Under the winter night, the Chongzheng Palace is a bit colder than usual, giving people a sense of foreboding, like a giant beast crawling in the Bian Palace, and the palace door is like a mouth that bites people. Huge mouth.
Rows of candles illuminated the palace brightly, but there were still areas where the light could not reach. And Emperor Liu just liked to stay in those shadows, and bright light could not illuminate his whole body.
As he grew older, Emperor Liu's eyesight gradually deteriorated. Therefore, when reading memorials, his face would often be close to each other subconsciously, and it would be difficult to see things.
The warm-toned light reflected on Emperor Liu's face, illuminating half the majesty and leaving half a shadow, giving people a strange feeling. Today's Emperor Liu also gives people an increasingly inhuman feeling.
When the Zhao family and his son were worried about their future, Emperor Liu was also thinking about Zhao Pu's problem. His face was expressionless, but under the candlelight, it looked uncertain, as if it reflected his mood at this time.
What Emperor Liu read was some black material about Zhao Pu. These materials came from many sources, including the Wude and Imperial City Departments, as well as the secret impeachment of Zhao Pu by internal and external ministers accumulated over the years. Of course, some of them came from Liu. The emperor was very annoyed and collected evidence from the Lu family's secret room.
It has to be said that the secret files of the Lu family are of extremely high value. The reason why there were so many cases involving Lu and so many people were dealt with was that in addition to Emperor Liu's intention to govern and secretly promote the case, the reason why the Lu family's secret files were secretly promoted was also one of the reasons. , the relevant department only needs to search according to the picture and investigate one by one.
Of course, regarding this part of Zhao Pu, the situation is somewhat special. Lu Meng was in charge of the investigation at the beginning. After discovering the information about Zhao Pu, he knew the sensitivity of it. While calling the Ministry of Justice, he decisively sealed up Zhao Pu's part and quickly reported it to Emperor Liu.
Emperor Liu was very satisfied with Lu Mengzheng's decisiveness and gave instructions, keeping it secret, to submit some of the materials to the Imperial Palace. At this time, Emperor Liu became completely murderous towards Lu Duoxun.
Not only was he collecting dirty information about Zhao Pu, they were political enemies and it was normal for them to have something in their hands. Emperor Liu believed that Zhao Pu might also have a lot of stuff about Lu Duoxun.
What really made Emperor Liu angry was the material in that secret room. In addition to letters and transactions with his party members, there was also a large amount of bureaucratic black material. Obviously, so much of it was basically obtained through the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the Collected by the two major systems of Wude Division.
From these things, we can see how serious Lu Duoxun's use of public weapons for personal gain was. Through these materials, he can at any time frame charges, attack political opponents, and use this to blackmail officials.
This is no longer a simple political struggle. It would be no problem to convict him of conspiracy and treason, not to mention that Wude Si is involved.
Therefore, when these things were exposed, Lu Duosun's fate was almost doomed. If he was just forming a party for personal gain, engaging in corruption and bribery, Emperor Liu might not really take his life, but Lu Duoxun had too many ways to kill him.
As for the materials about Zhao Pu, Emperor Liu kept suppressing them and kept silent until the Lu case gradually subsided, then he picked them up to study. At the same time, he also reviewed the secret files collected by the Imperial City Division and Wude Division.
The materials about Zhao Pu contain a lot of content and complicated personnel matters. Basically, the charges against Lu Duoxun charged by the Ministry of Punishment can be applied to Zhao Pu.
None of these Kaibao prime ministers is cleaner than the others. There is a pile of shit and urine under their butts that cannot be wiped clean, such as corruption, monopolization of power, cliques, personal gains, etc. Zhao Pu himself may be relatively clean, but his relatives, friends, disciples and colleagues, How could it not be involved at all?
Emperor Liu was quite tolerant of these and didn't pay too much attention to them. Even he himself has a selfish side, not to mention the ministers below, even Shi Xizai, a moral gentleman known for his reputation, is not innocent, not to mention Zhao Pu, who has too many shortcomings.
Emperor Liu was a keen observer of fire and knew very well that he didn't really care about many things. He only cared about their utilization value. Even the consistent insistence on official governance and the continuous anti-corruption efforts are only means to alleviate conflicts and consolidate rule. If you can't even see through these, Emperor Liu will be unqualified as an emperor.
Therefore, after reading Zhao Pu's materials, Emperor Liu was also targeted and just laughed at most things. However, through these things, he still saw something that made him afraid.
For example, during his eighteen years as prime minister, Zhao Pu accumulated too much political capital and promoted too many people. His influence on the entire bureaucracy was deep-rooted.
In Lu Duoxun's words, most of the world's officials came from Zhao Pu's sect, and the rest were mostly involved with him. Of course, this statement is somewhat absolute, somewhat extreme, and somewhat superficial, but it can also reflect Zhao Pu's prestige.
The composition of the people used by Zhao Pu is also very complicated. There are capable ministers and officials, and there are also scum and scum. Especially some people in the center have strong selfish desires, are corrupt and seek personal gain, and do not know who they are.
In the past, there were many attacks against Zhao Pu's party members. Some were blocked by Zhao Pu, and some were captured. However, Zhao Pu tried his best to protect everyone and everything. In this case, how could Zhao Pu use it cleanly? to describe.
These situations are also not surprising, and Emperor Liu can accept them. Since he uses Zhao Pu and gives him power, it means that this situation will happen with a high probability.
After all, if Zhao Pu, the prime minister, wants to sit firmly and make a difference in the court, he needs real power, especially organizational and personnel power, and a group of available people.
As long as Zhao Pu himself has no problems, there will be no big problems for the court. The past eighteen years have also proved this. Although there have been various malpractices, Zhao Pu has made great contributions and suffered greatly in the prosperous age of Kaibao. It's laborious.
Of course, it is not that there are taboo cases. For example, in some cases collected by Wu Desi, it was mentioned that Zhao Pu had private contacts with Zhang Dejun, the imperial envoy. Although they were not frequent and close, there were definitely secret transactions.
This was naturally something Emperor Liu resented deeply. With Lu Duoxun and Wang Yinwu in front, it would not be that shocking to see Zhao Pu and Zhang Dejun exposed, but Emperor Liu's anger can also be imagined.
However, after all, it was the Wude Department that reported it. The discord between the Imperial City and Wude Departments was well known to both the government and the public, and Emperor Liu no longer trusted Wang Yinwu.
Therefore, although this situation aroused Emperor Liu's strong suspicion, it was somewhat discounted. However, no matter what, when Emperor Liu began to carefully review these black materials, it meant that Emperor Liu did have other considerations for Zhao Pu.
Regarding Zhao Pu's party in the DPRK, we really do not intend to continue to let it go and have the intention to rectify it. Emperor Liu couldn't detect Zhao Pu's probing performance for more than a month, but he easily exposed it in a few words.
But such a reaction just proved that he had made up his mind, and he believed that Zhao Pu knew it in his heart because of his intelligence. In fact, by now, the monarch and his ministers already know each other very well.
However, Zhao Pu was limited by power. On the one hand, he was looking for a way out, but on the other hand, he still retained this extravagant hope.
As for Emperor Liu, the reason why he hasn't taken action yet is because he is worried about the impact. After all, the Lu case has caused so much trouble. It can be said that the whole country is shocked. If the matter is not over yet, if Zhao Pu is taken down again, then the court may really be in trouble.
Emperor Liu needed to give the court a chance to breathe, or at least wait until the impact of the Lu case subsided slightly before taking action.
On the other hand, Emperor Liu has not yet made a final decision on how to arrange Zhao Pu. He needs to consider it comprehensively and take another look at Zhao Pu's performance.
Of course, one thing is certain, Zhao Pu will not follow Lu Duoxun's retreat. This old fox has always been measured. More importantly, Zhao Pu, the Kaibao Prime Minister, is an iconic figure in the "Kaibao Prosperity". Emperor Liu would never be able to break this flag himself. Otherwise, it would not only hurt Emperor Liu's face, but also hurt the country. .
What's more, Zhao Pu really worked hard for the big man, which cannot be denied. Although Lu Duoxun was a prominent figure in the political arena of the Han Dynasty, compared with Zhao Pu, his weight was indeed much lighter. Naturally, he could not use the same method to deal with Zhao Pu.
In Emperor Liu's view, a basic decency must be left to Zhao Pu after all. Emperor Liu also believed that as long as he came to a conclusion, Zhao Pu would actively comply. This was Emperor Liu's understanding of Zhao Pu and the tacit understanding between the emperor and his ministers that had been cultivated over the years.
