On the tenth day of the first month of the seventy-first year of the Great Qiankang Dynasty, at noon, Suzhou City, Li Jinqin, the king of Wei, sent a trip.

Li Jin, the king of Wei, was rescued from drowning in Taihu Lake, and after two days and two nights of recuperation, his condition has improved a lot. At this time, he took the decoction and drank a bowl of red date and lotus seed porridge, and his face gradually became more ruddy. He was pacing slowly in the house, occasionally chatting with Xue Tao and Xu Ke next to him. At this time, a personal soldier hurried in and handed a letter to Xue Tao. According to the report of the soldiers, this letter was sent by a special person from the head of the household, the head of the household, Qiu Mingli, and a 600-mile expedited horse. Xue Tao hurriedly presented Mr. Qiu's letter to Li Jin.

Li Zhen took the letter, opened it and read it, only after reading a few lines, his face couldn't help but change greatly, and he lost his voice:

"The crown prince has been deposed!"

The other two people standing in the room, Xue Tao and Xu Ke couldn't help but look surprised when they heard this, and they all said in their hearts: "This is the New Year, in January, every household is celebrating the New Year, and the emperor actually abolished the prince?"

Li Zhen read the letter, pondered for a moment, and then said: "My father has issued an edict on the third day of the first month of the first month, abolishing the prince as a concubine, and immediately sent to Luzhou Mansion to be confined, and he will not be allowed to leave the palace for life. Mr. Qiu said in the letter that his father was heartbroken by this, and now he is sick and bedridden...... Life...... His life is in danger, or he is afraid that he will be killed......" Speaking of this, Li Jin's face was full of sadness, and there were tears in his eyes......

"Your Highness! This is not the time to be sad! Right now, the crown prince has been deposed, the emperor is seriously ill, and the situation is turbulent, and there are changes at any time! But now, we are far away in Suzhou, Your Highness has to make a decision immediately, hurry up and come up with an idea!" Xue Tao hurriedly said.

Li Zhen raised his hand to wipe away the tears in his eyes, and immediately changed his face to a cold and calm face, and said in a deep voice:

"Without further ado, hurry up and go back to Beijing!"

Xue Tao said: "But His Royal Highness's body has only rested for two days, and Lang Zhong has told him that His Highness will not be able to see the wind for three days!"

"I can't care about this much, you go and explain to Li Chengfeng, and after half an hour, leave immediately!" Li Jinran said. In his eyes, he still couldn't hide it, a little sad......

Xue Tao knew the temperament of this master, and once he decided, he would not change. He thought to himself that the situation in front of him could not be delayed for a moment, so he and Xu Ke, according to the instructions of King Wei, ordered people to pack up their bags, and carefully handed over to Li Chengfeng, the prefect of Suzhou.

According to Li Jin's meaning, the Qincha Guard, which originally had only one hundred people left, left sixty people behind, which belonged to Li Chengfeng. He ordered the prefect to buy grain on the spot with all the nearly 500,000 taels of silver raised, and led the Qin Guards to personally escort them to Shannan Province and Shandong Province to relieve the victims there.

Li Zhen personally wrote a piece of writing, stamped it with the Great Seal of the Qincha, and ordered Li Chengfeng to send someone to Hangzhou Mansion to urge Wu Yunlong, the prefect of Hangzhou, to raise grain and raise funds, and send the grain money to Shandong and Shannan together.

After all the explanations were completed, the guard of honor of the king of Wei did not arrive at the time, so he set off north to return to Beijing. Li Chengfeng, the prefect of Suzhou, led the officials of the government to see him off outside the north gate of Suzhou City. At this time, the Qin Cha guard of the King of Wei had only forty personal soldiers left, and the entire Qin Cha Honor Guard had "shrunk" by more than half compared with the time when he left Chang'an. King Wei sat in the carriage, not only worried about his father's illness, but also anxious about the variables of the court situation, blindly urging the carriage to move quickly, but he had no intention of watching the scenery outside the window of the car......

The north wind is bleak, the grass and trees are frosty, this Qin Cha and his party set off from Suzhou City, and hurried all the way back to Chang'an......

At the beginning of the new year, after the first day, the new year is coming, and the whole world is celebrating, but why did Emperor Li Chongsheng rush to this festive moment, but abolished the prince?

Everything was caused by the crown prince Li Ren, as the so-called "self-inflicted, irretrievable"......

It all started on December 26, the 70th year of Kang Yuan.

On this day, Bi Songyun, the secretary of the ministry, rushed to the outside of the Zichen Hall of Daming Palace with the five prefects who were about to be released, waiting to meet the emperor.

Bi Songyun waited for half an hour in the bitter cold wind, but saw Gao Liangshi, the chief administrator of the inner court, come to give alms. Long live Gao Liangshidao, who was tired and had already laid down, these foreign officials were gone......

According to the custom, if the emperor did not have time to receive him, he had to be led by the official secretary to visit the king of Wei, who was ordered to be in charge of the ministry. After the king of Wei saw it, if he had no opinion, he would sign it on the spot, and then the officials would make official certificates and stamp them with a big seal, so that these foreign officials could take office with their official certificates.

However, at this time, the king of Wei had been ordered to go south to raise grain, and according to the meaning of the high father-in-law, as long as the prince on duty nodded and signed, the matter was settled. On duty in the prince's courtyard today is Li Zhi, the king of Chu. There was no way, Bi Songyun had to bite the bullet and go to the king of Chu......

Today coincides with the King of Chu Li Zhi on duty in the Daming Palace, in the court, the King of Chu has always been known for being easy-going, and the cold King of Wei is simply like two people. At this time, the king of Chu licked his fat belly and sat in front of the bookcase in the outer hall, looking at the confession documents of these people, and looking at the five prefects who were about to be released with a smile.

"Your name is Ye Longhao, and you are going to Huizhou to serve as the prefect?" asked Li Zhi in front of a middle-aged man with a thin body and a pair of small eyes.

"Your Royal Highness, the lower official Ye Longhao is about to go to Huizhou to take up his post......" The thin-eyed man who was called Ye Longhao replied.

Li Zhi asked, "Which list of Jinshi are you?"

Ye Langhao said: "Back to Your Highness, the lower official is not from a Jinshi. ”

"Then are you from the Divine King Pavilion?" Li Zhi asked with a smile again.

"Your Highness laughed, with the ability of the lower officials, how can you enter the Divine King Pavilion?" Ye Langhao also responded with a smile.

"Then ...... you?" Li Zhi couldn't help but doubt.

"Oh...... Xiaguan is a meritorious person, and he has been a boss in the criminal department's lawsuit. Ye Langhao replied.

"How did a person who was in charge of the criminal department be sent to a prefect who was a five-grade prefect...... Master Bi, what's going on?!" Li Zhi asked Bi Songyun, who was standing next to him.

"This ...... This ......" Bi Songyun said in his heart: "This is personally appointed by the prince to be released." But at this time, in front of Li Zhi, he naturally didn't dare to say it openly......

"Ye Longhao, this king asks you, how many years have you been a seven-rank palm? Have you been a magistrate before? Do you know how to be a good prefect?" Li Zhi's face changed, and he suddenly asked in a loud voice towards Ye Longhao.

"Enlightenment...... His Royal Highness...... The villain had been a scribe in the Criminal Department before, and he had just served as the head of the company for just over a year...... This...... Is this magistrate, but the villain...... I've never done it before...... As for how to be a good prefect, the villain thought that as long as he always remembered the emperor's teachings in his heart, devoted himself to the public, diligent and loving the people, he would naturally ...... Naturally, you can be a good prefect......" Ye Langhao was frightened by Li Zhi's words, and couldn't help but tremble in his heart, but he also held on and answered all the questions of the King of Chu one by one. At this time, Ye Longhao was also extremely distressed in his heart. He said secretly: "I stuffed 50,000 taels of silver to the prince to get this release!

At this time, Bi Songyun, the secretary of the ministry, seemed to have some calculations in his heart, and he arched his hand and said:

"His Royal Highness the King of Chu, these five people are carefully selected by the Ministry of Officials, and they are simply drawn from my big cadres. What's more, we are also acting in accordance with the Prince's instructions. The prince often admonishes us and others, and now that the imperial court is employing people, we must not stick to the view of peeping, but only stick to the trap, so that the pearl is missing and the handsome is buried......"

Li Zhi snorted coldly and said, "It's a 'pearl missing, Junyan buried'...... Whether it's a pearl or a broken stone, it's not up to you Bi Songyun to decide!"

Bi Songyun hurriedly lowered his head and said, "Your Highness, the previous household experience Xu Ke...... Isn't he a lowly official from the seventh grade? I heard that this person is a white body who has not even been admitted to the fame of Xiucai, and the emperor has also promoted him to six levels in a row and promoted him to the post of Tsing Yi Wei Baihu of the fifth grade?......

"Shut up! Father's way of employing people, you dare to judge your head!" Li Zhi said angrily.

Bi Songyun hurriedly bowed down and said in a panic: "Don't dare to be lowly and don't dare to say anything, I hope Your Highness will forgive your sins!"

"In this way, I can't be the master of these five prefects. Stay with me for a while. After a while, when my father wakes up, this king will take you over, and let my father decide it himself......" Li Zhi said, and without waiting for everyone's reply, he went back to the inner room to rest......

An hour later, Li Zhi, the king of Chu, took five prospective prefects who were about to take office and met with Emperor Li Chongsheng in the Zichen Palace. In front of the emperor, under Li Zhi's "step-by-step" questioning, these five people panicked and said something indiscriminately in front of the emperor......

Facing these five unlearned and unskilled people kneeling in the hall, Li Chongsheng looked at Bi Songyun who was terrified and uneasy next to him, and he knew the approximately. He felt a sadness in his heart, so he asked the official secretary helplessly: "These five prefects are all appointed by the prince, right?"

"Your Majesty, these five prefects are all selected by Weichen and others, and then report to the prince for permission......" Although Bi Songyun was self-reliant, he also knew that this matter could not be hidden from the old emperor.

"You all stand down, the king of Chu stays ......" Li Chongsheng waved his hand, feeling quite irritable in his heart, his heart was already Chinese New Year's Eve coming, how could there be so many messy things, which made me not in a good mood for the New Year!

After the six people left, Li Chongsheng asked Li Zhi:

"These five...... Who are the princes?"

"Father Qi, according to the son's investigation, these five people have nothing to do with the prince, and they have never even seen the prince. Li Zhi replied.

"It has nothing to do with it...... You mean, the crown prince took their money?" asked Li Chongsheng in surprise.

"Exactly!" replied Li Zhi.

Li Chongsheng asked again: "How much did you collect?"

Li Zhi said: "Back to my father, the prince openly betrayed his official position, and the asking price was fair, no more or no less per person, all of them were 50,000 taels of silver. ”

Li Chongsheng was angry in his heart and said angrily:

"With this breath, the prince actually sold five prefects! Did he make 250,000 taels of silver like this?"

Li Zhi added lightly: "Father, the crown prince didn't just sell five prefects this time......

"And ?......," Li Chongsheng asked, as if he didn't believe it.

"Enlighten the Emperor...... This time, the crown prince sold a total of twenty-two prefects. Li Zhi replied.

Hearing this number, Li Chongsheng couldn't help but tremble in his heart, and almost fell off the dragon chair......

Rao was the emperor he had been the emperor for 70 years, and it was the first time he had heard such a sensational act.

In the entire Great Qianguo, there are more than 100 prefects, and the prince actually sold 22 in one go!

No wonder the people all said: "Three years of Qianzhifu, 100,000 snowflakes of silver!"

These people spent 50,000 taels of silver to buy a prefect, once they arrived, couldn't they desperately loot it?

Every prefect is a local parent official, and if all the prefects who teach the great cadres are people who scrape the ground and eat the common people, how can the people of the world still live?

......

Li Chongsheng didn't dare to imagine it, so he had to slowly close his eyes.

The emperor was really tired......