Chapter 25 The Hall of Dominance

Ever since Pei Du and Yuan Zhen dismissed their chancellors, Li Fengji was the only one in the court, and no one could shake his position.As a result, those who knew the current affairs among the courtiers took refuge one after another, and soon formed a powerful buddy around Mr. Li. This dead party is headed by Li Fengji's nephew Li Zhongyan, and has Zhang Youxin, Li Xuzhi, Zhang Quanyu and others under his command, known as the "Eight Passes and Sixteen Sons".The so-called "Eight Gates" means that Li Zhongyan and other eight people are the core of this dead party. If anyone wants to ask Li Fengji to do something, they must first bribe them, which is equivalent to eight gates; Li Zhongyan and other eight people also have eight subordinates, so they are collectively called " Sixteen sons".

Facing the powerful Li Fengji's party, most courtiers dare not provoke him, and only want to keep themselves clean.However, there are always one or two upright people who never buy Li Fengji's account. For example, Li Shen, a Hanlin scholar. Since the mid-Tang Dynasty, Hanlin bachelors have been a very important position. Many prime ministers were promoted from this position. Therefore, Hanlin bachelors in the middle and late Tang Dynasty are often called "inner ministers". Phase Lu Zhi. When Mu Zong was in power, Li Shen was deeply trusted by the emperor. Whenever Mu Zong discussed government affairs with him, he would lose no time in belittling Li Fengji.In addition, whenever Li Fengji submitted a memorial to the palace, as long as Li Shen saw it, he would usually use his "internal minister" power to veto it calmly.

For such a person who challenged him everywhere, Li Fengji naturally hated him so much.So as early as last winter, he had carefully planned a round to bring Li Shen down. It was September of the third year of Changqing, and the post of Yushi Zhongcheng was vacant, and Mu Zong asked Li Fengji to recommend a candidate.Li Fengji recommended Li Shen without saying a word.His reason is that Li Shen is upright and honest, and he is the best candidate to clean up the political style and maintain the court's discipline. When Mu Zong heard it, he thought it was very reasonable and immediately approved it.

At this time, Mu Zong certainly would not have thought that Li Fengji was setting Li Shen up.He sent Li Shen to Yushitai for the purpose of watching a good show. At that time, Han Yu was the head of Yushitai.And Han Yu is the same kind of person as Li Shen, with an upright temperament and never rubbing sand in his eyes.Many people know that in the last years of Emperor Xianzong, Han Yu was almost beheaded by Emperor Xianzong because of the famous "Remonstrance to Ying Buddha Bone Table". Thanks to Pei Du and Cui Qun's strong advice, he saved his life.In June of the third year of Changqing, Han Yu was transferred from the Minister of the Ministry of Officials to Jing Zhaoyin.Before him, the Forbidden Army had always been domineering in the capital, and the former Jing Zhaoyin did not dare to provoke him, but when Han Yu came, the Forbidden Army suddenly became obedient, and they all warned each other in private: "This Han is even the Buddha's bone!" If you dare to burn it, we must not fall into his hands!"

At that time, in addition to Jing Zhaoyin, Han Yu also served as the doctor of imperial history.According to the regulations, Jing Zhaoyin who has this part-time job not only has to work in the yamen, but also goes to Yushitai to work at certain specified times, which is called "Taiwan Can". Li Fengji planned to play tricks here and let Li Shen and Han Yu fight to the death. As soon as Li Shen took office at Yushitai, Li Fengji immediately informed Han Yu that he didn't need to participate in Taiwan.Li Shen didn't know about this, and found out that his immediate boss didn't come to work for a few days, so he sent an official letter to Han Yu.Han Yu had the chancellor's permission, so of course he had reasons not to go.So the two had a spat of words in the back and forth official documents, both sides were very tough in their words, and finally there was a lot of trouble, which was known to all courts.

Li Fengji immediately went up to Mu Zong, saying that Li Shen and Han Yu, as ministers, should tear their face apart for such a trivial matter, it is really unbearable to set an example for the ministers, and they should be relegated. Mu Zong also felt that Li and Han were too ignorant, so he demoted Han Yu to be the Minister of the Ministry of War and Li Shen to be the Jiangxi Observer. At this point, Li Shen and Han Yu both realized that they had been tricked by Li Fengji.Afterwards, the two entered the palace to have an audience in the name of saying goodbye to the emperor.Mu Zong also vaguely felt that something was wrong, so he asked them to explain the ins and outs of the matter carefully.

After the matter spread out, the fool also understood where the problem was. Mu Zong immediately withdrew his order and appointed Han Yu as the Minister of the Ministry of Officials and Li Shen as the Minister of the Ministry of Households. The carefully planned game fell short at the last moment, and Li Fengji was very unwilling. In the first month of the fourth year of Changqing, Mu Zong passed away and Jing Zong came to the throne. Li Fengji was glad that Li Shen's backer had fallen, but at the same time he couldn't help worrying that the new king would reuse Li Shen again. In order to completely settle this deadly enemy, Li Fengji gathered his party members, plotted day and night, and finally came up with a two-pronged approach.First, destroying Li Shen's mass foundation, making the civil and military of the Manchu Dynasty hate him; second, destroying the trust of the leaders in him, making the new emperor Li Zhan loathe him.

From ancient times to the present, if a person wants to do well in the officialdom, he needs the two major prerequisites of "mass foundation" and "leadership appreciation".Li Fengji's strategy is obviously to uproot Li Shen's officialdom. Of course, to achieve this goal, a lot of meticulous work must be done. First of all, Li Fengji bought Li Yu, a son of Li Shen's clan, and asked Li Zhongyan, Zhang Youxin and others to cooperate with him to create public opinion among the ruling and opposition parties, spreading rumors that Li Shen had been spying on officials secretly, and those who often gathered to discuss current affairs , were all blacklisted by him on the grounds of "making cronies", and then reported to the emperor.

Since this matter came from Li Shen's clan, many courtiers believed it to be true, and naturally they all had a great dislike for Li Shen. The first step was a great success, and Li Fengji immediately launched the second step, asking the power eunuch Wang Shoucheng for help, trying to find a way to discredit Li Shen in front of the new emperor.On the following day, Wang Shoucheng found an opportunity when no one was around, and said to the little emperor, "Your Majesty, do you know who made you the heir apparent?" The little emperor said without hesitation, "Prime Minister."

Wang Shoucheng asked again: "Which prime minister?" The little emperor looked bewildered. Wang Shoucheng smiled: "No one knows the inside story of this matter better than the minister. The reason why His Majesty was able to visit the Great Treasure was entirely due to the strength of Li Fengji. As for people like Du Yuanying and Li Shen, they all wanted to support the King of Shen at that time." Although the little emperor was not very old, he was not stupid. After hearing Wang Shoucheng's words, he was always dubious. Li Fengji stepped up his offensive immediately, and asked Li Xuzhi and others to put on the table one after another, repeatedly stating the same meaning.In the end, Li Fengji went on stage in person and said to Jingzong: "Li Shen is a man with evil intentions, which will be detrimental to the emperor in the end, and must be relegated."

Those who are well versed in the mysteries of power and tactics are usually also well versed in the mysteries of the human heart.As a strategist, Li Fengji knows very well what it means to make a tiger out of three people and make a fortune out of one mouth, so he firmly believes that a lie repeated a thousand times will become the truth. The little emperor Li Zhan couldn't stand the repeated bombing by Li Fengji's party, and finally expelled Li Shen from the court and demoted him to Duanzhou (now Zhaoqing City, Guangdong) Sima. On the day Li Shen was demoted, Li Fengji led all the civil and military officials to congratulate Jingzong, and praised the emperor's wisdom.After leaving the palace, all the officials rushed to Zhongshu Province to congratulate Li Fengji and praised the prime minister for his wisdom. In the civil and military affairs of the Manchu Dynasty, only a few people did not participate in this farce. Because they have not lost their basic conscience. However, in this world full of conspiracies and lies, conscience often only brings bad luck to people. In Li Fengji's view, not participating in the congratulations is a silent protest.But in today's court, he will never allow anyone to oppose him, even if this opposition is only in his heart. A few days later, Wu Si, who did not participate in the congratulations, Pang Yan, Jiang Fang, a Hanlin scholar, and others were relegated from the court one after another and exiled to distant places.At that time, Pang Yan had a good friend named Yu Ao, who was in charge of the affairs and had the right to raise objections to the edict of the Ministry of Education.As soon as Li Fengji ordered Pang and Jiang to be relegated, Yu Ao returned it intact. Everyone was sweating for Yu Ao in private.Because by doing this, Yu Ao was obviously trying to fight the injustice for Pang and Jiang, but in this way, he offended Li Fengji to death, and there would be no good fruit for him. Just when relatives and friends secretly praised Yu Ao for his noble character and fearlessness of power, something surprising happened. People heard that when Yu Ao returned the edict, he also attached a note to Li Fengji, which said: The relegation is too light, and he should be punished severely. People suddenly realized that Yu Ao, who dared to love, was not stabbing his friend's ribs, but stabbing his friend's chest! Li Fengji was thinking about how to repair this fearless guy, but when he saw the note, he burst out laughing and praised Yu Ao heavily. Li Shen was relegated to the ends of the earth, and the chance of returning to the court in this life is very slim, but Li Fengji is still not reconciled, and is determined to kill the grass. In the days that followed, Li Fengji instructed Zhang Youxin and others to go to the court repeatedly, saying that Li Shen's relegation was too light and he should be killed.The little emperor couldn't help their flabbergasting, and finally nodded.It's just that he still can't make up his mind when to kill Li Shen. At the moment when Li Shen's life was hanging by a thread, someone finally stood up and spoke for him. This person is Wei Chuhou, a Hanlin scholar.He went to Shu Jingzong and said: "Li Shen was persecuted by Li Fengji's party, and the government and the public were shocked and sighed. Li Shen is a minister trusted by the late emperor. Even if he is guilty, he should be dealt with leniently, so as to reflect your majesty's ambition of not changing his father for three years." 'The filial piety, not to mention the fact that Li Shen was innocent in the first place?" After reading the memorabilia, Li Zhan came to his senses, but he still didn't make it clear whether he wanted to kill Li Shen. In the end, a very accidental incident saved Li Shen's head. One day, the little emperor had nothing to do, and casually flipped through the files left by Mu Zong, and a few memorials in them suddenly caught his attention.It was the memorandum of ministers requesting the establishment of the crown prince, signed by Pei Du, Du Yuanying, Li Shen and others. Li Zhan opened it and found that Li Shen was also one of the people who strongly supported him as the prince. The little emperor looked at these memorials and sighed for a long time.Afterwards, he ordered people to burn all the memorials made by Li Fengji's party demanding that Li Shen be killed, and he ignored all such memorials afterwards. However, even though he knew that Li Shen was wronged, Li Zhan still did not recall him to the court. Because Li Fengji's party was too powerful, the little emperor would never dare to turn against them for a Li Shen.What's more, Li Zhan is too young, and his simple and immature heart can't tolerate complicated and heavy state affairs. In other words, what Li Zhan likes most now is to play and have fun, not to take care of the troubled country left by his ancestors.