Outlaws of the Marsh

Chapter 835

...

After Yue Fei and Zhu Wu returned to Beijing, Zhu Wu continued to serve as the Deputy Privy Envoy, while Yue Fei took the vacant position of Taiwei.

Li Yan, who had already received Zhu Wu's detailed report, did not talk too much with Yue Fei, but gave Yue Fei a lot of books—books about the grassland kingdom and tribes.

No matter how slow Yue Fei's reaction was, he understood that this was Li Yan's promise to him - a promise to let him lead the army to fight on the grassland in the future.

Li Yan's promises, especially those made to his courtiers, were never unfulfilled.

Therefore, Yue Fei, who got Li Yan's promise, was completely at ease. Furthermore, whenever he had free time, Yue Fei would go to the library to read books, never interacted with the court officials, and completely sank down.

Within a few days, Liu Kai, Han Shizhong, Wu Jie and others also returned to Beijing one after another.

Li Yan called Xu Guanzhong, Zhu Wu, Liu Kai, Yue Fei, Han Shizhong, Wu Jie, Yang Yizhong and others to discuss the candidates.

After full discussion, Li Yan personally drafted:
They are: Xu Guanzhong, Zhu Wu, Li Jun, Ruan Xiaoer, Liu Qi, Yue Fei, Han Shizhong, Wu Jie, Yang Yizhong, Shi Bao.

Hua Rong, Zhang Xian, Wang Yan, Wu Lin, Guo Hao, Yang Zheng, Niu Gao, Wang De, Li Yanxian, Li Bao.

For example, some people believe that Zhang Xian, Wang Yan, and Wu Lin can completely replace Shi Bao in terms of battles fought and achievements made.

For example, some people think that Yang Yizhong is because he is in command of the Central Forbidden Army, and he is a confidant of Li Yan's cronies.

For example, some people think that although Huarong has worked hard and made great achievements, his contribution is not as good as Zhang Xian, Wang Yan, Wu Lin and other people's congresses who fought in the Southern and Northern Wars, and should not be ranked first.

For example, some people think that although Wang De and Li Yanxian can fight, their military exploits cannot be compared with those of the top generals in front of them, even Li Zong, Wang Gui, Cheng Min, Xie Yuan, Yang Zaixing, Lu Junyi and others couldn't compare.

For example, some people think that the main reason why Li Bao was selected is because he is the most dazzling rookie general in the navy, otherwise, with the credit he has gained, there is absolutely no possibility of being on the list.

and many more……

Of course, there were also people who supported Li Yan's choice.

Supporters defended Li Yan:
"Back then, when the Five Tiger Generals were soldiers in the Song Dynasty, the four generals (Lu Zhishen, Bian Xiang, Shi Bao, and Hua Rong) had already commanded the first, second, third, and fourth chambers to fight on the battlefield. , now, Marshal Lu has converted to Buddhism, Marshal Bian is not enterprising, only Marshal Shi and Marshal Hua are still stationed in the frontier for Dazhong, and both of them should be selected due to reason,
"Marshal Yang is also one of the five tiger generals. He exists alongside Marshal Liu, Marshal Yue, Marshal Han, and Marshal Wu. How can there be any reason why Marshal Yang is not on the list when all four of them are on the list? Besides, Marshal Yang's military exploits are better than those of Marshal Liu, Marshal Liu, and Marshal Wu." Marshal Yue, Marshal Han, and Marshal Wu are worse, but that’s because Marshal Yang needs to protect His Majesty’s safety, and there are few opportunities to fight. It doesn’t mean that Marshal Yang can’t fight. Less than Marshal Liu, Marshal Yue, Marshal Han, and Marshal Wu.”

"Although General Wang De and General Li Yanxian made their debut later, their achievements are uncompromising. The former fought dozens of battles with the Jin Army, and none of them were invincible. Yanjing City, the latter also fought against the Jin army dozens of times without losing anything, and finally conquered the most difficult Juyong Pass. The two of them are good at fighting and commanding troops, how can they not?"

"..."

In fact, it doesn't matter what others say. In this society where imperial power is supreme, whoever Li Yan says can do it can do it, and whoever can't do it can do it.

Past credit is naturally one of the criteria for consideration, but Li Yan pays more attention to the future.

Outsiders don't know that, apart from awarding meritorious generals, they are actually Li Yan's chosen commanders for his descendants.

Time flies too fast, before I know it, Li Yan is already 40 years old.

At this age, in later generations, it should be said that one has just entered middle age, which is the time when one is in the prime of life.

But in this era, in this era where the average life expectancy is less than 40 years old, this age is actually considered aging.

Although it seems that Li Yan is still in his early twenties, who can say for sure about life and death?

Therefore, for the sake of Dazhong, even if it is only for himself (the rise and fall of a dynasty is closely related to the royal family, regardless of life or death, Li Yan does not want to have his own grave dug up by others within a few years of his death, and his descendants Li Yan didn't want them to be like the descendants of the old Zhao family, who had been humiliated and would rather die), Li Yan also had to plan ahead.

Therefore, Li Yan chose people who are good at commanding troops. Generals like Yang Zaixing and Lu Junyi, who are personally brave but lack the ability to command troops, were not selected. When choosing the generals to resist, it is good to have a correct reference. In addition, those generals who showed bravery in the early stage but began to slack off in the later stage, or those generals who had problems with their character, even if they were just possible problems, like Cheng Min and Wang Gui They were also taken down by Li Yan, so as not to leave disasters for future generations.

Of course, Li Yan also regrets that some people failed to make the list, like Li Yan's adopted son Li Zong, Li Yan's favorite general Yao Xing, etc...

But there is no way around this. After all, there are only [-] people on the list, so Li Yan has to make a choice, and at the same time, he has to do a good job of comforting him.

Li Yan also selected the twenty heroes who founded the country.

They are: Wen Huanzhang, Wang Lun, Zhao Ding, Qiao Daoqing, Sun Jing, Xiao Jiasui, Chen Gongfu, Chen Kangbo, Jiang Jing, Zhao Kai, Qiu Xian, Guo Yong, Lu Jiang, Pei Xuan, Jin Fushi, Zhu Fu, Tang Long, Baivarhan, Yanqing, Wang Shiyong.

The first principle of selecting the twenty heroes of the founding of the country is that new ministers cannot be selected.

Therefore, Li Gang, Li Guang, Tang Luo and others were not selected.

Among them, the only exception is Wang Shiyong——Li Yan chose Wang Shiyong as one of the twenty heroes of the founding of the country, not only because he presided over the forced Zhao Song to abdicate to welcome Li Yan as the new emperor and completely handed over Bianliang City. In the hands of Li Yan, it was also because, under the auspices of Wang Shiyong, the Forbidden City was built in accordance with Li Yan's wishes, and Li Yan made Wang Shiyong one of the twenty heroes of the founding of the country.

The second principle is that the heads of the intelligence services are not included.

For intelligence, the most important thing is to hide yourself, so that everyone knows you, so why do you do intelligence, so Zhu Gui, Chai Jin, and Shi Xiuquan were not selected.

Someone may ask, how did Yan Qing get selected?

Yan Qing was selected because he has made great contributions and is well known to everyone. In addition, Yan Qing has officially resigned from his job as an espionage officer and will not go deep behind enemy lines in the future—his current job is to train espionage officers.

The third principle is to encourage researchers.

Since Li Yan is planning to rejuvenate the country with science and technology, he naturally has to encourage researchers. Therefore, Tang Long and Bai Varhan were both selected.

After the twenty heroes of the founding of the country were selected, they also cast statues and entered Zhaoxun Pavilion, and engraved their achievements on the stone slabs behind their statues for future generations to admire.

in fact--

Then again, how can there be so many perfect things in this world, it's just weighing the pros and cons.

In order to keep the civil and military ministers from becoming slack, and to give hope to future generations, Li Yan asked people to set aside ten seats each behind Li Bao and Wang Shiyong, declaring to everyone: It doesn't matter if you didn't get elected this time. still have a chance.

……

(End of this chapter)