Crown Tang emperor

After Di Renjie thought for a while, he also signaled Wang Meichang to come out to see Zhang Xungu.

After Wang Meichang left, Yang Zaisi also stood up from the table, and said to Di Renjie: "Recently, the imperial court has appointed foreign ministers to the provincial government. Not staying in court anymore."

Di Renjie nodded after hearing the words, and after sending Yang Zaisi away, he went back to his straight hall, looked through the memorials of the various divisions, and took out the canonization document from the Sishu Temple, which said that he was discussing the canonization for the emperor's heirs. Among them, Li Chengyi, the second son, proposed to be the king of Zhou, and Li Longye, the youngest son, proposed to be the king of Xiang.

After rejecting it with a pen, Di Renjie thought about it again, and simply asked someone to fetch a brazier, cut the melody into strips, and directly burned it to ashes in the hall.

Chapter 0490

Besides the immediate family affairs, Li Tong had other matters to deal with.

In the current situation in Shendu, he and his fourth uncle Li Dan are separated from the military and the government.Although people in the imperial court were chaotic and had many conflicts, at least his grandmother Wu Zetian left behind a basically functioning administrative system, and some basic affairs could be carried out in an orderly manner.

However, the military affairs that Li Tong was in charge of did not exist before, and it was necessary to build a new management system from scratch.Even if he doesn't need to do everything himself, but if he wants to fully exert the power in his hands, he still needs to select a group of subordinates who can use it and distribute the power in his hands.

This is also the disadvantage of rich second-generation entrepreneurship. If you inherit some of the original political resources, you will inevitably not have a long run-in period like reckless entrepreneurship and form a team that is completely subordinate to yourself.

After all, social changes in ancient times did not have extremely high frequency and variables under the impact of technological progress like later generations, so social classes were relatively solidified.

When Li Tong came to this world, he faced a lot of malice. From the bottom of his heart, he held a relatively pessimistic attitude towards the entire current bureaucratic system.

Even Di Renjie, a well-known official with a long history, didn't know that he was an old fox who had gone through ups and downs until he got in touch with him. He was not a good man with thick eyebrows and big eyes and a completely positive face.There is a difference between the fairy tale image created in the novel and reality after all.

Of course, Li Tong also has something to rely on, that is, his grandmother has been in power for decades, greatly expanding the scope of the imperial court's selection of scholars, and he has a kind of spirit of meritocracy like Wei Wu Cao Cao.After all, Wu Zetian itself is an atypical political figure, so she must absorb new nutrients outside the original ruling class in order to maintain her rule.

Cruel officials such as Lai Junchen, the image left in history is naturally odious, and the impact it brings is also quite bad.

But having said that, Wang Anshi has also been a monster who has been a disaster for the country for hundreds of years in history. How can he succeed if he wants to attack the solidified vested interest groups without resorting to weapons?Taking money from people is like killing parents, being polite and courteous is impossible to succeed in a lifetime.

In a world of great change like the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, Er Zhurong slaughtered all the dignitaries of the Northern Wei Dynasty in the north, and Hou Jing, a great general of the universe, in the south.The Sui and Tang dynasties inherited this old malpractice, but only created a transitional period from the Middle Ages to modern times, but in the end it was inevitable that there would be a murderous demon king Huang Chao who trampled on the bones of the public, and it was considered that the so-called elites were completely swept into the pile of old papers.

Of course, most people with normal human ethics thinking would not admire this type of role.They are total destroyers, destroying rather than building.But from the perspective of objective historical laws, such a character has its own meaning, but the price paid for this kind of progress is too high.

Li Tong considers himself the heir to his grandma's mantle, not just out of his own political needs, but because if he wants to go further, it is impossible to complete it through a normal power transfer.

So he felt that it was a bit ridiculous for Wang Meichang and others to make a fuss about their brother's feudalism.I have come to this point, you still reason with you when I am an old man?

Don't care whose son I am, even if I am surnamed Wang, if I really want to do it, I will do it!If you are willing to bow your head and bow your head, that is your sense of taste. If you are not willing, everyone will fight for life and death.

Of course, the premise is that Li Tong can get enough supporters himself.

His supporters, on the one hand, come from the poor talents promoted by his grandmother during the years in power, and the marginal figures in the current situation, such as Jiangnan people, like Wang Fangqing and Wang Shaozong, descendants of the Langya Wang family, never mind In the early years of your ancestors, the king and the horse shared the world's prestige, but in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, you were just younger brothers, and you didn't mix with your grandson, and your son ignored you.

On the other hand, it comes from the low-level talents he discovered by himself and the wall-riding faction among the aristocratic families. He also has advantages in this respect. Fan Bing Guo Yuanzhen is a historical figure whose talent has been proved by history, but has not yet made his fortune.

The second is that the current historical time is when the empire is about to expand, but the military system is collapsing. The collapse of the military system is also a major topic for studying the historical process of the Sui and Tang Dynasties in later generations.

For Li Tong at the moment, the collapse of the government military system has released a large number of grassroots military talents, who are no longer under the control of the original ruling order, but the Old Clothes Club he formed can bring this group of talents back. absorb.

In the past, Li Tong was worried that the organization of the Old Clothes Club was too large, which might attract the attention of the court.However, the experience during the period after the coup made him realize that the torrent of the times is irreversible.When everyone is watching the change of central imperial power, whoever is in power will pay close attention to the development of a civil association?

Let's talk about a more obvious question, if these bigwigs who are busy fighting for power in the court really have the insight to see the small things, they can't just sit back and watch the military system of the government collapse like this!

The establishment of the Fubing system was the basis for a series of evolutions of imperial power from the Western Wei Dynasty to the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and it was also the cornerstone for Guan Long's nobles to gain a foothold in the current situation.

But even Changsun Wuji, a native of Guanlong who was born and bred, cares about eliminating dissidents and who the emperor wants to make queen, and he doesn't care about the low-level soldiers who have no land to teach and food and clothing!

The founding of the Tang Dynasty was less than a hundred years after the Six Towns Uprising, but these nobles from Guanlong had already forgotten how difficult their ancestors were in and how courageous and hostile they were, so they brazenly raised troops and rebelled. Lay the next 100 years of glory and wealth.

As for the Shandong aristocratic families other than Guan Long's honorable nobles, they wished that Guan Long's foundation stone military system would collapse, and the sooner it collapsed, the better.Only in this way can everyone fight wits rather than strength.With the Khitan rebellion, Hebei people were able to infiltrate the military, thus leading the Shenlong Revolution.

But Guan Long Xungui blatantly stole the fruits of their victory in the field of political struggle that they were familiar with.If you come out to hang out, you have to pay back.

This time Li Tong was made restless in his house, not only because he couldn't take care of his energy, but also because his focus in the future was not in the political situation in Shendu.His Metropolitan Governor's Mansion is still in its infancy, and even the basic staff is not complete yet, but the organization at the grassroots level is quite solid.

The military force under the control of the general administration of Duji Province is mainly the Zhechong Prefecture of the states between Heluo.

Although the soldiers of the Guanzhong government have collapsed to the point where they can’t get a lot of money, the situation between Heluo is relatively better, because most of the Zhechong houses here were established during the period of Emperor Gaozong and Wu Zetian. A basic market operated by Guanlong.

Of course, it's only relative.There are more than 80 Zhechong prefectures between Heluo. Based on the average standard of 1000 people, there should be more than 8 registered prefecture soldiers.

But in fact, after the preliminary statistics of the Duji Province General Manager's Mansion, there are only a little over [-] soldiers that Heluo can call at the moment, and most of them are concentrated around Shendu City.

Among them, nearly [-]% belonged to the Guiyi Prefecture attached to the Fanbang, such as the Huaiyin Prefecture under the Koji clan of Gaochang, and several Zhechong Prefectures under the control of the Gao clan and the Quan clan of Goguryeo.

On the second day after the coup, Li Tong, in the name of the governor of Duji Province, ordered the soldiers from the prefectures to gather in the capital to prepare for war.In just a few days, nearly [-] troops were gathered at the foot of Beiman Mountain in the north of Shendu City, but after that, it decreased sharply day by day. Neither the organization nor the institution could be found.

The recruitment of soldiers was not smooth, which was a mixed blessing for Li Tong.The bad part is that if Xue Huaiyi returns to Hedong and wants to counterattack Shendu, then most of his troops will be sent to the front-line war zone, and his influence and control on the situation in Shendu will be even smaller.

The good thing is that even the call-up situation of the government soldiers around Heluo is so unoptimistic, so why call farther out of the state!At least before the imperial court formally embarked on military reforms, no matter how wary they were of him, it was impossible to gather enough troops to fight him hard.

Because of this, Li Tong's courage has also grown a lot, and he has incorporated a large number of former officers from the former clothing society into the army that is still being called up, changing the organizational structure from the grassroots.On the other hand, in the name of preparing for war, a large number of materials accumulated in the various treasuries in Shendu City were transported to both sides of the Yellow River. After all, there is also such a military demand right now.

Even if the imperial court is unwilling to cooperate, it does not dare to obstruct it in terms of government orders. At most, it will make some small moves such as a slight constraint on the arrangement of transportation capacity.However, the old clothing store may be short of other things, but there is no shortage of labor force. If he is given another month, he can move the treasury of Shendu to starve to death.

When Wang Che came to the palace, Li Tong had just sent away his father-in-law Tang Xiuzhong and Li Ge who organized the manpower for water transportation, and ordered them to prepare for a batch of grain escorted by Tian Dasheng and others from Bianzhou.

Compared with the entire imperial treasury, the batch of grain Yang Li bought in Bianzhou can only be said to be a drop in the bucket.

But the legs of mosquitoes are also meat. Li Tong wants to quickly integrate the strength of the old clothing club after entering Guanzhong, so as to gain a firm foothold. The more supplies the better.

As for how Shenducheng will live in the future, that is not a question for him to worry about. If he lives too comfortably, he may be tempted to try to seize his control over the water transportation.You have to be so hungry that you can be honest and dare not make big moves.

Li Tong was not surprised to hear Wang Che begging to see him.After all, Wang Bo's family and Wang Meichang were still the same family, so he was not surprised that Wang Zhi and Wang Meichang got together.After thinking about it, Li Tong asked someone to bring Wang Che in.

"His Royal Highness has a new reward for his great achievements. I should have gone to congratulate him immediately, but I was afraid that congratulators would gather in the mansion, which would further annoy the master, so I suppressed the joy. I only came to pay my respects today. Please don't offend me, Your Highness."

After Wang Che entered the door, he was very respectful, walked a few steps inside and kowtowed down.

Li Tong laughed when he heard the words, pointed to Wang Chen and said, "The other guests are just commonplace, but if Wang Sheren comes to see me, of course I have to wait for the table. She has a first-class literary talent, and the book he wrote is the best." It is a rare wonderful pen in recent years, and it makes people feel emotional and uncertain when reading it."

Hearing this, Wang Chen's cheeks trembled, and he said hastily: "The lowly position is just to follow orders, and the superiors teach orders, so I dare not stop writing, I really dare not be your highness's absurd praise."

After hearing this, Li Tong just sneered, and did not let Wang Chen enter the table without courtesy.Pei Xingjian has a good sense of people, but the son-in-law he chose is a bit big-eyed.

Wang Chen is a talented person. Although he is not as good as his younger brother Wang Bo, he is still at the top level in the world, but if only this point is not annoying.Li Tong hadn't felt it before, but after the coup, Wang Che became active, quite advocating power, but he couldn't use it properly.In layman's terms, it's not practical to operate with a mind full of coquettishness.

At the very beginning, Wang Chen got along with Di Renjie and others, and was even recommended by Di Renjie to compete with Su Weiwei for the task of Xuanfu Hedong Road.After all, Wang Che was from the Wang family in Taiyuan, so it seemed more appropriate than Su Weiwei.

Because of Wang Bo's talent and name, and because Wang Che was also Pei Xingjian's son-in-law, Li Tong had a good impression of Wang Che at first, so when he was sending She Di back home, he chatted with Wang Che by the way.

In the end, I heard complaints about Di Renjie's recommendation from Wang Chen. The implication was that he was more than enough to serve as a Tonggui or Nine Temple official in the Southern Province. Di Renjie was a bit ignorant in doing so.

Hearing what Wang Chen said, Li Tong became cold-hearted about trying to win him over.Not to mention anything else, this person's mind is a little unreliable, at least not as good as Su Weiwei.When Su Weiwei heard about such an arrangement, he happily agreed and thanked Li Tong for giving him such an opportunity.

So next, after Li Tong planned to recruit Wu Youyi, he recommended Su Weiwei as the governor of Puzhou, as a bridge between the two capitals.Even if the imperial court was determined to win Wu Youyi, it recommended Su Weiwei to take over Wu Youyi's position.No matter what kind of arrangement, it's better than being in the muddy water of God's capital.

Li Tong had basically given up on this person psychologically, and the reason why he was allowed to enter the mansion was to find out whether Wang Meichang had any connection with Di Renjie and his group.

Wang Cheng knelt in the hall, saw that King Yong had not spoken for a long time, so he said again: "Your Highness's inheritance is just a feudal work at the beginning, if it goes against your will, there is still room for revision..."

When Li Tong heard this, his expression didn't change much, and he didn't care much about it.

Of course he also understood that if he just didn't want to accept this title or wanted to change it for his brothers, the imperial court would definitely agree.But after the great chaos, such changes from day to day will greatly damage the majesty of the court.

Those old foxes in the DPRK will definitely argue with him about this and ask him to transfer some of his power as compensation.But he really doesn't have the energy and time to wrangle right now, so he just needs to find some time to be held accountable.

Seeing that King Yong still didn't respond, Wang Cheng responded, "Your Highness and other noble titles will be determined first, and recently there are officials who are also discussing the titles of the emperor's heirs..."

While speaking, Wang Cheng talked about the titles that Li Dan's sons will be given.Among them, the emperor's grandson Li Chengqi was proposed to be the king of Yu, the second son Li Chengyi was to be the king of Zhou, the third son Li Longji was to be the king of Qing, the fourth son Li Longfan was to be the king of Wei, and the fifth son Li Longye was to be the king of Xiang.

After hearing this arrangement, Li Tong couldn't help raising his eyebrows.The current kingship, because there is no actual feudal country, so the meaning is just that.But if it is a king name with special meaning, it can still reveal a lot of information.

For example, the title of King Yu granted by the eldest son Li Chengqi was Li Dan's old title before he ascended the throne. Granting the title to the eldest son basically established Li Chengqi's status as heir.

But Li Chengyi, the King of Zhou, has a much richer meaning.First of all, this is Li Xian's old seal, and such a seal has the meaning of encroaching on the inheritance of Li Xian's branch.But more importantly, Zhengshuo has not yet changed his name. Strictly speaking, it is still Zhou Shi. Such a title will give people infinite hints.

Old hermaphrodites like Li Tong can immediately tell that someone is planning to do something, regardless of whether there is any actual action in the follow-up, just such a proposed seal will directly plant an unstable factor in Li Dan's family.Although Li Longye's conferment of Prime Minister has some hints, it is not so strong.

Li Tong thought almost instantly that if this was Wang Meichang's order, it was obvious that Li Chengyi was going to be placed next to Li Chengqi, and the two of them would fight each other, while his little grandson Li Longye was squatting behind and waiting for the fisherman's benefit .

Thinking of this, Li Tong couldn't help sneering in his heart, the old guy had a good idea, where did he put me?My fourth uncle and I have not finished the story yet, are you planning to fight for the next generation?

But after pondering for a while, he became happy again. He just felt that his fourth uncle was not easy. The order in the hall was not clear yet, and someone was already lighting a small flame in the backyard.

As for Li Longji, who was supposed to be the Son of Destiny, intended to be King Qing, although he also belonged to Guanzhong, he was completely inconspicuous and meaningless.In the final analysis, there was no one in the court, and his words were not harsh. In the past year or so, his grandfather Dou's family has been messed up.

Through the information given by Wang Che, Li Tong also realized that Wang Meichang's small circle was only taking it for granted that they were doing it alone, at least without the acquiescence of any faction in the court.

No matter Li Zhaode or Di Renjie, they are people who have a great view of the overall situation. They understand that the most important thing right now is to re-establish the authority of the emperor's heir. The battle of succession.

After realizing this, Li Tong understood what to do next. He raised his hand and bowed to Wang Che, and said, "Wang Sheren just saves trouble, and I'm not an idler right now. Let's meet and greet. It’s enough for everyone to know, and I won’t keep customers.”

After finishing speaking, without waiting for Wang Che to respond, he got up and went to the inner hall.

Wang Chen couldn't help being a little dumbfounded when he saw this, but since King Yong had already said so, he couldn't be bothered here, so he could only get up and leave feeling disappointed, thinking in his heart that he would go to his father-in-law's house later to ask his mother-in-law to take a look Can you be forgiven.

While thinking about it, Wang Che went out under the guidance of the government officials, and when he reached the front hall of the palace, he saw Zhang Xungu and Wang Meichang coming hand in hand.

Seeing Wang Cheng walking out of the palace, Zhang Xungu couldn't help but sneered and said, "Isn't the people of Wangshe eager to go to the province? Could it be that the Nanxing Zhitang is set up in His Royal Highness Yongwang's mansion?"

Wang Che was worried at the moment, and he was not in the mood to take care of Zhang Xungu at all. When Wang Meichang looked at him, his eyes were also full of displeasure, and he didn't want to deal with the two of them. Go to his husband's house.

Wang Meichang came to King Yong's mansion only after Zhang Xungu was soft and hard, intending to make peace for a while. As the emperor's father-in-law, he still has a lot of face, so he was not directly rejected, but was led to the front hall Waiting for an interview.

But just after the two sat down in the front hall, Yang Sixu came from the middle hall again, piled up several volumes of memorials written by Wang Shaozong and others on the impeachment of the Sishu Temple, and said, "My Highness has no time to see guests, but Since Dr. Wang has already entered the mansion, it is not easy to return empty-handed. His Highness hopes that the doctor will transfer these memorials to Xiantai, and His Highness will entertain him when he is free, please."

After finishing speaking, Yang Sixu ignored the two of them, turned around and went out of the hall, when he saw that the government officials were about to serve tea, fruit and snacks to the guests, he waved his hand and said: "The two guests will leave the mansion now, save your money." Bar."

Suffering such a cold reception, Wang Meichang's well-maintained but fair face suddenly turned into a liver color, and when he unfolded several volumes of memorial books for a quick glance, his expression became even more embarrassing, he stood up and shouted angrily: "The door is too high to enter, Learned!"

"Doctor Wang, don't get angry..."

Seeing this, Zhang Xungu hurriedly got up and wanted to persuade Wang Meichang, but Wang Meichang had already rushed out.He also hurriedly chased him out, and after walking a few steps, he heard Yang Sixuan outside the door sympathetically saying: "Your Highness doesn't use his muscles and bones often, so what he said is nothing but idle talk?"

Hearing this, Zhang Xungu's heart shuddered, he turned back to the hall, put away the memorials Wang Meichang had left at the table, and then hurried out to chase after Wang Meichang.

Chapter 0491 to follow the trend, famous family shame

The country pursues strong stems and weak branches, and the two capitals are the well-deserved political, economic, cultural, and military centers of the entire world.

It is precisely because of this that in order to maintain their influence in the current situation, many aristocratic families had to abandon the family business strategy deeply rooted in the countryside by their ancestors in the early years, abandon their original rural foundation and settle in the two capitals.

As a famous family in Hebei, the Zhang family of Qinghe naturally followed the trend, and a large number of people from the family settled in Luo.Guide and Shangxian, located on the west side of Changxia Gate in the south of Luoyang City, are the main settlements of Qinghe Zhang clan members in Shendu.

On this day, the doors of Zhang's mansion in Shangxianfang were wide open, and the house was full of guests. Since the beginning of the morning, Zhang's children and slaves in the mansion have been out to invite guests into the mansion for a feast and a ceremony.

Although the scene was extremely loud, the expressions of the Zhang family's children were not happy at all, and there was a depressing atmosphere inside and outside the entire mansion.Just because of today's so-called family rituals, it's not a marriage, but a relationship with someone.

Such things are not uncommon nowadays, but there are not many that really make such a big scene like Qinghe Zhang's.Everyone understands the truth, because this in itself is not something to brag about.

No matter what the reason is, it is not decent enough for a big family with a long history to even omit the fundamental genealogy of the family.

Despite this, there is still a lot of people who come to watch the ceremony, and many of them come uninvited. After all, people have a dark mood of gloating in their hearts to some extent.

But the relatives, friends and guests invited by the Zhang family were not many present.After all, those who can maintain friendship with the Zhang family will never be ordinary people, so they are naturally ashamed to show up on such matters.

A disciple of the Zhang family hurried to the hall, with a gloomy expression, he said that the invited guest had something to do at home, so he didn't have time to congratulate him.Hearing this, the complexions of the old Zhangs sitting in the hall inevitably became even uglier.

"Shi Siye is a well-known senior scholar who is famous in the government and the public, and has a relationship with my family. If he doesn't come, my family will inevitably be questioned again. I didn't plan well. Now that the matter is up to now, I just want to deal with it."

In just two days, Zhang Xungu looked much older. Hearing his disciple's reply, his face was full of worry. He looked at an older man in the banquet and said, "Thank you six. Brother, please go and ask me to tell you a little bit about my family's difficulties, as long as Shi Siye can help my family overcome the current difficulties, there will be rich rewards in the future."

After hearing the words, the old man's expression changed, and after a while he sighed sadly: "Forget it, the old man is hopeless, there is no need to abandon the future plans of his descendants for the sake of some face, I will invite Shi Siye!"

After finishing speaking, the old man went outside the hall with the support of his slaves.

Everyone in the hall looked at the trembling back of the old man with mixed expressions of grief and anger, and one of them clenched his fist and slammed it heavily on the wooden table, saying bitterly: "Wang Meichang is not good at planning! It all started with him. But he left and left my family alone to be blamed by His Royal Highness King Yong..."

Yes, after knowing the whole story, the members of the Zhang clan also complained about Zhang Xungu, but at this stage, what they hate the most is not King Yong and King Lu, but the one who planned things before and half way. Wang Meichang who abandoned each other.

Hearing what the clansmen said, Zhang Xungu's face was even more distressed. He saw that even if Wang Meichang came to the door in person at the Yongwang's mansion, he was not regarded by the Yongwang at all, and even sent only an eunuch to visit him. The slave expelled them from the house.Even if Wang Meichang was willing to try his best to help his family, he might not be able to bear King Yong's anger.

But the truth is that since that day, Wang Meichang has never contacted him again, and he has been turned away for several tens of thousands of visits, which also made Zhang Xungu even more helpless.

Especially with the construction of a temporary camp near Xiamen, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Fang, soldiers will soon be stationed there, making it even more difficult for the people of the Zhang clan living in several nearby Fangs to sleep and eat.

If his family is not justified, maybe they can still hope to win some solidarity in the court, but their family made a mistake in this matter, and rashly publicized and made a big fuss. I am afraid that King Yong will treat his family even more unscrupulously. hit.

In desperation, after two consecutive nights of sleepless discussions, the Zhang family finally made such a decision, agreed to the conditions proposed by the second king, and obediently sent out their own family genealogy, and decided to carry out a marriage recognition today. .

After noon, the guests arrived one after another. At the same time, the disciples of the Zhang family who had been waiting outside the square also sent a message that Zhang Yan had led his people to this trip.

Hearing this news, Zhang Xungu hurriedly led his clansmen out to meet him, but when he saw Zhang Yan and the seven or eight people behind him, his complexion collapsed again, and he couldn't help but ask: "Two people Your Highness..."

Zhang Yan was imprisoned in Prince Lu's Mansion for a few days. He was terrified to death at first, but he didn't want to be extremely happy. He picked up such a big bargain. Yang Palace will discuss state affairs, and His Royal Highness Lu Wang will protect and guide my sister to go out later. I am worried that I will miss the good time, so I will take the first step."

Hearing this, the people of the Zhang clan inevitably felt more negative energy in their bodies.In order to prepare for today's scene, they can be said to throw out the face of the whole family for people to trample on. They only hoped that this would resolve the grievances between the two kings, but they didn't take it seriously at all.

But no matter how you feel, now that you have reached this point, the Zhang family can only bite the bullet and continue to welcome Zhang Yan and his party into the residence.

At this time, in the Zhang family hall, there were seven to eight guests sitting, and everyone was curious about what kind of person was worthy of Qinghe Zhang's putting up such a big battle to recognize their relatives.

But when Zhang Yan and his entourage entered the hall, all the people present were greatly disappointed, and many members of the Zhang clan who looked at the hall showed obvious sarcasm on their faces.