Tang Dynasty Xie Lu Lang

Chapter 46 Zhang Shuo betrayed me
Xuanzheng Hall in the Eastern Capital's inner palace is where the emperor usually holds court. Because there have been many things going on in the court recently, in order to facilitate communication between the inside and the outside, the emperor often stays in the Xuanzheng Hall after court to continue handling state affairs, and even stays overnight in this hall. This is no exception to the rule tonight.

The current saint was born in the first year of Chuigong, the first time that the late Emperor Ruizong ascended the throne. But five years later, Ruizong Li Dan was deposed by his mother, Empress Dowager Wu, and placed in the Forbidden City in the name of the crown prince. The saint's brothers were also adopted in the Forbidden City. Although they left the throne for a short time, they were soon recalled to the Forbidden City.

It was not until Luling returned to the court and was once again appointed as the crown prince, and the crown prince was renamed Prince of Xiang, that the family was able to leave the palace and live there. The sage also first entered the current affairs as the grandson of the emperor and Prince of Linzi.

Although he had a difficult life since childhood, the sage did not neglect or indulge himself. He was intelligent and talented since childhood. As an adult, he was resourceful, wise and decisive. He participated in and led successive coups such as Tanglong and Xiantian, and finally eliminated the hidden dangers of the country and was able to rule the world.

Since he came to power, the sage has appointed people based on their merits, governed the country with love and cared for the people. With the joint efforts of the monarch and his subjects, the national strength of the Tang Dynasty has been growing day by day. Politically, all the ills and chaos since the Wu Zhou Dynasty have been swept away, leading to the current Kaiyuan Prosperity and the grand event of enshrining Mount Tai in the east and announcing the success to heaven!

Such an achievement would have been difficult for many emperors of previous dynasties to accomplish in their lifetimes, but the current sage has already accomplished this great feat at the age of forty. He can truly be called a wise ruler!
"The sage's achievements surpass those of previous generations, and he enjoys a life of ten thousand years. He is also so diligent in governing the country. Living in this prosperous era is truly a blessing to all his subjects!"

An eunuch named Niu Xiantong took the opportunity to go up to the palace to serve food, bowed deeply beside the imperial desk and sighed deeply.

"You are a lowly eunuch, you do not know how high the heavens are, how dare you lightly comment on the merits and demerits of the past and present!"

Upon hearing this, the sage, who was reviewing memorials at his desk, pointed at the eunuch crawling on the ground and laughed and scolded him.

Upon hearing this, Niu Xiantong immediately dropped his face to the ground and said in a panic, "Although I haven't studied classics or history, I see the heavens above me, and I don't know who is beyond them. The grace bestowed upon me is so profound, and if I were to judge others by myself, who in the world wouldn't be delighted by the vastness of Heaven's grace?"

Hearing this, the saint laughed even more happily. He raised his hand and grabbed a finger-sized tortoise-shell paperweight inlaid with gold and jade on the table and casually threw it on the eunuch's shoulder. Then, as the eunuch kowtowed repeatedly to express his gratitude, he stood up and stretched slightly.

The current sage is already forty years old. At this age, many common people have begun to decline, but for the powerful and influential, it is the prime of life. The same is true for the sage. Although the world is well governed and the country is prosperous, the sage is not satisfied with this. He still works hard to govern the country and does not slack off.

A few days ago, the Minister of the Central Secretariat Zhang Shuo was convicted and suspended from his post. Although the emperor quickly promoted the Minister of Revenue Li Yuanhong to be the Minister of the Central Secretariat to replace Zhang Shuo, Li Yuanhong's new position and his slightly inferior talent and ability to Zhang Shuo still caused a lot of problems to pile up in the Central Secretariat, and many things had to be submitted to the emperor for his review.

The sage does not feel tired. With his vigorous energy, he personally takes care of everything. As a result, internal and external personnel affairs run in an orderly manner. Some key personnel are greatly supplemented because of the sage's personal concern and supervision.

The saint of today is tall and strong, with a handsome face that is even more graceful and majestic. His eyes are sparkling, and he exudes a captivating demeanor and bearing in his movements.

Although people like Niu Xiantong are flattering and seeking favor, their praises are all sincere, and they believe from the bottom of their hearts that the current saint is indeed as majestic as a god!
The saint strolled leisurely in the hall for a while, and the attendants on his left and right were already considering whether to bring in entertainment. At this moment, footsteps were heard outside the hall. A tall eunuch in a purple robe, with a white face and no beard came into the hall, followed by two eunuchs in green robes holding book boxes.

This eunuch was naturally Gao Lishi. After entering the hall, he bowed to the sage standing in the hall. The sage waved his hand and said, "General, there is no need to be so polite. I came to see you this time. What do you think of your posture?"

"When I entered his house, I saw that he lived in a thatched hut, slept on straw, and ate from shabby utensils. He was deeply punished for his actions. When he saw me, his words were very sad, and he also sent a letter of apology."

As he spoke, Gao Lishi took out Zhang Shuo's letter of thanks and presented it to him with both hands.

The sage took the letter of thanks and glanced at it, his expression changing slightly. After a moment, he sighed and said, "From his writing, I see deep emotion and sincerity. From his actions, however, he is not without eccentricity. If he were truly respectful and self-disciplined, and his words and deeds were not wrong, how could he have ended up like this? And now, is this a sign of true self-reflection and self-discipline, or is it a sign of fear and fear of disaster, and a return to his old ways?"

Gao Lishi had been preparing to offer his opinion on Zhang Shuo's behalf, but after recalling the incident with the letter in the bronze box, he decided not to make a statement for now. Instead, he said, "Just now, when I was returning to the palace, I met the Imperial Counselor Wei Jiansu, who told me about a matter involving a man who claimed to be the grandson of the Duke of Yan and had sent a letter in the bronze box to have it heard by the Emperor."

"Is this really true? The Zhang family has been really using all their wits and tricks lately, trying to figure out what's going on, hoping the disaster won't go away!"

The sage frowned upon hearing this. This morning, the old man from the Zhang family was found dead in the court, and then at night, the young man sent letters to disturb the court. This inevitably made him feel annoyed.

"I went to see the Duke of Yan today, but I had not heard of this incident either. I believe he is unaware of it. I also heard Doctor Wei tell this person that he had written a letter to sue his family, so I brought it to present to the Holy Lord."

After hearing this, Gao Lishi quickly explained that this was also something he found strange.

"Sue your family?"

Upon hearing this, the sage immediately looked suspicious. He waved his hand to signal for the book box containing the sealed book to be brought up. He took out the book box thrown by Zhang's son and opened it to take a look. His face suddenly darkened, and then he waved his arm and threw the book box to the ground.

Gao Lishi became a little nervous when he saw this. He bent down to pick up the letter, but found that it was not a document of complaint. There was only one line of words written on it: The people have a good plan to offer to the emperor to alleviate the difficulties faced by the army and the country, and also to ask for forgiveness for the people's great grandfather, Lord Yan.

"This, this, what Doctor Wei said..." Seeing the contents of the book, Gao Lishi's face turned a little ugly. This was very different from what he heard from Wei Jiansu, and he didn't know how to report it to the emperor for a moment.

"Where is this lunatic now?"

The saint frowned deeply and asked in a deep voice.

"Doctor Wei's report has been brought to the Imperial Censorate for questioning by Yao Hong, the Left Censor-in-Chief of the Imperial Court."

After hearing this, the saint's face became even more displeased, and his tone became somewhat dangerous: "Before the matter is handled by the superiors, and before the words are spoken by the subordinates, the people involved are being punished first. Is this how the matter should be handled?"

The attendants in the hall, including Gao Lishi, dropped their heads in silence upon hearing the Saint's question, which was tinged with anger. While the Saint had usually not paid much attention to matters concerning the bronze box, simply leaving it to the relevant officials to handle as appropriate, that didn't mean they could act arbitrarily.

"Who will be the Secretary of State today?"

After a moment's silence, the Saint spoke again. Gao Lishi, who was standing beside him, quickly said respectfully, "It is our disciple Yuan Xianggong who is in charge."

"Instruct him to go immediately to the Censorate and ask this lunatic what difficulties our army and country face that require his advice! Furthermore, ask him what good plan he has that, instead of offering it to the country, he secretly imparts it to his disciples, thus saving his life! Also, investigate the officials who accepted this person's appointment to see if they have violated regulations or neglected their duties! Go immediately and report the matter immediately!"

The saint walked back to the imperial bed and sat down, speaking in a deep voice.

Gao Lishi quickly responded respectfully and retreated quickly, sighing inwardly that Zhang Shuo's family had really made a mess of things this time. The matter was obviously about to be resolved, but they continued to harass the emperor without knowing the limits, which instead exposed Zhang Shuo's secret hiding and deceived the emperor.

At the same time, the relevant officials acted on their own before understanding the emperor's will, and seemed to want to make things get out of control, which undoubtedly constituted disobedience to the emperor's will.

The Zhongshu Menxia was the original Zhengshi Hall. It was reorganized in the 11th year of Kaiyuan by Zhang Shuo, who served as the Zhongshu Ling. It was transformed from the prime minister's deliberative body into a policy implementation body. It was located in the Dongdu Liushou Mansion in front of Xuanzheng Hall and south of Qianhua Gate.

When the emperor was in Chang'an, the Governor's Office was the highest administrative agency in the Eastern Capital. When the emperor traveled east to Luoyang, the Governor's Office temporarily served as the prime minister's office.

The person on duty at the Secretariat tonight was the Shangshu Zuo Chengxiang and concurrently the Menxia Shizhong Yuan Qianyao. After listening to Gao Lishi's message of the emperor's will, Yuan Qianyao did not dare to be negligent and hurriedly left the palace accompanied by a team of Southern Court Guards and went straight to the Imperial City Censorate's office.

After conveying the emperor's will, Gao Lishi pondered for a moment and then ordered a servant beside him to return to Xuanzheng Hall to report first, while he followed behind Yuan Qianyao and his party.

Previously, the Imperial Counselor Wei Jiansu's words were vague, and he did not conduct a more detailed interrogation, which had already led to his false report to the emperor. This time, he naturally had to understand the situation more comprehensively and specifically before reporting to the emperor.

Just as this group of people were ordered to go out to inquire about matters, Wu Huifei rushed to Xuan Zheng Hall as soon as she received Niu Guier's report.

She was really worried that the situation that Zhang Luo had asked Niu Guier to convey would happen, so she was determined not to let her nephew stay with the opponent for too long, so as to prevent the other party from making false accusations and affecting her plan to seek the position of queen.

The Tang Dynasty's strict curfew was not limited to the city walls, but also to the inner palace. Concubines were generally not allowed outside after dark unless summoned, and were confined to their bedrooms. However, Wu Huifei was an exception, a sign of her favor within the harem.

When he arrived at the Xuanzheng Hall, he noticed that the servants inside and outside were a little nervous, so he became cautious. After entering the hall, he saw that the sage still had a lingering look of anger on his face, so he hurried forward and whispered, "Who and what has caused you to be so angry?"

The sage, who was just about to vent his anger, snorted coldly upon hearing this: "Zhang Shuo has betrayed me! I previously impeached him and found him guilty, but I, out of consideration for our friendship, allowed him to return home. He's ungrateful and sent one of his disciples to trick me into pardoning him by offering advice and intelligence. How despicable! He holds such a high position and has been in government for years. Why couldn't he have helped with state affairs and kept him alive today?"

"Offer, offer some advice? No, no..."

After hearing this, Concubine Wu Huifei widened her beautiful yet empty eyes in surprise, but she was not stupid enough to continue speaking.

Although the situation seemed to have changed a little, she had no other choice at the moment and followed her previous plan. She walked forward and said softly, "Don't be angry, my husband. I just learned a new song called "Golden Threaded Clothes" and I want to invite you to enjoy it with me!"

(End of this chapter)