The film and television world begins with the battle for the throne in Kowloon

Chapter 1224 Dilemma (Part )

At this time, Changsun Wuji knew that arguing would only further confirm his guilt as a traitor, so he could only pray to his nephew, the emperor, to protect him for the sake of his uncle. He knew that the emperor was soft-hearted and would definitely not give up on him.

Changsun Wuji's miserable voice and gray hair moved everyone. For a moment, no one dared to add insult to injury and the hall fell into silence.

"Your Majesty, I am also a minister of regents, and I also have responsibilities."

Seeing this, Xiao Yu also stood up, knelt on the ground, and said with a guilty look: "Since the emperor ascended the throne, he has placed great trust in me and entrusted all state affairs to the central government. As one of the people, I have caused the country to fall, and I cannot escape the blame."

"I also ask the emperor to dismiss this old minister from his post and give an explanation to the civil and military officials of the court and the people of the world."

After Xiao Yu said this, Zhang Xuansu, Cen Wenben, Liu Bo, Ma Zhou, and Chu Suiliang, who had just stayed out of the matter, suddenly felt uncomfortable and had to kneel down together to plead guilty: "We are also responsible, please punish us together, Your Majesty."

Whether out of sympathy for Changsun Wuji or to protect themselves, these people cannot sit idly by. Once they allow everyone to coerce the emperor into making peace with the King of Qi, the final responsibility will fall on them. For such a big mess, someone must be held responsible!

It is either the King of Qi's fault or their fault. Once they admit that there are treacherous ministers in the court, they will never be able to escape. Instead of being punished one by one, it is better for them to stick together and still have some power.

Sure enough, the seven ministers of the central government confessed their crimes at the same time, and the emperor and his ministers were all stunned.

The court could not afford such a huge loss. Immediately, all the ministers looked embarrassed and didn't know what was going on.

Seeing that the situation had reached a stalemate and everyone was no longer as aggressive as before, Li Yan knew that it was time for him to take action.

So he stood up and said, "My dear ministers, please stand up. The crime of Luoyang this time lies with Li You alone. He has ulterior motives and covets the throne. What he said about clearing the emperor's side and protecting me is actually treason. There is no doubt about that."

"Just like the Seven Kingdoms Rebellion during the Han Dynasty, I am not Emperor Jing of Han. I will not use the heads of loyal ministers to appease the rebels."

"I have made up my mind. I will mobilize all the troops in Guanzhong and will march east to attack soon. I will also call on all prefectures and provinces in the world to come to the aid of the king. In this critical moment, we should be united as king and minister to overcome the difficulties together. We must not lose our composure and let Li You take advantage of us."

"Huh!" Seeing that the emperor had a clear attitude and set the tone, the people kneeling down breathed a sigh of relief and slowly stood up.

But Changsun Wuji knelt there and took out a memorial from his bosom and said, "Your Majesty does not blame me, and I am grateful in my heart. But Your Majesty can forgive me, but I cannot forgive myself. I have already written a resignation memorial last night."

"Your Majesty, please dismiss me from my post as Zuo Pushe and appoint another wise minister. I have been accused of being a traitor by Li You and the people of Guandong, and I am too ashamed to continue serving in the court."

Li Yan frowned. This was expected, and he was impressed by Changsun Wuji's sharpness. In any case, he had been pushed to the forefront. Whether it was the reputation of a traitor or the current turbulent situation, it was reasonable for him to temporarily avoid danger.

Just as he was about to pretend to appease them, Jiangxia King Li Daozon stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, Lord Changsun is currently caught in a vortex, so it is not a bad thing for him to temporarily withdraw from the court. At least it will allow the people of Shandong to see the court's sincerity in resolving the matter. Please allow your Majesty to approve it!"

"Your Majesty, please allow us to do so." At that moment, everyone stood up and agreed.

Just now, all the ministers have proposed to sacrifice him. No matter what the court decides in the end, Changsun Wuji has definitely been offended. Under such circumstances, it will be difficult for them to get along with each other as ministers in the same palace.

Besides, even if Changsun Wuji was not identified as a traitor, as the prime minister, shouldn’t he bear some responsibility for the chaos in the court?
Both publicly and privately, he is not fit to serve in the court anymore.

Seeing that everyone was of the same opinion, Li Yan had no choice but to follow the advice: "Since all the ministers agree, I will not say anything. Changsun Wuji, you should go back to your house and rest for a while!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

Changsun Wuji bowed with a sad face and left the hall with a gloomy look.

Li Yan also sighed. Zhangsun Wuji, Li Ji, Cheng Yaojin and others were undoubtedly capable officials, but they were all involved in the war between the imperial power and the aristocrats. If you want to deal with the aristocrats, you have to get through them first.

If they are not removed, they will be the first to bear the brunt of the war when it breaks out.

Li Yan used various excuses to exile, imprison, or ignore them, but he was also protecting them. When the affairs of the nobles were over, these people would be re-employed and they would all be good ministers of the Tang Dynasty.

After Zhangsun Wuji left the stage, Li Yan looked at an old man with white hair sitting next to him and said, "Duke Liang, you are the Zuo Pushe during the Zhenguan period, and you assisted the emperor in opening up the prosperous Zhenguan era. Now that the state is in danger, I hope you will spare no effort."

"Please serve as Zuo Pushe for now and help our Tang Dynasty get through this difficult time!"

Fang Xuanling stood up tremblingly, and when he was about to refuse, he said, "Your Majesty, this..."

"Oh, Lord Fang, please stop pushing it." Xiao Yu was impatient and could not stand being talked about. In addition, he was one of the few senior officials with more experience than Fang Xuanling, so he said directly, "Don't you see what time it is now? The rebels are about to hit your doorstep. Why are you still being humble?"

"The court will have important officials to handle the affairs. You can just come out and take charge of the overall situation. When the crisis is over, you can rest and recuperate later."

Suddenly, many officials said, "Lord Fang is still mature and prudent. If Lord Fang had always been here, the state would not have become like this."

"Master Fang, we still believe in you. It depends on you to turn the tide and save the collapsing building."

For a moment, everyone was urging him to do it.

Seeing this, Fang Xuanling could only bow and say, "In that case, I won't say much. However, in this crisis, I can't handle it alone. I need everyone's concerted efforts to overcome the difficulties."

"It's natural, we all listen to you"

After all, Fang Xuanling had seen many storms. If anyone in the court could save the situation, apart from Li Shimin's resurrection, it would be this old minister who was comparable to Zhang Liang. Seeing that he agreed, everyone subconsciously breathed a sigh of relief.

Fang Xuanling glanced at Jing opposite him quietly and returned to his seat.

Li Jing, who was sitting there panting, interrupted and said, "Your Majesty, I have a plan. There is no need to start a war. All you need is for Your Majesty to issue an imperial decree, and the 300,000-strong army of the King of Qi will be instantly disintegrated, and the rebellion in Guandong will be eliminated without a trace."

"Oh, there is such a plan?"

Li Yan, who was sitting on the dragon throne, was very surprised and said, "Duke Wei is indeed the military god of our Tang Dynasty. He has made great contributions to the establishment of our Tang Dynasty. Even the emperor respectfully calls you Brother Jing. I knew that if anyone could solve this problem, it would be Duke Wei. Come and tell me."

"Your Majesty, I am ashamed to accept your praise. Ahem."

Li Jing's health had long been failing. He had not attended court for the past few years and had been recuperating in his residence. Today, he came to the court on a sedan chair ordered by Li Yan. For a man in his eighties, it was good enough for him to be able to sit here.

"Your Majesty, the reason why the people of Shandong joined the King of Qi in rebellion is definitely not to support Your Majesty and eliminate treacherous officials as stated in the manifesto, cough. cough cough"

Li Jing was out of breath and said with difficulty: "In the final analysis, they are still after land. The Turks divided up the land in order to alienate the relationship between the people and the court. Li You also saw this point, so he made a big fuss about it."

"As long as the emperor can issue an edict recognizing that the land divided by the Turks belongs to the people, the hundreds of thousands of volunteers will retreat without a fight. Without the support of the people, even if Li You has great abilities, he is no match for the court."

"By then, even if the court does not send troops, there will be loyal and righteous people who will tie up Li You and bring him to Chang'an. I hope the emperor will understand."

boom.
Li Jing's words instantly caused the court, which had just calmed down, to explode. Everyone glared at each other, especially the officials of the Shandong gentry, such as the Cui, Lu, Li, and Zheng families, who accused in unison: "Li Jing, you are so good, I thought you had some good ideas?"

"So that's what you're planning. Our noble families' lands were all taken back by our ancestors with great efforts and sacrifices from the foreign tribes that invaded our Central Plains. We didn't get them by plundering the people. Why are you asking us to give them away like this?"

"Yes, the Turks are bandits. Does the court also want to do such an unjust thing?"

"Your Majesty, this is absolutely not feasible. If the land that our clan relies on for survival is distributed to the people, how can we survive?"

"Ordinary people are the people, but are we the nobles and wealthy not the people? Why does the court favor one over the other?"

"Your Majesty, this is unacceptable. This is like drinking poison to quench thirst and adding fuel to the fire. Imagine if the land in several provinces of Shandong is distributed to the people, then the people in Guanzhong, Jiangnan, Hanzhong, Longxi and other places will also clamor for land. How will the court deal with it then?"

"We can't forcibly take all the land in these places back from the nobles and give it to the people, right?"

"."

In the beginning, several noble families who had lost their lands in Shandong came out to stop it, but in the end, even the noble families in Jiangnan and Guanlong changed their faces. Yes, if the land in Shandong was given to the people, the people in their own territories would be jealous and would also clamor for a share of the land. Wouldn't that cause chaos in the world?

Then with a loud noise, most of the remaining ministers stood up and shouted in unison to stop it.

Seeing this, Li Jing looked at Fang Xuanling helplessly, then covered his mouth and started coughing violently. Just when everyone thought he would recover like before, Li Jing's eyes suddenly opened, his face flushed instantly, his body tilted, and he fell to the ground.

Fortunately, Yuchi Gong, who was beside him, was worried that Li Jing could not hold on, so he had been keeping an eye on him. Seeing this situation, he quickly reached out to support Li Jing. However, Li Jing had already fallen into Yuchi Gong's arms, trembling all over, and had already lost consciousness.

(End of this chapter)