Chastity Layman

  Chapter 359 Grabbing merit

  In the Tai Chi Palace.

  At the Empress Changsun in the main hall, Empress Changsun was settling accounts with several concubines including Zheng Wanyan. Zheng Wanyan's abacus was crackling, and she even moved her hands left and right, counting with both sides.

  Concubine Yang is reporting the account, and concubine Yang is using a pen to record the figures calculated by Zheng Wanyan.

  Empress Changsun checked the ledger.

  Li Shimin's Neifang is now doing a lot of business, relying on anchoring Qin Lang's business, so now it has grabbed a lot of profitable industries and made a lot of money. Although Empress Changsun once persuaded the emperor not to rob her son-in-law all the time, Li Shimin said that Qin Lang also said that healthy competition is conducive to development.

  Then let Empress Changsun be in charge of auditing the accounts of Neifang.

   Li Shimin walked in with his hands behind his back, and all the concubines stood up and saluted.

  The emperor waved his hand, "Guanyin maidservant, how about it?" There was a bit of complacency in his tone, the emperor had already read the accounts of Neifang, and the income was gratifying.

  Royal Bank, Neifang Pawnshop, and Zhenguan Bookstore are all profitable businesses. In addition, silk porcelain, sugar, wine, salt and tea, etc., the emperor's Neifang is now also involved.

   Money and silk flowed in continuously, and the most important thing was that the money was all from the royal treasury. In the past, he used the treasury for all his money, which caused his courtiers to criticize him, which made him very dissatisfied. Now that the treasury has money, it is convenient to reward the palace, courtiers, and soldiers.

   "I heard that Saburo is coming back to Beijing?"

   "Well, on the way, I will arrive in Beijing soon, this boy, I asked him to guard Anbei, but he ran back to Beijing by himself under the banner of escorting Shubao."

   "Saburo is filial!" said the queen.

  Li Shimin thought to himself, don't I know that this is Qin Lang's return to Beijing under the name of filial piety, this is disobedience to my arrangement, really ignorant of flattery. He purposely transferred Qin Lang to the Wusan rank, in order to let Qin Lang take the position of Deputy Chief Protector of the Anbei Metropolitan Protectorate, in fact, let him be the top leader of the Anbei Grand Protectorate.

  Nowadays so many military generals in the court are vying to go to Saibei, he Qin Lang still doesn't know good from bad.

   "Saburo has worked so hard outside, let him come back if he wants to. Saburo is still young, so don't overwork him." The queen persuaded.

   "Young ass, how is this kid young except for his young age? He is as cunning as an old fox!" Li Shimin sighed.

   After chatting with the queen for a while, drinking a cup of tea and eating some snacks, Li Shimin went back to work again.

   Afternoon.

   Invite ministers to continue court discussions, the end of the year is approaching, and there will be more affairs.

  The formulation of next year's fiscal budget, and even the formulation of major national policies for next year, etc.

The financial meeting went relatively smoothly, because now the imperial court has no shortage of money, and the new policy has been implemented for a year, and the effect has already appeared. The important thing is that the Shatai Buddhism really made the imperial court a lot of money. annual financial income.

  This year, the autumn harvest in the north suffered some disasters, and the production was reduced by a few percent, but the south was not affected, and the harvest was abundant and abundant.

  Generally speaking, the people are quite stable, even though the people in the north have a hard time this year, but the summer harvest is bumper, and the winter harvest is not yet complete, so they will not have to leave their hometowns to beg for food.

The only big trouble is that this year's snowstorm and cold current have caused many people to suffer, and even killed many people. Fortunately, the court has some money this year, some food in the warehouse, and there is no threat of war from outside. good.

   Regarding the budget for next year, it is relatively loose.

"Let's talk about a few vacancies in the north, the governor of Lingwu, the governor of Yansui, the governor of Yunzhong, the governor of Dingxiang, as well as some official positions in Anbei Dadufu, in addition to the governors of Zhuzhou, etc. Let's discuss it , is there any suitable candidate to recommend!"

  The emperor's words fell.

  Yu Chigong couldn't wait to recommend himself as the governor of Dingxiang!

Earlier, when Qin Lang used troops in the East Surrendered City, Li Shimin also asked the Ministry of War to make some adjustments, and planned to send a few more troops to the north, but in the end, the soldiers had not assembled yet, and Qin Lang had already dispatched Yuan Junzhang and Liang Shi to the army. If it is resolved, the plan to dispatch troops will naturally be withdrawn.

  Yu Chigong was going to reinforce Yunzhou, but he failed to go, and missed a good opportunity to gain military merits.

  Even Hou Junji, Minister of the Ministry of War, requested to be the governor of Yunzhong.

  Li Jing pointed out that he had served as the governor of Lingzhou in Lingwu before, so he asked to replace Qin Qiong in Lingwu.

  ········

"Li Jing, you're getting old, so be your secretary of the Ministry of Punishment. When you have time, you can go to the martial arts hall to teach young people. It's very cold in the northern part of the country. Don't freeze your old bones. "

   It was okay at the beginning, but after arguing and fighting, Yu Chigong became anxious first, and actually spoke rudely to Li Jing directly.

Although Li Jing is a veteran in the military, but he was born in the Jiangmen, and he was a late bloomer, and because he did not participate in the Xuanwumen Change, so even though he is now the Secretary of the Ministry of Punishment, his title is still only the Duke of Yongkang County. Yu Chigong, the Duke of Wu with 1,300 sealed households, still has a big gap.

   Especially Yu Chigong, who has always been a bit domineering, even Li Xiaogong and other famous clan kings look down on kings, so he is not polite to Li Jing, a bad old man.

   He made a noise to the back, and even rolled up his sleeves again.

   "If you are not convinced, Li Yaoshi, let's make gestures!"

   Li Shimin was very dissatisfied when he saw this scene.

  In terms of commanding and fighting, Yu Chigong is definitely not as good as Li Jing, but if it is a charge, Li Jing is definitely not as good as Yu Chigong, and when it comes to loyalty, Yuchigong is definitely better than Li Jing.

  But in the eyes of the emperor, both of them are irreplaceable.

"enough!"

   "I asked you to recommend suitable candidates. I didn't ask you to quarrel here, or even fight. Do you think this is the Pingkangfang Night Market?"

  Yu Chigong was quite unconvinced, saying that at Li Jing's age, why would he want to join in the fun?

  Li Shimin rolled his eyes at Yu Chigong.

Although they were all fierce generals of Tiance Mansion back then, Yuchi Gong was far behind Qin Qiong in this aspect. Although Qin Qiong is no longer as brave as before due to injuries, he has performed remarkable in other aspects, while Yuchi Gong Well, always relying on the prime of life, relying on the merits of the Xuanwu Gate, to beat the sky and the earth.

  So Qin Qiong's official career has risen rapidly in the past two years, and he has long been worshiped as a prime minister, and now he is promoted to the third prince, but what about Yuchi Gong? In the past two years, apart from quarreling in the court, he has not done anything serious.

  He was thinking in his heart, maybe it's time for Yu Chigong to go out and calm down.

  The day after the quarrel.

  Emperor issued an edict to change the title of Wei Chigong, the Duke of Wu, to the Duke of E, and transferred him to be the governor of Xiangzhou.

  Xue Wanche was ordered to be the governor of Lingzhou, and Li Jing, Shangshu of the Ministry of Punishment, was changed to be the governor of Yunzhong and the governor of Shuozhou.

  Li Daliang served as the governor of Dingxiang and the governor of Shunzhou.

  Chai Shao served as the governor of Yansui.

  ·······

   After Yu Chigong received this imperial edict in Yuanji's luxurious mansion, his black face turned red with anger.

  He never expected it, and after a long time, he was transferred to Xiangyang.

   Seeing that Xieli was going to do it, it was time to grab military merits, so why was he transferred to Jianghan?

What's the meaning?

  He has always been the number one confidant under the emperor's tent!

   Now that Qin Qiong is ill, isn't it time for him to show off his might?

  Yu Chigong refused to accept it, and ran to see the emperor, but Li Shimin didn't see him, but asked the servant to bring him a sentence, which was a good beating.

   Then Yu Chigong withered, and got the appointment and left Beijing on the same day.

  Yu Chigong has not been in Beijing for several years, so it can be seen that the emperor is really unhappy.

   And Li Jing, Xue Wanche, and Chai Shao also left Beijing to take office afterward.

  A member of the generals came out of Beijing in the snow.

  A few days later, Qin Lang and Qin Qiong crossed the Wei Bridge and returned to Chang'an City.

  The original plan was to arrive in Beijing a day later, and the emperor planned to send someone to meet him, but Qin Qiong insisted on speeding up and quietly entered Beijing one day earlier.

  The two fathers did not put up a guard of honor when they returned to Beijing, nor did they cause a sensation among the military and the people.

  Go back to Chang'an City, and go back to each house.

  Li Shimin didn't know that the two had returned to the Great Wall of Beijing until he received the pass.

   Surprised for a while, Li Shimin could only shake his head and smile, he knew that the two of them deliberately didn't want to make a scene.

   Really low-key everywhere.

   After Li Shimin continued to read the charter, he couldn't stand it anymore.

  He asked Zheng Wanyan to read it, but still couldn't listen to it, and finally said simply, "Call the servant, I'm going out of the palace."

  Li Shimin called Chengqian, and Zheng Wanyan, and arrived at Qin Qiong's residence in Qinrenfang.

   "You've lost a lot of weight!"

   "Your Majesty has also added a few strands of silver thread, so don't take too much effort."

   When the two monarchs and ministers met again, they couldn't help feeling a little bit emotional.

   It seems that it has become a little strange.

   "Are you okay?"

"It's an old disease, many years of fighting, scars, loss of energy and blood. In the past two years, His Majesty has given me medicine, and Saburo has also found a lot of ginseng and other supplements for my ministers, but after all, I am still not young. Now it is not as good as it is every year. It's gone." Qin Qiong patted her knee, "Now my back hurts and my knee hurts."

   "I heard that the dragon's beard can cure qi and blood loss, so I cut off the beard today. Shubao, take it to decoct medicine."

  Qin Qiong discovered that he hadn't seen the emperor for more than a year, and the short beard that the emperor had always carefully trimmed was gone today.

A piece of brocade cloth put the emperor's dragon's beard well, "When these are used up, my beard will grow again, and then I will cut it and give it to Shubao to make medicine for you. As long as it is effective, let alone beard, it is I’m willing to gouge out the flesh.”

  Qin Qiong couldn't help crying because of these words.

"Back then, our monarchs and ministers rode shoulder to shoulder to fight together. Your big iron spear, my bow, and Jingde's horse lance, we were once invincible. Old man, take good care of your wounds. I still hope that you can always be by my side. By my side, the world is finally unified now, and the future will only be better, and I want you to share the wealth and the peace of the world!"

  ·······

   "What is Sanlang's plan? Is he really unwilling to stay in Saibei?"

  The emperor asked Qin Qiong.

"This kid acted recklessly. Your Majesty asked him to appease Fengzhou, but he made such a big incident. Fortunately, nothing happened, but he was still too stupid. So after he returns to Beijing this time, please let him stay in Chang'an. Now, for the northern frontier, we should send a seasoned and prudent general to take over as guard!"

   "I have already sent Li Jing to Yunzhou, Chai Shao to Suizhou, Xue Wanche to Lingzhou, what do you think of this arrangement?"

   "The pharmacist's ability to fight wars is unmatched by anyone in the court. I suggest that pharmacist be appointed as the deputy governor of Anbei and take full charge of the military in northern Serbia." Qin Qiong said bluntly.

   "Shubao, do you think you can declare war on Jieli next year? Can you win?"

"You can give it a try next year. My suggestion is to make two preparations. Before next autumn, first stabilize the border, appease the subordinates, and stock up on food, grass and equipment. After autumn, you can announce an order to Jieli and let him lead his troops back to Mobei. .”

  Li Shimin frowned, "Let him go back to Mobei?"

"Your Majesty, if Jieli is willing to lead his troops back to Mobei, that is a good thing. It is still a bit risky to declare war with Jieli at this stage. If you can defeat others without fighting and force him to move north, then the land of Monan will be more prosperous." It can be recovered and stabilized."

   "What if Xieli doesn't move?"

   "Then His Majesty can proclaim Tuli the Great Khan, and let the Turks fight among themselves." Qin Qiong is still more cautious, and still thinks that he is not in a hurry to start a full-scale war with Xieli until it is absolutely necessary, and it is best to force him to withdraw to Mobei.

   "Does Saburo also mean that?"

   "This is just my minister's suggestion. As for Saburo's thoughts, His Majesty can ask him."

  Li Shimin nodded.

  (end of this chapter)