Chapter 472: Beat the Drums and Sing the Victory

Although Yongliang is vast, it is relatively sparsely populated.

Therefore, any anecdote or two that can be used as a source of conversation spreads quickly, so many people are familiar with the grievances between Ma Chao and Yan Xing.

This general under Han Sui's most well-known record in Yongliang today only has four words: "killed Ma Chao several times".

For this reason, whenever Ma Chao talked about how he conquered Yongliang, Qiang, and Hu Cong, Zhang Fei would wonder aloud:

"Then why can't even Yan Xing be defeated?"

Ma Chao's eloquence immediately turned into speechless.

If Liu Bei is not around, Zhang Fei will often add another sentence:

"Meng Qi's expression right now is quite similar to that of my second brother."

So a good conversation will eventually end with an appointment to practice martial arts.

So now that he heard that Yan Xing was going to cause trouble, Ma Chao couldn't hold himself back.

He wants to make progress so much!

Liu Bei and his two military advisors looked at each other, were silent for a while, and then considered:

"Now that Guanzhong has been settled, there will inevitably be old rifts between Qiang'er and Han'er, and Meng Qi still needs to be in charge."

"Moreover, the situation in Jingzhou is still unclear. If the war situation is unfavorable, we will need to send troops out of Tongguan to intimidate Xu Du to rescue Yunchang."

"Who else but you will be the vanguard of the three armies?"

So Yan Xing and Zhang Fei were immediately thrown out of the sky by Ma Chao. He rubbed his hands with joy and wanted to be humble, but he couldn't think of the right words for a while.

So he could only choose the common practice of military commanders, bowing and clasping his fists, expressing his willingness to die in service.

In my heart, I sighed even more. From Mr. Jian to Mr. Xuande, they all treated people with sincerity and made people feel good. But looking at Han Sui, who is now separated from his subordinates, and looking at Ma Teng... well, forget it.

Pang Tong looked at Ma Chao's face gradually turning red due to excitement, smiled and joked softly:

"Yide is right. They are really similar to Yun Chang."

Kong Ming was speechless. Seeing that Ma Chao seemed to want to speak sincerely to his lord, he simply took Pang Tong to the side and took a walk to chat.

"There was also a letter from Cheng Gongying before, saying that he followed the map to find Qinghai, but the weather was bitter and cold and it was difficult to stay, so he had to go to Jincheng in the end."

Pang Tong knew these things very well and talked eloquently:

"Han Sui is already old and frail. I am afraid that his old illness will relapse after this trip, which will lead to this disaster."

Kong Ming shook his head and sighed slightly:

"No one knows that the gift of money from scholars is a conspiracy, but Han Wen's promise cannot be refused."

Pang Tong just smiled softly. For him, making decisions based on people was just a common thing.

After all, Han Sui had already made a name for himself in Xizhou before the Yellow Turbans, and the thirty years he had been supporting the army had determined that he would never settle for being inferior to others.

However, the rise of Ma Chao, the unstoppable Xuande Gong, and Cao Cao who had always coveted Yongliang. Various factors determined that Yongliang had no room for Han Wenyue to intervene.

Under such circumstances, the accurate map given by Pang Tong became Han Sui's last life-saving straw.

But now it seems that this hero who has dominated Yongliang for thirty years has finally been defeated by old age and physical weakness brought by time.

After sighing a little, Pang Tong said seriously:

"If you want to put an end to the chaos, you must hire a general who can intimidate Liangzhou if you advance, and weigh the pros and cons of retreating."

"With a sharp mind, he can negotiate with Han Sui without falling behind, and with a decisive attitude, he can face the battle and never miss an opportunity."

Kong Ming laughed and said:

"If Shi Yuan said this, then there must be only one general who is worthy of this position now."

Then the two of them said in unison:

"Liangzhou and his party, who is better than Yi De?"

The two looked at each other and then laughed together.

…

Tang Changan.

Li Shimin, who was awakened from his sleep, stared at the sky without any light, feeling uncontrollable regret in his heart:

Why did I allow Zheng Aiqing to retire and promote Chu Suiliang to be a living minister?

It's probably because I've seen too many light screens and my mind is not clear.

What can be obtained from the light curtain is not only the knowledge of future generations, but also the reputation of capable ministers and officials.

There are people like Wang Xuan who started his career at a young age, such as Ma Zhou, and there are also ministers like Chu Suiliang who were in the middle from the beginning.

In the fourth year of Wude, he opened Tiance Mansion, set up a literature hall, and personally selected eighteen bachelors to discuss the strategy of governing the country. Yu Shinan, Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, etc. were among them. Chu Liang, who was in charge of literature, was Chu Suiliang's father.

After he came to the throne, the literature hall supported by these eighteen bachelors became the Hongwen Hall, which defined literature, expanded culture, presented canons and systems, and was highly used. In the process, Chu Suiliang also showed his talent step by step.

According to his initial thoughts, Li Shimin still wanted to put Chu Suiliang in the Hongwen Hall to train for a few more years.

But now the changes in the light curtain wait for no one. In just two years, Li Shimin felt that the things that Datang should do in the next twenty years have been listed one by one and are waiting to be realized.

It just so happened that last month, Xueshi Zheng retired and returned to his hometown, and the position of Living Master, who needed to record Tian's words and deeds, became vacant.

After Li Shimin thought about it for a while, he issued an edict to appoint Chu Suiliang as a living minister, intending to stay with him and take exams to see how talented he was.

As for other things, Li Shimin admitted that he didn't think about it that much.

After all, the official position of Julang was only established in the second year of Zhenguan by the previous dynasty. In the past three years, he knew how to behave and got along with the old Master Zheng quite well.

I just didn't expect that the daily official appointed by Chu Suiliang was completely different from that of Zheng Xueshi.

For example, at this moment, when it was clear that there was still an hour before dawn, the chamberlain came to wake him up and told him:

"Chu Zuoji is on duty."

Zuo Chi is the official nickname of Julang.

Li Shimin was a little annoyed after being woken up from his dream of beating up the Byzantine white ghosts. He wanted to ignore him or scold him, but when he thought of his duties as a resident official, he still restrained his temper and nodded listlessly, indicating to let him in.

Chu Suiliang, who was writing with a hard pen in his left hand and white pen in his right hand, walked in slowly, bowed and stood aside, and then quickly wrote two strokes on the top.

This action immediately made Li Shimin's eyebrows jump:

It's not even dawn yet, what's there to record!

Then he could only comfort himself that it was probably recording time or something.

His sweet dream was disturbed, so he could only shake his head helplessly and get up to change clothes.

The eunuch wanted to help as usual, and was then dismissed by Li Shimin as usual.

But seeing Chu Suiliang's fast-moving notes at the back, Li Shimin hurriedly opened his mouth to explain:

"I am only thirty years old, why do I need someone to help me change clothes?"

Unfortunately, Chu Suiliang didn't even nod, making Li Shimin feel like he was talking to the air.

How stupid!

Seeing that the emperor had finished washing and changing clothes, the eunuchs began to eat without any instructions.

Since Sun Simiao arrived in Chang'an, Li Shimin's meals have become much lighter. For example, there is no fried cakes that he used to like to eat in the morning, nor can you see the mutton soup that is most commonly used during the march, and there is no roasted mutton that he occasionally eats when he is greedy.

A bowl of apricot porridge, a bowl of tea porridge, a plate of jade dew balls and mixed vegetable pancakes, plus a plate of roasted fish, this is the breakfast prescribed by Sun Taiyi.

Li Shimin took two bites of the hot food, and his mood improved a lot. Seeing Chu Suiliang standing there and staring at him, he suddenly felt uncomfortable and pointed at the table:

"Lord Chu, would you like to eat something together?"

In response to Li Shimin's invitation, Chu Suiliang began to write.

The hard pen wrote on the paper, making a "rustling" sound, which made his brows twitch again.

Now even the eunuchs serving beside him could see that His Majesty was not in a good mood.

After all, the round pancakes that the imperial kitchen had spent a lot of effort to fry had now been torn apart by His Majesty with chopsticks.

Chu Suiliang wrote even faster.

At the morning court at the hour of Mao, Li Shimin went to the Liangyi Hall.

It was June, and there was still a little chill at dawn. The moisture that had not dissipated at night stained Li Shimin's face, making his head more clear.

After being emperor for a few years, he understood more and more why there was an early court. Facing the cold and the rising sun, the overall strategy of the empire was extremely clear in his mind at this moment. Some of the issues that might need to be discussed later could be understood by just thinking about them in his mind.

He even had the energy to think about Chu Suiliang who was following behind him.

Although he was annoyed that Chu Suiliang disturbed his sweet dream, he thought that the recorder had to rush over from home, which might be even more tiring, so he felt more sympathetic in his heart:

"Dengshan has taken a lot of trouble."

In response to his gesture of goodwill, the familiar rustling sound of writing fell, and Li Shimin gave up:

Forget it, let it be.

Calculating the time, today should be a regular court meeting, which made Li Shimin a little relieved, and it was not the first and fifteenth day of the first lunar month.

According to his ambition when he ascended the throne, he personally made many improvements to the court meeting.

For example, the first and fifteenth day of each month is the day of the first and fifteenth day of the lunar month. The ceremony is held on the first and fifteenth day of each month. All officials are present and the ceremony is performed. The solemnity is second only to the grand court meetings on the first day of the lunar month and the winter solstice.

On other days, on the fifth, eleventh, twenty-first and twenty-fifth day of each month, officials of the fifth rank and above need to attend the morning court, which is called the regular court.

On the ninth, nineteenth and twenty-ninth day of each month, officials of the third rank and above can attend the morning court, which is called the second court.

If I remember correctly, today should be the eleventh day. For the regular morning court, the etiquette does not need to be so complete.

The group did not walk too fast. When they arrived at the bell and drum tower, all officials had just been arranged on the left and right of the palace courtyard according to their ranks. Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui and others in the front row were very conspicuous. Li Shimin glanced at them and followed the guidance of the ceremonial officer to enter the Liangyi Hall from the west gate.

At the top of the hall is the throne. At this moment, there are eunuchs holding the imperial fan to welcome him. Seeing the emperor stride over to sit on the throne, the ceremonial officer announced to go up to the hall, and all officials followed the officials of the two provinces to enter the hall in an orderly manner.

Just at this moment, Li Shimin envied the officials a little bit.

As the emperor, he sat on the throne and was worshipped by the officials. Even if his waist and back ached, he had to sit straight. The officials all had cushions to kneel on. No one could say anything if they slacked off and changed to a comfortable position.

At this point, the palace was completed. The Yulin Army entered the venue and inspected the officials' letters one by one. After the inspection was completed, the court meeting officially began.

However, the first thing presented today made Li Shimin frown slightly. Someone requested that the court give many preferential treatment to the imperial examination candidates in granting official positions.

And the rhetoric was nothing more than the old routine. The children of the family were all Tang nobles and had made contributions to the country. Treating them preferentially in the imperial examination was harsh treatment of the nobles.

Li Shimin's face was calm. Such rhetoric had been common since the implementation of the imperial examination, and he had long passed the time when he would get angry.

Even without exchanging glances, Wei Zheng took the initiative to stand up and refute the former to shut up.

The matter was quickly suppressed, and Li Shimin even felt a little happy watching Wei Zheng scolding people.

The next report was not controversial.

Li Gang, the prince's junior teacher, was seriously ill and wanted to return home. Li Shimin ordered the Imperial Medical Bureau to treat him, accompanied by the prince.

At the same time, he couldn't help but secretly speculate whether Cheng Gan's behavior in the records of later generations was also related to Li Gang's early death? But now that Sun Yaowang is here, he should be able to extend his life for a few more years.

However, before Li Shimin could finish his reverie, the Minister of Civil Affairs came forward to request permission to pardon all 80,000 Turkic Han slaves.

This was another troublesome matter that could be traced back to the previous dynasty, because during the war at the end of the Sui Dynasty, the Turks had gone south several times to plunder and abduct the people.

Now that the Turks have been defeated, these captured people are begging for their lives as if they have seen the light. Wei Zheng had reported this matter when he went to the north to deal with the Turks who surrendered, but it was very troublesome to compile the list. It was not until today that the list was counted. There are 80,000 people who were captured and enslaved and survived.

The Ministry of Civil Affairs made an impassioned speech, saying that now that our Tang has won a great victory, we should pardon them as Tang people to strengthen our military power.

Naturally, some of the censors stood up to oppose, saying that now that we have sent troops to Tuyuhun, the result is still unclear. Pardoning slaves as people is tantamount to competing with the Turks for profit. If they are dissatisfied and make trouble, it is probably difficult to take care of both sides.

Li Shimin sneered. Do the Turks have the courage to do this?

But he should not worry about this matter.

Sure enough, Wei Zheng soon stood up and spoke impassionedly.

Wei Zheng's opinion was generally moderate, but it was true:

Full redemption might be overpriced, and full pardon might cause chaos and disaster in the south of the desert. It would be better for him to go and discuss with the Turks in person.

The deeper reason was simple, and the perfect handling of the 80,000 Han slaves was all the achievements of Wei Zheng's previous efforts to befriend the south of the desert.

Li Shimin had no objection, and even appointed an additional general, Qin Shubao, Duke of Yi, to lead a part of the Northern Yamen Imperial Guard to accompany Wei Zheng to protect him.

This order also made all officials look sideways - they knew last year that those who visited Duke of Yi privately said that they could set up a mourning hall earlier, but now they can even lead the army to the north?

Does this doctor Sun really have such a way to save the world? I must visit him sincerely when I have free time.

After all, being a doctor is not as simple as curing diseases and saving people, just like the two sons of Duke of Yi are both mediocre. When Qin Qiong was seriously ill, many people were already speculating how long this legacy would last after his death.

As a result, now that Duke Yi has been treated by Dr. Sun, it seems that he can still earn some merits? This made many people feel uneasy.

After all, this thought could only be kept in mind. Instead, some people stood up and said that Li Jing needed to withdraw his troops as soon as possible to prevent trouble.

The person who submitted the memorial talked a lot, saying that the Tang army was far away and it was difficult to destroy its roots. When the Tang army retreated, it might cause more violent harassment. It would be better to negotiate with it while its prestige was still high, and it would be better to give up some money than to waste people's money.

No one believed this nonsense argument. After all, court debates often require a back-and-forth, and the true intention of this argument may often reveal the true opinion after several refutations.

Li Shimin cheered up and was ready for battle. After all, seriously speaking, the war against Tuyuhun was his own will, so since the official expedition in April, there have been many criticisms in the court.

He understood it, after all, if the capture of Jie Li is counted, the Tang Dynasty rested for less than a year, and it can be said that it has been fighting for years.

Li Jing could go to this battle without worry, thanks to him and several prime ministers, but now it seems that such opposition is getting stronger and stronger.

Du Ruhui stood up and wanted to refute, but an unexpected accident planned the whole rhythm of the morning court.

A guard hurriedly entered from the West Sequence Gate, raised a silk letter above his head, and presented it to Li Shimin.

All officials looked up curiously, watching the emperor's face change several times, and finally fixed his expression of great joy:

"Qinghai Road has won a great victory, and the bandit leader Fu Yun has been captured!"

"Open the palace door and welcome the messenger!"

"Beat the drum and sing the victory!"