Chapter 33 A prime minister's pleasure and enmity

Who does Yang Yan want to repay? The answer is: Yuan Zai. Although the world generally believes that this powerful prime minister is full of crimes and deserves to die, Yang Yan does not think so. Because Yuan Zai supported him back then. In Yang Yan's view, the kindness of a drop of water should be repaid by a spring.No matter how heinous and notorious Yuan Zai is, he will always be the most memorable benefactor in his life. Therefore, the target of Yang Yan's revenge is the person who brought down Yuan Zai. This person is Liu Yan. Although Daizong Li Yu was the mastermind behind the Yuan Zai case, Liu Yan was the presiding judge of the case.After Yuan Zai was convicted and killed, Yang Yan was implicated and demoted to a remote village.This account, of course Yang Yan must be recorded on Liu Yan's head.What's more, Daizong is dead and Liu Yan is still alive. If Yang Yan wants to vent his hatred, of course he can't look for the dead, he can only look for Liu Yan.

Besides, there was another more private reason - Yang Yan was worried that this guy would pose a threat to his prime minister position. Because Liu Yan, like him, is also an expert in financial management, to some extent, even better than him. If it is said that Yang Yan saved the empire's finances at the macro policy level, then Liu Yan must be credited first.Because for many years, Liu Yan has been in charge of the financial work of the imperial court, and has long held financial positions such as Duzhi Envoy, Transshipment Envoy, Salt and Iron Envoy, Zuyong Envoy, and Young Crop Envoy, and has done a lot of solid and effective work on the front line, "both He has material strength, sees things quickly, and takes advantage of opportunities without hesitation...The military and state use all look up to Yan." ("Old Tang Book·Liu Yan Biography")

Before Liu Yan took charge of the finances, the annual fiscal revenue of the Li Tang court was only 4 million yuan. After Liu Yan took office, the annual fiscal revenue reached more than 10 million yuan. "Later, those who talk about wealth and profit can't match it." (Volume 226) Without Liu Yan, the imperial finances that had been riddled with holes since Suzong's time might have collapsed long ago.In other words, if there were no improvements and accumulated accumulation at the micro level, the two-tax law created by Yang Yan later would not have the basis for implementation and the conditions for success.

Therefore, someone like Liu Yan who "has been in office for more than ten years, has great power, and is next to the prime minister" may step up to the prime minister at any time and share Yang Yan's power. Faced with such a strong threat, Yang Yan could not but feel great anxiety and panic. Therefore, even if he didn't mention the old debt from that year, Yang Yan had to deal with Liu Yan. Just a few days after the two tax laws were promulgated, Dezong summoned the two prime ministers to discuss matters.After Yang Yan finished his performance, he suddenly said to Dezong with tears in his eyes: "Your Majesty, you know that Liu Yan conspired with Li Gan and Liu Zhongyi very early on. As a prime minister, I have not fulfilled the responsibility of rebelling, and the crime is due." Doom!"

Objectively speaking, Yang Yan's accusation that Liu Yan conspired with Li and Liu is not a false accusation.Because there have been rumors in the capital for a long time, that Li Gan and Liu Zhongyi encouraged Daizong to make Concubine Dugu the empress, and Liu Yan also participated in it.As for whether this rumor is true, no one knows. In fact, Dezong had heard about this rumor, but it was the first time that the prime minister raised it to him so seriously. Dezong didn't speak, but had a thoughtful expression on his face. At this time, Cui Youfu spoke.He said: "Such ambiguous rumors like this should not be accepted casually. Moreover, His Majesty has just issued an amnesty decree (the imperial court changed the yuan on the first day of the first lunar month and amnesty the world at the same time), let alone pursue such rumors."

Yang Yan looked at the emperor's face and listened to Cui Youfu's words. He knew that Liu Yan could not be dealt with based on this rumor, so he changed his direction and said, "Shangshu Province and its six ministries are the political center of the country. Over the years, many establishments have been added. The envoys have greatly divided the administrative power of Shangshu Province, and I suggest that it is best to abolish the envoys and restore the old system." Of course, Liu Yan was the first to bear the brunt of the dismissal of the envoys. For Emperor Dezong, rumors of Liu Yan's involvement in the conspiracy were neither verifiable nor falsifiable.Therefore, it is inappropriate to convict Liu Yan based on rumors alone, but it seems uneasy to completely ignore the rumors.After all, the rumor spread so fiercely that it would not be purely groundless.After much deliberation, Dezong felt that the most appropriate way to deal with it was as Yang Yan hinted - he could not be killed, but he had to be demoted.

At the end of the first month of this year, Emperor Dezong issued an edict, announcing that from now on, the jurisdiction of national finance and taxation (Tianxia Qiangu) will be transferred to the Finance Department (Money Department) and Grain Department (Cang Department) of the Ministry of Households, and at the same time, Liu Yan will be dismissed. Transshipment, rental, young crops, salt and iron, etc. In February, Yang Yan urged Emperor Dezong to demote Liu Yan from the imperial court. The reason was that Liu Yan had submitted many false and untrue words in a memorial not long ago, which implied that he was suspected of deceiving the emperor.

If you want to commit a crime, there is no excuse! What Dezong was most afraid of was the minister's deception from him, and Yang Yan's words immediately touched this sensitive nerve.So Dezong indiscriminately demoted Liu Yan to the governor of Zhongzhou (now Zhongxian County, Sichuan). Things didn't end here. Because Yang Yan's purpose is not only to demote Liu Yan, but to put him to death! In June of this year, Prime Minister Cui Youfu died of illness.Yang Yan was suddenly delighted.Because once Cui Youfu died, no one would speak for Liu Yan anymore. Soon, Yang Yan secretly instructed his best friend, Yu Zhun Shangshu, who was then Jingnan Jiedu envoy, to accuse Liu Yan, saying that since he was demoted to Zhongzhou, he had been full of complaints, often complained about the emperor, and secretly communicated with the nearby towns. , In addition, he recruited a lot of troops in Honshu, showing signs of rebelling against the imperial court.

Yu Zhun was Liu Yan's immediate boss, and Dezong easily accepted his accusation. In addition, Yang Yan tried his best to fan the flames in his ears, so Dezong made up his mind and sent eunuchs to Zhongzhou in July of this year. He secretly hanged Liu Yan and exiled his wife and children to Lingnan.Afterwards, in order to deceive others, Yang Yan suggested that Emperor Dezong issue an imperial edict ordering Liu Yan to commit suicide. However, if you want people not to know, you have to do nothing yourself.Yang Yan's act of crazy revenge was still seen by the people of the world. After Liu Yan was innocently executed, public opinion in the government and the public was in an uproar, and they all complained about his grievances.

Li Zhengji, the envoy of Ziqing Jiedu, was the first to respond. Last year, he humbly donated 300,000 yuan to the imperial court, but unexpectedly, his face was hot and his ass was cold. He was always resentful and always wanted to find an opportunity to express his anger.Now that the imperial court has acted so dishonestly regarding Liu Yan, of course Li Zhengji has to stand up and act as a man of justice who yells at injustice all the way. He immediately went to Shu Dezong to protest and strongly condemn the court's actions. At the same time, he asked Dezong to announce the truth and punish the murderer severely.

Dezong turned a deaf ear to Li Zhengji's yell, but Yang Yan, who had a guilty conscience, was so frightened that he almost peed his pants. It's like a certain gentleman on the beam went into a dark room at night, stole a treasure in his hand, and when he turned around to leave, suddenly the lights came on, and the whole room was full of onlookers. Yang Yan thought that the death of Liu Yan was none of other people's business, but he suddenly offended everyone. It is only his fault that he underestimated Liu Yan's influence - Liu Yan has worked hard to finance the country's finances all these years, and his achievements are really eye-catching, so he has accumulated quite a high prestige. Now, both the government and the public are pointing their finger at Yang Yan. No matter where he goes, someone pokes his back. It's really uncomfortable. what to do? After everything has been done and the person has been killed, is it possible to ask Yang Yan to publicly repent and voluntarily resign, or brandish a knife to thank the world? No, this is not possible. The only way to shirk responsibility is to find someone to take the blame. However, no matter what, people would never have thought that the shield that Yang Yan seized in desperation to avoid disasters was actually Li Shi, the current sage! In February of the second year of Jianzhong (AD 781), in order to divert the spearhead of public opinion, Yang Yan sent a group of confidants to various places to explain to the leaders of various towns: "The reason why Liu Yan was convicted and punished is entirely Because of the fact that he was attached to the treacherous ministers and sought to establish the Dugu family as the queen, the emperor hated him deeply, so he got rid of him, and there is really no other reason." There is no doubt that Yang Yan made a low-level mistake here, an absolute mistake. Unforgivable mistake! In the whole world, he has no problem finding anyone to take the blame for this, but he just lost his mind and pulled the emperor out to block the gun. Isn't this courting death? Immediately, someone reported to Dezong secretly, saying: "Yan sent five envoys to the towns, fearing that the world will blame him for killing Liu Yan, and push it too far." ("Old Tang Book·Yang Yan Biography") The reason why Yang Yan sent five envoys The envoys of the road went to Zhuzhen because they were worried that people in the world would blame him for killing Liu Yan, so they pushed all the crimes on the emperor. Now it's in big trouble. Dezong didn't quite believe it at first, so he quickly sent eunuchs to Ziqing to seek evidence from Li Zhengji, but it turned out to be a pity—the news returned was exactly the same as the content of the secret memorial. Dezong Li Shi was furious. Since ancient times, only the emperor arrests people as scapegoats, how can a courtier arrest the emperor as a shield?This damn Yang Yan is really tired of living! The emperor was very angry, and the consequences were serious. From this moment on, Dezong had already made up his mind to get rid of Yang Yan.It was only because of the spring of this year that the towns in Hebei repeatedly challenged the imperial court over the issue of heirs, and Dezong had no choice but to shelve this matter temporarily. Although Yang Yan is still retained for the time being, he must immediately find someone to restrict his power. The person Dezong found later was Lu Qi, a well-known traitor in the mid-Tang Dynasty. On February 6th of the second year of Jianzhong, Dezong appointed Yang Yan as the minister of Zhongshu, and at the same time appointed Lu Qi as the servant of the door and Tongping Zhangshi. From then on, Dezong relied more and more on Lu Qi, basically freezing Yang Yan. At this time, Dezong certainly didn't know that reusing Lu Qi would be the biggest watershed in his imperial career. ——In the past two years, Dezong Li Shi won a good start with his enthusiasm for ascending the throne in his prime, but since Lu Qi came to power, those encouraging and gratifying good situations have disappeared It will never return, and what will be replaced will be a series of pains and failures that will be unforgettable to him.