The Emperor ordered Zhao Tang

Chapter 53 Reward and Punishment
On the second day of May, all the ministers entered the Linde Hall to pay homage to the emperor. The emperor accepted the congratulations and then reported to the Taimiao and offered sacrifices to the saints.

The emperor ordered the collection of the dead soldiers' clothes to be used as tombs, and ordered Han Yu, a scholar in the Imperial Academy, to write a stele describing the achievements of the warriors who defeated Hua, Qi, and Bing. When the Baoguo, Yingwu, Longjie, Yousheng, and Congzhi armies heard about it, they praised and worshipped.

The emperor issued an edict to praise the military achievements. He awarded four pieces of silk to the brave and valiant men and the Dragon Knights, and granted them three days' leave. He also appointed Wang Congxun, the left wing commander of the Yingwu Army, Ximen Yuanyuan, the right wing commander, Liu Xianyuan, the Dragon Knight commander, and Zhang Jide, the left wing commander of the Dragon Knights, to different ranks of generals. He also appointed 68 people including the lieutenant commander, Mo Zangqiqi, to different ranks of lieutenants.

The imperial edict stripped the names and official positions of the traitors Maozhen, Xingyu, Jian, and others, and exposed Jian's body on the south bank of the Wei River. The court learned the lesson from the fight against Li Keyong, won this battle, and dealt a heavy blow to the arrogance of Qi and Bin, so it dared to publish this edict.

In addition, adjustments were made to the Southern Yamen.

Cui Zhaowei, the Left Prime Minister, Supervisor of National History, Minister of Personnel, Deputy Envoy of Duzhi, Deputy Envoy of Salt and Iron Transport, Deputy Envoy of Yanziku, Envoy of Taiqing Palace, and Envoy of Lingxiao Divine Road, was in bad luck. For some reason he angered the saint, and all his diplomatic posts and official assignments were removed in the Linding Hall and he was demoted to the governor of Guangzhou.

As soon as this decree, which was drafted by the Imperial Academy directly under the order of the sage, was announced, it caused a stir. The court officials discussed it and speculated on the reason - it was rumored that the traffic vassal states had used the Jiedushi as their support, which was not tolerated by the sage, so they were convicted.

He was replaced by Zheng Yanchang, the new prime minister.

Han Yu, a Hanlin scholar, was favored by the emperor because of his ability to teach Confucian classics. He was promoted to be the Minister of Personnel and was in charge of supervising the revision of national history. Together with Duke Zheng, he took over Cui Zhaowei's political affairs.

The remaining envoys were also split up.

Zhao Ruxin, a eunuch in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, is also the envoy of the Lingxiao Divine Road.

Prince Xue Li Zhirou was appointed as the deputy envoy of Yanziku and was in charge of the Ministry of Revenue.

That's right, the Saint is very unhappy with the current court. Most people are cooperating with the feudal lords, and the few old ministers who are trustworthy...

Taiwei Rang Neng was old and had been ill for a long time. Liu Gong, his disciple, had a high reputation and was close to the Northern Department. Many governors obeyed his mediation, and Li Keyong also respected him as Guangde Liu Gong. This was a good thing for the saint, but the problem was that Liu Chongwang was also old and also suffered from a serious illness - he had to take medicine morning and night. In Li Ye's memory, Liu Gong had about three years left to live.

The old swineherd is about the same age as these two, and he also has various minor ailments. He did not even come to the Linding Hall for the court ceremony today, saying that he was feeling dizzy.

However, Shangshu Li Xi had too little experience and too little influence to effectively lead the Southern Yamen in a short period of time.

This situation means that if something happens to the three executive vice saints Du, Liu, and Ximen, it will be difficult for Li Ye's current team to control the court. The money that the local Taiwei can collect may not be collected by his people. The trouble that Liu Gong can solve with a word is unlikely to be solved by him and his people. Why? Just because the saint has been on the throne for only three years, and just because of the mess of his predecessor, he has lost face.

This situation is very dangerous.

It is impossible for the Taiwei and Liu Gong to protect the sage from wind and rain all his life. The sage must grow up and govern the country on his own.

It is urgent to cultivate your own team.

However, Li Ye could not find a person who could be trusted and had the potential to be a prime minister, so he had a private chat with the Taiwei. The Taiwei recommended Zheng Yanchang, the Secretary of the Central Secretariat, who he had trained. He was born in Xiaobaifang, the northern ancestor of the Zheng family in Xingyang. During the Chaos, he served as an assistant to Zheng Ting, assisting in military affairs, coordinating food and grass, and was very proficient in financial management. He also had a good character, did not fight for power, and was diligent and down-to-earth.

In terms of appeal, the grandson of Zheng Yuqing, a famous prime minister in the middle Tang Dynasty - the elder who was also Li Keyong's teacher, friend and enemy - the boss of Zhuge Shuang, Zhu Mei and Wang Xingyu - the predecessor of Zhu Wen - the former Jiedushi of Hedong, Jiedushi of Xuanwu, Jiedushi of Lingnan, Shizhong, Taifu, Situ and Prime Minister, Zheng Wenzhong, a man from Xingyang County, whose name was Congtang, was his cousin.

After comprehensive consideration of several aspects, Li Ye accepted the recommendation of the Grand Marshal.

As for Xue Wang Zhirou, he was able to participate in finance because he was taught by Du Rangneng. Other ministers did not dare or want to make friends with the kings, which was a political taboo. But for the Du family, who had made great contributions to the founding of the country for 300 years, Li and Du had already merged into one. Not only Xue Wang Zhirou, but also the six successor kings, including Yan Wang Jiepi, Dan Wang Yun, and Han Wang Keliang, had already been under the tutelage of the Taiwei to assist in handling affairs.

I vaguely remember that these heirs were not particularly prominent in the political arena of the late Tang Dynasty, but they were always the most trusted relatives of Emperor Zhaozong. Prince Yan Jiepi served as an envoy to the vassal states many times to bring reinforcements to Emperor Zhaozong. Prince Han Keliang and others led troops to rescue the emperor many times until they were killed by Han Jian in Huazhou.

Actually, that’s fine.

Regardless of its ability, at least it is usable.

After the edict was announced, all officials, led by the Grand Commandant, bowed down to the sage again: "May the spirit of heaven descend upon us, and may the Han Dynasty unite the world and the Tang Dynasty last forever. It is a great pleasure to capture the thief, and we are humble servants. We, the ministers, would like to congratulate you, and may you live long and prosper, and may the glory of the country flourish and the morale of the people be revived."

The sound shook the entire building, especially the Linde Hall, which was extremely wide, and the echoes rippled through the palace, making people feel excited. The sage was very excited about this, but to show his modesty, he turned his body sideways and covered his face with his sleeves: "May you all be blessed with a hundred fortunes and live a long life."

……

After the court session in the Linde Hall ended, the sage walked along the Suzaku Central Axis Street to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda in the south of the city.

Without it.

In order to receive the congratulations today, Concubine He also led the concubines to the Da Ci'en Temple to burn incense and preside over the water and land ceremony.

Perhaps it was because the sage had returned victoriously, and the concubines such as He Shi felt much more relaxed as the eunuchs became more restrained. They no longer had to worry about being monitored like before. They were hesitant to do anything or order anything, and had to look at other people's faces.

This made He see the glimmer of hope - maybe everything will slowly get better. She attributed this to the power of faith - it was the blessing of the gods on her husband. As a result, she worshipped the religion more and more, and went to the Dafu Palace in the palace every day to worship the Three Pure Ones, and went out to give alms from time to time. Today, she learned that her husband had issued an edict to build a tomb for the fallen soldiers and write a stele to commemorate their achievements. As usual, she left the palace as soon as possible and came to the Da Ci'en Temple to preside over the water and land ceremony on his behalf to save the souls of the martyred heroes. Even though the saint had been extremely cold to her in the past six months, she only thought that the saint was bullied by the eunuchs and was therefore depressed. Even though the saint favored Concubine Chen and ignored her and her son...

Even if the relationship between husband and wife is not as good as before.

It was already noon when the saint arrived at the towering pagoda. The ceremony that lasted for half a day came to an end. He and others sat there and ate vegetarian food with the monks. The eldest son Li Yu and the eldest daughter Princess Pingyuan sat at her feet, one on each side, drinking porridge from a small bowl.

The saint stood by the wall, smiling and waving to his children: "Da Lang, Li Niang, come here."

Unexpectedly, after being attacked several times, little Li Yu showed no reaction and looked timidly at his father whom he had not seen for a month.

Are children so sensitive?

The saint finally walked out from the wall.

The monk immediately put down his bowl, wiped his mouth and ran over to greet him.

Little Li Yu tugged at He's sleeve, and Princess Pingyuan hid behind her.

He looked over.

I don’t know what happened, but the couple became so estranged.

"Dan Niang." The saint waved his hand in greeting, and somehow called out the original owner's nickname for He.

He pulled little Li Yu who was hiding behind her and sighed with surprise and surprise: "How come Qilang remembered the three of us?"

The saint was speechless.

At this moment, memories from the past emerged in his mind.

He was a woman from Shu. In the first year of Guangming, when Zhaozong was still the Prince of Shou, he fled with him. The emperor's brother felt sorry for his younger brother. When he arrived in Zizhou, he saw that He was a natural beauty and asked the eunuchs to arrange this marriage. He was gentle and well-educated, and she and the Prince of Shou fell in love.

After Li ascended the throne, since the Xuanwu Gate inheritance law became more and more severe after the mid-Tang Dynasty, and there was no empress for a hundred years, the first wife was canonized as the de facto master of the harem - Shufei. As the country was weak, she worked on the loom in the bedroom to make cloth and clothes. She took the maids to open up the wasteland in the garden and planted spices and beans. When Zhaozong first ascended the throne, she was the first to eat every time, and she would let her husband serve the bowl after confirming that there was no problem. But as the Tang Dynasty was irreversibly heading towards its demise, He could only suffer.

She had to feed the tiger with her own body in Yongcheng, and was humiliated and defiled by the warriors of Qizhen. She had to watch her son being buried alive in Huazhou and drowned in Luoyang. She had to marry her only daughter, Princess Pingyuan, to the son of Li Maozhen, and had to hand over her newborn baby to a eunuch named Hu to escape from the team and hide his identity. She had to hug Zhaozong for warmth in the heavy snow in the middle of winter.

She watched her family members being killed one after another, until she was the last one to die in Ziwei Palace...

"Go out for a walk?" The saint grabbed her rough hands and held them tightly. It was time to have a heart-to-heart talk with his wife.

It would be ugly if the whole family was so stiff. Han Wei's teachings were still fresh in his mind - the king is selfless, and the emperor should not have private feelings. He could understand this at that time, but he couldn't get into the state. Let an ordinary person suddenly become a ruler, and be required to pass quickly. He didn't think he was born to be an emperor. There were many prominent officials and businessmen who made friends in his previous life, but he had never seen anyone with this qualification. It was really difficult to be the emperor.

But today, the pressure of survival that he will die if he doesn't do his job well has forced him to gradually adapt to this role.

"I heard that Li Situ's daughter has arrived in Fengling County?" He asked, opening the topic.

"That's the news five days ago. She'll probably arrive in Chang'an tomorrow or the day after tomorrow." The old swineherd had sent a team to Huashan to welcome her early on. Thinking of this Shatuo woman, he became anxious.

When Li Keyong was attacked, after the imperial edict was issued, the army in Luzhou was in chaos, and their leader Li Kegong and 500 of his followers, Shatuo soldiers, were killed. The military supervisor Xue Hui sent a letter with Li Kegong's head and presented it to Chang'an.

Li Keyong's younger brother and five hundred Shatuo Yuancong's heads were chopped off and wrapped in lime to send to the court to report the victory, and Zhaozong was actually congratulated...

How could they hide it from the Hedong Jinzouyuan? How could the Zhuxie clan not know about it?

This is not over yet.

Li Keyong's trusted general An Jian submitted a petition to bring the three states of Xing, Ming and Ci to the court, and Zhaozong happily sent an envoy to express his condolences. The fake son Li Cunxiao occupied the city and requested to surrender, and Zhaozong's trusted confidant Zhang Jun immediately wrote a letter to contact him. Zhaozong received the report and immediately issued an imperial decree to appoint Li Cunxiao as a military governor, and sent people to contact Li Keyong's enemy - asking Chengde military governor Wang Rong to send troops to rescue Li Cunxiao...

After seeing all these incidents, I am afraid that the Shatuo people have already hated this saint to the point of gnashing their teeth.

Is there any need to ask what attitude the Shatuo bride, whom he had never met, had towards him?
"Love her and care for her." He forced a smile and said, "Just like you treat Lady Chen well. Lady Li came from Taiyuan to marry, all alone. Who else can she rely on besides you? You must be compassionate to the bride."

Stop scolding...

(End of this chapter)