East Palace, Xiande Hall.
Prince Li Jiancheng sat at the top of the table, with a long table in front of him. He listened attentively to the narrations of Minister Zuopushe Pei Ji and Minister of Punishment Zheng Shanguo. On the side, Prince Zhongyun Wang Gui, Xi Ma Wei Zheng, Zhan Shi Zhao Hongzhi and other staff members added a few words from time to time. At this time, only Pei Shiju, the ministerial servant, was closing his eyes to rest.
After the founding of the Li Tang Dynasty, Li Yuan followed the example of the former Sui Dynasty in handling government affairs in the three provinces and six ministries. The Zhongshu took over, the subordinates reviewed the seals, and the Shangshu followed the instructions. However, in the actual handling of government affairs, the prime ministers and assistants were also influenced by two people. One was the emperor. Li Yuan, the other is Li Jiancheng, the prince of the East Palace.
On the contrary, although King Qin Li Shimin served as Shangshu Ling, and the subordinate officials of Tiance Mansion, Fenglun, Yu Wenshiji, and Tang Jian, served as Zhongshu Ling, Zhongshu Shilang, and Huangmen Shilang, the actual power of Shangshu Province was mainly held by Zuopu She Pei Ji. in hand.
In the Song, Ming, and Qing dynasties, the prince generally did not participate in government affairs. He squatted in the East Palace every day and drew circles, hoping that the emperor would ascend to heaven soon. However, before the Northern Song Dynasty, the prince had always been deeply involved in actual government affairs. .
For example, during the Han, Sui, and Tang dynasties, the emperor often went out for inspections and summer vacations, while the prince supervised the country and handled government affairs.
After all, he has been the prince for seven or eight years. Li Jiancheng is competent enough to handle general government affairs, and the staff in the East Palace are also capable. Only after the Liangyi Palace discussed matters, the prime ministers like Pei Ji and Pei Shiju, and Zheng Shanguo, who also served as the crown prince Zuo Shuzi, could Will come to the East Palace for discussion.
"The First Emperor annexed the six kingdoms, unified the world, and immediately unified weights and measures." Wang Gui talked eloquently. "This was the case in the former Han, Later Han, and the Eastern and Western Jin Dynasties. However, the three kingdoms were separated for hundreds of years, and then the North and the South were in conflict for hundreds of years, resulting in the importance of weights and measures in various places today. They are different in size and really need to be unified.”
Pei Ji nodded and said, "That's true. The previous dynasty built canals to transport grain into the Northland in preparation for the attack on Goguryeo. The Northland officials often complained because of weights and measures."
Li Jiancheng nodded frequently, but still hesitated, "Based on the medium-sized millet grown in the north, one millet is divided into one millimeter, ten inches is one inch, and ten inches is one foot."
"Subject to the medium-large millet, one thousand two hundred millet can be used as a sheath, two sheaves make one unit, and ten units make one sheng..."
"Guanzhong, Hedong, Shandong, and Longxi are acceptable." Wei Zheng shook his head and said, "But Jiangnan, Lingnan, and Sichuan are probably difficult to promote."
In fact, everyone knows the crux of the problem. The so-called medium standard is really a very vague concept... Moreover, the states in Sichuan and Jiangnan have their own standards that they are used to. Why should they change to a different set of standards?
Officials had written frequently to unify weights and measures a few years ago. Ever since Qin Shihuang did this, the founding emperors would usually do this once. However, because the world had always been in a confrontation between north and south for hundreds of years before, the Sui and Tang dynasties were very worried about this. It takes a lot of brainpower.
Li Jiancheng sighed. This matter was really troublesome. He put it behind him for the time being. He then talked about the second matter, "Tong Yehu Khan sent envoys to the court. My father said privately that there might be a proposal for marriage." meaning."
Tongyehu Khan is the Great Khan of the Western Turks. He has been on the throne for more than six years. During the Central Plains War, he sent troops to unify the Western Regions. The Yazhang moved to Qianquan... Suiye Hebei, converted to later maps, has already It’s not in China anymore, it’s probably Kyrgyzstan.
Unlike the Eastern Turks, the Western Turks basically have no borders with the Tang Dynasty, and the relationship between them is very good. However, sending an envoy was the first time after Li Tang founded the country, and the DPRK and China attached great importance to it... regardless of its strength. In terms of land area and number of tribes, the Western Turks surpassed the Eastern Turks.
Zheng Shanguo smiled and said: "Brother Hongda was talking about splitting the Turks back then. Your Highness should inquire about this matter."
Pei Shiju is almost eighty years old. After entering the Tang Dynasty, he basically had nothing to do with government affairs. The reason why he was able to serve as Prime Minister and Assistant Li Yuan attracted Li Yuan's attention. In addition to being a famous former Sui minister, he mainly took a fancy to Pei Shiju's deep understanding of the grassland tribes. .
"The so-called talk of dividing the Turks is a lie." Pei Shiju opened his eyes and chuckled: "When the Turks started, the father died and the son succeeded. However, since the beginning of the Mugan Khan, the brother has succeeded to the brother. It is such a chaos. It leads to civil strife and chaos, which is the beginning of the disaster.”
Wang Gui nodded in agreement and said, "The dispute between Jieli Khan and Tuli Khan has arisen because of this."
"Acting according to the system will lead to a long-term solution." Zhan Shizhu Zhao
Hongzhi's icing on the cake made Li Jiancheng slightly nod... He is both the eldest son and the legitimate son, shouldn't it be right for him to sit in the East Palace?
The second brother insists on seizing the legitimate son, which is setting up trouble!
Pei Shiju softly asked a few details about the envoy sent by Yehu Khan, the leader of the Western Turks, and then said: "Yehu Khan, the leader of the Western Turks, is kind, but he has bad intentions. If there is a marriage proposal, your highness can advise your majesty to agree to it." Make peace."
"It is the strategy of the Western Qin to make friends from far away and attack close by." Pei Ji agreed: "I heard that there are often tribes that surrender to Jie Li this year and defect to the Western Turks next year. If we can make good friends, we will definitely benefit from the war in the future."
Everyone nodded, but this kind of thing cannot be settled in a short while. Related negotiations will definitely last for a while, such as possible mutual markets and preparation of trade routes. For example, last year Li Shan obtained a lot of farmland from East Turkestan. Cattle, but now there is still a huge shortage of farm cattle in Guanzhong.
And it is difficult to choose a candidate for marriage...who is willing to send his daughter to the far western regions, and Li Yuan's daughter is either already married, or not yet of the right age.
After everything was agreed upon and the atmosphere relaxed, Li Jiancheng suddenly smiled and asked, "Huairen is leaving for Longzhou today, right?"
"Yes." Wei Zheng said: "It is said that he brought three hundred personal guards..."
"Hahaha!" Li Jiancheng laughed and said, "Huairen went to the palace for an audience the day before yesterday. He also invited his third sister to accompany him. My father had no choice but to ask the young master to bring hundreds of crossbows."
Zheng Shanguo smiled and said: "It seems that the King of Handan also feels that something may have happened..."
Li Jiancheng knew what Zheng Shanguo meant, not that Li Shenfu and Duan Decao would be defeated, but that Li Shan had the ability to cause trouble.
At this time, Pei Shiju suddenly said: "Your Highness, King Xiangyi will be the commander-in-chief of the Lingzhou Road march, and the East Palace will fill the army with generals."
The power in the military has always been the weakness of the East Palace. Li Jiancheng has never given up reaching out to the military in recent years. When he heard this sentence, his eyes immediately lit up, "What Mr. Pei means is..."
"The King of Xiangyi was transferred to Lingzhou Governor Nianxu, but most of his generals..."
Halfway through Pei Shiju's words, Li Jiancheng came to his senses. Li Shenfu had guarded Hedong for many years before, and he had many trusted generals under his command. However, he was appointed as the general manager of Lingzhou alone. Now that there is an official shortage of people, the East Palace has manpower.
At least a lot of people can be selected from the thousands of Changlin troops stationed in the Forbidden Garden.
Li Jiancheng thought: "Maybe Xue Wanshu and Feng Li can take the leadership?"
"Ahem." Pei Ji coughed twice and suggested, "Maybe Long Qian can leave the capital?"
Li Jiancheng was startled. Pei Longqian was an old man who raised troops in Jinyang. He had made great achievements in tackling key problems in the past. Although he did not have a title, he was awarded the false title of Shangzhu Kingdom. Now he is led by the crown prince Zuo Wei.
"Your Highness, I have some selfish motives." Pei Shiju sighed: "The year before last, thousands of Turkic troops attacked Lingzhou and Yuanzhou, invaded Longzhou, and broke the Great Earthquake Pass."
Pei Ji reminded in a low voice: "Liu Lang is now serving as the official of Longzhou and joining the military."
Li Jiancheng suddenly understood, nodded with a smile and said: "Then with Pei Longqian as the leader and stationed in Yuanzhou, we will be able to protect Xuanji."
Pei Shiju thought to himself that although he guessed that Li Shan would not do anything else before the seizure of the throne was over, he still had to be on guard. With Pei Longqian here, nothing would happen.
