Chapter 309 Frame-up

After the ritual officer reads the gift list, he will present it to the emperor for review and hint to the emperor that the items in it are genuine.

If the emperor likes them, he will keep these treasures and hand them over to the department in the palace responsible for managing treasures.

If the emperor has no interest at all, at this time, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue will stand up and tell the emperor that the Ministry of Revenue will keep these tributes for the emperor.

As the emperor, Li Chengqian will say, "Yes!"

The ritual officer will pass on the message, "Your Majesty has said yes!"

It means that he agrees that these tributes will be kept and used by the Ministry of Revenue for the emperor, and as for how to use them, that is the Ministry of Revenue's business.

The Minister of Revenue took all the gift lists with great pleasure. After the grand court meeting was over, he had to take people to count the tributes. Except for those that were favored by the emperor and stored in the imperial palace treasury, all the others had to be counted clearly.

Although these things belonged to the Ministry of Revenue, they still needed to be registered and recorded, as well as their usage, in case the emperor wanted to check them on a whim that day. All

the emperor could see was still a thick account book.

Then, the envoys of the vassal states presented tributes to the emperor of the suzerain state. The process was the same as above, and finally the Ministry of Rites kept the treasures for the emperor.

After the gift-giving ceremony, the edict to change the year was read.

Wang Quan stepped forward, unfolded the edict and began to read: "The Emperor of the Great Tang ordered... to change the Gengshu year to the first year of Yonghui, the edict is as on the right, and it shall be carried out... on the first day of the first month of the Gengshu year."

The previous long paragraph of flowery nonsense and a lot of signatures of officials from the three provinces, the real theme is just two sentences.

From this moment on, this year is the year of the Yonghui era, and everyone will call this year the first year of Yonghui.

After the edict of changing the era name was read, the next thing was to issue the edict to establish Su as the empress, Xiao as Xiao Guifei, and to enthronize the youngest son Li Sujie as the Prince of Xun.

The ceremony of the grand court meeting ended, and the emperor stood up and left first, followed by ministers and envoys who left the Taiji Hall one after another.

They should take this opportunity to rest well and ensure that they have sufficient energy to cope with the next activities.

...

On the 19th day of the first month of the first year of Yonghui, Li Chengqian appointed Zhang Xingcheng as the Minister of the Court, officially revoked Yu Zhining's position as the Minister of the Court, and asked him to resign early and go home to retire.

On the 21st day of the first month, Li Chengqian summoned the envoys from various places to the pavilion and asked them about the sufferings of the people in various places.

The envoys reported to Li Chengqian the local conditions under their management, people's livelihood, economy, and grain production, etc.

"I have just taken the throne. If there is anything that is not good for the people, you, as local officials, should immediately report it."

"If there is anything that is not explained clearly, you must report it to me again. Now I can only better understand the suffering of the people through you."

"As local officials, you should love the people and govern the place well for the court. Everything you do for the people will be recorded in your achievements."

"The winners will be promoted, and those with poor performance will be punished. Do you understand all this?" Li Chengqian said.

"We understand! Your Majesty, rest assured that we will love the people and govern the place well for the court. We will surely be able to have good weather every year, and the people will live and work in peace and contentment, and open their doors at night." The envoys hurriedly saluted.

It was not the first time for these envoys to come to Beijing to meet the emperor. When the previous emperor was alive, he would summon them every time he came to

the capital to inquire about the local people's livelihood, just like the current emperor. They responded to this question naturally and could not find any fault with it.

Li Chengqian nodded, but did not believe everything these people said. Who knows how many of them are telling the truth and how many are lying?

Are there any of these people exaggerating things, only reporting good news to the emperor but not bad news, and concealing bad situations?

As long as there is no riot, they generally will not report to the court. Even if a riot occurs, they will cover up the truth and blame all the faults on the rioters.

Especially in those remote areas where the emperor is far away and the imperial court cannot reach, this situation is most likely to happen.

After Li Chengqian inquired about some situations, he let these court envoys leave. In the following period of time, Li Chengqian would summon some provincial governors to inquire about the sufferings of the people.

The provincial governors also responded one by one and showed Li Chengqian their achievements in governing the local areas in the past year.

After reading it, Li Chengqian would give them a few words of encouragement and then send them away.

On this day, Li Chengqian had just sent away a dozen provincial governors when Wang Quan walked in and saluted, saying, "Everyone! A man named Li Hong from Luoyang came to file a complaint."

"Shouldn't the lawsuit be handed over to the Dali Temple? What case needs to be reported to me?" Li Chengqian said. He had been chatting with a bunch of old foxes for a long time and was very tired.

Instead of going to the Dali Temple to deal with the case, he came to the palace to find me, the emperor. Am I too idle as an emperor?

"Everyone, this case is related to the Taiwei, don't you think?" Wang Quan asked.

"It's related to Changsun Wuji? What's the matter? Is it a rebellion?" Li Chengqian asked casually.

"Everyone! How do you know that Li Hong is suing the Taiwei for rebellion? Do you think we should ask the Taiwei?" Wang Quan asked.

He hadn't even said what it was, but the emperor had already guessed that it was related to treason, which really surprised him.

"Think about it, when the previous emperor was alive, someone also falsely accused Fang Xuanling of treason. Now it's not difficult for someone to frame the Grand Marshal." Li Chengqian said.

After hearing this, Wang Quan suddenly realized that this was the case. He said, how come the emperor suddenly knew it before it happened? It turned out that he guessed it through the Fang Xuanling incident.

If this is true, it's not surprising at all.

"Grand Commander Changsun Wuji is a veteran of three dynasties. When the previous emperor was alive, he was loyal and made outstanding contributions. Apart from the crime of treason, what other crime can put him to death?"

"This Li Hong is really bold and presumptuous. He actually dared to frame Grand Commander Changsun. I order the officials to arrest him and execute him immediately."

"I don't believe that the Grand Commander would commit treason. He definitely wouldn't commit treason. If there are such people who frame important officials in the court again, the Dali Temple will execute them directly. There is no need to bother me again." Li Chengqian continued.

Although treason is a heinous crime that must be approved by the emperor to be punished with extreme punishment, there is really no need to bother him, the emperor, with such false accusations.

"Yes! I understand what to do!" Wang Quan accepted the order and withdrew, conveying the emperor's intention to the Dali Temple.

The Dali Temple immediately received the order to sentence Li Hong to death and execute it immediately.