Don't be a prince

Also in the evening, Li Jing, who hadn't gone out for a long time, unexpectedly showed up at the Martial Academy with his servants.Although he was on crutches, the old thing didn't seem to be exerting much force on the crutches at all.

He didn't want to worry too much about the project, so Li Chengqian returned to the East Palace after handing over the command to Li Jing.

After the war and the carnival, it will be a busy period of time.The military merit books of the soldiers who went to war will be sent back to the imperial court first, and the Ministry of War must be ready to award them.The army has returned with glory, if the imperial court is not even ready to confer rewards, this will be the most shameful thing.

In Shangshu Province, Li Chengqian, Wei Zheng and Fang Xuanling read the military merit book for a long time.

"Kill 15 enemies? Take [-] prisoners? No, Lord Lu, do you believe me? How many troops does Xue Yantuo have in total? Even if Qiao Shiwang has done a great job this time, the book of military achievements is too exaggerated! "

Hou Junji sat on the side chair, picked up the tea bowl and took a sip of tea before saying, "There's nothing you can do about it. When Cheng Yaojin and others won the battle, that's what they did. First, to show off their military achievements. Second, It's also to cheer up the people in the country. Don't mention him, except for that coward Li Jing, the generals in the army basically do this. Of course, the suggestion of the humble minister is that we recognize this military merit record, but the rewards should be based on the actual situation. Presumably, His Majesty has already received the real military record reported by the military commander."

Fang Xuanling smiled bitterly and said, "His Royal Highness, Hou Shangshu is right, we have always done this. Although we know it is fake, the common people will not doubt it. Rather, we have reported less. They just find it boring.”

Li Chengqian smiled wryly, the feelings really have to be faked!

The general's merit book was handed over to Wei Zheng, and Li Chengqian brought the war damage book without hesitation.

Unlike the military merit book, no one dares to modify this war damage book, because the soldiers who died in battle recorded here must be compensated by the imperial court. If even one is deliberately missing, it will be a catastrophe for the commanding general .The general commanding the army relies on his reputation to convince the public. If his reputation collapses, it will even affect the entire family.

The first page is the death toll. To be honest, Li Chengqian thinks the death toll is a bit high.Qiao Shiwang chose to march in a hurry to pursue. Although Xue Yantuo's main force had nowhere to escape, it also affected the rescue of the wounded soldiers.After losing thousands of troops, the death toll reached more than 6000.

Look at the number of disabled people in the second column. Sure enough, the number of disabled people is only a little over 2000. One of the prices paid for this battle is the lives of soldiers.

third column....

Li Chengqian held up the war damage book and asked in confusion: "Why are there still missing? And the number of missing people has reached more than 2000? Isn't this nonsense!"

Hou Junji stood up immediately: "His Royal Highness, you can't say that. It's not that there are people who left the army during the march. Besides, you know the environment of the grassland. The corpses after the scuffle may be waiting for you." Before the corpses of my colleagues were collected, I was devoured by wild wolves. So, this disappearance..."

Li Chengqian waved his hand irritably and said, "Come on, what's missing, what's wrong with counting these more than 2000 people into the death toll? Afraid that your military achievements will be affected by this? No, Hou Shangshu, after Qiao Shiwang accepts the reward , You have to remind the military, don’t play this kind of word game, a dead soldier is dead, if it affects the pension of the soldier’s family, it will be a big problem.”

Hou Junji smiled slightly, cupped his hands and said: "His Royal Highness has a kind heart, and I am a lieutenant in the army. Thank you, Your Highness!"

Li Chengqian was surprised to find that what this guy said was sincere.Well, however, this guy is also from the background of a military general, so he probably has some criticisms about this kind of thing.

After reading the military merit booklet and the war damage booklet, they were packed and handed over to Hou Jun for collection.Next, it's time for discussion.

It has to be said that Qiao Shiwang has caught up with a storm of prosperity. The emperor has long said that those who have no military merits in the military cannot be honored.No matter how strong the outside world is, Xue Yantuo is still considered a country, and the war to destroy a country, tsk tsk tsk, no matter what, a marquis is still stable.

After the stability of the kingdom, the gold content of the title has also increased. The current mere marquis is equal to the gold content of the Duke in the early years of Zhenguan.

No need to discuss, the reward for Qiao Shiwang has almost been determined.

Fang Xuanling said with a smile: "The merit of destroying the country, the ordinary county prince may not be enough to show his merit, what do you two think?"

Wei Zheng shook his head and looked at Li Chengqian.

Li Chengqian thought for a while before saying: "The surrounding area of ​​Chang'an is definitely not good. There is no precedent for this. If Chang'an is not good, let's go to Luozhou. Luozhou governs Luoyang, Henan, Yanshi, Goushi, Gong, Yangcheng, Songzhou It would be a good idea to choose one of the remaining eight counties instead of Luoyang as the eastern capital of the nine counties including Yangyang, Luhun, and Yique."

4Chapter 16

Wei Zheng nodded, but Fang Xuanling smiled and said, "Why did His Royal Highness choose Luoyang? The titles within the Eastern Capital are not ordinary. Now many people are advocating that the imperial court may take the grassland or the new land of Xue Yantuo. Don't you think about using the fief as a reward?"

Since the emperor reduced the title several times, there has not been a title above the marquis, and most of the barons and viscounts that have appeared are in remote places.Therefore, some people think that the imperial court may not use Tongzhou Dayi as a fief for title rewards, and it is very likely that they will use new lands such as grasslands as fiefs.

Seeing Fang Xuanling's old fox-like smile, Li Chengqian also smiled: "Father dares to give it to him, he has to dare to take it. The grassland is not stable, how can it be used as a fief? What a joke. Besides, father There are restrictions on knighthood, but it doesn't mean that there will be no knighthood. This time, not only knighthood, but grand knighthood, this is the purpose of the father. You should be very clear, why do you still have to ask the lonely ?”

Fang Xuanling laughed and said: "Isn't this just to see what His Highness the Crown Prince thinks? Now it seems that His Highness the Crown Prince sees it very clearly, so I won't say much. In Songyang County, the old man thinks it is very good. Why don't we How about just tentatively setting this up and submitting it to the Ministry of Rites for proposal to His Majesty?"

Songyang County... is not bad either.

Both Li Chengqian and Wei Zheng nodded, and then sent someone to inform the Ministry of Rites of this decision.

The grassland is indeed not suitable as a fiefdom, at least, it is absolutely not allowed until the laying of the train line is completed.The sky is high and the emperor is far away. Once the Qiao family fades out of the court circle, it may accumulate in the grassland instead.

While this may be small, it's not non-existent.

The title of Marquis of Songyang County was reported by the Ministry of Rites, and the emperor readily accepted it.After the news could be leaked, all the government and the opposition were shocked.

It turns out that the reduction of the title by the emperor does not mean that no title is given, or that good titles are no longer given!For a while, many people who worked hard for the title were rejuvenated.

This is the effect the emperor wanted.

In a joyous atmosphere, after the Ministry of Households and the Ministry of War handed over a charter, the sun was setting, and Li Chengqian walked back to the East Palace with the charter.

The work doesn't have to be done in Shangshu Province, just take it back to the East Palace and deal with it leisurely.

Walking to the gate of the East Palace, I saw Ashina Xue supporting Xiuxiu, exercising.Seeing him from a distance, he simply stopped and waited.

When she got closer, she realized that Xiuxiu's forehead was already sweating a little.

Li Chengqian was dissatisfied and said: "Exercise is good, but if you overdo it, it won't work. Don't leave now, just go back in a walking chariot."

There is no need to order, Zhang Yun has already gone to find the eunuch and the walking chariot.

Sensing her husband's concern, Xiuxiu laughed and said: "It's nothing, this concubine is just a child, not as hardworking as Sister Yuan. On the contrary, there are some people who are thinking about when their stomachs will get bigger every day."

After finishing speaking, Xiuxiu glanced sideways at Ashina Xue.

Ashina Xue was embarrassed all of a sudden, and shot out forcefully, thinking about it wrongly, she withdrew [-]% of her strength when her hand was in the air.

Patting Xiuxiu's butt, Ashina said: "Don't think that you are a big belly woman and I can't deal with you, hum! Be careful I will settle accounts after autumn!"

Seeing that both of them were smiling happily, Li Chengqian said helplessly: "Don't say you think about this kind of thing, I think about it more. However, the rules are made to be followed. Although it's okay to break the rules in the second half of the year, but since the rules Let’s make it a full year. This is how you do things. If you don’t want to leave a flaw, you can only do your best. But..."

After stretching out his hand and performing a dragon claw hand on Ashina Xue's chest, Li Chengqian laughed loudly and said, "It's okay to have a hand addiction!"

After playing around with the two daughters-in-law, Li Chengqian helped Xiuxiu onto the chariot, sent her away, and returned to his study.

In fact, there is nothing complicated about the rewards for the expeditionary army. Since the founding of the country, this kind of thing has not happened once or twice.Besides, the emperor really didn't talk nonsense this time, and the Ministry of Rites really brought out a lot of cash after a visit to the House of Internal Affairs.

If you have money, you can do things easily. This is the eternal truth.

After checking the regulations of the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Households, and after confirming that there were no problems, Li Chengqian handed the booklet to Zhang Yun and sent someone to Lu Kuan's residence.

After dealing with government affairs, it should be a private matter.

Opening the hidden guard's secret report and seeing that Di Renjie had already set off, Li Chengqian couldn't help but wish this kid that he could really find something.

—The outskirts of Chang'an

A caravan composed of all masters, escorting a carload of precious medicinal materials, was walking on the official road.

Epimedium from the grassland, ginseng from the Northeast, golden Cynomorium from the Western Regions...

Herbal medicines for aphrodisiac were the mainstream high-end consumption a long time ago.Chang'an is the only place where things that are not produced in different regions can be gathered in one place.And with these medicinal materials, you can go no matter where, after all, this is a good thing that is welcome no matter where, isn't it?

As the "treasurer" of the caravan, Fang Sheng was sitting outside the carriage. Inside the carriage were Di Renjie and Geng Buqu. A bow that had already been wound was hung on the curtain of the carriage. Can do it right away.

Teacups without magnets would easily spill out when the carriage shook. Di Renjie had complained more than once.

Picking up a cup of tea and sending it out through the curtain, Di Renjie asked, "Brother Fang, do we need to be so vigilant? We just left Chang'an. Even if His Royal Highness expected that there would be surveillance people, he would not It will show up so early."

Taking a sip from the teacup, Fang Sheng said, "Young Master Di, His Royal Highness once taught us a lesson, telling us that we can despise our opponents at best, but we must not underestimate them. The most embarrassing thing is not to be defeated by a strong enemy, but to be pretended to be an opponent. The pig eats the tiger and is defeated."

Geng Buqu chuckled and said, "His Royal Highness's reasoning is generally correct. This is how you do things. If you don't want to fail, you must work hard to do it."

It was only then that Di Renjie realized that this old eunuch who seemed to be about to die in the next moment was staring out of the window even though he was in the carriage, even when he was drinking tea and talking.

Nodding, Di Renjie also opened the curtain and looked outside.

The sky gradually became dark, and the speed of the team's progress increased a lot.After finally finding a place with a water source that was suitable for camping, the team stopped and started to build the camp.

After the camp was set up, just as Di Renjie was about to take a good rest, Liu Mang, who was as strong as a bear, walked into the camp with a man on his shoulders.

Throwing it on the ground casually, I saw that this person was already dead.

Fang Sheng came out of the tent, did not ask Liu Mang, but looked at this person directly.The dagger on the chest, no matter how you look at it, he inserted it himself.

For Liu Mang, Fang Sheng still trusts him a lot. As the captain, he knows very well that Liu Mang is not as aggressive as he seems, otherwise he would not be kept at a distance from the team.

Pointing to the dead body on the ground, Liu Mang said depressedly: "I was about to catch him, but this man was ruthless enough, so he committed suicide without hesitation. It seems that we are still being targeted by pretending to be Chang'an this time." Ah! Could it be that the news leaked out in the East Palace?"

Geng Buqu also came out, and said firmly after hearing the words: "It is impossible to leak news within the East Palace, this point is absolute."

Geng Buqu never had the slightest doubt about the alliance.

It was obviously not the first time that Di Renjie saw a dead person, not only was he not frightened, but he immediately started to attack it.

He tore off the dead man's clothes and checked it. On his chest, he could see a trace of a wound that hadn't fully healed.

Step aside a little, let the light of the setting sun shine on here, Di Renjie said affirmatively: "No mistake, this should be a slave mark, which is different from a brand. This kind of tattoos instead of a simple brand can only be from a big family. This person, Most of them are dead soldiers who were born as slaves of big families. It's just a pity that this mark has also been destroyed, otherwise, according to the mark, we might be able to find the real mastermind behind the scenes."

Although he said it was regretful, Di Renjie still drew two strokes on the paper according to the remaining traces.

Seeing Di Renjie's actions, Liu Mang was confused, but Geng Buqu and Fang Sheng laughed.

Starting from the subtleties, and not letting go of the slightest possibility, is the one who does great things.That's right, there is only a little bit of the slave mark of this dead man left, but who can guarantee that there will be no chance to get a second copy in the future and gradually piece it together?

Seeing that Di Renjie had finished drawing, Geng Buqu waved his hand, and immediately some guards came to carry him away.

They were followed after leaving Chang'an, which made their hearts heavy.This is what I am most afraid of!

After thinking for a while, Di Renjie suddenly turned around and said to Geng Buqu, "Grandpa Geng, why don't we change directions?"

The phrase "Grandpa Geng" made Geng Buqu immediately elated, and a smile appeared on his stiff face: "What does Mr. Di want to do? Don't look at Fang Sheng and the two of us who came out this time as the leader, but His Royal Highness has ordered that if you If you speak, the two of us will listen to you."

Looking at the direction behind him, Di Renjie said with a smile: "This time we won't go directly to Hanzhong. As Hanzhong is a key area, we may not know how the traces will be cleaned up. This time, let's go a little further and go in circles. Hanzhong is approaching! In this way, it is much better than starting from Hanzhong and being confused!"

Geng Buqu and Fang Sheng's eyes lit up when they heard the words!

That's right, the habitual thinking starts from Hanzhong. Since Hanzhong has been checked several times, there are no obvious traces, and it is useless to go there.That being the case, it might be easier to find clues by pulling in from the outside to Hanzhong.

Thinking about the dead man who was caught just now, Di Renjie smiled mysteriously, walked up to Geng Buqu and said something in Geng Buqu's ear.

Geng Buqu was taken aback for a moment, and then laughed: "Of course, don't look at the old man, I look like I'm dying, the hardships of traveling are worth it, so let's do this!"

...

The next day, the caravan continued to move forward, but no one noticed that four people were missing in the team of more than 200 people.

Because the four of them were basically in the carriage along the way, their sudden disappearance was not very obvious.

...

—Chang'an, Tai Chi Hall

Two months later, the army from the expedition to Xue Yantuo has returned, but what is different from the past is that there are also Turkic envoys who returned with the army.

Not only Turks, Khitan, Shiwei, Mohe, Silla, Baekje and other countries sent congratulatory gifts one after another, congratulating Datang for easily defeating Xue Yantuo, a state that was not a subject.Especially in Tubo, Zanpu personally wrote a letter, claiming to be his son-in-law, congratulating the suzerain Datang on the victory of the crusade against the non-officials.

The marriage had to be terminated because of Li Yuan's departure.According to the rules, within one year of the funeral, relatives are not allowed to have excessive banquets or enjoy themselves, and within three years, they are not allowed to marry wives and concubines.

Tubo Zanpu didn't care about delaying the marriage for three years, but he gave himself the title of "son-in-law".In particular, Datang showed his invincible strength after a long absence this time, and it played a huge role in suppressing the Tubo tribe and speeding up political unification.

As for the Turks, this time they acted as "good neighbors" honestly, ignored Xue Yantuo's plea for help, and even stopped the internal conflicts honestly without Datang's order, and sent troops to help Datang stop it. The retreat of Xue Yantuo's army only required a large piece of relatively remote land after the fall of Xue Yantuo.In exchange, they previously occupied the large fertile grasslands of Eastern Turks and handed them back to Datang.

For the Turks, one of the overlords, such actions are already flattering.

Although Xue Yantuo's demise was self-inflicted, the decisiveness of Tang Dynasty's actions, the ease and speed of victory made all the border countries frightened.

There is no way to challenge it!

If it is said that when Li Shimin, the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, just won the title of "Tian Khan", he was only given a high hat by the surrounding countries, this time, it was completely implemented.

No one dared to treat Datang as a fool who loves vanity, speaks out, and can deal with it by sending some garbage, but really treats it as a "sovereign country".

All nations come to court, is the real many countries come to court!

Different from the previous Great Court Meetings, this time the protagonists became envoys from various countries.They personally watched Qiao Shiwang's knighting ceremony, and witnessed the scene of Xue Yantuo Khan being questioned.

In addition to the shock and emotion, a feeling of cold lips and teeth couldn't help but make them fearful.

All civil servants and generals felt that this was the scene of a prosperous age, but Li Chengqian couldn't help but feel frightened.

This time, the emperor declared the power of gunpowder weapons regardless of the cost, which seemed to have a deterrent effect both internally and externally, but at the same time, it also completely raised Datang's international status to another level.

Standing out from the crowd may not be a good thing!

This time it was Xue Yantuo, and soon it was Gao Li.Again and again, it is difficult to repeat.Perhaps, after Goryeo is also defeated, it will be a dangerous time for Datang!

After the court meeting was over, Li Chengqian entered the harem without hesitation, and drove directly to the Palace of Manna!

4Chapter 17 Three-Year Plan

Nowadays, Ganlu Hall has completely become the emperor's office. Since the empress has confirmed that she can no longer have children, she often drives the emperor out of Liangyi Hall. However, handling government affairs with other concubines also makes the emperor feel uncomfortable, so Recently, he usually finishes handling government affairs in Ganlu Hall before deciding to stay with that concubine.

Li Chengqian chased to the Liangyi Hall, just in time to see the scene where the emperor entered, and hurried to catch up. When he saw the emperor's father who was sitting at the table and poured two cups of tea, Li Chengqian knew that he was coming, which was what he expected matter.

After receiving the teacup handed by the emperor, Li Chengqian sat down, took a breath, took a sip of tea and asked, "Do you know that your minister will come?"