In the Right Prime Minister's Mansion, Yu Wenji called late at night.
After Wang Xian's fall, all major events inside and outside the palace were in the hands of Yu Wenji.
When the new emperor came to the throne, many things happened.
Yu Wenji summoned the ministers to discuss matters, and what they discussed was the intensifying banditry in various states.
From south to north, there are bandits almost everywhere. Among them, Xizhou, Youzhou, Liaozhou and other places are the most serious.
Yu Wenji's Right Prime Minister's Mansion suddenly became the new political center of the divine capital.
After receiving the notice, ministers, ministers and other ministers from various ministries hurriedly gathered.
Yu Wenji sat at the head of the table, and most of the ministers below him remained silent, waiting for the right minister to speak.
"The Prime Minister is here!"
Not long after, Ouyang Zeng also came to the scene.
To everyone's surprise, Ouyang Zeng wore a white mourning dress and was still wearing mourning for the late emperor.
This kind of attire looks out of place compared to everyone else's brocade and satin clothes.
Many people internally cursed Ouyang Zeng for pretending to be a bitch and were very disdainful.
After Yu Wenji saw him, his expression was as usual and he invited Ouyang Zeng to sit down.
Afterwards, the civil servants began to discuss family and country affairs.
Later in the discussion, it was about the major matter of suppressing bandits in each state.
"To suppress bandits, we need money and people. Now that the imperial court is exhausted, we have to reduce the imperial army. We have no money and not many people. How can we quell the chaos in the world?"
The person who spoke was the current Minister of Household Affairs, Ding Hong, who strongly opposed the reduction of the imperial army.
He was the one who complained about the lack of money in the treasury before, and now he is the one who opposes reducing the number of imperial troops.
Many ministers were confused by him and did not know whether the treasury had any money.
"I agree with what Mr. Ding said. If we don't have money, we can find ways to earn it. At worst, the families in Shendu will have to live in tight conditions for a few days. They can donate some to help the court tide over the difficulties. But if the people are gone, we will not want to cultivate such elite teachers in the future.
, it cannot be achieved in a short period of time.”
Some people even agreed with Ding Hong's point of view and rushed forward with the Minister of Household Affairs.
Seeing that he was from the Xiaohan Clan, the expressions of many ministers present changed.
Is it appropriate to take money from the pockets of major families?
The reason why the city of God is still somewhat stable now is because the major families follow the imperial court, and many families are actually the families of imperial officials. Taking money from the family is equivalent to taking money from their pockets, which is inappropriate.
Someone immediately retorted: "No!"
"Now that the national treasury is tight, we have to rely on the big households to pay taxes in the coming year. If we drive all the big households in Shendu City into chaos, then Shendu City will be completely in chaos. Then the gains will outweigh the losses, and it will be even worse."
This sounds somewhat reasonable.
Both sides had different opinions, and suddenly the lobby became very noisy.
Ouyang Zeng didn't speak, but Yu Wenji felt his head hurt when he heard it. He slapped the table and stopped everyone's meaningless quarrel: "Okay, let's leave this matter alone for now."
Seeing that the right minister was angry, everyone immediately shut up and said nothing.
Yu Wenji continued: "Today when I call you here, I have to discuss the banditry in various states first. Nowadays, there are big bandits in Xizhou, Youzhou, Liaozhou and other places attacking cities and territories, disturbing the peace of various states. What can be done?"
The number one thief in Xizhou is named Tao Mingwen. He has a very elegant name, but he does such a treacherous and unethical thing.
Since Tao Mingwen launched his army, many rebel groups have responded to the rebellion in Xizhou. Tao Mingwen himself is known as the "Sky-high General" and has set up official offices, which has swept Xizhou.
The big bandits in Liaozhou and Youzhou are actually the same group of people, but their active areas span the two states.
His name was Li Xingxi, who also led tens of thousands of troops and marched across the two states, as if he wanted to overthrow the political power of the two states. The two states of You and Liao were in emergency and asked the imperial court for help.
"Xizhou is suffering from repeated disasters caused by the Qiang disaster, which has led to people's livelihood being in dire straits."
"But in Youzhou and Liaozhou, floods and droughts occurred last year. The wheat harvest was only half-harvested, and there were almost no crops in the autumn. As a result, the people were homeless and had nowhere to complain."
Natural and man-made disasters have led to turmoil on the border.
When Yu Wenji told all these things, many ministers were very worried.
The empire is in decline, and the topic is too heavy.
However, I am still somewhat lucky. These places are too far away from the capital of God. Even Xizhou is actually thousands of miles away from the capital of God.
And Youzhou is further away, at least thousands of miles away.
Everyone was silent, waiting for Yu Wenji's arrangements and instructions.
After Yu Wenji revealed the actual situation, he talked about the decree to reduce the imperial army.
"The Forbidden Army system in the City of Gods is complex, with too many bureaucracies and too much salary. The City of Gods is stable and there is no need for so many Imperial Guards to guard it. Reducing the number of Forbidden Army in the City of Gods is a must-do."
"All the reduced imperial troops will be sent to the various states to suppress the rebellion."
"Among them, in places such as Xizhou and Youzhou, where banditry is serious, they must be led by generals with heavy titles from the imperial court."
Yu Wenji said it word by word, which is equivalent to taking over the general's job.
None of the ministers objected, and the scene was very quiet.
Finally, Ouyang Zeng, who was still dressed in white, spoke: "In the opinion of the right minister, who is more suitable to lead the army?"
Yu Wenji said: "General Cao Su of Pingxi has elite cavalry under his command. He has returned from Xizhou to quell the rebellion, so he can serve as the commander-in-chief of Pingxi."
Yu Wenji named a general.
Cao Su's name is relatively unfamiliar to everyone.
However, several people who had received calligraphy and paintings in the late emperor's study immediately remembered the late emperor's "preference" for this young general. Almost with a poem "expressing loyalty", this general came into the late emperor's sight.
Among them, and being so young, if the late emperor had not passed away, he would have continued to rise to high positions in the future.
When Yu Wenji found out about this person, all the ministers felt that he was more suitable.
Because just before the chaos in Shendu, Cao Su returned from Xizhou to suppress the rebellion, defeated the demon tribe, defeated the Qiang tribe, and destroyed another peasant uprising army, so it should not be a big problem.
And this person is very loyal, so it would be best to go out to fight the rebellion.
But after Yu Wenji carried this man out, some people immediately opposed him.
A minister from the Ministry of Rites came out and said bluntly: "Cao Pingxi's ability is certainly no problem, but this person comes from a humble background. How can he hold a big position?"
"Furthermore, I heard that Cao Su has close relations with the wealthy gentry of Xizhou and the Northern Liang royal family. Is it inappropriate to go to Xizhou this time?"
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! The King of Beiliang has just fallen, and the prince Wen Tianxiao of the Beiliang King was reduced to one rank in accordance with the clan rules, and was named the Duke of Liang.
Beiliang, if there is no order from the emperor, one will never be able to step out of Beiliang.
Although it is still considered a royal family, after the title is reduced, his heirs will be awarded lower and lower titles in the future.
The question raised by the Minister of Rites was very pointed, and it made many ministers think it was reasonable. Even Yu Wenji frowned.
Originally, he thought that Cao Su was the best general candidate to pacify Xizhou.
He took a deep look at the minister: "Jiang Xin, in your opinion, who is the most suitable general to pacify Xizhou?"
Jiang Xin was not polite and directly stated the candidate he recommended: "I would like to recommend Zhu Ming, the defender of Xiguan and the general of Zhendong. General Zhu was deeply trusted by the late emperor. He served as the left guard commander of the Yulin Army and the captain of the middle base, with great military exploits.
He is impressive, has outstanding abilities, and is really a good general who can pacify Xizhou."
Zhu Ming was even more low-key than Cao Su. When he was a lieutenant in the middle camp, he had some interactions with many ministers.
However, this man was always silent and did his work silently. The late emperor trusted him very much and arranged for him to guard Xiguan when he was dying.
Yu Wenji nodded: "Zhu Ming is also suitable, but if Zhu Ming wants to leave, he must take part of the forbidden army with him, otherwise it will not be of any help to my policy of reducing the army."
Yu Wenji doesn't care who goes to quell the chaos.
He just happened to think of the innocent Cao Su. Now that there was a general whose conditions were not as good as Cao Su's, it would be okay to change someone to go to Xizhou to quell the rebellion.
"What about Youzhou?"
It’s not just that someone has pacified Guangxizhou, someone should also go to Youzhou.
The civil servants were discussing the rebellion in Youzhou, which was thousands of miles away. Thinking about it, it seemed that the journey was far away.
"Young people can endure hardships. Cao Su is from the south and has never been to the north. You can let him go to Youzhou to quell the chaos."
"In addition, he has many cavalry under his command, and there are many plains in Youzhou, which are suitable for cavalry operations." The minister just now spoke again. Jiang Xin from the Ministry of Rites looked like he wanted to transfer Cao Su to the wild frontier.
However, everything he said was reasonable and reasonable, and he even analyzed it from the perspective of the art of war, leaving no one with any objections.
Yu Wenji also thought it was okay. The big bandit in Youzhou and Liaozhou was said to be powerful and not weaker than the Wanping Army back then. Cao Su was victorious in every battle, so it was most appropriate for him to use his elite cavalry to quell the rebellion.
The only thing he finds troublesome now is how to convince Cao Su?
Although he could directly order Cao Su to be transferred, Yu Wenji did not want to fall into the trap of being a dictatorship, not to mention that Cao Su was a popular figure in front of the general.
Now I feel like I can secretly remove the general's wings before he wakes up.