A thousand-year-old family that began with the Battle of Makino

Chapter 988: The king and his ministers discuss matters in Qingliang Palace, and see the prince Liang take command

The third year of Chengqian in the Xia Dynasty
September

In the Qingliang Hall of the Dasong Palace in Kaifeng Prefecture, a cool breeze passes through the hall through the specific layout of the hall.

Bai Jian sat on a mat surrounded by curtains, while the palace maids on both sides gently waved palm-leaf fans to remove the summer heat.

Opposite him, Privy Councilor Cui Shaojie, Minister of the Three Departments Shao Ning, Minister of War Wang Shifan, Grand Commander Bai Xiaoqiang, General of the Zhenjun Army Zhu Lingde, and Royal Son-in-law Zhu Lingxi and other important ministers were also sitting on mats in a semicircle.

Looking through the intelligence about the Tang State in his hand, he looked up and saw that everyone present was sweating profusely. Even the elderly Teacher Wang was staggering and almost fainted from the heat.

"Li Da."

"Official family."

"How can you be so tactless? Can't you see that my beloved ministers are about to be cooked by the heat? Go to the ice room and get some ice to cool everyone down."

"Here."

After a while, Li Da came in with two imperial guards, carrying a small round, hollow copper tripod with a round lid, and placed it at the center of the semicircle surrounded by the crowd, a few steps opposite the Baijian.

After a while, Li Da called several palace maids holding fans and asked them to stand behind the ministers and wave half of the fans.

Cui Shaojie and others were also given small handheld bronze tripods containing crushed ice that had just been dug out of the ice room.

In an instant, the Qingliang Hall, which had been a little stuffy due to the gathering of so many people, became cooler.

Bai Jian was very satisfied with Li Da's arrangement. He had just finished reading the intelligence in his hand, so he put it aside and said with a smile:

"Now that it's cool, you should give me a set of rules."

"Now the Tang Lord has sent troops to Western Shu. According to our previous resolution, it is urgent to send troops out of Jinzhou and go to Dongchuan. What do you think?"

Cui Shaojie put the cold bronze tripod in his hand aside, stood up and asked Li Da to take out a topographic map of the surrounding areas of Xiangyang and a map of Shu Kingdom.

These are the efforts of three generations of intelligence agencies, namely Quanjia Tavern, Imperial Guards, and Embroidered Uniform Guard, which cost countless time, manpower, and money over decades.

Thanks to their deliberate collection, the approximate locations and outline maps of the vast countries ranging from the Khitan Kingdom in the north to the Wa Kingdom in the east, from the Sambuddha Kingdom in the south to the Allah Kingdom in the west are all stored in Lantai.

This list includes Tibet, Indian countries, Southeast Asian countries, and countries in the Western Regions.

As for the old land of the Tang Dynasty, specifically the mountain, the roads, passes, rivers and villages between cities are all displayed on it in great detail.

This is one of the reasons why Bai Jian was confident in unifying the world. It was like opening the eyes of heaven and seeing the whole world.

"Your Majesty, please read this. My plan is to march westward from Xiangyang and capture Jin and Yang states. At this time, Shu's forces are all defending against Tang, and the Tang army is determined to fight, so they will march straight into Chengdu."

"Therefore, Chengdu became the Tang army's first target, and Liangzhou became a secondary target, which could be captured by a small army at most."

"And our army's first target is Liangzhou, but in fact the first target is Tongzhou."

"The foundation for all this is Yangzhou, based in Xixiang."

"As long as Xixiang is taken, we can continue to take Liangzhou in the west, cross Daba Mountain in the south, and enter Shu from Yangyuan. After that, we can take advantage of the lack of troops in the east of Shu and seize Dongchuan in one fell swoop."

"Therefore, our army's early strategic target is Xixiang, and in the mid- and late-stage it is Liangzhou Nanzheng and Tongzhou Dongxiang."

"The most perfect result of this battle is that Daxia completely occupied the Shannan Road and the Dongchuan area of ​​Jiannan Road, opening the door to Shu."

"If our army wants to attack Nanping Kingdom in the future, we can go south from Xiangyang and east from Wushan. No one can stop us east of the Yangtze River."

Bai Jian was very satisfied watching Cui Shaojie talking as if he ignored the Tang, Shu and Southern Peace of the Three Kingdoms and treated them as a toy in his hand.

As a core member of the strategy formulation team, you should have such confidence and not be too petty.

"The Privy Councilor has explained my words clearly. Who do you think can be the commander in this war to conquer Shu?" Faced with Bai Jian's question, everyone fell into thought.

If they want to be generals, they have many candidates, but as a head coach, they need to be extremely cautious.

"Your Majesty." Wang Shifan sat up straight and bowed. "I heard that the Tang emperor attacked Shu and sent his son, the King of Wei, as the commander, and the general Guo Chongtao as the deputy commander, and many other civil and military officials participated in the plan."

"I think that Shu is a remote place, and we must choose a loyal person. Otherwise, the court will be unable to reach us due to the high mountains and long roads, and we may see the same thing as Wang Jian happen again."

"Why not follow the example of the Tang Lord? Your Majesty, choose one of your sons as the commander-in-chief, another veteran general to assist him, and a few generals to command him?"

Bai Jian nodded after hearing this: "Prime Minister Wang's words are wise and appropriate for the state."

Then he asked again: "Who do you think among my sons can be a general?"

Now among Bai Jian's sons, the eldest son Bai Xi is the crown prince, but Bai Jian himself is old. In order to prevent accidents, he definitely cannot be sent out for a long time and needs to stay in Kaifeng.

The second son, Bai Tao, Prince of Ji, was given the title and is now stationed in Beiji Prefecture, serving as the governor of Jibei, guarding against the Khitan and garrisoning Hebei.

The third son, Bailang, was granted the title of Prince of Lu. He also served as the commander-in-chief of the navy, the inspector of Dengzhou, and the supervisor of the envoys to the two foreign countries of Japan and Bohai. He was stationed in Qingzhou, in charge of maritime affairs and opening up financial channels for Daxia.

Now in Kaifeng there are only the fourth son Baichao, the fifth son Baihai and the sixth son Baiyang.

The last three sons have not yet been crowned kings.

The oldest among them is Bai Chao. Although he is only twenty years old, he is already a national student. He also passed this year's joint examination and became this year's first-class Jinshi.

His policy essay in the imperial examination was so broad-minded and profound in his understanding of military strategies that the examiners were astonished and exclaimed that he was worthy of being a prince.

Therefore, although Bai Chao was young, his name had already entered the ears of important officials such as Cui Shaojie.

"All the kings have their own errands, so it's hard to adjust them. Besides, the journey is long and the matter is urgent, so there might be accidents. Fortunately, the fourth prince is a young and talented man, both civil and military, so I think he can be the commander."

The person who spoke was Zhu Lingxi. As the son of a king, he was also the only king in Daxia who held real power. The Zhu family urgently needed to increase their influence in the court.

Including his marriage with the royal family, it was all for the purpose of mutual benefit.

The royal family needs the Zhu family's loyalty, and the Zhu family needs the royal family's trust.

It just so happened that no one else was willing to say much about the issue of the crown prince, and he was the lowest in rank. Speaking for Bai Chao could gain the other party's friendship, which was a good deal.

"What do you think of the Prince Consort's words?"

"I second the proposal."

"Okay, summon the Fourth Prince to the audience."

Afterwards, while waiting for Bai Chao, Bai Jian and others discussed the candidates for deputy commander and other generals and military recruits.

"Your Highness, I pay my respects to you, Father. I wish you good health."

"My Lord, all the ministers have recommended you to be the commander-in-chief of the imperial court's expedition to Western Shu. Do you dare to accept the invitation?"

Bai Chao raised his head in surprise, and saw the seriousness in Bai Jian's expression. After thinking for a moment, he said firmly:

"If the emperor sends another general to assist, I am willing to accept it. If the emperor does not send a general, I am afraid that I am not capable enough and may ruin the event."

"Good." Bai Jian was very satisfied with Bai Chao's self-awareness: "It seems that you have been very good these years."

"Send an imperial edict to confer the title of Prince of Liang on the Fourth Prince Bai Chao, and appoint him as the Commander-in-Chief of the Southwestern Camp, and to lead the army to battle."

(End of this chapter)