Empress Changsun had a big belly and was talking to several ladies.
These people were Li Jing's wife Dai Guo's wife Zhang, his sister-in-law eldest grandson, and his niece and granddaughter Li Sanniang, the head of Yongle County, etc.
"The cherries this year are so beautiful, red as agate, shaped like beads, watery and sparkling, small and exquisite, and bright red." The nine-year-old Princess Changle County happily praised beside her mother, "The cherries donated by various families in Chang'an are still from the Wu family.
The best.”
Several noble ladies came into the palace today to offer cherries.
The Wu family has 3,000 cherry trees in Xiudefang, west of Chang'an City. There are various varieties, not only early-maturing varieties, but also grafted with peach, apricot, plum, pear and other trees to improve the taste, color, shape and size.
The cherries from the noble families in Chang'an are not ripe yet, but the ones from the Wu family are the first to ripen. As Princess Li Lizhi of Changle County said, these cherries are not only ripe early, but they are also as red and big as agate.
Queen Changsun looked at Li Qing, who also had a big belly, "Sanniang should be giving birth soon, right?"
"Giving birth this month,"
"I am also born in this month. Is your baby a boy or a girl?"
"Erlang said it was a girl."
"Same in my belly."
The two talked happily. This was the fifth child of the Empress Changsun. She had three sons and one daughter. Now she has a daughter. The Empress was very happy.
"They are two lovely girls, maybe they can even have children and in-laws," the queen said with a smile.
Li Lizhi said from the side, "Then let's be sisters. The county chief's aunt will also give me a younger sister."
······
When the emperor came to the Li Zheng Hall, his face was not very good. When he saw that the queen had guests here, he put on a smile.
Zhang Chuchen and others went to pay their respects to Li Shimin.
They are not strangers at all. Li Keshi's wife is the eldest son of Sun, who is the cousin of Li Shimin's wife. Li Sanniang was even recognized as his adopted sister and granted the title of Lord of Yongle County. Li Jing's wife Zhang Chuchen is of course no stranger either.
"The cherries from Xiudefang of the Wu family are ripe. Sanniang came here specially to deliver the cherries. She also brought a lot of fresh bamboo shoots, as well as the new Huzhou tea Gu Zhuzi bamboo shoots." The queen said with a smile.
"Aye, look at how beautiful these cherries are, big and red, and delicious. Please try it, Aye." Princess Changle County fed the cherries to her father with her own hands.
Li Shimin laughed and opened his mouth to take one. The flesh was tender, juicy, sweet and delicious.
It's April, the peach blossoms in Chang'an have all fallen, and the cherries are beginning to ripen.
This season is the time when the nobles go on outings and have cherry feasts to taste fresh bamboo shoots. It is also the time when the annual imperial examination results are released.
Even now, there are lively events every year to catch a son-in-law, and then there is the flower parade and the Qujiang Cherry Banquet for the newly admitted Jinshi, Ming Jing and other talented men named on the gold list.
"What you just said was so happy and laughing, I heard it from a distance outside."
Empress Changsun said that Li Sanniang was also pregnant with a girl, and the birth dates of the two were almost the same. She said that when the child was born, they would be sisters. The empress and Li Sanniang also recognized their children as goddaughters.
"Okay." Li Shimin smiled while eating cherries.
"Is Huaiyu okay at home?" Finally, the emperor asked Wu Huaiyu. Although this name made the emperor angry these days, the emperor gradually calmed down.
"Back to Your Majesty, Alang was impulsive. Now he feels deeply guilty and is thinking about his mistakes behind closed doors at home."
"Hmph." Li Shimin thought to himself, what is the impulsiveness that makes me think that I am Hou Junji and have no brains? He would not know the intention of Wu Huaiyu's thoughts and even Li Jing's slap.
Forget it, he didn't care too much about it.
If you really have to think about it, ten heads of these guys are not enough for him to chop off.
His wife had guests here, so Li Shimin didn't sit there much, and turned back to his palace, Ganlu Hall, with a basket of fresh cherries.
After eating just a few cherries, the waiter presented Wen Yanbo's rice wine and asked him to start playing.
The reason is that the political affairs hall is discussing the handling of the Turks again today. As a result, there are now six prime ministers left, but they have five opinions, making it difficult to argue.
Zhongshu ordered Wen Yanbo to invite the emperor to preside over the decision on this important military and state matter.
Li Shimin frowned, really couldn't relax for a moment.
"The Wude Hall listens to the government and invites all the prime ministers to come,"
After a pause, "Call the prince and young master Xiao Yu to come too."
"The six ministers have also been summoned."
Wude Hall,
When the emperor came in with the big basket of cherries, all the prime ministers arrived, as did Xiao Yu and the six ministers. At this time, they were already quarreling again and it was fierce.
"Gentlemen, these are early-ripening cherries this year, and they are a new variety. The cherries are big and sweet. Please give them a try."
The emperor asked his chamberlain to give cherries to the ministers, one plate per person.
The prime ministers took the lead in expressing gratitude and suspended their quarrels.
After eating cherries, the mood changed a bit.
"Tell me what's going on." Li Shimin rubbed his head.
Zuo Pushe Fang Xuanling stood up and said, "We defeated the Eastern Turks and captured Jieli Khan alive. We, the Tang Dynasty, have avenged our previous humiliation. However, now the Eastern Turks are in chaos. Some people have fled to the Mobei Tiele Xue Yantuo, and some have gone to the Western Regions to Gaochang, the Western Turks, etc."
, there are also those who went south to join us in the Tang Dynasty, and there are also those who still lead the troops to occupy Hetao, Modong and other places.
Regarding how to deal with these Turks, the political hall was still debating and asked the sage to make a decision."
Six prime ministers, five opinions on disposal,
It is simply difficult to reach agreement.
"Then come one by one,"
Wen Yanbo, please speak first.
"Your Majesty, the king's influence on all things has been overturned by heaven and earth, and everything has been left behind. Now that the Turks have come to me, how can I abandon them without caring...
Give them a livelihood, teach them etiquette and righteousness, and after a few years, they will become our people."
This prime minister, who had been captured by the Turks and herded sheep for more than a year, actually had the gentlest attitude towards the Turks. He said that he should be tolerant and kind and treat them as one of his own. The specific policy was to move them all to the interior of the Central Plains.
Go, let them stop being nomads chasing grass without a fixed abode, but teach them to cultivate the fields and teach them the etiquette of the Chinese Han family.
We will create households, pay taxes, and serve the people. In a few years, they will be assimilated by us and completely become our people of the Tang Dynasty. They will even become Han people in the future when they enter Xia.
Well, there is some basis for it. For example, the Han Dynasty, the Southern Xiongnu, and the Northern Wei Dynasty also had the Xianbei Tuoba. They started outside the Great Wall, and later went south to the Central Plains, and even unified the north, and took the initiative to sinicize. Nowadays, there is no Xianbei, unless they all become Zhu.
It's summer.
The eldest son of the court, Sun Wuji, used to be a Xianbei aristocrat, but now there is no shadow of the barbarian.
The Central Plains experienced the Sui Dynasty and the population was greatly reduced. Now the Turks are resettled inland. This can not only eliminate border troubles, but also increase the population and strength of the Tang Dynasty.
Li Shimin stroked his beard,
Wen Yanbo's opinions can be summed up in nine words: move to the interior, change farming, and be assimilated.
Faced with his suggestion,
Wei Zheng, the servant, sneered.
"Xiang Wen, the Turks have been bandits in the past, with human faces and beasts' hearts, and they are the enemies of the people. Fortunately, they are destroyed now. Your Majesty has surrendered them and cannot bear to kill them all. It is better to let them return to their homeland and not to stay in China.
The Rong and the Di are like beasts. Hundreds of thousands of them have surrendered now. In a few years, the number will be doubled. They will surely suffer from heart and stomach problems. We must not regret it."
Wei Zheng also gave an example. The five indiscriminate chaos in China and the painful lessons left only two to three million Han people in the north.
Almost destroyed the country and exterminated the species.
Of the two prime ministers, one said that the Turks should be moved to the interior for farming and assimilation, while the other said that the Turks were all white-eyed wolves and would be a trouble in the future and must not be allowed to stay.
Both of them cited an example. Wen Yanbo cited Xianbei Tuoba as the Sinicizer of the Northern Wei Dynasty, while Wei Zheng said that the Five Husties disrupted China and almost wiped out the Han race.
"You Pu She, what do you think?"
There were five opinions among the six prime ministers in the court, but one prime minister did not say anything, and that was Li Jing.
Li Jing slapped Hou Junji hard in the palace a few days ago, severing the teacher-student relationship with him, and was only fined twenty kilograms of copper afterwards.
However, when he entered the political hall and served as the right servant, he rarely spoke like Qin Qiong.
Everyone was quarreling, but he didn't say a word.
Now the emperor asked Li Jing directly.
"Your Majesty, I think what everyone said makes sense."
Li Jing still didn't say what he suggested.
"Zhang Liang?"
Zhang Liang, the imperial censor, came forward and said, "We still ask for the establishment of the Governor's Palace in Dingxiang to regulate the situation. Just like Wu Huaiyu's previous example of setting up the Governor's Palace in Anbei, this is also a long-term strategy for Anbian."
Zhang Liang’s policy is also quite good.
"Is this your idea?" Li Shimin asked.
"My lord, my lord, this was mentioned first by Li Baiyao, the minister of the Ministry of Rites," Zhang Liang did not dare to hide it. Li Baiyao is the Li family of Zhao County, and Zhang Liang has divorced his first wife and married the Li family of Zhao County.
The relationship between the Li family is very close.
"Li Baiyao, please tell me the specific method."
Li Baiyao stepped forward. He thought that Wu Huaiyu's previous treatment of Tuli's subordinates was worth learning. He still placed Jieli's tribe in the Dingxiang area and set up a governor's office directly there. For example, hadn't the saint already let Huaihua County
Wang Li Simo was appointed as the governor of Yunzhong. This arrangement was already very good. There was no need to relocate them to the interior within the Great Wall or rush to Mobei. They could just be left where they were to guard the border for the Tang Dynasty.
However, he also made some suggestions, that is, it is okay to let Li Simo be the governor of Yunzhong, but under the governor of Yunzhong, there should be multiple states, maybe six to ten states, and the large tribes can be split into two, and the small tribes can
Several unified states,
Each appointed a governor to achieve the purpose of dividing them and preventing them from uniting together.
Fang Xuanling adopted the suggestion of Yan Sigu, the minister of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, who believed that it was possible to divide the Turkic tribes, but they could not stay outside the Great Wall.
It is best to move them all to Hebei. Hebei's current population has been greatly reduced and it is in urgent need of population to restore production. The Turks can be treated like Li Tu Diji, Fuyu and other Mohe tribes.
The two Mohe tribes were attached, and the Tang Dynasty moved them from western Liaoning to Youzhou. Over the years, they have been loyal, farming and herding, and they are still elite warriors guarding the border of the imperial court. This Northern Expedition and the previous battle at Yehuling
, Zheng Beishan Xi and others also contributed a lot.
The suggestions of Yan Sugu and Li Baiyao both believed that the Turks could be accepted, but the various tribes should be divided. The difference was that one thought they should move to Hebei, while the other thought they should stay outside the Great Wall.
"Dai Zhou, what do you suggest?"
"Your Majesty, I agree with the suggestion of Dou Jing, the governor of Xiazhou. The nature of the Yi and Di is like an animal. Leaving China will do harm rather than gain. We should divide their land and analyze their tribes so that their power is divided among the weak and the weak, so that they can be controlled easily.
For the vassal state, we will always protect the frontier."
Dai Zhou and Dou Jing had the same attitude. They felt that the Turks could never be trusted. If they could not kill the snake, there would be endless dangers, so now they wanted to take advantage of his illness to kill him.
We should take the opportunity to sow discord, unite the weak and separate the strong, let the Turkic tribes attack each other and cause internal strife. The dead Turks are the best Turks.
Wen Yanboyan and Yan Sigu advocated moving inward to the Central Plains, Li Baiyao and Dou Jing advocated garrisoning at the frontier, and Wei Zheng believed that we should rush back outside the Great Wall.
As for how to deal with this issue, Wen Yanbo and Li Baiyao agreed and felt that they could be assimilated.
Wen Yanbo, Dou Jing, and Wei Zheng felt that it should be divided and conquered, and Li Baiyao also agreed.
Every minister has something to say.
Fang Xuanling supported Yan Sigu's move to Hebei, while Dai Zhou supported Dou Jing's plan to attack and lead to internal friction. Wei Zheng believed that he should go as far as he could and could not stay south of the desert.
While talking, the ministers started to quarrel again, and Li Shimin had a severe headache.
