Chapter 84 The Master

When Wei Wensheng heard the emperor's edict, he did not feel inappropriate. Although the arson in the palace failed, Wei Ling was not caught. He had enough confidence in Wei Ling that he would not betray him. Moreover, several days have passed since the fire in the palace, but the news of the fire in the palace has not been spread outside the palace. The emperor clearly wanted to turn big things into small things, so what else could he worry about?

When he entered the palace and saw the guards in a well-armored manner standing at the doors of the palace, he felt vaguely inappropriate. Even if the emperor was very martial, why did the inner courtyard of the palace cause wars everywhere? But when he arrived here, he would not be able to regret and withdraw. Moreover, over the years, the emperor had already established his own majesty. Even if he knew that the emperor wanted to deal with him, it was still an unknown whether he had the courage to resist.

Seeing the eunuch leading him to the Wude Hall, Wei Wensheng's uneasiness increased a lot. When he stepped into the corridor outside the Wude Hall, he clearly saw the traces of paint on the railings on the corridor, and the emperor stood not far from the railings and looked at him.

"I am here to see the emperor, long live the emperor! Long live! Long live!"

"Wei Wensheng, look up at me."

The emperor's tone of cold talk made Wei Wensheng tremble all over. He quickly looked up at the emperor's face. Seeing the emperor looking at him with anger, he felt a little unconsciously. He became panicked and quickly lowered his head again, "I deserve to die of punishment, I don't know what to make the emperor angry?"

Being with the king is like a tiger. No matter how powerful the Wei family is, how many military achievements he has made, when facing the imperial power and the most noble emperor in the world, all this is just a bubble. Although the emperor did not just slaughter and expose the meritorious officials, Wei Wensheng still wisely apologized.

"Hehe, do you really don't know what's going on?"

The more ordinary the emperor's tone was, the more dangerous Wei Wensheng felt. He held back his eyes and looked at the railing that still smelled of paint: "Your Majesty, I really don't know, please let the emperor make it clear."

"Okay, I will remind you a few words, have you seen the railings beside you? Just a few nights ago, someone actually wanted to set fire to the Wude Hall, General Wei, you wouldn't say you don't know the arsonist, right?"

Wei Wensheng couldn't help but tremble. The emperor had already said this and could not tolerate him to deny it. Moreover, even if he wanted to deny it, it was useless. He had to lower his head: "Your Majesty, I am guilty. Please forgive me for my family because I have made minor achievements before."

"You are so brave. The imperial examination is related to the cornerstone of the country. You dare to send someone to set fire. It is useless to trust you in the past. How can I forgive you?" Yang Yong became more and more angry as he spoke.

Yang Yong was not only annoyed by Wei Wensheng's disloyalty, but also felt a chill. Since Yang Yong ascended the throne, he had been using foreign troops to the outside world. The Eastern Turks, Goguryeo, Silla, Baekje and other countries had almost perished. The emperor's eyes turned from the east to the west. At the beginning of the year, he had already mobilized heavy troops to the direction of Tuyuhun and Tufan, and the conquest of Tuyuhun was about to begin again.

Although the country is big, it will perish if it is wary. Yang Yong did not believe this at all. The Mongolians in later generations became stronger and stronger as they fought, and they destroyed countless countries over the decades. Whether to launch wars or not is the key to whether there are any interests. With enough interests, they will become stronger and stronger if they fight. If they start a war at will simply because of the king's preferences, they will perish if they fight.

At the national level, benevolence, righteousness and morality are useless. You have to do what you do not want others to do. Otherwise, when other countries give you to you, you can only beg for mercy and be unvirtuous. If a country is praised by others, no matter how big such a country is, it will be a corrupt country, and it will eventually die.

Now the Great Sui Dynasty is the time when the labor is most lacking. Even if the surrounding countries are poorer than the Great Sui Dynasty, they can still plunder the labor for use by the Great Sui Dynasty. It is precisely because of the countless labor plundered by the neighboring countries. In recent years, the opening of canals, renovating roads, and building large-scale construction in the Great Sui Dynasty has not only not made the people feel any burden, but many families have been getting better and better because of the use of foreign slaves. The soldiers have been bravely fighting for the enemy because of their generous rewards. Many people are still unwilling to retire when they are old.

Once the war has taken off the cloak of benevolence and righteousness, it actually has a lot of benefits. The emperor is keen on launching wars against each other, and the generals are like fish in water. Although the civil servants have made some slight remarks, the foreign war has not affected the stability of the country at all. The national strength of the Sui Dynasty is booming, and the civil servants have nothing to say, let alone the military power is firmly in the hands of the emperor.

Generally, one-third of the people are on the battlefield every year. In other words, with the time on the road, half of their lives are spent on the battlefield, and each person has an elite team of at least ten thousand people. If there is any change, although a single person is not enough to accomplish anything, it can cause a big turmoil.

Wei Wensheng lowered his head and said nothing, allowing the emperor's anger to vent. It was not until Yang Yong asked him whether he wanted to rebel that Wei Wensheng decided: "Emperor, I dare not. I have always been loyal to the emperor. I was obsessed with it for a moment and believed in other people's instigation, so I made a big mistake."

"Well, who is instigated to you?" Yang Yong asked without surprise. Wei Wensheng had always been soft-hearted, otherwise he would not have let his subordinates embezzlement and bribery.

"When the emperor, it was Duke Shen Li Hun. Li Hun said that the emperor insisted on using the imperial examination to select scholars, but he was still dissatisfied with local officials and aristocratic families. Since ancient times, all the wise and talented people in the world came from aristocratic families. Even if one or two talented people were poor, the emperor was a minority and the majority of them. If the emperor was apart from the imperial examination, he would be far from the chaos of the Sui Dynasty. It would be better to burn all the test papers with fire. The emperor might have dispelled the idea of ​​the imperial examination. The weak ministers were not careful for a while and were deceived by Li Hun." At this time, Wei Wensheng no longer concealed it, and said it like a bamboo tube pouring beans.

Li Hun thought he was smart, but he did not expect Wei Wensheng to be noticed by the emperor as soon as possible, nor did he expect Wei Wensheng to sell him so frankly. In Li Hun's opinion, even if Wei Wensheng had an accident, he would be a general of the Pillar Kingdom and was once the emperor's confidant. At most, the emperor would punish him with hatred and hate him. At that time, he could still buy personal favors and contact the other ministers to ask for love for Wei Wensheng. Not only would Wei Wensheng not betray him, but he would also be grateful to him. However, after all his plans, they would be completely lost.

When Yang Yong heard Li Hun participate in it, he was furious and laughed. The Li family was extremely honorable. In history, because the nursery rhyme of "The flowers fall and the flowers bloom", Yang Guang suspected that the nursery rhyme was slandering Li Hun and killed all the Duke of Shen. Later generations even sighed for Yang Guang's mistaken killing Li Hun, but they never thought that with Li Hun's power and status as Li Hun was far better than Li Yuan, if it were not for being killed by Yang Guang, Li Hun might have won the world for Li Yuan.

Now, except for the title of Duke of Tang, Li Yuan has only seventh ranks of official positions. Moreover, the people's hearts within the Sui Dynasty are stable, so Yang Yong is naturally not afraid that Li Yuan still has the ability to rebel, but he did not expect that Li Hun would have a secret ill-intention.

"Very good, very good. Apart from Li Hun, who else is involved in this matter?" The emperor's voice contained anger that could not be suppressed.

Who else was besides Li Hun? Wei Wensheng was stunned when he heard this and shook his head quickly: "Go back to the emperor, I only know that Li Hun is the only one, and no one else participates."

"So the people who spread rumors and push scholars to make trouble are also the ones who do it?"

"I don't dare. I really don't know what the rumors outside are going on. I hope the emperor will observe clearly."

"Of course I will clearly observe. Since this matter has nothing to do with you, it is Li Hun's affairs. Li Min, Li Shanheng and Li Hun are nephews and have always been close to each other. How could Li Min and Li Shanheng not participate?"

Wei Wensheng understood and couldn't help but feel cold. There were more than 100 officials in the Li family, but they were led by Li Hun, Li Min and Li Shanheng. The emperor's intention was obviously to implicate all three of them. Although Wei Wensheng also understood in his heart that Li Min and Li Shanheng might really not be able to escape, but he didn't expect that the emperor would give the Li family no room.

"Wei Wensheng, I can give you a chance to atone for your sins. As long as you testify against Uncle and Nephew Li Hun, I can pardon your two sons and retain their titles and official positions. As for you, death penalty can be avoided, and living crimes are difficult to pardon. After this case, I will dismiss you overseas. Are you willing?"

"I obey the order." Wei Wensheng knew in his heart that the emperor had already made a fuss about him, otherwise it would be an exaggeration to be beheaded, not to mention that he had two sons who could retain his official position. Even if he wanted to refuse, it would be impossible.
Chapter completed!