Daming Super Dimension Company, President Zhu Yuanzhang!

Chapter 67 The veterans of the Tang Dynasty return!

So Li Shimin and others talked all night long.

the next day.

Although Guo Xin was ambitious, he was not young after all, so Li Shimin simply let him sit in the rear with him, while the Xuanjia Army went to the battlefield.

Led by Cheng Yaojin, Yuchi Jingde and others, they pointed directly at Beiting.

Beiting had fallen not long ago, so it could be said that it was caught off guard. Soon, Beiting was successfully recovered.

On the day of recovery, Xiao Ran made a special trip back to the hospital to tell the veterans who were still hospitalized about the happy event.

The gray-haired veterans raised their arms and shouted.

Seeing the chaotic scene of demons dancing in front of him, Xiao Ran helplessly raised his forehead.

"Knock knock knock" came a knock on the door.

The veterans immediately silenced their voices and shrank their necks.

They have been guarding the border for so many years, and have long been accustomed to shouting with loud voices. In addition, they are not familiar with this hospital. Even if they are told to keep their voices down, they can't control themselves once they get emotional.

Xiao Ran walked over and opened the door, and saw a doctor in a white coat standing at the door.

There was no sign of anger on his face, but Xiao Ran was very ashamed.

"I'm sorry, Doctor Zhao, they are a little excited."

Dr. Zhao smiled and said, "It's okay. Pay attention next time. I'm here to see how the patient's recovery is. If it's almost the same, he can be discharged."

Xiao Ran hurriedly let people in. When Dr. Zhao was examining the veterans, he asked: "They are not young anymore. Is it better to be hospitalized for a while longer for observation?"

Dr. Zhao smiled and said, "Their body bones are much healthier than those of their peers."

After saying that, he looked Xiao Ran up and down, and then said, "Maybe you can't even compare to them."

Xiao Ran laughed awkwardly and didn't answer.

It's not that the physical fitness of these veterans is incredible. It's just that young people nowadays rarely exercise and are all brittle.

After the examination, Dr. Zhao said: "People in this ward, as well as wards 65 and 66, can be discharged. You can go through the discharge procedures."

Xiao Ran nodded quickly, and then started to get busy.

By the time Xiao Ran took these veterans back, it was already getting late.

When Guo Xin saw them appearing, her eyes turned red instantly.

"It'll be good to come back, it'll be good to come back."

The return of the veteran undoubtedly made the big stone in Guo Xin's heart dissipate a lot. When the veteran told him that none of the people they sent were fine, Guo Xin was even more happy.

But after he was happy, he said with some heartache: "If it could have been earlier, wouldn't it be possible?"

Would it mean that so many people wouldn’t have died? Would it mean that those old brothers wouldn’t leave?
Seeing the sadness in Guo Xin's eyes, Xiao Ran stepped forward and said, "Who could have known that all this was not destined? It is already rare for us to have such a fate."

Guo Xin looked at Xiao Ran with a smile and said, "I didn't expect that old man, I can't see things as clearly as a junior like you."

Xiao Ran touched the back of his head and smiled.

Soon, the veterans were discharged from the hospital one after another, and the war against Tubo came to an end. Now Hexi has been recovered, and Longyou is almost there.

The Tubo side originally sent 20,000 troops to invade Qingxiguan of the Tang Dynasty and 10,000 to attack the Eastern Barbarians. However, the result of their battle at Qingxiguan was not very good and they did not achieve their desired goal.

At this time, Cheng Yaojin, Yuchi Jingde and others led their troops to capture Beiting and Hexi one after another. Then the two parties merged and attacked Longyou with all their strength.

It's not like Tubo has never sent troops for reinforcements, but how could they have imagined that they were facing the Xuanjia Army now?

Seeing that Longyou was about to be recovered, Guo Xin was very excited. After many years, he could finally go back!

But Xiao Ran was discussing Tang Dezong and Li Shi with Li Shimin at this time.

Xiao Ran said: "We can't directly take General Guo and the veterans back to the Tang Dynasty, so we can only wait for Longyou to be captured before we go back.

Li Shimin nodded, "This is not a problem. Although there are no horses here, Zhenguan does not lack them."

Later, Li Shimin asked again: "How is this Li Shi?" After saying that, before Xiao Ran could answer, he said to himself: "I'm afraid it's nothing."

Xiao Ran was a little confused, "Why do you say that?"

Li Shimin explained: "Otherwise, how could General Guo and these Anxi troops only receive awards but no military support?"

Xiao Ran sighed and said: "Actually, it's not without reason. Li Shi couldn't help it. When he first took over the throne, he appointed Cui Youfu as prime minister to keep the government clean and simple, which was quite a renaissance."

"Later Cui Youfu fell ill, so he recommended Yang Yan as prime minister. Soon, Cui Youfu fell ill and died, and another prime minister Qiao Lin was also dismissed, allowing Yang Yan to monopolize power."

"Yang Yan proposed the two-tax law, which indeed benefited the people, but he is narrow-minded by nature and uses his private interests to harm the public."

Li Shimin asked: "What did you say?"

Xiao Ran explained: "Yang Yan relied on Prime Minister Yuan Zai in his early years and was grateful to Yuan Zai. He was especially hostile to those who participated in handling Yuan Zai's case, which in turn led to his being implicated and demoted. Therefore, he framed many people."

"But the most egregious thing is not Yang Yan. After all, although he has flaws, he is not a black-hearted person. At least he knows how to think about the people. But Lu Qi is different. When he was an official, he catered to the holy will and was jealous of the virtuous. , the party was united and opposed, and all Yan Zhenqing and others were killed."

"In order to raise military pay, the government implemented bracket rates, increased housing tax, established a street tax, and implemented post-market merchants' monopoly on buying and selling rights. The national revenue was halved, which widely aroused public outrage."

There are only two sentences in Li Shimin's ears, which are "kill Yan Zhenqing" and "halve the national income."

An angry Li Shimin slapped the table, "How dare he! Li Shi actually re-employed such a person. Could it be that he was blindfolded?!"

Xiao Ran said: "If you want to say that there is something wrong with Li Shi, it really isn't. When it comes to feudalism, he doesn't believe in ghosts and gods. When it comes to enjoyment, he can really be called diligent at this time."

"Sometimes it may be easier to think about things, such as the issue of the vassal town. Li Shi wanted to reduce the vassal state. In fact, there was no problem. The vassal town was a serious hidden danger after all. However, in the process of reducing the vassal state, he used the vassal town to attack the vassal town, which resulted in This caused the dissatisfaction of many Jiedu envoys who participated in the imperial court's campaign to reduce vassal states."

"So there were Jiedu envoys who became kings, and there were more than one. Finally, Li Shi was driven out of Chang'an. This was the turning point in his life."

When speaking of this, there was a sudden knock on the door outside. Xiao Ran walked over and saw that it was Guo Xin.

"Why is General Guo here?"

Guo Xin said with some confusion: "What state affairs are you talking about?"

After saying that, he probably felt that he shouldn't ask, so he started talking about himself.

"Oh, I came here to invite His Majesty Emperor Taizong to have a meal."

Li Shimin said: "You can just eat. I have some things to do, so I won't eat for now."

Guo Xin knew that she had disturbed the conversation between him and Xiao Ran, so she turned around and left without saying much.

But Li Shimin had a second thought and stopped Guo Xin.

"Old General Guo will stay," Li Shimin said.

Guo Xin turned around and said, "His Majesty Emperor Taizong, what else do you want?"

Li Shimin said: "Just now Xiao Ran was telling me about the current emperor Li Shi. Would you like to come and listen?"

Guo Xin's eyes lit up, of course he wanted to listen!
They had been isolated from the world for so many years and knew nothing about the news from the outside. Even if the news had not been sent out in the second year of Jianzhong, they would not even have known that the emperor outside had changed.

Seeing Guo Xin sit down, Xiao Ran continued: "Li Shi was driven out of Chang'an by the rebellious Jiedushi and fled to Fengtian. Later, he relied on Prime Minister Li Mi, generals Li Sheng, Hun Yao and others to quell the rebellion."

"But when he returned to Chang'an, he changed. Li Shi was originally politically clear and strictly prohibited eunuchs from intervening in politics. But after this time, he began to appoint trusted eunuchs as commanders of the imperial army, and he had previously had the ambition to reduce the vassal state. He no longer has great ambitions, but instead tolerates troublesome things in the feudal town."

With that said, Xiao Ran looked at Guo Xin and said, "When you sent the news, it was when Li Shi was cutting the vassal, so he was really powerless."

Guo Xin just nodded and said nothing.

He didn't blame Li Shi. After all, he was a loyal minister, loyal to the Tang Dynasty, so he would not resent Li Shi's decision, otherwise he would not have minted the "Jianzhong Tongbao" money. What he resented has always been They are all Tubo people.

Li Shimin knocked on the table, "You continue."

Xiao Ran nodded and continued: "In the Zhenyuan period, the war between the Tang Dynasty and Tubo became increasingly fierce, and the imperial court's financial expenses became increasingly difficult, so Li Shi used various methods such as Jinfeng, Xuansuo, and Palace Market to amass money."

"You must know that at this time, natural disasters occurred frequently in the Tang Dynasty, and the people were miserable. Li Shi's behavior made the people's lives even worse."

After Li Shimin heard this, he was about to get angry immediately, but when he saw Guo Xin was there from the corner of his eye, he had to hold back his anger first.

Fortunately, Xiao Ran said the next moment: "But Li Shi didn't really care about the life and death of the people. While making money, he also provided disaster relief and tax exemptions many times to calm the people. He also sent troops to regain various states."

Li Shimin was silent for a while and asked, "What kind of person do you think this Li Shi is?"

Xiao Ran thought for a while and said: "Actually, from my point of view, he is indeed not a wise and powerful emperor, but he is not bad either. What he did later was mostly because he was forced to do nothing."

"It is definitely impossible to reduce the vassal state. He was even driven out of Chang'an, and the money lost was countless. So after he comes back, he can only put aside the problem of the vassal town."

"After the war, the treasury was empty, and at this time Tubo took the opportunity to attack again. Li Shi couldn't ignore it, but if he wanted to take care of it, he had to get money, but he didn't have it, so he had to get it from the people."

Li Shimin laughed a lot at his previous anger, but he still asked: "So, Li Shi didn't enjoy the money he collected?"

Xiao Ran said: "Absolutely. It would be false to say it was useless, but I think he did it because he really had no other choice."

Li Shimin nodded, "I believe you, it seems that Li Shi is pretty good."

Xiao Ran agreed: "It is true that using a vassal town to fight a vassal town was indeed his mistake, but no one is perfect. As for his reuse of eunuchs in the later period, it did not have a too bad impact on his own period. He made a bad start, which led to the subsequent emperors doing the same thing, creating a situation of eunuch dictatorship, and even the emperor was killed by eunuchs."

Li Shimin snorted coldly and said: "That's their own problem, what does it have to do with Li Shi! They also reuse eunuchs, but nothing like this happened to Li Shi. I can only say that they are not as good as Li Shi!"

After speaking, Li Shimin looked at Guo Xin and asked, "What do you think, General Guo?"

Guo Xin smiled and said: "I think what Emperor Taizong said is reasonable."

Li Shimin also smiled, and then said with a gentle expression: "I admire General Guo. General Guo doesn't have to be like this to me. Just say whatever you want. I don't get angry because of admonishment." people."

Guo Xin said: "Old minister naturally knows that His Majesty Emperor Taizong is a person who is good at accepting advice, otherwise he would not tolerate Prime Minister Wei Zheng's blunt advice, but the old minister is speaking from his heart."

Li Shimin must be happy to hear others say that he is good at accepting advice!
This represents his affirmation!
So Li Shimin decided to be nicer to Wei Zheng when he returned, at least no longer caring about calling him Yangbi Gong.

Seeing Li Shimin's happy look, Xiao Ran secretly gave Guo Xin a thumbs up.

Although Guo Xin didn't know what it meant, it could be seen from Xiao Ran's expression that it should be a compliment.

Guo Xin raised his eyebrows, but still smiled. He has lived for such a long time, so he naturally knows how to deal with the world.

After Li Shimin was happy, he said: "Let's rest early today, and we will set off back to Chang'an tomorrow!"

After a night.

Xiao Ran deliberately got up early, but when he went out, he saw Anxi veterans already standing in the yard.

Seeing Xiao Ran coming, everyone waved to him.

During this period of time, Xiao Ran spent a lot of time with the injured veterans. In addition, Xiao Ran could be said to have saved their lives, so they were naturally very close to Xiao Ran.

In addition, they all have no children, so seeing Xiao Ran is like seeing his own junior.

Xiao Ran walked towards their direction and asked with a smile: "Why did you get up so early?"

A veteran said: "After so many years, I can finally go back. We can't sleep, hahaha!"

"Yeah yeah."

"We have finally come to the end of our hardships!"

You know, Li Shi had promoted them all before, and now that they have persisted for such a long time, it is unjustifiable that they will not be rewarded when they return!
Xiao Ran said with a smile: "Isn't it the end of all hardships? Let's enjoy the happiness in Chang'an from now on!"

The veterans laughed for a moment, then shook their heads.

"I'll still come back in the future." A veteran said.

(End of this chapter)