Judging from the controversy at today's court meeting, Yang Guang believes that Qimin Khan's strategy of bribing the Sui Dynasty has actually worked. This method intensified the disputes in the Sui Dynasty center and successfully divided the Sui Dynasty court into two. However, the pros and cons can be changed anyway. At least, because of Qimin Khan's hand, he discovered that there were problems in the Great Sui Center that he didn't know about before.
For example, Zhang Heng talked about civil servants and hypocritical Confucians who have good intentions but do bad things. These people are brilliant and eloquent. They are very famous among scholars and have countless admirers. Moreover, not only were they not afraid of Yang Guang, the Prime Minister of the Assembly Hall, and the chief officials of the three provinces and six ministries, they even believed that the more powerful they fought against these big figures, the more they could demonstrate his good qualities of not fearing power and daring to remonstrate directly. Even if he was executed, he would be in trouble in the future. He will leave his name in history and be respected by countless future generations.
It is precisely because of this good reputation that whenever they want to prove their correctness, they often refuse to admit their mistakes and go all the way to the end. Once they start talking nonsense, the harm is far greater than corrupt officials, mediocre officials, and incompetent officials.
But it would be wrong to say that they are bad people; because although they do not have any practical talent, they all have excellent characters and are hard to find fault with; if you encounter corrupt officials, they will hate them more than anyone else. If you If I don't kill them, they won't let me go!
Faced with this group of hateful and lovely people, Yang Guang, the emperor, also had a big headache; since normal methods could not cure them, he had to rely on their good reputation to deal with them. Only in this way can they be reassured.
Of course, Yang Guang also knew in his heart that this group was completely different. For example, Xue Daoheng, Li Gang, and Xu Wenyuan were really such people; while Li Yuantong and his like were actually speculators.
However, he couldn't tell the difference at this time, and since they were together, he could only deal with it in one way. Only by letting them learn a lesson and suffer, will they use their brains before speaking in the future; otherwise, it will be impossible to cure these well-intentioned people who do bad things.
Compared with Xue Daoheng, Li Gang, Xu Wenyuan and others, Li Yuantong did not take this "painless" punishment seriously. If he was the kind of person who cared about reputation, how could he be the Minister of Punishment of the Sui Dynasty? As long as the position of Minister of Punishment is not lost, who can do anything to him? Who dares to do anything to him?
As for the abuse from incompetent people, it is neither painful nor fatal, and it will not affect his promotion and wealth; as long as they like to scold, then just scold them, it doesn't matter.
It's just that the sage Qian Gang is arbitrary and insists on listening to the greedy words of Yang Ji, Gao Jun, Yang Da, Zhang Heng and others. In the future, scholars and scholars will definitely rise up and attack. At that time, he will not believe that the sage only relies on These flattering and greedy ministers can manage thousands of miles of land and more than 50 million people!
Yang Guang glanced at the ministers below and said in a deep voice: "Since the Ashina Tumen replaced them with softness, the Turks have repeatedly gone south to plunder and kill, committing numerous blood debts. Today's Qimin are as wild as their ancestors, and they have not changed. Breach of trust. However, some officials in our Sui Dynasty received the salary of the Sui Dynasty and the taxes of the people, but they did not think about the strategy of defeating the enemy and seeking the peace of the family. They talked nonsense about fearing the enemy and surrendering, and even deceived the people of the government and the public. Their crime is serious. , far superior to the Turks. Anyone who dares to make peace in the future will be punished with treason."
After a pause, Yang Guang said again: "As for the affairs of the grassland ministries, we will handle them according to Zhang Qing's words."
The ministers were all thinking differently. When they heard what Yang Guang said, they all stood up and responded loudly: "I obey!"
"Let's call it a day for today's court meeting!" Yang Guang thought of something and added: "The ministers will go back to the Imperial City to handle state affairs; the prime ministers of the Assembly Hall, the chief ministers and minor ministers of the three provinces and six ministries, the Yushitai, and the Nine Temples will stay."
"Your Majesty, please leave." The ministers said their goodbyes one after another, and then exited the hall one after another.
After the ministers left, Yang Guang said to the important ministers who remained in the palace: "Go to Tongming Palace to discuss matters."
With that said, he stood up and left.
Zhang Heng mentioned before that there are many redundant officials and redundant officials in the civil service who are useless and harmful. Yang Guang always kept this in mind. It's just that how to lay off, which positions to lay off, and which people to lay off are all very annoying issues. If they are not handled well, it will cause great turmoil, so this matter requires careful thinking and discussion.
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In an attic room of the Honglu Temple Posthouse, the former Turkic eunuch Kang Sheoli was talking with a Honglu Temple official.
Kang Sheoli was in his early thirties and a Sogdian with both civil and military skills. Li Yuanshi was well prepared before raising troops in Jinyang. He was afraid that he would not be able to defeat the imperial court and rebel against the kings, so he listened to Li Shimin's suggestion and surrendered to the Turks. At the same time, in order to obtain the full support of the Turks in terms of military power, he also He wrote a letter to Shibi Khan and reached an agreement with Shibi Khan. The letter said, "If you can follow me and not invade the people, the Khan will have all the treasures, treasures, and silks gained from the expedition." It means that when the world is in chaos, I will also raise troops to fight against the Sui Dynasty. If you can help me, no matter where I conquer, the population and money there will be given to you.
With this "Li Yuan" as a precedent, the descendants of the Li family took this as their ancestral system. During the Anshi Rebellion, his descendant Tang Suzong used this method to borrow troops from the Uighurs. Tang Suzong and the Uighurs agreed that "on the day the city is conquered, the land, soldiers The common people returned to the Tang Dynasty, and their gold, silk, and children all returned to the Huihe." Later, the Huihe people captured Guanzhong and looted it, leaving an empty city for the Tang Dynasty.
It can be said that the Li family father and son set a very bad precedent, which caused later rebel kings to use this as an example to attract foreigners to enter the country and compete for the world. Therefore, Wang Fuzhi said in "Du Tongjian Lun" that "the Tang Dynasty raised troops and used Turks, so later generations followed them, using Huihe to kill An and Shi, Shatuo to destroy Huangchao, and Shi Jingtang to usurp Khitan, cutting off Yan, "Yun, if you lose the old coins, you will be sick of China and die of illness."
The first Khan in history was because of Li Yuanzhi's promise, so he ordered Kang Sheoli to lead the Turkic army to help Li and his son seize the world. Although the "history books" only said that the Turks came out with war horses, they also whitewashed it and said that they successfully deceived the Turks. , but in fact it was "white flags hanging on the boy's tree, and Hu soldiers filling the front and rear".
Regarding this point, Chen Yinke, a master of Chinese traditional culture, said in "On the Matter of the Emperor Gaozu of the Tang Dynasty Proclaiming Ministers to the Turks" that "the martial arts of our nation is more prosperous than that of the Han and Tang Dynasties. However, the Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty was trapped in Pingcheng, and the Emperor Gaozu of the Tang Dynasty also tried to declare vassalage to the Turks. The Han Dynasty was not As discussed in this article, when Emperor Gaozu of the Tang Dynasty raised an army in Taiyuan, he actually declared himself a vassal to the Turks, and Taizong planned the matter. Later, historians concealed it, so that the true story of the matter was not obvious to later generations..."
Although Kang Sheoli's reputation was not well known at this time, he was highly regarded as a hero in the Turks. He is now the captain of ten thousand soldiers appointed by Qimin Khan, serving under Ashina Duoji's tent (from the beginning to the end). This trip south was to take a stand for "peace negotiations."
It was still early, but Kang Sheoli had already eaten breakfast. While picking his teeth with a bamboo stick, he said to Li Xiaochang with a smile: "Don't mention it, the Sui Dynasty was worthy of being a great country, and the cook's skills were very good. . It’s the same meat, but it’s far prettier and more delicious than what we Turks make.”
Li Xiaochang glanced at the vulgar Kang Sheoli, and the disdain in his eyes disappeared. He introduced with a smile: "Envoy Kang knows a lot about things. We in the Central Plains have always paid attention to the food that is not tired of fineness, and the food that is cooked is not tired of fineness. The requirements for the delicious food are The color, aroma and taste are complete.”
"Right now, this is just the work of the chef in the post house. It would be even more amazing if it were replaced by a chef in the palace. However, it is said that the chefs in Prince Wei's palace are more skilled. They can use ordinary ingredients to cook the best dishes."
Kang Sheoli was a thoughtful person. Before he checked into the post house, he had found out the origins of the main officials of Honglu Temple. He knew that although Li Xiaochang was only a small businessman, his father was Li Yuantong, the Minister of Punishment. Behind their father and son was the giant Li family from Longxi. As time went by, they established a friendly relationship with Li Xiaochang. He looked at Li Xiaochang meaningfully and said as if wiping away: "After eating these delicacies, I began to hate the cooks at home. Alas! I don't want to have the imperial chef or the cooks from the Wei Wang family. If there are a few cooks like this in the post house, , I will have no regrets in this life.”
"What's so difficult about this!" Li Xiaochang said boldly: "My Li family has many better cooks. If Ambassador Kang likes it, there is no harm in giving you three or five!"
"That's a good thing." Kang Sheoli laughed loudly and said cheerfully: "Li is a generous person. You Han people pay attention to etiquette and reciprocity. We Turks also have a clear sense of grudges and grudges. We never do anything wrong to our friends." After saying that, he turned around and took out a jade. The box was pushed in front of Li Xiaochang and motioned for him to open it and take a look.
Li Xiaochang opened it and saw a dazzling glow of colorful light. The box actually contained two pearls the size of grapes. Li Xiaochang had seen many rare and rare treasures, but the two pearls that matched each other in front of him made him breathe quickly. The two pearls were crystal clear and had different colors. Each one was priceless. of rare treasures.
In an instant, his eyes narrowed, but he still closed the box, pushed it back reluctantly, and said to Kang Sheoli, "It's too valuable, I can't take it."
Kang Sheoli sneered in his heart, but said with a feigned displeasure on his face: "This is not a question of whether it is valuable or not. It is that in my opinion, this pearl is far less important than a friend. Doesn't it mean that Li Cheng doesn't want to make me a friend?" Don’t you accept my friendship?”
Li Xiaochang thought for a moment, then cupped his hands and said, "Since Ambassador Kang said so, I have no choice but to be respectful rather than obey."
"It's not worth a lot of money, so this is right!" Kang Sheoli turned from anger to joy and said with a happy laugh.
Li Xiaochang accepted the jade box again, feeling that this ugly Sogdian became particularly pleasing to the eye, and suddenly said: "Envoy Kang, I just returned from the government office not long ago. I heard that people in the court were fighting for war and war. We had a quarrel with him!"
"Oh? Really?" Kang Sheoli's eyes flashed, and he said pretending to be confused: "I heard that the Great Sui Dynasty was under the governance of the sage Khan. One heart and one mind, working together, isn’t it?”
Seeing that his face was filled with a look of asking for advice, Li Xiaochang felt a sense of superiority in his heart. He laughed and said: "Mr. Kang is joking, ordinary people will cause all kinds of conflicts with others because of their own interests, let alone Above the court? Let me tell you, our officialdom in the Sui Dynasty is just like your Turks. There are many factions. As soon as they hear that there is profit, they will make a fuss. As long as there are comfortable days, we are not willing to fight, so the Lord and There are a lot of people. From the current point of view, the officials of Zhuhe have the upper hand, and my father does not want to fight this battle. Therefore, the war between Sui and Tu will probably not be fought, and Kang's envoy can rest assured. "
"Thank you Li Zheng for clearing up the doubts, so I feel relieved." Kang Sheoli remembered it in his heart, but after a while, he pretended to be uneasy and said: "I know that King Wei is tough, and the sage Khan is a trustworthy person. Soon In the future, he will return triumphantly, and if he takes the lead in the battle, I'm afraid your father won't dare to refute, right?"
Li Xiaochang felt extremely unhappy when he heard these words. He snorted coldly and said: "Messenger Kang has high regard for King Wei."
Kang Sheoli's eyes flashed with coldness, and he asked again: "Why?"
"King Wei is indeed good at fighting, but stable forces and a strong family are the key to longevity. But what about him? Not only does he not have any stable allies, but he has also offended too many forces in the court, such as Talking about Prime Minister Su Wei, my father said that it was because of King Wei that Prime Minister Su lost his position as Zuopushe and Prince Shaobao. It was also because of King Wei that the power he had been running for decades was taken down by the saint. This hatred, this hatred, How can we let go of Su Wei?" Li Xiaochang sneered and said: "When he returns in triumph, he will be a man of great achievements. Once the dispute breaks out again, King Wei will be roasted on the fire, and all the major forces will use him. He criticized the theory of threatening the emperor's throne. With his influence in the army at this time, can the saint still trust him as before? I don't think so."
"That's it!" Kang Sheoli laughed and said, "You Han people are still smart enough to do this."
"It's nothing. There are such examples in every dynasty." Li Xiaochang laughed and said, "Actually, there are countless such examples."
Kang Sheoli stopped asking about political affairs and had a romantic relationship with Li Xiaochang. After all, Li Xiaochang was an official of the Sui Dynasty and did not dare to have too much contact with the foreign envoys. He sat for a while and then left.
Not long after Li Xiaochang left, a Turkic soldier brought in a Sogdian businessman who had been waiting for a long time.
As the Sui Dynasty became more and more powerful in recent years, but became less and less friendly to the Turks, Qimin Khan needed time to pay attention to the trends of the Sui Dynasty, so he sent a large number of Sogdians who were good at business to serve as spies and agents. This person was named Shi Chaoan. , is a member of Hu Xi's clan in Shu.
Shi Chaoan's mission was threefold: first, to help Shi Shu Hu Xi make money; second, to replace Shi Shu Hu Xi and Qimin Khan in managing the powerful, and the recent boom in peace talks was due to their long-term management; third, to find out what was going on in the capital. .
The two were friends who had known each other for many years, and Kang Sheoli also knew that he should not stay for a long time. As soon as they met, he asked in a low voice: "I want to meet Su Wei, do you think it's possible?"
"Impossible!" Shi Chao'an shook his head and said: "After Su Wei was dismissed from office, he was very cautious. He did not see anyone except the upper court. And he is the prime minister after all. Due to the unequal status, it is impossible for him to see you. .”
"This person has nothing to do with Yang Ji. He is our natural ally. We must test him no matter what." Kang Sheoli paused, lowered his voice and said, "Where are the direct descendants of the Su family? Can we make an appointment?"
"Everyone knows that Su Wei has fallen out of favor. Su Wei's direct descendants will definitely not see you!" Shi Chao'an also lowered his voice and said: "Especially in this critical period, which is related to the future direction of Sui and Tu. They will not As for those who are stupid enough to meet the Turkic envoys."
"It makes sense, but you don't have to meet the direct descendants of Su Wei." Kang Sheoli was deeply convinced after hearing this, so he had to settle for the next best thing and said: "The parents and brothers of the wives and concubines of Su's descendants, the descendants of the side branches, and the confidants and generals it is also fine."
Shi Chaoan said: "If that's the case, then I'll send someone to try it!"
"Yes!" Kang Sheoli nodded, and then ordered: "Li Xiaochang is good, take care of him more and move around more in the future."
"Here!"
