The revitalization of the Tang Dynasty began with the Ganlu Incident.

Chapter 45: The Opportunity

Inside the Zichen Palace, another thick stack of memorials was brought in and placed on Li Ang's desk.

The absence of morning court sessions may seem like a relief, but it actually increases the workload.

What could have been resolved in a few words at court often required several rounds of communication when relayed through memorials, resulting in a significant difference in both communication efficiency and effectiveness.

Even though the Council of State Affairs had already handled most of the government affairs, the sheer volume of official business still put considerable pressure on Li Ang, a newcomer to the position.

"Everyone, this is a new memorial sent from the Central Secretariat..."

The newly appointed Privy Councilor, Yang Qinyi, entered, bowed slightly, and had a young eunuch behind him place a stack of new memorials on the imperial desk.

Li Ang glanced at it and found that the first one on the table belonged to Prime Minister Li Xun.

He opened it and, as expected, it contained a memorial accusing the Eastern Depot of wreaking havoc in the Hall of State Affairs.

In his memorial, Li Xun once again denounced the harm caused by eunuchs, accusing Ximen Jixuan of arresting court officials without the approval of the Secretariat and the Chancellery, and demanding that the eunuchs be severely punished. At the same time, he ordered Zheng Zhu, Wang Fan and others to be handed over to the relevant officials in the outer court for interrogation.

It must be said that Li Xun did have some brains. He did not directly propose to abolish the Eastern Depot, but instead put forward relatively reasonable demands based on the existing system.

Scrolling down further, Li Ang unsurprisingly discovered that these memorials were basically all about the same thing, and their attitudes and statements were remarkably consistent.

"How many similar memorials were there in total?"

The Privy Council had clearly already categorized these memorials, so Yang Qinyi quickly replied.

"In reply to everyone, there are seventeen copies in total. Among them, one copy is for Prime Minister Li Xun, one copy is for General Han Yue of the Golden Guard, one copy is for Guo Xingyu, the military governor of Binning, one copy is for Li Xiaoben, the vice censor-in-chief, one copy is for Luo Liyan, the vice magistrate of Jingzhao Prefecture, and the rest are for some censors and officials."

Hmm, they're all Li Xun's cronies after all!

Li Ang shook his head, unsure whether to praise Liu Hongyi and the others for their brilliance or to say that Li Xun was desperate and resorting to such tactics.

Although Li Ang had never seen the Inner Prison, he had heard of it to some extent.

Although Liu Hongyi and his associates had only held Zheng Zhu for a short time, it wouldn't have been difficult to get him to talk, given that Li Ang had already given permission to use torture.

However, to this day, Liu Hongyi has only submitted this one statement regarding the Song Shenxi case.

Previously, Li Ang had some doubts, but after seeing these memorials, he understood everything.

Liu Hongyi wasn't incapable of finding out anything; he was entrapping them.

Although Li Xun rose to prominence quickly, he had already been working under Wang Shoucheng for many years in the capital.

In addition, over the years he has been dedicated to eliminating dissidents, so almost everyone in the court who doesn't want to cause trouble has to have some dealings with him.

In this situation, it is not easy to figure out who his henchmen are.

If the scope of the problem is too large, it may arouse public outrage; if some are overlooked, it may leave hidden dangers.

Therefore, the best way is to lure the snake out of its hole.

This is something that Li Ang had previously overlooked. As a modern person, he has relatively complete historical knowledge, so he probably has some impression of many famous people in the late Tang Dynasty.

Even someone as unfamiliar as Du Cong could roughly deduce their stance by combining his memories with what he had.

But as people living in this era, we don't have this advantage.

In the imperial court, relationships are complex and intertwined, and social interactions between people are numerous and varied, with truth and falsehood often mixed together. No one would easily reveal their true thoughts.

Therefore, it becomes extremely difficult to clearly determine a person's faction and political stance, just as Li Ang did.

Among emperors who could achieve this, few were cunning rulers like Jiajing, and many were enlightened rulers like Emperor Taizong of Tang.

If this were applied to a minister, he would at least be a long-serving official in the court.

Perhaps this is an opportunity?

Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck Li Ang, and he seemed to see a glimmer of hope for a solution to the problem that had been troubling him for so long.

He reached out and flipped through the memorials in front of him, and sure enough, some people were missing.

So he turned to the side and said to Yang Qinyi.

"Is that all?"

Yang Qinyi hesitated upon hearing this, unsure of what Li Ang meant.

It should be noted that the people who are now submitting memorials are basically all those in the court who are recognized as having close ties with Li Xun.

A dozen or so memorials may not seem like many, but the people who submitted them were either high-ranking officials of the court or censors and officials in charge of the imperial censors.

How could His Majesty still feel that such a portion is not enough?

That's all for now, everyone.

Seeing this, Li Ang shook his head and asked more directly, "Shu Yuanyu, Gu Shiyong, and Li Han from the Ministry of Personnel, none of them are there?"

Yang Qinyi was taken aback, still somewhat confused.

It's no secret that Shu Yuanyu and Li Xun were close. It's normal for Hanlin Academician Gu Shiyong to ask about him, as he had been recommended by Li Xun.

But Li Han, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel... if I remember correctly, he was promoted by the former Prime Minister Li Zongmin. I have never heard of him having any relationship with Li Xun. Why would His Majesty suddenly mention him?

Yang Qinyi was puzzled, but he still honestly shook his head and said, "No, everyone."

Seeing this, Li Ang seemed to understand something.

So he stopped asking and instead asked, "What are your thoughts on what is said in these memorials?"

As a Privy Councilor, he was nominally not allowed to participate in government affairs.

However, by the late Tang Dynasty, this boundary had already been crossed, and the institution had become similar to an attendant official, where it was commonplace to hear confidential information and offer one's own opinions in a timely manner.

Therefore, Yang Qinyi had no doubts. After thinking for a moment, he replied, "In response to everyone, although Ximen Jixuan was ordered to arrest Wang Fan, the Hall of State Affairs is, after all, an important place of the court. Unauthorized entry would damage the dignity of the court."

"I have heard that when Ximen Jixuan arrested people, many officials were watching. His arrogance will likely cause controversy among officials in the court. Therefore, in my opinion, Ximen Jixuan should be punished to appease the people."

That makes a lot of sense.

As the location of the Secretariat-Chancellery, the Hall of State Affairs can, in a sense, be regarded as the highest authority of the Tang Dynasty.

It should be noted that even in official imperial edicts, the title begins with "under the gate," demonstrating the importance of their position.

Although Ximen Jixuan's actions this time were intended to force Li Xun to use the power he could muster, the methods he used were indeed inappropriate.

It could even be said that his actions this time were aimed at achieving the interests of the eunuch faction, which to some extent sacrificed the interests of Emperor Li Ang.

After all, given the current political situation, the imperial power already showed signs of being unable to control the eunuchs.

Although the Eastern Depot was established by Li Ang, the officials probably only felt that the eunuchs were powerful, rather than that it represented the emperor's authority.

That being the case...

After a moment of contemplation, Li Ang spoke.

"The Eastern Depot was originally established not only to investigate major cases, but also to carry out investigations and espionage. However, because it was newly established, its system was not yet complete."

"Here's what we'll do. Go there yourself and deliver my decree: establish another 500 elite guards under the Eastern Depot, and appoint two commanders to be in charge of this task."

"As for the specific personnel, you can handle it. Just remember one thing: these two commanders will still be officially registered in the Eastern Depot. The information they obtain must not be leaked without authorization. After being sealed with paint and wax, they must be sent directly to the palace."

As soon as he finished speaking, Li Ang gave Yang Qinyi a deep look. Yang Qinyi was taken aback by the look, but soon seemed to understand something and cupped his hands in greeting.

"Rest assured, everyone, this old servant will certainly handle it well..."