Chapter 8 The Last Blow: Zhang Jiuling's Resignation

As we all know, although Li Linfu was born in the royal family, his family was poor, he had not received much formal education since he was a child, and he himself had no interest in studying, so since he became an official, he has been criticized for being ignorant and incompetent. At the same time, many jokes were made. For example, once, his cousin Taichang Shaoqing Jiang Du (son of Jiang Jiao) had a son, and the courtiers went to congratulate him one after another.Li Linfu also hurriedly wrote a congratulatory letter and sent it along with the congratulatory gift. Jiang Du was of course very happy that the prime minister's cousin gave face so much, and then read the congratulatory letter in front of the guests, intending to show off.Unexpectedly, just after opening the letter, Jiang Du was dumbfounded, and hurriedly closed the letter.However, a few sharp-eyed guests had already seen the contents of the letter clearly.

It turned out that the letter from the prime minister said impressively: "I heard that there is a celebration of making deer..." When the guests saw it, they couldn't help laughing, and they all covered their mouths. The ancients usually called the birth of a son "the celebration of Nongzhang". "Zhang" is a kind of jade article, and "Nongzhang" means to embrace a jade article, and it is a symbol of wishing a newborn auspicious and prosperous life.However, Li Linfu wrote the "zhang" of the jade vessel as the "roe" of the animal, which means that the son of the family is playing with a dirty roe deer, which is outrageously wrong.It's fine for ordinary people, but it's unimaginable that the dignified prime minister of the empire and minister of rites made such a low-level mistake.

Since then, Li Linfu has had the reputation of "Prime Minister of Nong Deer". As the saying goes, things flock together, and people are divided into groups. Li Linfu himself is uneducated, and his subordinates are naturally semi-literate. For example, Xiao Jiong, a servant of the household department he recommended, is just like him.Once, a colleague in the court held a wedding, all the officials went to the banquet, and Xiao Jiong also went.Before the banquet, everyone was sitting in the master's study. Xiao Jiong was bored, so he casually picked up a copy of "Book of Rites" to read.Flipping through the pages, Xiao Jiong suddenly felt that there was something he didn't quite understand, so he couldn't help but read it aloud.The two words he read out were "Fu hunting".

At this time, the person sitting next to him was Yan Tingzhi, a subordinate whom Zhang Jiuling admired very much, and he was the Minister of Zhongshu at that time.Zhang Jiuling himself is well educated, and his favored subordinates are of course well educated.As soon as Yan Ting heard it, he knew that Xiao Jiong had read the white characters, and mistakenly pronounced "Fu La" in "Book of Rites" as "Fu Lie".The so-called "Fu La" refers to two sacrificial festivals in a year: Fu Ri and La Ri. "Book of Rites" is a must-read for ancient scholars, but almost everyone who has opened Tongmeng knows the word "Fula". Now Xiao Jiong, the dignified servant of the household department, actually pronounces it as "Fu Lie" , is really astonishingly ignorant, comparable to his master "Nongzhe Prime Minister" Li Linfu!

Since Yan Tingzhi is a member of Zhang Jiuling, he naturally looked down on these ignorant guys, so he deliberately made fun of Xiao Jiong and asked him loudly: "Master Xiao, what did you read just now?" Xiao Jiong didn't know that people were playing with him, so he said innocently: "Fucking, what's wrong?" Everyone at the scene had already covered their mouths and snickered, but when they heard this, they finally couldn't control themselves, and immediately burst out laughing with their stomachs in their hands. Yan Tingzhi was also very angry and funny, and said to Zhang Jiuling afterwards: "The imperial court has already produced a 'Prime Minister of Nongzhe', how can there be another 'Volunteer Minister'?"

Without further ado, Zhang Jiuling demoted Xiao Jiong from the imperial court a few days later and released him as the governor of Qizhou. Because of this incident, Yan Tingzhi offended Li Linfu to death. At that time, Zhang Jiuling was fighting with Li Linfu openly and secretly, and was eager to attract Yan Tingzhi to strengthen his own strength, but since Yan Tingzhi had offended Li Linfu, there would be great obstacles in getting into the phase, so Zhang Jiuling advised Yan Tingzhi to deal with it Li Linfu, said: "Now Li Linfu is in favor, you should visit him at home and ease the tension with him."

But Yan Tingzhi couldn't listen at all. Because he and Zhang Jiuling came out of almost the same mold, both are the same aloof and lofty, and the same negativity makes them angry, so they look down on people like Li Linfu at all. He, he might not give the other party a good look. As a result, the rift between Yan Tingzhi and Li Linfu deepened. A person like Yan Tingzhi who can't keep things hidden in his heart naturally puts all his contempt and disdain for Li Linfu on his face.But Li Linfu was different. No matter what occasion he met Yan Tingzhi, he always had a warm smile on his face as always.

There is no doubt that as much as the smile on Li Linfu's face is warm, his hatred for Yan Tingzhi is as deep as it is.Once he gets a chance, he will definitely let Yan Tingzhi know what it means to offend Li Linfu... At the end of the twenty-fourth year of Kaiyuan, shortly after the Niu Xianke incident, a corruption case occurred between the court and China.This was originally a very common case, and the perpetrator was a governor named Wang Yuanyan, who had nothing to do with Yan Tingzhi, Zhang Jiuling and others, but no one thought that it was this elusive corruption case, Let Li Linfu grasp Yan Tingzhi's handle at once, and finally dragged the chief prime minister Zhang Jiuling into the water together.

After Wang Yuanyan's case was discovered, he was handed over to the three divisions (Dali Temple, Yushitai, and Criminal Ministry) for interrogation as usual. It turned out that the evidence was solid and the crime was unforgivable. However, just before the relevant departments were about to finalize the case, a woman found Yan Tingzhi. , begging him to save Wang Yuanyan's life with snot and tears. This woman is Wang Yuanyan's wife. Originally, Yan Tingzhi absolutely should not and did not need to intervene in such a settled case, but this time, Yan Tingzhi felt that it was difficult to shirk and had to intervene.Because, this woman is his ex-wife.

As the saying goes, one day a husband and wife is a hundred days of kindness. Although Yan Tingzhi and this woman have divorced long ago, they still have some old feelings after all.Yan Tingzhi couldn't stand his ex-wife's sad and sad pleas, and finally moved with compassion and decided to help her this time. At this time, Yan Tingzhi would never have imagined that because of his soft-heartedness this time, he not only got himself burned and ruined his bright future, but also caused Zhang Jiuling to resign under the charge of "selfishness", and finally helped to become a leader objectively. The strong rise of a generation of power minister Li Linfu.

While Yan Tingzhi was running around desperately for Wang Yuanyan, a pair of eagle-like sharp eyes had already stared at him from behind. Yan Tingzhi's words, deeds, and actions all fell into these eyes. A few days later, when Li Linfu judged that Yan Tingzhi had been fully convicted of the crime of bending the law for personal gain, he calmly handed over a black material. Of course, Li Linfu is always cautious. When he hurts someone, he will never expose himself to the public.So he didn't come forward, but instructed his subordinates to hand over the materials to the eunuchs in the palace, and then they passed them on to the emperor Li Longji. This is the fatal blow and the final blow. Xuanzong was furious after reading the materials. Well, Yan Tingzhi, who gave you the courage to rescue a corrupt criminal who has been identified? ! Of course Xuanzong knew that the person behind Yan Tingzhi was Zhang Jiuling, the chief prime minister whom he always respected.In order to prove whether Zhang Jiuling gave Yan Tingzhi the courage, Xuanzong immediately summoned three prime ministers into the palace, and said blankly: "For a woman, Yan Tingzhi dared to bend the law for personal gain and excuse the sinner Wang Yuanyan. what to do?" Li Linfu remained silent. Pei Yaoqing was silent. If Zhang Jiuling was smart, he should of course keep silent at this time.No matter how much he attaches importance to Yan Tingzhi, at this time he can only throw his pawns to save the car, cut off the wrists of a strong man, and completely distance himself from Yan Tingzhi.If he was smarter, he should even scold Yan Tingzhi sternly, and then take the initiative to express that he is not strict with his subordinates and should bear the corresponding leadership responsibilities. Only by adhering to this official philosophy of protecting one's life wisely and advancing with retreat, can he keep Xuanzong's trust in him, and thus keep the Usha of the chief prime minister. It's a pity that Zhang Jiuling didn't do this. Not because he doesn't understand, but because he disdains. Facing Xuanzong's chilling gaze, Zhang Jiuling took a step forward and said loudly: "As far as I know, Yan Tingzhi has already divorced this woman, so he should have no feelings for her, let alone any favoritism." It was this sentence that completely overturned Zhang Jiuling's moral image that he had painstakingly maintained for most of his life, and also made Xuanzong Li Longji completely lose trust in him. The reason why Xuanzong could tolerate him repeatedly disobeying the holy will and rebelling against the dragon scale is nothing more than because he is dedicated to the public and never favoritism.But now it's a good thing, Zhang Jiuling ruined his fame for the first time with his own hands, and also wiped away the last trace of his goodwill in Xuanzong's heart with his own hands.That being the case, why did Xuanzong keep him? Xuanzong stared at Zhang Jiuling for a long time, and finally let out a cold snort from his nostrils, and said: "Although we are separated, we are selfish again!" (Vol. Selfishness! Xuanzong's words were the final word, drawing an end to Wang Yuanyan's corruption case.At the same time, Yan Tingzhi and Zhang Jiuling were also sexed together. The next day, Emperor Xuanzong issued an imperial edict: Wang Yuanyan was exiled to Lingnan for taking bribes with conclusive evidence; Suspected of being a crony, he was removed from the post of Zhongshuling and became Shangshu Youcheng; Pei Yaoqingsu had a close relationship with Zhang Jiuling, and was also suspected of forming a party, so he was removed from the post of servant and became Shangshu Zuocheng. Ironically, on the same day, in the same imperial edict, Xuanzong solemnly announced that Li Linfu would replace Zhang Jiuling as Zhongshu Ling and concurrently a scholar of Jixian Hall; Three grades under the door. These two letters of appointment are like two slaps on Zhang Jiuling's face. You said that Li Linfu will endanger the court and society in the end, then I will let him replace you and make him the chief prime minister of the empire, and see how he will harm the country and the people! You say that Niu Xianke is a small frontier official who doesn't even have the qualifications to be a minister, so I just let him be a minister, and let him be a prime minister to see if he can afford it! Since the imperial court is my imperial court, and the community is also my community, as long as I am willing, there is nothing I cannot do! Yes, as long as Xuanzong Li Longji is willing, there is nothing wrong with it. "Since Jiu Ling offended, he is a member of the imperial court, and he can protect his position, so he can't speak out." "Shang (Li Longji) has been in office for a long time, and he gradually indulged in extravagant desires and neglected political affairs..." (Volume 214) With the resignation of Zhang Jiuling and the rise of Li Linfu, Tang Xuanzong Li Longji also went further and further on the road from thrift to extravagance and from light to obscurity.From this winter in the twenty-fourth year of Kaiyuan to the winter in the fourteenth year of Tianbao (755 A.D.) when "Yuyang cockroaches came to the ground", in the nearly twenty years, in the huge empire, indeed There is no one else who can stop the emperor Li Longji of the Tang Dynasty from walking towards the abyss. Of course, Li Longji cannot foresee the future. Even the western philosopher Hume doubted whether the sun would rise as usual tomorrow. How could Li Longji predict the future? Don't talk about what will happen twenty years later, even the tragedy of human relations that will happen next is something that Li Longji himself could never have expected...