Jiuxi

Chapter 128 Chapter 127 [Dragon Snake]

In a solemn occasion like the Great Court Meeting, with people around him, Lu Chen would definitely not be able to discuss it in detail with Li Bingxue.

He saw the worry in the other person's eyes and quickly understood the reason.

Li Bingxue was obviously worried that the emperor would raise the two frontier commanders too high, which would arouse the jealousy of all the officials in the palace. The next most important decision would be fiercely opposed by the ministers, and might even affect the situation on the border.

Lu Chen thought for a moment and then said softly: "Don't worry."

After hearing these words, Li Bingxue suddenly calmed down and looked away with a slight smile.

On the throne, Li Duan had already anticipated the reaction of the ministers. His behavior was actually a last resort, otherwise he could not silence them.No matter whether his subsequent ideas can be successfully implemented, he must first ensure the rewards of Xiao and Li, otherwise he will be sorry for these two commanders who are loyal to him.

After the matter was resolved, he calmed down and said warmly: "Now the border troops have recovered the seven cities in Jiangbei, and they are temporarily under the jurisdiction of the Jingzhou Governor's Mansion, but this is not a long-term solution after all. How to establish the defense ownership of the seven cities next, everyone Let’s discuss this with the Qing family.”

The ministers had just recovered from their surprise. They thought that the Emperor would take advantage of the situation to mention the rewards for the officers and soldiers below the Commander-in-Chief of the Border Army, but they did not expect to directly enter into this extremely important issue. There was silence in the palace for a while.

In the current Qi State's military system, the four governor's offices of Chengzhou, Hezhou, Daozhou and Taiping Prefecture do not have many troops. The responsibility of these offices is to protect the stability of the western, central and southwestern territories of Qi State.

Jingzhou and Huaizhou Dudufu are like two iron gates, one on the left and one on the right, keeping out the puppet Yan army and protecting the safety of the fertile and fertile land in the south of the Yangtze River.

Now that the Jingzhou Governor's Office has regained the seven cities in the north of the Yangtze River, if this area is placed under the jurisdiction of Jingzhou, the number of troops in Li Tianrun's hands will reach a worrying level.

However, most of the courtiers would not agree with the establishment of another Jiangbei Dudufu.

This is obviously a dilemma.

In fact, before this great court meeting, all the important ministers who were qualified to express their opinions in front of the imperial court had thought about this matter. This involved an extremely important issue: whether the imperial court would choose to maintain the status quo or start promoting the Northern Expedition from now on.

If the status quo is to be maintained, it means that the authority of the Jingzhou Governor's Mansion must be split, otherwise Li Tianrun's military power will be too great and disturbing. However, the emperor just made him the Duke of Huai'an and Zhuguo, and immediately cut off the other party's military power. This Thinking about it, I know it's not very reliable.

The palace continued to be silent, and many important ministers were waiting for others to stand up and express their opinions, which was in sharp contrast to the previous noisy scene.

Li Duan was not in a hurry at this time and was sitting on the dragon chair in a leisurely manner.

In the silence, the veteran minister who stood at the head of the military attache class slowly walked out, raised his hands and saluted, "Your Majesty, I have my own memorial."

Li Duan's eyes narrowed slightly, he nodded and said, "Privilege Guo, please speak."

Privy Councilor Guo Congyi, who was over fifty years old, said calmly: "The seven cities in Jiangbei should naturally belong to the Jingzhou Governor's Mansion. There is no need to set up another Jiangbei Governor's Mansion. The reason is not complicated. The land of the seven cities and the pseudo-Yanmoyang The road is bordered and we need a commander who is good at military affairs and has experienced battles in the field, and no one is more suitable than Governor Li."

These words attracted surprised looks from some ministers.

In their view, the most embarrassing people after the two border army governors were granted the title of Duke were the Privy Council Envoy Guo Congyi and the General Wang Yan. These two military figures who hold the power of the Privy Council are still just marquises. His Majesty obviously has no Plans to simultaneously upgrade their titles.

In terms of military positions, they were superiors to the Commander-in-Chief of the Border Army, but in terms of title, they were one level lower.

According to the regulations of national etiquette, when they meet in the future, they must first salute to the Commander-in-Chief of the Border Army.

Therefore, they must have some prejudices against Xiao and Li. They did not expect that Guo Congyi would take the initiative to speak for Li Tianrun at this moment. Could this secretive old commander really be so brilliant?

Li Duan was also a little surprised. He looked at Guo Congyi with increasingly gentle eyes, and said slowly: "The Privy Council's intention is to increase the number of Jiangbei armies and then attach them to the Jingzhou Governor's Mansion?"

The current establishment of the Jingzhou Governor's Office is 12 people for the Nine Armies, and at least the fourth army needs to be added to the seven cities in Jiangbei, which means that the number of troops that Li Tianrun can directly command will reach 18.

Guo Congyi said calmly: "Your Majesty, in my humble opinion, there is no need to establish new troops in various places in Jiangbei. We only need to move the entire Jingzhou Governor's Mansion northward and move the defense line to the line from Shahe City in the west to Xunyang City in the east. That's it. In the future, the troops of the Jingzhou Dudufu will be concentrated in the Jiangbei area. As long as Pingyang Prefecture retains its pivotal position, it will be enough to deal with the counterattack of the puppet Yan in the future."

Most people in the palace lacked understanding of the border terrain and could not immediately understand the true meaning of this idea. However, Lu Chen, Li Bingxue and other border generals frowned.

Guo Congyi explained briefly again.

Before this great victory in Jiangbei, the Jingzhou Governor's Mansion straddled the Hengjiang River and had some jurisdictions on both sides of the north and south banks. The north bank was a strip of about two hundred miles in length, with several defense lines built around Pingyang.

Now Guo Congyi's proposal can be described in the simplest terms, that is, the jurisdiction of the Jingzhou Governor's Mansion will be changed to the entire area north of the Yangtze River, and all the troops remaining in the south of the Yangtze River will cross the river and go north.

Li Duan remained silent.

Guo Congyi looked up at the Emperor and said calmly: "Your Majesty, the defense of the Jiangnan area can be taken over by the Daozhou Dudufu. From now on, the Jingzhou Dudufu will only be responsible for the defense of Jiangbei. In short, the power of the Jingzhou Dudufu The responsibilities have not been reduced, they are just like chess pieces on a chessboard, moving a certain distance, from across the two sides of the Taiwan Strait to focusing on Jiangbei. If His Majesty allows, the Jingzhou Dudufu can be changed to the Jiangbei Dudufu, still maintaining the original organizational structure and scale."

Ding Hui, the Minister of War, looked at Guo Congyi's profile calmly, with strong admiration in his heart.The emperor took the lead in today's court meeting and praised Xiao Wangzhi and Li Tianrun very highly. He also used his righteous status as the emperor of the Tian family to overwhelm the ministers who did not dare to object. For the first time, he showed his ability as the emperor of Qi.

After establishing Li Tianrun's contribution and status, the emperor took advantage of the situation and raised the issue of fortification in Jiangbei. There were only two choices before the ministers. Either hold their noses and let Li Tianrun's military power be further increased, or establish a new Jiangbei Governor's Office. , both of them reach the same goal by different routes, and ultimately they want to strengthen the frontier army and prepare for the next Northern Expedition.

Although Ding Hui wanted to stand up and object, he just lacked suitable reasons and more complete suggestions.

Although one's stance comes first when discussing politics in court, the key is whether one can convince others. After all, everyone has their own ideas and judgments. It is undoubtedly very stupid to just shout slogans.

Now that he heard Guo Congyi's advice, Ding Hui couldn't help but secretly praise the old man.

Li Duan felt a moment of disappointment. He had been preparing for today's meeting for a long time. He wanted to strengthen the frontier army in one go, but he didn't expect that he hit a snag just at the beginning.

Perhaps this is the sadness of not being able to explain everything.

He could forcibly suppress Guo Congyi's proposal and forcibly establish a new Jiangbei Governor's Office, but such a willful decision would make no sense.

The establishment of a border military governor's palace requires a huge amount of money and the cooperation of officials at all levels of the court. It is by no means as simple as a few words spoken.

Li Duan looked at Guo Congyi, the old god, and the disappointment in his heart quickly disappeared, and he said calmly: "What the Privy Council said, I generally understand the reason, but now that the Jiangbei defense zone has nearly doubled, the existing military strength of the Jingzhou Governor's Mansion may be It’s hard to deal with everything.”

Guo Congyi said calmly: "Your Majesty, please rest assured. Governor Li knows that the army is good at planning, and the soldiers under his command are brave and good at fighting. As long as the troops are not rushed northward, there will be no problem in holding on to the existing territory. The war in Northern Xinjiang lasted for more than three months, and the border troops The losses urgently need to be replenished, and the court also needs to recuperate. Ordnance, grain, salary, and rewards from this great victory also put a lot of pressure on the national treasury. Under this situation, I believe that it is not appropriate to make large-scale actions for the time being and maintain the status quo slowly. The best strategy is to follow the plan.”

Although he kept his eyes straight from beginning to end, Li Duan felt something in his heart and quietly turned his head to look at the old prime minister at the head of the civil servant class.

How could he not understand at this time that Guo Congyi and Li Daoyan must have had secret discussions on various issues at today's meeting.

Wen Yiwu controlled the power of the court, and they were all representative figures of the Jiangnan clan. Although they usually fought openly and secretly, they could always form a unified position on some key issues.

For example, on the matter of strengthening the border army, they will never have the slightest disagreement and will definitely come up with opposing opinions.

At this time, Li Daoyan, the Prime Minister of the Left, said slowly: "Your Majesty, I believe that Privy Council Guo's advice is mature and prudent, and can be used as a strategy for the country. The two governors played an important role in the victory of the frontier army, so naturally they have to pay a lot of attention. Therefore, the veteran is extremely in favor of His Majesty's reward. Not only these two governors, but also the commanders such as Chen Lanyu, the captains such as Huangfu Yu, and the school captains such as Lu Chen and Li Bingxue, these generals should all receive commensurate commendations. Only in this way can we show the fairness of the court's clear distinction between rewards and punishments. But——"

He paused slightly, looked at the emperor on the dragon throne, and said earnestly: "Your Majesty, there have been frequent disasters in the country in the past two years. The national treasury is already empty. The war in northern Xinjiang has cost a lot, and the next reward will be a huge sum." Silver. As the Prime Minister, I failed to share your Majesty’s worries. I feel really guilty and unspeakable. Please forgive me.”

He bowed tremblingly.

Li Duan felt cold in his heart, but said anxiously on his face: "Xue Xiang, please help me quickly."

Xue Nanting, the right prime minister standing next to him, stepped forward, took Li Daoyan's arm, and said with regret: "The left prime minister's words have made it almost impossible for the subordinate officials to stand. It is because the subordinate officials have not devoted themselves to the affairs of the country, so that the treasury is empty and everything is difficult to do." .”

Li Daoyan shook his head and sighed.

Li Duan looked at this scene and said with relief: "Li Xiangqie, please don't blame yourself. I think Privy Guo's suggestion is indeed reasonable. This matter can be discussed later. There is nothing wrong with maintaining the status quo for the time being."

Li Daoyan pleaded guilty again, and Guo Congyi also felt very guilty.

As for other important ministers, there is no room for them to express their stance at this time.

In the middle and rear of the military attache's queue, Li Bingxue looked indifferent, with a cold look on his face.

Lu Chen knew how she was feeling now, because such scenes must have happened many times in the court.

The Daqi frontier army was brave and good at fighting, and Xiao Wangzhi and Li Tianrun were masters in the art of war. Why could they only stay in place for more than ten years? It took such a long time to take advantage of the opportunity of the north to invade the south to make small progress?
The reason lies in this, lies in the human heart ghosts happening in front of the two of them at this moment.

Lu Chen looked down and saw Li Bingxue's hands clenched into fists, her knuckles turning slightly white, and he understood that she was trying her best to control the anger in her heart.

He then raised his head and looked forward. The emperor's face was slightly blurred, but it could be seen that there was nothing wrong with him. It was obvious that the king had long been accustomed to the situation in front of him.

Lu Chen gently exhaled a breath, his eyes gradually became sharper.

"Your Majesty, I do not agree with Privy Guo's suggestion!"

There was a solemn silence in the hall, and the ministers followed the sound and saw that the standing figure was particularly tall and burly.

It was Liu Shouguang, one of the two generals in charge of the Twelfth Army of Nanya.

(End of this chapter)