Overlord's Road to Ancient Emperors

"Report to the Holy Majesty, Commander Lin has returned with his people, and escorted 23 officials back for trial!" A member of the Habayashi army entered the hall to report. There are more than 290, which is still a few short of [-].

It doesn't matter how many or how few, the emperor also listened to Li Xu's suggestion, and selected the three most outstanding students as champion, second place, and Tanhua, and the rest were also divided into two grades, A and B. Needless to say, A grade reserves will have a better chance.

The emperor handed the list to Eunuch Zhao and asked him to announce the top three in public. As for the others, they just went outside the imperial city to look at the imperial list afterwards. The number one fell to Wei Lan. Unexpectedly, the second place in the list is a son of a noble family from Chen County, who is also a prodigy who became famous at a young age. Hearing this name, it is almost as famous as the yellow cattle in the cultivated land.

Moreover, this person was ranked at the bottom in the previous exams. Looking at his articles, I can't tell what is good, but the emperor likes him very much. As soon as the emperor finished reading his papers, he picked him up and praised him. A few words, even Wei Lan didn't get this treatment.

Li Xu's in-depth understanding of classical Chinese is only limited to Wengong. Articles like this can't be judged as good or bad. If you can understand them, it's good. Where did he fall into the eyes of the emperor?

He had an intuition that from this article, he might be able to dig out a little bit of the emperor's heart, about father, son, monarch and ministers.

After reading the list, the emperor did not make any other arrangements. He asked people to lead the students out of the palace, and then Xuan Linzhao went to the palace to wait to see the results of the disaster relief.

The rest of the ministers also immediately shifted their attention. They were waiting to see Lin Zhao and Lou Changjing's jokes, but the news surprised them. The group of Yulin soldiers went to the disaster relief as if they were going to war. The speed was extremely fast. So far nothing major has happened.

Not long after, Lin Zhao strode in. After returning to Beijing, he went directly to the palace without even returning home. He was wearing armor and covered in mud, as if he had rolled out of a mud pit.

"I don't look good in a humble position, I hope the emperor will forgive me!" Lin Zhao knelt on one knee in the center of the hall, with unprecedented confidence.

"Come on, let's talk about it, how is the matter going?"

Lin Zhao stood up, took out a thick booklet and handed it to Eunuch Zhao, "Your Majesty, this is the disaster situation in various parts of Yangzhou Prefecture and the amount of money and food distributed. Please have a look at it."

This booklet records very detailed records, all written by Lin Zhao himself. Every time he goes to a place, he wants to check the data on the local disaster situation. He has arrested those who have made false reports and tried them. In fact, the Yangzhou government is not short of food. In the past two years, after the promotion of rice planting technology in South Vietnam, Yangzhou Prefecture was the first place to benefit, and there were surplus grain in granaries everywhere.

However, no matter how much surplus grain there is, it is necessary to keep enough grain and allocate some grain to nearby counties for disaster relief. Lin Zhao didn't think so much. Staring at the post-disaster reconstruction work in various places, there are regulations in the imperial edicts issued by these imperial courts, and they only need to follow the regulations.

Civil officials may act according to local conditions, and feel that different situations require different methods of handling affairs. Although this is correct, it is easy to cause disagreements, obedience and injustice, and other problems due to people's hearts.

Lin Zhao doesn't care about these things, you can do whatever the court asks you to do, and it's not suitable to report to the court for rectification after finishing it. Anyway, so far, there is no place that says it can't be done.

After reading the statistics, the emperor handed the booklet to Li Xu. Li Xu flipped through a few pages casually. Lin Zhao would report the situation here every few days. This booklet only consolidated the data every time. That's all.

He asked the civil servants to pass it on for a look, and said with a smile, "It will take about half a month for Lou Changjing to return to Beijing. Let's not mention it there. How do you think Commander Lin's errand is going?"

Prime Minister Wei had read the official documents a long time ago, so of course he knew how Lin Zhao did things. In fact, it was easy to say, if you have money and food to bring, as long as you put these things into practical use, no one can say anything wrong.

Then why have various problems occurred in the disaster relief every year in the past?Do civil servants compete with military generals?Prime Minister Wei frowned, not happy at all, he didn't want to admit that civil servants would be outmatched by generals one day.

There were quite a few officials in the same heart. They were reflecting, especially the officials who had done such errands before, comparing their own actions and reflecting on what they did wrong.

Li Xu saw everyone's expressions in his eyes, and comforted him: "I don't necessarily want to praise Commander Lin for his errands. Maybe someone else can do a good job, but this disaster relief shows such a way of thinking." It is no problem, as long as it is not a man-made disaster, natural disasters cannot be recovered by manpower, we just need to do a good job in post-disaster reconstruction work."

An official whispered: "My lord's words are correct, but the premise is that there is money and food. The money and food for this year's disaster relief have been embezzled from the treasuries of various governments. If there is another natural disaster, it will be bad." !"

Li Xu looked at the official, thought about his name, and waved to him: "Master Liu, please come forward."

Master Liu was taken aback, and instinctively looked at his superior, seeing that he didn't even give him a look, he could only walk over slowly, "My lord, forgive me, I'm sorry..."

"Lord Liu, don't be nervous. Your words are not wrong. I didn't mean to blame you. I just want to tell you why you have embezzled the money and food from the treasury of other places? Because the money and food in the treasury are not enough, why are there so few money and food in the treasury?" ? Should I ask you all? Finance is a major issue for the country, if you can’t even control finances, what are you talking about about people’s livelihood and society?”

Someone said disapprovingly: "My lord, the treasury tax money is limited, but the military expenditure in various places is increasing year by year. Border security cannot be delayed. Even if it delays our own salary, we must first pay attention to the military salary. Tell me, how much food can you have left?"

This is what Li Xu wanted. He had already been thinking about how to solve this problem after reading the accounts. Dayan’s military expenditures were too unreasonable, especially after the Yingchuan Mutiny, all the military pay in arrears was paid in one lump sum. Cleared up, the national treasury was emptied, and such a big country would actually run out of money due to military expenditures.

It is difficult to open up sources of income in the short term, but it is still possible to reduce expenditure. Military expenditures must be reorganized. It is absolutely impossible for these guards to pay as much as they ask. Is the treasury a bank opened by his family?

The reason why the eldest prince was able to establish himself in the Northwest for many years and develop to the level of the Tu Emperor is because he controls the military expenses allocated by the imperial court. General Lu recognized his status, otherwise, if the money didn't come, how would they live?

Moreover, the Northwest Army is the best armed among all the armies. The military uniforms are renewed every two years, the weapons are thrown away when they are old, and the armor and horses are all the best. This is one of the reasons why the Northwest Army has been able to resist the Huns for many years.

Of course Li Xu knows that if the army is to be strong, its military equipment must be used well. No matter how strong a soldier goes to the battlefield with a handful of scrap metal, he will be hacked to death. But using it well does not mean abusing it. How to use it still needs to be planned.

But if he asks to rectify the military expenditure, the first one who jumps out to oppose it will definitely be the First Prince, and the generals guarding various places. Li Xu's move will affect their interests. If the First Prince responds to everything, these people will If he resisted with his hands, it would be difficult for Li Xu to ascend the throne.

It's not that he didn't think about making some changes after taking that position, but the current problem is here, and he can't turn a blind eye to it. Even if he can't make changes for a while, he must make everyone aware of the seriousness of this problem.

"Did no one realize that Dayan's military expenditure is unreasonable to the extreme? May I ask, which country is doing its best to support the army? Does Dayan want to train millions of elite soldiers, or is it young? Has the South and the North fought in the past year? As far as this king knows, the border has been generally stable in recent years, and the occasional small friction is only a battle of tens of thousands of people, which is not enough to consume so much military expenditure.

Besides, the military expenditure is increasing every year, but the number of soldiers has not increased every year, and they must be discharged after joining the army at a certain age, but this king looks at the rosters of soldiers in various places, and there are not many veterans. I really saw a ghost. Could it be that these people are immortal? "

Li Xu's sarcasm was too obvious. None of the people present were fools. Naturally, they knew the lies in the army. If they wanted more military expenses, they had to be well-known, or they had to recruit new soldiers. Recruitment requires the consent of the Taiwei Mansion and the emperor's approval.

There is also the simplest method, which is to occupy the quota of those retired veterans. It is true that they have been discharged, but the roster is still in the army, and they still receive the military salary of the imperial court. As for where this part of the military salary went, it is not clear up.

In addition, there are a large number of military supplies. This army opened its mouth to build weapons, and that army opened its mouth to make chariots. Each border army is worth hundreds of thousands. Even if one person is given a bite of meat, it is not a small amount. .

This year's emperor is not considered a fool, and his only hobby is alchemy. In recent years, there are not many beauties in the harem. Expenses fall each year.

Moreover, the emperor did not engage in the practice of laboring the people and wasting money and making large-scale construction projects. The palace has not been overhauled for more than ten years. To be honest, such an emperor who saves money and trouble is considered once in a thousand years.

The emperor was still in a daze, but when he heard Li Xu's words, he glanced back at him, then closed his eyes, not knowing what he was thinking.

There are many generals in the hall, even Kou Xiao is considered a general. When it comes to military expenditures, it is a topic of quarrel between civil officials and military generals every year. It is not that the civil officials have never raised the issue of cutting military expenditures, but they were all beaten back in the end. That's all.

And the strange thing is, once they mention this matter, there will be some instability in the border, either the Yue clan in the west will harass the border, or the Xiongnu in the north will start to move again, making them very passive.

"Prince Shun is justified. We also think that military expenditures should be re-examined to reduce unnecessary expenditures. It's just that this is a big project that cannot be completed in a day. I wonder if your lord has any good suggestions?" Prime Minister Wei stood up this time On Li Xu's side.

The Wei family is a scholarly family, and has never produced a single general, so naturally they don't want to benefit from the army, and Li Xu has the guts to take the army into action, so it's okay for him to hand him a knife.

It's just that this matter is too difficult, even if Li Xu is the prince who is most likely to inherit the throne, he shouldn't attack the army at this time, otherwise he will lose the support of the generals, and he may have to give up the crown prince who is about to get it.

But what did it matter to him?Li Xu's ability to do it is his ability, and if he can't do it, it won't involve himself.

Li Xu made a bow to the emperor and said loudly: "Half of the years have passed, why don't you come to a mid-year audit to see if the expenditures of the generals this year are reasonable. Natural disasters, the treasury is unable to provide relief."

The emperor asked slowly: "Then how do you plan to interrogate? Send envoys to various places to garrison troops?" It wasn't that the emperor underestimated Li Xu. Doing so would be like sending a sheep to a tiger's mouth. problem?I'm afraid my life will be lost there.

"There is no need for this. Every army must have its own accounting office. Bring them to the capital, and then bring this year's account books. Let's just skip it at the beginning. The person responsible for keeping the accounts will definitely not be a general, and there will be no delay. In the case of war or drills, coming to the capital for a business trip, for a month or so, all the generals will agree."

Bringing people to the capital, how to check and how to say it is up to them. Li Xu will not give heads to the army, and some troops are used to taking money, and their hearts are getting bigger and bigger. If you don't stop it, maybe you won't wait for him The day of grabbing the throne is about to change.

If the hearts of the people are not enough, the eldest prince can say, at least he has the blood of the royal family. If the other generals guarding the frontier have different intentions, if they have money and soldiers, when will they not be able to do it?

"Since this is the case, Taiwei Xue will take the lead, supervised by King Shun, and the cabinet will assist in handling it. If there is a small problem, handle it lightly, so as not to chill the hearts of the soldiers."

All the ministers replied in unison: "Please follow the holy order!"

"Also, the First Prince is not feeling well. Let's recuperate at home in the near future. Don't go back to the Northwest. If there is an important military situation in the Northwest, you can directly present it to me."

Everyone was stunned, thinking that the emperor meant to put the eldest prince under house arrest in a disguised form. It seemed that the emperor understood very well that the eldest prince was definitely the most serious one in terms of fraudulent military expenses. It seems that the emperor knows everything in his heart.

The imperial envoys sent to review military expenditures in the past years found only negligible and minor problems. Everyone understood that these people did not dare to investigate deeply, for fear of losing their heads.

The emperor turned a blind eye these years, but he did not expect to agree to King Shun's proposal this year. It seems that the emperor's intention to make King Shun the crown prince is obvious.

Li Xu had a completely different idea. He felt that the emperor was using him. He proposed the plan and he was the one who did the work. He was like a knife in the emperor's hand, a knife that cut at the army. As a young bird, if things are done well, he will be the prince at most. If things are not done well, the generals will also hate him, and maybe even praise the emperor for his benevolence.

In this way, he would really end his career as an emperor. Li Xu raised his eyebrows, but he didn't feel pity or fear.