The whole court was silent! The atmosphere was so oppressive that you could even hear everyone's heartbeats!
Just when Dai Zhou was staring at the tips of his boots with cold sweat on his forehead, wondering if time had also stopped, a steady and powerful voice finally sounded from behind him!
"Your Majesty, I also feel that in this difficult time, it is really a bad idea to rush to use foreign troops!"
"Wow..."
"Who is this again?"
As soon as these words came out, the court was suddenly shocked again!
Those ministers were not only surprised that someone dared to come forward at this time, but they were even more horrified that this person's remarks actually wanted to veto the Northern Expedition plan that had been tacitly agreed upon between the emperors and ministers of the Tang Dynasty!
Today is not the first or fifteenth day of the Lunar New Year, so it is not a big meeting! Those who can stand in the court now are all ministers of the Tang Dynasty! They all know the emperor's determination for this northern expedition!
If we say that Dai Zhou brought up the Northern Expedition because he was the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue and was forced by His Majesty to have no choice but to talk about it!
So what do the people who agree think? Openly opposing the emperor? Isn't he afraid of the emperor's wrath?
For a moment, countless thoughts flashed through everyone's minds, and their eyes couldn't help but look for the voice!
The place where the voice came from was not in front of the courtiers, but a little behind! Among the courtiers, a tall and thin middle-aged official wearing a crimson official uniform slowly emerged from the queue.
Looking at his unsmiling face, everyone knew that this person was none other than Dr. Wei Zheng, the Yushitai doctor!
"Oh, it turns out it's in this latrine...ahem, it's the upright Mr. Wei!"
I immediately recognized this person as Wei Zheng! The ministers finally felt enlightened!
It's no wonder that as His Majesty's majesty becomes more and more serious, there are only a few people left in the court who dare to confront the Emperor like this.
And among these people, the Master Wei in front of him is definitely one of the top ones! He had too many heroic deeds against the emperor before, and he seemed to be addicted to confronting the emperor! So now adding this one to the list doesn't seem to be that big of a deal.
"Oh, the Wei Qing family thinks so too?" Li Shimin looked at Wei Zheng with an expression on his face.
But just this glance made several ministers around Wei Zheng tremble and quickly and cautiously take a few steps back, for fear that the emperor would also count himself as Wei Zheng's accomplice, which would be really unfair!
However, Li Shimin's cold eyes had no effect on Wei Zheng. He was really like a solid rock on the hill at this moment. No matter how violent the wind and rain, I remained unmoved!
"Report to Your Majesty!" Wei Zheng said sternly with an unyielding embrace: "Sun Tzu's Art of War says: Don't move unless it is advantageous, use it unless you have to, and don't fight unless it is dangerous. The master cannot raise an army in anger, and the general cannot fight in anger. It is in harmony with the interests. And move, stop if it is not beneficial. Anger can return to joy, anger can return to joy, a country that has been destroyed cannot be restored, and the dead cannot be resurrected!
What this statement means is that the king cannot rashly raise troops based on his own likes and dislikes! Military affairs are a major matter for the country, and should not be acted upon unless in times of crisis! Today, our Tang Dynasty has no strong enemies outside, but there is a disaster inside! For the current plan, the best policy is to follow what Dai Shangshu said, to recuperate and stabilize the people's hearts! "
"Oh? Are you saying that I did it for my own selfish interests, regardless of the common people and the country! Are we rashly raising troops against Goguryeo?" After hearing what Wei Zheng said, Li Shimin's pupils seemed to have shrunk into needlepoints, piercing Wei Zheng's body!
"Excuse me for being stupid!"
Under Li Shimin's sharp eyes, Wei Zheng seemed a little unable to resist! He lowered his head slightly, but his voice remained calm: "Although Goguryeo is arrogant by nature, it has not done anything offensive to the Tang Dynasty! Except for the rude words I made when I met with His Majesty, I really can't think of anything else to say in return. There are other reasons to launch troops against Goguryeo!”
"Are you stupid?" Li Shimin waited for Wei Zheng to finish, but a trace of ridicule slowly emerged from the corner of his mouth. He slowly said: "Wei Shangshu is not a stupid person! However, during the Wude years, Goguryeo ignored the tribute rules of the Tang Dynasty. We still pay tribute according to the old rituals of the Sui Dynasty! In the early years of Zhenguan, Goguryeo united with Baekje to plan Dangxiang City to block Silla's path to Chao! In the past few years, Goguryeo crossed the Liao River from the northwest to Yingzhou! Is it possible that it invaded a large area of our land? Mr. Wei doesn’t know anything about these things?”
"Your Majesty..." When Wei Zheng heard Li Shimin's question, his body trembled slightly involuntarily. It took him a long time before he reluctantly said, "I don't know much about these things!"
"You don't know what you know? What you don't know!" Li Shimin looked at Wei Zheng, who was gradually hunched over. He snorted coldly again, and the mockery on the corner of his mouth became more obvious: "Even if you, Mr. Wei, are not involved in military aircraft, the ancient books are always You should have read it, right? Where are the four counties of Han Dynasty: Lelang, Xuantu, Zhenfan, and Lintun now? Does Master Wei know?"
"This..." Wei Zheng looked bitter, but now he was completely speechless!
How could he not know about the affairs of the four counties of Han Dynasty? Taking advantage of the civil strife in the Han Dynasty, Goguryeo secretly took the land of these four counties as its own and has never returned it! Not to mention anything else, this one thing alone is enough reason to launch troops against Goguryeo!
The court fell silent, and the other ministers couldn't help but murmur in their hearts when they saw this scene!
The conversation between the emperor and Wei Zheng today seems a bit unusual, right? ! Wei Zheng, who used to be confident no matter what he did, why is it that today he is so helpless and unreasonable? Is there something else they don't know about?
"Ahem..."
Seeing that the atmosphere seemed to be getting more and more wrong, Changsun Wuji, who was in the civil service team, finally couldn't help it anymore and hurriedly stepped forward to smooth things over.
"Ahem, this important military matter requires caution and correctness! But today, what we are discussing is how to face the disaster in front of us. Regarding other matters, we will discuss it later, haha, we will discuss it later!"
"Yes, yes! We need to think of ways to provide disaster relief first! Let's get over the current hurdle first and then talk about it!"
When seeing someone jumping out to be the peacemaker, Fang Xuanling, who had long been fed up with the depressing atmosphere, quickly stood up and made peace with him with a smile.
"snort!"
Seeing that more and more ministers were saying peace, Li Shimin finally stopped focusing on Wei Zheng and snorted coldly: "Okay! Then tell me, ministers, what else can you do?!"
In the court, as Li Shimin said these words, Mr. Wei Zhengwei, who still kept his bow, finally breathed a sigh of relief!
He slowly straightened up, and at Changsun Wuji's signal, he retreated back to stand among the courtiers, as if nothing happened.
But if a careful person looks at it in detail, he will find that this stone has been sweating profusely during this period of time, almost soaking through the thick crimson official uniform! Even the hand holding Wu Ban tightly was trembling slightly!
