‘If you receive orders from Heaven, you will live forever’
In the Tai Chi Palace, Li Shimin held the gold-inlaid jade imperial seal in his hand, his face flushed with excitement, and all the prime ministers, ministers, and bachelors came to examine it carefully.
"Four inches in radius, five dragons intersecting the button, insect and bird seal characters, one corner of the seal broken, inlaid with gold,
Your Majesty, this seal is the imperial seal made by Prime Minister Li Si using He's jade after Qin Shihuang unified the world and became the First Emperor. It is a true divinely authorized, orthodox and legal token of imperial power passed down from generation to generation.
This seal has been passed down from generation to generation, from Qin, Han, Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties to Sui and Tang Dynasties, for more than 800 years."
Attendant Wei Zheng looked at the Fang Yuxi and trembled with excitement.
"God bless my Tang Dynasty, God bless my emperor!"
All the old scholars also confirmed that this square jade seal is the national jade seal.
Secretary Shaojian, Crown Prince's Right Concubine, Bachelor of Hongwen Hall, and Prince of Yongxing County, Yu Shinan bowed around his waist and looked at the jade seal for a long time.
The empress cast her seal on the steps of the palace, which was later inlaid with gold.
Your Majesty, please look at this shoulder again, you can still vaguely see some writing."
Li Shimin lowered his head and took a closer look. It seemed that there were words on it.
"This is?"
"Your Majesty, it is recorded in history that the imperial seal was lost to Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty. Sun Jian found it in a well and passed it on to Sun Quan. After the Wei Dynasty destroyed Wu, it returned to the Wei Dynasty.
On the shoulder of Emperor Wen of the Wei Dynasty, it is said, "The great Wei Dynasty received the national treasure handed down from the Han Dynasty." This line has been blurred, probably removed by later kings, but a little bit can still be seen."
This further proves that this jade seal is the traditional national jade seal inlaid with gold and jade.
After Li Yuan became emperor, he failed to obtain the imperial seal, so he had to ask craftsmen to carve several jade seals such as the fortune-telling treasure and the destiny treasure to comfort himself.
This square jade seal looks damaged, but its symbolic meaning is incredible.
Li Shimin then happily announced that the imperial seal was returned to the Tang Dynasty, as it was destiny.
It is emphasized that we should still respect the two kings of Zhou and Sui. After the two kings, the etiquette should be respected, the state guests should be respected, the officials should be ordered, the state officials should be appointed, and the temples should be built.
The so-called queen of the two kings is also called two kings and three Kes. Zhou conquered the world, granted the title of two queens of Xia and Yin, and also granted the title of queen of Shun, which is called Keye. Before the two kings, only one generation was established. Since the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the Zen throne has become the mainstream of dynasty succession.
According to this model, each new dynasty established the names of two kings and three lords to treat and deal with the last emperor of the previous dynasty, and treated him as a state guest, which was also to emphasize the legitimacy of the inheritance of the throne of the dynasty.
The Wude Dynasty of the Tang Dynasty was established, and two kings were enfeoffed. They only respected two generations. Li Yuan said that he would take Ju as the town, and serve the Sui Emperor as the Duke. When traveling to Zhengshuo in the Sui Dynasty, the carriages, flags, and colors were still the same. One was still the Duke of the Zhou Dynasty, and there were two in total.
queen.
Emperor Gong of the Sui Dynasty, Yang Youchan, sat behind Li Yuan and was granted the title of Duke of the Kingdom of Jin. He died of illness the next year at the age of fifteen and had no children. He succeeded his nephew Yang Xingji as the Duke of the Kingdom of Jin.
After Li Shimin once again reiterated his respect for the two kings of Zhou and Sui, it also represented that Li Tang believed that his Shuo tradition was inherited from the Northern Zhou and Sui Dynasties. The Northern Zhou Dynasty conferred the title of Duke of Song on the Emperor Wei, indicating that its history was derived from the Western Wei Dynasty.
Qin, Han, Wei, Western Jin, Northern Wei, Western Wei, Northern Zhou, Sui, and Tang. This is the official Zhengshuo inheritance of the Tang Dynasty.
There is no such thing as the Five Hus and Sixteen Kingdoms, the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Southern Dynasties.
Not to mention people like Yu Wenhuaji, Wang Shichong, Dou Jiande, and Li Mi.
In the Sui and Yang Dynasties, Yang Xingji inherited the incense and was granted the title of Duke of Jin. However, Yang Zhengdao returned to the Tang Dynasty and also presented the seal for his merits. Li Shimin had previously given him the title of Sanqi Shilang, a member of the fifth rank. Now he was happy and granted him the title of Yuzhang.
County Marquis.
Looking at the jade seal placed on the royal desk, Li Shimin's eyes shone and he couldn't look away.
"In this Northern Expedition, we sent out six troops, but only three of them defeated the Eastern Turks and even captured Jieli alive," Li Shimin couldn't help laughing happily as he said it,
"Li Jing, Wu Huaiyu, Li Ji and other soldiers of the Northern Expedition will all be heavily rewarded."
As soon as the emperor finished speaking, the prince's young master Xiao Yu stood up and said, "Your Majesty, Xiao Yu wanted to impeach Li Jingwu Huaiyu, but the imperial army was helpless and robbed the treasures of the Turkic Khan's court. They also blatantly disobeyed the imperial edict, assembled and mobilized troops without authorization, and even secretly divided and seized the treasures.
Livestock and property were given to innocent people without permission, especially Wu Huaiyu, who took the lead in taking treasures privately..."
Xiao Yu was also the prime minister of the two dynasties.
In the Zhenguan Dynasty, it was three times to pay three respects. Now he only has the position of Prince and Young Master. He has been resting at home for a long time. Today is also because he is happy to get the imperial seal. The emperor asked him to come because of him.
I went to welcome Yang Zhengdao, Empress Xiao, and brought back the jade seal. I also asked him to come together to verify the authenticity of the jade seal.
No one would have thought that Mr. Niao, in such a happy moment, would suddenly impeach Li Jingwu, Huaiyu and his students, and directly impeach the head coach and deputy head coach of the Northern Expedition.
The charges of impeachment are not small.
Li Shimin pondered.
Zhongshu ordered Wen Yanbo to also stand up.
"Your Majesty, I have also heard about the impeachment of the prince's young master. After Yuchi Gong led his army to attack Dingxiang, the military discipline of his army was ruined. Many of the goods and treasures of the Khan Court were looted by the soldiers. Later, in the battle of Baidaochuan,
Nearly 200,000 Turkic troops were defeated when they retreated north, countless miscellaneous animals were captured, and more than 100,000 prisoners were taken.
Wu Huaiyu was good at making opinions and took the lead in privately dividing the seized property and livestock. He even made more than 100,000 captive men and women directly into slaves and privately distributed them to the army's generals.
When Jieli Qikou asked for surrender, Wu Huaiyu ignored the fact that His Majesty had accepted the surrender and had sent Tang Jian and others as envoys, and still sent troops to attack without any regard for the lives of Tang Jian and other envoys.
Afterwards, more than 50,000 prisoners were taken into custody in Jie Liyu Valley, and all of them were secretly kept as slaves and rewarded among the soldiers..."
There was the impeachment of Xiao Yu, followed by the impeachment of Zhongshu Ling.
The atmosphere in the palace immediately became a little tense.
Li Shimin didn't speak.
"Your Majesty, Li Jing, Wu Huaiyu, Yuchi Gong, Su Lie, Xue Wanshu, Li Keshi, Li Ji and other generals have indeed made meritorious deeds in the Northern Expedition, but merit is merit and fault is merit. If in the future our soldiers in the Tang Dynasty are as lawless as them
, then it’s okay?”
"They captured more than 200,000 Turkic men and women. They were so audacious. Why did they dare to directly make slaves without permission and distribute rewards to soldiers as slaves?"
"This is a very bad start and must be held accountable!"
When these two people started, there was a big argument in the palace.
Wen Yanbo and Xiao Yu believed that the case should be investigated and tried in accordance with the law, and those found guilty should be punished.
However, Sun Wuji, the head of the Third Department of Kaifu Yitong, believes that he cannot explain to the world whether he will be rewarded for his merits. If he is punished for his merits but not rewarded, who in the world can believe him?
Who will work for the imperial court in the future?
Hou Junji blushed and joined the big debate. He was very active and loud. He was in favor of the investigation. He did not directly say that they were guilty, but said that the three judicial departments should be sent to jointly investigate and find out the truth. If there is no
The meritorious officials must not be wronged, and he said that he believed in his teacher Li Jing, senior brothers Su Lie, and Wu Huaiyu,
This guy also deliberately talked about his teacher and senior brother in a very serious way, for fear that others would not pay attention to the teacher-student relationship between Li Jingwu, Huaiyu and Su Lie, the three meritorious generals of the Northern Expedition.
"Your Majesty, it is appropriate for you to be a king who remembers the merits of others and forgets the merits of others." The prince's right concubine, Ma Zhou, came out to organize books and serve on the censor and admonish the officials. "Although I and Wu Huaiyu are relatives of uncle Lang, today I am here
I have to say a few words in the palace."
"Wang Jun, the general of Jin Dynasty Longxiang, was successful in defeating Wu but embezzled Sun Hao's property. Emperor Wu not only refused to punish him, but instead worshiped Wang Jun as the general of the auxiliary country.
Your Majesty, Huang Shigong’s art of war also includes the principle of making enemies greedy. Your Majesty should learn to be a sage by abandoning others’ shortcomings and taking advantage of others’ strengths.”
"As for the crimes of the Northern Expedition generals impeached by Prince Xiao and Wen Zhongshu Ling, I think there are mainly three crimes. The first is that they mobilized their troops without asking the sage's court for permission, especially the attack on Qikou. However, the Northern Expedition was far away.
Thousands of miles away, the fighter plane disappears in a blink of an eye. How can you ask for everything and wait for a reply?
In the Qikou incident, although Jie Li asked to surrender, judging from the aftermath, Tang Jian went to summon Jie Li to join the court, but Jie Li falsely claimed that he was injured and refused to join the court. Instead, he secretly gathered troops and harassed them. If Li Jingwu, Huaiyu and others had not been decisive
We sent out troops to attack Qikou Jieli's camp in one fell swoop and went deep into the desert to capture Jieli. If the Northern Expedition could not succeed, what's the mistake?"
"As for Yuchi Gong and Su Dingfang, they were unable to defend the army and their subordinates looted property. This is also a very common thing during the war. In the battle of Dingxiang, Yuchi Gong's five thousand cavalry defeated the Khan's court. In the battle of Bai Daochuan, two generals and ten thousand cavalry were defeated.
Defeating 200,000 people, such a great achievement, it is normal to have some flaws."
"It is said that Li Jingwu Huaiyu secretly divided the spoils of war and distributed them to innocent people. This minister feels that they did not do anything wrong. There is always a set of rules for the disposal of spoils of war in the army...
Those Turkic captives are not innocent people. They are not our subjects of the Tang Dynasty, but foreign barbarians. They were enemies who repeatedly invaded our Tang Dynasty in the past few years, killing and plundering. Now that they have defeated the captives, they deserve to be
I'm not a slave, what's the problem?
Do we need to support them?"
"Wen Zhongshu ordered that in the seventh year of Wude's war, he was defeated and captured. The Turks did not take the husband captive back to the grassland, but also allowed him to herd sheep for more than a year. If the saint had not redeemed him, he would still be herding sheep in the grassland. Why should he be so kind to the Turks?
Are you welcome?"
"I heard that neither Li Jing, Wu Huaiyu, Li Ji, nor other generals such as Yuchi Gong, Su Lie, Xue Wanshu, Li Keshi, etc., did not take treasures, money or goods privately,"
Hou Junji interjected, "How did I hear that they divided a lot of livestock, cattle, sheep and slaves? Did they pick them up on the grassland?"
"Xiang Xiang, what I said is that I didn't take it privately. The Northern Expedition soldiers did divide the captured livestock and the captive population, but they were all accounted for and distributed according to merit. The generals neither took it privately nor took more.
As generals, they are also members of the Northern Expeditionary Army. They just get their share according to the rules. There is no problem. In other words, if they don't get their share as generals, what about the soldiers below?
take?"
Ma Zhou reminded the emperor that the Northern Expedition was successfully completed and even exceeded expectations. The soldiers fought very well. The soldiers destroyed the East in one fell swoop with extremely low casualties, in a very short period of time, and with a very small expenditure on food, grass and equipment.
The Turks captured Jieli Khan alive,
"In total, more than 30,000 people were beheaded, and nearly 300,000 men and women were captured, and hundreds of thousands of miscellaneous animals were captured. Yu Sheshe, Sha Boluo Khan and others all asked to surrender. The Eastern Turks have been completely destroyed. With such a great achievement, how can you deliberately pick the eggs?
bone?
What's more, they didn't get all their share. The fine war horses, captured weapons, armor, bows, and young slaves, as well as a lot of property, were all registered, packed, sealed, and transported to Beijing to be returned to the imperial court.
Ma Zhou's defense of his brother-in-law really made the palace quiet down.
Li Shimin stood up and said slowly, "In the past, Sui Dynasty general Shi Wansui defeated the Turks. He had merit but was not rewarded. Instead, he was sentenced to death for some mistakes.
I can't do this. I asked Hou Junji to lead the Three Laws Division to investigate the crimes that Mr. Wen and Mr. Xiao mentioned, but no matter what the outcome, I don't want to pursue them.
I want to record the merits of the soldiers of the Northern Expedition."
"The Ministry of War and other departments will immediately record the merits and deeds of the soldiers in this Northern Expedition and assess the rewards."
"The property, livestock, and slaves obtained by the soldiers of the Northern Expedition outside the Great Wall, whether they were rewarded by Wu Huaiyu or captured on the battlefield, still belong to them, and there is no need to pursue them."
