Chapter 2783: Drawing firepower from the bottom of the cauldron
Li Zhi originally said it as a joke, but when Wang De actually nodded and admitted, he was suddenly shocked.
"Who impeached me? What mistake did I make?"
From childhood to adulthood, Li Zhi has always been a good boy. He is smart, well-behaved and positive. He is highly praised by the royal family and both inside and outside the court. He is almost universally known as "other people's children". There are almost no negative comments and he is as pure as a blank slate. .
At this moment, I heard that someone actually impeached him, and I was shocked and confused. This feeling is so novel...
Wang De shook his head slightly and said in a low voice: "I don't dare to say anything. Your Highness will know later."
Then he stepped into the hall.
Li Zhi naturally wanted to follow him in to see who was impeaching him and what was going on. If he really made a mistake accidentally and was caught by the imperial censors, he had better admit his mistake to his father as soon as possible and sincerely correct it, so as to avoid being confused in the future. A meal...
Wang De entered the hall and saw His Majesty Li Er talking to Li Junxian, so he quickly stepped forward and saluted: "Your Majesty, the memorial just passed in from the Political Affairs Hall, several censors from the Censorship Station jointly signed a letter to impeach the King of Jin Your Highness.”
His Majesty Li Er was stunned for a moment, looked at Li Zhi who was walking back behind Wang De, and asked curiously: "What is going on?"
Wang De presented the memorial with both hands and replied: "Just now, a package of ordnance that was supposed to be loaded onto a ship and shipped to Liaodong was found at the Fangjiawan pier in the south of the city. The Jingzhao Mansion and the Ministry of Justice received the report and immediately sent personnel to the site to investigate and confirm After confirming the error, he quickly caught up with the fleet that had just set off, stopped it, and began to thoroughly investigate how the package of ordnance was lost. It was discovered that a total of three packages of ordnance were stolen from one of the ships, but the sailors on the ship and the accompanying officials of the "Baiqisi" did not notice it. By chance, several supervisory censors who were on business in Hedong returned to Beijing and came forward to ask why. The officials of Zhaofu did not dare to hide it, so the censors wrote the impeachment memorial right away and sent it to the political hall immediately. "
When Li Zhi heard this, there was a "boom" in his head.
No matter how hard I calculated, I was afraid that something would happen at this moment, but I still couldn't prevent it. When I saw the fleet setting off, I thought everything was safe. However, during the time when I returned from the dock to the palace, so many things happened...
However, he was also a little puzzled: "The loss of ordnance is indeed due to my oversight, but after the survey and verification of the missing quantity, the fleet should be released and rushed to Liaodong. The Ministry of Punishment and Jingzhao Mansion can investigate slowly, so why impeach? This king?”
In his opinion, the loss of ordnance is certainly his own responsibility, but in the final analysis, he is also a victim. Even if all the mistakes are placed on himself, he will not be impeached by the supervisory censor, right?
It's just a dereliction of duty, and it's the emperor's father's decree. What's wrong with being on the imperial censor's stage?
Wang De didn't dare to talk too much. The memorial was in the emperor's hand. It was obvious at a glance that he would not talk too much...
His Majesty Li Er glanced at ten lines. At this moment, he had finished reading the memorial. He snorted and placed the memorial on the coffee table in front of him. He looked at Li Zhi and said: "Want to know why they impeached you? Humph, there are a thousand pieces of ordnance on the ship. , including many armors, swords, strong bows and crossbows, and even a pack of firearms... Once these things flow into Chang'an and are hidden privately, they are enough to arm an elite army of thousands of people..."
Li Zhi's complexion suddenly changed, his two sides started fighting, and he exclaimed: "Father, my son and I have been wronged!"
He had already guessed what the censors said in their memorials.
As expected, His Majesty Li Er ignored him and continued: "...Whether it's unfair or not, let's put it aside for the time being. These people didn't say that you did it deliberately or had ulterior motives. But they said it fiercely and said that this matter must be dealt with. Severe punishment to serve as a warning, otherwise in the future Everyone follows suit, and even the ministries and bureaus such as the Foundry Bureau and the Ordnance Department often lose their ordnance. Isn't this Chang'an City in danger and danger every step of the way? "
Li Zhi looked pale and pursed his lips in silence.
He just thought that the censors were making a fuss out of a fuss and wanted to go against him, deliberately using impeachment to attack his prestige. After listening to His Majesty Li Er's words, he suddenly realized that the matter was more than that simple.
Where is Chang'an?
The land of Gyeonggi, at the feet of the emperor!
The most important thing for a place like this is long-term stability. Otherwise, even the imperial capital will be in turmoil. How can everything in the world go smoothly? How can officials perform their duties? How can people live and work in peace and contentment? Now three packages of ordnance have been stolen, and the remaining two packages cannot be found. Once these ordnance falls into the hands of thieves with ulterior motives, it will endanger the emperor's safety, and even the stability of the entire Tang Dynasty.
It's more than that.
Were these ordnances lost due to negligence, or was it because His Highness the King of Jin, who was responsible for loading and transporting these ordnances, was committing theft?
If it is the former, it may just be due to poor supervision and limited capabilities. The emperor should issue an edict to warn him, and from then on he should do his best to achieve subsequent effects, and this will not be repeated in the future.
But if it's the latter, it's a completely different story...
Li Zhi, covered in cold sweat and with white hair on his lips, knelt at the feet of His Majesty Li Er and said in a trembling voice: "My father, the emperor, can see everything with his candle shining thousands of miles away. None of my sons and ministers know about the loss of this batch of ordnance!"
He understood the consequences of this matter very well. If the ordnance was lost, it would be an oversight and incompetence. However, if someone mistakenly thought that he was "stealing and stealing", it would cost his life.
Even though his father always loved him very much, he was very principled, especially on matters related to the stability of the empire. He would never show sympathy or forgiveness to anyone, and would punish him severely to set an example.
What he is afraid of now is that another imperial censor will accuse him of hiding armor and concealing dead soldiers. Then the spies of the "Hundred Cavalry Division" will enter the Jin Palace and conduct a search. As a result, they will find this batch of lost ordnance somewhere in the palace. .
This is not alarmist, nor is it unfounded. Just seeing how this batch of ordnance can be lost unnoticed despite layers of precautions, you can see how powerful the thieves are, and they want to try to hide this batch of lost ordnance in their own possession. It is not impossible to live in his mansion and then wait for someone to search the house and put the blame on him.
Just thinking about the consequences once this batch of ordnance is discovered in his mansion, Li Zhi shudders and becomes terrified...
His Majesty Li Er obviously thought of this. He looked at his son who was frightened out of his mind, shook his head and sighed, and said to Li Junxian: "Immediately send someone to guard the Jin Palace, and any suspicious people who come in and out will be arrested and imprisoned." , Strict interrogation ”
Li Junxian stood aside and was already sweating profusely. Hearing this, he quickly said: "I will obey your orders!"
Then he hurried away in great strides.
Originally, His Majesty Li Er sent himself to supervise the loading of ordnance because he was worried that someone would secretly sabotage and undermine the prestige of King Jin. However, he went there with great fanfare, but still failed to stop the thieves from causing damage. This was an extremely serious dereliction of duty.
In particular, I am not sure who is responsible for this matter. If Fang Jun is better, at least this guy has a bad temper, but there is a bottom line in dealing with people. As long as the purpose of undermining the prestige of King Jin is achieved, he will not take the opportunity to do anything. Something else happened.
But in case Fang Jun did not do this, the thief's purpose is indeed to steal ordnance and hide it, waiting for the opportunity in the future to arm an army of more than a thousand people to cause trouble in Chang'an, or even attack Taiji Palace...
Then I have ten heads, which are not enough to cut off.
If you think about it further, Fang Jun would certainly not hide this batch of ordnance with the intention of causing chaos, but what would he do if he not only wanted to undermine the prestige of King Jin, but also wanted to completely destroy King Jin's qualifications to compete for the throne in one fell swoop? ?
Naturally, they framed the blame and found a way to hide these weapons in the Jin Palace!
Although Li Junxian did not think that Fang Jun would act so without a bottom line, after all, it was highly possible, and he would definitely not allow this to happen.
Watching Li Junxian leave in a hurry, His Majesty Li Er looked calm and said to Li Zhi: "Get up, what's the use of kneeling like this? You should think carefully about where you went wrong and how to make up for it. The most important thing is How to correct it in the future.”
After hearing this, Li Zhi's uneasy mood calmed down a little. He understood that if his father knew about this, someone must be targeting him. But having said that, he himself had long expected that someone would sabotage this matter, and even begged his father to send the "Hundred Cavalry Division" to supervise, but still someone else's plan was successful. Isn't this confirmed from another aspect? His incompetence?
With a bit of bitterness in his mouth, Li Zhi got up from the ground and sat dejectedly in front of His Majesty Li Er. (End of chapter)