Chapter 13 Honey and Belly Sword: A One-man Show of Power

Since Zhang Jiuling dismissed his chancellor in the twenty-fourth year of Kaiyuan (736 A.D.), the court of the empire suddenly became quiet. It felt like a big stage. Under the spotlight of history, only one person is left dancing on the stage. This is a one-man show of power. The performer is Li Linfu. His gaze is calm, his posture is elegant, and his gestures are so calm, sophisticated, and orderly, so that thousands of spectators can't take their eyes off and concentrate on it, and Li Longji, the most honored audience at the VIP table, can't help but feel that it is a mistake not to use Li Linfu early. !

Yes, Li Linfu satisfied Xuanzong too much. He not only managed various government affairs in an orderly manner, allowing Xuanzong to unload the political burden that had been carried on his shoulders for many years, but also cooperated with his partner Niu Xianke and was unprecedentedly united, so that Xuanzong did not have to worry and worry at all.In addition, since Li Linfu came to power, all civil and military officials have settled down to their positions and performed their duties. They no longer gang up and fight in gangs like before. You guys are all silent now, and one by one consciously and actively participated in the construction of a harmonious court. What a joyous and encouraging political situation this is! ("Old Tang Book · Li Linfu Biography": "The superior has been in office for many years, tired of all opportunities, and always uses ministers to deal with arrests and inspections. It is difficult to favor one's own desires. Lin Fu is content with Lin Fu, and he is appointed. Therefore, put an end to harsh words and do whatever you want. There is no difference in feasting and feasting, and there is no shame in it, and Lin Fuzhi approves.")

Li Linfu is indeed a one-man show performer with long sleeves and good dance skills.Li Linfu has his own way of dealing with his partners, the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty, or the admonishers at Yushitai. Let's first look at Li Linfu's partner Niu Xianke. The reason why Li Linfu supported this dear man in the first place was because he was a petty official who had been stationed in the frontier for many years, and he basically had no eyes for the central government affairs. If this kind of person was to be his deputy, of course he could only act as a respondent character of.As for Li Linfu's support, Niu Xianke is naturally grateful, so after becoming a prime minister, he has been bowing and obedient to his benefactor Li Linfu.Li Linfu told him to go east, but he dared not go west; Li Linfu told him to eat dry, but he dared not drink water.Therefore, the prime minister's team will naturally be able to "cooperate tacitly and unite unprecedentedly."

Next, look at the civil and military officials. After Li Linfu replaced Zhang Jiuling as the chief prime minister, he immediately moved out of the "qualification-based" system implemented by Pei Guangting in the past, stipulating that officials at all levels from the central government to the local government should be ranked according to their seniority, and their promotions should be determined according to their years and seniority.Some people with outstanding talents but insufficient qualifications, even if they have outstanding political achievements and high calls for promotion, Li Linfu will unceremoniously reject them.In this way, it is naturally difficult for those competitors who are potential threats to Li Linfu, or his political opponents, to stand out.At the same time, for those who are good at exploiting and actively approaching him, Li Linfu naturally has various ways to promote them exceptionally.Therefore, most of those promoted after Li Linfu came to power were his henchmen, and of course they would not sing against him.

Finally, let's look at the admonisher at Yushitai. Li Linfu himself worked in Yushitai, so he knew very well that for a prime minister who monopolizes the court, the impeachment of the admonisher is the most lethal threat.In order to completely eliminate this threat, not long after Li Linfu took office as Zhongshuling, he specially summoned all the admonition officials and speech officials of the imperial court and gave an important speech to them. He said: "Nowadays, the wise leader is guiding us from above, and it is too late for us to follow, there is no need to speak at all! Haven't you seen the horses in the court hall? If you keep silent, you can eat the feed of the third grade , If you dare to sing freely, you only need to say a word, and you will be expelled immediately. How regretful it is!" (Volume 214: "Now that the Ming Lord is above, the officials will have nothing to do with it. Wuyong talks too much! You don't see me! Do you want to fight right away? If you eat three-grade ingredients, you will be reprimanded as soon as you shout, what regrets!")

All the admonishers looked at each other in blank dismay, and fell silent collectively. Li Linfu looked around the venue, nodded and smiled. After the meeting, only one person did not fully understand the spirit of the leader's speech.It was a Buque named Du Jing. As soon as the meeting was over, he blew it without knowing what was good or bad, and gave a memorial to discuss the government. As a result, he was expelled from the court the next day and demoted to a remote village as a county magistrate. Since then, the officialdom of the Tang Dynasty has been silent. Under the wise leadership of the Chief Prime Minister Li Linfu, the imperial court was filled with a peaceful and happy atmosphere from top to bottom.In the autumn of the twenty-fifth year of Kaiyuan (AD 737), a group of magpies actually flew to a tree in Dali Temple Prison to build their nests. Eight people. The courtyard of Dali Prison has always been said to be so murderous that even the birds dare not stop. Now there are magpies nesting in the trees, which is really rare and auspicious!"

All of a sudden, the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty came forward one after another, saying that there was almost no punishment in the world, which is really gratifying.Xuanzong Longyan Dayue thought that this was auspiciousness inspired by the prime minister's ability to govern, and immediately issued an imperial edict to confer titles, making Li Linfu the Duke of Jin and Niu Xianke the Duke of Bin. In the following years, Li Linfu became more and more powerful. In addition to the Zhongshuling, he also led the Longyou and Hexi Jiedu envoys, and was also the Minister of the Ministry of Officials. He was in charge of civil and military elections; In addition to being a servant, he also led the Deputy Envoy of Hexi Jiedu and the Minister of the Ministry of War.

As the only performer on the stage of imperial power, of course Li Linfu would not allow anyone to compete with him on the same stage. Since the day he came to power, he has drawn an invisible cordon around himself and Xuanzong - inside the line is the exclusive area for him and the emperor, and no one is allowed to cross the line! Once Li Linfu found out that Xuanzong showed unusual favor for some people, he would take action immediately, nip that person's appearance in the bud, and firmly nail him to the cold bench, becoming Political wretch. Of course, Li Linfu's way of fighting is quite gentle, and his tricks are also very clever.As one of the most well-known prank masters in Chinese history, if he wants to deal with someone, he will do it without anyone noticing, and he often sells people and asks him to count the money for him.

As we all know, Xuanzong is an elegant emperor. When Zhang Jiuling was here, although Xuanzong hated his straight remonstrance, he always admired his talent and demeanor.So since Zhang Jiuling left the court, Xuanzong often thought of him involuntarily.In the twenty-eighth year of Kaiyuan (740 A.D.), Zhang Jiuling died of illness in the post of governor of Jingzhou. After Xuanzong heard the news, he was full of melancholy and thought about it endlessly.Since then, whenever Li Linfu wanted to recommend any official to enter the court, Xuanzong would always ask: "Is the demeanor like Jiuling?" ("Old Tang Book·Zhang Jiuling Biography")

It is conceivable that every time Li Linfu heard these words, his heart would feel sore. His grandma's, everyone has been buried in the ground, so why is he still alive and haunted? ! Although Xuanzong valued Li Linfu's shrewd and pragmatic ability to manage politics, Xuanzong always regretted his ignorance.Therefore, Xuanzong's eyes are always wandering back and forth in the civil and military affairs of the Manchu Dynasty, hoping that there will be a minister like Zhang Jiuling who is as elegant and personable as the successor prime minister, so as to make up for the shortcomings in his heart.

In the first year of Tianbao (742 AD), the person Xuanzong was looking forward to finally appeared. It was a day in late spring in March. The wind was sunny, the butterflies were dancing and the birds were singing. Xuanzong was in a good mood, so he hung a curtain on the Qinzheng Building and ordered the musicians to play music on the Qinzheng Building.Perhaps it was the bright spring scenery and the melodious music that made Xuanzong a little fascinated, so when the handsome and handsome Lu Xuan, the servant of the Ministry of War, walked slowly downstairs on a white horse, Xuanzong was shocked when he glanced at it. He hastily praised the eunuch beside him, saying that Lu Xuan's temperament is extraordinary, and he has the demeanor of Zhang Jiuling back then. Lu Xuan was born in the Lu family of Fanyang, which was also a prominent family in the past dynasties. No wonder Xuanzong fell in love at first sight.If there are no accidents, Lu Xuan's appearance is just around the corner. However, Li Linfu paid a lot of money to buy off the eunuchs around the emperor, so Xuanzong's words of admiration for Lu Xuan reached his ears that day. Li Linfu kept his composure and quickly found Lu Xuan's son. After asking about his health, he said to Mr. Lu: "My father has always had a good reputation. Now there is a shortage of talented officials in Jiaozhou and Guangzhou. The Holy Majesty plans to send him. You What do you think?" Mr. Lu was dumbfounded when he heard this. Where are Jiaozhou and Guangzhou?The land of miasma on the south of the Lingnan!Father stayed well in the court, once he was transferred to Jiao and Guang, wouldn't it be like relegation?80% of this life will never come back. Seeing that Lu Xuan's son was sweating profusely, Li Linfu immediately said in a considerate tone: "If you are afraid of going to a remote place, you will be suspected of disobeying the holy order, and you will inevitably be demoted. In my opinion, it is better Take the initiative to propose to the emperor, requesting to be transferred to the position of the prince's guest or prince Zhanshi, and go to Luoyang, the eastern capital, to take up the post. This is also the way of the gifted and sage, what do you think?" Mr. Lu felt relieved, and thanked Li Linfu a thousand times. After he went back, he discussed with his father, and the next day, according to Li Linfu's intention, he took the initiative to submit a transfer application to Xuanzong. Because Lu Xuan was very popular in the court, Li Linfu worried that letting him sit on the bench all of a sudden would cause criticism, so he first arranged for him to be the governor of Huazhou.Not long after Lu Xuan took office, Li Linfu told Xuanzong that Lu Xuan was ill, and he heard that he basically didn't take care of government affairs in Huazhou, so it's better to transfer him to a idle job.When Xuanzong heard it, although he felt it was a pity, he had nothing to say.Later, Li Linfu officially transferred Lu Xuan to Prince Zhan Shi, completely eliminating the possibility of him entering the political center.Not being able to use Lu Xuan as a prime minister, Xuanzong was unavoidably dispirited, and he always wanted to find another person with the same literary talent as Zhang Jiuling.Soon, he did remember one. This person is Zhang Jiuling's old subordinate Yan Tingzhi who was pushed out by Li Linfu. One day at the court meeting, Xuanzong suddenly said to Li Linfu: "Where is Yan Tingzhi now? This person is still available." Li Linfu said promises, but his heart tightened suddenly.After retiring from the court, Li Linfu hurriedly found Yan Tingzhi's younger brother, Yan Shuzhi, and said, "The emperor misses Brother Zun very much. Why don't you make a memorial, saying that Brother Zun has a wind disease and applied to return to the capital for medical treatment?" As a foreign official, Yan Tingzhi was of course eagerly looking forward to returning to the emperor's feet one day, so when his younger brother told him Li Linfu's proposal, Yan Tingzhi didn't think too much about it, and quickly typed up the application report. Later, Li Linfu took Yan Tingzhi's report and said to Xuanzong: "Yan Tingzhi is old and sick, and now he is suffering from wind disease. It seems that he should be given a spare job so that he can seek medical treatment." Xuanzong was deeply sorry and sighed for a long time.A few days later, Yan Tingzhi became Prince Zhan Shi, and went to Luoyang, the eastern capital, to accompany Lu Xuan for the elderly. In the third year of Tianbao (744 A.D.), there was a household minister named Pei Kuan who aroused Li Linfu's attention and vigilance. Because there are various signs that this person is already in the phase. Pei Kuan, like Zhang Jiuling and Yan Tingzhi, also used "literary words" as his career in his early years, and became an official with his literary talent. However, compared with Zhang and Yan, this man has much richer administrative experience and is hard-working. The ability is also much stronger.He has successively held important civil and military positions such as the Minister of the Household Department, the Minister of the Ministry of Officials, and the General of Zuo Jinwuwei in the central court. His achievements and prestige are outstanding, and he has won the appreciation and recommendation of successive prime ministers, and is also highly valued by Xuanzong.Xuanzong once gave him a purple gold fish bag① and a poem, one of which was: "Debi Daiyunbu, his heart is as clear as Jinshui." His appreciation and reliance far surpassed that of ordinary courtiers. Such a guy who is capable of writing and martial arts, with rich experience and extremely strong political capital, is definitely a prime minister, and it is definitely a big worry for Li Linfu! Unless he gets rid of him, Li Linfu will not be at peace for a day. At the end of Tianbao's third year, Li Linfu finally found an opportunity to punish Pei Kuan from another minister surnamed Pei. This person was Pei Dunfu, Shangshu of the Ministry of Punishments. At the beginning of this year, he was ordered to send troops to wipe out the pirates that were rampant along the southeast coast. After returning triumphantly, he was rewarded by Xuanzong.When discussing meritorious service and offering rewards, Pei Dunfu tried his best to preach how rampant pirate forces were and how difficult it was to put down pirates.When Pei Kuan heard that Pei Dunfu had accepted bribes and pretended to be meritorious service, he made a small report to Xuanzong.However, because there was no evidence, Xuanzong temporarily held back.At this moment, Li Linfu realized that the opportunity to deal with Pei Kuan had come. Since the eyes and ears were all over the court, Li Linfu knew very well that Pei Kuan's own ass was not clean. As long as he told Pei Dunfu about his small report, Pei Dunfu would bite Pei Kuan to death at all costs without Li Linfu doing it himself. This is called killing with a borrowed knife. Afterwards, Li Linfu approached Pei Dunfu and said, "You are miserable, and Pei Kuan has given you a copy." As Li Linfu expected, Pei Dunfu was so angry that he jumped to his feet, and scolded Pei Kuan for being ungrateful, saying that Pei Kuan used to come to him about his relatives and friends, but now he beat him up, he is really a despicable villain. Li Linfu said: "Then what are you waiting for? It will be too late if you don't do it." Pei Dunfu acted immediately and quietly sent someone to send a large sum of money to Mrs. Qin Guo, the sister of Concubine Yang.Mrs. Qin took people's money to eliminate disasters for others, and then she kept praising Pei Dunfu in front of the emperor, and at the same time tried her best to discredit Pei Kuan. At that time, the four sisters of the Yang family were being favored by the emperor, and when the wind blew on Mrs. Qin's pillow, Pei Kuan would of course be finished. A few days later, Pei Kuan, who was about to become a prime minister, was expelled from the court for no apparent reason and demoted to the prefect of Suiyang (now Shangqiu City, Henan Province). Pei Dunfu escaped a catastrophe, and he was naturally grateful to Li Linfu from then on. However, he is a knife that has killed people after all, and Li Linfu will definitely not keep him.What's more, since he got on the boat of Mrs. Qin, his status in Xuanzong's mind has become higher and higher, and he seems to be replacing Pei Kuan in the prime minister. Of course, Li Linfu can't keep him. In April of the fourth year of Tianbao (745 A.D.), Li Linfu found an excuse to remove Pei Dunfu from the post of Shangshu of the Ministry of Punishment and transferred him to be the economic envoy of the five prefectures of Lingnan. It was only at this moment that Pei Dunfu realized that he was being used as a gun by Li Linfu! Pei Dunfu was indignant and refused to leave for the post for a long time, which gave Li Linfu another handle.Li Linfu immediately demoted Pei Dunfu to be the prefect of Zichuan (now Zibo City, Shandong) in the name of resisting the edict and staying without authorization. In Li Linfu's 19-year career as a prime minister, there are countless stories of using this kind of feminine method to manipulate people.People are always grateful to him, and at the same time, they are pushed out of the core of power by him unconsciously. When they wake up, their political life has already been quietly ended by Li Linfu.Said: "Li Linfu is a chancellor, anyone who is talented and expects his achievements to come out of his own right, who is favored by his superiors, and who will be forced by his position, will do everything possible to get rid of him; especially avoid literary scholars, who may be good to others, and use sweet words to trap Yin. The world says that Li Linfu has 'honey in his mouth and sword in his belly'." This is the origin of the idiom "mouth honey belly sword". However, not everyone can be easily dealt with by Li Linfu with this trick. For example, after the death of the respondent Niu Xianke, Li Shizhi, the successor prime minister, is not a soft persimmon that can be manipulated casually.This person has always been extremely dissatisfied with Li Linfu's monopoly, so he has repeatedly challenged Li Linfu after he became a prime minister. To deal with this kind of person, Li Linfu naturally put away his gentle mask and revealed his stern face. In fact, Li Linfu had already prepared two tactics for his political opponents. The soft hand is called the mouth honey belly sword. The hard hand is called Luo Tong Ji Wang.