Chapter 536 The Emperor's Art

Not long after the secret meeting of the Political Affairs Hall ended, a carriage quickly drove out of the Daming Palace. In the carriage was left Zhang Yun. He squinted his eyes and looked out the window, thinking about something. No one knew what he was thinking?

After leaving the Daming Palace, the carriage slowed down and walked slowly on the street like a walk. Zhang Yun was still a little confused.

He was like an extremely smart businessman, capturing business opportunities anytime and anywhere. The morning meeting of the Political Affairs Hall unexpectedly discovered Pei Min’s secret. It turned out that there was something wrong with Pei Min and Li Qing'an. Pei Min actually wanted Guo Ziyi to join the Political Affairs Hall instead of Li Qing'an, which surprised Zhang Yun so much.

He immediately realized that this was an opportunity, an opportunity to defeat Pei Min and he could replace him as the right prime minister.

Over the years, being promoted to the right prime minister has always been Zhang Yun's greatest expectation. Since the time of Li Linfu, he has been hoping to replace Li Linfu, but Yang Guozhong, who was the one who replaced Li Linfu in the end, was Yang Guozhong, not Zhang Yun, which disappointed Zhang Yun. As the court situation continued to change, he kept adjusting his position and position. In the end, he chose Li Qing'an, who realized that Li Qing'an would dominate the Tang Dynasty's regime for a long time.

Zhang Yun and Pei Min have never been ally, nor are they now. Compared with Pei Min, Zhang Yun is more like a politician. In fact, he is a politician. Speculation, seizing power, and launching power struggles are all his good at. It is his method of speculation that makes Zhang Yun a tumbler in the political arena of the Middle Tang Dynasty. As for maintaining the power of the prime minister and restricting the power of the monarch, he is not interested.

The carriage slowly walked to Zhuque Street. At this time, Zhang Yun gradually made up his mind and he must not let this opportunity go.

Thinking of this, Zhang Yun made a move and a confidant guard stepped forward and said, "Please give orders to the Prime Minister!"

"You go to the camp outside the city, find Li Qing'an, and tell him..."

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There is no airtight wall in the world. The news of the Zhengshi Hall holding a secret meeting about the Shuofang Army was still transmitted to Li Qing'an by those interested. Although Li Qing'an did not know the specific content of the meeting, he thought that the secret meeting was very problematic. What did the Zhengshi Hall want to do? Do you want to incorporate Guo Ziyi's army?

If Guo Ziyi's unwillingness to surrender made Li Qingan admire him, then the ambiguous attitude of the Zhengshitang on this matter made Li Qingan feel a little alert.

Perhaps because Li Qing'an and Chang'an were on the border, he was not very clear about the various government affairs procedures of the Zhengshi Hall, but he always firmly grasped one principle, that is, military power, and any power he could temporarily place to the Zhengshi Hall, but military power was firmly grasped in his hands.

Li Qing'an walked slowly in the tent with his hands behind his back. Guo Ziyi's entry into Beijing was as expected, but the attitude of the Zhengshitang was beyond his expectations. He thought Pei Min would come to discuss with him first! As a result, Pei Min actually wanted to bypass him, Li Qing'an and directly command the army.

Li Qingan couldn't help but sneer, Pei Min was a little too anxious! He revealed his intention too early.

A Guo Ziyi incident unexpectedly exposed some inconsistency between him and the Zhengshitang. I wonder if he wanted to thank Guo Ziyi for entering Beijing?

At this time, a report from a soldier came from outside the tent: "General, the right prime minister is here, and we are going to see the general."

Li Qing'an nodded and said, "Let him come in!"

Although Li Qingan was full of dissatisfaction with Pei Min at this time, he also did not believe in Zhang Yun. Zhang Yun's trick of hurting people with a hidden arrow made him more vigilant. He needed to ask the matter clearly. Who is this?

After a moment, Pei Min walked in nervously under the guidance of two personal soldiers. Li Qing'an always respected him very much and would greet him in person every time. Now he not only did not come out to welcome him, but he also didn't even have the word "please". Pei Min had already sensitively realized that Li Qing'an might have known that the Political Affairs Hall had held a meeting to discuss the matter of Shuofang Army.

As soon as he entered the big tent, Li Qing'an sat in the handsome tent in the big tent, looked at him coldly. He felt a trembling heart, and he hurried forward and bowed: "I have something to discuss with the general, I'll come and visit me!"

"Sit down!"

Li Qing'an pointed to the chair next to him, and his attitude was very cold. Pei Min tidied up his clothes and sat down. At this time, he had calmed down. He came to see Li Qing'an with great sincerity.

"Pei Xiangguo, I heard that the Political Affairs Hall discussed the matter of Shuofang Army in the morning. Is that true?"

Pei Min sighed in his heart, how difficult it is for the officials of the court to join forces. There are always people with dissent. I wonder who told Li Qing'an this time?

Li Qing'an's eyes were cold and harsh, making him have no time to think about it, so he straightened his waist and said, "The General is right. The Political Affairs Hall did discuss the matter of Shuofang Army in the morning."

"Hmph! Doesn't Pei Xiangguo think that the Political Affairs Hall is overstepping power?"

Pei Min knew that Li Qing'anhui asked this, and he said righteously: "If the general thinks this way, then the general is wrong. The Zhengshi Hall did not discuss Shuofang's military affairs, but was discussing Guo Ziyi's application for the relocation of 20,000 civilian households in the inner road to Lingzhou. I think we did not exceed our authority. This is indeed under the jurisdiction of the Zhengshi Hall. Just like the general who wanted to relocate 300,000 mainland people to Anxi, it was also the Zhengshi Hall's discussion and decision at that time."

Pei Min's convincing words did not change Li Qing'an's conclusion. He said slowly: "Pei Xiangguo, I hope you can understand the concessions I made. I entered Guanzhong with a divine power. I did not step on the Hanyuan Hall, nor did I claim to be the governor, nor did I monopolize the Political Affairs Hall. The seven members of the Political Affairs Hall were all expected. On the contrary, I did not use military power to suppress the regime and did not interfere with the exercise of the Political Affairs Hall. I hope my concessions can keep the political situation in the Tang Dynasty stable. This is a balance, a tacit understanding between our military and political parties. If the Political Affairs Hall wants to break this balance and destroy this tacit understanding, then Pei Xiangguo will regretfully tell you that I want to dissolve the Political Affairs Hall and let all officials recommend the new Prime Minister again. Will Pei Xiangguo be willing to do this?"

Li Qing'an's words were a threat, which made Pei Min very helpless, and he said, "We admire the general's intention to not engage in political affairs. We do not mean disrespectful to the general. However, moving the people in the inner hall to the Guandi is indeed the responsibility of the Political Affairs Hall. Of course, the migrants will also involve the military, so we did not make any decision in the morning, but thought it would be best to listen to the general's opinions. This is the purpose of my visit to the General now."

After saying that, Pei Min took out Guo Ziyi's memorial and handed it to the personal soldiers next to him. The personal soldiers handed it to Li Qing'an. Li Qing'an picked up the memorial and flipped it. It was indeed similar to what Pei Min said, but there were still some details related to him. For example, Guo Ziyi hoped to extend the beacon tower located on the west bank of the Yellow River in Yanzhou to Shuofang to prevent An Lushan from invading the inner road again. This is the military affairs under his jurisdiction under Li Qing'an.

However, Li Qingan didn't say much. He pushed the memorial on the table and returned it to Pei Min. He said lightly: "Since Guo Ziyi is determined to report to the Political Affairs Hall, there is nothing I can do. He is Shuofang Army and I can't ask about his affairs. I don't want to know about this matter. Pei Xiangguo doesn't need to discuss with me anymore. Okay, there is nothing to do. Pei Xiangguo will ask him back! I still have military affairs, so I won't leave Pei Xiangguo to sit for more."

Pei Min sighed secretly. Although Li Qing'an was tough, he didn't want to give in. Seeing that he could not continue talking, he had to get up and say, "Okay then! I'll say goodbye."

Li Qing'an said nothing. When Pei Yuan said goodbye and left, he slowly walked to the tent door and looked at Pei Min's back and walked away. He sighed softly, "Good minister, it's a pity that it's not right!"

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What happened in the next two days was in Guo Ziyi's schedule. Guo Ziyi met with the new emperor and the queen mother, formally reported to the Zhengshi Hall, and visited some retired veterans in the capital, but he never came to see Li Qing'an, and there was no arrangement to meet with Li Qing'an in his schedule.

But Li Qing'an did not ask about anything about Guo Ziyi, as if Guo Ziyi had nothing to do with him in Beijing, but strange things also happened. The next morning, the Political Affairs Hall appointed Cui Ping, the head of the Hexi Jiedu Prefecture, to be appointed as the subordinate minister, and Liu Yan, the coin minting commander of Anxi, was appointed as the deputy minister of the Ministry of Revenue.

Just when everyone thought that this was the Political Affairs Hall giving in to Li Qing'an, another more interesting news came out: originally Li Qing'an should marry Pei Wan'er the next day and officially marry the Pei family, but Li Qing'an put it aside indefinitely on the grounds of waiting for the auspicious day. If he didn't say it, no one would know when his auspicious day was?

In Pei's mansion, Pei Yang, the prefect of Ningzhou, told his father that he had received from his in-laws' secretary Lu Huan. Pei Jun, the son of Pei Jun, married Lu Huan's daughter. Lu Huan told him that his clan brother, Pei Min, led all the prime ministers of the Political Affairs Hall to confront Li Qing'an on Guo Ziyi's affairs.

"Father, Mr. Lu said that this incident seemed to be indifferent on the surface, but in fact the undercurrent was intensifying. Li Qingan was very annoyed by the incident. He and Pei Min had already turned their faces."

"I just knew it was him who was ruining the Pei family's major affairs!"

Pei Zunqing was so angry that he slapped the table hard. With a loud bang, the pen, ink, paper and inkstone on the table also jumped up. He hated his teeth and gritted his teeth and said, "This man claims to be noble. Do you really think the power of the Political Affairs Hall is supreme? Humph! Our Pei family will die at his hands sooner or later."

Pei Yang is Pei Wan'er's father. He returned to Beijing to attend the 99th Festival of uncle Pei Kuan. He happened to encounter this incident. Although his father Pei Zunqing hated Pei Min deeply, Pei Yang agreed to Pei Min's approach to a certain extent. He was quite dissatisfied with his father's practice of only considering family interests and not taking into account the overall situation of the court.

He advised his father: "Father, Pei Min does this, in fact, is a certain truth. Since Li Longji issued an edict from the palace with the Grand Secretary of the Cabinet to weaken the power of the Secretary of the Central Secretariat, the power of the prime minister has been in a weak state. Li Qing'an entered the Central Plains as a warlord. If he ascended the throne in the future, he would definitely restrict the power of the prime minister even more severely. Now the emperor is young, and it is time for the re-establishment of the system of the Political Affairs Hall. If Li Qing'an really wiped out the world and ascended the throne, it would probably be too late to strengthen the power of the prime minister again. Therefore, at this critical moment, Pei Min and the Political Affairs Hall must not give in."

"You know nothing!"

Pei Zunqing's face turned red and she shouted straight at her neck, "What is the reconstruction of prime minister's power? When did the Zhengshitang take charge of military power? Pei Min was a scholar. Did he think that if Guo Ziyi wins over, he can fight against Li Qing'an? Do he think everyone is supporting him? Stupid! Who is Zhang Yun? Will he support Pei Min? After dealing with so many years, he has not learned any lessons. Zhang Yun is following the flow and pushing that idiot into the abyss. It would be fine if he wants to enter the abyss, but he still has to implicate the Pei family and my granddaughter. I'm stupid! I've never seen such a stupid person."

"Then my father said, what should we do now?"

Pei Zunqing sighed heavily, forcing himself to calm down, and then slowly said to his son: "If I was not wrong, Zhang Yun has betrayed Pei Min. It seems calm now, but I have already smelled the signs before the storm. I guess Pei Min will be unable to protect this time. Even if he doesn't fall for the time being, I'm afraid his right prime minister will not be able to be long."

“Is it really that serious?”

Pei Yang was a little disbelief and said, "Does my father look down on Li Qing'an too highly?"

Pei Zunqing stared at his son in a daze. He didn't expect his son to say such words. He wanted to be angry but couldn't come out. He had to patiently say to his son: "Like Pei Min, you have the habit of being noble and arrogant in your bones. You all look down on Li Qing'an and think that he is just a warlord. He relies on military strength to gain his current status. You are all too self-righteous. I will only tell you one thing. Do you know why Cui Huan was obviously defeated by Li Qing'an, but why did he re-enter the government affairs hall? Do you know the inside story here?"

Pei Yang frowned and said, "Isn't it the result of Li Qing'an's later compromise with Li Heng?"

"Compromise? Hum!"

Pei Zunqing snorted coldly and said, "If it was Li Heng's intention, then why did Cui Huan become the Prime Minister later? Have you ever thought about it?"

Pei Yang understood a little, "What my father means..."

"You understand! In fact, after Li Qing'an overthrew Cui Huan, he privately won over this person, first taught him a lesson and gave him benefits, so he captured the Cui family in his own hands, and then agreed to marry the Pei family and play with the Cui and Pei families. Think about it again, why did he suddenly transfer Cui Ping to Beijing and serve as the minister of the disciples? Who is Cui Ping?"

Pei Yang suddenly realized that Cui Ping was the son of Cui Yu and the direct descendant of the Cui family. Because he had a bad relationship with Cui Huan, the head of the family, and was not allowed to worship his ancestors for three years, he blurted out, "I understand, Li Qing'an wants Cui Ping to replace Cui Huan!"

"You understand! What this is, this is the art of the emperor."

"What about our Pei family?" Pei Yang asked in surprise.

At this time, a hint of undetectable joy appeared on Pei Zunqing's face and said with a smile: "I thought Li Qing'an would transfer Pei Mian to Beijing, but he transferred Liu Yan, which means that he already had a candidate for the Pei family in his heart."

"Can it be Pei Yu?"

Pei Zunqing glanced at his son, he shook his head and said lightly: "Pei Yu is too young, and may be used twenty years later. Now, he needs an old, spicy, and worldly-wise one. Does my son understand?"

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Guo Ziyi's various schedules in Beijing have finally come to an end. He will return to Lingzhou in two days. That afternoon, he suddenly received a notice from the Political Affairs Hall asking him to come to Zichen Hall to attend the meeting and continue to discuss the relocation of military households. Guo Ziyi was overjoyed. There was no conclusion on this matter. Today, the Political Affairs Hall should give him a reply.

He immediately came to Zichen Hall excitedly. The Chamber of Commerce was set up in the side hall. Nearly a hundred ministers had already sat in the hall, and officials of the fifth rank or above arrived. All officials gathered together, and even Queen Mother Chen appeared behind the curtains in the hall.

Guo Ziyi was a little late. An official led him to a seat. Guo Ziyi nodded to everyone in a quiet manner and sat down. Pei Min was directly opposite him. He saw his face as deep as water and his face was unhappy. Guo Ziyi was stunned. He then realized that Li Qing'an was also sitting at the top, with a plain smile in his eyes.

Pei Min was very helpless. He originally discussed and moved to Lingzhou through 20,000 households in Guannei Road today, but Li Qing'an finally stated that since a large number of people in Guannei Road are participating in the construction of Tangzhi Road, and there are still 50,000 households in Guannei Road to move to Anxi, none of these things have been completed. If 20,000 households are moved north now, it will inevitably affect the construction of Tangzhi Road and the sinicization of Anxi. Li Qing'an suggested that in principle, it can agree to relocate, but it must wait for the construction of Tangzhi Road to be officially implemented. In addition, immigration in Anxi must be given priority, that is, at least three years later.

Pei Min knew that this was Li Qing'an's delaying strategy, but he had nothing to say. After all, Tang Zhidao and Anxi immigrants were approved first, so he could only accept it silently.

At this time, a crisp bell rang in the hall, and the meeting began. The Censor Lu Yi, who presided over today's meeting, stood up and saluted the Empress Dowager first and said, "Empress Dowager, then we will officially start."

Chen Zhenzhu, behind the curtain, said softly: "The Ai family is just here to listen and does not interfere in politics. Please continue, all ministers."

Lu Yi nodded to Li Qing'an again, and then said loudly: "Today's meeting was proposed by His Highness Zhao, the Grand Marshal of the World, and discussed the war against the Central Plains. The following meeting officially began."

Hearing this sentence, Guo Ziyi's mind buzzed, not discussing immigration, but discussing the war against the Central Plains. What's going on? He looked at Pei Min, and Pei Min smiled bitterly, saying that he had no choice.

At this time, Li Qing'an stood up and took out a memorial to everyone, saying: "This is Yan Zhenqing, the prefect of Yizhou of Hebei Province, sent an urgent report this morning. An Lushan has recruited 300,000 Hu soldiers. Together with Fan Yang and Lulong's troops, it is known as a 500,000 army. It is already underway for the final preparations. An Lushan's rebellion will break out at any time. Now the court has only 200,000 troops. At the same time, it must defend against the Southern Tang army to the north. In this way, we will face the severe shortage of troops against An Lushan's rebellion. In order to solve the problem of insufficient troops, and to block An Lushan in Hebei, I suggest that the court immediately send troops to the Central Plains and recruit more than 100,000 troops to stay in the Central Plains. I have reported to the Empress Dowager, and the Empress Dowager agreed to my plan."

Chen Zhenzhu's face was a little unnatural. In fact, she had no right to interfere in such military and national affairs, but Li Qing'an must take her banner, and she had no choice but to say loudly: "Among An Lushan's wolf ambitions are well known to everyone. If we do not come out of Guanzhong, then Hedong and Henan Road will be handed over to An Lushan. There is a dense population and fertile land. It will inevitably greatly strengthen An Lushan's strength and bring endless disasters to the people of both places. Therefore, the Ai family agreed with His Highness Zhao's proposal to block An Lushan in Hebei and protect the people of the world. The Political Affairs Hall can vote."

At this time, Zhang Yun was the first to raise his hand, "I appreciate the Empress Dowager's opinion and agree with His Highness Zhao's proposal."

Immediately afterwards, Lu Huan and Wei Tao also raised their hands, "Agree!"

Zhang Hao and Wang Jin pondered for a moment, and raised their hands almost at the same time. At this time, the five people in the Political Affairs Hall had agreed. Even if Pei Min and Cui Huan disagreed, it would be meaningless. The votes for support were already over half. Pei Min nodded and said, "I also support the enemy."

"good!"

Li Qing'an continued: "Since the Political Affairs Hall has been passed, as the Grand Marshal of the World, I need to make military deployment. I will personally lead 100,000 troops out of Tongguan to Luoyang and recover Henan Road. Although our troops north of Hedong Road are our troops, their strength is very small, which is not enough to recover the entire territory of Hedong, nor is it enough to resist the invasion of An Lu Shandong."
Chapter completed!