Chapter 155: Killing Luo Xishi with a stick, expelling Wang Yu, and Pei Kuan becoming prime minister
"You damned bastard, you come to stop me again!"

In the Right Prime Minister's Mansion, Li Linfu was furious. When he learned that Li Xuan had interfered with his plan and captured Luo Xishi, he kept cursing Li Xuan.

Yang Shenjin only listened to him, but was not completely his man. The saint must know that it was he who ordered Luo Xishi to deal with Pei Kuan's grandson.

The saint is not a fool and he must understand that he wants to prevent Pei Kuan from becoming prime minister.

It would be fine if Pei Huang was really guilty, but Pei Huang was framed by Luo Xishi.

Once he is found out, his best outcome would be to sacrifice the pawn to save the king.

"Ji Qi, what should we do now?"

Li Linfu asked Ji Wen.

"Li Xuan can directly reach the ears of the emperor, and he can do whatever he wants by relying on the emperor's favor. We are too hasty. We should wait until Li Xuan returns to Helong before dealing with Pei Kuan, Huangfu Weiming and others."

Ji Wen never thought that the sage would ask Li Xuan to solve the case. With a few words, he arrested Luo Xishi.

In this way, Li Linfu's plan to exercise autocratic power would most likely fail.

"What's the point of saying this now?"

Li Linfu was impatient.

If he did not take advantage of the Wei Jian case to implicate a large number of people, he would have to look for other opportunities once the momentum was over.

"Please forgive me for speaking frankly, but we can no longer hold on to the Wei Jian case."

Ji Wen insisted.

Their mistake was to go after Li Xuan's former friend.

But Pei Kuan is indeed the person with the highest probability of becoming prime minister.

If we don't deal with Pei Kuan, he will be more difficult to deal with than Wei Jian after he becomes prime minister.

Pei Kuan is just on the same side as Wei Jian and has nothing to do with the prince.

Pei Kuan had experience as a frontier commander, experience in governing Henan, had served as an envoy, and as a royal censor. He was proficient in both civil and military affairs. These qualifications were better than those of Chen Xilie, whom he admired.

"I have to make a decision now! I must sever my relationship with Luo Xishi. If I can't hide it, I will let Luo Xishi take the blame."

Hearing Ji Wen's words, Li Linfu took a deep breath.

He had to stop the Wei Jian case, and realized that it would be difficult to implicate the prince.

Looking forward to the next opportunity!
"Do you think I can recommend Chen Xilie again?"

Li Linfu asked Ji Wen again, but he did not give up.

Think about the time when Niu Xianke was the left prime minister and everyone obeyed his orders. How powerful was he?

Now, Li Xuan is riding on his head and humiliating him madly.

"The Saint knows that the Right Prime Minister suppressed Pei Kuan, so it would be difficult for him to be recommended as Prime Minister!" Ji Wen shook his head slightly.

After all, Pei Kuan was also deeply trusted by Li Longji.

If Pei Kuan is not involved in the Wei Jian case, there is a high probability that Pei Kuan will turn a disaster into a blessing.

What does it mean to be a prime minister? Anyone with a little political sensitivity can judge whether a person is a prime minister by looking at the current situation.

"Li Xuan, you bastard, I helped you get rid of the crown prince, but you still turned against me! Sooner or later, you will die without a burial place."

Li Linfu cursed Li Xuan again.

At this moment, he couldn't understand Li Xuan.

For his own sake, the prince divorced his wife, with whom he had been with for a long time, and became a nun.

With such a personality, he will definitely kill Li Xuan in the future.

……

"How is the deceased identified and how was the autopsy conducted?"

Li Xuan asked Yang Yan in the Dali Temple.

"General Li, the body is a beggar outside Chang'an City. Someone outside the city identified him. When he was shot, two of his ribs were broken. There were signs of a blunt object hitting his head. The coroner suspected that the deceased was already dead when he was shot. Although the arrow on the body was stuck in the heart, it entered the flesh at an angle, which does not seem to be shot by a horseman. And the witness saw Pei Huang shooting people on horseback."

Yang Yan reported the information he obtained to Li Xuan.

"Interrogate the witness."

Li Xuan nodded slightly and gave an order.

It was agreed that Pei Huang would shoot the man to death with one arrow and then escape on horseback.

But how do you explain the beggar's broken ribs and head injuries?
No matter what, it is a murder case and we must investigate it thoroughly.

Yang Yan interrogated the witness.

The Dali Temple was very good at it. They used threats and intimidation to make the witness confess the whole story before the torture.

He was originally an idle rogue in Wannian County. He received ten strings of cash before coming out to testify against Pei Kuan.

In fact, he knew nothing, not even how the beggar died.

After the witness got the money, he ran to the Censorate to report it.

The person who gave money to the witness also disappeared.

However, the confession of witnesses was enough to prove that Pei Huang was innocent.

Immediately afterwards, Li Xuan came to the court and interrogated Luo Xishi.

"You bold Luo Xishi, who asked you to lead people to capture Pei Huang?"

Li Xuan shouted at Luo Xishi who was kneeling in the court.

"After I received the report of the murder, I learned that it was related to the Minister of Revenue, so I reported it to the Right Prime Minister, and it was the Right Prime Minister who approved the Censorate to arrest him."

Luo Xishi spoke according to the speech he had prepared long ago.

"The so-called witness is nothing but a rogue who took ten strings of cash to make a false accusation. Did you send someone to beat the beggar to death and frame Pei Huang?"

Li Xuan knew in his heart that it was Li Linfu who instructed and Luo Xishi who planned it.

"General, you can't wrongly accuse a good person."

Luo Xishi refused to admit it, since he no longer held an official position.

Even after being dismissed by the emperor himself, Li Linfu did not dare to be re-employed.

With a wave of his hand, Li Xuan brought more than twenty of Luo Xishi's followers and servants to the court.

These people usually follow Luo Xishi, and some of them know Luo Xishi's background.

After a while, the scoundrel who identified Pei Huang was also brought up.

When the scoundrel saw one of Luo Xishi's servants, he jumped up and said, "It was he who gave me ten strings of cash to inform on the censorate."

The face of Luo Xishi's servant turned pale.

Luo Xishi's face also changed drastically.

The servants were dragged into this, and he could not escape the fate either.

Who would believe that a servant would harm the son of a powerful and wealthy person whom he had never met for no reason?

"Why kill?"

The servant brought the servant forward, and Li Xuan looked at him and said.

The servant's legs were shaking, his lips were turning blue, and he finally said tremblingly: "It was all me... I did it alone. I didn't like Pei Huang... so I wanted to kill him!"

"You don't even believe what you said!"

Li Xuan sneered.

In the Tang Dynasty, slaves were always an extension of their masters' interests.

In the face of a major crime, it is impossible for a slave to take the blame for his master.

"Luo Xishi, I can already convict you of a crime. Do you intend to expose the person behind you?"

Li Xuan heard this from Luo Xishi.

"What the servants do has nothing to do with me!"

Luo Xishi said unconvinced.

"I heard that you always enjoy torturing people. Let's see today whether your words are tougher or the stick in court is tougher."

"Press Luo Xishi to the ground and beat him. When will he confess? When will he stop..."

Li Xuan gave orders to the soldiers.

Now Luo Xishi is just a commoner, and the evidence is basically conclusive, so it doesn't hurt to beat him up.

"Bang bang bang!"

As Luo Xishi kept yelling and cursing, one stick after another fell on his buttocks.

After only a dozen blows, Luo Xishi couldn't help but said, "I confess. I sent people to kill the beggar and frame Pei Huang..."

There was no point in enduring, so Luo Xishi simply admitted it and waited for the judgment of fate.

But Li Xuan did not order to stop, and the soldiers continued to swing their sticks vigorously.

"Li Xuan, I've already confessed, why... don't you stop!"

Luo Xishi likes to torture others, but being tortured is also very painful.

"What is your purpose in framing Pei Huang?"

Li Xuan was not satisfied with this answer.

"Nothing, I just don't like Pei Huang!"

Luo Xishi gritted his teeth.

His butt was already bruised and he hated Li Xuan in his heart.

"Bang bang bang..."

Li Xuan stopped asking questions and just watched Luo Xishi being beaten quietly.

After hitting him with more than ten big sticks, Li Xuan said, "Change two people and continue beating!"

Veins popped out on Luo Xishi's forehead and his fingernails dug into his flesh.

He can't say.

His uncle was Li Linfu's son-in-law.

Without his uncle, he would not have been so powerful this year.

can not say!
Luo Xishi was beaten to pieces, but he refused to betray Li Linfu.

Gradually, Luo Xishi's consciousness became a little fuzzy...

"never mind!"

Li Xuan ordered the soldiers to stop.

Luo Xishi could be executed, but he could not be beaten to death now.

In fact, Li Xuan has been weighing the pros and cons.

Even if Li Linfu's actions were exposed, Li Longji would not dismiss him from his position as prime minister due to his trust in him.

It will also make Li Longji embarrassed.

Li Longji must have known that all this was caused by Li Linfu. In history, when Li Longji was in Shu, he once commented on the prime ministers of Kaiyuan with Pei Shiyan. When Li Longji mentioned Li Linfu, he said without hesitation, "He is jealous of talented people and has no rivals."

Pei Shiyan asked again: Since you knew it, why did it take nineteen years?

Li Longji couldn't reply.

In fact, Li Linfu was able to comply with the emperor's will and allow Li Longji to indulge in pleasure.

During this period, Li Linfu managed the country in an orderly manner and the warehouses were sufficient, so Li Longji always relied on Li Linfu as prime minister.

There was even an example of a year's tribute being given entirely to Li Linfu.

It was only the appearance of Li Xuan that made Li Longji realize that Li Linfu was not so perfect.

In the fourth year of Tianbao, Li Longji had entrusted government affairs to Li Linfu, and he himself remained at a high position and did nothing. Gao Lishi tried to persuade him but was reprimanded.

There is no sign of this yet!

Li Xuan has been praising Li Longji, and the implication of his words is that he is almost as good a saint as Taizong, but he still has a little way to go in order to surpass him and become the greatest emperor of all time.

In this way, Li Longji held on to his breath and did not completely let himself go for the time being.

Even if Li Longji entrusted state affairs to Li Linfu, Li Xuan was not afraid.

Because Li Longji still has the final say and can take back power at any time.

However, Li Linfu could handle local affairs at will, so that local words would never reach Li Longji's ears.

As for Li Xuan's memorial, it will definitely be handed over to Li Longji.

This time, we will kill Luo Xishi first, and then make arrangements for Wang Yu.

I'll make trouble for Ji Wen and Lu Xuan when I have the chance.

Li Xuan asked the Dali Temple's Secretary to sort out the course of the case and then submit the confession to Li Longji.

After getting the details of the case, Li Longji ordered Luo Xishi to be beaten to death.

Originally, he wanted Li Linfu to resume his duties as the Minister of Personnel, but now Li Longji has withdrawn this idea.

He could not entrust all political affairs to Li Linfu.

The Wei Jian case is over!
Wei Jian was demoted to the position of Beijia of Chaoyang County!

But because of the Luo Xishi case, Wei Jian saved his life. It was impossible for Li Linfu to send someone to kill Wei Jian again.

People from all walks of life in the court and the country applauded Luo Xishi's death and praised Li Xuan.

Because of Li Xuan, some of Wei Jian's followers who were not demoted were able to breathe a sigh of relief.

But Li Xuan's attack did not stop there.

He planned to make Pei Kuan the prime minister.

On the twentieth day after Li Xuan arrived in Chang'an, Pei Kuan sent a message saying that he had found some evidence that could incriminate the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, Wang Yu.

At the morning court on this day, when daily affairs were handled, Li Xuan reported to Li Longji: "Your Majesty, I have something to report!"

"Li Qing talks about the general!"

Li Longji replied.

"I have been traveling around Chang'an recently and have discovered a problem that will affect the morale of the border troops. If it is not stopped, it will definitely hinder the expansion of the Tang Dynasty..."

Li Xuan directly escalated the matter to the highest level.

Expanding territory was the most important event during Li Longji's Tianbao period.

Li Longji frowned when he heard this: "Li Qing, please tell me, if anyone does something that affects the morale of the army, I will never tolerate it."

The other ministers looked at each other in confusion. What was General Li trying to do?
But Li Linfu's heart skipped a beat. He felt that Li Xuan had some ill intentions when he looked at him before going to court.

"More than a decade ago, a battle took place in Helong, and thousands of soldiers died. However, the commander concealed the defeat and did not file a report, so all the soldiers who died in the battle were registered in their hometown."

"Those people had always thought their loved ones were still alive. Parents were looking forward to their children, and wives were looking forward to their husbands. But they waited for more than ten years without any news."

"Not long ago, after Wang Langzhong of the Ministry of Revenue was appointed as a labor envoy, these families of soldiers who had died in battle, because their household registration was still there, used the excuse that the dead soldiers had evaded taxes as an excuse to collect rent and labor service for several years, ten, twenty, or even thirty years."

"They have already sacrificed their lives for the country. Because of this extortion, countless soldiers' families have been ruined, and the people are complaining and have nowhere to appeal!"

"I think that if this matter gets to the army, it will definitely undermine the morale of the army. I hope that this matter will be severely punished."

Li Xuan reported to Li Longji in detail.

He did not ask for the soldiers to be re-registered, but only hoped to compensate the garrison families who were subjected to heavy taxes and levies.

"Doctor Wang, this is serious!"

When Li Longji heard Li Xuan's memorial, he was furious.

He knew that it was common for the army to report good news but not bad news, but it was too cruel to collect rent and labor service for more than 20 years after soldiers had died in battle for 20 or 30 years.

How could a Saint King do such a thing?
No wonder Wang Yu is so good at making money, it turns out he made it through illegal means.

"Your Majesty, I didn't know there was such a thing!"

Wang Yu stood up in fear and trepidation and bowed to Li Longji.

After being bitten for no reason, Wang Bo resented Li Xuan who was standing next to him.

"Your Majesty, this is the information I have collected about the families of soldiers from various villages in Wannian County who were required to pay rent and labor service. Your Majesty can have them check it one by one."

At this time, Pei Kuan stood up from his seat and took out a thick memorial from his sleeve.

After taking a look at it, Gao Lishi stepped down from the stage and presented the memorial to Li Longji.

The ministers had already understood that Li Xuan came prepared. He was going to take action against Li Linfu's right-hand man Wang Yu after Luo Xishi.

Li Xuan vowed, and with the help of Pei Kuan.

It seems to be true in nine out of ten cases.

Li Linfu's face turned purple from anger.

He knew Li Xuan best and knew that Li Xuan would not fight a battle without confidence.

Li Xuan and Pei Kuan impeached Wang Bo together, which shows that they had solid evidence.

Seeing Wang Yu trembling slightly, Li Linfu almost fainted.

It was difficult to defeat Wei Jian, making the prince embarrassed.

How come he is still so passive in the end!
Finally, Li Linfu set his eyes on the calm Li Xuan and cursed Li Xuan's ancestors in his heart.

This is his nemesis!
"Snapped!"

"Wang Yu, do you know what is the crime of deceiving the emperor?"

Li Longji slammed the memorial shut and questioned Wang Bo.

In Pei Kuan's memorial, he even remembered clearly how many years of additional rent and labor service were to be levied, and which households were responsible.

Anyone can be sent to verify it!
What's more, since Li Xuan had pointed the finger, it was impossible for Wang Yu to be wrongly accused.

"I am wronged!"

Wang Yu knelt down quickly.

"call……"

"See for yourself!"

Li Longji threw the memorial on the table and asked Wang Yu to read it himself.

Wang Yu knelt in front of the memorial and picked it up tremblingly.

Time was urgent, so Pei Kuan only sent his confidants to investigate the various towns in Wannian County. If the whole world were to investigate, such things would be everywhere.

This was the rent and labor service imposed by Wang Bo in order to gain money and please Li Longji.

Because of his heavy taxes and levies, Li Longji mistakenly thought he was a "financial expert".

Who says that the money robbed is not money? Li Longji just doesn't know.

"Your Majesty, please forgive me. This was done by an official, not by me."

Wang Yu kowtowed while holding the memorial.

"The credit goes to you, but the faults are attributed to your subordinates? Are you still the descendant of Wang Fangyi?"

Wang Yu was a descendant of the famous general Wang Fangyi. Li Longji believed that Wang Yu was ungrateful by doing this.

"I deserve to die!"

Wang Yu could only put his face on the ground and beg for forgiveness.

"You really deserve to die for obstructing military merit."

Li Longji hesitated again and again, thinking that Wang Yu had indeed made him happy several times, so he did not kill Wang Yu. He ordered Li Linfu: "Remove Wang Yu from all his official posts and positions, and arrange for him to be a county lieutenant in Qianzhong!"

Li Longji thought what Li Xuan said made sense and he would not allow the morale of the army to be damaged.

The main reason was that Wang Bo's behavior disgusted Li Longji. He was basically robbing money openly, and the target was the families of border troops.

Any normal monarch knows that this will endanger his rule.

"Stop collecting rent and labor service from the garrisons, and return the money to the families ruined by the collection. Who can take on this responsibility?"

After Wang Yu was dragged out, Li Longji asked Li Linfu who looked dazed.

"I need to be tested!"

After Li Linfu realized what was happening, he did not dare to recommend it.

He was the one who recommended Wang Yu, and the sage asked him to recommend a person to serve as a household registration official. This was a slap in his face!
There was another person who was also very scared, and that was Wang Bo's cousin Yang Shenjin.

The nephew whom he relied on was destroyed by Li Xuan, leaving Yang Shenjin angry but unable to speak out.

He was even worried that Li Xuan would bully him.

"Li Qing, who do you think can take on this important task?"

Li Longji suddenly asked Li Xuan again.

"I once had a conversation with Gaoling Magistrate Li Xian, and I think he has such talent."

Li Xuan recommended Li Xian to Li Longji.

Li Xian not only has a righteous character, but also handles government affairs in a civilized manner. He will definitely be able to return the rent and labor service to the bankrupt families.

"Mr. Gao Ling must be the son of King Xin'an!"

Li Longji remembered that he had met Li Xian.

"Your Majesty, it is the youngest son of King Xin'an!"

Li Xuan replied.

"Transfer Li Xian back to Chang'an and let him take over Wang Yu's position!"

Li Longji appointed Li Xian as the household registration and sex labor officer without seeking the opinion of the only prime minister Li Linfu.

When the court meeting ended that day, Li Longji felt that Pei Kuan was meticulous and pragmatic in his actions, and upright and graceful in character, so he asked the Secretariat to draft an edict, appointing Pei Kuan as the left prime minister and concurrently the Minister of Punishments, and granting him the titles of Yinqing Guanglu Dafu and Shangzhuguo.

This time when he was appointed prime minister, Li Longji did not seek Li Linfu's opinion.

After defeating Wei Jian, Li Linfu secretly told Chen Xilie that he wanted to recommend him as prime minister.

As a result, there was no chance to tell Li Longji this name.

Although Li Linfu was still the prime minister, any discerning person could see that Li Linfu's power was far less than that at the end of Kaiyuan and the beginning of Tianbao.

(End of this chapter)