cui Youfu then kicked her out.
But he sighed, called his entourage, and ordered some money to be given to Mrs. Xin so that she could return home and live a good life.
I thought this matter would just go away.
However, the very next day, Dali Temple actually issued a document requesting a retrial of the Feng Xiaogou case.
Cui Youfu was a little surprised when he heard this. His first reaction was to ask: "But Mr. Xin provided new evidence?"
"Zhongcheng, this is Yuanzai."
Cui Youfu frowned slightly when he heard this name.
The censor who came to report told the story in detail, saying that the Xin family had been sent out of the imperial city, but before they left the city, they met Yuan Zai's people. After learning about her situation, Yuan Zai asked I went to Dali Temple to check the files in person. Not long after, Dali Temple requested a retrial of the case.
"Several prime ministers are quite suitable. Wei Gong is very old and will probably become an official within two or three years. The most qualified people in the court to worship the prime minister are none other than Zhongcheng and Yuan Zai. This time, Yuan Zai used the matter of destroying the Buddha to As his authority grew stronger, he kept his eye on Zhongcheng, and it was obvious that he wanted to use this matter to deal with Zhongcheng."
Cui Youfu did not respond directly to this question, but said: "Yuan Zai has no right to interfere with the handling of cases in Dali Temple."
"Yes, he did exceed his authority, but he also ordered people to impeach Zheng Zhizhai for his mishandling, shielding the temples in Hu County, colluding with monks, and occupying fields in Hu County. Zhongcheng, he is clearly here for you."
~~
Xuanzheng Hall.
Yuan Zai was holding the file and reporting it to Xue Bai.
"Zheng Zhizhai was born in the eighth family of the southern ancestor of the Zheng family in Xingyang. His father was the governor of Chizhou. Their family was one of the ten families with seven surnames banned by Emperor Gaozu's decree, but Zheng Zhizhai's wife was still the daughter of the Boling Cui family. He claimed to be talented, but he did not enter the official position through the imperial examination. After his career, he was recommended by Li Mi, the governor of Jiannan at that time, and was promoted to secretary-general. He returned to the court with the Supreme Emperor and was moved to the magistrate of Hu County. This man relied on his talent and arrogance, and he called himself Family status, articles are higher than others."
Xue Bai said: "I know him, 'When the sky is bright, there are five-color clouds, and when the people are good, there is Zheng Zhizhai.' He was quite famous in Chang'an."
Yuan Zai's heart trembled.
He thought to himself that Zheng Zhizhai has a shitty reputation, and that boastful statement was only circulated among a very small number of people who knew Zheng Zhizhai. But His Highness actually knew about it, which shows that there is another group of people around His Highness who can detect big and small things. .
"The reason why I noticed Zheng Zhizhai was not because of this case, but because he was very close to the Yu Wang family and blatantly protected Buddhism. The Zheng family already had a lot of fertile land in the capital, and Zheng Zhizhai's people had not yet arrived in Hu When they took office in the county, the Zheng family had already bought a large house in the county and a villa on the outskirts of the county. The villa occupied an area of 37 hectares, with farmsteads, streams, and Zhushan mulberry gardens. The reason why the Zheng family was able to acquire this villa was that it was the same as Fashan Temple. Regarding the tenant, Fashan Temple also takes care of it for him."
When Yuan Zai said "thirty-seven hectares", he paused deliberately and glanced at Xue Bai's reaction. Xue Bai didn't show any surprise at all, as if he already knew about it.
This made Yuan Zai even more cautious.
"In the case of Feng Xiaogou, I knew as soon as I heard that Zheng Zhizhai deliberately killed someone to establish his authority. Since I inspected the temple property, Zheng Zhizhai has always refused to cooperate. Instead, Xun Peng, the county lieutenant of Hu County, strongly supported him.
He was an imperial examination official and was able to do things well. He wrote several letters to expose Zheng Zhizhai's faults. Feng Xiaogou was Xun Peng's right-hand man who was responsible for catching bad commanders. Zheng Zhizhai fought for power and killed him quickly."
Xue Bai finally spoke and said: "Let's talk about things. You deliberately keep mentioning their origins. Are you trying to figure out my likes and dislikes?"
"I don't dare!"
Yuan Zai just needs a lesson, and he always needs to be beaten a few times before he becomes honest.
But he was really capable and thick-skinned. He admitted his guilt uneasily and soon continued to put forward his claims.
"I was very moved when I saw the Xin family traveling alone and going to Beijing to file a complaint. If she didn't have a great grievance, why would she have come here? I would like to ask the case of Feng Xiaogou to be re-examined. If he is really innocent, he should be cleared and the world should be informed.
Officials who work conscientiously and the court has strict laws!"
Yuan Zai had tested Xue Bai before and knew that although Xue Bai would not let him eliminate dissidents by destroying Buddha, he would allow him to eliminate local hostile forces bit by bit.
After Xue Bai ascends the throne, it is inevitable to change the tax system. Those families who do not support Xue Bai but own a large amount of land will be an obstacle. Of course, preparations must be made in advance.
But in Xue Bai's view, the matter is not that simple.
From another perspective, although these aristocratic families who annexed land did not support him, they were loyal to the Tang Dynasty. On the contrary, those military governors and warlords who came from humble families were the culprits who split the Tang Dynasty and caused turmoil.
The common people from poor families are rising, resisting the aristocratic clans, and may even eliminate the aristocratic clans continuously in the next two to three hundred years. But they have no cohesion, no leader, and no program. They can only complete the task of replacing the aristocratic clans through constant rebellion, so
, in this process, the national power continued to be consumed, and the Tang Dynasty continued to weaken.
Therefore, what Xue Bai wants to do is not to simply and rudely eliminate the aristocratic clans, because without the aristocratic clans to inherit culture, protect the central government, and stabilize order, the situation will only be worse than the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms.
He must be able to represent the interests of the poor clans and common people, fight for their rights and interests, and then weaken the noble clans to solve the annexation, while retaining inheritance and order, so that Bowen Yueli's clothes will not be degraded.
This is an extremely difficult balance to strike.
Therefore, after meeting Yuan Zai, Xue Bai met Cui Youfu again.
Cui Youfu also had a lot of files in his hands, and he wrote a letter to Xue Bai in detail.
"Not to mention the case of Feng Xiaogou murdering Ge San's family. As a handsome man who catches bad guys, he is always domineering and bullies men and dominates women..."
Xue Bai said: "I know that people in Huxian County scold him as 'a mad dog has no good meat, and evil officials are rampant and commit many crimes'."
Cui Youfu was stunned and glanced at the document in his hand. He didn't see this sentence. He couldn't help but be surprised that Xue Bai knew even these little things.
It can be seen that although His Highness lives in a deep palace, there are other people around him who are looking for information.
This made Cui Youfu's heart tremble.
Fortunately, he didn't make any false claims. He told the facts of the case in detail, and finally said: "Your Highness, Yuan Zai's impeachment of Zheng Zhizhai is extremely ridiculous, even though Zheng Zhizhai bought a house and property in Hu County as soon as he took office. , he used his own wealth and never plundered a grain of food from the people, so why was he impeached for this?!"
Although Zheng's family wealth can be traced back to the past, it was collected bit by bit from the common people over decades. But it is true that the court has no reason to blame him for his other businesses, at least not according to the current laws.
"Yes, so the memorials to impeach Zheng Zhizhai were rejected. Cui Zhongcheng need not be so indignant."
Xue Bai's attitude towards Cui Youfu was quite friendly. He stood up, patted his shoulder and spoke in the tone of a friend.
"The issue of Zheng Zhizhai is nothing more than a matter of family property. But the matter of sealing Xiaogou is related to human life, so we must not be careless."
Cui Youfu said: "It is true that Yuan Zai's party was united in fighting against dissidents and criticized Zheng Zhizhai. In the case of Feng Xiaogou, all the evidence of the crime is there. From Hu County to Jingzhaoyin and Dali Temple, all the corresponding documents are complete. Yuan Zai interfered without reason. I ask you to punish Yuan Zai for his crimes." .”
"No rush."
"Your Highness, if Yuan Zai can manipulate the facts for the sake of party unity and opposition, where is the discipline of the court?!"
Xue Bai deliberately rubbed his head, pretending to have a headache.
Today, the dispute between Cui Youfu and Yuan Zai is as difficult to resolve for him as the conflict between the Tang Dynasty family and the poor family. Both sides have shortcomings and their uses.
The case of Zheng Zhizhai and Feng Xiaogou is also very typical. On one side is a noble family that has annexed land, and is gentle and elegant; on the other side is a humble official who is both a victim, but also as domineering as the local armed forces.
"I ask your highness to take back the order." Cui Youfu ignored Xue Bai's pretense of having a headache and said: "This case can uphold the law and discipline, calm people's hearts, and can alert the world that the chaos has passed, and the law still exists. If it is used by Yuan Zai, the court will be harmed. Tsunaji."
"I told you, don't worry, we will know when Yan Quanming arrives." Xue Bai said, "He is inspecting the capital this time and has already investigated the case."
Cui Youfu was stunned.
He knew that a while ago, Yan Quanming inspected the capital in the name of prison envoy. He thought it was to supervise the confiscation of temple property in the world. Unexpectedly, he was also very concerned about such a small case.
The key is time. The conflict just started in Chang'an, but Yan Quanming is almost back. There are several possibilities for this matter. One is that Yan Quanming has investigated all the cases that happened in Gyeonggi Province, but this is unlikely. He will not do this. The energy is usually used to catch a few major cases to act as a deterrent; secondly, it just so happens that Yan Quanming carefully investigated Feng Xiaogou's case and found new problems; the third possibility is that Yuan Zai has long wanted to take advantage of it. This case was brought against Zheng Zhizhai, and Xue Bai placed personnel around Yuan Zai, knew the matter in advance, and sent Yan Quanming to verify it.
Cui Youfu is inclined to the third possibility, which means that although Yuan Zai is a vicious dog, he is still led by Xue Bai.
He felt a little more at ease.
"In that case, I will wait patiently..."
At this moment, someone from the palace hurriedly entered the palace.
The Prince of the Supervisory State is meeting with the Censor Zhongcheng. Of course, no one is allowed to intrude at this time. Obviously, something urgent has happened now.
"Your Highness, Longyou Eight Hundred Miles is urgent!"
"Where's the messenger?"
The palace people were a little panicked, so they quickly brought the messenger and handed a painted envelope to Xue Bai.
Xue Bai did not open it immediately, but asked someone to check the sealing paint before opening it.
After reading it, the expression on his face did not change at all, and he said to Cui Youfu in a very calm tone: "Tubo has raised its army. Dazalu Gong invaded Longzhou, claiming to have an army of three hundred thousand."
He had expected this. Although he thought Tubo would wait until autumn and the weather was still hot now, it was generally expected.
After saying that, he immediately ordered: "Invite the prime minister and provincial officials to discuss the matter."
Cui Youfu's face was solemn.
After such a big event happened, the case he was originally struggling with became a trivial matter in comparison.
The Tang Dynasty had just stumbled over from the rebellion in Hebei and was still very weak. At this time, it had to face the Tubo army, like a sick man facing a strong man.
~~
"This year is different from last year. Last year, Dazalu Gong sent out troops in a hurry and divided his troops to the west. He did not expect to encounter Guo Ziyi, so he withdrew his troops before he could enter Guanzhong. Even so, Tubo still occupied the cities in Hexi and cut off the This year, Dazalu Gong came well prepared and raised an army of 300,000, with the purpose of breaking through Chang'an. This year, he gave a reason, saying that the Tang Dynasty refused The Tubo request for marriage refused to bring peace to the border and wanted to attack the Tang Dynasty."
"Shameless!"
"Soldiers never tire of deceit. From this incident, we can see that Dazalu Gong should not be underestimated."
In front of the map, Xue Bai tried to make everyone understand that the current situation was quite serious.
It's not that it wasn't serious before, but that the Tang Dynasty was busy with civil strife, and everyone was fighting back and forth, and they never paid attention to the west, ignoring the heavy price the border troops paid to resist the Tibetan army in the past two years.
"Originally, Hexi and Longyou each had more than 70,000 soldiers and horses, Jiannan had more than 30,000 soldiers and horses, Guanzhong and Shuofang could support 30,000 troops at the border. Our total force against Tibet was 200,000. But in the battle of Tongguan, Ge Shuhan's 200,000-strong army was almost wiped out. Last year, Li Guangbi used 20,000 soldiers and horses to contain the Tubo in Jiannan, and Guo Ziyi was stationed in Longyou with more than 30,000 people to defend against Qiu. Since the successive battles, nearly half of them have been lost. , there are less than 20,000 people left, and the imperial court will definitely send more troops and horses to support."
First, the general situation was explained, but now how to arrange reinforcements needs to be discussed separately.
Xue Bai couldn't keep boosting others' ambitions and destroying his own prestige, so he changed the topic.
"Of course, Tubo's so-called 300,000-strong army cannot be believed at all. It is nothing more than driving out the herdsmen and the people in the border areas and counting them among the troops. I, a brave soldier of the Tang Dynasty, do not say that one can fight a hundred, but there is no harm in using a small number to attack a large number. of……"
Some officials may not understand these situations, but Cui Youfu was as clear as the one in charge. He became distracted while listening and couldn't help but glance at Yuan Zai.
His fear of Yuan Zai has not been completely eliminated because of a war.
As Wang Zhongsi's son-in-law, Yuan Zai also stayed in Longyou for a period of time. He also had his own opinions on the war situation and soon spoke up.
"Our peace talks with Tibet are still in progress, and Dazalu Gong has raised troops to invade. It can be seen that His Highness's prediction was correct. His so-called covenant was to paralyze us. He thought it was a surprise, but in fact His Highness had been prepared for this victory. 1. The wars continued in the past two years, but we were still able to defend against the Tibetan army. Now the country is stable and stronger than before. This is the second chance of winning. Now the imperial court has confiscated the temple property and the national treasury is slightly rich. This is the third chance of winning. There is also gunpowder. Many weapons such as catapults are being manufactured. Our army's armaments are far better than those of Tubo. This is the fourth chance of victory..."
In fact, these words are just to boost morale. With national strength, Datang can indeed win. The question is what price it will pay.
For example, a big problem is that Chang'an is too close to the northwest border. Once the Tibetans pass through the Longshan defense line, they can march straight in and reach the capital of the Tang Dynasty.
For this empire, which had just ended its civil strife and was still licking its wounds, encountering such a problem during a national war would be fatal.
Just when Cui Youfu thought that Yuan Zai would only talk in general terms and flatter others, Yuan Zai actually made a strategic suggestion.
"I believe that Guo Ziyi can take the initiative to occupy Yuanzhou. Firstly, it will shock the Tibetan army and make them unaware of the reality of our army; secondly, it will delay time and buy time for the imperial court to mobilize reinforcements; thirdly, it can coordinate with Shuofang's army."
Xue Bai was noncommittal about this suggestion and did not want to remotely interfere with Guo Ziyi's command on the battlefield.
But he said to Cui Youfu: "Cui Zhongcheng, what do you think?"
Cui Youfu glanced at Yuan Zai, and then looked at Yuanzhou on the map, which was located between the Qinling Mountains and the Longshan Mountains. It was indeed a strategic location.
He then made a gesture and said, "I second your proposal."
A national war is about to come, suspending their internal fighting.
But Xue Bai knew that this internal conflict had only been put aside temporarily.