Chapter 26 Declare war on the Changsun Group

Gaozong and Li Zhi were ready to declare war on Changsun Wuji. His determination was great, but the current political reality inevitably made him a little guilty.Because in the civil and military affairs of the Manchu Dynasty, except for one Sikong and Li Ji, almost none of them were his cronies; on the other hand, Changsun Wuji not only firmly controlled the entire prime minister group, but also wanted to eliminate dissidents through the Fang Yiai case, killing and establishing power, making all civil and military All the officials bowed their heads and listened to each other, and all of them kept silent.

With such a disparity in strength between the two sides, how did Gaozong win this battle? This is not only the worry of the emperor Li Zhi, but also the worry of Zhaoyi Wu Mei. They unanimously realized that the only way to defeat Changsun Wuji was to build their own political forces in the court as soon as possible. Where there is demand, there is supply. This simple law of economics applies not only to the economic sphere, but also to the political sphere. When Emperor Gaozong and Li Zhi were extremely anxious because of their weak power, there were already a group of ambitious politicians in the court who were keenly aware of the needs of the emperor.They are: Li Yifu from Zhongshushe, Xu Jingzong from Wei Weiqing, Cui Yixuan from the imperial historian, Wang Dejian from Zhongshushe, Yuan Gongyu from Dali Cheng, etc.

Li Yifu, who was born in a humble family, is said to be handsome and able to write beautiful poems.He became an official in the middle of Zhenguan, and soon became the supervisory censor on the recommendation of Liu Ji and Ma Zhou.Maybe it was because the person and the article were so beautiful, so some people rumored that he was gay with Liu Ji and Ma Zhou, saying that he was "lucky for Liu Ji and Ma Zhou for his appearance, so he got in" ("Old Tang Book·Li Yifu") pass"). Because Li Yifu is talented, and his appearance is gentle and courteous, and he always smiles when he talks to people, so many people are confused by his appearance and think he is a kind person.It was not until many years later that he came to power and became ruthless and merciless that people realized what a terrible person he was, so they gave him a four-character comment-"There is a knife in the smile", and gave him a gift. He has a nickname - "Li cat".

This is the origin of the idiom "a knife hidden in a smile".This character trait of Li Yifu is quite similar to that of Li Linfu, the prime minister in the Xuanzong era.Li Linfu is also because he always smiles and talks warmly on the surface, but he stabs people desperately behind his back, so people give him the gift of "sword with honey in mouth".Li Yifu and Li Linfu, the two prime ministers of the Tang Dynasty, not only had similar pronunciations of names, lived in similar times, held the same positions, and had similar personalities in dealing with the world, but even the two idioms they contributed to future generations were exactly the same. It is also an interesting phenomenon to say that people are often misplaced and misunderstood the source.

During the Zhenguan period, Li Yifu, who had just debuted, was worried that his family background would be poor and it would be difficult for him to make a fortune, so he wrote a poem to express his heart.The title of this poem is "Ode to Wu": "In the day, the morning colors shine, and the qin sings at night. The forest is like a tree, don't you borrow a branch?" After Taizong Li Shimin heard about it, he immediately stated: "I will lend you the whole tree, but only one branch!" ("Sui and Tang Jiahua") Li Yifu was overwhelmed, and kept in mind Taizong's encouragement from then on, believing that one day he would climb to the highest branch of the imperial political arena, from which he could have a panoramic view of the "whole tree" scenery and overlook all living beings.

After Jin Wang Li Zhi was registered as the prince, Li Yi's mansion was reused, and he entered the East Palace as the prince's sheren. Old Tang Book Biography of Li Yifu"). But Li Yifu didn't expect Fortune to be so tricky.After Li Zhi became emperor, he just changed from Prince Sheren to Zhongshu Sheren, and did not get the expected big promotion.A few years later, Laiji, who was as famous as Li Yifu at the beginning, climbed the high branch of Changsun Wuji, and soon rose to the top of the sky, becoming the prime minister, but Li Yifu has been standing still, always on the old branch of Zhongshu Sheren. Not salty and not lightly swaying.

What makes Li Yifu even more sad is that in the sixth year of Yonghui, the imperial court suddenly issued a decree to relegate him to the remote and desolate Bizhou (now Tongjiang County, Sichuan). Be Sima.Taizong's words of encouragement are still in my ears, but it is nothing less than a great irony to Li Yifu today.Even the only branch on which it relies for shelter is almost broken, so how can we talk about a "whole tree"? Due to the convenience of his position, Li Yifu knew about the relegation order before it was issued to Menxia Province, so he was in a state of panic all day long, and hurriedly asked his colleague Wang Dejian for advice.

Wang Dejian is Xu Jingzong's nephew, he is a scheming man, and because he has a sarcoma on his neck, he is called a "brain tank".Seeing the frightened expression on Li Yifu's face, the think tank couldn't help smiling, and said after a while, "The emperor wants to make Wu Zhaoyi the queen, but he has been hesitant because a group of prime ministers obstructed it. If Mr. Li can help the emperor and Wu Zhaoyi to achieve This wish can definitely turn disaster into blessing.” When Li Yifu heard the words, he immediately became enlightened, and turned his worries into joy.On the same day, Li Yifu replaced Wang Dejian on the night shift at Zhongshu Province, and then presented a memorial to Gaozong, asking Gaozong to depose the queen and replace him with Wu Zhaoyi, so as to satisfy the common wishes of the ruling and opposition parties.After Gaozong read it, he was overjoyed immediately, summoned Li Yifu overnight, had a secret talk with him, and then rewarded him with a bucket of pearls and let him stay in his original post.

When Wu Zhaoyi heard that some of the courtiers had finally stood up to speak for her, she was even more delighted, and then secretly sent someone to contact Li Yifu. Book servant. After staying in the position of Zhongshu Sheren for six full years, Li Yi's mansion finally turned around and ushered in the spring of his official career. In the following days, Li Yifu, Xu Jingzong, Cui Yixuan, Wang Dejian, Yuan Gongyu and others quickly rallied around the emperor and Wu Zhaoyi, gearing up and fighting high, ready to fight Changsun Wuji and his group of prime ministers at any time.Many years later, Empress Wu Zhao of the Great Zhou Dynasty still couldn't forget the "Yi Zan Gong" of this group of people back then, so she issued an edict to posthumously posthumously posthumous officials and titles, and bestowed feudal titles on their sons one by one.

Seeing that the Son of Heaven gathered a group of political thugs in the shortest time, and put on a stance of fighting to the death, Changsun Wuji, Suiliang and others realized the seriousness of the situation, so they quickly called their people and held a secret meeting to discuss the current situation. political situation.At the meeting, Changan ordered Pei Xingjian to look righteously indignant, claiming that if Wu Zhaoyi was made queen, "the disaster of the country must begin from here!" (Volume 199) It was this worrying statement that brought disaster to Pei Xingjian. Because their every move has long been under Wu Zhaoyi's control.

As soon as the secret meeting was over, Dali Cheng Yuan Gongyu, who had been spying secretly, notified the details of the meeting to Wu Zhaoyi's mother, Yang Shi. After Wu Mei heard the news, a sneer crossed the corner of her mouth. A few days later, Pei Xingjian was demoted from the imperial court, and was immediately kicked to the farthest northwest border of the empire, where he served as the governor of Xizhou (to the east of Turpan City, Xinjiang today). This relegation is tantamount to exile.If it were a weak-willed person, he might end up depressed in the harsh desert of the Western Regions, but Pei Xingjian is not an ordinary person. Instead of complaining, he devoted himself to the cause of managing the Western Regions with great enthusiasm and courage.In the next ten years, Pei Xingjian made many achievements in the frontiers of the Western Regions, and was finally appointed by the court as the Governor of Anxi in the second year of Linde (665 AD).During this tenure, Pei Xingjian was well in control and had an outstanding political voice, which made "many countries in the Western Regions admire righteousness and surrender" ("Old Tang Book Biography of Pei Xingjian"). During his military career for many years, Pei Xingjian successively promoted and reused a large number of military talents such as Cheng Wuting, Wang Fangyi, Heizhi Changzhi, Guo Daifeng, Li Duozuo, etc. These people later became brave and unique generals.In addition, under the training of Pei Xingjian, there are dozens of governors and generals.And Pei Xingjian himself deservedly became one of the most outstanding military strategists and politicians in the history of the early Tang Dynasty. The demotion of Pei Xingjian is a strong political signal, which means that Gaozong and Wu Zhaoyi have challenged the Changsun Group.And just a few days after Pei Xingjian was relegated, that is, on the first day of September of this year, Gaozong suddenly promoted Xu Jingzong to the Minister of Rites.As we all know, the Ministry of Rites is in charge of the canonization matters of the imperial court. Gaozong let Xu Jingzong be the head of the Ministry of Rites. Speaking of which, this Xu Jingzong is also a veteran politician.As early as the end of the Sui Dynasty, he and Wei Zheng worked together under Li Mi's account; after returning to the Tang Dynasty, Xu Jingzong was more important than Li Shimin in his literary talent, and became one of the eighteen scholars of the Qin Palace admired by the government and the public. It was full of glory at the time.But during the reign of Zhenguan, Xu Jingzong's official career was not smooth all the time - his colleagues in the early years had already paid homage to the prime minister, and even many young juniors were already in high positions, but he had several ups and downs and was relegated repeatedly, and he was still unable to enter The power center of the empire.This has always been the biggest heart problem of Xu Jingzong, who was successful in his early years. At the beginning of Gaozong's ascension to the throne, Xu Jingzong, as an old minister of the Eastern Palace, was once promoted to the Minister of Rites. Seeing that he was not far from the position of prime minister, his luck was not good, and he was demoted due to some incidents, and was released as the governor of Zhengzhou. He was in Yonghui for three years Then he returned to the court to serve as Wei Weiqing. In the year when he returned to worship the Minister of Rites, Xu Jingzong was already a sixty-four-year-old sixty-four-year-old man. At this moment, his cloudy old eyes were still staring at the position of prime minister. Xu Jingzong knew that he really had no time to waste any more.Therefore, the most urgent thing he wants to do now is to risk his old life and fight with his eldest grandson Wuji, and then support Wu Zhaoyi as queen at all costs. Only in this way can he realize his dream of being a prime minister and reach the pinnacle of his official career!