Yang Sijian was able to be awarded the title of "Third Rank of Tongzhongshu Menxia" in recent years because of Li Hong's relationship. The reason why Li Hong gave him this title was because he was afraid that in history, his mother would still choose Yang Sijian's daughter for him. So it was a good choice to fool the possible father-in-law first.
What's more, Yang Sijian has always been a steady person and decisive in decision-making. Although his abilities are far inferior to some famous ministers in history, his conventional style is also a good choice in the Tang Dynasty during this period of recklessness.
Furthermore, the Tang Dynasty is now at the end of its strength militarily. Although its military force is still powerful, within a few years, as generations of famous generals leave, there will be fewer and fewer capable and battle-hardened generals in the entire Tang Dynasty.
In addition, the destruction of the military system accelerated the weakening of the Tang Dynasty's military influence, which forced Wu Mei to begin to shrink the Tang Dynasty's border defenses after she succeeded to the throne.
The establishment of the military examination was a powerful proof of the decline in military talent in the Tang Dynasty at that time, and it was far from being able to go head-to-head with the countries that had been dormant in the Western Regions for many years.
Yang Sijian's daughter, Yang Yu, is only two years younger than Li Hong. When Li Hong asked Yang Sijian mysteriously about his daughter's condition, Yang Sijian was so scared that he stared at Li Hong as if he was guarding against a wolf, and asked him what he wanted to do.
Li Hong could only curl his lips helplessly, shaking his head and left.
Therefore, until now, Li Hong still had no idea what Yang Sijian's daughter looked like. When he went to Yang Sijian's house last night, he naturally did not see her beautiful face.
Sitting in the empty meeting hall, Li Hong let his thoughts wander, free and ethereal, like a drifting dandelion seed, going wherever he thought of and flying to.
...
...
All the officials who were able to attend the meeting in the council hall had left. Today, he cited the floods in Yunzhong and Chang'an as an excuse to reject the memorials from the Honglu Temple and the Ministry of Rites to discuss the matter of sending envoys from Goryeo and Japan to the Tang Dynasty.
He needed to wait a little longer, and at the same time give the officials of the three provinces and six ministries some time to think about and understand his intentions. In this way, when he convened a meeting to discuss the matter again in a few days, it might be able to play a role that would be beneficial to him.
Moreover, he also needed to see whether Luoyang would give him any order, whether his father would ignore it and let him deal with it, or whether he would issue an order for him to obey.
"Your Highness, the Chief Justice of the Dali Temple is outside asking to see you." Mangzhong walked in quietly and said in a low voice.
"What is he here for? Do you know what's going on?" Li Hong asked with a frown.
"I don't know, he just said it was an important matter." Mangzhong replied.
"Let them in." Li Hong sighed and thought to himself, it seems that being an emperor is not easy. There are always unexpected things coming to you. It's really busy. No wonder my father has been going to Dongdu more and more frequently recently.
He has been basically busy this year. He first went to Mount Tai with his mother to offer sacrifices to heaven and earth, doing something that even his grandfather the emperor had never done.
When there was an auspicious sign from heaven or the era was peaceful and prosperous, he would go to Mount Tai to offer sacrifices to heaven and earth. In this way, he could explain to heaven the peace and prosperity under his rule and prove to the world that he was an emperor appointed by heaven.
Including Princess Taiping's name, it was because of the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty during that period that she was given the word Taiping.
This time, Li Zhi went to Mount Tai to offer sacrifices to the gods. Although he followed the original historical process, the difference was that Wu Mei did not offer sacrifices to the gods twice. However, the reign was still changed to the first year of Qianfeng (666 AD).
People of this period went to Mount Tai because they believed that it was the highest mountain in the world and the closest to the Tianshan Mountains, so they chose Mount Tai.
When Li Hong learned the news, he happened to be with Li Chunfeng and Yuan Tiangang. Such an important event as Fengshan naturally could not be separated from these two charlatans.
Li Hong muttered, "Mount Tai is not that high. If you go and see the mountains in Tubo and Tuyuhun, you will know that Mount Tai is not that high."
Li Chunfeng and Yuan Tiangang, two charlatans, had been impressed by Li Hong's talent in recent years, but they did not dare to talk nonsense since it was related to the important event of the royal Fengshan ceremony. As for going to Tubo to see the highest mountain, they just yearned to go down. After all, time was not forgiving, and if they ran such a long way, they might die before reaching the destination.
Li Hong was suddenly shocked when he thought of this. He finally understood why Shangguan Yi took it for granted yesterday that Tubo would not invade the Tang Dynasty.
Because when my father went to Mount Tai to offer sacrifices to heaven and earth some time ago, representatives from various countries accompanied him, including Tubo, Khotan, Persia, India, Japan, Goryeo, Baekje, Silla, etc., all of them sent envoys or chiefs.
In this case, it is no wonder that the officials in the entire court would be so arrogant. If I had not been reincarnated nine times and ten times, I would probably have been deceived by Tubo's superficial submission.
Li Hong, who was in a trance as the Supervisor of the State, vaguely saw two figures appear in front of him and heard the figures say, "Your Highness the Crown Prince is greeted by your Highness Gao Junya, the Minister of the Dali Temple, and your Highness Di Renjie, the Deputy Minister of the Dali Temple."
"Sit down and talk." Li Hong shook his head, drove away the thoughts in his mind, and said hurriedly.
Di Renjie was recommended by Yan Liben and had been promoted to Dali Temple Secretary last year due to his outstanding performance in Bingzhou in the past few years. This was the first time Li Hong had met him.
His arrival made Li Hong realize that something big might have happened.
"What's the matter that made you call the most capable secretary of your Dali Temple here? Is Huaiying adapting well to Chang'an?" Li Hong asked Di Renjie, who had a dark face and many pockmarks.
According to legend, Di Renjie contracted smallpox when he was three years old. He had a fever and was unconscious for three days and three nights without taking a drop of water. His parents then followed local customs: smallpox is unlucky and the baby should be thrown away before the person dies, so as to avoid a greater disaster.
So his parents abandoned Di Renjie in the wilderness, but he was rescued by a female Taoist priest who passed by. She sent him back home and scolded his parents for being too cruel.
Then he gave him a few pills and said, "Give him one pill a day, and he will be fine in three days."
After the female Taoist priest finished her words and gave Di Renjie the medicine, she left. Di Renjie recovered after three days, but he had some pockmarks on his face. The locals called him: Di Mazi.
Gao Junya was stunned at first. She didn't expect that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was so concerned about Di Renjie that he actually called him by his courtesy name instead of his full name.
"Thank you for your concern, Your Highness. Everything is fine in Chang'an." Di Renjie stood up and said.
"Well, that's good. Even though you have been to Chang'an, I already know your name. It is said that you have never tried a wrongful or unjust case so far. I admire you." Li Hong looked at him and said with a smile.
Di Renjie had no choice but to thank him again. He was already 36 years old now and had achieved the rank of Dali Temple Assistant, which was considered to be quite standard. However, no one could talk about it. Starting from the Dali Temple, Di Renjie would begin his legendary life.
"Your Highness..." Gao Junya looked at the Crown Prince and saw that he didn't seem to want to ask anything and seemed to be continuing to chat about family matters, so she hurriedly reminded him.
"Tell me, what's the matter."
"Your Highness, we uncovered a case of privately minting new coins last night."
"Privately minting new coins? Is that possible? Are you kidding me?" Li Hong asked in disbelief with his eyes wide open.
This was obtained by himself after his father, the Emperor, ascended Mount Tai this year and was in high spirits.
Moreover, even in the original historical process, the first year of Qianfeng was the year when the Tang Dynasty began to abolish the old currency and use the new currency.
This time, he was in charge of the minting of new coins, so how could there be an incident of private minting of new coins? Moreover, the template of the new coins was only owned by Taiyi City.
Gao Junya and Di Renjie looked at Li Hong's reaction, which didn't seem to be fake. Just as they were about to speak, they heard Li Hong ask, "Where did you find it? Is there a real object?"
"Just outside the Daning and Xingning districts where you ordered the people to be evacuated yesterday, judging from the scene, it should have flowed out from other districts after being washed away by rain. Although the number is not large, only a dozen or so, it is enough to confirm that they were privately minted."
At Gao Junya's signal, Di Renjie took out a dozen shiny new coins and placed them on the table.
Li Hong squinted his eyes, slowly picked up a coin from the table, and carefully stroked the new coin in his hand. Both the texture and color were exactly the same as new coins. If it were put on the market, it would be impossible to tell the real from the fake.
Li Hong sighed, pointed to the Mangzhong next to him, and said, "Let Bai Chun come back, seal up all the new money, and bring all the templates with him."
Di Renjie and Gao Junya both breathed a sigh of relief after listening to Li Hong's words. As long as the prince did not secretly instigate someone else to do this, the case would not be very difficult.
"Based on your judgment, which block over there will this new money come from?" Li Hong stood up and walked to the back of the council hall. He pulled open a piece of cloth and pointed at the topographic map of Chang'an City and asked.
Di Renjie and Gao Junya looked at each other, with some inexplicable difficulty in their eyes.
The main reason is that this area is too sensitive. After Daning and Xingning, there are only two more places left: Changlefang and Yongfufang, and behind them is Daming Palace! Moreover, Yongfufang and Xingningfang are close to the east city wall, so basically the possibility of Yongfufang is very small.
After yesterday's rain and the drainage of flood water, Changlefang is the most suspicious place, followed by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's Eastern Palace.
Changlefang and Daningfang are side by side, with Yongfu and Xingning to the east, which are basically unsuspected, and Yongchang and Lingshan to the west, which were originally there. Due to the construction of Daming Palace, they had been demolished long ago and turned into a wide road to make a large exit for Daming Palace!
On the other side of the road is the high wall of the Eastern Palace, so the new money either came from the Eastern Palace or from Changlefang. It couldn't have come from the Daming Palace.
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