Linzhi

Not only did the emperor not appease his anger, but he became even more angry. He jumped up against the table and roared: "What is he, Xiao Yu, who dares to hand over his credentials!"

Immediately there was burning pain in the palm, the emperor's body shook slightly, Ma Hong had sharp eyesight and quick hands, quickly supported him, and said in a low voice: "Your Majesty, calm down."

"Your Majesty, calm down!" Everyone said one after another, kneeling and kowtowing like Prime Minister Zhou Ying.

The emperor took a deep breath, his tone was a little calm, but his tone was one word at a time: "Could it be that my Celestial Dynasty has a vast territory and a wealth of talents, so I can't find anyone who can destroy Xiao Yu! Huh?! "

The Zichen Palace was completely silent, and everyone knew very well why the emperor's anger arose.

Just last year, Liangzhou governor Xiao Yu rebelled, not only claiming land as king, but also colluding with the Turkic people to attack the Central Plains in three ways. During this period, Jinzhou governor Lebi also took advantage of the situation and raised a rebellious flag, which made the court flustered for a while.

Later, although the eastern and western Turks withdrew from the pass one after another, and Le Bi was executed, the court still paid a considerable price: Qin Guogong Pei Wuyang died in battle, and Xiao Yu's power in Longyou Dao was thus stabilized, which was equivalent to occupying a large area of ​​the court. province.

Xiao Yu was indeed capable. He took the opportunity to manage forces in Longyou Dao and stabilize the political power. It is said that he also established a set of effective bureaucratic institutions similar to the imperial court, as if he regarded himself as the master of one party.

Not long ago, Xiao Yu was not satisfied with the self-appointed title of King of Liang, and went further to proclaim himself emperor, named Huining, and sent people here to deliver the letter of credence. The imperial court communicates with each other on an equal footing.

How does this make the emperor angry?

Zhou Ying said: "Your Majesty, calm down, everyone knows Xiao Yu's wolf ambition. If you get angry and hurt the dragon body, you will fall into the other party's trap. Since the other party is shameless, we will write a letter to denounce his wishful thinking and drive the envoy back. gone."

The emperor stared at him: "And then?"

Zhou Ying secretly sighed, he understood the emperor's meaning, but he couldn't accept these words: "Your Majesty, naturally everyone will get to punish these rebellious officials and thieves, but even though the East and West Turks have retreated, they are still eyeing them outside the pass. I think it's better not to act rashly."

The emperor was noncommittal: "Zhang Song, tell me."

Zhang Song, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, hesitated for a moment, and said: "Your Majesty, the current national silver inventory is less than 300 million guan, which may not be enough to sustain a war."

The emperor focused his eyes, and said in a deep voice, "Why are there only 300 million guan left? At the end of last year, there were still 1000 million guan!"

Zhang Song began to calculate the account for the emperor: at the end of the year, when the army of Marquis Zhang Tao of Wuwei was fighting against Lebi, the food and grass was a huge consumption; after winning the battle, it was another expenditure to award rewards; and Lingzhou In Ganzhou and Ganzhou, there are troops stationed respectively to suppress the Turkic things that are about to move. These are all money, and there is no way to maintain them by relying on the locality alone, and the imperial court has to allocate funds.

The emperor listened quietly, and said: "So, you are all in peace?"

Hearing that the emperor seemed to want to fight, Zhou Ying kept quiet and pretended to be deaf and dumb. He had made up his mind not to compromise, and it was impossible for the court to fight this battle now.

The emperor looked to the other side: "King Qi, what do you think?"

King Qi straightened his body, cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, according to Zhang Shangshu's words, the court really has no money to fight now, but if Xiao Yu is allowed to be arrogant, he must think that the court has nothing to do with him now, I wonder if it is possible Think of ways to tax, increase the treasury, step up military training, and we will be able to fight this battle by this time next year."

Zhou Ying frowned secretly.

King Qi is clearly seeking the next best thing, catering to the holy will.

How can it be so easy to increase taxes when you talk about tax increases?Since ancient times, this has been the trigger for mutiny!

The emperor didn't express his opinion, but asked King Wei again: "Do you think so too?"

King Wei glanced at King Qi, and pondered: "I think that what Zhou Xiang and Zhang Shangshu said is not unreasonable. Eastern Turkic Khan Fu Nian is young, energetic and ambitious. It is better to marry than to crusade."

Marriage means marriage.

King Qi narrowed his eyes slightly, then lowered his eyes again.

This was the first time that King Wei did not agree with him in court.

Before the Eastern Turks invaded the Central Plains, some people in the court mentioned the matter of marriage, but after the war ended and there was temporary peace, the matter was shelved.

Now King Wei mentioned this matter again.

Many people thought that it was because His Royal Highness King Wei didn't have a daughter of the right age in his family, so he dared to make such a proposal.

Last time when everyone was discussing marriage, many people were inclined to He Tai's daughter, because she has noble blood and no noble status to match, so she is the most suitable candidate. If it is used, the emperor may not be willing to let his own granddaughter go and kiss.

King Wei also seemed to feel that his proposal would easily offend others, so he hurriedly added: "I'm blunt, I can't think of a better way, I just use it to attract jade."

Today is not a grand court meeting, and all the seats in the Zichen Hall are six ministers and nine ministers, who are qualified to participate in confidential important officials, such a major event, unless the emperor asks, no one is willing to express their opinions easily.

Although there were quite a lot of people in the huge Zichen Palace at this time, it seemed extraordinarily empty and quiet.

The undercurrent below was surging, and the emperor didn't care.

As long as he is human, he will inevitably have his own little calculations and careful thinking, which is perfectly normal, as long as he is not confused about major matters, many times he does not want to push too much.

For example, his two sons, King Qi and King Wei.

When the Bingshen rebellion case happened, there was a bloodbath in the capital. Two princes died, one brother died, and one He Tai was exiled. The current kings of Qi and Wei were still young at the time, so they were lucky not to be involved. into fray.

The emperor once placed high hopes on them, especially the king of Qi. He has some shadows of the former prince, gentle and refined, and treats others with courtesy. The emperor once thought that he might be another former prince.

The King of Qi was in charge of the Ministry of Punishment, and his performance was mediocre in his tenure, and there was nothing outstanding about it. He even took care of a few errands, but it was not easy for the Ministry of Punishment to excel. What was disappointing was the presentation of paintings at the birthday banquet a while ago.

Thinking of this, his eyes moved slowly, and landed on an inconspicuous figure among the crowd.

"Duke Lu, what do you think?"

He Tai was in the middle of his mind, when he was called by his name unexpectedly, he was so frightened that he quickly raised his head, met his father's eyes from afar, and then quickly lowered his head, his heart beat several times faster than before, and his mind turned rapidly.

During this period of time, he went to the Ministry of Industry to do errands, and he was dizzy by the piles of errands, and he didn't know where to start.

For those who manage rivers, farm fields, and other palaces that are old and need to be repaired, how much money has to be paid in advance to the Ministry of Households, but the Ministry of Households refuses to approve, and how the two sides will argue. All the paperwork makes He Tai's scalp numb when he sees it.

But the numbness returned to numbness, and he still bit the bullet and continued to work. The sons could not accompany him to the Ministry of Industry. These specific errands, the sons could not help, at most they could only go out in the general direction. Thinking, He Tai spends his days in Wenshan, and often feels that he might as well go back to Zhushan to weave straw mats.

It has been 11 years since he had any contact with major national affairs, and he had to answer such questions as soon as he came up. He Tai felt that his fate was particularly miserable.

The others were also very surprised. They all thought that Duke Lu was here to sit with him, but they didn't expect to be asked questions.

King Qi couldn't help but slightly raised his head to look at his brother who was bowing his head and thinking hard. He didn't think the other party could say anything decent.

"Duke Lu, I'm asking you something." The emperor repeated the anger that had settled down just now.

"Yes!" He Tai quickly straightened up, "I was thinking about His Majesty's question just now."

Emperor: "Then have you come up with a result?"

He Tai settled down: "What Prime Minister Zhou said just now is indeed the principle of old-fashioned upholding the country. I also think that when it is time, if the court cannot guarantee victory in one battle, it is best not to start the war lightly."

really!King Qi laughed silently, his elder brother can only pick up the teeth of others, and he can say anything insightful.

The emperor was also a little disappointed, and was about to look away, when he heard He Tai say again: "Although it is not appropriate to start a war easily, but Xiao Yu blatantly doesn't take the court seriously, he is really arrogant, if he doesn't stop it early, I'm afraid he will It will become even more rampant, so I wonder if it is possible to bypass Xiao Yu and use another strategy to indirectly restrain Xiao Yu."

The emperor raised his eyebrows: "What kind of restraint?"

He Tai: "Befriend the Western Turks and form an alliance with them!"

As soon as this remark came out, everyone paid attention.

Even the emperor was taken aback for a moment, and then snorted coldly: "Do you know what you are talking about? The Eastern and Western Turks invaded our borders not long ago. It's not like you can make friends if you want to!"

He Taidao: "Kedun, the Western Turk, was Princess Zhending of the previous dynasty. Although the previous dynasty was destroyed by our dynasty, Princess Zhending grew up in the Central Plains and later married Fanyuan. She must miss the homeland of the Central Plains in her heart. I promise generous terms to Chaoken, and she may not be willing to help persuade Moli Khan to form an alliance with my Chaoken."

The more he spoke, the more fluent he became. In the end, he finished it without any bumps.

Many people showed surprise, quite admiring.

The emperor was silent for a moment: "Did you come up with this strategy on the spot?"

He Tai: "Yes... It was when I was in Zhushan before, I heard that Xiao Yu was rampant and the Turks were powerful, so I thought of some methods. They were all on paper, and I don't know if they can be used. It made Your Majesty laugh."

Emperor: "Zhou Xiang, what do you think?"

Zhou Ying pondered: "Duke Lu's words are refreshing, but many of the details still need to be deliberated, and I dare not draw conclusions hastily."

The emperor hummed: "Let's go here for today's discussion. Duke Lu stays here."

The servant sang, all the officials withdrew one after another, He Tai didn't know why he was left alone, and was a little trembling.

When the hall was restored to cleanliness, the emperor suddenly asked, "Who taught you this method?"

He Tai was startled, and cold sweat rolled down his back in an instant, he hurriedly said: "I thought it up myself!"

The emperor's voice was moody: "Really?"

The two words weighed more than a thousand catties, and He Tai couldn't breathe under the pressure. He really couldn't bear the pressure, so he could only tell the truth.

"Yes, it's Saburo, He Rong, he came up with the idea!"

Volume Two