Chapter 309 Death
Not long after, Wang Yu finished writing the memorial. He was about to go out with the memorial in his hand, but was stopped by the eunuch at the door.

The eunuch said, "Doctor Wang, the sage has ordered you to stay here and not go anywhere."

Wang Yu said, "I have my own case to report to the Saint, please get out of the way."

The eunuch said, "The Saint has dismissed you from your post as Jingzhao Prefecture Governor. The current Jingzhao Prefecture Governor is Yang Zhao. You don't need to ask about the case."

"What?" Wang Yu was struck by lightning, with a look of disbelief.

……

In the lobby of the Ministry of Justice.

The left prime minister Chen Xilie, the newly appointed Chief Censor and Prefect of Jingzhao Prefecture Yang Guozhong, and the Assistant Censor Pei Mian jointly interrogated Wang Han.

Yang Guozhong slammed the table and asked, "Does your brother know about the rebellion you and Xing Xi committed?"

Pei Mian, who was standing by, had received Wang Yu's kindness and wanted to protect Wang Yu, so he said, "Wang Han, the saint has been very kind to you. You participated in the rebellion, which is disloyalty. Your brother has been very kind to you, and you have implicated him, which is unjust. If it weren't for your brother, you wouldn't be here today. Tell me the truth, does your brother know about Xing Xi?"

Yang Guozhong understood Pei Mian's implication and thought to himself: "The Wang family is really a deep-rooted family!"

Yang Guozhong thought to himself and said, "Tell the truth. Don't wrongly accuse a good person, and don't hide anything."

Wang Han was silent for a moment, then replied, "My brother has no idea about this."

"That means you did participate in the rebellion?" Yang Guozhong said indifferently.

"I...I didn't!" Wang Han argued.

Yang Guozhong said: "You didn't participate in the rebellion, how do you know whether your brother knew about it? In court, you still don't tell the truth!"

Wang Han was completely confused and didn't know how to answer for a moment.

Yang Guozhong stood up and walked to the hall, and asked softly, "Does your brother know about the matter between Ren Haichuan and Wei Hui?"

"What?" Wang Han was shocked.

Yang Guozhong said: "Cai Hua has been arrested, and many of Xing Xi's men have also been captured alive. Can you still hide this? Tell the truth and you will be spared physical pain!"

Wang Han looked at Yang Guozhong, took a few steps back, and said, "You...you..."

Chen Xilie and Pei Mian in the hall looked at each other, surprised and suspicious.

……

Two days later.

Yang Guozhong and Chen Xilie presented the results of the trial to Li Longji. The documents detailed the affairs of Ren Haichuan and Wei Hui. After reading them, Li Longji slowly closed his eyes and said in a sad tone, "They are treacherous and have hidden agendas. I decree that Wang Han be beaten to death and Wang Yu be sentenced to death."

Yang Guozhong said: "Yes."

……

All the servants of Jingzhao Prefecture were mobilized, and followed Yang Guozhong to search Wang Bo's mansion. They also carried out large-scale searches in Chang'an and Luoyang to arrest those who were related to Wang Bo's treason case. For a time, the court and the public were shocked, and everyone was in danger.

Li Ying was sitting on the side of the road eating. He looked up and saw the hurried Jingzhao government officials, a look of disappointment appeared on his face.

Zhang Guangsheng saw Li Ying's appearance and said, "They are just dog biting dog. Your Highness does not need to feel pity for these people."

Li Ying said: "Given Yang Zhao's character, he will definitely implicate innocent people."

Zhang Guangsheng said: "As long as the Right Prime Minister is still alive, Yang Zhao will be afraid and will not dare to go too far. If Yang Zhao dares to fight with the Right Prime Minister, the Saint will also favor the Right Prime Minister." "I hope so." Li Ying smiled helplessly.

Zhang Guangsheng felt that Li Longji would favor Li Linfu, but Li Ying did not think so.

The reason why Li Linfu controlled the government for many years was because he was good at managing finances and could cater to Li Longji's wishes. In Li Longji's view, Yang Guozhong can now do the same.

Moreover, compared with Li Linfu, Yang Guozhong is not from Guanzhong and has little to do with the interests of Guanzhong. Yang Guozhong can allow him to balance the interests of Guanzhong and other regions.

As the Tang Dynasty reached this point, Li Longji not only wanted to expand the territory externally, but also wanted to strengthen internal control and stabilize the Tang Dynasty.

However, no matter what kind of plan, someone needs to execute it. Does Li Longji really have the energy? Can Yang Guozhong live up to his expectations?

……

On the eighth day of the fifth month, Li Longji paid a visit to the Taiqing Palace, paid homage to heaven and reported to his ancestors, and canonized the Holy Ancestor Xuanyuan Emperor with the honorific title of Holy Ancestor Dadao Xuanyuan Emperor. The five emperors Gaozu, Taizong, Gaozong, Zhongzong, and Ruizong were all given the title of "Dasheng Emperor", and the Empress Taimu, Wende, Zetian, Hesi, and Zhao were all given the title of "Shunsheng Empress". The ministers presented the emperor with the honorific title of Kaiyuan Tiandi Dabao Shengwen Shenwu Yingdao Emperor.

Afterwards, Li Longji received the imperial edict in Hanyuan Hall and issued a general amnesty. From then on, every time he offered sacrifices to his ancestors, he would place his ancestors in the order of seniority in front of Shengzu in Taiqing Palace.

After completing this grand ceremony, Li Longji went on to make military and political arrangements.

It was not appropriate to continue the war against Tubo for the time being, so Li Longji accepted Tubo’s request for peace.

But if we don’t fight in the west, we have to start training in the northeast.

Li Longji conferred the title of Prince of Dongping on An Lushan, and concurrently appointed him as the prefect of Yunzhong and the governor of Hedong. He and Abusi, the deputy governor of Shuofang and the Prince of Fengxin, jointly fought against the Khitan.

Gao Xianzhi was promoted to the Jiedushi of Longyou, and Li Heng concurrently served as the Jiedushi of Anxi, Beiting and Hexi, and was in charge of all matters concerning the Uighurs.

……

In late June, Li Heng returned to Liangzhou, and Feng Changqing continued his journey west to Anxi to take charge of military and political affairs.

Li Heng saw Feng Changqing off and returned to his mansion.

In the room, Yang Yuhuan, who had just given birth, was still recuperating. Li Heng sat beside the bed and fed her medicine.

Yang Yuhuan smiled and said, "How could I be so virtuous as to allow you to ignore the military affairs of the three towns and personally feed me medicine."

Li Ying said: "The Tang Dynasty is full of talented people. If I don't do it, someone else will, but there is only one Princess Shou."

Yang Yuhuan said, "Yes, the Tang Dynasty is full of talented people, but why is it Yang Zhao's turn to take the throne? I thought that when my husband arrived in Chang'an, he would never let Yang Zhao climb up."

Li Ying said: "Because there is a power vacuum, someone needs to fill it. The financial expert Wang Yu stepped down, and another financial expert Yang Zhao could take over."

Yang Yuhuan said: "What kind of financial management is that? They are just finding various ways to extort money from the people."

Li Heng said: "Financial management is nothing more than increasing revenue and reducing expenditure. It is impossible to reduce expenditure in the Tang Dynasty, so the only way is to increase revenue. There are two ways for the court to increase revenue. One is to increase production, and the other is to ask for more distribution. Whether it is the right prime minister, Wang Yu, or Yang Zhao, they cannot increase production, and can only get more distribution for the court."

Yang Yuhuan thought for a moment and said, "Although the Right Prime Minister was called a treacherous prime minister, he was able to get the best of both worlds when distributing money. When it came to Wang Yu, he was fearless and would do anything to make money. Now that Yang Zhao is in power, I'm afraid he will become even worse."

"Yeah." Li Ying sighed.

Li Longji was ambitious and greedy for pleasure. Li Linfu whetted his appetite. In order to maintain the huge expenses, he could only employ people with even more unscrupulous minds to make money for him. Therefore, even without Yang Yuhuan, Yang Guozhong would still be able to come to power.

Nepotism was just a stepping stone for Yang Guozhong to enter the political arena. The reason why Yang Guozhong was valued was because Li Longji needed him.

Now that Yang Guozhong had lost his nepotism because of him, he gave it a push to make up for Yang Guozhong's shortcoming.

(End of this chapter)