Landlord of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 451 Two Dragons (3)

Everyone present was drunk, even Li Shimin's face was flushed with drunkenness, but Xu Qing was the only one who was sober.When he was drunk, he would naturally talk a lot. Li Shimin leaned aside and said to Xu Qing: "I heard that Xu Qing, you went to beat Xue Yantuo, in fact, to find out about my elder brother's siege. Uh, I have no other meaning, just to ask Is my brother okay?"

Xu Qing shook his head and said: "The crown prince took risks alone, and used himself as a bait to gather the Xue Yantuo people together, so that the minister was able to stir up chaos in his army. In this way, he established the credit for expanding the territory... Oh, His Royal Highness is in good health, nothing serious hinder."

"Yeah, why do you want to expand the territory? Why can we set up prefectures and counties where the crown prince conquered, and where His Royal Highness King Qin conquered, you can only give it back to others!" Yuchi Jingde suddenly stood up and pointed Looking at the roof, he said: "This day is not fair! The land that my soldiers threw their heads and sprinkled their blood on is not land! This day is so unfair! Prince, King Qin, King Qin, Prince!"

Li Shimin seemed to know what Yuchi Jingde was going to say, and quickly scolded: "Jingde, you are drunk, Shubao, help him down..."

Yuchi Jingde was dragged away by Qin Qiong, and his cursing voice spread far away, Li Shimin sighed and said: "Jingde, I just feel sorry for those brave soldiers under him."

Xu Qing nodded, once he succeeded, his bones would wither, and his bones would become white day and night.Those who are generals, especially in the position of Yuchi Jingde, have already realized the way of life from the way of killing.However, Yuchi Jingde's sorrow was useless.To Datang, Tuyuhun was a piece of fat, but this piece of fat was not easy to eat, and there was no rush to eat it.Therefore, the best way is to finish the things outside the door, close the door, and cook carefully.And Xue Yantuo's meat was not as fat as Tuyuhun, but this piece of meat was from the enemy, it was delicious and not expensive, and he had to eat it, so the prince swallowed it in one gulp, and established prefectures and counties.What Yuchi Jingde is powerless to change is what the general situation of this country requires.

Li Shimin brushed off his sleeves and asked Xu Qing: "Then my eldest brother is still in Yingzhou to settle down with the people and hasn't returned yet?"

Xu Qing nodded, and Li Shimin asked again: "Xu Qing, there must be a war between the Tang Dynasty and the Turks. Sooner or later, you are a generalist in civil and military affairs. When do you think the Turks will come?"

"According to the habits of the Turkic people in the past, they usually choose the Central Plains to go south after the autumn harvest. I'm afraid this year's war will also be at this time?"

Li Shimin sneered and said, "Xu Qing, I'm not satisfied with your answer. What I'm asking is about the decisive battle between the Turks and the Tang Dynasty."

Xu Qing saw that he couldn't hide it, so he said to Li Shimin: "When two smart tigers are fighting, even if they are evenly matched, they will not kill each other. They will kill. Now Datang and Turkic are like these two tigers, if one of them has a problem, it is time for a decisive battle. The so-called self-inflicted evil, you can’t live.”

Turks went south every year, but the two most large-scale ones were the first year of Zhenguan and the third year of Zhenguan.The year Li Shimin killed Li Jiancheng, Luo Yi and Xue Wanren rebelled, and the Turks took advantage of this opportunity to go south.Li Shimin mobilized a large army to resist, but he was in a weak position. In the end, there was the famous incident of beheading a white horse and forming an alliance by the Weishui River.However, this time, Xu Qing of the Weishui Alliance had a new view. After Li Shimin killed Li Jiancheng, he forced Li Yuan to abdicate. In the process, it was actually very unpopular.For example, Li Yuan's people, such as Xu Shiji and Cheng Yaojin, were definitely unwilling. However, Li Yuan only had Li Shimin as his son left.The veterans chose to protect themselves. They neither opposed Li Shimin's bloody massacre nor supported it, or expressed their support verbally.In the end, there was the Xuanwumen Incident, the illusion that all the generals participated.In fact, it was not the case, apart from Yuchi Jingde and Changsun Wuji, even Qin Qiong did not participate in the Xuanwu Gate Incident.

The gap between historical materials and history was unexpected to Xu Qing at the beginning, but what Xu Qing saw and heard here, especially the secret that Princess Pingyang told him, made him come up with such a picture in his mind.I'm afraid, if Xu Qing is not here, history will really be like this.But the long river of time obviously has a branch here.

Before the Weishui alliance, Li Shimin actually had a lot of troops that could not be moved, and those who could be moved were sent to counter the rebellion or prevent the rebellion.In the end, I don't know what method he used to mobilize Li Yuan's old subordinates, and this was able to stop the Turkic army from going south.Later, the high-level generals of the Tang Dynasty also joined Li Shimin. Maybe Li Yuan nodded, or maybe it was just a good bird choosing a tree to live in.

Of course, what Xu Qing said was actually to tell Li Shimin that if you want to make a move, you have to consider the Turkic people in the north.

Li Shimin looked at Xu Qing meaningfully, and said with a smile: "Xu Qing, you have something in your words... Forget it, forget it, I won't ask you any more."

Li Shimin looked up at the sky again, and found that it was completely dark, so he cupped his hands and said to Xu Qing: "I am very tired after marching for many days. Thank you Master Xu for your hospitality. I am going to take a rest and leave tomorrow."

"Your Highness, go slowly..."

But before the king of Qin walked out of the gate, a young servant hurried up to Xu Qing and said, "Master, here are two posts, they were delivered together, one left after delivery, and the other one stood outside the gate." Wait for the master to reply."

Xu Qing frowned, and took a look. The first one was an invitation card. Looking at the names of his subordinates, it turned out to be an invitation card from Prince Li Jiancheng.Li Jiancheng invited Xu Qing to the East Palace to attend a banquet, and there was another small invitation card next to it, which was the post that the Crown Princess invited Xun Xueer to drink tea.

When will the prince come back? !
Xu Qing glanced at Li Shimin secretly, and found that he didn't pay attention to his place, but went straight to the courtyard.Just now Xu Qing told Li Shimin that the prince hadn't come back, isn't that a slap in the face?However, Xu Qing has been staying at his own home for the past few days, and he does not leave the door without leaving the house. It is indeed understandable that he does not know the news from outside.Xu Qing thought, the crown prince should have come back first, and then sent someone to send invitations to Xu Qing, otherwise Xu Qing would not be unaware of any trouble.Since we are going to the East Palace, let's go, anyway, Li Yuan is next to him, so we are not afraid of what he says or thinks.

However, there is another post, who is it?

Xu Qing saw that this post was a door-to-door post, which was used for self-introduction. After reading the introduction, the master could decide whether to meet or not, and who to send to meet.But on the simple door-worship post, there are three characters of late waiter, followed by "Cangzhou Governor Shi Zhanzeng".

Oh, it's Zhan Zeng, why did he come to Chang'an?Hey, by the way, he has been an official longer than my students, and he should be reporting to the Ministry of Officials.He has never been an official in the capital, and he doesn't have a house in Chang'an, so he should come here to stay.Xu Qing asked his servants to tidy up the main hall, while he went to the backyard to prepare the private room, and also placed dried fruits, vegetables and meat, but there was no wine.

This season, there are many mosquitoes outside, Xu Qing ordered people to light mosquito repellent incense, and put gauze around them.In this way, you can enjoy the coolness outside the door without worrying about mosquito bites.

After a while, a person walked over, still wearing ordinary clothes, and when he saw Xu Qing, he quickly knelt down and said, "My subordinate Zhan Zeng, I pay my respects to Lord Xuanping."

"Please hurry up, why do we need those clichés?" Xu Qing hurried to help him up. These days, he also misses those old friends in Cangzhou very much. The two of them looked at each other for a while, Xu Qing Qing said again: "You came to Chang'an this time to report to the Ministry of Officials, right?"

Zhan Zeng sighed and said, "Well, it's a pity that after the debriefing, I still don't know where to arrange me..."

Xu Qing thought for a while and said: "Not long ago, the imperial court brought down Xue Yantuo. I'm afraid there is still a shortage of governors there. You have a long history, so don't get promoted there."

Zhan Zeng nodded and said, "I still want to serve as the governor in Hebei or Southern Hebei, and please ask Mr. Xu to help me."

Hebei has many aristocratic families, and Xu Qing's chess game is very deep there. Naturally, he wants to get someone to work there, so he fully agreed to go to the official department with him tomorrow.

"I wonder if Cangzhou has been affected by the locust plague?"

"Thanks to Mr. Xu, and thanks to Mr. Xu's advice, Cangzhou has not been affected by the locust plague at all. It is because of Mr. Xu's plan that food prices have dropped in advance."

"What about other states and counties? No one did anything wrong, right?"

"Well, the common people suffered a lot in the beginning, but later the price of food plummeted, and the common people were no longer in danger. Doing odd jobs, or relying on growing melons and vegetables, can survive until after the autumn harvest. However, this locust plague, many common people brought The family took refuge in Cangzhou. The population of Cangzhou suddenly increased." "Hehehe, more people are better, more people are more powerful."

"Master Xu, there is one more thing. After the Cangzhou Chamber of Commerce developed, the aristocratic clans were prohibited from participating, so they organized a chamber of commerce by themselves. The Qinghe Cui family took the lead, and other aristocratic clans contributed shares. It seems that they want to oppose our Cangzhou Chamber of Commerce."

"Don't worry, Cangzhou's geographical location and institutional advantages are not something they can reverse by learning a little superficial." Xu Qing said with a smile: "Those aristocratic clans are tossing around, they don't want to see others' good, and they refuse to change their thinking. It can't be big. Especially that Cui family, after you go back, you have to treat them well for me."

Zhan Zeng was hungry, Xu Qing let him finish his meal and planned to arrange for him to rest.But Zhan Zeng said: "Master Xu, in fact, I went to the Ministry of Officials to report on my work in advance, and there is actually one more important thing to say to Master Xu."

"Oh?" Xu Qing was stunned. Reporting by the official department is usually in autumn, and the road to Cangzhou is far away. There is no need to come in this summer if you come earlier. If you come so early, it must be an important and confidential matter.Xu Qing asked, "Could it be the Cangzhou Chamber of Commerce, uh, or something wrong with Bohai State in Liaodong?"

"Master Xu is a god! I did come here with their news." Zhan Zhan said in a low voice, "It's not that there is any problem, but that they found an opportunity to make a lot of money..."

(End of this chapter)