His Majesty Li Er was sitting in his study, constantly flipping through the piles of official documents on his desk. Unexpectedly, the clouds had gathered outside the window and the cool breeze was blowing, but it could not dispel the gloom and irritability in his heart.
The Eastern Expedition ended in a tailspin. Although Goguryeo was finally overthrown and the empire's biggest concern on the northeastern frontier was solved, and there would be no worries about border dangers for the next hundred years, the final battle was fought by the navy. When hundreds of thousands of soldiers fought,
The army violently attacked Pingrang City for more than a month but returned without success. When they decided to give up this eastern expedition but were surrendered to Pingrang City by the navy, it meant that all the hidden contradictions would eventually break out.
Nowadays, not only the military aspect, but also the internal affairs also have big problems.
This Eastern Expedition can be said to have involved the entire nation. Not only the soldiers and food in Guanzhong were carried eastward, but even the rich lands in the south of the Yangtze River were almost completely evacuated. Now the hidden dangers have emerged. There is a lot of public opinion in various places in the south of the Yangtze River, the situation is unstable, and the families of the aristocratic families
Even ordinary people are complaining. In addition, floods in Guanzhong have destroyed countless fertile fields, houses, and towns. The number of victims is increasing day by day, and has accumulated to 200,000 people.
Guanzhong, known as the "Land of Abundance", has a population of only three million...
The first priority is disaster relief, otherwise once chaos breaks out in Guanzhong, the country will be unstable. But now that the national treasury is empty and Jiangnan is lacking, how to raise money and food to help the victims? Especially after the Guanlong Mutiny, the operation of the entire imperial court was once in vain and completely stagnated and collapsed.
If Fang Jun hadn't organized soldiers to participate in disaster relief under the banner of the royal family outside the city, there would have been a wave of tens of thousands of refugees in Guanzhong at this moment, either gathering people to cause trouble or attacking the town, and the entire empire center would be in chaos.
Even though he has been in charge of the empire for twenty years and has become familiar with handling various difficult government affairs, His Majesty Li Er still feels overwhelmed.
Every decision at this time is crucial. A slight mistake can easily lead to large-scale chaos. If we continue to implement the steps of easy storage...
Putting down the brush, His Majesty Li Er rubbed his brows and let out a long breath.
Outside the door, Wang Shoushi came in gently with a cup of hot tea. He first placed the tea cup on the desk, then took out a secret folding bag from his arms and presented it with both hands: "Your Majesty, these are the recent records of your highnesses.
"
His Majesty Li Er hummed, took a sip of tea first, then took the secret fold from Wang Shoushi's hand, opened it and looked at it carefully...
In fact, records of the words and deeds of several princes are submitted here every day. Wherever the princes go and who they meet, there are spies and spies everywhere who record them one by one.
At this critical moment, His Majesty Li Er must carefully grasp the movements of his sons in order to speculate on their psychology in order to choose the best one...
Of course, the two people who paid the most attention were the King of Wei and the King of Jin.
As legitimate sons, according to the rules of "Zongyi Succession", once Li Chengqian's throne is abolished, these two people are the most qualified candidates to succeed him. If you bypass these two people and directly give the throne to other concubines, it will not only violate
Rules, and it is easy to sow the seeds of disaster. It is absolutely not advisable unless it is a last resort.
As for the King of Wei and the King of Jin... His Majesty Li Er shook his head secretly, his eyes fixed on a line of words in the secret fold.
"The King of Jin first went to the Duke of Liang's Mansion, and then to the Prince of Wei's Mansion?"
"Your Majesty, that's right."
His Majesty Li Er frowned: "What did they talk about?" For some reason, since he returned from the Eastern Expedition, the two sons who were the closest to him suddenly became alienated, and even became submissive and trembling in front of him. What on earth is this?
Why?
And he always felt that once these two people took action in private, it would not be a good thing. Last time, the two people directly stated that they did not want to compete for reserves...
Wang Shoushi shook his head: "When they met each other in the Duke of Liang's Mansion and the Prince of Wei's Mansion, they both hid in the inner room and no one else was around. There is no way to know why they were talking about it."
In fact, the nails he planted in the Duke of Liang's Mansion never entered the core ranks. After the last encounter with the "Hundred Cavalry" massacre, most of the nails lurking in various places were removed, and it was difficult to grasp all the news in the Duke of Wei's Mansion.
However, in order to avoid His Majesty Li Er blaming him for his incompetence, he could only shirk that the two conversations were held in the inner room, rather than that the nails he had buried could not be approached at all...
His Majesty Li Er thought for a while, and since he didn't know the details, he could only put it aside for the time being.
After flipping through the secret fold, he asked again: "How is King Qi doing now? I asked you to bring him here last time, but why haven't you seen him yet?"
Wang Shoushi said: "His Royal Highness the King of Qi has always been in the Youtun Guard Camp. He locked himself in a tent and never took a step out or saw any outsiders. Even after the Prince of Jiangxia County took over the Youtun Guard
, and just said a few words through the window. The servant asked His Majesty King Qi to come here at your Majesty's order, but His Majesty King Qi said that he had committed an unforgivable crime and had no face to see Your Majesty. If Your Majesty wants to punish his crime,
I can give you a cup of poisonous wine and you won’t complain."
"Ho!"
His Majesty Li Er sneered and said sarcastically: "You have the courage to die now? When the kings of Wei and Jin refused to join forces with Guan Long, when Guan Long had no choice but to force him to stand up and succeed him as the crown prince, why didn't he rather die?
Disobey? Huh! This evil!"
Gu Jing/span was scolded and scolded, and he did hate that iron cannot be made into steel, but he also understood that under the circumstances at that time, he was greedy for life and feared death, so he could not criticize too much, not to mention that there was still a chance of becoming a prince or even a new emperor. Generally, he was not ambitious.
How can strong people resist?
In this way, it shows even more the value of Qingque and Pheasant slaves who would rather die than obey...
"Let him stay in the Youtunwei camp for some time. He is a useless thing."
"Here."
Wang Shoushi quickly accepted the order. He had no room to comment on this kind of matter. If he said the wrong thing, the consequences would be extremely serious...
His Majesty Li Er flipped through the dense fold again, then put it aside and knocked out Wang Shoushi.
After sitting for a while, she got up and returned to the harem and came to the place where Concubine Yang lived. Concubine Yang hurriedly ordered someone to make tea, then served His Majesty Li Er, took a bath, changed clothes, sat down in the side hall, and rubbed His Majesty Li Er.
He squeezed his shoulders and asked curiously: "It's still early, your Majesty has already finished handling the state affairs?"
His Majesty Li Er took a sip of tea, shook his head and said: "The national situation is difficult and the memorials are piling up like a mountain. How can it be finished? It's just that I feel a little tired, so I came to sit down and chat with you."
Concubine Yang couldn't help but be overjoyed. The women in the harem seemed to be rich and well-dressed, but in fact they had been pursuing the emperor's favor for eternity. It was rare that at her age she was still cared about by His Majesty. How could she not be happy?
The couple drank tea and chatted warmly in low voices.
After a while, His Majesty Li Er suddenly asked: "Sizi is already quite old, and several marriage proposals have failed. Do you have any suitable young men to recommend?"
When Concubine Yang heard this, she couldn't help but smile bitterly.
Princess Jinyang's marriage has long become a topic that the female family members in the palace cannot avoid. Who dares to rush to introduce the marriage? The young Junyan, Qiu Shenji back then, and Wei Zhengju not long ago were all the same.
She has a majestic appearance and outstanding talents, but... now that Princess Jinyang is mentioned, whose young man dares to covet her?
After all, in everyone's eyes, Princess Jinyang has already become Fang Er's forbidden love. No one dares to touch her, otherwise she will end up in a terrible situation, or even have a good death...
But when His Majesty asked this question, he could not avoid answering, so he said warmly: "Although His Highness Jinyang is old enough for marriage, his body is weak after all, so it is better to raise him for another two years, otherwise he will have children after getting married.
, the risk is too great... As for the prince-in-law, you have to choose from thousands of choices, and you must not wrong Jinyang."
His Majesty Li Er took a sip of tea with some depression. How could he not know the reason why Si Zi's marriage was difficult?
Although Fang Er never said or acted beyond the distance, Si Zi could not hide his thoughts from his father, so he naturally hated Fang Er as the culprit. But now that Guo has taken away Fang Jun's military power, if it happens again
If he continues to impose punishments, not only will the outside world talk about his "harsh treatment of meritorious service", but he himself will also find it difficult to take action... After all, Fang Jun's meritorious service is really there, and His Majesty Li Er cannot turn a blind eye no matter how angry he is.
He sighed and said helplessly: "Okay, anyway, please be considerate. Now that there is no owner in the palace, you have to take care of it. Don't be afraid of offending others. I will make the decision for you."
Concubine Yang responded softly: "Your Majesty, don't worry, I know what to do."
Since the funeral of Queen Wende, there is no queen in the palace anymore, so all affairs are inevitably in chaos. Originally, Concubine Wei was the highest-ranking concubine, but after the Guanlong uprising, the Wei family added fuel to the fire and acted as an aide, which angered His Majesty Li Er.
The main task naturally fell on Concubine Yang.
As a woman in the palace, who doesn't want to occupy the throne of the phoenix and have the mother's honor in the world? It's just that Concubine Yang and His Majesty Li Er, a young couple, have the same feelings for each other, so they never ask for the position of the main palace.
His Majesty Li Er asked again: "Can Ke'er give you a letter? This boy went out to Silla, probably because he was resentful of me. Apart from greetings during the New Year and festivals, there was not even a letter telling you about home affairs. Alas,
I feel very disappointed."
Concubine Yang hurriedly got up and went to the inner room to take out a few letters from Li Ke, put them on the table and said: "Ke'er received a letter not long ago, saying that Goguryeo was destroyed and many members of the Yuan clan were on the run.
When it comes to Silla, the situation is extremely urgent, so the army is being mobilized to suppress riots everywhere..."
As he spoke, he couldn't help but shed tears: "Ke'er grew up in a deep palace since he was a child, and he couldn't bear the slightest hardship. But now he is working hard in a barbarian land thousands of miles away. I don't know if he has become darker or thinner. If he gets sick,
Will there be an imperial doctor with excellent medical skills by my side... Wow, I am really incompetent as a mother."
When she cried like this, His Majesty Li Er's dissatisfaction with Li Ke immediately disappeared, leaving only endless pity. He quickly took Concubine Yang's hand and comforted her with gentle words: "A man with ambitions in all directions, how can he be imprisoned in a small area?"
In the country, fell into a land of gentleness? Ke'er is a vassal of the country, and the empire will never forget his merits. Furthermore, although the land of Silla is remote, it is definitely not a barbaric and desolate place. Now that the navy has opened up waterways, it has become more and more popular.
More and more merchants from the Tang Dynasty came by boat to do business, and the place was no less prosperous than the capitals along the coast of the Tang Dynasty."
When he said this, his heart moved. He wanted to feudalize the world to achieve the goal of permanently consolidating the Tang Dynasty. However, he was blocked midway and gradually gave up on it over the years. Letting Li Ke go to Silla to serve as a vassal for the country was a trade-off.
It was a plan, but now it seems that the results are good. It prevents brothers from fighting for the throne and creates a powerful vassal state around the Tang Dynasty... Why not continue to follow this method?