Invincible son

Throughout the glorious history books, the court will never be calm.

After all, there are only a few muddle-headed officials who are ignorant, eating and waiting to die. It is the lifelong pursuit of most courtiers to hold power and leave a name in history. In Liu Xian's view, this is the root of the recent turbulent court disputes.

Pei Yue and Xiao Jin are the two tallest towering trees in the Daliang Army today - if Pei Yue goes further, it means that Gu Liang will definitely step down from his military post, and everyone knows this well.The most recent official involved in the fray, whoever he is impeaching, comes down to trying to impress the other.

It is extremely difficult for ordinary officials to get ahead. They will be tested and assessed once every three years, and at least they must get an "upper-average" evaluation to be eligible for promotion.Even if the evaluation is excellent, it may not be able to fly to the branch, because the position in the court has always been fixed, and the higher it goes, the more stable it is. Generally, at the end of the dynasty, there will be a strange situation of three rulings a year, two months and one military plane.

Someone like Luo Ting who entered the center just after his forties was really an outlier, and Pei Yue, a young and weak Duke, was even more unprecedented.

Therefore, in many cases, impeachment of important ministers became a shortcut for the promotion of middle- and lower-level officials. In the Taizong Dynasty, a servant censor successfully overthrew the nepotism minister of the official department, and he became famous and prosperous.Although Emperor Taizong didn't like this admonishing minister in his heart, he still entrusted him with important tasks, because such a courtier is a magic sword to eliminate officials.

Later generations do not know the good intentions of the sages, and they go further and further on this road, talking about benevolence, righteousness, morality and loyalty to the emperor and the country, but in fact they are still inviting to buy the famous flies and dogs.

Liu Xian naturally hated this kind of silverfish, but considering that he had not yet fully controlled the court, he did not plan to kill them for the time being, but just secretly wrote down the names of those people, and later settled accounts together.

However, Jing Chu's report at this moment caused the anger in his heart to rise suddenly, and it was almost impossible to restrain it.

Attacking the imperial court and colluding with the enemy's spies are two completely different concepts, and any aspiring king cannot tolerate the latter.

So all the courtiers in the hall could only hear His Majesty's cold voice coming into their ears: "Tell me, who is colluding with the enemy's espionage."

Since ascension to the throne, Liu Xian has always upheld the behavior style of a virtuous corporal, and treated the elderly ministers with even more respect, never showing such a livid face at this moment.

Jing Chu bowed his head and replied: "Your Majesty Qi Zuo, after Duke Wei was assassinated, the Taishi Tai Pavilion was ordered to arrest the assassin, and at the same time, he never gave up on the pursuit of the enemy's spies. Since four days ago, the Tai Pavilion discovered that some of the courtiers' mansions An abnormal situation occurred, these officials received a large amount of gold and silver bribes, some of them participated in the impeachment against the Marquis of Xiangcheng, and a small number of them chose to impeach Duke Wei."

He paused, ignored the commotion coming from behind, and said calmly: "Your Majesty, the first and third offices of the Taiwan Pavilion noticed a long time ago that the identities and whereabouts of some people in the capital are extremely suspicious, just to avoid alarming others." , so there has been no action. These days those people hooked up with the courtiers, intending to provoke the dispute between the Duke of Wei and the Marquis of Xiangcheng, and the Taiwan Pavilion has already obtained part of the evidence. Simultaneous shots everywhere, which should be rewarding."

The atmosphere in the hall was extremely tense, some people were trembling with earthy faces, while others had dignified expressions and deep eyes.

Liu Xian said word by word: "What I'm asking is, who are the names of these officials who accept bribes?"

Jing Chu lowered his head even more, and said slowly: "Reporting to Your Majesty, according to the evidence currently held by Taige, there are fourteen courtiers who are suspected of colluding with the enemy's espionage. Cai Jun, censor Qu Qing, imperial censor, Li Zhilong, doctor of the Simen Hall of the Imperial College, Duan Zhizhang, head of the internal storehouse of the household department, and Qian Guang, judge of Dali Temple..."

Every time he said a name, the air in Chengtian Hall became a little colder.

Luo Ting, who is in charge on the left, and Han Gongduan, who is next to him, looked at each other, full of anger and indisputable emotions in their hearts.

These fourteen officials are not important ministers, and their official ranks are between the sixth rank and the fourth rank, but they have one thing in common, that is, they are relatively young, and they have a good official reputation before. .If there is a suitable opportunity, they may be able to skyrocket into the ranks of real senior officials and become participants in governing the country.

"Your Majesty Qizuo, the reason why I want to impeach the Marquis of Xiangcheng is not because of Duke Wei's assassination, but because I found out that the sons of the Xiangguo Mansion oppressed Liangshan. Although this matter was not done by the Marquis of Xiangcheng himself, It can prove that he is not strict in running the family! Your Majesty, I have never accepted the bribe that Master Jing said, and it is even more impossible to collude with the enemy's secret agents! I am wronged!"

The person who opened the mouth was Yu Shitai's attendant Yu Shi Qu Qing, his face was flushed red and his eyes were full of grief and indignation.

The ministers looked complicated, Pei Yue turned his head and glanced at the censor who was only thirty years old, and sighed subtly in his heart.

Liu Xian looked at it indifferently and said nothing.

Jing Chu did not argue with him, but continued in the direction of the dragon chair: "Your Majesty, the evidence currently held by the Taige is not comprehensive enough, so it is not possible to determine whether these 14 people know the identity of the spy of the enemy country, or whether they are the only 14 people. After all the secret agents of the enemy country are arrested, the minister will definitely interrogate and check strictly, and will never wrongly punish any pillar of the country, and will not miss the black sheep who disturbed the imperial court!"

Liu Xian's chest rose and fell slightly, Jing Chu's expression made him feel a little relieved, at this moment he seemed to see a little imprint of Mo Moyun on this person.

The Taishitai Pavilion has a lot of power, and the chief official must be able to be upright and prudent, otherwise it will inevitably cause endless harm.

At this moment, Han Gongduan, who was in power on the right, came out and said: "Your Majesty Qi Zuo, this matter is very important and involves a lot of things, so I think that after the enemy's secret agents hidden in the capital are captured, the three law departments can jointly investigate the case thoroughly. "

Liu Xian's eyes narrowed.

Immediately afterwards, several important officials echoed their words, such as Ning Huai'an, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, Sheng Duanming, Minister of the Ministry of Rites, and Chen Kuan, Minister of the Ministry of War.

From the assassination of Wei Guogong to the collusion between the ministers of the DPRK and China and the enemy countries, the situation has become more and more serious, and it will inevitably lead to a fierce turmoil, and the power of the court will also be reshuffled accordingly.

Han Gongduan's remarks were not intended to excuse those courtiers, but rather that he did not want to hand over the power of review of this major case to Taishitai Pavilion.

Although he respects Mo Moyun's character very much in his heart, and has no resentment or rejection of his successor Jing Chu, Taishitai Pavilion is a privileged government office after all.Once this fierce tiger is released and they have the power to directly intervene in the government, the consequences will definitely be unimaginable.

From another point of view, retaining the power to investigate cases in the hands of the civilian group can minimize the occurrence of unjust cases.

The so-called Sanfa Division refers to the Ministry of Punishment, Dali Temple and Yushitai, which have been the private land of civil officials since ancient times.

However, Liu Xian did not treat Han Gongduan as pleasantly as usual, and said in a cold voice: "Just now, what Jing Chu said, did you not hear clearly the right ruler? Among the officials involved in this matter, there are the servants of Yushitai, some The judges of Dali Temple are also the doctor of the Ministry of Punishment."

The implication is that the buttocks of these civil servants are not clean at all, and asking them to check themselves is simply a joke.

Han Gongduan frowned slightly, and then said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, I request that you be in charge of reviewing this case in person, with the coordination of the three legal departments, and the Taishitai Pavilion will monitor the whole process from the side!"

Liu Xian was stunned, looking at Han Gongduan with resolute and persuasive eyes, the anger in his heart could not help subsiding a little.

He could not trust the Sanfa Division, but he could not openly express his doubts about the governance of the Eastern Mansion, as that would inevitably shake the foundation of the court.Furthermore, Han Gongduan is now also a scholar of the Hanlin Academy. Before he entered the East Mansion, he had raised him for more than [-] years.

When he was hesitating, Luo Ting, the governor of the left, came out to play and said: "Your Majesty, although the Taishitai Pavilion has the responsibility of supervising all officials, it has no power to adjudicate cases. This case must not be opened. I implore your majesty to approve the advice of the governor of the right." , I also firmly believe that he will never bend the law for personal gain!"

The two ruling parties agreed, and more important ministers came forward to support the proposal, and the balance in Liu Xian's heart kept tilting.

He looked down at Luo Ting and Han Gongduan, and then glanced at the silent relatives of Wu Xun, and gradually had the intention of giving in.

Although he really wanted to send all those idiots who linked up with the enemy's spies to the prison of Taishitai Pavilion, but in the face of the court princes headed by Luo Ting and Han Gongduan, he did not want to let the situation escalate to the point of no control.

Jing Chu watched this change quietly, and sighed secretly in his heart: "The Duke of the country really has no plans."

Just when he was about to deliver the speech he had prepared long ago, an inner eunuch suddenly entered the hall and said nervously: "Your Majesty Qi Zuo, Chen An, the Commander of Luan Yiwei, is asking to see you!"