The next day happens to be the Xun's Day holiday, but for the king of a country, the Xun's Day holiday is no different from other days. Although the three-province-six-department system and the council are slowly getting on the right track, because the boundaries of responsibilities and powers are not so clear, there is still no tacit cooperation between various departments when they perform their respective duties and work in parallel. In addition, Yang Guang had to personally check everything from the appointment of governor to the promotion of county magistrate. Then he would verify the new official's past achievements and conduct, and then consider his origin, faction, etc... It is precisely because of this that everything is meticulous. , so he, the emperor, never had a day of peace and enjoyment.
This is not only due to Yang Guang's temperament, but also out of his pride. He feels that only by reaching or surpassing his father's height can he prove that his father did not choose the wrong person and that he is the most qualified Sui II. But his His father is a monument that is extremely difficult to surpass, so if he wants to surpass his father, he must invest far more energy than his father.
It was precisely with this mentality of a strong master over his ancestors and spurred by the tense current situation that Yang Guang did not dare to slack off for a day.
After breakfast, Yang Guang began to handle government affairs in the imperial study room again.
The first and second memorials placed on his desk were still about the impeachment of Yang Ji; the first one was written by Xue Zhou, and it was nothing more than saying that Yang Ji bloodbathed the Great Lakes area and exposed the bones of the great Lakes area in the wild. "There is no cockcrow for a thousand miles," and asked Jingyang to punish the crime as a warning to others.
Yang Guang looked at it casually and threw it aside.
He neither recognized nor was interested in this old-fashioned impeachment; if the Sui Dynasty wanted to become an unprecedentedly powerful empire, it had to turn other people's land into its own, but others did not agree!
What to do?
Kill! Kill until they are convinced.
Since Yang Ji opened up territory for the Sui Dynasty, what happened to killing some damn barbarians? Do we still have to wait for them to catch their breath before they can counterattack the Sui Dynasty?
Besides, Yang Ji killed more people last time, but why didn't you impeach him in the first place? It's just that Yang Ji didn't threaten your interests at that time, but now he has become a climate and is against you everywhere, so everyone wants to take advantage of me. Do you really think that I am a fool who does not distinguish between good and evil? Absolutely ridiculous.
The second memorial was a petition by Yuanshou. He believed that Yang Ji had too much power and was not conducive to the stability of the country. He demanded that Yang Ji be removed from the post of state pastor and that the level of Liangzhou be restored to the situation where the governor, chief historian, Sima, and general manager co-exist. Each of the four has a role. Behind it were more than a hundred officials and ministers from the Guanlong clan who jointly signed the letter. However, none of the nine ministers of the Council, Shandong Department, or Southern Department signed it.
From this memorial, Yang Guang was keenly aware that the nobles of Guan Long had endured it for so long and finally couldn't help but attack Yang Ji; and the children of the poor family regarded Yang Ji as their representative, so to a certain extent, this was Guan Long's The nobles showed their swords to the Sui Hanmen, and it was best not to care who won or lost. Both the Shandong and Southern factions would benefit, so they all stood by and watched the fight between tigers and tigers.
Although Yang Guang suppressed the Guanlong nobles, the Guanlong nobles controlled a large part of the army, which made Yang Guang always reluctant to use his hands.
On the other hand, Yang Guang also had great fear of the Shandong clique, whose strength was second only to the Guanlong clique. First of all, this was because the Shandong gentry took it as their own duty to maintain and restore the ninth grade Zhongzheng. Secondly, the influence of the Shandong clique is mainly in the local areas, and many local officials are their people. In the situation where the southern and poor families cannot become a big trend, if he suppresses the Guanlong nobles too hard, the Shandong family will definitely become the dominant one.
Judging from the thousands of years of strength, fame, influence, and planning ability accumulated by the Shandong nobles, as well as their unscrupulous past practices, once their family becomes dominant, their harm and difficulty will be far greater than that of the Guanlong nobles. Therefore, Yang Guang had no choice but to reuse the Guanlong nobles while suppressing the Guanlong nobles in order to prevent the political situation from losing balance.
This time the Guanlong nobles took action against the "weak" Yang Ji who represented the interests of the poor family. Yang Guang realized that the Shandong faction would also enter the scene sooner or later, and stood firmly on Yang Ji's side.
The reason is that the Guanlong nobles are too powerful and have seriously threatened the survival of the Shandong clan; although the harm to them from the poor family is more profound, the background of the poor family is too shallow after all. Without decades or hundreds of years of accumulation, there is nothing to be afraid of. , so at this stage, the Shandong clique’s primary enemy is still the Guanlong clique.
The third eldest son of the Southern Department, who lacks strength but wants to be the boss, will probably sit back and watch the eldest and second eldest brother lose, and then come out to reap the benefits at the critical moment.
Thinking of this, Yang Guang couldn't help but smile. If this is the case, it will definitely be the most intense political battle since he ascended the throne. The best result is that both the Guanlong and Shandong cliques will suffer losses; but Yang Ji once announced The "list of prisoners" has made the powerful Cui family notorious. Er Cui now hates him deeply. How could they agree to allow the Shandong nobles to come in and help Yang Ji?
This is really a troublesome thing.
Yang Guang thought for a while and then asked the eunuch who was standing down: "Who is the official on duty in the meeting hall today?"
The eunuch hurriedly said: "Reporting to the saint, today's duty officer was originally Prime Minister Pei, but he had something to do with his family, so he changed his position with tomorrow's duty officer, Xiao Xiang. This matter has been reported."
Every day, a prime minister presides over government affairs in the council hall. This person is also the official on duty for that day. In order to facilitate the hearing of the emperor or deal with emergencies, even if there is a break, there will be one person in charge, and then he will rest the next day. Of course, if someone has something big to do at home and cannot leave, they can also "swap shifts" with other people. All they need to do is apply and report in advance.
Since there was no problem with the process, Yang Guang naturally wouldn't say anything. He thought for a moment, then suddenly something moved in his mind and he ordered: "Xuan Xiao meets you!"
"Here!" Soon, the eunuch invited Xiao Cong, the internal historian.
"Your Majesty, Xiao Cong, meets the Saint!" Xiao Cong was the last emperor of the Western Liang Kingdom. He was generous, erudite and good at riding and shooting. In the seventh year of Emperor Kaihuang's reign, he was conscripted into the imperial court by Emperor Wen. His uncle Xiao Yan and his younger brother Xiao Gu took the opportunity to rebel and surrendered to Nanchen. So Emperor Wen took the opportunity to depose the Western Liang Kingdom, and then canonized Xiao Cong as the Duke of Shangzhu Kingdom and Ju Kingdom in the Sui Dynasty. After Yang Guang came to the throne, he listened to Yang Ji's slander and had the pleasure of defending the "enemy emperor" for his own use, so he worshiped Xiao Cong as the internal history order and changed the title of Liang Guogong. If Chen Shubao hadn't died, he might have been named a royal scholar by Yang Guang at this time.
It was also out of this intention that Yang Guang hoped that Yang Ji would kill Tuyuhun as soon as possible and then capture Murong Fuyun for use. Yang Guang looked down on small fish like King Yiwu and Murong Bei. However, Xiao Cong himself did not feel any shame or anger at being enslaved. Instead, he admired Yang Guang's courage and magnanimity.
"Xiao Xiangping!" Yang Guang handed him Xue Zhou's impeachment memorial and Yuan Shou's joint petition. After he read it, he asked: "Xiao Xiang, what do you think of this petition?"
"Sage, I think this is nonsense." In response to the uproar of impeachment, Xiao Cong and his younger brother Xiao Jue discussed privately. Both brothers believed that the Guanlong nobles were behind it. Now these two memorials have confirmed their guess.
Xue Zhou's impeachment was insignificant, but Yuan Shou's petition was extremely powerful. This also reminded Xiao Cong of the personal grudges between Yang Ji and the Yuan family. The He Ruobi case during the Renshou period involved the three major factions of the Guan and Long nobles. At the beginning, Yang Jian was in power, so he showed extra mercy to the Dugu family who colluded with Bujia Khan. He only gave one of the Dugu Tuos to Yang Ji and other ministers to explain to him. Because the Dou family was not deeply involved, only the former head of the family, Dou Yi, was ordered to commit suicide. . After that, Yang Jian blamed all the crimes on He Ruobi, so the two families just passed by, and even the people did not know that these two families had been punished.
But the Yuan family was unlucky enough. Not only did they have one Yuan Yan executed, and Yuan Zhou, who was about to make a comeback, was sentenced to never be employed, all the weapons hidden in their home were also confiscated. When these weapons and equipment that could lead to the annihilation of the clan were found and made public, the Yuan family had no choice but to sacrifice dozens more of their children in the army in order to give Yang Jian an explanation.
In order to uphold the law of the country, kill the Guanlong nobles, and explain themselves to the people of the world, Yang Jian killed and demoted these dozens of people. This directly caused the Yuan clan to lose more than half of its strength in the army.
Although the three major families were "forced" to enter the situation, it was He Ruobi who tried to use the power of the entire Guanlong noble family to force Yang Jian to give in based on the idea that the law should not be blamed. In the end, the He Ruobi family also escaped. But He Ruobi was dead, He Ruo's family was destroyed, and Yang Ji was the biggest beneficiary, so the Yuan family put this blood debt on Yang Ji's head.
If Yuan Shou was now avenging his personal revenge, it would only be a matter between the Yuan family and Yang Ji, and other Guanlong noble families would not be involved. However, this petition was signed by more than a hundred Guanlong officials, and Xiao Cong expected that this was The entire Guanlong forces turned against Yang Ji.
If Yang Ji falls in this massive denunciation, the Guanlong nobles will definitely expand their victory and bring down all Yang Ji's relatives and friends. The Xiao family, which is already at the forefront, will naturally bear the brunt. Once the Xiao family falls, , the southern gentry will also be cleaned up one by one. Therefore, whether it is for Yang Ji or for their own interests, the Xiao family must stand on Yang Ji's side and concentrate all their efforts behind the scenes.
In fact, this is the fundamental reason why Yang Guang called Xiao Cong and asked him to read these two memorials.
In Yang Guang's view, although Yang Ji was promoted to the leader's throne by a poor family, none of the important officials in the center were from poor families. This resulted in Yang Ji not getting any help from the humble family at this critical moment. So he had to find a helper for Yang Ji, and the Xiao family was undoubtedly a good choice.
Yang Guang himself has long since turned from a chess player to a 'referee', so naturally he can no longer play in person as before. At this time, when he heard Xiao Cong say, "I think this is nonsense," Yang Guang knew that Xiao Cong was aware of their relationship with Yang Ji, sharing weal and woe, and immediately asked, pretending to be indifferent, "How can you see it?"
"Report to the saint!" Xiao Cong cupped his hands and said: "The reason why our Sui army is invincible and invincible is not only because the commander has strong command and the soldiers are good at fighting. What's more important is that the late emperor learned that the supervising army is a disaster and the local The lesson of constraints is to set up a temporary Grand Commander's Office and a Central Commander's Office on top of the Commander's Office; every time there is a war, the Grand Commander's Office headed by the Commander-in-Chief takes charge of the military and government of the states under its jurisdiction, and it is up to the Commander-in-Chief to decide how to fight and how to fight. Forget it. However, because the position of the Grand Steward was too heavy, the late Emperor, in order to prevent the Grand Steward from becoming a catastrophic disaster, would only use it during wars. After the war, he would take back the Grand Steward's position and power. Looking back now, the existence of the Grand Steward's Office and the Grand Steward's The pros outweigh the cons.”
"What Prime Minister Xiao said is absolutely true." Yang Guang nodded. He had taken command many times and won the final victory. Naturally, he knew that the integration of military and political affairs during wartime and the free play of the coach were important foundations for winning a war.
Xiao Cong glanced at Yang Guang and then said: "Liangzhou is in a critical period of confrontation and fighting with Tuyuhun. The Eastern Turks have brazenly marched into the Great Lakes area. The situation is extremely serious. If the state pastoral office is abolished and a few people with equal status are added, For those who do not understand military affairs, Liangzhou's chances of winning will be greatly reduced. Otherwise, it will be defeated due to internal constraints. Therefore, Wei Chen believes that General Yuan's remarks are extremely irresponsible nonsense. "
"I believe that the Liangzhou Prefectural Mufu's Office is no different from the previous General Manager's Office. They were all temporarily established to defeat the enemy. At the same time, I also believe that the Prefectural Mufu's Office has too much power and should be revoked. However, the time of revocation is by no means Now, we must wait until King Wei defeats Tuyuhun and the court reconfirms whether the Eastern Turks are loyal."
Yang Guang smiled and said: "Xiao Xiang is not a military general, but he understands military affairs better than many generals. This is really a blessing for the Sui Dynasty and the army."
"The saint is rewarded." After hearing Yang Guang's words, Xiao Cong secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Judging from this conversation, Yang Guang was still firmly on Yang Ji's side.
Yang Guangyang held up the 'petition' in Yang's hand and said meaningfully: "However, there are too many officials who do not understand military affairs and are eager to remove the state pastoralists. What does Xiao Xiang think should be done?"
"Saint!" Xiao Cong bowed his hands and said seriously: "I believe there are more people who understand the truth."
"Okay!" Seeing that Xiao Cong understood what he meant, Yang Guang said no more.
. . . . . .
At the same time, more than thirty male soldiers and female guards escorted a carriage out of the west gate of Pingkangfang and drove slowly along Qixiamen Long Street towards the Pei Mansion in Yongxingfang.
Liuxu followed the carriage on horseback, and through the open window, said to Dugumin inside: "Toffee, as you expected, as the rumors became more and more outrageous, the people all took it as a story. I heard it. I believe that within a day, the previous rumors will be put to rest."
"Wen will let you be the master and deputy master of this sect. We really found the right person."
Dugu Min was deeply surprised. In just one night, Liu Xu managed to get the job done, which was really beyond her expectation.
"This is all the work of Deputy Manager Hao and the disciples of Tianmen. We dare not take credit." Liu Xu looked around and lowered her voice: "Princess, those disciples are all idle gangsters, gangsters, hooligans, beggars, rangers... …They don’t have any other skills, but when it comes to spreading rumors and gathering information, they are definitely top-notch experts.”
"This kind of people live in gangs. Each group has one or several leaders. Their survival rule is to take money from others and eliminate disasters with others. As long as you give them money, they will be reliable."
After listening to Liu Xu's words, Dugu Min frowned and said, "In other words, if the other party gives them more money, they can be bribed away?"
"Most gangs are like this, but some gangs are very reputable." Liu Xu explained: "The competition between gangs is very fierce. Some of the more far-sighted leaders take over the business of this party in order to do long-term business. We won’t take the other party’s business. However, our Tianmen has only been established for a short time and has very few gangs of our own, so we looked for other gangs last night.”
Dugu Min pondered for a long time and said: "Since they are all doing things for him, it will be easy to handle. When the time is right, he will take these reputable gangs as his own."
"Here!" Liu Xu chuckled and said, "Actually, the young master said the same thing."
"That's good." Dugumin smiled and nodded. She had never been in contact with the group born at the bottom, and didn't know anything about them. She had nothing to do at this time, so she wanted to know more about it, so she asked: "Where are the people in the capital?" What are the famous gangs and who is their leader?”
Liu Xu has been the 'Tianmen Sect Master' for several months and has a clear understanding of the background of some big gangs. He said: "There are many famous people, and a large part of them are the ears, eyes and mouthpieces of high-ranking officials. For example, the disciples of Tang Guogong clan Li Shentong, Chai Shao, the son of Julu Gong Chai Shen, Shi Wanbao, the brother of General Shi Wansui, Yang Wanxiang, the concubine of the Duke of Yue, and others, took a group of so-called rangers for their own use. Under the banner of helping the rich and helping the poor, they specialize in blocking roads, robbing people, killing people and selling goods."
After roughly introducing this kind of gangs with deep backgrounds, Liu Xu went on to talk about folk gangs: "The folk gangs are headed by Zhang Zhongjian, a man with a long beard, and then..."
"Wait a minute." Dugu Min interrupted Liu Catkin and frowned: "The person who assassinated Wenhui in Furong Pond was the bearded man Zhang Zhongjian, wasn't he?"
"Exactly this person." Liu Xu nodded and said: "He is still a wanted criminal wanted by the imperial court, and the reward order issued by the young master is still valid. However, Zhang Zhongjian has many connections and means, and the high-ranking officials need him to do some illegal activities. So he escaped with the help of those people. Now that he has retreated behind the scenes, it is difficult to locate his whereabouts." Seeing Dugu Min's frosty face, she quickly added: "But Mr. Hao We have planned to investigate this person, and as long as we find out his details, his base, and his power network, we will catch them all."
"Planning to investigate? Did you mean it hasn't started yet?" Although Dugu Min also knew that He Ruobi was the mastermind behind the assassination of his son, Zhang Zhongjian, the bearded man, was the executioner who almost killed Yang Ji. When she heard what Liu Xu said, she felt a little bit in her heart. She was dissatisfied, but she was more tolerant towards her own people, so she was waiting for Liu Xu's explanation.
"Exactly." Liuxu's heart trembled, and she quickly said: "Toffee, the reason why we haven't started investigating yet is because those disciples are a mixed bag of good and bad, good and bad. Not only can their loyalty not be guaranteed, but they can also easily leak information. If they were to alert the snake, Zhang Thief would definitely do it. Hide somewhere unknown.”
"You have thought carefully." Dugu Min glanced at her and said slowly: "Let's do this! I will allocate three hundred 'maids' to you tomorrow. But you must treat this matter as a top priority. If If you feel you don’t have enough manpower and money, you can always come to me or Manager Gongsun or Manager Su.”
"Here!" Liu Xu straightened up, only to find that the guards had put up a defensive formation while they were talking. She looked forward and saw a carriage parked in front of her. This carriage seemed to be broken down. Two servants got under the horse to check the axle and wheel.
There was also a young man in Confucian shirts and an old lady in luxurious clothes standing next to him. Liuxu knew the young man. He was Li Jiancheng, the prince of Tang Dynasty. Judging from the clothes of the old lady, it should be Li Jiancheng's grandmother and Li Yuan. His mother is Dugu Mantuo.
Dugu Min in the car saw Liu Xu suddenly distracted, so he asked: "What happened?"
"Concubine, the carriage of Li Jiancheng, the crown prince of Tang Dynasty, seems to be broken down." Liuxu said to Dugumin, "The old lady next to me seems to be the old lady of the Li family."
Dugu Min stretched out his head and saw that it was indeed Li Yuan's biological mother, Dugu Mantuo. After thinking for a moment, he asked the groom to stop the car. She got off the carriage, walked quickly towards Dugu Mantuo, and shouted from a distance: "Sister, Sister Mantuo!"
Dugu Mantuo is the fourth daughter of Dugu Xin and the half-sister of Empress Dugu. Although she is over seventy years old, she is still sharp and clear. When she heard someone calling her, she and Li Jiancheng looked over together.
Seeing that it was Dugu Min, Li Jiancheng's eyes flashed with imperceptible nervousness, and then he bowed silently, while Dugu Mantuo, with a smile on his face, said gently: "It's A Min!"
"It's the little sister!" Dugu Min stepped forward quickly, glanced at the busy servant, nodded slightly to Li Jiancheng in return, and then said to Dugu Mantuo: "Sister, is the car broken down?"
Dugu Mantuo smiled bitterly and said: "It's just that the car's control has been loosened. But Jiancheng was worried, so he made a fuss and checked."
"The children are filial, just listen to their arrangements." Dugu Min asked with a smile: "Do you want my little sister to see you off?"
"No, no need!" Dugu Mantuo shook his head and asked casually: "Amin, look at your grand attire, where are you going?"
"I'm going to be a guest in Yongxingfang." Dugu Min gave an ambiguous reply and asked, "Where's Sister?"
"I'm going to the son-in-law's house in Shengyefang!" Dugu Mantuo said this and asked with concern: "Amin, even I heard that your child was impeached, and there are also some rumors in the market that are not conducive to the child. Rumors, this matter must have caused a big fuss, is the child okay?"
"My son's integrity is not afraid of the shadow, and I also believe that the saint will find out the mastermind behind the scenes." Dugu Min said coldly: "If you let me know which bastard is spreading rumors, I must kill this person."
"Although it is said that rumors stop among the wise, if everyone agrees, it will add up to falsehoods. The court should really investigate the rumor makers early!" Dugu Mantuo agreed, and then said: "I wonder if Amin heard another rumor. Rumor?"
"What rumors?"
"People say that the person who started the rumor is the Yuan family."
"Little sister, I remember."
"I don't know if it's true or not, but Amin still has to be careful."
"My little sister believes this rumor. After all, Yuanshi has only done this kind of thing once or twice."
"Then you mother and son should be even more careful!"
"Well! Thank you for your concern, sister." Dugu Min chatted with Dugu Mantuo for a while, then said goodbye and left.
When the carriage started to move, Dugu Min looked back at the grandparents and grandsons through the window. His eyes were curved like crescent moons, and he said with a smile: "These grandparents and grandsons are so interesting!"
"What does the concubine mean by this?" Catkins by the car window couldn't help but ask.
Dugu Min asked back: "Your young master has a saying, have you ever heard of it?"
Liuxu became even more confused after hearing this, and said with a wry smile: "Toffee, the young master has said many interesting and reasonable things, but I don't know which one you are referring to?"
Dugu Min said leisurely: "The so-called chance encounter is all planned for a long time."
"I've heard this before!" Liu Xu suddenly realized.
