Seeing that he was helpless, Pang Gong put the chess pieces in his hands back into the chess basket and sighed softly: "I'm old."
Li Linfu played with the chess pieces in his hand and asked, "Is there something on Mr. Pang's mind?"
Pang Gong glanced at the other party: "Aren't you the same?"
Li Linfu said with a smile: "But the worries will return to the court?"
Pang Gong simply made his words clear: "There is a letter in the palace. The saint has drafted an imperial edict for Wang Zhongsi to return to the court and become the prime minister. We are just waiting for the ceremony of presenting the prisoners to be completed."
Li Linfu slowly put down the chess piece in his hand and said: "Prisoner Zuo, please be patient, there is no way Wang Zhongsi will return to the throne."
Pang Gong was stunned: "Why are you so sure?"
Li Linfu: "I don't know who the saint was bewitched to have the idea of becoming a general or a general. But with a little reminder, the saint can remember the benefits and risks and withdraw his fate."
Pang Gong: "You have a plan, can you persuade the saint to change his mind?"
Li Linfu smiled and nodded.
Pang Gong pondered for a moment and asked, "But do you want our family to help?"
Li Linfu shook his head and said: "Why does Mr. Pang need to come forward for such a trivial matter? Wang Zhongsi can find a servant at the banquet and do a small trick."
Pang Gong was a little disbelieving when he heard this: "Is it so simple?"
Li Linfu: "It's that simple."
Pang Gong stared at Li Linfu for a while, and when he saw that Li Linfu didn't seem to be hypocritical, he said, "This is easy, let's arrange it."
Li Linfu said happily: "Pang Gong is willing to help, so I can rest assured."
After agreeing on this matter, Li Linfu immediately felt relaxed and started chatting with Mr. Pang.
In the middle, Li Linfu accidentally talked about the braised fish with spring bamboo shoots that he had eaten for the first time in Bachuan. He couldn't help but admired: "Ever since I ate that braised fish in Zuo Prison, I have never forgotten it. When I went back, I asked the cook to cook more
I tried a lot, but I couldn't get the taste."
Hearing this, Pang Gong smiled and said, "That cooking method is Erlang's original creation."
Li Linfu was stunned: "Did Zhou Lang come up with that cooking method?"
Pang Gong: "Our cart, the handrails installed outside, and the slope beside the steps of the pavilion were all Erlang's ideas."
When Li Linfu heard this, he turned around, first glanced at Zhou Jun who was bowing his head and said nothing, then turned back to Pang Gong and said, "Zhou Zhoulang really has the trust of Pang Gong."
Pang Gong: "It's not just our family. In this villa, there are refugees who have received Erlang's kindness, as well as miscellaneous households who have been taken care of on weekdays. When I mention him, they are full of praise."
When Li Linfu heard this, he was a little surprised and looked thoughtful.
After talking to Mr. Pang for a while, Li Linfu stood up and said he wanted to take a look at the villa.
Pang Gong had trouble traveling, so he asked Zhou Jun to accompany him.
Zhou Jun accompanied Li Linfu to the lakeside of the inner garden and stood among the waterside pavilions and flowers, looking at the lakes and mountains of Bachuan.
Li Linfu looked at the scenery in the distance and sighed: "I was in a hurry last time and didn't take a close look at the scenery here."
Li Linfu sighed for a while and suddenly asked Zhou Jun: "Erlang, you once went to Mobei with Shuofang's army. What do you think of the Tang Dynasty's border war?"
When Zhou Jun heard this, he didn't know what Li Linfu meant, so he just replied cautiously: "The great power of the Tang Dynasty, the Rong Yi and the Barbarians, bowed their heads and proclaimed themselves ministers."
Li Linfu shook his head and said: "The frontier army is difficult and under bad control. Those ministers who have served as military governors have seen the prosperity of Chang'an, Luoyang and other places. Most of them are focused on the south of the capital and are slacking off on military affairs."
"Li also moved to Longyou and was appointed as the governor of Hexi Province. From the time he arrived in the jurisdiction, there was not a day when he did not miss Chang'an."
"On the contrary, local Tibetan generals are native-born and can take root in the border areas, gather local strength, and resist foreign invasion."
Hearing this, Zhou Jun was shocked.
But he knew clearly that what Li Linfu was saying now was exactly his intention to replace the imperial generals with Tibetan generals and serve as Jiedushi envoys to control the border troops.
Zhou Jun quickly raised his hands and said to Li Linfu: "Prime Minister Li, there may be something wrong with this move."
Seeing the shocked expression on Li Linfu's face, Zhou Jun knew that although his next words might arouse the former's dissatisfaction, in order to prevent the Anshi Rebellion ten years later, he could not care less.
I only heard Zhou Jun say: "The Tibetan generals were born in a bad land and were barbaric. Seeing that there was no hope of promotion in the court, they could only form cliques for personal gain and use the border troops as private soldiers to carry out plunder in the name of Tang Dynasty. If they ruined the border affairs, they would be afraid of death.
The cause of the disaster was that the people who came to scream were rebellious and rebelled against the Tang Dynasty."
Li Linfu heard this and said with a smile: "Erlang is worrying too much."
"Let's talk about the generals first. The imperial generals will be military envoys. Many people only want to return to Beijing as soon as possible and ignore military affairs. As a result, the generals do not know the soldiers and the soldiers do not know the generals. But the Tibetan generals are different. At least the imperial court issued military orders. They
Can fight."
"Let's talk about forming cliques for personal gain and plundering. Does Erlang know how much taxes were paid in the Tang Dynasty last year? Countless private land was hidden. In order to avoid paying taxes, Tang people abandoned or sold their land and were willing to become refugees. In the past two years, there has been a lot of construction work in the imperial court.
In addition to the rewards from the palace, the bestowal of meritorious officials, etc., the coins stored in the national treasury are not only used to pay military salaries, but even the salaries of some state officials are used as compensation for other things."
"At this juncture, those military generals who were sent abroad as military envoys paid no attention to the hardships in the court. They just cherished their reputation and kept asking for military pay and supplies. But those Tibetan generals used plunder to support their troops and support themselves.
, the court does not need to worry too much. Comparing the two, which one is better and which one is worse will be judged as superior."
"Finally, let's talk about the rebellion against the Tang Dynasty. Will the Tibetan generals become disloyal after leading the border troops for a long time?"
"Of course I do. A group of uncivilized barbarians are like flies seeing delicacies when they see the wealth in the Central Plains. Is there any reason not to covet it?"
"To deal with this group of people, you need to do a good job."
“The first is ‘attracting’ and the second is ‘preventing’.”
"What is bait? The frontier army is in a difficult situation and naturally needs to vent its desires for predators. The imperial court has always turned a blind eye to such behavior. First, it can train troops, and second, it can eliminate hidden dangers. It only needs careful guidance.
Just arrange it carefully."
"What is defense? The ten military governors of the Tang Dynasty restrained and coordinated with each other to ensure that no one would become powerful alone and endanger the court."
"If any Jiedu envoy really wants to raise troops to rebel against the Tang Dynasty, the other border troops can quickly gather and surround him."
"Moreover, in the important areas of the capital, there are also the northern and southern government armies and the emperor's imperial army. Who can challenge them?"
Zhou Jun just smiled bitterly after hearing what Li Linfu said.
Putting aside the taxation of soldiers and generals, let's just talk about the two methods of "attracting" and "preventing" the Tibetan generals.
Li Linfu may not be aware that the imperial court allowed Tibetan generals to raid the border areas, and although Anlu Mountain plundered the Xi, Khitan, Tongluo and other tribes, it only killed the leaders and chiefs of the tribes, and used rewards and religion to win over those tribesmen.
In just a dozen years, an army of 200,000 was mobilized.
As for "defence", Li Linfu said that the imperial court now has ten military envoys who restrict each other and balance each other's military strength, and the capital is heavily guarded.
But what he didn't know was that in the next ten years.
In the eighth year of Tianbao, Ge Shuhan led 67,000 Tang troops to attack Tubo Shibao City. More than 50,000 people died in the battle, but the Shibao defenders only lost 400 people.
In the tenth year of Tianbao, Gao Xianzhi, the governor of Anxi, led 20,000 soldiers to fight against Dashi at Goluosi. The Tang Dynasty was defeated and suffered more than 10,000 losses.
In the same year, the Tang army faced Nanzhao and suffered a disastrous defeat in the battle of Xi'er River. Almost all the 80,000-strong army was wiped out.
In the thirteenth year of Tianbao, Shi Yushi Li Mi led an army of more than 100,000 to conquer Nanzhao again. He was defeated again in the north of Yamato City, and eight or nine out of ten people died. The general Li Mi committed suicide by throwing himself into the river.
After several battles, the Tang Dynasty had no more usable soldiers, so An Lushan dared to raise troops to rebel against the Tang Dynasty and march straight into the Central Plains.
However, Li Longji was old and fatuous, so he drove the last available soldier in front of the Gyeonggi Gate out of Tongguan, causing Chang'an to fall and all life to be ruined.
At that time, Li Linfu had already been buried in the soil.
Zhou Jun could not and could not mention these things to Li Linfu.
Now, he finally knew that it was impossible to stop the Anshi Rebellion by changing Li Linfu's views.
Standing on the bank of Bachuan Lake, Zhou Jun's heart was full of bitterness. Facing Li Linfu, who was full of confidence and strategizing, he could only bow and say one sentence: "Prime Minister Li is brilliant."