The whining sound of the shakuhachi flute sounded, sometimes mixed with a few sounds of the transverse flute, and the rhythmic sound of the drum, the musician played the pipa, the palace maids danced, and some women sang softly.
"All the flowers are swaying, and they are blooming alone, taking over the charm of the small garden."
"The sparse shadows are slanting across the clear and shallow water, and the faint fragrance is floating in the moonlight at dusk."
Li Shan didn't care that this poem, which seemed to be from the Ming Dynasty, appeared in the Tang Dynasty. It was probably passed down to later generations because of this palace banquet, but he really felt that today's etiquette was a bit too much.
I'm not afraid of thinking too much, but I'm afraid of not being able to think of it... Li Shan had a smile on his face. He looked at Li Yuan who was sitting in the first place from time to time, and thought to himself, generally speaking, it might not be a good idea for an emperor to be so considerate to his ministers.
Signal.
But this time, Li Shanshi really thought too much. In his opinion, although the Eastern Turks were so powerful during the Wude period, they were destroyed in the early years of Zhenguan. In the following decades,
, Tuyuhun, Xue Yantuo, Western Turks, and Goguryeo successively perished, but Tubo was able to hold on because of its favorable terrain.
Therefore, in Li Shan's opinion, no matter how good the East Turks were, it was only their final glory. This was also a factor that gave him the courage to stir up trouble. Isn't there a second person in the court who wanted to cause civil strife in the Turks?
Of course not, it’s just that they are unwilling or afraid to do it.
As a time-traveler without personal experience, it is difficult for Li Yuan to understand the aggrievedness of having to bend under the hooves of Turkic horses for a long time. Such courtesy did not feel excessive to Li Yuan, and even the descendants of the clan and important officials in the court did not feel it was excessive.
In fact, in history, when he heard that the Eastern Turks had been destroyed and Jieli Khan was captured alive, Li Yuan went even further. He held a banquet for all the clan officials, and while he was drunk, he personally played the pipa. At that time, Emperor Taizong Li Shimin also danced in person... At that time
The venue of the banquet is Lingyan Pavilion.
The banquet lasted from afternoon to dusk. Li Shan was preceded by Li Xiaogong and followed by Li Daoxuan. The latter naturally did not need much. The former may be because of Li Jing, who was also very friendly to Li Shan and frequently tilted his head to talk.
Seeing that the banquet was about to end, Li Yuan, who was half drunk, stood up with a gold cup in his hand, staggered a few steps, and said with a smile: "Xi Huairen has been canonized as the county king... Huairen, for this great contribution, you should be rewarded, no matter what.
Just tell me!"
Many eyes were focused on the calm face of Li Shan. People such as Li Daoxuan, Princess Pingyang, Chai Shao, Chen Shuda and others were a little worried. Li Shimin even suspected that his father was probably drunk... In this case, once Li Shan said it,
, as the emperor’s father, would he not agree?
But what if Li Shan puts forward any difficult conditions?
Everything else is easy to say, but the most critical and difficult thing is how to arrange Li Shan's arrangements when he returns to the court... This has given Zhongshu Ling Yang Gongren, who is also the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, a headache.
Considering that Li Shan was a prince of the county, he had made such great achievements but invited himself back to the court... However, the number of officers and adjutants in the three provinces and six ministries was already sufficient, and other positions, including those in the temple, seemed a bit low.
Li Shan stood up and saluted, "I don't ask for anything else, I just ask the saint to give me money."
The hall was quiet for a moment, and several people frowned slightly. Loving money is not a shameful thing. Everyone knows that the prosperity of Daizhou lies largely in Xia City, but in this case, asking for money... is actually the best answer.
Don't want anything.
Li Yuan was dumbfounded. In fact, he regretted asking the question just now. Huairen was young after all, and if an embarrassing situation was caused, the banquet would be a bit messy.
But what surprised Li Yuan was that he actually reached out and asked for money... Li Yuan couldn't laugh or cry, and was speechless for a moment.
"Father, there are some rumors among the people." Li Shimin said with a smile: "They say that the King of Handan loves Aduwu the most."
Li Shimin turned to look at Li Shan, "Three defeats of the Turks, Jie Li and his son were defeated by you. How can you reward such a great achievement with money? Huairen's words are really unbearable..."
You can't really let your father reward you with money, right?
Such great achievements are difficult to reward for the time being, but they may not be rewarded in the future... Li Shimin thought in his mind that maybe he could use this as an excuse to push Li Shan to a key position in the future.
But before she finished speaking, Princess Pingyang stood up and said sternly: "Shut up!"
There was silence in the palace for a while, and the musicians also stopped playing. In the sight of everyone, Princess Pingyang, dressed in fine clothes, looked at Li Shimin and said loudly: "Huairen went to serve as a surrogate, prepare to build Xia City, open up trade routes, and relocate people. Among them, Xia
The market is quite profitable, and my father also knows it."
"With the income from Xia City, Huairen moved as many residents as possible, built houses, purchased farming tools, and distributed food rations to alleviate the pain of displacement."
"This time Huairen invites himself back to the court, and all the proceeds from Xia City will be distributed among the families of the fallen soldiers and the injured and disabled soldiers."
"Huairen asked his father to give him money, just to compensate the fallen bodyguards. Why is the third brother so contemptuous for this?!"
Li Yuan's daughter woke him up from his drink, and he quickly remembered that his daughter had mentioned the disposal of Xia Shi's income a long time ago, and even Xia Shi's monthly account books were sent.
In the battle of Guji Town, soldiers who died in the battle were given pensions by both the court and the central government. However, most of Li Shan's bodyguards did not join the army and followed Li Shan in a private capacity, such as the children of the powerful clans in Dai County and the young men of Sun Moon Lake.
, that is to say, the personal guards sent by Princess Pingyang twice were all in the army.
Those bodyguards who died in battle may not receive pensions from the imperial court... But this kind of thing also needs to be carried out by Daizhou. To put it more bluntly, it must pass the test of Li Jing, the general manager of Daizhou.
Li Yuan quickly figured out that whether it was a pension or a reward, there was no benefit, no matter how loyal the guards around him were...
Thinking of this, Li Yuan asked: "If you are a personal guard, why not ask for land?"
"If you don't serve as a soldier, don't ask for land." Li Shan said calmly, "This should be a lesson for the latter."
Li Yuan couldn't help but caressed the back of Li Shan's hand and sighed for a long time. Although the founding king was not like Li Shan, a time traveler who could see the decline of the imperial army a hundred years later, he was also very aware of the connection between the land and the imperial army.
For Li Yuan, what he admires most about Li Shan is that this young minister has a measured advance and retreat. He is in charge of the governor's office of the state. He is impartial to the two forces of the East Palace and the Prince of Qin's Palace, neither far nor near. The seizure of the army this time is also very important.
He grasped the scale well and didn't make things get out of hand.
After pondering for a moment, Li Yuancai said: "Give Handan King Li Huairen two hundred thousand coins."
Last year, it was 600 wen per pound of rice in Chang'an, but because Hedong was not broken by the Turks last year and this year, the price of rice in the customs dropped to more than 200 wen per pound of rice.
One hundred thousand dollars is equivalent to a thousand buckets of rice. If converted into wheat and millet, it would be a little more. Li Shan calculated in his mind that it would be about five tons of rice... He didn't know whether the secret warehouse of Dongshan Temple could be stuffed into it.
Everyone was very satisfied with this palace banquet in Lingyan Pavilion, but a few people were embarrassed.
For example, Li Shimin was scolded by his sister, Li Shan was scolded by his sister, Chai Shao was scolded by his wife...