It is of great significance to Cheng Wen to listen to the government before the court.
If the sudden move to imprison Li Bing before was due to strong hatred that went to her head, then the series of power manipulations after the emperor was placed under house arrest was a desperate struggle for self-protection. Among them, there are both active adventures and passive helplessness.
However, as the situation continued to move forward, the entire situation became more and more "favorable" to Cheng Wen. The Beiya Nilin Division was in vain and had lost its role in protecting the emperor. The imperial army was controlled by her through edicts, leaving the imperial capital and even the entire Gyeonggi Province no longer powerful enough to check and balance the Cheng family.
A large number of court officials were implicated in the case of poisoning the emperor and were imprisoned. In addition, a mass court incident outside Chengtian Gate shocked the world, completely suppressing all civil and military officials. At this time, no one dares to stand up and question Cheng Wen's authority.
It can be said that the firewood is already piled up, only a few sparks are missing.
And Tian Mu's memorandum suggesting that the queen listen to politics is the best spark. The firewood ignited, and a fire burst into Cheng Wen's heart:
Originally, he just wanted to hold Li Bing hostage so that he could avenge his father and second brother Li Jiangyao. Unexpectedly, by mistake, the door to the pinnacle of power of the Shengtang Dynasty was completely opened to him! The opportunity for the Cheng family is right in front of us, and the opportunity for me is right in front of us!
Queen Cheng Wen's ambition suddenly swelled. Her goal is no longer satisfied with taking the opportunity for revenge. A higher level of honor is waiting for her in front.
Objectively speaking, this opportunity is indeed a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Starting from the Imperial Capital Incident caused by the Crown Prince and Xie Guang, to the rebellion in Western Xinjiang and the Turkic invasion, the imperial power system and political map of the Shengtang Empire encountered unprecedented impacts, which triggered a series of earth-shaking changes.
King Li Kuang of Huaiyang and King Li Kuang of the Puppet Jin Dynasty rebelled one after another. Li Jiangyao, Ma Hongjie, Murong Xue and other military forces rose up one after another. The world was plunged into successive wars. Almost all the imperial troops were committed to the southern battlefield and had no time to visit the north.
The chaotic Shengtang Dynasty gave endless opportunities to careerists and conspirators.
Under such circumstances, Cheng Wen suddenly took action to murder the unprepared emperor Li Bing. She indeed had excellent space and time to advance her various plans and seize the fruits of power.
Now that the queen can "according to orders" to attend the court, who can guarantee that one day in the future there will not be a female emperor who truly rules the world?
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With Tian Mu's encouragement, Cheng Wen immediately became complacent, but her brother Cheng Dong, the Duke of Zhen Guo, not only did not feel happy at all, but became increasingly troubled and worried.
It is one thing for a foreign relative to take power, but it is another thing for a foreign relative to usurp power.
This reckless and arrogant approach is tantamount to seeking death.
Last time, he suggested to his sister Cheng Wen that before things got completely out of hand, he should reach an understanding and compromise with the military as soon as possible, especially with Li Jiangyao, the commander-in-chief of the Zhenjiang Army. Be it a king, a promotion, a reward, a grant of land, anything can be given, as long as it can stabilize the army of hundreds of thousands of tigers and wolves, and any conditions can be agreed to.
However, Cheng Wen obviously does not have as deep a city as him. The Queen, who relied on herself to control the Forbidden Army and the White Tiger Army, did not take the Zhenjiang Army seriously at all. compromise? What a joke! Not sending troops to attack Li Jiangyao immediately would be considered a sign of forbearance, but would you still grant him the title of king?
Now, seeing that my sister is about to attend the court and openly preside over the overall affairs of the court, she is one step closer to the peak of Shengtang's power. It naturally becomes even more impossible for her and Li Jiangyao to temporarily turn their feud into friendship.
Cheng Dong had no choice but to bite the bullet and resign himself to fate, and began to strengthen the war preparation training of 200,000 forbidden troops in order to prepare for the war that might break out at any time.
He divided the entire army into three groups. In addition to the 100,000 soldiers and horses who stayed in the imperial capital, 50,000 people went to Tongguan and 50,000 people went to Wuguan to block the two passes east of the Guanzhong Plain to ensure the safety of the capital.
At the same time, in the name of the Governor's Office, he also ordered the soldiers from the various states in Guanzhong to gather and advance towards Liangzhou to prevent the main forces of the three towns and cities remaining in Western Xinjiang from suddenly leaving the border and raiding the rear of the imperial capital.
However, even with such careful arrangements, Cheng Dong still felt very uneasy.
No matter how they calculated, the strength and combat power of the Forbidden Army were far from meeting the requirements for defending the imperial capital.
In addition, there are two issues that also worry him very much.
Emperor Li Bing, as the Ninth Five Supreme Being, has always been wary of Li Jiangyao for a long time, but he has never dared to directly turn against him and fight each other. The reasons behind this are very complicated.
In Cheng Dong's view, in addition to military strength considerations, people's support and financial resources are also Li Bing's two biggest concerns.
When the Shengtang Dynasty was almost destroyed, Li Jiangyao and the Zhenjiang Army turned the tide and successively defeated the Western Xinjiang rebel forces, the Turkic foreign enemy army, Huaiyang King Li Kuang and the Jiangnan rebels. Therefore, whether in the Ghost Desert of Western Xinjiang or in the The Holy Tang Zhongtu has already become a heroic commander in the eyes of the people of the world.
It is no exaggeration to say that because Li Jiangyao's previous enemies all appeared to the world as bad guys, it led to the stereotype that "whoever is an enemy of Li Jiangyao must be a damn bad guy."
This simple and straightforward way of thinking is very common among the people, and even the emperor has no way to do anything about it.
Therefore, Li Bing did not dare to do anything to Li Jiangyao easily. He was afraid that before the battle was won, he would be drowned in the spit of the court officials and the people of the world.
It's a pity that Cheng Wen doesn't understand this truth.
Another thing Cheng Wen doesn't understand is financial resources.
The imperial court's financial resources mainly came from taxes. Official salaries, army food and salary, and civil engineering and water conservancy project construction all depend on tax collection. However, this way of taking money from ordinary people is a double-edged sword.
There are less taxes and not enough money to spend, so many major things cannot be done. For example, warships were originally built to fight against rebels blocking the river. Because there was not enough money, enough ships could not be built, which delayed the army's journey south for a long time.
But on the other hand, if there are too many taxes, people will immediately complain. Originally, due to years of war, the people of Shengtang were already in dire straits. If the imperial court continued to impose excessive taxes and extort excessive amounts of money, the lack of adequate protection would suddenly trigger a civil uprising, and the trouble of rebellion would arise again.
For this reason, the Holy Tang court under Li Bing's rule always carefully controlled the tax ratio, and from time to time would implement tax reductions for certain state capitals in order to promote the economic development of those places.
Once an armed conflict breaks out with Li Jiangyao and other legions, the area east of Tongguan will soon fall into war, and taxes in the Central Plains, Qilu, Northern Hebei, Lianghuai and other places will not be able to be collected smoothly. At that time, the imperial treasury will become even more stretched in terms of financial resources.
You don’t have any money, so why bother fighting?
Looking back at the Xinjiang Army, their sources of funds appear to be very diverse. In addition to the basic taxes in Western Xinjiang, there are also huge and complicated Silk Road trade transactions. In particular, the latter method of collecting wealth has little impact on ordinary people and is easier to gain support from the people.
In addition, once the Zhenjiang Army eliminates the Jiangnan rebels, they can easily confiscate the wealth that Li Zhanglao Jianhua has accumulated for many years, including gold, silver, grain and grass, equipment, and weapons, and directly transform it into war materials against the Cheng family army.
Compare the two sides and make a judgment.
When it comes to fighting strength, the Forbidden Army and the White Tiger may not be able to defeat each other; when it comes to public sentiment, most people in the world will side with Li Jiangyao; when it comes to assets, the Xinjiang Army is rich and powerful, but the bigger the imperial capital, the poorer it gets. Anyone with any brains knows how it will end.
Cheng Dong sighed secretly: Alas, the Cheng family has an eight-hundred-year-old foundation and nearly a thousand men, women, and children. Sooner or later, they will have to pay an extremely heavy price for Cheng Wen's ambition and cleverness.
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"Tian Aiqing, how are the arrangements for tomorrow's court meeting?" Cheng Wen sat on the throne in the main hall of Fengyi Palace and asked lazily.
Tian Mu, who had just been promoted to Zhongshu Ling, was already the prime minister and the head of the hundred officials. Hearing the Queen's inquiry, he quickly responded: "Reporting to the Queen, I have informed the Yushitai and ordered it to supervise all officials to ensure that the situation like the day before yesterday will not happen again."
The "situation like the day before yesterday" he mentioned refers to the embarrassing scene that Queen Cheng Wen faced when she came to court on her first day under the pretext of the emperor's will.
On that day, 21 of the imperial officials in Beijing from the fifth rank and above claimed to be ill and refused to attend court, 18 took leave and refused to attend court, and there were seven stubborn ones who simply went missing.
Finally, when the dynasty began to discuss politics, except for the officials from the pro-Queen family, almost everyone else became mute and remained silent. They neither proposed nor expressed their opinions, but just stared at Cheng Wen who was sitting high on the throne, with a look of gloom and resentment in their eyes.
Cheng Wen felt uncomfortable being stared at by everyone. She hurriedly took care of a few government affairs in Li Bing's name, then hastily announced her resignation from the court and returned to the harem in embarrassment.
After returning, she became angrier as she thought about it, and almost sent out the imperial army again to teach those stubborn ministers who were ignorant of current affairs. In the end, Cheng Dong and Tian Mu gave advice and gave up the idea of going to war.
He was going to court again tomorrow. At this time, Cheng Wen asked, obviously not wanting to face that annoying situation.
After listening to Tian Mu's report, Cheng Wen finally felt a little relieved, and then asked: "How is the war on the front line recently? I haven't seen any reports from the Governor's Office and the Ministry of War. What's the matter? Isn't it okay to bully me and not understand military affairs?"
Tian Mu heard the words and quickly apologized: "Your Majesty, you are worrying too much. Currently, the post of Governor of the Governor's Mansion is vacant, and Dong Tianxing, the Minister of the Ministry of War, is at home thinking about his mistakes, so there is no formal memorial to the Minister, which is normal. As far as I know, Jiangnan is currently The war there is progressing smoothly. Except for Ma Hongjie's troops who are still fighting fiercely with the rebel Xie Bao's tribe and no new gains have been made, Gong Chengze's troops have captured Jiannan and are marching into Yizhou; Murong Xue's troops have captured Tanzhou; and Li Jiangyao's troops have taken back Suzhou. , prepare to encircle Hangzhou, the base of the rebels. The fall of the puppet Jin king Li Zhang is just around the corner."
