The next day, morning court.
The ministers were divided into two rows and shouted long live. Although Yang Guang had not attended the morning court for seven to eight days because he wanted to tame Fu Junhao, these officials were already used to his debauchery. They were too lazy to care about such a small matter.
As soon as the court session was announced, a middle-aged minister stepped forward and said in a clear voice,"I, Zhang Huan, have a memorial."
"Assistant Minister Zhang, what's the matter?"
Yang Guang had done a lot of homework for this court session. He had memorized all the court officials above the third rank. He knew that Zhang Huan was the assistant minister of the Ministry of War and was a decent person. Hearing his report, Yang Guang's heart tightened. This was because most of his matters could not be separated from the word war.
"Thanks to Your Majesty's great blessing, the day before yesterday, Hebei Province's military commander Zhang Xutuo sent a good report. He personally led the army to defeat the Hebei rebel army commanders Song Zixian and Lu Mingyue, and exterminated more than 100,000 bandits.”
The officials stood there and whispered to each other when they heard Zhang Huan's words. Most of them revealed a look of joy.
Yang Guang's eyes also flashed with joy, and he pretended to sigh,"There are so many bandits in the world."
However, Yang Guang's casual words had scared Yu Shiji and Fei Yun half to death. It turned out that in order to flatter the original Emperor Yang, these two people had secretly detained all the rebellion memorials from all over the world, making the original Yang Guang mistakenly think that this world was still peaceful and prosperous. Now that Zhang Xutuo said that he had wiped out hundreds of thousands of rebel soldiers, wasn't that a slap to their faces?
The two of them looked at each other in tacit understanding. Yu Shiji came out and said,""Your Majesty, I received a secret report from my subordinates yesterday. In order to earn military merits, Zhang Xutuo did not hesitate to lead his troops to massacre more than ten villages. He used the villagers as rebels and bandits in an attempt to cheat credit. Your Majesty, please issue an order to capture the traitor Zhang Xutuo as a warning!”
Yu Shiji's words were really calling a deer a horse and distorting black and white. The beards of the few white-haired old ministers of His Highness immediately stood up. They did not stand up and directly cursed,"Yu Shiji, how can you face the people of the world with such slanderous words? The country of Great Sui will be defeated in the hands of treacherous officials like you. Your Majesty, Your Majesty, please kill Yu Shiji and Fei Yun. If they don't die, Great Sui will perish…"
The old minister cried as he spoke. His voice was so touching that it could be said to be touching. Led by him, dozens of ministers knelt on the ground and begged Yang Guang to kill Yu Shiji and Fei Yun.
Yu Shiji and Fei Yun naturally wouldn't just sit back and wait for death. They had been in the imperial court for many years and naturally had many followers. At this moment, they also stepped out and scolded back. The commotion was far greater than those old ministers.
Yang Guang sat on the dragon throne and watched coldly. He secretly remembered the people from these two forces in his heart. When they had enough, he said coldly,"A high official of the imperial court is scolding each other like a shrew in the market. What a disgrace! I will naturally investigate the truth of this matter. If Zhang Xutuo's report is true, I will definitely reward the meritorious soldiers!”
"Ding! The host believed in slander and suspected the meritorious generals. The hearts of the soldiers of the Han army are B grade. The reward is 3000 gold coins and a middle-grade lottery card.”
" That's fine too." Yang Guang was secretly delighted. A middle-grade Lottery Card was much better than a low-grade Lottery Card. It would be great if he could draw another god-grade epiphany card.
"Your Majesty is wise!" Yu Shiji and Fei Yun hurriedly flattered and glanced at the old ministers proudly.
These old officials were all founding heroes who had followed Emperor Wen of Sui, Yang Jian, to conquer the world. They had deep feelings for the Great Sui. Seeing that the crafty sycophants had won another round, they could not help but sigh and retreat in loneliness.
At this moment, the Minister of Works, Du Guo, who was standing on the left, cleared his throat and stood up. He cupped his hands and said,"Your Majesty, I heard that the rebel army of the Wagang Stronghold is recruiting soldiers and buying horses. If we don't go on an expedition, I'm afraid it will be detrimental to our Great Sui. Your Majesty, please allow Governor Zhang Xutuo to go to pacify the rebels. Firstly, he can exterminate the rebels and publicize the might of the Great Sui Dynasty. Secondly, he can prove his innocence and shut up Youyou's mouth.”
The Minister of Works, Du Guo, was also an old official, but he was quite resourceful. He knew that Yang Guang would not accept his direct persuasion, so he came up with such a perfect plan. It could not only quell the rebellion, but also prevent Zhang Xutuo from being persecuted by treacherous officials.
Yu Shiji was not a good-for-nothing. He naturally heard that Du Guo was mocking him. He immediately stood up and said,"Your Majesty, I think that Minister Du's words are inappropriate. Since Zhang Xutuo was impeached, he should be handed over to the Ministry of Justice for interrogation. How could he lead troops outside? Moreover, Zhang Xutuo had hundreds of thousands of border troops under his command. If he harbored evil intentions and led his troops to cause trouble, it would be too late to subdue him. Therefore, I request that you immediately send a special envoy to Hebei to remove Zhang Xutuo's military power and bring him to the capital for trial!”
When Du Guo saw that Yu Shiji had actually reversed black and white to such an extent, he could not help but be so angry that his face turned purple. He said in a deep voice,"Your Majesty, the world is already in turmoil. There are not many veterans like Governor Zhang who have been through the battlefield for a long time. If Your Majesty listens to the words of the crafty sycophants today, I'm afraid that the three armies will mutiny.”
Yu Shiji also said,"Your Majesty, Minister Du is already old and muddle-headed. My Great Sui is peaceful and prosperous, so how could there be a disaster of destruction?”
The two of them argued until their faces turned red, but they didn't know that Yang Guang didn't listen to them at all. Instead, he focused all his attention on Du Guo.
Yesterday, when Yang Guang checked the list of officials, he found Du Guo's name familiar. Today, after hearing Du Guo's remarks, he finally remembered this person. The Du family was a family of officials. In Du Guo's generation, there were already several first-class officials at the level of ministers. However, Du Guo was amazing because he had a good grandson, Du Ruhui!
Du Ruhui's name was like thunder in everyone's ears. He was Li Tang's founding hero, Li Shimin's right-hand man, and ranked third on the list of meritorious officials in Lingyan Pavilion. He was also known as Fang Xuanling's house strategist. His status was almost equivalent to Jiang Shang of King Wen of Zhou and Zhang Liang of Emperor Gaozu of Han. He could be said to be one of the most powerful politicians and military strategists at the end of the Sui and the beginning of the Tang.
According to Yang Guang's memories, although Du Ruhui was still young at this time, he was already a high-ranking official because of his prominent family background. This was simply a peerless good minister bestowed upon him by the heavens. With Du Ruhui, at least he would not have to worry about internal affairs.
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。