Zhao Ding and Zhang Jun took the lead and led the ministers and officials present to agree on the spot. Although Wang Yan wanted to say something, he did not dare to speak in the end.
Soon after, the drizzle continued, but everyone dispersed under the leadership of the ministers. Emperor Zhao stood on Xinggang for a while again, and then suddenly took the memorial, dressed lightly, and left Yanfu Palace with only four or five close ministers and a team of guards. He turned into the west city and arrived at Lu Benzhong's house before noon... or rather, at Lu Haowen, the prime minister's house.
When Lu Haowen heard that the emperor was coming, he welcomed him calmly. When the emperor and his minister met, they simply set up a few tables in the corridor where they usually played chess and sat down cross-legged. Then Zhao Jiu handed the memorial to Lu Haowen and narrated today's events to him.
"The emperor has handled it very properly." In the corridor, Lv Haowen, who was sitting cross-legged across from Emperor Zhao, read the memorial, listened to the explanation, and then respectfully placed the memorial on the table, and then sighed. "Thinking back to the past few years, when I was the prime minister, the emperor always asked us to be tolerant for the sake of the country. Today, we are still tolerant for the sake of the country... But if I were to say, today's tolerance is probably more difficult than in previous years, because back then we had to be tolerant, but today we can be tolerant... It is precisely because we can be tolerant that it is difficult."
In the corridor next to them, several close ministers, from Lü Benzhong to Ren Baozhong, then to Yang Yizhong, as well as Fan Zongyin and Liu Yan, almost everyone came to their senses - the emperor must have come to ask Prime Minister Lü how to deal with Prime Minister Li, and Prime Minister Lü was obviously trying to persuade the emperor to let Prime Minister Li go.
Tolerance is the key to a country. Although you can choose not to tolerate, you still have to tolerate.
However, the next moment, Emperor Zhao burst out laughing: "Does Prime Minister Lu think that I am here to ask how to deal with Prime Minister Li?"
"Isn't this what the emperor meant?" Lu Haowen asked curiously.
As for the others, although they didn't say it out loud, they all asked the same question in their hearts.
"Since I have decided to respond to Li Gongxiang by taking a step forward, I am ready to let him go." Zhao Jiu shook his head and sighed. "After all, he is the first Gongxiang after I ascended the throne, the first Gongxiang, and the banner of the country's war since the Jingkang period... He has made great contributions to the world, the country, and me, and I will not let him have a bad ending! Besides, he is not the kind of person who changes his ways. When the court wanted to surrender, he advocated war. Today, I want to quickly march north, but he still advocates it, so he naturally becomes a slow-moving faction! This was seen in the disagreement between him and Zong Zhongwu at the beginning of Jianyan... and I finally accepted Zong Zhongwu and abandoned him."
At this point, Zhao Jiu paused for a moment before continuing, "Moreover, I also know that he probably saw the faster court report first, and then received Li Jing's letter. After a few days, he suddenly learned that Li Jing was exiled on the first day of March. He was so angry and embarrassed that he thought I was the first to betray the tacit understanding between the monarch and his subjects, which is why he did this."
"Your Majesty is very generous." Lu Haowen bowed his head slightly, but still couldn't help being curious. "But if that's the case, why did your Majesty come to see me and tell me the whole story?"
Zhao Jiu sat opposite him, silent for a moment, then pointed at the memorial on the table between the two of them and said seriously: "I just want to ask you, Lord Lu, tell me, I knew from the beginning that I would definitely let Lord Li go, and I also knew that I would not stop at all because of this matter, but would move forward more resolutely, but why did I get so angry after seeing this memorial?"
Of course it's because you, as an official, feel that the other party has betrayed you! Just like when Li Gang wrote this memorial, he felt that you betrayed him!
Thinking back to the early years of Jianyan, you two, the emperor and the minister, were absolutely tolerant of each other for the sake of the country, and even shared life and death together. But only a few years later, Li Boji actually became suspicious of you, the official, because of a little bit of political opinion, to the point of doing such a thing.
There were certainly some misunderstandings here, and Li Gang's bad temper and his old mentality of looking down on officials were also at work. But no matter what, as an official, he would of course feel angry when suddenly encountering such a thing.
In fact, Lu Haowen had the answer in his mind in an instant, and was about to blurt it out, but the words reached his throat and he swallowed them back.
Then, the minister just stared at Emperor Zhao for a long time before speaking earnestly in the spring rain that gradually turned into raindrops and had a pattering sound:
"Your Majesty, I am in this city and I have seen your actions with my own eyes. Three people can make a tiger, and this will never happen to me!"
As soon as these words were spoken, almost all the ministers around him began to breathe heavily.
On the contrary, Emperor Zhao shook his head and smiled: "That's not what I meant. I'm just sad that Lord Li doesn't trust me... But Lord Lu has overthought it again."
Lu Haowen also laughed: "If that's the case, I was indeed overthinking it... But it's really sad about Li Xianggong's situation."
Zhao Jiu nodded in vain.
Just like that, let’s not talk about how Emperor Zhao felt so emotional that he needed to seek psychological counseling from Lu Haowen. Let’s just say that on the second day, the court finally officially issued a plan to expand the army:
The Imperial Camp Left Army led by Han Shizhong was increased from 30,000 to 37,000.
The rear imperial army led by Wu Jie was increased from 30,000 to 38,000.
The strength of the Imperial Camp Central Army was increased from 50,000 to 65,000, but most of the corresponding military supplies were given to Li Yanxian of Shanzhou. Wang De's army was increased from 15,000 to 17,000, and Li Qiong's army was increased from 15,000 to 18,000. In other words, the increase in the Imperial Camp Central Army was still given to the Guanxi direction. The Imperial Camp Central Army only had one more commander for Wang De's army and Li Qiong's army... This was also the reason why Wang Yan hesitated on Xinggang before and wanted to protest on the spot;
My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It’s even more exciting later!
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