"Murong Zhanshi, these files are all memorials sent by the General Manager of River Affairs a few days ago. His Highness has asked you to record them in the register first, make annotations, and then submit them to the imperial review."
Murong Xue nodded slightly, took a thick stack of official documents with both hands, and said, "If you have a servant, I will start copying it right away."
The eunuch responsible for delivering the official documents said a few polite words and waited for Murong Xue to sign the receipt before saluting and leaving.
After seeing off the chamberlain, Murong Xue turned around and sat back in front of the desk. She quickly browsed through the contents of the memorial and couldn't help but shake her head and sigh.
Half a month ago, Nilin Chief Shi Shen Lie broke into Ziwei Palace at night and spoke eloquently in front of Prince Li Bing, trying to turn the tide and make the dark and complicated situation even more confusing.
Due to political considerations, Li Bing decided not to delve into the White Horse Temple matter, and issued an edict the next day to inform the government and the public. The edict stated that the White Horse Temple case was an illegal act committed by Jiangyang thieves. After a joint investigation by the East Palace and Dali Temple, the entire case has come to light.
Soon after, a group of little-known thieves in the world were arrested one after another by the government yamen and eventually died. All the personnel involved in handling the case, including Shan Tingxian and Shen Lie, received awards. Promoted one level.
Such an ending is acceptable to both Luoyi and the imperial capital.
To put it bluntly, except for Xie Guang and his group, no one wants to continue to be entangled, causing chaos all day long and no peace.
Now that the case has been clarified on the surface, Donggong Zhanshi Murongxue, who was implicated in the matter, naturally no longer has to undergo suspension investigation. On the day the edict was issued, Murong Xue was reinstated and took up his post again. He returned to the East Palace Office to assist the prince in managing politics.
Everything returned to its original state, as if nothing had happened.
Murong Xue sat in her signing room, looking at the familiar environment, and couldn't help but have mixed feelings in her heart. He was grateful to Shen Lie for taking action at the critical moment and pulling him back from the edge of the cliff. He was also annoyed that Xie Guang and Lao Jianhua were so vicious that they almost killed him, and he was beyond redemption. At the same time, he was secretly worried about whether he should have done it or not. It's time to investigate and test Rui Ji's background to see if she is really an undercover agent sent by the other party.
The complicated and unexplainable emotions were pressed in her chest, making Murong Xue feel a little out of breath.
Now, a more complex problem is before him, that is, the dredging project of the Jinhe main road.
The management of Jinhe has entered an intense preparation stage at this time. Millions of people in the 12 states along the river were involved; nearly half of the funds in the treasury of the Holy Tang Dynasty began to be transferred; more than 400,000 civilians went into battle, and the rations used to feed them were enough. They are piled up like mountains; in addition, large quantities of stone, iron and wood are being continuously transported to the construction site from all over the country. The teams of oxen, horses and camels can hardly be seen at a glance.
Such huge and complicated preparation work is only the beginning of this huge project, but it has already dragged Shengtang out of breath.
The position of river affairs manager was finally determined to be held by Prince Li Bing himself. However, everyone knew very well that it was just a name. The person who was really in control of the situation was Taifu Xie Guang, who was in charge of the river affairs.
Xie Guang, who had long planned to control the river, finally got what he wanted.
As expected by Murong Xue, this ambitious guy used the name of river management to monopolize power and directly extended his tentacles to various functional offices of Shengtang, asking for money, food, and people, and unscrupulously expanding his own strength.
Regarding this, Murong Xue still couldn't figure out why the imperial court easily agreed to the proposal to manage the Jinhe River in the first place. They knew that this was raising a tiger's risk, but they just let it go.
He had written to Mr. Xu and Mr. Liu Ce and Liu many times, asking them for the true thoughts of the court. However, the replies he received in the end were all clichés such as "Be diligent and assist the prince with peace of mind."
This made him even more confused: Why did Grandpa Xu say that? Are he and the emperor both old and confused?
Before Shen Lie left Luoyi, he met Murong Xue specifically. Murong Xue also asked Shen Lie at that time what he thought about the river management. Shen Lie's answer seemed meaningful: "General Murong, Shen doesn't know much about government affairs, so I can't give you any advice. However, I think that after all, the river affairs are personally controlled by His Highness the Crown Prince, so what do you have? What are you worried about?"
From Shen Lie's words, Murong Xue vaguely heard something unusual: The prince was in charge personally?
Could it be that the emperor wanted to test and train His Highness by managing the Golden River?
However, the cost and risk of this test are too great!
Take the memorial in front of you, for example. It has ulterior motives: the River Controller went to the palace to request an order, and actually wanted to expand the Xuanjia Corps in disguise!
Expanding the army is no ordinary matter for the country or the king, especially in the Holy Tang Dynasty.
Eight hundred years ago, before the Holy Tang Dynasty was established, the last emperor of the Dayu Empire was dissolute and immoral, causing the entire country to fall into disintegration. The emperor's most trusted guard general personally led his troops to attack Jiangzuo Palace and assassinated the late emperor directly on the magnificent imperial platform.
Almost at the same time, thousands of miles away in Bingzhou, 400,000 armored troops were secretly gathering at Yunshan Fortress, known as "the most powerful pass in the world".
A short black-armored general, guarded by his three sons, proudly climbed onto the highest beacon tower in the fortress.
Facing the silent warriors all over the mountains and plains, he drew out the sword from his waist, pointed to the sky and shouted: "From today on, I will lead you across the world, live happily together! Die happily together! Let's die happily together! The banner is - Shengtang!"
Hundreds of thousands of soldiers, also wearing black clothes and armor, raised a forest of swords, guns and flags, shouting at the top of their lungs: "Long live! Long live! Long live!"
The founding emperor of the Holy Tang Dynasty, who was born in the Guanlong Military Group, relied on his powerful army to fight in all directions, defeating opponents one after another, and finally ascended to the throne of the supreme world by stepping on the corpses of his enemies.
It is precisely because of this that the emperors of the Shengtang Dynasty cared most about the control of the army.
During the 800th year of the reign of Emperor Zuo, three types of standing legions were established in the entire dynasty system: the Forbidden Army to protect the safety of the imperial power; the Emperor's Legion to conquer the four directions and expand the territory; and the Border Guard Army to guard the borders.
In addition to these three categories, the rest of the armed forces are composed of various states composed of the "fu army system".
The soldiers of Zhechong Prefecture, who farmed in their spare time and went on expeditions in wartime, were mobilized and assembled based on the tiger talisman issued by the emperor. Once the war is over, they will remove their armor and return to the government. For any general in charge of the army, there is no "direct lineal allegiance" to speak of, which minimizes the possibility of the generals relying on their troops to respect themselves.
As for those standing legions, whether they are the Forbidden Army of the Imperial Capital, or legions such as Xuanjia, Qilin, Changdao, Lieblade, etc., as well as frontier armies such as the Zhenjiang Protectorate, the size of the troop establishment is strictly limited based on their respective tasks.
If there is no extremely special reason, it will never be expanded easily.
As an important minister of the military, Xie Guang certainly understands this truth. It is also very clear that based on the current situation of the court, the imperial capital will definitely not allow him to change the status quo of the Xuanjia Army.
Therefore, what Xie Guang requested was not a superficial expansion of the Xuanjia Army, but a detour and flanking trick.
He suggested to the prince to approve the establishment of the "River Service Army".
The core content of the concept of establishing a river service army is to reorganize the government troops from the twelve states along the river to be responsible for the military support of the Jinhe main road management project. Their key tasks include: monitoring and suppressing river workers' corvee labor, maintaining security on construction sites, escorting materials and grain, guarding important warehouses, etc.
These reasons are very strong. In particular, suppressing river workers' corvee labor is extremely necessary. Think about it, if hundreds of thousands of people come together and are instigated by people with ulterior motives, they can easily trigger a popular uprising and erupt into large-scale riots.
By then, not to mention the suspension of the project, even the foundation of Shengtang may be shaken.
However, Xie Guang's plan is too big. According to what he said in his memorial, almost all the soldiers from the twelve states along the river were recruited, which meant that he suddenly formed a huge army of around 150,000 to 60,000 soldiers.
What's even more exaggerated is that he also specifically proposed that the newly formed Hewu Army should have different clothing and equipment from those of the Zhe Chongfu soldiers. Those new military uniforms were almost exactly the same as those of the Xuanjia Army!
Doesn't this mean another Black Armor Legion has been formed?
Murong Xue was so angry that she threw the memorial on the table, got up and paced back and forth in the room.
Because of the impact of the White Horse Temple incident, although he was suspended for a short period of time, he missed a very critical period. Several major decisions that shocked the government and the public and affected the world were made during this period.
The Jinhe Project was officially launched, and the pattern of "the prince took the lead, and Xie Guang assisted" was clearly formed. Murong Xue was excluded, which was considered a loss;
At the same time, the candidate for the commander-in-chief of the Long Sword Legion has also been decided.
After several fierce games, Prince Li Bing finally made the decision: his uncle Cheng Kaiyang, the eldest son of Duke Cheng Qianli and the brother of Queen Huilin, would succeed Feng Yiwei.
Cheng Kaiyang had previously served as the chief administrator of Huainan Province and was a local military and political official. Coupled with his status as a hereditary duke and a relative of the emperor, there was not much opposition in the court when he took over the leadership of the Long Sword Army. The only fly in the ointment is that Cheng Kaiyang is not a military commander, but a scholar. Now he is old and traveling thousands of miles to guard the border, which is really worrying.
After this round, although Xie Guang didn't win, he didn't lose either. After all, his nephew Xie Biao was also promoted to the deputy commander of the Long Sword Legion at the same time. He was also in charge of three main battalions and still had great power.
In addition, the chief examiner of this year's imperial examination and the commander-in-chief of next year's school military examination are also people recommended by Xie Guang. These two important ceremonies for the country's ethics and talents were just like this. The government took control easily.
