Chapter 12 The game between eunuchs and civil servants

In the war of the Xianzong court against Wang Chengzong, the most thankless person was Liu Ji, Lulong Jiedu envoy.He did not hesitate to go to war with Chengde at the expense of his face, and helped the imperial court lay down several cities. As a result, Wang Chengzong shook hands with the imperial court as soon as he turned around. An extremely embarrassing situation. I worked so hard, but in the end, I turned out to be a double-faced person. What's the matter? Liu Ji's anger could not be vented, he could only hold it in his heart, so he suffocated it and broke.In the month of the imperial court's strike, Liu Ji, who was furious, fell ill.

As soon as Liu Ji fell, Lulong's civil strife broke out. Liu Ji has two sons, the eldest son Liu Min, and the second son Liu Zong.When Liu Ji led the army to crusade against Wang Chengzong, he took the eldest son Liu Yu as the deputy envoy of Jiedu and stayed in Youzhou; Then he led his troops to station in Yingzhou (now Hejian City, Hebei). As soon as the war ended, Liu Ji fell seriously ill and had to stay in Yingzhou temporarily.One day, someone suddenly claimed to be from Chang'an, and revealed a message to Liu Ji: "The imperial court believes that the commander-in-chief will not stay, and he has not built a meritorious service, so he has promoted the deputy envoy Liu Wei to Jiedu envoy. The festival is coming soon."

When Liu Ji heard this, he became even more angry. Before he could catch his breath, someone came to report the next day, saying that the special envoy of the imperial court who conferred the festival had passed Taiyuan. A few days later, someone rushed to report that the special envoy had passed Daizhou (now Dai County, Shanxi). Jiedu envoys were still alive, and the court made so many small tricks, and people in the barracks suddenly panicked. Liu Ji tossed and turned on the sickbed, thinking over and over again, and finally figured out a problem-this matter could not be done by the court.

The reason is very simple. During the crusade against Chengde, he, Liu Ji, worked the hardest among all the vassals. Even if the imperial court was defeated in the end, Liu Ji had no credit but hard work, and he would definitely not be dismissed by the imperial court.Therefore, the mastermind behind this incident cannot be someone else, 100% is the eldest son who stayed behind in Youzhou, Liu Wei, who was the deputy envoy of Jiedu at the time. Liu Ji was furious. I'm not dead yet, you kid can't wait to grab the class and seize power? Because Liu Ji believed it was the fault of Liu Ji, Liu Ji angrily hacked and killed dozens of generals who had been friends with Liu Min in his tent, and then ordered someone to go to Youzhou to bring Liu Min to see him.

Knowing that his father was seriously ill, the second son Mr. Liu rushed from Raoyang to take care of him.On July 17, Liu Ji's condition took a turn for the worse due to grief and indignation, and he didn't have any water or rice for the whole morning.At noon, Liu Ji suddenly felt hungry and thirsty.At this time, the second son Mr. Liu brought a bowl of water for his father himself. After drinking the bowl of water, Liu Ji suddenly bled from his orifices and died suddenly on the spot. On the same day, as soon as Liu Yu arrived in Zhuozhou, he was blocked by a group of people.In the name of Liu Ji, they announced Liu Ji's guilt, and immediately beat him to death with sticks.

After Liu Ji and Liu Wei died, someone laughed silently. This person is Mr. Liu. That's right, everything was planned by him.From spreading rumors about the deputy envoy's succession, to poisoning the water himself, to falsely spreading an order to kill his brother, all were within his plan. After doing all this, Mr. Liu took over Lu Long's military and political power logically. Poor Liu Ji, he still hated his eldest son Liu Wei until his death. What is even more pitiful is Liu Wei, who didn't know why he died until he died. Regarding this civil strife in Lulong, the court's attitude was to pretend to be deaf and dumb.Whether Mr. Liu turned against his father or not, the court didn't care.As long as Mr. Liu does not rebel against the court, the Xianzong court at this time can pretend that nothing happened.

The fruitless battle against Wang Chengzong not only shamed the Li Tang court, but also made those ministers in the court who were opposed to the war feel heartbroken.What made the courtiers even more indignant was that on the second day of September, Tutu Chengcui, who had suffered a defeat, returned to the capital, but was still appointed by Xianzong as the general of the left guard and acting lieutenant of the left army. Prime Minister Pei Jie immediately remonstrated: "Cheng Cui was the first to propose the use of troops by the imperial court, but in the end he was detrimental to the world, but he didn't get the slightest credit. Even if your majesty wanted to keep his old love and didn't kill him, how could he not be demoted to thank the world?"

The officials also suggested that Tutu Chengcui should be beheaded. Li Jiang also played: "Your Majesty does not punish Tutu Chengcui today. He will be defeated every day. How will His Majesty deal with it? If he is punished, he will be punished differently for the same crime. Those who are killed will never accept it; if they are pardoned, then Everyone only cares about saving their lives, so who is willing to fight to the death on the battlefield? May Your Majesty not bear the heart of adding crimes, and implement the unchangeable code, so that the generals of the world will be punished!"

Xianzong had no choice but to demote Tutu Chengcui to military envoy (director of weapons) two days later.People in the ruling and opposition parties were very happy. However, although Tutu Chengcui's superficial position was downgraded, Emperor Xianzong still favored him, and his actual influence in the court did not decrease at all.Since Emperor Dezong, the eunuchs in power can often secretly control the candidates for the governors of the feudal towns. Therefore, any army general who wants to become a high official in the border usually bribes the eunuchs, and in the end he always achieves his goal.

As the most favored eunuch of Emperor Xianzong, Tutu Chengcui was no exception. Li Jiang was extremely dissatisfied with this phenomenon of eunuchs taking power, so he often exposed Tutu Chengcui's various arbitrary and illegal acts in front of Xianzong.Xianzong once got tired of hearing it, and suddenly changed his face: "You have said too much!" Li Jiang burst into tears immediately, and said sincerely: "Your Majesty regards you as your confidant. If you are afraid of the powerful, wise and protect yourself, and know but don't speak up, you are letting your majesty down; but if you tell the truth, your majesty is not willing to listen." , that means His Majesty has failed the minister!"

In Xianzong's not too long life, one of the biggest shortcomings was the heavy use of eunuchs. In this regard, he was not much better than Dezong; however, the biggest difference between Xianzong and Dezong was also his most valuable advantage One of them is to be able to listen to harsh advice. At this moment, when Xianzong realized Li Jiang's good intentions, he immediately suppressed the anger in his heart, and said with a sincere attitude: "What Xianqing said is what others are unwilling or afraid to say. That's why I can hear what I couldn't hear before. Xianqing is worthy of being a loyal minister, and you can say whatever you want in the future, just like today." Li Jiang finds Tutu Chengcui not pleasing to the eye, and Tutu Chengcui certainly won't make Li Jiang's life easier. In the first month of the sixth year of Yuanhe (811 AD), Li Jiang suddenly received a transfer order.To be precise, this is a promotion order - he was transferred from the Imperial Academy and promoted to Minister of the Household Department. Li Jiang smiled wryly. He knew that Tutu Chengcui must have exerted influence on Xianzong behind his back.The reason why he was transferred from the Hanlin Academy was to prevent him from staying with the emperor all day; and the reason why he was promoted to the Minister of the Household Department was to put him on the stove on purpose. Why is it said that the Minister of Tobe is a stove? Because the Ministry of Households is in charge of finances, and the Xianzong court was seriously injured after last year's war, and it urgently needed a large number of blood transfusions; especially Xianzong himself, regarded increasing fiscal revenue as the top priority.Therefore, the servant of the household department must have a good way of making money, and moreover, he must have the ability to collect money for the imperial court and Xianzong. Does Li Jiang have this ability? No.So he was miserable. Sure enough, not long after Li Jiang took office, Emperor Xianzong talked to him and said: "According to the usual practice, in addition to taking care of the national treasury, the Minister of the Household Department should find a way to provide 'Xianyu' (fiscal income) to the inner treasury of the palace. surplus), but you have never made a contribution since you took office, why is that?” Li Jiang answered very frankly: "Your Majesty, as the Son of Heaven, should not focus on collecting money." Xianzong felt wronged: "Nowadays dozens of states in Henan and Hebei are beyond the reach of national government orders; the He and Huang areas (now Gansu and eastern Qinghai) for thousands of miles have long fallen into the hands of Tubo. Day and night I want to wash away the shame of my ancestors , but the financial resources are insufficient, so I have to try my best to save. If it is not for this, the expenses in my palace are extremely frugal, so why save so much money?" Xianzong was right. He was indeed not an extravagant and wasteful emperor. His purpose of saving money was also for the country, not for personal enjoyment.Li Jiang thought for a while, and felt that she was a little wrong to blame the emperor, so she quickly said seriously: "Ordinary local officials, who extort money from the people in exchange for the court's favor, are despised by the world, let alone ministers who are in charge of the household department. Lead by example. The Ministry of Households manages all His Majesty’s property. No matter income or expenditure, they are all recorded in the register. How can there be a surplus? If it is a surplus just by moving things from the national treasury to the internal treasury, then this is the same as digging the east wall to make up for it. What's the difference between the Western Wall? I dare not do this kind of deception." When Emperor Xianzong heard this, he admired Li Jiang's integrity very much, and he valued him even more since then. Tutu Chengcui deliberately tried to make Li Jiang look good, but it turned out to be self-defeating, and instead provided Li Jiang with more opportunities to perform, which really annoyed Tu Tuchengcui. Of course, he won't stop there. In the following days, Tutu Chengcui has been patiently looking for opportunities, no matter what, he will bring down Li Jiang.However, people are not as good as heaven.In November of the sixth year of Yuanhe, before Tutu Chengcui had time to overthrow Li Jiang, the incident happened to him. Tutu Chengcui had a subordinate named Liu Xiguang, who was the envoy of the bow and arrow warehouse at that time.This person secretly accepted a bribe of 20,000 yuan from a general of Habayashi in an attempt to obtain the position of governor of the feudal town for him. Unexpectedly, he was reported. Although Liu Xiguang is dead, the case is not over, because there are still big doubts - how can a small bow and arrow warehouse envoy have the ability to seek the position of Jiedu envoy for others? The facts of the case are obvious—there must be someone behind Liu Xiguang. who? Even fools know that Tu Tu Cheng Cui is the black hand hiding behind the scenes to engage in corruption. After investigation, the relevant departments quickly dug up the principal culprit, Tutu Chengcui, and then sent the complete file of the case to Xianzong. Looking at this conclusive case report, Xianzong was speechless.A few days later, Emperor Xianzong categorically issued an imperial edict, expelling his most favored eunuch Tu Tu Cheng Cui from the imperial court, and demoting him to the supervisor of Huainan. Xianzong was very proud of his "righteous destruction of relatives", and then said to Li Jiang: "I drove Tutu Chengcui away, how is this matter going?" Do you still need to ask?It was done beautifully!Li Jiang felt refreshed, and hurriedly said: "The courtiers didn't expect His Majesty to be so decisive!" Xianzong did not hide his complacency, and said: "This boy is just a domestic slave. In the past, he was very tolerant because he had been on duty for a long time; but once he broke the law, I took him away, just like taking away the whole family." Like a feather!" The game between the eunuch Tutu Chengcui and the civil servant Li Jiang finally came to an end with Tutu Chengcui's exit. Although this Tutu Chengcui was not defeated, and will return to the political stage of the empire in just three years, Li Jiang at this moment lacks a strong opponent after all.In other words, without the constraints and crowding out of Tutu Chengcui, Li Jiang's living space is much brighter, and her career development is naturally smoother than in the past. At the end of December in the sixth year of Yuanhe, one month after Tutu Chengcui was demoted, Li Jiang, who had been involved in decision-making for a long time but had no name as a prime minister, was finally promoted by Xianzong to be the Minister of Zhongshu and Tongping Zhangshi. chancellor of the empire. Prior to this, Pei Ji had left the prime minister due to a stroke, and there are currently two prime ministers with Li Jiang in the same dynasty, one is the former Taichang Qing Quan Deyu, who became prime minister with the title of minister of the Ministry of Rites last September; Li Jifu, the Huainan Jiedu envoy, became prime minister at the beginning of this year with the title of Minister of Zhongshu. Quan Deyu is a good old man, he is ambiguous in everything, he doesn't have a clear political position, let alone any political energy.In contrast, Li Jifu is much stronger than him.Therefore, before Li Jiang worshiped the prime minister, Li Jifu basically had the final say on the government affairs of the court.However, with Li Jiang's appearance, Li Jifu's life is not easy. Because Li Jiang is not Quan Deyu.To put it bluntly, Li Jiang was not the kind of person who would bow down at any time. He even dared to contradict the emperor, so how could he cater to Li Jifu? Since Li Jiang paid homage to the prime minister, he and Li Jifu often clashed in front of Xianzong. Whenever the two of them went to the palace to perform affairs at the same time, the shrewd Li Jifu always "followed Shangyi" and spoke in the tone of Xianzong, while the upright Li Jiang was the objection that should be opposed, the refutation that should be refuted, and Li Jifu was messed up more than once. His face was red and his ears were red, and he couldn't come down to the stage. "There is a gap between the two of them." (Volume 238) In the winter of the sixth year of Yuanhe, the game between the eunuchs and civil servants had just come to an end, and the fierce competition between the prime ministers began...