The Prosperity of Jingdi Chronicle

The next year, when the grass was growing and the hawks were flying, King Beidi Khan died, and the third prince Zamur led his iron guards to the north to go to the funeral. Unexpectedly, the king's tent had already prepared and sent troops hundreds of miles away to intercept him, and ordered him to enter alone. Zamur raised his troops angrily, and civil strife in Beidi began.

Zamur's army is strong and strong, but it's a pity that he is within the sphere of influence of the king's account, and his strength can only be used to the fullest. .

As time went by, this civil strife continued to expand, and a large number of tribes joined the battle, either supporting Zamur or supporting the king's tent. Some tribes even raised their swords to report their personal revenge because they lost the restraint of the king's tent, and the grassland was in chaos. The blood of countless prairie athletes stained the desolate grass under their feet.

When the battle on the grassland was in full swing, Jing Li secretly summoned a group of confidants, and finally put the great cause of the Northern Expedition on the case for discussion.

Fighting a war is not an easy task, especially when raising an army to crusade against a country, the assembly of the army, the expropriation of the civilians, the financing of military supplies, the smooth flow of food roads, etc., each of which requires careful planning and repeated consideration before it can be accomplished.

Jingli thinks that this is the best time to go out. After years of self-cultivation, the national treasury has been filled again, and people's livelihood has been restored. Coupled with the chaos in Beidi, such an opportunity is once in a thousand years. If you don't seize it firmly, how can you be worthy of the cost He spent countless painstaking efforts and treasures on the grassland, but he didn't expect his idea to be strongly opposed by all the ministers present.

Money, food, military equipment and people's livelihood are not a problem. The reason why everyone strongly opposes it is that the teacher came from an unknown.The emperor had previously concluded an alliance with Beidi, agreeing not to attack each other. Sending troops at this time would be to tear up the alliance, and it would be treachery, which was not the action of the monarch of a great country.

"All my loves are worrying too much. I went north this time mainly to see the civil strife in Beidi and the displacement of the people. I couldn't bear it and wanted to send troops to help them put down the chaos. Besides, I signed an alliance with the third prince of Beidi, and I didn't make an alliance with the king of Beidi. To conclude the covenant, this time it is just passing through the territory of the third prince, how can there be any talk of tearing up the covenant and breaking the promise?" Jing Li's words are quite shameless, obviously, when he made the contract with the third prince that day, he expected When things would develop to the point where they are now, they would have already found an excuse.

He kept saying that he wanted to help put down the chaos, and that he wanted to use the road to pass, but if the third prince was unwilling to use the road, I believe he would definitely not hesitate to raise his sword.

Unfortunately, in that era, only jesters would do things wholeheartedly to make the emperor happy, but when discussing such important military affairs, as long as the emperor's mind was not confused, he would generally not call jesters in.

The important ministers around the emperor, especially those who claim to be loyal ministers, cherish the emperor's reputation more than their own feathers. Of course, such shameless remarks by the emperor are absolutely unacceptable.

Even if someone had a different opinion in their hearts, they would not dare to publicly support the obviously shameless remarks of the emperor in front of the officials. Otherwise, they would easily be accused of "slandering and flattering" by the passionate officials.

Moreover, the emperor's summoning this time was mainly to discuss the preliminary preparations for the Northern Expedition, and among the participating courtiers, there were many civil servants.

Compared with military generals, civil servants always prefer benevolent men who are invincible to educate all nations, prefer military strategies, and prefer soldiers who surrender without fighting. When it comes to war, they are not as passionate as military generals, so that this discussion, So the emperor lost his temper and threw everyone out.

When Wei Yan came back, the emperor was still sulking in his own life. He locked himself in the hall and refused to see anyone. No matter who called at the door, he would roar for a while inside, so that he guarded the door. The servants all held their breath and breathed softly, and the whole palace was so eerily quiet.

Wei Yan hadn't seen such a scene for a long time, and he was a little confused for a moment. He listened carefully to the servant's report before he knew what happened.

He pushed open the door of the hall, only to see a mess inside, the ground was full of memorials, and occasionally there were fragments of paperweights.He didn't know where to start, so he could only squat down and pick up the notebooks on the ground.

"Wei Yan, do you also think that I am so rejoicing, that I am treacherous, benevolent and unrighteous, and that my actions are not the actions of the monarch of a great country?" Just as he was picking up the book, the emperor suddenly spoke.

"Your Majesty..." Wei Yan didn't know how to speak, he was not good at words, especially at this time.

A big country treats a small country with benevolence. This is the kindness that the king of a big country has always respected. Moreover, the emperor's usual actions are indeed inappropriate. He knew this in his heart, but he didn't know how to persuade him.

"I'm not doing it for the merits of a hundred generations, let alone to leave a name for the eternity. I just want to fight hard, and they will be so painful that they will be afraid. From then on, I will not dare to invade my frontier again. I want to use this war to exchange my frontier." A hundred years of stability, is this also wrong? This is the best time, but those pedantic guys, just because it hinders my reputation, oppose me sending troops. That is my reputation, I don’t care, whoever wants them eventful?"

When the emperor said this, there seemed to be some hoarseness in his voice.Wei Yan was startled, and all the papers he picked up in his hand fell to the ground again, but he didn't care about those papers anymore, he quickly stepped forward, sat down beside the emperor, and hugged him.

"Your Majesty, I understand." He understands how much effort the emperor has put into this battle. For so many days and nights, the emperor has worked so hard to plan and think hard on his desk. Figure out a way."

Jing Li didn't speak, but rested his head on Wei Yan.As for what Wei Yan said to let him figure out a solution, he didn't take it to heart.

He was so depressed because he had worked so hard for so long, and he was pointed at by so many people. He didn't drag them out and chop them up on the spot. Really helpless.

Anyway, this matter is not over yet, so what if the officials object, how can they let them talk about what he is going to do?

The emperor didn't take Wei Yan's words to heart, but Wei Yan kept it in mind.Let him figure it out for himself, he can't think of a good way, but there are still people in this world who are good at this kind of thing.

"Wei Qi, why are you bothering?" In the quiet room of the Qi Mansion in Tanjia Village, Qi Yuanheng shook his head helplessly after hearing what Wei Yan said, "Don't meddle in this kind of thing, it's not good for you. Your emperor There are plenty of ways to achieve the goal, and you don’t need to help him get ahead.”

"Brother Qi, I just want to help him with something."

"In these years, haven't you done enough for him?" Because of his relationship with the emperor, Wei Yan has already ruined his reputation and shamed his house. The incident caused an uproar, did Wei Yan feel that these efforts were not enough?

"Of course not enough. Your Majesty has treated me like this, but I have never had the chance to do anything for him. This time I want to do something for him. Please help me, Brother Qi." After Wei Yan finished speaking, he bowed deeply.

Qi Yuanheng hurriedly helped him up. It wasn't the first day he knew Wei Yan. They had known each other for nearly 40 years, and of course they knew his stubbornness quite well. Hearing this, he couldn't help but sigh. Know what to say.

This matter is not difficult to say, in fact, the emperor just needs a reason to send troops, since the reason he thought of himself was denounced as shameless by his courtiers, so he can only think of another one for him.

At the moment, Qi Yuanheng pondered for a long time, and finally helped Wei Yan come up with an idea.

"Wei Qi, I don't know if I'm helping you or hurting you. You have to think clearly, no matter how the war started and no matter what the result is, the war that your emperor is eagerly looking forward to is still not benevolent. Compared with the emperor's statement, the only difference is that the name of injustice, which was originally carried by your emperor himself, has to be carried by someone else. This is a thankless task, and it is for this kind of thing to become a scapegoat There are many precedents. Or, you can find other people to submit this paper." Qi Yuanheng finished his idea, thought something wrong, and said something more.

"But no one who submits this book will be better than me, isn't it?" Wei Yan asked suddenly when he heard him say this.

"Yes." Qi Yuanheng wondered why he suddenly became smarter, but that was the truth, and he could only admit it reluctantly.

The Wei family is very low-key, but there is no contradiction between being low-key and having power. Because of the emperor's trust, the Wei family has a deep influence in the court and the army, plus countless other families that are kept together by marriage. When it comes to doing something, it's not as difficult as you might think.

As for Wei Yan, although he has stood behind the emperor almost like a shadow for many years, it seems that he has never interfered in the government affairs, and no one can see that he has secretly influenced the government affairs, but in fact, he is standing in this position. the pinnacle of power.

At that time, the status of civil servants and military officials was basically the same, and the emperor had already conquered the South, and his heart for the Northern Expedition was still alive.

The Commander of the Guards Battalion is a military officer of the first grade. Although the guarding generals on the border are at the same level as him, according to the tradition that foreign officials are not as good as the Beijing officials, although Wei Yantong's soldiers are not as many as the generals guarding the border. Even if several guarding generals saw him, they would still be half a point shorter.Therefore, it is indeed the most appropriate for him to take the lead in this matter, as long as he is not afraid of bearing countless infamy for this.

Qi Yuanheng's worry that day was not unfounded, and the bloody emperor's history usurping case that will be aroused in the future has a great relationship with this matter.After all, compared to the accusation of flattering Xingjin, which involves the emperor's privacy, the crime of "framing the king for his own selfish desires" is more open and easy to export. There is also a bigger crime, but it involves many years. There is no need to say more about the other thing after that.

It is said that Wei Yan got an idea from Qi Yuanheng, and later he met with several relatives and friends to discuss it in detail for a long time. On the day of Wangchao on April [-]th, he gave an account to the emperor on the spot at the Golden Palace. On the grounds that the bandits invaded the border, he asked the emperor to send troops to reinforce Chuzhou.

As soon as this remark came out, the officials were stunned, and Jing Li also froze on the throne.Wei Yan hadn't discussed this matter with him before, so he didn't know anything about it.

Wei Yan started, and the generals standing behind him also echoed. Everyone looked serious, as if if they didn't reinforce immediately, the bandits would rush into the interior and cause chaos.

"It's as shameless as His Majesty the Emperor!" This was the only thought in the minds of the ministers who knew the truth of the matter.

But they knew it was one thing, and it was another thing to criticize in public in front of all the officials, and they might not be on the same page. Some people just didn't want to be the target of public criticism, so they didn't speak up to support the emperor during the discussion. At this time, seeing Wei Yan opened the door, he had already taken the biggest responsibility for the crime, and he also started to second the proposal.

Since there are seconders, there must also be opponents.At the beginning, those courtiers who opposed were relatively calm. When arguing, they did not discuss the real purpose of increasing troops, but used countless facts to prove that Chuzhou’s military strength was sufficient, and increasing troops was just a waste of state money, which was completely unnecessary. .

But as time passed, either because the rebuttal was too loud, or because the spittle of the rebuttal was sprayed on the other party's face, or just affected by the heated atmosphere of fighting, soon, the quarrel about the increase in troops began to digress. Later, It is more of a big outbreak of conflicts between civil servants and military generals.

Contradictions between civil servants and military generals exist in every dynasty. The emperors of all dynasties often have some preferences because of their personal interests, some emphasizing literature and others emphasizing martial arts, or because of which side the trustworthy courtiers belong to. It is impossible to be equal forever. .

Moreover, in order to facilitate the control of courtiers, the general emperor did not maliciously provoke the relationship between civil servants and generals, even if he was very kind, he would not deliberately adjust the conflict between the court, Chinese and military, so once this long-standing conflict broke out, the scene suddenly became hot.

There will always be a few scum among the scholars, some are ungrateful or treasonous or betray the Lord. , that is, "every time righteousness slaughters more dogs, reading is mostly a heartless person", ridiculing that no matter how much the sages and sages read, once something happens, their bones will soften.

The military generals believed in the belief that "fame should be obtained immediately, and horse leather shrouds should be rewarded with lofty aspirations", but in the mouths of civil servants, they were a group of vulgar, warlike and brutal reckless men who encouraged the emperor to use foreign troops for their own selfish desires. They were simply shameless villains .

In this way, the Golden Palace was quickly overwhelmed by the spittle of the officials.

Jing Li didn't speak all the time, just looked at Wei Yan, in fact, no one gave him a chance to speak, so that everyone got angry and was busy attacking each other, and forgot to ask the emperor's opinion.

Wei Yan just said a word, and didn't speak again. Even if someone always wanted to point the finger at him, he didn't open his mouth to argue again.

No matter what the ministers say, it doesn't matter, he has already given the emperor the best reason to send troops, and he has also given the emperor a large number of supporters. As for the small problem of the bandits in Chuzhou, I believe General Chen Tianyao can't help it .

Jing Li coughed hard a few times, but unfortunately, the people caught in the verbal war didn't hear it, only Wei Yan seemed to hear it, and raised his gaze upwards.

"Why bother?" Jing Li opened his mouth, but didn't make a sound, but asked him silently with his eyes.

"This is what I should do for His Majesty." Wei Yan also didn't say anything, just looked at the emperor and smiled silently.

The eyes of the two intersected in the air, because they were so familiar with each other, they could understand the words that the other hadn't spoken just by their eyes.

Looking at Wei Yan's firm eyes, Jing Li could only smile bitterly, and then smiled bitterly. After a long time, he made up his mind.

"Enough is enough, you are all important ministers of the country, making noise like shrews swearing at the street in the Golden Palace, what's the proper way?"

The emperor's stern reprimand finally calmed down the enthusiastic crowd a little bit, and they stood in two shifts again. However, some people were still like aggressive roosters, staring at each other bitterly in the queue, as long as there was a suitable opportunity , there must be another fight.

"What the Marquis of Yongning said just now is very true. Chuzhou's military strength is weak, and I am worried about dealing with a large number of bandits. The Ministry of War has drawn up a regulation to prepare for increasing troops."

"Your Majesty, there is no urgent report from Chuzhou, should we wait?" There were still some people who were unwilling to give up and wanted to persuade the emperor to change his mind.

"You bastard, saving soldiers is like putting out a fire. Since I and you have seen this worry, how can we delay acting because we haven't received an urgent report? If there is a loss in the frontier at that time, will the responsibility be on you or on me? ?”

The emperor's words were a blatant criticism of his heart. How could that courtier, with his small arms and legs, dare to shoulder such a big responsibility, so he could only shut his mouth tightly at the moment.

But that courtier could think of this question, how could Qi Yuanheng not have thought that as early as a few days ago, Wei Yan had sent a letter to Chuzhou according to Qi Yuanheng's suggestion, and it is estimated that General Chen Tianyao's urgent report should arrive by this time.

Sure enough, after a few days, the Ministry of War received an urgent report from Chuzhou, requesting the imperial court to send more troops to Chuzhou. The reason was exactly the same as what Wei Yan said in the hall, and it was also the five words "fearful of bandits and offenders".

At this point, the matter of increasing troops is finally a foregone conclusion. As for how many additional troops are needed, it is up to His Majesty the Emperor to decide.

This is the truth about Emperor Jinglie's first expedition to the Northern Expedition. However, in the history of Jing, the reason for dispatching troops that remains in the world is only the four words "bandits and criminals". Not a single word was mentioned.

Whether this was written at the behest of Emperor Lie, or was modified by Emperor Xuan later, or simply the result of the joint efforts of the two emperors, no one else knows.Anyway, it is certain that the two emperors have done a good job in usurping history, and it is not wronged to put this matter on any of them.