Chapter 285: The Controversy between the Court (Central)

Li Longji sat on the high dragon couch. From the perspective of the courtier, he could only see his dignity, majesty, noble and gracefulness. But if he looked closer, he would find that there was a light oil paint on his face. Although he had made a special dress, it was still difficult to hide his mental fatigue. It was no wonder that he had three pieces of love-enhancing flowers last night and had been enjoying himself until midnight before sleeping. Until now, his concubine Mei could not get up.

This kind of flower-enhancing fragrance is very effective, but the consequences are also very serious. Li Longji is old and his health is far from being compared with his youth. He was romantic all night and had severe energy overdrawn. Even if he used a big tonic, he could only make up for 20 or 30 days, and he would have to be drowsy for at least five or six days, and he would not be able to have sex for a month.

At this moment, Li Longji's mind was extremely dizzy. The thousands of ministers in front of him made him feel dizzy. Thinking of the complicated things in the morning court, he couldn't help but feel extremely bored. But today's morning court would have a major event announced, and he had to force himself to deal with today's morning court.

"Let's start the morning court!" Li Longji whispered weakly.

"Your Majesty has an order, and the morning court will begin!"

In the order of the morning court, the Ministry of War announced the commendation. This morning court mainly commended the Jiannan Army to quell the Nanzhao rebellion. Gao Xianzhi conquered Yaozhou in October last year. Ge Luofeng completely surrendered and handed over the military power and treasury. The Tang army entered the capital of Nanzhao in November and successfully completed the suppression of the rebellion. It should be commended in the morning court on the fifth day of the first lunar month this year. However, because Gao Xianzhi had no time to return, he could only delay commending with Anxi today. The victory of the Longyou Army in the attack on Tubo in September last year has been commended on the fifth day of the first lunar month and will not be mentioned today.

"Start in order!" Li Longji gave a light command, then closed his eyes slightly and listened to the Ministry of War reading with his ears.

Cui Ping shouted loudly: "The emperor has an order, and it starts from the Ministry of War!"

Ji Wen, the Minister of War, stood up, holding two thick commendations in his arms, in order to commend the Jiannan Army first and then the Anxi Army.

He stood in front of the jade steps, coughed gently, placed one of the booklets on the plate of the eunuch next to him, and began to read out the commendation of Jiannan Army.

"The Nanzhao vassal state has been thriving for a long time, but does not want to repay, betrayal, and riots our Tang Dynasty, which has caused disasters in the southern border. In June of the tenth year of Tianbao, 200,000 Tianjun troops of the Tang Dynasty came out of Jiannan. It took several months to pacify the troubles of Nanzhao. During this period, fierce battles were fought several times."

The commendation was mainly to announce the achievements. The Nanzhao commendation alone was filled with tens of thousands of words. Ji Wen read it in a sluggish tone, and the speed was extremely slow. The commendation of Jiannan Army alone took half an hour to read it. Many people were drowsy, and the officials standing were even more tired, constantly swapping their left and right feet to relieve the pressure on their legs.

At this time, Yu Chaoen, who was standing behind Li Longji, suddenly discovered something fatal. The Emperor of Tang Dynasty, Li Longji, actually sat on the dragon couch and fell asleep halfway, and started to snore slightly. The emperor fell asleep in the morning court, which was something he had never remembered.

He couldn't help but panic and confused. Seeing that Ji Wen was about to finish reading, the following is the statement from the Lord. At that time, the ministers found that the Lord was asleep, and the problem was serious.

"The reward of 500,000 stags of money and 250,000 pieces of silk, all the promotions reported by the generals shall be approved..."

Ji Wen had already finished reading the end, and there were at most twenty words below. Yu Chaoen could no longer wait, so he moved behind Li Longji, poked his shoulder gently, and shouted in a low voice: "Your Majesty! Your Majesty!"

Ji Wen finished reading, and Li Longji will make a statement below, but Li Longji still did not wake up. Yu Chaoen gritted his teeth and pinched it all.

"Ah!" Li Longji finally woke up. Although his low voice was not loud, he was still heard by some ministers sitting in the front row. The important officials looked at each other and they all saw that the emperor was actually asleep.

Li Longji opened his eyes slightly, his eyes were still confused, as if he had not reacted. At this moment, a thunderous snoring sound suddenly came from the ministers. Everyone turned their heads and looked at them, and they saw An Lushan tilting to the ground, snoring like thunder.

"Ship An! Ship An!" Several ministers pushed him desperately, and there was a whisper in the hall. Some people covered their mouths and laughed, but more people were dissatisfied. This was a solemn and solemn court. When discussing military and national affairs, An Lushan fell asleep. This was simply a blatant contempt for the emperor.

Taking advantage of the opportunity when the ministers were all drawn to An Lushan, Yu Chaoen whispered to Li Longji: "Your Majesty, the commendation of Jiannan Army has been read out, and you are waiting for Your Majesty to express your opinion."

Li Longji nodded slightly. He also knew that he had lost his composure, but it seemed that someone had covered it up for him. His eyes looked at His Highness, and he wanted to know who was so understanding of the holy will.

"Your Majesty, I am guilty!"

An Lushan had woken up, he got up, rolled up and ran toward the middle of the hall. He knelt on the ground and kowtowed repeatedly, "I am obese and fell asleep. I am humiliating the court. Please punish him!"

Li Longji said slowly: "The readout of the Ministry of War is a little longer, but my dear minister is an old minister. How can I lose my composure in the court? I will revoke your annual salary to show my warning."

The ministers were suddenly in an uproar, and An Lushan was fined for one year for losing his composure in the court. This was too unworthy, and discussions suddenly broke out.

Li Qing'an couldn't help but secretly admire him. No wonder An Lushan was so favored by Li Longji. He was indeed extraordinary. He could take the blame for Li Longji at a critical moment. From this small detail, he sat next to An Lushan and saw clearly that An Lushan was not asleep at all. It was not until Li Longji's low cry came that he fell to the ground and snored loudly. It was obvious that he was pretending to cover up Li Longji. Although he was fined for one year, the gains he would get were far beyond the salary of a year.

"I thank Your Majesty for your mercy!"

An Lushan kowtowed, slowly returned to his seat, and smiled bitterly at Li Qing'an, "General Li doesn't know that we are fat people, it's really hard to control ourselves. Alas! I lost my face in public, I feel ashamed!"

Li smiled and said, "Although I lost my face, I can do it, and An Shuai is not losing money."

The two of them looked at each other and knew it well. An Lushan narrowed his eyes and laughed.

At this time, Li Longji took a nap and became more energetic. He nodded and said, "The memorial of the Ministry of War will be issued immediately!"

Ji Wen took another memorial and read it loudly: "The emperor's food invaded the east, and the nine kingdoms of Zhaowu have lost the Tang Dynasty for a long time. The broken leaves are gone, and the west of the ridge is like mist and clouds covering it..."

Gao Xianzhi and Ge Shuhan sat in the same place. He wanted to talk to Ge Shuhan several times, but Ge Shuhan had a gloomy face and never said a word. Gao Xianzhi was extremely depressed. He couldn't understand why Ge Shuhan became so cold. When An Lushan came out to apologize, Gao Xianzhi whispered to Ge Shuhan again: "General Ge Shu, it's quite the right time for An Lushan to sleep."

"Hmph! Just a clown jumping, what else can he do besides these tricks?"

Although Ge Shuhan felt a little uncomfortable with Gao Xianzhi, his jealousy towards Gao Xianzhi was nothing compared to his annoyance to An Lushan.

When Gao Xianzhi saw that Brother Shu Han spoke, she smiled and said, "Master Ge Shu will be promoted to Prince today, why are you so unhappy?"

"Shishou made a mistake! He was promoted to Prince, and that's your turn. When will it be my brother Shuhan?"

Gao Xianzhi was stunned. He heard Zhang Yun say that Brother Shuhan would also be promoted to Prince at the same time. How could he change? Gao Xianzhi couldn't help but look at Zhang Yun, and Zhang Yun was also looking at him, and nodded to him with a smile, expressing his support for him.

Gao Xianzhi first found Li Linfu as his backer, but after he was transferred from Anxi, Li Linfu also encountered strong challenges from Yang Guozhong. Gao Xianzhi became the governor of Jiannan, who was in charge of Yang Guozhong. At the beginning of Gao Xianzhi's tenure, Xianyu Zhongtong was defeated by the Nanzhao army. The Jiannan army lost most of the losses, and there were less than 20,000 people left. Li Longji ordered him to recruit soldiers on the spot, but he could not get the support of local officials in Shu. The recruitment was extremely difficult. He asked Li Linfu several times, but it was useless. In desperation, Gao Xianzhi turned to Zhang Yun, the Minister of Revenue.

As a result, with Zhang Yun's support, not only Yang Guozhong changed his attitude, but Li Longji also ordered 100,000 troops from Guanzhong to go south to Jiannan. In this way, Gao Xianzhi was able to recruit 80,000 troops from Shu, plus the 100,000 Guanzhong Army and the remaining Jiannan Army, a total of 200,000 troops. Gao Xianzhi fought fiercely with the Nanzhao Tubo coalition forces for nearly five months, and finally defeated the Nanzhao Tubo coalition forces in Anrong City, killed the Tubo Shenchuan Governor, regained the extremely strategic Anrong City, and forced the Tubo army to retreat to Shenchuan. The Nanzhao army also suffered heavy losses. Geluofeng was desperate and was forced to surrender to the Tang army.

It can be said that it was Zhang Yun who helped Gao Xianzhi with his arm at the critical moment, which made Gao Xianzhi win in the end and established his position in Jiannan. Gao Xianzhi was also full of gratitude to Zhang Yun, and Zhang Yun also won him more. When the Prime Minister was about to split, Gao Xianzhi slowly moved closer to Zhang Yun.

Gao Xianzhi was full of doubts. Zhang Yun clearly told him that Ge Shuhan would also be named Prince. How could there be any changes now? Ge Shuhan's tone didn't seem to be a joke. What happened here?

Perhaps because he learned from the lessons of reading the previous book, Ji Wen's speed significantly accelerated when he read out the Anxi Army's commendation decision. He finished reading it in less than a quarter of an hour, but the rewards of Anxi by civil and military officials in the court caused a burst of surprise.

‘Rewards of 800,000 stags of money and 300,000 pieces of silk!’ These are still secondary. The key is the promotion of the soldiers who have been commended for Anxi. There were 415 generals in the Central Army alone, and 1,200 generals in the Lang. Lizhi Shouyu, Li Feiyuanli, Li Siye, and Duan Xiushi were even named Deputy Envoys of the Jiedu. Since the Middle Tang Dynasty, no army has been able to be appointed as such a large number of officials.

An Lushan was also shocked. He had been paying attention to Li Qing'an's rewards, but he did not care about the rewards of the Anxi Army. In his imagination, it was nothing more than giving more rewards, and these rewards were also a quota. In the end, Anxi still had to take them out by himself. However, he never expected that the officers of the Anxi Army could be promoted so widely, which made him jealous. If he had known, he would have been obstructed. In any case, he was the first governor of the Tang Dynasty. How could he allow Li Qing'an to be above him?

But it's too late now. An Xijun has won a huge honor. An Lushan felt uncomfortable like a cat scratching her, his face was as gloomy as a cloud, and he didn't even have the minimum words of congratulations.

After the commendation of the Ministry of War was read out, there was a buzzing sound in the hall, and everyone was still talking about the glory obtained by the Anxi Army. At this time, Cui Ping, the young supervisor of the hall, shouted loudly: "The hall is quiet!"

The hall suddenly became quiet. Below is the reward of the main generals, Gao Xianzhi, the chief general of Jiannan Army and Li Qingan, the chief general of Anxi Army, should be rewarded by Li Longji himself.

Li Longji looked at the order of rewards in his hand and said, "Gao Xianzhi!"

"Your Majesty has an order, Gao Xianzhi is granted!"

Gao Xianzhi quickly got up, walked to the middle of the hall and bowed, "I am Gao Xianzhi to see Your Majesty!"

Li Longji nodded slightly and said, "Gao Aiqing is loyal and brave to serve the country, quelling the Nanzhao Rebellion and recovering Yunnan, and making contributions to the country. You have become the governor of Jiannan, the governor of Yaozhou, and the governor of Annan. I will also grant you the title of Prince of Annan, the founding of the Yitong Sansi, the Secretary of the Ministry of Inspection and Industry, and the actual title of 500 households."

Cui Ping repeated Li Longji's appointment again. Although this was expected by many people, Gao Xianzhi was officially named Prince Annan, which still caused a low scream in Hanyuan Palace. Ge Shuhan's eyes were even more jealous and his fists were clattering. This stimulation was too deep for him.

An Lushan felt uncomfortable. Although he was named the Prince of Dongping, he did not get the position of Kaifu Yitong Sansi. Generally speaking, if he was granted a title or official position, he would also have to be granted a corresponding literary official or martial official. If the prince was from the first rank, he should be granted a corresponding Kaifu Yitong Sansi, or the General of the Cavalry. An Lushan was granted a general of the cavalry, while Gao Xianzhi was granted a title of Kaifu Yitong Sansi. According to the practice of high literature and low martial arts, Gao Xianzhi was a little higher than An Lushan.

Li Qing'an was also a little nervous. Although he said he didn't care about any prince, he actually cared very much. His current identity is a descendant of Li Jiancheng. The title of this prince is extremely important to him. To a certain extent, the title of this prince can be regarded as the Li clan clan. This is a very subtle enthronement. Xiang An Lushan and Gao Xianzhi can only be called the king of different surnames. So what is Li Qing'an's name? The king of the same surname? There is no such title, but his surname is Li, so he can only acknowledge that Li Qing'an is the clan clan clan clan. Otherwise, how could Li clan have two kings? Of course, perhaps Li Longji did not realize this.

Gao Xianzhi was so excited that tears filled his eyes. When he left Anxi, he left sadly with a sad mood. He thought that his defeat in Tocharo would mean the end of his career, but he did not expect that he would be named the prince today. In the early Tang Dynasty, so many famous founding generals did not receive this honor, and Gao Xianzhi got it.

He knelt down and choked and said, "I thank Your Majesty for your kindness!"

At this time, everyone's eyes were focused on Li Qing'an, and the next one should be him, and the court was silent.

Li Longji glanced at Li Qing'an from a distance, but said lightly: "The court meeting has been too long. Let's take a break for a quarter of an hour and pass on my decree. All the ministers will hold a meeting in Qifeng Pavilion."

"Your Majesty has an order to stay for a quarter of an hour. All the ministers will hold a meeting in Qifeng Pavilion!"

The ministers walked out of Hanyuan Hall one after another. The sky was already bright and the air was fresh, which made everyone's spirits cheer up. The drowsiness in the hall was driven away without a trace.

Li Qing'an also slowly walked out of the hall. Li Longji's sudden brake made him feel a little uneasy. Logically, even if he had to take a temporary rest, it should be carried out after the end of a topic. However, the reward issue stopped before the end of him, which made Li Qing'an vaguely feel that Li Longji's temporary prime minister meeting was targeted at him.

"General! General!"

Someone shouted behind him twice, but Li Qingan was still confused and he was still thinking.

"General Li!"

Now he heard it. He turned around and saw a Hu general calling him. He was about fifty years old, tall and thin, with a pair of eagle-like eyes. Li Qingan only felt familiar, but he couldn't remember where he had seen him.

"General Li, have you forgotten? We held a meeting together in the Battle of Stone Castle City."

Li Qingan suddenly remembered that this person was Abus, deputy envoy of Shuofang Jiedu. He represented the Shuofang army in the battle at the Battle of Shibao City.

"It turns out it's General Abus. Why are you in Chang'an too?" Li Qing'an smiled.

Abus stepped forward and bowed and said, "I am here in Beijing to do business. The court meeting asked all officials above the seventh rank in Beijing to participate, so I am here too. I want to congratulate General Li first."

"Why are you happy?"

Abus smiled and said, "Now it's just a temporary recess. It's the general's turn in a quarter of an hour, so I'll congratulate you first."

Just as Li Qingan was about to say a few words of humility, he suddenly saw Brother Shuhan coming out, and he hurriedly said, "I have something to do, let's talk about it another day."

"Okay! I'll come to invite the general to drink tomorrow. Can you enjoy the whole world?"

Seeing that Brother Shuhan was about to go down the steps, Li Qingan nodded, "No problem, then I'll take a step first."

"Please give me a gift!"

Li Qing'an claimed the crime and hurriedly chased Geshuhan. Abusi looked at his back and showed a hint of worry in his eyes. When he turned around, he saw An Lushan and King Qing Li Cong walked out. He was so scared that he was shocked and quickly lowered his head and hurriedly walked to the side.

Ge Shuhan was extremely depressed. If it weren't for the big court today, he would have left long ago. He didn't want to come out, but Gao Xianzhi next to him was crowded with congratulations. He felt even more angry and walked out with great strides. Many people called him along the way, but he ignored him.

"Brother Geshu, please stay!"

Some people chased and called him, but now he stopped. It was Li Qing'an who was calling him. He sighed and turned around and said, "I want to congratulate you brother."

Li Qing'an has not been granted a title yet, and Ge Shuhan's tone is much more relaxed. Although it is not a question of sympathy, at least he is slightly relieved in terms of face.

"Brother Geshu, did Yang Guozhong talk to you in the morning?"

Li Qing'an did not detour, but went straight to the point when he met. Just now, when Ji Wen was reading the long article, Li Qing'an was thinking about Geshuhan's affairs. He slowly realized a clue. Li Longji was probably trying to provoke Geshuhan's relationship with him to prevent the two of them from forming an alliance due to fighting on both sides, so he sent Yang Guozhong to tell him about this.

Geshuhan nodded silently and said, "Yang Guozhong conveyed to me what the emperor means, and today's dynasty meeting is not going to enthrone me."

This was as expected by Li Qingan, but he thought a little deeper and said, "Does Brother Geshu think Yang Guozhong will convey the meaning of the emperor to you completely without missing a word?"

Ge Shuhan was also stunned. After a while, he said, "What the General means is that the Lord has something else to say?"
To be continued...