boyutpedia Chapter 357 Intending to Support the Crown Prince's Ascension to the Throne
Chapter 357 Intending to Support the Crown Prince's Ascension to the Throne
He Xilie was a military supervisor sent by Li Yuanke to Yang Shougui's army to do ideological work.
Regardless of whether this was a trap deliberately set by Yang Shougui for He Xilie, let's just talk about where the biggest oversight in this crushing defeat was.
Yang Shougui had seven or eight thousand foreign rebel troops under his command. He used two thousand Hu cavalry as guides. When the two armies were fighting, the Hu cavalry turned against him, causing chaos in Yang Shougui's army. He fled in panic and almost died.
Soon, Yang Shougui's memorial arrived on the emperor's desk, in which he placed all the blame on He Xilie and Yu Xiang, the military commissioner of Hedong.
When He Xilie died in battle, his conclusion was that his merits and demerits canceled each other out.
Yu Xiang was executed without prior notification, supposedly to quell the anger in the army.
Shen Shixi handed the folded document to Li Yuanke, "Yang Shougui is going to rebel!"
Li Yuanke glanced at the folded document and said, "Let them rebel then. What can they possibly do? With their limited troops and abilities, what can they possibly achieve?"
Li Yuanke didn't think much of this person.
He has some skills, but not many.
Shen Shixi was unwilling to start a war and was thinking of ways to avoid this disaster. Yang Shougui was certainly unwilling to give up his military power.
The following day in court, Cui Fangli's faction impeached Han Xiao again.
Han Xiao, a military general, associated with civil officials and Pei Yanli, the son of a disgraced official. The two of them, along with Fu Chuji, drank at a restaurant in the capital and plotted until late at night, their aim being to push the crown prince to the throne.
If the crown prince is young, the empress dowager will rule.
All that's left is to report Shen Shixi's ID number to the imperial court.
This is an open and brazen attack on the Empress.
Li Yuanke woke up from his drowsiness, sat on the dragon throne, and coldly looked at Prime Minister Cui and his group.
Han Xiao was so angry that he wanted to hit someone on the spot. "Your Majesty, I have known Pei Yanli since childhood. Yes, his family did commit treason, but haven't all the cases that should be judged and tried been dealt with?"
Since Pei Yanli is innocent, his father is dead, and he was exiled from the capital, but is now being ordered to return, should I pretend not to know him and act like a sycophant, stepping on the weak and currying favor with the powerful?
The censor who had sided with Prime Minister Cui, surnamed Hu, retorted, "Vice Commander Han is mistaken. As the son of a traitor, how can we know that he does not have the desire to avenge his father?"
Moreover, the Pei family should have been executed along with their entire clan, but Pei Yanli was pardoned by the Empress. If that's the case, his intentions are even more sinister. Deputy Commander Han is a high-ranking official in the court, guarding the capital region, yet he's been intimate and plotting with the son of a disgraced official. What should his punishment be?
The veins on the back of Han Xiao's hand bulged, but remembering his wife's threat, he held back and said to the Emperor, "Your Majesty, I have absolutely no intention of treason. I beg Your Majesty to see the truth!"
Li Yuanke said, "In the eighth year of Yongxi, when I personally led the expedition, the Empress guarded the capital, so I had no worries about the rear! When I was short of food supplies at the border, most of you were also standing in this court at that time, but not one of you cared about my food supplies."
It was the Empress who ordered Shen Guojiu, a frail scholar, to travel over mountains and rivers, passing through numerous passes, to deliver supplies to me.
In the tenth year of Yongxi's reign, the Empress gave birth to the Crown Prince. I wished to bestow honors upon the Shen family, but the Empress refused. The Imperial Father-in-law also declined. Even now, despite his advanced age, he continues to dedicate himself wholeheartedly to Bingzhou.
Li Yuanke pointed to the south, "There are also Shen Congzhang and Shen Jizhang, who are also my elders. Shen Congzhang travels all year round, cultivating seeds and teaching people how to farm. The annual grain harvest of the Great Zhou has been increasing, mostly thanks to him."
Shen Jizhang was sent out to build ships, which was a tough job, yet he never complained once in his official documents, always trying to get credit for others. You say the Shen family is going to rebel, do you even believe it yourselves?
Li Yuanke slammed his hand on the armrest of the dragon throne, clearly furious.
Prime Minister Cui led the way, kneeling down. "Your Majesty, we are filled with trepidation!"
"It is I who should be terrified!" Li Yuanke glanced down with murderous intent. "Issue my decree to arrest Xu Siyuan of Rang County, Dengzhou, Nanyang, and bring him to the capital for trial. Order the three judicial departments to jointly investigate the case of land encroachment in Rang County. I also want to know, what exactly is his intention in seizing so much land?"
Prime Minister Cui hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, I would like to know who is accusing Xu Siyuan of land grabbing? Is this a case of a troublesome commoner making a false accusation? I beg Your Majesty to investigate!"
Li Yuanke said, "I cannot discern the truth; everything requires evidence. Doesn't Prime Minister Cui know this?"
Song Yan stepped forward and said, "Prime Minister Cui, it is true that someone from Rang County, Dengzhou, Nanyang, has come to the capital to accuse Xu Siyuan of encroaching on land. The evidence is conclusive, and I was the presiding judge. Hearing your words, it seems you are aware of this matter. I humbly request that you proceed to the Ministry of Justice to explain the facts as you understand them!"
Cui Fangli was most afraid of this about Song Yan: no matter if you were his superior or not, he would show no favoritism when it came to carrying out his duties.
Otherwise, he would have insisted on transferring Song Yan to Weizhou.
"I have no knowledge of this matter, Minister Song, please do not speak nonsense." Cui Fangli vehemently denied it. "I simply believe that Xu Siyuan is a scholar, how could he do such a disastrous thing for the country and its people? What is wrong with questioning him a little?"
Song Yandao said, "Once scholars enter officialdom, whether for their own sake or for the sake of others, how many abandon their conscience? Since I took office in the Ministry of Justice, I feel that prison administration and the judiciary are actually established for the benefit of high-ranking officials and nobles."
You keep talking about troublemakers, but I've hardly encountered many of them. It's the powerful and wealthy who bully the weak and oppress the good who are the most numerous.
Cui Fangli angrily retorted, "What does Minister Song mean by this? Does he mean that everyone standing in this court is a heinous criminal to be interrogated by the Ministry of Justice?"
Song Yan said, "Why does Prime Minister Cui distort my meaning? Since Prime Minister Cui is unaware of the situation, I still suggest that Prime Minister Cui not speak up for Xu Siyuan so easily, lest he bring trouble upon himself."
"Are you threatening the truth?"
Then a palace censor spoke up, "Prime Minister Cui, this is the imperial court, and His Majesty is sitting here. Do you intend to be disrespectful before the emperor?"
The court assembly ended there. Afterwards, as if in a show of defiance, Han Xiao went to find Pei Yanli for drinks.
However, Pei Yanli had already left the capital with Princess Yi'an. Shen Shixi sent Cen Yin to send several people to accompany them, with the purpose of investigating the Dengzhou cotton-padded clothes case and the complex relationship between Shen Shixi and Cui Liang.
As soon as May arrived, the Crown Prince and Princess Xihe actually started getting prickly heat, mainly because they were too fat.
When Li Yuanke saw this, he was heartbroken and ordered the house to be moved to Qingyi Garden after the Dragon Boat Festival.
There weren't many people in the harem to begin with, and with Shen Shixi included, there were only fourteen people alive in total.
The imperial concubines were: Consort Xian, Consort Shu, Consort Ning, Consort Guo, Consort Yuan, and Consort Jing, who was barely clinging to life, making a total of six.
There are three concubines in total; Li Sihe, who gave birth to the third prince, was promoted to the rank of Chongyuan by Shen Shixi; Rong Xiuyuan, the granddaughter of the Cui family, was promoted by the Empress Dowager.
Du Xiurong is not dead yet.
There are three or four small fish and shrimps left, Pan Zhiheng (a concubine rank), Xu Miaoying (a beauty), and Liang Anlan (also a concubine rank). Yuan Zhaoyue is still a palace maid.
Of the above-mentioned individuals, only Pan Baolin and Liang Baolin did not have imperial heirs.
These two are the ones with the lowest rank and are the most anxious.
Yuan Zhaoyue was also one, but she lost her right to serve the emperor, so she didn't even have to worry about it.
Before May had even arrived, the two of them began planning to deliberately get close to Consort Xian and Consort Shu, to curry favor with them. Their goal was naturally to go to Qingyi Garden with them. If they didn't take the two of them along, the Emperor would be gone for half a year, and when would they be able to conceive an imperial heir?
The Emperor now seems to have lost all ambition, spending his days in the harem taking care of the children and never summoning any of his concubines.
The Empress is quite shameless; she actually stayed in Qian Yuan Palace and refused to move out, making it very inconvenient for the Emperor to summon them.
Consort Xian and Consort Shu came to the Empress to discuss the relocation arrangements, saying, "We both want to go. These past two days, our doorsteps have been worn down by visitors. We just have to wait and see what Your Majesty's decree is."