Chapter 362 Powerful Officials
The name has been changed from Jixian to Jidu, but the city is still the same city.

Just because it is called "Du", this city cannot really be compared with Chang'an and Luoyang in size.

Although they lost to the Tang Dynasty in the Battle of Jinyang last year, the morale of the entire Northern Yan army was not greatly affected, and they firmly controlled Jingxing, the passage from Hebei to Jinyang, Bingzhou.

With Jingxing in hand, the Yan army could send troops at any time and continue to fight with the Tang army for Jinyang.

At the same time, Shangdang County was still under the control of the Yan army, so the Yan army, which had retreated because of the Turkic attack, was actually somewhat dissatisfied.

The most common phrase used by the army is: "If it weren't for the Turkic attack, Jinyang would be ours."

This has also become a phrase that many generals often say, and they will mention it whenever they talk about last year's war.

Now in the court of Jidu, Liu Xuanji served as the Prime Minister, King of Han, Grand Commandant, Shangshu Ling, Commander-in-Chief of the Chinese and Foreign Armies, Fake Yellow Axe, General of the Cavalry, and Kaifu Yitong Sansi. He held all the power.

His court also attracted many talents, such as Xing Luan, Lu Rou, Li Yuanzhong, Wang Sizheng, etc.

Most of them were scholars from prominent families, and only Liu Daohe, a fellow villager and member of the same clan from Zhuo County, could be considered to have a humble origin.

Among them, Liu Daohe and Liu Xuanji were on the same trip. They were both descendants of Liu Fei, the King of Qi Daohui. They loved reading since childhood and were well-read. They were originally the chief clerk in Xue Shixiong's governor's mansion and one of the people who supported Liu Xuanji to take the throne. Now they are the chief secretary of the General of the Cavalry's mansion and concurrently the Minister of the Left.

Although Liu Xuanji failed in his attempt to capture Jinyang, Liu Daohe, who stayed in Zhuo County, ensured that the army had enough food and money, and handled all government affairs in an orderly manner. Liu Xuanji often praised him as "Xiao He".

Since the Han Dynasty, those who can be compared to Xiao He are all top talents. And it can also be seen that Liu Daohe's status in Liu Xuanji's eyes.

Although he is not the highest-ranking among the staff, he is definitely the most trusted.

Although Lu Rou was born in the Lu family of Fanyang, he followed Emperor Murong Yang from Luoyang in the north. He was good at planning and, like Wang Sizheng, was asked to come over by Liu Xuanji, join the shogunate, and be entrusted with important tasks.

As for the puppet emperor Murong Yang, he now has only two confidants around him, one is the minister Liang Chongli, and the other is Lu Shun, who was named the General of the Gate Guard and participated in the murder of Duan Yihong and Lou Jushi.

In addition, except for a few hundred people who were left as guards, the rest of the troops who followed him north were all disbanded and incorporated into the army.

Liu Xuanji was still very wary of Murong Yang. He seldom went to the palace to see the emperor. Every time he went to see the emperor, he had to bring a large number of guards with him and ordered people to prepare for defense and clearing the area in advance.

After all, this emperor was a very troublesome person. Good generals like Lou Jushi and Duan Yihong were killed without any warning. Liu Xuanji felt that as a powerful official, he had to be careful if he wanted to live longer.

After all, there is the same example of Li Jia Dalang, who is a kind person?
Looking at the armored warriors lined up on both sides of the palace corridor, they were all his personal troops. The future guard Liu Zhiquan, his cousin, or nephew, clasped his fists to him, meaning that the palace was now safe.

Liu Xuanji entered the palace without any worries, and all the way into the main hall, he bowed to the emperor as a sign of greeting. Although he had not yet added the four-piece set of swords and shoes to the palace, it was a bit against the will of heaven to let a powerful official who held all the power kneel down and kowtow to a puppet emperor.
If you don't punch the emperor three times and just curse him as "dog-footed emperor", that would be giving him face.

The emperor was used to it, and said with a smile, "Prime Minister Liu, there is no need to be so polite."

Liu Xuanji nodded, "Your Majesty, I heard that you wrote a letter to the General of Chariots and Cavalry some time ago?"

When Murong Yang heard this, his face changed. "Prime Minister, I did write a letter to my cousin, but it was just to express our affection, nothing else."

Liu Xuanji nodded and said, "Your Majesty, don't be nervous. I understand. The General of Chariots and Cavalry has sent the letter to me. I have read it. Your Majesty, don't worry too much. I just said it casually. By the way, Your Majesty, you have been on a tour in the north for a long time. The Western Capital Chang'an and the Eastern Capital Luoyang are now occupied by the bandits. The Queen Mother and the princes are all in the hands of the bandits. I think you should appoint another queen."

Murong Yang heard this and said, "There's no rush for this matter. I still want to..."

"Your Majesty." "Forget it, let the Prime Minister make the decision."

Murong Yang said helplessly.

Liu Xuanji nodded, and chatted a few words casually, which sounded like a discussion, but was actually an announcement, and then he said goodbye and left.

Murong Yang breathed a sigh of relief only after he saw the majestic figure in purple official robes leave.

The sense of oppression that Liu Xuanji brought to him was very strong. Seven or eight years ago, Murong Ying personally led an expedition to fight against the rebel army of Murong Xuan, the governor of Qi County in Qingzhou. Although he did not see with his own eyes the feat of Liu Xuanji driving away thousands of bandits alone, he was in the army at that time and gave instructions, so this must have been true.

In addition, although Liu Xuanji came from a humble background, he was dignified and majestic after holding a high position, which easily scared people away.

Therefore, Murong Yang was very afraid.

“How can I avoid being coerced by this person?”

Recalling what happened in the palace just now, Murong Yang turned his head and asked. Liang Chongxun, the attendant who had just entered, said, "Your Majesty, the Prime Minister is now in power and has all the troops inside and outside the palace under his control. Your Majesty has only a few hundred guards, and every time he meets with you, he will transfer your guards away to guard against you. It is clear that we want to eliminate him, but it will be difficult. However, there are powerful enemies outside, and Prime Minister Liu will go to war sooner or later. It will be much easier to plan to seize power by then."

Murong Yang nodded.

Liang Chongxun continued, "Your Majesty should keep a low profile and not contact General Wei at will. You should use him as a surprise force. If Your Majesty contacts him too closely, it will definitely alert Prime Minister Liu, and it will be even more difficult to act at that time."

Murong Yang's expression changed slightly, but he still sighed and said, "I understand."

In fact, he wrote a letter to his cousin Wei Xiaoju just to test his cousin's current attitude, but he didn't expect that Liu Xuanji would go directly to the palace to give him a warning.

As for Wei Xiaoju sending the letter to Liu Xuanji, he was also somewhat indignant.

He knew that this was for self-protection, but it was still a little hard to accept. However, he had no idea how much trouble these things would bring to Wei Xiaoju, who was leading the troops outside.

In fact, Liu Xuanji knew exactly what he had done, and it was his instruction that the letter be delivered to Wei Xiaoju.

But Wei Xiaoju didn't even open the envelope and had it delivered to Youzhou. He was very satisfied with this attitude.

Wei Xiaoju was a smart man and was good at commanding troops. He should be given important positions by Northern Yan, which lacked commanding talents.

But his identity was too sensitive. Unlike those civil servants and advisers, Wei Xiaoju was going to lead the troops directly. If he let them go, it would cause a big chaos.

Therefore, we must both use Wei Xiaoju and be on guard against him.

But for now, he is still a man who knows the times.

After returning to the Prince of Han's mansion, Liu Xuanji went all the way to the back house, where the Prince of Han's Consort Li was teaching her four-year-old son Liu Chengye to read and write.

Liu Xuanji watched from afar with a slight smile on his face. Even though he was now an enemy of Li Tang, Li Shisanniang, who was born into the royal family of Li Tang, was still his principal wife, the Princess of Han.

If Prince of Qi Li Yuanhui was the first noble person he met in his life, then Princess Li was the second one.

(End of this chapter)