The third emperor of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 379 Ask Ce Pei Ju
"Pei Aiqing, is there something important?" Li Yuan asked.

"Your Majesty! The old minister has come to resign from His Majesty." Pei Ju said.

Li Yuan was stunned, and asked for a while, "Why did Pei Aiqing resign?"

Pei Ju handed over his resignation letter with both hands, and said: "The old minister has been honored by the Holy Majesty and has given him the post of secretary of the Ministry of Rites. However, the old minister is seventy-three this year. In his early years, he used the identity of a scholar to pacify Lingnan, crusade against the Turks, manage the Western Regions, and follow Emperor Wu of the Sui Dynasty in conquests." Liaodong and Beifan, the commander-in-chief, have suffered countless wounds in many wars, especially in the Battle of Yanmen, I took an arrow in the chest. I didn't feel it before, but now I am old and frail, and old wounds are eroding the vitality of the veteran every day. , The old minister feels that life is passing by day by day, and the time left in this world is not long. The old minister wants to spend his few years of old age well, and I beseech His Majesty's permission."

Hearing this, Li Yuan paced back and forth with his hands behind his back in annoyance. He didn't expect that Pei Ju would resign, and the reason was that he couldn't refuse, which made Li Yuan feel a little annoyed. It is very useful, with him, at least he can win over the nobles of the Kanto region.

Compared with Pei Ju's huge influence, Pei Ji is far behind. Even if he pushes Pei Ji to the position of Patriarch of the Pei family, he is not as good as Pei Ju. Once Pei Ju leaves, what will the gentry in the east of the family think?But he couldn't find a reason to refuse.

After thinking for a while, Li Yuan showed a gentle smile on his face, "Pei Aiqing, I shouldn't have made things difficult for others and ignored Aiqing's body, but now that the country's affairs are difficult and the court is employing people, you should serve for the alliance again." One year, next year, Lian-definitely let you go home to recuperate in style. What do you think?"

Pei Ju smiled wryly and said, "The old minister is very grateful for His Majesty's kindness! But please find a replacement as soon as possible. The old minister may not last until then."

Li Yuan was startled, "Pei Aiqing's body...?"

"Since the beginning of autumn, the old minister has fainted many times for no reason." Pei Ju was scheming, knowing that it was easy to get in the car and difficult to get off, so he fainted countless times in the government office.

Li Yuan received Li Jiancheng's affirmative gaze, and said: "Jiancheng, there is still a thousand-year-old ginseng among the officials, and someone will wrap it up later and send it to Pei Aiqing."

"Here!" Li Jiancheng replied.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Pei Ju said gratefully.

Li Yuan nodded in satisfaction, "I have encountered a problem now, please refer to Pei Aiqing."

"Please make it clear, Your Majesty."

"It's like this..." Li Yuan explained in a low voice the original story of the Daxing Palace Change he launched in Chang'an, and finally said with a wry smile: "Now Yang Tong is making a fuss at the border, and even the ransom is paid out, it won't take long , it will spread here, does Ai Qing have a good plan?"

This news surprised Pei Ju, Tang Huang actually did such a thing in silence.What surprised him even more was that the Pei family was involved, but he didn't know it, which showed that he was not trusted by Li Yuan at all.However, he has experienced ups and downs in the officialdom for decades, and he knows the truth that one emperor and one courtier, but he didn't take it to heart.

After thinking for a while, Pei Ju sighed slightly, "At this point, even if the Holy Majesty is unwilling to accept Yang Tong's conditions, the various families will unite to force the Holy Majesty to agree. Since you can't avoid it, why not take the lead in agreeing to Yang Tong's conditions and win the favor of the aristocratic families?" At that time, as long as the Holy Majesty continues to implement benevolent government, lightly pay taxes, and rest with the people, then the Great Tang will slowly calm down, and after a few years of hard work, it will be able to keep pace with the Sui Dynasty."

Li Yuan didn't express his opinion. He found that Pei Ju might have been away from the officialdom for too long. He was not as sophisticated as he imagined. Instead, he was as innocent as a young man, and he actually expected to recuperate.Although he wanted to recuperate, Yang Tong didn't give him time, if he stopped attacking, he would only die faster.

At this moment, Li Yuan felt uninterested, Pei Ju made him a little disappointed, it was too idealistic, which made Li Yuan think of a sentence in Yang Tong's poetry anthology, "Lian Po is old, can he still eat?" '

Pei Ju is really old.

Li Yuan felt regretful in his heart, and the smile on his face became a bit bitter. He tried his best to be polite and not let Pei Ju see his disappointment.

Pei Ju's old eyes were dim, and he didn't see the disappointment in Li Yuan's eyes. He thought for a while and said, "My lord, I have something to say, I don't know whether I should say it or not."

"Pei Aiqing just say it clearly." Li Yuanqiang said with a smile.

Pei Ju sighed, and said, "Your Majesty, in fact, Datang shouldn't have fallen to where it is today."

Li Yuan lifted his spirits, and quickly asked, "But why did you come to this point?"

"You are too proud." Pei Ju's words made Li Yuan's smile collapse, but Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin's eyes lit up. They also found Li Yuan's problem, but no one dared to say that if Pei Ju could make Li Yuan reflect on himself, it would be Fortunately for the Tang Dynasty.

Pei Ju continued: "When the Holy Majesty was treating Yang Tong, he always thought that he was a child who could be manipulated by the Tang Dynasty. He didn't regard him as a strong opponent. He felt that it was shameful for the Tang Dynasty to lose to a child. The court regained the lost glory and land, and because of this, he couldn't extricate himself, and suffered again and again. The minister thought that I, Tang Dynasty, should regard him as an evil tiger and the king of a country, not a brat. will suffer."

Li Yuan nodded. This suggestion is very good. He can accept it. After pondering for a moment, Li Yuan asked again: "Pei Aiqing, in your opinion, does the Great Tang still have a chance to unify the world?"

"Yes!" Pei Ju squinted his eyes and smiled, and said, "Every time Yang Tong goes to the city, he kills all the officials, and then supplements them with poor scholars. These people were picked up by Yang Tong himself, they are extremely loyal, and they can govern quickly. Every time Yang Tong goes to a place, he cleans the aristocratic family to appease the people, and then uses the method of acting as a substitute to support the people, repair roads, and repair the city walls, so that Yang Tong can quickly gain the support of the people."

"This..." Hearing what Pei Ju said, Li Yuan shook his head in a daze: "According to Aiqing, how can we have any hope?"

Pei Ju stroked his beard and said with a smile: "But has your majesty ever thought about it? Educational advantages have been concentrated in aristocratic families since ancient times, and a large number of talents still come from aristocratic families. Although poor families have talents, because of insufficient educational resources, poor families produce few talents. These talents are not enough to support the official system of an empire, so if the emperors of all dynasties wanted to restrain the family, they had to reuse the family."

Pei Ju's words made Li Yuan think deeply, and he paused for a moment, only to hear Pei Ju say again: "When Yang Tong runs out of poor scholars in his hands, he will face the dilemma of lack of people. Culture, education, and building free schools, but it takes at least ten or twenty years to cultivate a person. Before these people can be used, Yang Tong has only two choices. One is to compromise with the aristocratic family, but the hatred between him and the aristocratic family cannot be ignored. Resolve, even if he lifts the ban at this time, no one will take the risk of offending the world's aristocratic families and defect to him; second, he can only stop the pace of expansion, because even if he has a large territory, he has no talent to manage it. "

Li Jiancheng asked: "He can be governed by soldiers."

Pei Ju laughed and said: "The military rule can only last for a while, but not for a long time, because the soldiers are reckless. If the officials are corrupted, the image of the Sui Dynasty among the people will be severely damaged, leaving a stain that cannot be washed away. Once this matter If it spreads, the people will no longer follow and support it. If someone stirs up the flames, Yang Tong will lose the hearts of the people, and the hearts of the people are his foundation."

"Based on the dilemma of Yang Tong's lack of talents, the veteran thought that Yang Tong would not expand for a long time, and turned to rule the country! In other words, during the time when his talents are not yet mature, it is an opportunity for my Datang to grow stronger. "

Pei Ju's words made Li Yuanfan wake up, and he was deeply ashamed of the contempt for Pei Ju just now. Although Pei Ju is old and a bit blind to the general trend of the world, he has rich experience in governing the country and can give himself advice. Smart suggestion.

Pei Ju said again: "Your Majesty, you look down on Yang Tong, so that you refuse to admit defeat and show weakness. A man can bend and stretch. In fact, being weak can save you from disaster. I believe that there are people in the Sui Dynasty who understand the general trend and will not let Yang Tong expand blindly." , as long as you show weakness and give the Sui Dynasty a face, those who hold this point of view will gain the upper hand. Your Majesty, you really should give it a try."

Li Yuan was speechless for a while, feeling that everything was his own fault, the Tang Dynasty is what it is today, not because the Tang army is weak, nor because the general is incompetent, but because they met a pig emperor by mistake, so he said: "According to what Aiqing said, If I, Datang, didn't provoke Yang Tong, wouldn't he take the initiative to attack?"

"Actually, Yang Tong himself thinks so, otherwise he would have annihilated us in Chang'an and went south to take Bashu." Pei Ju nodded and smiled.

"..." Li Yuan felt that when Pei Ju looked at him, it seemed like he was looking at a big idiot.

Pei Ju thought so too.

Yang Tong didn't kill Li Tang when he was able to kill him, just because he didn't want to fight and was too lazy to fight.But Li Yuan was lucky, he actually went to make some changes in the Daxing Palace, it was all looking for abuse.Isn't this a big idiot?
After another half hour, Li Yuan, who had managed to calm down, asked, "Ai Qing, my current preferred enemy of the Tang Dynasty is not the Sui Dynasty, but the southern princes?"

Pei Ju nodded and said: "The old minister really thinks so, but the old minister is not Yang Tong after all, so I'm not sure."

You can't say it dead, and you have to take the blame if something goes wrong.

"Under such circumstances, my Tang Dynasty should avoid the edge of the Sui Dynasty, focus on the south, and strive to create a situation of confrontation between the North and the South. Once the time is right, we will decide the master of the world with the Sui Dynasty."

In fact, both Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin have said this, but the timing of the throwing of the three is different, and the effects produced are also different. The essence is graphite, and the former turns into coal, while the latter turns into sparkling diamonds.

Li Yuan pondered for a moment, and finally nodded, "Ai Qing's words are justified!"

Li Jiancheng asked: "What does Pei Shangshu think about the matter of ransom?"

"People must be redeemed, otherwise, who would want to work for the Tang Dynasty? Yang Tong is asking for money, and we can pay back the money on the spot." Pei Ju smiled and said: "The old minister remembers that the Ministry of Rites received Xiao Mian not long ago. His envoys, and the Holy Majesty also intends to negotiate peace with Xiao Mian, and then concentrate on dealing with the coalition forces of Wang Shichong and Li Mi?"

"It's true." Li Yuan nodded.

Pei Ju smiled lightly: "Then let Xiao Xian take the money and food, and beat him if he doesn't give it."

Li Yuan patted his forehead overjoyed, this is really great, the ransom has been settled, and most of the stone in his heart has been removed, and he can rest assured to sleep on the mat tonight.

Pei Ju's phrase 'beat him if you don't give it' is worth tens of millions of dollars.

Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin were amazed: they have learned too much.

Pei Ju smiled with his reserved beard, and said to himself: This is child's play, when the old man joined hands with Changsun Sheng to deal with the Turks, it was wonderful.

(End of this chapter)