bookrebus Chapter 780: Your Majesty's Merits Outweigh His Faults
Chapter 780: Your Majesty's Merits Outweigh His Faults
As for the newly appointed Shangshu Youcheng, it was Ma Fang, the chief secretary who served as the governor during the Youzhou case.
After the Youzhou case ended, Di Renjie recommended the other party to be the governor of Youzhou, and he successfully became a frontier official.
Ma Fang served as the governor of Youzhou for five years and managed Youzhou in an orderly manner. Li Cunxi saw all these achievements.
It just so happened that Li Cunxi was already the King of Qin, and he thought that he should let these people climb up, so he asked the emperor for an imperial edict and asked Lu Dayou to show it to Youzhou Governor Ma Fang when he returned to Youzhou to visit his relatives.
It is said that on that day, the Youzhou governor Ma Fang's eyes were filled with tears and he said tremblingly, "Your Highness the Prince of Qin did not deceive me."
Then he discussed official business with the new governor, and happily took his family to the capital to take up the post of Shangshu Youcheng.
Although the Shangshu Youcheng seems to be a much lower official than the Youzhou Governor, he still holds a high position in the Shangshu Province. When an official from outside the capital comes to Beijing, he may have to curry favor with the Shangshu Youcheng.
Another more important point is that the Shangshu Youcheng has too much power, and it is impossible for ordinary people to climb to this position.
In the original novel, it was not until many years later that Lu Dayou climbed to the position of Shangshu Youcheng.
However, judging from the current situation, it would still be quite difficult for the Shangshu Zuo Cheng to handle the affairs of the Shangshu Province as easily as the Wenchang Zuo Xiang.
"Alas, Huaiying, I am really old. I feel a little powerless."
"Tell me, why have these cases been happening one after another since I ascended the throne?"
"Is it really that difficult for a woman to ascend to Dabao?"
It is naturally very difficult for a woman to ascend to the throne. Before deciding to usurp the throne, Wu Zetian made preparations for six years.
She had to kill a group of Li's descendants to prevent them from rebelling.
A group of people in the court who are loyal to the Li family must also be killed, otherwise these people will criticize her for gaining the position illegally every day, and her reputation in history will become worse and worse.
She had to be careful and cautious about her own sons and nephews, for fear that these people would learn from her and drive her off the throne.
At the same time, he also had to win over some of the Li family's descendants and ministers loyal to the Li family, and he also had to make use of some of his nephews.
It can be said that she herself is looking for opportunities to maintain the continuation of this dynasty in the cracks.
In order to consolidate her position, she even established the Internal Guard Bureau and relied heavily on people like Zhou Xing, Lai Junchen and Qiu Shenji.
Di Renjie looked at Wu Zetian with a complicated expression. He and the emperor were not only monarch and subject, but also confidants. He knew very well what kind of situation the emperor was in.
He had been emperor for only seven years, but major events had occurred one after another in the court. If Li Cunxi had not climbed higher and higher, the anti-military forces in the society would have probably launched another major case spanning several provinces and hundreds of states, just like the Bleeding Eagle case.
"Your Majesty's difficulty is clear to me, but it is the people of the world who do not understand."
Di Renjie bowed.
"Then tell me, a hundred years from now, how will people in the world evaluate me?" Wu Zetian asked with a frown.
Thinking of Wang Xiaojie's expansion of territory in the Western Regions, the Khitans completely submitted to the Great Zhou.
The states and counties have become much quieter in recent years, and everything is moving in a positive direction.
Di Renjie couldn't say anything against his conscience.
"Your Majesty's merits outweigh his faults," he said confidently. "Even if your Majesty may face some criticism in the future regarding the Li family's heir, your achievements are enough to silence the criticism."
"Besides, the fact that Your Majesty chose Cunxi proves that Your Majesty is definitely not a foolish ruler."
"Let's take a step back and say, Your Majesty, a hundred years from now, if the Li and Wu families work together in perfect harmony and make this country prosperous, then even if Your Majesty gets a little bit of a bad reputation, what does that really matter?"
After a long silence, Wu Zetian agreed with Di Renjie's words.
She was not yet so old and senile that she knew very well that what Di Renjie said was right.
Regardless, her achievements are real.
So what if she made mistakes? No one is perfect, and the emperor is not perfect either. Even Emperor Taizong, whom Di Renjie admired the most, had many faults, such as killing his brother and imprisoning his father, occupying other people's wives, and forcing his son to start a rebellion.
But thousands of years later, not many people will deliberately mention the mistakes he made. Most people will only focus on Emperor Taizong's glorious past.
After comparing her own mistakes with those of Emperor Taizong Li Shimin, Wu Zetian suddenly felt relieved.
Emperor Taizong killed his son, and she also killed her son and daughter.
Emperor Taizong forced Crown Prince Li Chengqian to rebel and then deposed him. At least Wu Zetian did not force her sons to rebel, she only deposed her two sons from the throne.
Emperor Taizong killed his elder brother Li Jiancheng and younger brother Li Yuanji, and imprisoned Emperor Gaozu Li Yuan. In this regard, Wu Zetian was not as good as him. Wu Zetian only killed a few brothers and sisters.
As for her father's grave, Wu Zetian did not dig it.
Emperor Taizong also took possession of Li Yuanji's wife and indulged in revelry every night. However, Wu Zetian did not take possession of Li Zhi's other women. Instead, she let those women spend their lives with the Buddha and the green lamp. She was kind enough!
Emperor Taizong favored that fat boy Li Tai alone, even going so far as to depose Li Chengqian to give Li Tai the chance to become the crown prince. But Wu Zetian was different. Both of her sons were deposed, and she had no intention of finding an heir from among her other children. In this respect, she once again surpassed Emperor Taizong...
After thoroughly comparing herself with Emperor Taizong, Wu Zetian suddenly discovered that in some aspects, she seemed to be a little more merciful than Emperor Taizong.
Emperor Taizong, whom even Di Renjie admired so much, was not as good as her in some aspects. What else could she be dissatisfied with?
"Alright, Huaiying, you can go now. You still need to attend to government affairs after daybreak, so I won't keep you here any longer."
"Your Majesty, I take my leave."
"By the way, after this case is concluded, I will have the Internal Guard revoke Di Chun's Internal Guard status. I've troubled you over the years, actually sending your housekeeper to the Internal Guard."
Di Renjie breathed a sigh of relief: "Thank you, Your Majesty."
……
The Neiweifu prison had been burned to pieces, and the wooden fences had been burned to charcoal and fell to the ground.
Looking around, there are almost no intact cells left.
In most of the burned cells, only a charred corpse and a pile of straw ashes remained.
"It seems there won't be any clues. Grand Lord, please take us to Wu Sansi's cell."
Li Cunxi and his group came in and took a look, then prepared to go directly to Wu Sansi's cell to take a look.
Naturally, the internal guards went to other cells to move the bodies out.
In addition to high-ranking officials, those who can be imprisoned in the Inner Guard include a group of people whose identities cannot be revealed.
Even if these people were burned to death, they were still protecting the people from harm.
Therefore, it is not a pity for these people to die.
Under the leadership of Huang Shengyan, everyone quickly arrived in front of Wu Sansi's cell. After taking a look at the chains that fell on the ground and the color of the big lock, they could basically conclude that Wu Sansi's cell had not been opened after the fire.
In the cell, a charred corpse whose owner could not be identified was lying in the corner.