Everything has a price.
After listening to Han Xizai's narration, Li Yuan couldn't help but admire Emperor Li Jing's decision, but he also had a headache. Just because Li Jing made a decision that seemed logical but secretly dangerous, or in his opinion was an extremely wise decision to maintain imperial power, and this decision would lead to a series of unpredictable consequences.
According to the military system of the Southern Tang Dynasty, the expansion of the army was no small matter, especially the number of subordinate troops of the Jiedushi was severely restricted. The intention was of course that he did not want the place to grow so large that it would threaten the central government.
Therefore, since the founding of the Southern Tang Dynasty, no matter how the number of soldiers and horses in a certain town increased or decreased, there would always be a corresponding change in the number of soldiers and horses in another town. The ultimate goal was to make the total number of soldiers and horses in all local towns as large as possible. It may remain unchanged and will always be a few points less than the number of people in the Central Forbidden Army.
The 40,000 additional troops added to the Wuping Army this time were taken from He Jingzhu's Wuchang Army.
Li Yuan secretly thought that military counselor Xu Kuangheng's strategy had indeed paid off. In the past, when Xu Kuangheng joined the army in Chuzhou and He Jingzhu was the governor of Chuzhou, Xu Kuangheng often used He Jingzhu to handle official documents in reply to the imperial court. Over time, he copied He Jingzhu's handwriting. Lifelike.
The so-called silk book that was found from the assassin when Li Yuan was assassinated was written by Xu Kuangheng. Naturally, he was not afraid of the comparison and inspection by the officials. This was the key to Li Yuan's lucky success and the change of heart of Emperor Li Jing. , and triggered a series of unexpected changes in the court...
Therefore, Emperor Li Jing naturally had a deeper meaning when he attacked He Jingzhu's Wuchang Army this time. You must know that even the left prime minister Feng Yansi was trapped in Dali Temple. As one of the "murderers" who assassinated Li Yuan, how could He Jingzhu be spared. And He Jingzhu is not a fuel-efficient lamp. It is estimated that only Li Yuan can understand the grievances in his heart.
After He Jingzhu received the imperial edict to reduce the number of troops, his first reaction was to be confused. The Wuchang Army was an important military force guarding the borders of the Southern Tang Dynasty. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the number of troops has only increased but not decreased. In addition, to the west of the Wuchang Army was Li Yuan. In the controlled Chu land, no one in the court knew about Li Yuan's growing momentum. If Li Yuan had any rebellion, the Wuchang army guarding the Jiangnan gate would be the first to resist.
Logically speaking, the number of soldiers and horses of the Wuchang Army should be increased. Why was it that more than half of the soldiers and horses were cut off? Could it be that the emperor has lost his mind?
Therefore, He Jingzhu sent his eldest son He Zhi to Jinling on horseback. Zhongshu's disciples quickly forwarded a memorial from He Jingzhu to Emperor Li Jing. In the memorial, He Jingzhu seemed to be very resentful. He even claimed that he was too old and lacked energy to guard the borders of the Tang Dynasty for His Majesty. He could no longer serve His Majesty. To guard against the attack of powerful enemies, he asked Li Jing to send another wise man to command the Wuchang Army. He wanted to resign.
He also said that he was fully loyal to His Majesty, even if he was wrapped in horse leather in the front, but what he was most afraid of was the villain causing trouble behind him. He can die on the battlefield, but he never wants to die from a cold arrow in the back. A memorial was written by a person who was deeply affectionate, impassioned and tearful.
Now it's okay. Originally, Li Jing was thinking of He Jingzhu's past military exploits and the idea that the envoys should not be moved easily, so he only punished him by reducing the number of troops. To put it bluntly, he was hinting to He Jingzhu to be more honest in the future and not to do anything again. Li Jing also wanted to see He Jingzhu's reaction if he did anything unreasonable. If He Jingzhu kept silent, this matter could be fooled into the past, and he would get off the ground, but now he obviously failed to do so.
After all, the imperial court kept the assassination of Li Yuan secret, and even the reasons for the downfall of Left Prime Minister Feng Yansi were not made public. How did He Jingzhu know that he had become one of the "murderers" who assassinated Li Yuan?
It is said that those who do not know are not guilty, but He Jingzhu was obviously not included at this time. This resignation letter full of resentment immediately aroused Li Jing's even greater anger.
"...What a wonderful He Jingzhu! He secretly made friends with important ministers and assassinated our border town envoy, which is an unforgivable crime. I remember his hard work and merits, spared his life, and preserved his power, but He transferred 40,000 troops from his head to Wu Ping, and he actually dared to complain?! The Wuchang army is also my army! This world is not my world after all!..."
These were Li Jing's original words, a murderous words that made Han Xizai and several important ministers in Chengxin Hall
Everyone was terrified.
In fact, regarding the issue of increasing or decreasing the number of troops in each festival, some increase and others decrease. The emperor has always been able to favor one over the other. Which border town in Jiedu does not want to increase troops? Therefore, whenever there is a change in the number of soldiers in Jiedu, everyone knows it well. The Jiezhen whose troops have been reduced will naturally regard the other Jiezhen who has made a profit as a thorn in his side.
Soldiers and horses, that is the order of Jiedushi. This time Li Yuan removed He Jingzhu's troops, which also meant that the conflict between the two would be difficult to reconcile from now on.
Although He Jingzhu's memorial was not really about resigning, but just showing his temper, the emperor took it seriously. After Chengxintang got angry, he immediately issued an order to detain He Jingzhu's eldest son, He Zhi, and wanted to send the imperial army to Ezhou to investigate.
At this critical moment, the new left prime minister Xu Xuan, the new privy envoy Wei Cen, and the new deputy privy envoy Li Zhenggu stepped forward one after another.
They are very smart and can understand Li Jing's thoughts very well. At a glance, one could see that Li Jing's original intention was just to lightly punish He Jingzhu, not that he really wanted to kill him. What's more, He Jingzhu was not old and had not reached the point of being unable to serve. The more important reason is that Li Jing admired He Jingzhu very much before.
You must know that Li Jing has always had the ambition to unify the world since he ascended the throne. Who is He Jingzhu? He was the first general to lead his army into the Chu region. In Li Jing's mind, He Jingzhu's contribution was indelible. He was a strong general who took charge of his own business and was the guarantee of tranquility on the border of the Tang Dynasty. As He Jingzhu's memorial said, more work is needed. Beware of powerful enemies.
Who is the strong enemy? In addition to the Zhou Kingdom, which is eyeing him in the north, implicitly speaking, it is naturally Li Yuan, the governor of Langzhou in the Chu region.
In any case, the emperor's fear of Li Yuan could not be let go. Of course Xu Xuan and others understood this. This time Li Jing seemed to have satisfied all of Li Yuan's requests, but in fact he just took this opportunity to clean up the court. It's just a card, otherwise there would be no chance for them to take the lead.
The emperor only wanted to maintain the imperial power, and the way to be a king was to know how to balance the contradictions among his ministers, or to use these contradictions to better serve the country of Tang Dynasty. This time, since Feng Yansi and He Jingzhu were operated on, it seemed that they were protecting Li Yuan. However, as an emperor, whether his ministers were assassinated, even if they died, was at best a matter of temporary indignation or regret.
No matter how he compensates Li Yuan or favors him, he still needs to be careful. Now the emperor has publicly transferred part of He Jingzhu's troops to Li Yuan, which has expanded the conflict between the two to the extreme. As long as the court can deal with it in the future, Li Yuan's intention, He Jingzhu will also become the sharpest blade.
Therefore, as long as Li Yuan is still in Chu, He Jingzhu will be of some use. Under the persuasion of Xu Xuan and others, Li Jing finally withdrew his decree and did not hold He Jingzhu accountable again. Instead, he issued a decree to encourage him to guard the border and serve the imperial court.
However, the number of troops in the Wuchang Army has been reduced from the original 70,000 to 30,000, while Li Yuan's Wuping Army has reached 100,000. If we really want to defend ourselves, how can we defend against them? Li Jing suddenly had a headache again, and turned his attention to the two newly-appointed Privy Councilors for a new solution. The premise was that he could not violate the imperial edict he had already issued. It was no joke to increase or decrease troops. Since it was said to be reduced, how could it be done? There is reason to increase it immediately.
How to solve? While Li Jing was still hesitating, after some eye contact with several important ministers, Li Zhenggu, deputy envoy to the Privy Council and Minister of War, gave Li Jing a solution, which was to reduce the Wuchang Army's 40,000 troops. , reorganized into a new army, sent another reliable general to control, and stationed in Yuezhou in the name of patrolling the Dongting Waterway.
Li Zhenggu's reasons were very good. Since it was necessary to guard against Li Yuan, who had a large number of troops, to ensure the peace of the western border of the Tang Dynasty, it was natural that the troops on the border must be at least as good as Li Yuan's, and the imperial court could not add more troops to the Wuchang army. In order to reduce the number of soldiers, they simply organized the 40,000 abolished soldiers and horses into the new Forbidden Army. The establishment of the Central Forbidden Army has always been unrestricted and only requires the emperor's nod.
These 40,000 soldiers and horses were originally trained by the famous general Liu Renzhan. They were considered an elite army in the Southern Tang Dynasty. It was easy to recruit but difficult to train. In this way, these well-trained troops would not be dispersed in vain due to the abolition.
As for why they stationed in Yuezhou, it is naturally obvious. Yuezhou was under the rule of the Wuchang Army, but it was located in the Chu region. It was only two or three days away from Langzhou. Langzhou, Yuezhou, and Ezhou were connected together. The imperial court transferred these 40,000 people to
The newly formed imperial army was placed in Yuezhou, next to Li Yuan's pillow, and it was like a wedge inserted directly into the heart of Wu Pingjun.
In case of trouble, even if these 40,000 forbidden troops cannot defeat the Wuping Army, they can still use the waterway to wait for reinforcements from the Ezhou Wuchang Army, as well as a steady stream of supplies, which perfectly solves the problem of insufficient troops to guard against Li Yuan, and can control the war. Within the scope of the Chu region, it would not spread to the south of the Yangtze River so quickly.
Seeing Emperor Li Jing nodding in acquiescence, Li Zhenggu eagerly revealed his true intentions and soon mentioned the crux of the problem, which was to recommend someone to lead the imperial army.
There was no suspense about this candidate. Xu Xuan, Wei Cen and Li Zhenggu knew who to recommend without any discussion, but they couldn't make it too obvious in front of the emperor.
So Wei Cen and Li Zhenggu deliberately recommended some generals with mediocre military achievements and who were obviously not favored by the emperor. In the end, Xu Xuan, the left prime minister, finally pressured him and pretended to think carefully before giving an unexpected decision to the emperor. His name is Zhang Wenbiao.
