Chapter 7 The Contest of Ice and Fire

Li Linfu is here. When the new challenger walked onto the ring with a treacherous smile on his face, the current challenger Zhang Jiuling couldn't help but feel a chill. A thought quickly flashed through his mind—the visitor was not kind. Yes, Zhang Jiuling's feeling is correct, no matter from which point of view, he and Li Linfu are a pair of natural enemies. Although Zhang Jiuling was born in a poor family, he was full of talent and noble character; although Li Linfu was born in a royal family, he had little knowledge and was cunning. The reason why Zhang Jiuling became an official was to serve the country and benefit the common people, and to realize the political ideal of "to the king, Yao and Shun, and to make the customs pure".

The reason why Li Linfu became an official was to obtain power, status, money, beauty, etc., and to maximize his own interests. In Zhang Jiuling's eyes, the world is just a white silk waiting for him to write, so his every word, deed and every action follow the teachings of ancient sages and sages, and he obeys the moral call of his heart. But for Li Linfu, this world is a jungle where the weak eat the strong and the fittest survive, so he is always thinking about who will be the next ally that can be used, and who will be the next political enemy that must be eradicated. In a word, Zhang Jiuling is a typical idealist, while Li Linfu is an extreme realist.

If Zhang Jiuling is compared to an iceberg snow lotus, then Li Linfu is no different from a mass of mortal fire.When such two people meet together, they are destined to be irreconcilable, and there is destined to be a contest of ice and fire! In fact, long before Li Linfu was about to enter the prime minister, the secret battle between him and Zhang Jiuling had already begun.At that time, out of respect for the chief prime minister Zhang Jiuling, Xuanzong asked him his opinion on Li Linfu's entry into the prime minister.Zhang Jiuling's answer was: "The prime minister is related to the safety of the country. Your Majesty uses Li Linfu as the prime minister. I worry that it will become a worry for the ancestral temple and the country in the future."

The implication is that not only is Li Linfu not a good bird, but sooner or later he will corrupt the government and bring disaster to the country and the people. When Xuanzong heard this, he felt very uncomfortable. I discussed with you to give you face, if you disagree, just say no, why are you so alarmist?Anyway, this is the person I have my eyes on. Even if he is not a great talent, he is at least a capable official. Why are you calling him so despicable and worthless? Xuanzong ignored the self-proclaimed noble Zhang Jiuling, but brought Li Linfu up as originally planned. After Li Linfu became a photographer, he soon heard the comment Zhang Jiuling gave him.

It is conceivable that just like Yuan Qianyao's casual remarks made Li Linfu remember for most of his life, Zhang Jiuling's unreasonable reprimand now made him even more angry and hated to the marrow. Injured self-esteem, Intuit hurt self-esteem! From this moment on, Zhang Jiuling became Li Linfu's number one political enemy. It is conceivable that Li Linfu will never give up, whether it is to compete for the position of chief prime minister or to avenge this one shot. However, Li Linfu is a person who is good at observing the situation.He knew that now was not the time to act.

Because Zhang Jiuling is Zhang Shuo's master disciple and another master of essays after Zhang Shuo, and Xuanzong had to rely on this kind of literary prime minister to decorate his appearance in order to whitewash the peace, so he appreciated and valued Zhang Jiuling very much.Under such circumstances, of course Li Linfu could only pretend to be respectful, pretending to be his grandson in front of Zhang Jiuling. (Volume 214: "At that time, Jiuling put literature as the most important thing. Although Lin Fu hated it, he still insisted on it.") For the next two years or so, Li Linfu kept his tail between his legs. On the surface, he was docile and obedient to Zhang Jiuling, but in fact he was patiently waiting for the opportunity to stand up and call the shots.In the winter of the twenty-fourth year of Kaiyuan (736 A.D.), Li Linfu finally seized an opportunity keenly and started a counterattack against Zhang Jiuling.

In October of this year, Xuanzong's court was in Luoyang, the eastern capital. It was originally expected to return to Chang'an, the western capital, until next spring.Xuanzong was very disturbed, and hurriedly summoned the prime minister to discuss and planned to return to Beijing in advance. It was the harvest season for farmers, and the emperor's driving would definitely affect the normal harvest of the farmland along the way, so both Zhang Jiuling and Pei Yaoqing firmly opposed it, thinking that doing so would disturb the people, and they should wait until the middle of winter when the farms were slack.

When Xuanzong heard this, he was very depressed. Now that the palace is haunted by ghosts, he can't sleep well every night, wishing he could leave immediately. Originally, he wanted the prime ministers to make preparations and set off on the same day. Unexpectedly, they objected outright, and the reasons they put forward were hard to refute.Xuanzong was very upset, so he had to keep his face long and did not speak. Li Linfu observed the words and expressions, and had already made up his mind, so he remained silent. After a while, Xuanzong waved them back. Li Linfu purposely lingered behind Zhang Jiuling and Pei Yaoqing, and when he watched them exit the hall, he immediately returned to Xuanzong and said, "Chang'an and Luoyang are just your Majesty's East Palace." It’s just the West Palace, come and leave whenever you want, why wait for a day? If it really hinders the farmers’ harvest, then the people along the way will be exempted from the winter’s rent and tax, won’t everything be gone? I suggest that Your Majesty do it now Announce to all officials that you can leave for Beijing tomorrow."

Xuanzong was overjoyed when he heard the words, and immediately ordered all civil and military officials to pack up their things immediately and return to Chang'an the next day. When Zhang Jiuling and Pei Yaoqing received the emperor's order, they couldn't help but looked at each other. They knew that this was Li Linfu's idea. But they have to admit - this is indeed a smart idea. The two ministers Zhang and Pei only cared about the interests of the people, but they did not hesitate to disobey the emperor at the price. Their approach was a little careless; but Li Linfu not only pleased the emperor, but also took care of the interests of the people. How smart are Zhang and Pei?

After this incident, Xuanzong's favor for Li Linfu has been greatly improved.On the contrary, the status of Zhang Jiuling and Pei Yaoqing in Xuanzong's mind was inevitably shaken. After this small fire reconnaissance, Li Linfu can basically come to a conclusion - Zhang Jiuling is far from being as powerful as he looks. In other words, Zhang Jiuling has a fatal Achilles' heel. This Achilles' heel lies in the fact that he overestimated the emperor's generosity and seriously underestimated the emperor's will to power! Li Linfu believes that a prime minister like Zhang Jiuling who pretends to be lofty and ignorant of current affairs will sooner or later face the supreme authority of the emperor.Therefore, in this contest between him and Zhang Jiuling, Li Linfu knew that he didn't need to expend much effort at all, as long as he fanned the flames by the emperor's side, Zhang Jiuling would obediently pack up and leave!

In other words, Zhang Jiuling's attitude of "struggling for every detail" (Volume 214) is actually a kind of political suicide. Emperor's disgust.Just like a piece of seemingly hard ice, although it looks solid in a suitable low temperature environment, if the surrounding temperature rises, its fate is to melt completely. For such a piece of ice, Li Linfu didn't need to break it with his hands at all, as long as he lit a fire next to it and heated it up a bit, that's enough. As Li Linfu expected, within a few days of returning to Chang'an from Luoyang, Zhang Jiuling got involved with Xuanzong again because of another matter. This matter is about the appointment and reward of Shuofang Jiedu Envoy Niu Xianke. Niu Xianke was born as a small official in the frontier. Because of his diligence, integrity, loyalty to his duty, and his military exploits, he was appreciated by the previous Hexi Jiedu envoys, so he was promoted many times, from an unknown small official to Hexi Jiedu envoy.When he was in Hexi, it was widely rumored in the court that he not only fulfilled his duties, but also was good at managing money, and managed Hexi well, but no one knew the exact situation.Later, Niu Xianke was ordered to be transferred to Shuofang Jiedushi. His successor went to Hexi and found that this Niu Xianke was really not simple-although he and other Jiedushi had the same funds, the grain reserves in the jurisdiction But it is extremely rich, and its weapons and equipment are much more sophisticated than other places.The successor was so impressed that he didn't dare to plunder the beauty, and hurriedly reported Niu Xianke's political achievements to the court truthfully. When Xuanzong heard the report, he immediately sent an envoy to Hexi for inspection, and found that the situation was indeed as stated in the memorial.Xuanzong was very happy, thinking that this Niu Xianke was a rare talent, and immediately planned to transfer him back to the court to serve as Shangshu. But Xuanzong didn't expect that Zhang Jiuling would veto him as soon as he brought up the matter. Zhang Jiuling said: "Shangshu is a very important position. Since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, this position has been held either by a retired prime minister, or by a person with both fame, virtue and talent. Niu Xianke was just a frontier boy in his early years. As an official, now that he is suddenly in an important position, I am worried that doing so will insult the reputation of the imperial court." Xuanzong knew that once Zhang Jiuling made a remonstrance, he would never give in. If he persisted again and again, he would definitely make trouble in the end.Xuanzong had no choice but to make a compromise, saying: "In this case, it is okay to only add real seals?" "No!" As soon as Xuanzong's words fell, Zhang Jiuling immediately said firmly, "The title is used to reward meritorious ministers. As a frontier general, Niu Xianke is responsible for enriching his arsenal and repairing weapons. It is a daily matter and cannot be called a meritorious service. If your majesty wants to encourage his hard work, you can give him gold and silk, and if you divide him into a title, it may not be appropriate." Speechless. Meeting such a powerful prime minister, Xuanzong was speechless. The reason why he took the initiative to take a step back was to avoid this embarrassing situation where the monarch and his ministers were fighting each other. Unexpectedly, Zhang Jiuling, who didn't know how to adapt, still forced him into a corner, which really made him feel helpless and annoyed. However, Xuanzong was relieved that not every prime minister was as unreasonable as Zhang Jiuling. After the court was over that day, Li Linfu did not leave the hall with all the civil and military officials, but stayed behind, and said to Xuanzong alone: ​​"Xianke has the talent of a prime minister, so why not Ren Shangshu? Jiuling is just a scholar and doesn't know the general idea. Your Majesty don't pay attention to him." With Li Linfu's support, Xuanzong had enough confidence.At the court meeting the next day, Xuanzong once again proposed to add Niu Xianke to the seal. Of course, Zhang Jiuling was still firmly opposed. Xuanzong became furious, and said sharply: "Is it up to you to decide everything?" Zhang Jiuling was startled, knelt down and kowtowed quickly, saying: "Your Majesty doesn't notice the ignorance of the minister, and let the minister take the position. If something goes wrong, the minister dare not say everything." Xuanzong sneered: "Qing thinks the celestial guest is cold, what can Ruqing say?" (Volume 214) You think Niu Xianke came from a humble background, but what kind of famous family are you yourself? It's over, the emperor's words like this are not discussing things at all, but a naked personal attack! At this point in the court discussion, the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty couldn't help but sweat for Zhang Jiuling.In their impression, the emperor Li Longji seldom lost his temper in front of all the officials. If Zhang Jiuling was sensible, it would be time for the flag to die down and the troops to withdraw.In the final analysis, this is not a major matter related to the safety of the country. It is only natural for the emperor to be the master for a while. If you, Zhang Jiuling, keep your head down and be soft, this matter will be over. Why bother to carry it on like this? How about making yourself and the emperor unable to step down? ! However, the officials never expected that Zhang Jiuling, who didn't know what to do, would carry it to the end! I saw him raise his head, meet the eyes of the emperor, and said with a straight face: "I am a lowly man in the barren land in the south of the Lingnan, not as good as a celestial guest who was born in the Central Plains. However, after all, I am in and out of the pavilion and in charge of imperial orders." After many years, and Xianke is still an ignorant little official, if he is given a big job, I am afraid it will not be popular with everyone." As soon as this remark is made, it is called arguing with reason if it sounds good, and it is called retorting when it sounds bad.Zhang Jiuling's arrogance of talent, defiant celebrity style, and determination to admit death, compared to the "hard-boned" Song Jing and the "one-track" Han Xiu, can be said to be even worse! It is conceivable that Xuanzong was completely enraged. He stood up suddenly, walked away without looking back, and threw all the civil and military officials who were looking at each other into the silent hall. The morning meeting broke up again that day. Seeing such a hot scene, Li Linfu laughed silently. In the afternoon of the same day, Li Linfu sent a sentence to Xuanzong through the eunuch - "If you are talented, why quit your studies! Why should the emperor employ people?" (Volume 214) When Xuanzong heard the words, he couldn't help sighing again in his heart: It seems that Li Linfu is the most caring! A few days later, Xuanzong categorically issued an imperial edict-given Niu Xianke the Duke of Longxi County, and sealed 300 households in Shiyi. This time it was Zhang Jiuling's turn to be completely speechless. After the Niu Xianke incident, Zhang Jiuling's status in Xuanzong's mind plummeted. At the same time, Li Linfu skyrocketed and became a big celebrity in front of Xuanzong.Although Li Linfu is not the chief prime minister in name, Xuanzong's trust and reliance on him has far surpassed that of Zhang Jiuling. When the situation has evolved to this point, Zhang Jiuling's last remaining advantage in Xuanzong's eyes is his magnanimity and fairness regardless of personal gains and losses.Although Xuanzong became more and more unbearable to Zhang Jiuling's celebrity behavior, he also knew that no matter how Zhang Jiuling fought with him, it was out of public interest, not selfishness.Therefore, at least on the surface, Xuanzong must respect such a prime minister. However, no one expected that after just a few days, Zhang Jiuling's career as prime minister would come to an abrupt end. And the most important reason why he was dismissed was actually the most unlikely mistake he committed - favoritism. Will Zhang Jiuling "play favoritism"? How could Zhang Jiuling, who has always adhered to moral ideals all his life, who has always been aloof, honest and self-disciplined, be "selfish"? ! The reason why Zhang Jiuling was finally charged with this crime was precisely because of his aloof and lofty character, who would rather bend than bend.Of course, at the same time, thanks to his deadly enemy Li Linfu.