I am Li Shen and Li Shimin, the free kings of the Tang Dynasty

The hall was silent, and everyone was thinking about Li Shen's purpose.

Especially Li Shimin, is he dissatisfied because his salary was withheld a few days ago?

Seeing Li Shen's serious face, Li Shimin couldn't make up his mind. It didn't matter whether he was the Chief Protector of the Protectorate or not.

At the beginning, it was also to make Li Shen safer and more convenient to command the army, so he was made the general guardian.

“Your Majesty, I think it’s a good thing that His Highness Prince Ji has the intention to resign from the post of Chief Protector.

Qinghai Road is a bitter and cold place, and as the Great Protector, he will be stationed there for a long time. King Ji has lived in Chang'an for a long time and has a noble status.

How can I endure the bitter cold? It's better to let Prince Ji stay in Chang'an. With His Highness Prince Ji's personality, wouldn't it be fun to be a wandering wild crane? "

Changsun Wuji smiled and looked kind. He seemed to be interceding for Li Shen and seemed to be relieving Li Shimin's worries.

"Oh~ well, since you have made up your mind, I will agree to it, and then we will discuss the selection of a person to serve as the Great Protector.

Just go back and recuperate. "Li Shimin sighed and listened to Changsun Wuji's opinion.

"Thank you Aye for your permission." Li Shen bowed again.

"Do you have anything else to do?"

Seeing that Li Shen had no intention of leaving, Li Shimin asked curiously.

"Reporting to Aye, during his term of office, because the soldiers were not accustomed to the local environment and were weak, he purchased a large number of cattle and sheep from Tibetan merchants.

To nourish the bodies of the soldiers to prevent them from being attacked by Tubo or Western Turks and lose their fighting ability.

Also last winter, it was cold in the northwest, and the temperature was much lower than in the Central Plains. Many soldiers suffered frostbite.

In order to reduce the number of deaths, the emperor sent 50,000 sets of cold-proof supplies, all of which needed to be settled by the court.

There is a list here, including all the additional expenses incurred by the 50,000 soldiers of the Qinghai Province Protectorate in two years. Please take a look at it. "

Li Shen said as he took out a roll of accounts from his pocket, a roll thicker than his arm.

Wang De quickly came down and took it and handed it to Li Shimin.

Li Shimin originally started reading slowly, but with his arms straightened, the scroll was only opened a little.

Wang De immediately helped pull the scroll, which became longer and longer. Li Shimin pointed below.

Wang De understood and walked off the stage and walked out of the hall. Wang De slowly walked out of the hall and the scroll was pulled to the end.

The ministers were all confused. Although they couldn't see clearly what was written on it, there were densely packed words.

This is too long.

"Bang!" Li Shimin slammed the table.

"Asshole! What are you doing? Is this a name?"

Li Shentai looked at his father who was glaring at him with a calm expression.

"Go back to Aye, this is indeed the name of the expense. If you don't believe it, you can go to Qinghai Road to investigate. If there is a mistake, I am willing to be punished."

Li Shen said solemnly.

Li Shimin did not speak, but looked at the final summary.

Eight hundred and sixty-seven thousand, three hundred and forty-three, four hundred and fifty-one articles.

"Eighty sixty thousand guan?" Li Shimin was surprised. An army of 50,000 people would cost 860,000 guan in two years?

You must know that the Tang Dynasty currently has more than 700,000 regular troops, including the 200,000 Central Forbidden Army, which is barely a million troops.

Fifty thousand people would need more than 800,000 guan. To feed one million people would cost more than 16 million guan a year.

Who can afford it?

"No, Aye, it's eight hundred and sixty-seven thousand, three hundred and forty-three, four hundred and fifty-one essays." Li Shen emphasized.

The ministers were all speechless, and there were still some who were in trouble.

"My dear friends, King Ji asked the court to pay this money, what do you think?" Li Shimin glanced around.

"Your Majesty, even if the money is genuine, it still exceeds the use of military expenses and should not be provided by the imperial court."

Ma Zhou, as a prime minister-level figure, was the first to stand up and speak.

"Ma Zhongshu, Qinghai Road is bitterly cold in the northwest and has a harsh climate, making it even more difficult than Liangzhou.

Therefore, we cannot use common sense to speculate on military expenditures. "Li Shen retorted.

"Despite this, King Ji's extra meal for the soldiers has exceeded the regulations. It is not a display of the army's two meals a day.

King Ji secretly increased the amount of training, which caused the soldiers to be weak and need supplements. "

Gao Jifu also stood up.

"This is wrong. As we all know, Qinghai Road is the front line of our Tang Dynasty's war against Tibet. Chiling is located on an important road.

If Tibet takes the opportunity to make a surprise attack and disrupt our construction of the city, we will suffer a lot of losses.

There are many bandits in the northwest. Could it be that the dignified prince Zuo Shuzi wants to ignore the lives of those soldiers?

Don't forget that there are still hundreds of thousands of people in the Tang Dynasty. "Li Shen's words were sharp and tough, and he was tough on Gao Jifu.

"His Royal Highness Prince Ji, even so, you should not make the decision without authorization. You should write a memorial and report it to the Ministry of War, and then make a decision after His Majesty and the Ministry of War discuss it.

It's really inappropriate for you to spend such a huge amount of money privately and then ask the court for money later. "

Yushitai also participated in the war, and Cui Renzhi was the first to die.

"What Cui Yushi said is reasonable, and I also feel that this money should not be provided by the court." The Wang family's Yushi followed closely.

"Cui Yushi, there is a saying that if the general is outside, the emperor's orders will not be accepted. Of course, Cui Yushi is a scholar and may not have read Sun Tzu's Art of War, so it is not surprising that he has not stopped.

Even if the news is delivered by fast horse, it will take half a month to come and go. If we are discussing for half a month, what about the Tibetan attack during this month? "Li Shen looked at Cui Renzhi with a disdainful expression.

Cui Renzhi was annoyed.

"What you said is possible. Now that we have reconciled with Tubo, we are building fortresses for the mutual trade they need. They will never attack us."

"It's nonsense. As a court official, don't you know about the alliance between Tibet and the Western Turks? They can get a lot of material from attacking us.

And it doesn’t have to be a Tubo identity. It can also be a bandit from the Western Regions. Even if there are too many people, what can you say?

Don't swear anything, I won't risk 150,000 lives on your promise, you are not worthy of it.

All I see is Tubo's wolfish ambition and its desire to seize the Central Plains. "

Li Shen's righteous words left Cui Renzhi speechless. If he continued, he knew that King Ji would definitely let him use the entire Cui family to guarantee it.

But he didn't dare, and there was no need.

Afterwards, several people stood up to refute, but Li Shen remained calm and refuted one by one.

Everyone watched Li Shen show off his power and fight with the scholars.

"Your Highness Prince Ji, do you know that privately rewarding the army is suspected of treason? Of course, I am not saying that Prince Ji has disobedient intentions.

I just want to say that since King Ji has already rewarded me, I might as well count it as your support.

When His Majesty issues a commendation, it will not be regarded as a private reward for the three armies by the prince. "

Just when all those who opposed were defeated by Li Shen, Changsun Wuji, who had been silent until now, stood up again, still smiling and talking like a joke.

(I’m going crazy with this keyboard. I can produce several of them with just one click. It’s worth selling for hundreds of dollars.)