manynovel Chapter 1098 Good News
Chapter 1098 Good News
Chapter 1098 Good News
The hall book was Wang Gui's proactive gesture of goodwill.
When Zhang Yue was discussing with Wang Gui, they heard that Feng Jing, Xue Xiang, Zhang Qie and Zeng Xiaokuan had arrived.
Wang Gui was a little surprised, and Zhang Yue smiled and said, "You came just in time."
Feng Jing and his three companions came to congratulate Zhang Yue on his new appointment, and also to ask for advice on the plan of conquering Western Xia.
As everyone knows, the emperor has already entrusted the expedition against Western Xia to Zhang Yue, and there is no need for a clear decree.
Zhang Yue greeted them together with several others.
If Yuan Jiang felt lost after Zhang Yue became prime minister, Feng Jing felt similar, but not as bad as Yuan Jiang.
Feng Jing's actions in the central government were purely to stir up dissenting opinions. He knew that the emperor did not trust him, but he also knew that the emperor did not need him and was afraid that Wang Gui and Yuan Jiang would do something wrong.
In this campaign against Xia, the Privy Council became a mere decoration.
The government never consulted with them in advance, and only informed them after a meeting or decision was made.
This is very insulting and disrespectful.
The Privy Council is responsible for military affairs, and you, the emperor, should at least seek the opinion of the Privy Council before taking charge of the attack on Xia. The emperor would rather discuss with Xu Xi, Li Xian, and Wang Zhongzheng than with Feng Jing, and he also bypassed Feng Jing and others to directly command the frontline military.
Feng Jing once believed that it was Wang Gui and Yuan Jiang who were causing trouble and that the Secretariat had usurped the power of the Privy Council in charge of military affairs. But later he found out that Wang Gui and Yuan Jiang knew only a little more than he, Feng Jing.
Feng Jing, two deputy privy councilors and a secretary of the privy council took their seats, and the clerk served them tea.
Wang Gui sat aside and said nothing.
Feng Jing first came to congratulate Zhang Yue and talked about the two governments holding a banquet to celebrate. Zhang Yue declined, saying, "Now that the emperor is not feeling well and the war situation is at a stalemate, we should avoid these red tape if possible."
Seeing that Zhang Yue did not hold a celebration and kept everything simple, Feng Jing no longer insisted, "I heard that the emperor is still ill and should not have mentioned this matter today, but the military situation is urgent, and the military affairs of the conquest of Xia were entrusted to Prime Minister Zhang for decision. Now that we have been defeated in the battle of Fuyan Road, I wonder how the Prime Minister will decide in the future?"
Zhang Yue said: "Hey, this is our responsibility, I was just looking for you to discuss it!"
Feng Jing showed an expression as it should be when he heard this. In the matter of conquering Xia, the emperor dared to bypass the Privy Council and give direct command. Do you, Zhang Yue, dare?
Wang Gui looked at Feng Jing and Zhang Yue smiled secretly, as if he was sitting on the Diaoyutai without any hesitation, no matter how stormy the weather was.
Zhang Yue heard this and said, "That's right. Regarding the conquest of Xia, it takes eight days for the gold medal to be delivered from the capital via Xihe Road, and more than ten days to deliver the news via Fuyan Road. It is too difficult and too slow for the central government to make all the decisions."
"How about setting up a Privy Council in Shaanxi? The Privy Council will be staffed by officials above the rank of first or second rank, and then controlled by the Secretariat!"
Hearing Zhang Yue say this, Feng Jing thought to himself, what a great Zhang San.
This made it your decision again, bypassing the Privy Councilor. Feng Jing was also an old and experienced man, and he would not argue with Zhang Yue on the details, as he could not win this argument.
Feng Jing said: "Excuse me for being blunt, but I have two cases of corruption that I want the Prime Minister to deal with."
"One is the case of embezzlement of soldiers and horses in Fuyan Road. It was found that General Zhou Xing, Deputy General Zhechou and other 17 people embezzled more than 123,000 strings of gold and silver coins. Soldiers had to use paper armor as armor and weak horses as war horses to fight against the Tangut soldiers!"
"Another case is the military ration scandal in Fuyan Road. The military supplies and transportation officers bought old grains, even rotten grains, from the people and passed them off as new grains for the soldiers. A month ago, nearly a hundred people who ate this grain died of poisoning on the spot, but the case was suppressed and not reported, and the army continued to use it as rations. The army of Fuyan Road ate this grain and went into battle to fight the Western bandits. How could they not be defeated!"
Zhang Yue's face changed when he heard this, and he said in a muffled voice: "Do you have any evidence?"
Feng Jing asked Zeng Xiaokuan to produce the documents, petitions and other evidence. After reading them, Zhang Yue felt that they were about 70% to 80% true, and Feng Jing would not be so despicable as to use false evidence to deceive him.
Wang Gui also looked at the evidence and slapped his thigh and said, "This is really hateful. He must be killed."
Feng Jing said: "Many of them are officials. At least the judge of transportation knows about it. The ancestral rule does not allow the killing of scholars and officials, so they cannot be killed."
Wang Gui asked, "How about reporting this to His Majesty?"
"How do you describe the familiar situation?" Feng Jing asked in return.
In this matter, the Zhongshu can either protect them or kill them. How to deal with these people becomes a dilemma for the Zhongshu.
Wang Gui looked at Zhang Yue without saying anything. His eyes were very clear. This matter was not easy to handle. If the punishment was too light, the emperor would be unhappy. If the punishment was too heavy, the officials below would have objections.
For Zhang Yue, from a personal perspective, he wanted to kill these people as soon as possible.
But doing so will bring negative consequences to yourself. This is something you have to consider when you are in the position of prime minister, after all, you have to maintain a system that has been established by convention.
Officials would think that not killing scholars and officials is the ancestral rule. If you have destroyed the system and set a precedent because of this incident, then the emperor might use other excuses to kill people in the future.
This is precisely the conflict between the imperial power and the individual's inner heart. There are many things that you know are wrong, but you have to clean up your ass.
Feng Jing had 'bad intentions' in throwing this matter to himself.
Of course, there is a way to deal with difficult things, which is to drag them out.
Zhang Yue said: "First, put all the people in jail and torture them. This is a serious matter. Let the Censorate supervise this matter."
The Chief Censor Cai Que was the kind of person who took the blame for himself and the favor for the emperor, so he was simply allowed to handle it. Zhang Yue did not say a word about how to deal with it, but in fact, the result had already been achieved.
Seeing that Zhang Yue had calmly resolved his move, Feng Jing changed his tone and continued, "In fact, corruption among officials and passing inferior goods off as good ones are common everywhere. We can correct them as long as we can do so according to the law. Due to years of war, many officials and generals in Shaanxi Province have falsely spent money on the imperial court, and corruption has been committed from top to bottom."
"I have tried to correct this several times in the past, but Duke Shu repeatedly stopped me, saying that those who seek great things do not care about tips. I find it ridiculous. If it were not for the great defeat of Fuyan Road, I don't know how many years this matter would have been suppressed and never seen the light of day. I want to ask, since the defeat of Fuyan Road was the reason for this matter to be uncovered and brought to the court, what about other roads? Is it the same?"
Zhang Yue asked, "What does Prime Minister Feng Shu have to say?"
Feng Jing said: "My words are not so pleasant to the ear, but they are still the same."
"The corruption of these officials is just a drop in the bucket compared to what the court has spent in the west over the years."
"Prime Minister Zhang previously advocated a slow and shallow attack, but I think it would be better to stop the attack! This is not just my opinion."
Zhang Yue took a sip of tea. Feng Jing had repeatedly disagreed with the emperor on the idea of advancing into Xixia. Just as the defeat at Fuyan Road happened, he stood up and said, "What do you think I was right about before?"
It would be best if you listen to me and stop fighting as soon as possible and make peace with Western Xia.
Zhang Yue looked at Xue Xiang, Zeng Xiaokuan, and Zhang Qie and asked, "What do you think?"
Zhang Qie was hesitant to speak. He had always been determined to return to the Northwest to lead troops. He had just heard Zhang Yue say that a branch Privy Council should be set up in the Northwest, which was exactly what he wanted.
However, Zhang Qie and Feng Jing had not gotten along well over the past year or so. One was that they had different political views, and the other was that the government did not like him, Zhang Qie, either, which made him feel a little disappointed.
There is affinity between people.
For example, Zhang Yue and Zhang Zhi were naturally trusted and valued by the emperor, but Zhang Qie was incompatible with the emperor and his actions were not in harmony with the emperor.
Feng Jing of the Privy Council didn't like him and gave him unimportant tasks. In addition, the emperor didn't value him. Although Zhang Yu got a high position and generous salary, he was not happy at all in Bianjing. He was far less powerful than when he was the governor of Xihe Road.
Upon learning of the defeat in Fuyan Road, Zhang Yu was sad, but he also had a hint of hope in his heart.
As the saying goes, a country needs good generals in times of crisis. Although he is usually not favored by the government, he is the only one in the two governments who can be said to be knowledgeable about military affairs.
Then the government is likely to put aside its previous prejudices and reuse him.
Zhang Qie has been in high spirits these days and has been eager to try.
But when he learned that Zhang Yue was appointed as prime minister, Zhang Qie realized what it meant to employ acquaintances among capable people and capable people among acquaintances.
Zhang Yue's talent is just mediocre, which is recognized by him, Wang Shao and Zhang Dun, but the emperor trusts him so much, what can be done about it.
It seems that although he has the talent of a general, he is full of complaints every day and is not favored by the officials. Even if Zhang Yue is not there, it is afraid that it will not be his turn.
But fortunately, Zhang Yue is his cousin, and Zhang Yue is now promoted to prime minister. It is better than being suppressed by Feng Jing every day in the past.
Thinking of this, Zhang Yu stepped forward and said, "Prime Minister, although we have lost Fuyan Road, we have not lost Jingyuan Road. At the same time, our army is also attacking Lanzhou and Liangzhou. The outcome is uncertain. It is too early to say that we have lost."
Feng Jing felt embarrassed when he heard this. This was the first time that Zhang Qie openly opposed him.
With someone backing you up, you must be getting bolder, right?
Although Xue Xiang and Zeng Xiaokuan carefully kept silent, Zhang Qie's support was enough.
Feng Jing sneered in his heart, it turns out that one cannot write two characters of the character "Zhang" with one stroke.
Seeing Feng Jing was silent, Zhang Yue smiled and said, "In that case, let's follow my idea. I think Han Zhen, the co-director of the Privy Council, should be appointed as the Privy Councilor. What do you think?"
Zhang Qie was surprised. He thought that he would be given the post of Privy Councilor in exchange for supporting Zhang Yue. However, Zhang Yue recommended Han Zhen, who had been at home.
Zhang Yue looked at Zhang Qie's lost expression and shook his head, "You still lack political wisdom. There is already a Zhang Zhi in the northwest. If you go to send another one, plus me in the court, will the emperor be at ease?"
Feng Jing felt that there was no need to continue talking at this time, so he stood up and said, "Mr. Zhang is now the prime minister, so whatever he says is what it means."
After saying this, Feng Jing looked at Wang Gui.
Wang Gui said without any provocation: "It must be Han Zhen."
Zhang Yue smiled and said, "Then it's settled."
While they were talking, Shi Deyi arrived at the government hall. When he saw all the ministers, he smiled and said, "You are all here. Congratulations to you all."
"I just received the gold medal. Lanzhou has been conquered! His Majesty asked me to come here and tell you the good news!"
Upon hearing this, everyone in the room was delighted.
Even Feng Jing was shocked. They had been fighting for Lanzhou for almost two months but still hadn't taken it. How come the victory news was sent to the capital on the day Zhang Yue was appointed prime minister?
In the end, it became his credit. Doesn't this make people vomit three liters of blood?
Is there really such a coincidence in the world? Is there such a bargain?
Feng Jing sighed silently.
Zhang Yue looked around at the ministers and said, "As Zhifu said just now, the outcome is still unknown. Don't talk about stopping the war lightly in the future!"
Zhang Yue was holding the momentum of conquering Lanzhou, and when this statement was made, all the ministers agreed.
What is prestige?
If you win step by step, even a charlatan can become an immortal.
(End of this chapter)