Dou Cong is actually quite handsome, typical of the Fufeng Dou family's genetics.
But Dou Cong has been a martial artist since he was a child, and he is also deliberately rude in his words and deeds. He behaves evilly in appearance. He bullies this and that in the clan, and he cannot change it over time.
Later, he broke the law and fled to Jinyang. At that time, Li Yuan was recruiting heroes, sheltering strong men, and preparing for the army. Dou Cong went there just in time. The heroes in the late Sui Dynasty liked fugitives like Dou Cong the most.
Moreover, the Fufeng Dou family and the Li family are still related by marriage, and they are from a wealthy and prestigious family in Guanxi. How can Li Yuan treat him harshly? Promotions are always made by leaps and bounds.
In less than ten years, he went from a small guard to the position of a general.
Overall, this is basically an inspirational story about a playboy with a rich background who reformed and worked hard to become stronger.
If there was a textbook, maybe we could select chapters with quotations from famous people, such as who said what, who did what, and so on.
…………
Dou Cong became the leader of the army. He felt that his image was not right, so he grew a beard and his character became more and more bad. As a result, everyone disliked him, and even his clan members stopped interacting with him.
Dou Cong wants to make meritorious deeds because many people look down on him now, and some people in his clan are saying weird things about him. There are still many people who say it, and he feels very aggrieved in his stay in the capital.
Today I heard that the emperor summoned him, and he came with courage. After hearing the emperor's words, he couldn't help but feel happy. He immediately assured the emperor that he had not abandoned his bow and horse, and he often read military books to show his ability to lead troops.
No worse than others.
As for those who endure hardships or not, Dou Cong patted his chest and said that he is a hard-working person who is not afraid of wind, frost, rain and snow, but he is afraid that he will not be able to make contributions to His Majesty.
Li Po smiled and said to himself, it all depends on your performance. You have no basis for what you say. When the time comes and you complain again and again, let's see how I deal with you.
Of course, he is definitely not such an easy person to talk to, and his thoughts are definitely not that simple. The main reason is that Dou Cong has been in the garrison for too long and is not his confidant.
You see, before you do something, you have to ask Dou Cong to speak to you, otherwise the matter will not be done smoothly. From this, you can understand the importance of the generals garrisoning the capital.
Since Dou Cong himself requested it, we might as well go with the flow and let him go out and have a look. Naturally, everyone will be happy if he has made military achievements. Naturally, he will be punished if he loses the battle. It's no big deal.
…………
The next day Li Po called Zhang Liang, the Minister of War, to the Tai Chi Hall to give instructions.
Zhang Liang took the opportunity to say that the Military Intelligence Department was still under the Ministry of War, but its military responsibilities were gradually reduced, and the war was almost over.
The spies from various military intelligence departments are gradually losing their usefulness, and the top and lower ranks of the military intelligence department are also discussing the matter. Naturally, those who have been recruited over the years are not willing to give up easily. Many of them also have military positions, which is not easy to deal with.
They were all transferred back to the capital, and there weren't that many positions. If they were to arbitrarily place people in the Guards Mansion and the Ministry of War, they would definitely be stuck in a trap.
In view of this, it is better to report to the emperor and know what the emperor wants to do, and then they will obey the order.
This is the conclusion that Zhang Liang came to after discussing with Xie Zheng, Liu Chaozong and others. The main reason is that no one knows what the future of the Military Intelligence Department will be like. It is actually a matter of positioning.
The Military Intelligence Department developed from the military. At the beginning, its position was very clear. It was to spy on the enemy's situation, assassinate enemy officials and generals, or incite internal riots in the enemy's army, etc.
It is relatively similar in function to the later foreign intelligence organization.
But things are different now. The heads of the Military Intelligence Department have all come to the capital, mingling among the core of power, and gradually transforming into an internal spy organization.
Several leaders are very worried about the future of the Military Intelligence Department. The more secrets they are exposed to, the more anxious everyone becomes. The secrets in Chang'an, the capital, are usually things that have ears to hear but no mouth to speak.
.
The people from the Military Intelligence Department have submitted a lot of messy reports in the past two years, which made Zhang Liang and others frightened. They no longer had the thoughts of doing this and that in previous years.
Zhang Liang wanted to discuss something with the emperor this time. If the emperor wanted the Military Intelligence Department to monitor the private lives of officials, then they would move closer to this aspect. There was no need to be afraid. With the emperor's endorsement, they could do it boldly.
If it is for external affairs, for example, sending someone to follow Monk Xuanzang to Tianzhu, or to the Western Regions to investigate the public sentiments and politics of the Western Regions, or even to Lingnan to deal with the barbarians, the Military Intelligence Department is not afraid. With their current strength, they will definitely be able to find suitable candidates to go out.
.
In fact, it all boils down to one sentence: What exactly does the emperor want them to do?
Looking at Zhang Liang who was looking at him eagerly, Li Po secretly sighed in his heart, it has been more than ten years since the establishment of the Military Intelligence Department, but now it has reached a period of transformation.
The stall was getting bigger and bigger, and Zhang Liang was personally responsible for investigating public opinion in Chang'an and other parts of the Tang Dynasty. In fact, he was asking for gossip, and he was also responsible for checking for deficiencies in the Supervisory Temple.
The effect may not seem big, but in fact it is an indispensable means to stabilize the empire, especially spying on the family members, which allows him to grasp the trend of this group in a relatively timely manner.
As for someone who drinks too much and scolds him in private, or complains about other things, these are all trivial matters, and most of them are personal behaviors with little harm.
As long as the nobles don't get together, they won't pose much of a threat to the imperial power.
A recent major event is about the attitude of the nobles towards the imperial examination. The Military Intelligence Department has been investigating for two or three years, and the results are relatively optimistic. The resistance of the nobles is gradually disappearing, but they are still not willing to let the outstanding younger generations of their families enter various fields.
Studying in the academy.
If they want to break the elite educational ideology held by the nobles, the court must work harder.
Talents educated by a family will naturally put the honor and disgrace of the family first, which is different from those educated in academies.
In academies, students are taught that they must first be loyal to the emperor and love the country, and take the rise and fall of the world as their own responsibility. This is orthodox. The behavior of the aristocratic elites will greatly damage the national interests at some point, and at the same time, they will lose their respect for the imperial power.
For the Military Intelligence Department, this task is equivalent to a large-scale public opinion poll. The difficulties faced can be imagined, and the final conclusion is not very accurate.
One of the most direct results was the discovery of several malpractices in the imperial examinations...
Zhang Liang is very busy and has wanted to resign from his position in charge of the Military Intelligence Department several times. It seems that this guy is a little afraid of the difficulties. Zhang Liang has always been a smart person. He probably thinks that if this continues, his end may be miserable, so
There is an intention to abdicate and make way for talents.
After all, he joined the army as a minister of the Dragon or as a Sima in the emperor's dormitory for several years. His sentiments are different from others. With his merits, he can enjoy the glory and wealth in the position of minister of the Ministry of War. Why should he act like he is not a human being inside and outside?
Just the emperor's words made him wake up, "You said back then that you wanted to be a sharp sword in my hand, but now you want to hide it in its sheath. Do you want me to put you in a high cabinet?"
Zhang Liang, who was a little shaken in his thoughts, soon became honest. If a person like him was hung on the wall as a decoration, you can imagine the end.
It was not difficult for Li Po to handle smart guys like Zhang Liang who came out of the war in Henan, because most of them worked in gangs. When they broke away from the gang and were left alone, their bones were broken.
All brittle.
Unlike those nobles, they have family support behind them. No matter when the time comes, you have to think about the consequences if you want to deal with them.
An example can give a good understanding. For example, Wang Shichong in another time and space. When he and Dugu Ji were serving Yang Tong, Dugu secretly plotted to return to the Tang Dynasty. After the incident was revealed, Wang Shichong killed him.
When Wang Shichong was escorted to Kansai, Dugu Ji's son Dugu Xiude took the opportunity to kill Wang Shichong to avenge his father.
Look at what the nobles did, so if they were defeated, unless they fell into the hands of the peasant army, the people who killed them would have to be prepared for their revenge in the future.
If people like Zhang Liang die, there won't be so many sequelae. If someone clamors to avenge them, most of them have other motives.
The thieves in Henan are all afraid of death. There is no need to talk to them about ideals or ambitions. What they fear most is becoming useless people, because in the war-torn times in Henan, being useless means death.
There is a second result.
Even though Xu Shiji was wrong, even after he became the emperor's brother-in-law, he still wanted to go out and lead the army to fight. He said it was because of his reputation that he would leave a mark in history. In fact, he had a psychological shadow, and he was afraid that he would really become a coward.
Prince Consort.
Cheng Dabeard is another powerful example. Although he always blames the emperor in his heart for making him run around, if you leave him aside and ignore him, he will be very afraid and soon he will
Take the initiative to appear in front of you.
…………
The other two members of the Military Intelligence Department are Liu Chaozong and Xie Zheng.
Xie Zheng had been to the Turks and stayed there for a long time, so Xie Zheng was in charge of all the Turkic affairs of the Military Intelligence Department.
There has been considerable progress in these years. There are spies from the Military Intelligence Department in the Turkic Royal Court and some Turkic tribes near the south. Sometimes the news is delivered faster than the envoys from Honglu Temple.
It's just that the time of infiltration was short, and it was not enough to affect the political and military affairs of the Turks. Those Turks who were permanently stationed in Chang'an were bribed by them.
In Yunzhong Grassland, in places like Dali City, the Military Intelligence Department has already sent people to stay permanently, and they are fighting fiercely with the Dali City guard Ashina Luoheng.
If this continues, when the Tang Dynasty wants to regain Dingxiang County, it may not waste a single soldier, but the Turks themselves will become chaotic, and there will definitely be more than one or two people who want to surrender to the Tang Dynasty.
Liu Chaozong has just returned from the East China Sea a few days ago. The affairs he is responsible for are still creating convenient conditions for the army to fight. The Military Intelligence Department participated in the East China Sea war, but after all, they were fighting overseas and failed to play their due role.
became the logistics manager.
He managed the food, grass and baggage for the army, and also helped King Wu suppress the Baekje tribes who were preparing to move behind when the army marched north to attack Goguryeo.