The news that Li Linfu was about to be buried soon spread to the palace. Like many ministers who were worried about the country and the people, the emperor's mood was also complicated. There were many reasons for his complicated mood.
On the one hand, although he knew that Li Linfu was not a good person and often slandered other officials, he was a traitorous official to the core. However, if it weren't for this traitorous official, Li Longji wouldn't have been able to live such a carefree life. Perhaps he would have died from exhaustion from working so hard.
At this moment, Li Linfu's illness was also related to long-term fatigue. It was his fatigue that allowed the Emperor to relax. He did many things that should have been done by the Emperor and greatly reduced the Emperor's burden. This allowed the Emperor to not age and maintain a healthy body. Li Longji had always acknowledged this point. Therefore, even though he knew that Li Linfu was a treacherous official, he had never punished him. Instead, he had always pampered Li Linfu so that Li Linfu could better share the burden of state affairs. Li Linfu's death would cause him to have one less person to share the burden of state affairs.
On the other hand, although Li Longji knew that Li Linfu was a traitorous minister, he still recognized his ability. Many complicated and trivial state affairs could be handled by him in an orderly manner. If other ministers were to handle them, they would not be able to handle them as well as Li Linfu. They would even come to bother him from time to time.
On the other hand, Li Linfu would take care of everything properly and would not trouble the Emperor. This was because he could guess the Emperor's thoughts and knew how to handle these affairs to satisfy the Emperor. If he always ran to ask the Emperor, it would be too inefficient. Moreover, most of the time, even if the Emperor had some thoughts, he could not say it out loud. This depended on the officials to observe the Emperor's body language, understand the Emperor's thoughts, and then directly do things that satisfied the Emperor.
"Genu has been with me all his life. He has been the prime minister for 20 years. Now he only has one or two days left. How sad!"
After listening to the eunuch's report, Li Longji sighed and picked up the Tang dynasty newspaper beside him.
He was now old and weak. After Li Linfu's death, he had to find a new minister to help him deal with state affairs. He had already prepared this successor, but this successor's ability was very ordinary, which made him very uneasy.
This successor who could replace Li Linfu was naturally Yang Guozhong, whom he had always favored. He had already thought about letting Yang Guozhong replace Li Linfu and be the head of the ministers of the Tang dynasty.
However, in recent days, Yang Guozhong's family had frequent incidents. These incidents had caused a great blow to the reputation of this successor, which made him very upset.
At this time, if he publicly promoted Yang Guozhong to be the head of the ministers, it would inevitably cause an uproar. It would even lead to public opposition, which would make the emperor have to be wary.
However, if he did not choose Yang Guozhong as the head of the ministers, among the remaining ministers, there was no one who could satisfy the emperor. After all, the emperor's core requirement was that the minister must be loyal and diligent enough to handle most of the state affairs according to his wishes. A minister who was too upright would certainly not be able to fully satisfy his needs. This was the main reason why he had always handed over the state affairs to the treacherous minister Li Linfu.
At the thought of not having a satisfactory minister to handle the state affairs for him, Li Longji felt a headache coming on. He felt very uncomfortable.
Dusk quickly arrived. Li Longji walked out of the hall with a myriad of emotions in his heart. He stood on the open platform outside the hall and looked at the gradually setting sun. Suddenly, the emotions in his heart became even more intense.
The setting sun was infinitely beautiful. It was just that dusk was approaching. Although one could see the beautiful scenery in front of them, such beautiful scenery was destined to not last long. The time that the setting sun could exist was very limited. Soon, the dazzling golden setting sun would gradually dim until it completely disappeared, plunging the earth into darkness.
After entering winter, the weather became colder and colder. A breeze blew, and Li Longji felt the biting cold. In this cold season, Li Linfu, who had accompanied him for most of his life, was about to die. How many more years could he live?
At this moment, a dozen birds flew over his head and disappeared into the distance.
"It's getting dark. The birds are going home."
Li Longji sighed.
"Your Majesty, it's cold outside. Let's go back inside!"
Gao Lishi spoke.
Earlier, when Li Longji was lamenting the state affairs, Gao Lishi had not said anything. But now, he spoke. After all, he was very clear that he was only a servant. Caring for and taking care of the Emperor was his proper duty. As for the state affairs, he could not ask. If he could, he would not ask. He did not dare to interfere with the Emperor's ideas, nor would he give any suggestions.
It was precisely because of this that Gao Lishi had always been favored by the Emperor. He had always been the most favored of the eunuchs.
"We have not enjoyed the beauty of the sunset for a long time. It's worth it to be exposed to the cold wind a little longer."
Li Longji was wearing very thick clothes. In truth, even if he was exposed to the cold wind, he would not catch a cold. There was no need to worry about this.
Seeing that Li Longji was not going back, Gao Lishi did not continue to persuade him. He gave a look and had a young eunuch beside him bring a warm cloak.
This was also one of his cleverness. He not only obeyed the Emperor's wishes, but also thought of the Emperor in all aspects.
Of course, Gao Lishi also had a temper. Most of the time, he was amiable. But if someone deliberately embarrassed him, he would definitely retaliate.
According to the history books, the only important person who was retaliated against by Gao Lishi was the Great Scholar Li Bai, the editor of the Tang dynasty newspaper.
With Li Bai's education level, it was not difficult for him to be a fourth or fifth rank official. But because of his temperament, he was too unrestrained and never bowed to the powerful. Therefore, he offended Gao Lishi, who had always been amiable.
What happened at that time was like this. Once, the great poet Li Bai was drinking in the palace and suddenly got drunk. After getting drunk, Ang Lee exposed his unrestrained personality. He actually boldly stretched out his foot and asked Gao Lishi, who was sitting next to him, to take off his boot.
Because there were many people at the table at that time, Gao Lishi was at a loss and had to take off Li Bai's boot. At that time, Gao Lishi already had a lot of power. Except for the Emperor, no one could treat him like this. None of the civil and military officials dared to offend Gao Lishi. He had never been insulted like this before. So naturally, he was very angry and waited for an opportunity to retaliate against Li Bai.
Not to mention Gao Lishi, who was the head of the harem, even ordinary people would be very angry when they encountered such a thing. It was natural that they would look for an opportunity to retaliate. Li Bai could only blame himself for being too unrestrained and not knowing how to respect people. He could not blame others for looking for an opportunity to retaliate.
Gao Lishi never participated in the court. Even if he wanted to retaliate against Li Bai, he would not use the power of the court. Otherwise, if he gave people the right to criticize him, he would interfere in the court and violate his principles. The way he chose to retaliate was to use Yang Guifei to kill someone with a borrowed knife. He easily blocked Li Bai's official career.
At that time, Li Bai wrote a poem praising Yang Guifei's purity and tranquility: a branch of bright red dew, a fragrant cloud and rain on Mount Wushan in vain, asking who in the Han Palace could resemble her. Poor Zhao Feiyan was wearing new makeup. The meaning was that Yang Guifei was really a peony with dew, gorgeous and fragrant. The King of Chu and the Goddess met on Mount Wushan in vain, yet they were also grieving and heartbroken. Among the favored concubines in the Han Palace, who could resemble her?
Yang Guifei naturally liked this poem very much. She felt that Li Bai had vividly described her peerless appearance. However, Gao Lishi told Yang Guifei that the metaphor of the poem was not appropriate. He pointed out that Zhao Feiyan in the Han Palace was a singer, which was far inferior to Yang Yuhuan's family background. In addition, although Zhao Feiyan was crowned as the Empress, her style was not upright and she was demoted to a commoner in the end. Comparing Yang Yuhuan with Zhao Feiyan was looking down on Yang Yuhuan. Yang Yuhuan thought about it carefully and found that it was reasonable. Therefore, she began to hate Li Bai. Even when the Emperor wanted to appoint Li Bai as an official, she was stopped by her.
In the eyes of the later generations, Gao Lishi's revenge on Li Bai was a little unjust and a bad person. He made Li Bai, a great scholar, unable to serve the Tang dynasty in the officialdom. However, in Ang Lee's view, a person who wrote a good poem was not necessarily a good official. Li Bai was arrogant because of his talent and was too unrestrained. He could not even do the most basic respect for others. Even if he did enter the officialdom, it would be difficult for him to find a way to be promoted.
However, in all the ancient dynasties in history, if a scholar did not become an official, there was no way out. It was even quite difficult for him to support himself. He had to ask his relatives and friends to help him everywhere. In short, his life would be very difficult.
However, after Ang Lee came to the Tang dynasty, the situation was different. Especially since the Tang dynasty newspaper was opened, as long as he was a literate scholar, he could publish poems in the Tang dynasty newspaper and earn a certain amount of royalties. Even the literati with good standards could go to the government office of the Tang dynasty to be an editor. For example, Mr. Du Fu was the chief editor. Li Bai could not stand the stinky rules of the government office, so he chose the lowest style editor. He traveled and wrote at the same time, making money and having fun at the same time. It could be said that he lived a happy life.
Of course, Li Bai was clear about the Gao Lishi's framing. He knew Princess Yuzhen and learned about it from her. However, he was broad-minded and did not resent the Gao Lishi. He only regretted that he drank too much in the palace and did something that offended him when he was drunk.
However, it was also because of this matter that Li Bai completely gave up his official career and boldly went into the arms of the Tang dynasty newspaper and became a free style editor.
After a period of time as a style editor, Li Bai found that this job was the most suitable for him. In this way, he would not resent the Gao Lishi. On the contrary, he was grateful to the Gao Lishi. After all, if it were not for the Gao Lishi's interference, he might have to work in a government office of the imperial court. How could those boring and tiring days be compared with those of a style editor?
The Gao Lishi took the cloak from the little eunuch and personally put it on Li Longji. For so many years, he had been taking care of the emperor wholeheartedly. His loyalty was unquestionable. He might frame anyone in the world, but he would never harm the emperor.
"Old, we are all old. Genu is going to leave. I don't know how long we have left."
Li Longji suddenly sighed.
"Your Majesty is not old, not old at all. We still have a long way to go."
The Gao Lishi hurried to persuade him.
In fact, he was very clear that they were all old. How could people not age? If they stayed young forever, they would become monsters. However, Li Longji's condition was not bad. It should not be a problem for him to live for more than ten years. In addition, his own health was good. It was estimated that it would be easy for him to live for more than ten years.
The reasons for Li Longji's longevity were that his own health was good. The other reason was that he liked to keep healthy. He gave a lot of the imperial court to Li Linfu. Even the Gao Lishi shared a lot with him. In this way, he did not need to be too tired. Naturally, his health was better. Even if he favored his concubines, he only favored Yang Yuhuan. He would not be tired.
The Gao Lishi, on the other hand, was a eunuch. He usually served the emperor. No one could make him angry. He lived a relatively comfortable life. In addition, because he was purified, he did not have romantic feelings. Naturally, he would not tire himself out.
Compared with the two of them, Li Linfu had to deal with so many government affairs all day. He also had to rack his brains on how to frame others to keep his position. How could he not be tired? It was natural for him to die early.
Although Li Linfu's imminent death was major news, he was not dead after all. Therefore, the Tang Dynasty newspaper could not report it immediately. This kind of thing could not be reported in advance. Anything could be reported in advance, except for this kind of thing.
Therefore, the next morning, the headline of the Tang Dynasty newspaper was still the eulogy written by Du Fu, mourning the fool Liu. There was no news about Li Linfu.
However, not long after the newspaper was published, there was news that Li Linfu had died. His family had begun to prepare for his funeral. This could only be the headline of the Tang Dynasty newspaper tomorrow.
Although the influence of the headline was great, the influence of the public's opinion was also great. The headline of the Tang Dynasty newspaper immediately became the topic of discussion. At the same time, the news of Li Linfu's death quickly spread in the Tang Dynasty. Almost all the people of the Tang Dynasty knew about it.
Most of the people in the capital were celebrating Li Linfu's death. They felt that this was something worth celebrating and was very satisfying. However, when they thought of the possible successor, everyone's mood was not so good. After all, the successor that everyone predicted was also a treacherous minister. It would be strange if they were in a good mood.
As for the predicted successor, almost everyone with discerning eyes could see that it must be the Imperial Concubine's cousin, Yang Guozhong.
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