Chapter 113: Blocking the way of speaking, two-way choice
Li Ying looked at the looks people gave him, and he felt mixed emotions.

All along, Li Heng has been pursuing only power.

The so-called people's livelihood and the common people are just bargaining chips on his road to power.

In his heart, he rarely really takes the people as his starting point and foothold.

But now, looking at those expectant eyes in front of him, Li Ying truly felt the weight of responsibility on his shoulders.

Every decision he makes affects thousands of real people.

Li Heng pondered for a moment, came to the front of the altar, and said to everyone: "The Tiantong Sect used fraudulent means to spread evil doctrines, deceive heaven and earth, illegally amass wealth, and bully neighbors. This crime is unforgivable. This king orders that all members of the Tiantong Sect be detained, and they will be convicted after the details are investigated and the connections behind them are clarified. All the assets involved in the Tiantong Sect will be seized. You can report the money that was defrauded to the government office. After the government office verifies it, this king will arrange for people to return it according to the proportion of the assets seized by the Tiantong Sect."

Li Heng had no use for the little money accumulated by the Tiantong Sect, so he might as well return it to those who were deceived. As for how much he could return, it depended on how much was seized. Li Heng would not take it and would not pay it.

Seeing that they still had a chance to get back some of the money they had been defrauded of, everyone went from feeling sad to feeling happy and thanked Li Heng one after another.

Li Heng raised his hand to interrupt everyone and said, "You are all good people of the Tang Dynasty. You should all know that you need to work hard to get rich and seek medical treatment when you are sick. This king will do his best to ensure that everyone has their own land to farm and their own medical treatment. In addition, this king will ask the warehouse department to regularly find famous doctors to explain basic medical theories to everyone to relieve everyone's worries about illness."

Although the environment in Anxi is not so good, it has a vast territory and a sparse population, and the contradiction between population and land is far less severe than that in Hebei, so it is still possible to let the people here cultivate their own land.

As for the fact that everyone has access to medical care, there is an element of bragging, because the Tang Dynasty did not have a mature medical system that fully served the people. But precisely because there has never been one, everyone's requirements for having access to medical care are very low. As long as Li Heng shows his concern for them, it is enough.

So Li Heng said that he would find a famous doctor to explain medical principles to them, and for them, he would be a "benevolent master."

Everyone was grateful after hearing Li Heng's arrangements.

Zhang Mujin, who was standing nearby, heard that Li Ying was going to explain medical theories to the people, so she came to Li Ying's side and whispered, "Your Highness, Mujin is willing to compile easy-to-understand medical theories into a book so that it can be easily explained."

"Okay." Li Heng nodded in agreement.

……

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Chang'an City.

Xingqing Palace, Purple Palace.

There were two memorials on Li Longji's desk. One of them advised Li Longji to pay more attention to state affairs, and the other impeached Li Linfu for his autocracy and dictatorship.

Li Longji looked at the two memorials with an annoyed look on his face, and said to His Highness Li Linfu: "Prime Minister Li, why do you still present such memorials to me?"

Since Zhang Jiuling was demoted, Li Longji intervened less and less in state affairs, leaving most of them to Li Linfu and Niu Xianke.

Although Niu Xianke had worked hard and made great contributions, he was no match for Li Linfu in politics, so he had to listen to Li Linfu in all matters, big and small.

Li Linfu basically completed the monopoly of power.

But Li Linfu knew that his current monopoly on power was only temporary. If he wanted to maintain it for a long time, in addition to doing things that were in line with Li Longji's wishes, he also had to block the channels for speech, eliminate dissidents, and exclude talented people.

Today, he deliberately submitted these two memorials to clear the way for the blocking of speech. Li Linfu said, "Your Majesty, as the Minister of the Central Secretariat, I manage the affairs of the Tang Dynasty for you. Although I believe that I have devoted all my energy and efforts, there are many things to manage, and it is inevitable that there will be officials who disagree with my political views. If I do not report these doubts to Your Majesty truthfully, I am afraid that people with ulterior motives will accuse me of deceiving Your Majesty."

"You do have a point." Li Longji sneered, picked up the memorial advising him to take more care of state affairs, and said, "I have been on the throne for 26 years. In these 26 years, I have worked hard to govern the country and created a prosperous era. But this censor said in his memorial that this prosperous era was a dream, saying that I judged the hearts of the people of the world with my own heart, and regarded the nine provinces and four seas as my own property, taking and taking as I pleased. According to what he said, am I not a tyrant for all time?"

Li Longji became angrier and angrier as he spoke. After he finished speaking, he suddenly stood up and threw the memorial to the ground.

"Someone, burn it."

Li Longji was furious.

Upon hearing this, Gao Lishi immediately ordered someone to take the memorial down and burn it.

There was silence in the hall.

After a while, Li Longji said to Li Linfu: "This man is so rebellious, how should we deal with him? Prime Minister Li, please consider it."

"Yes." Li Linfu bowed and replied.

What Li Linfu was waiting for was Li Longji to say this.

Li Linfu knew that with Li Longji's talent, he could not block the way for others to speak out on his own without Li Longji's permission.

"And this impeachment letter against you." Li Longji handed the letter to Gao Lishi. After Gao Lishi handed the letter to Li Linfu, he continued, "Prime Minister Li is devoted to the country, but there are always people who make trouble out of nothing. Prime Minister Li can handle it himself."

Li Longji showed great trust in Li Linfu.

This was not because Li Longji really thought that the person who impeached was making trouble out of nothing, but because he supported Li Linfu in doing so, because only in this way could Li Linfu make more money for him.

Throughout history, no matter whether a minister is virtuous or treacherous, if he wants to achieve something and get things done smoothly, he must have absolute power.

It's just that when a wise minister holds power, most of the people he removes are bad apples who do not do their jobs or who mess things up. They are replaced by capable officials who do their jobs. Therefore, when a wise minister holds power, he is asked to rectify the administration of officials and restore order, such as Yao Chong.

When a treacherous prime minister monopolizes power, the people he eliminates are those capable officials who want to work for the people and try to stop him from achieving his bad goals. Therefore, the process of a treacherous prime minister monopolizing power is also called "party-based suppression of dissidents."

But in essence, a new group of people needs to be replaced.

Li Longji wanted to enjoy himself and couldn't bear to hear those unpleasant words, so he had no choice but to use Li Linfu and allow Li Linfu to persecute those who disturbed his enjoyment and made him angry.

So to some extent, it is not so much that Li Linfu blocked people's opinions and excluded talented people, but rather that Li Longji needed Li Linfu to block people's opinions and exclude talented people for him.

Li Linfu was very smart and knew everything about this matter, so he submitted these two memorials today and asked Li Longji to give him the power to deal with the ministers of remonstration on his own.

Now that Li Longji had acquiesced, Li Linfu bowed again to accept the order, then changed the subject and said, "Your Majesty, Anxi sent an urgent report, requesting to support the Huang surnamed Turks in exchange for the city of Suiye."

Li Longji had received a secret report from Xin Yunjing on this matter, and he had a clear understanding of the negotiation process between Li Heng and Moheda Gan. Therefore, Li Longji did not react much, but asked, "What do you think Prime Minister Li should do?"

Li Linfu thought for a moment and said, "The Turks have repeatedly harassed our Anxi in recent years and are a great enemy of the Tang Dynasty in the Western Regions. Therefore, some people in the court suggested that we should unite with the Arabs to eliminate the Turks and allow the areas occupied by the Turks to enter the path of imperial rule."

Li Linfu's words rejected Li Heng's proposal from another perspective.

(End of this chapter)