In Chang'an, inside the Zichen Hall, the lights are brightly lit.
Wu Hou sat behind the imperial court, carefully calculating the food, wages and military supplies consumption submitted by the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Household Affairs, looking for any possible loopholes.
There was a slight sound of footsteps. Empress Wu did not raise her head, her eyes still fixed on the account book.
Although she has not been on the front line in person, she comes from a wealthy businessman's family and has personally been in charge of the household department for many years. She can quickly find flaws in the account books.
There are too many places where people can take advantage of the army's conquest.
Nowadays, taxation is difficult and must be stopped as much as possible. At the same time, for those who dare to secretly manipulate the army, Empress Wu has never hesitated to confiscate their homes and exterminate their clans.
Finally, Empress Wu put down the account book and breathed a sigh of relief.
At this time, the emperor's voice sounded from behind: "How's it going, Mei Niang, is there no big problem?"
Empress Wu raised her head, looked at Li Zhi tiredly but kindly, and said: "There is no big problem. There are only three or two prefectures where someone is suspected of stealing and selling grain. After that, we can order Dali Temple and Qianniuwei to go out and arrest them."
Li Zhi put his hands on Empress Wu's shoulders and helped her press gently, while sighing softly: "Xian'er is really incompetent. Such things are easily fooled by others. How can we deal with the whole country in the future?" give him?"
"Xian'er has only been the crown prince for a short time and still needs experience." Empress Wu patted Li Zhi's hand with a gentle smile.
These account books were first sent to the East Palace for review, but Li Xian didn't see much wrong with them at all.
Compared with Empress Wu, Li Xian was too incompetent.
However, Li Xian is surrounded by Confucian masters and direct descendants of aristocratic families. How do you expect them to know how to calculate accounts?
Even if there are such people, they can't squeeze in front of Li Xian. Naturally, they can't see the mistakes in this.
Li Zhi suddenly patted his forehead and said, "By the way, a batch of treasures brought back by Twenty-seventh Lang from Fuqi City has arrived. Mei Niang, you and I should go and take a look."
"My concubine obeys the decree." Empress Wu smiled softly. She really needed to relax.
…
One box after another, more than fifty boxes were moved from outside the palace into the palace.
On one side, officials from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of Shangshu and the Ministry of Menxia were watching and counting.
Immediately, boxes were opened one after another, gold, silver, jade, bronze Buddha statues, pearl agate, cattle and sheep fur, top-quality salt bricks, calligraphy and painting porcelain, precious swords, and a large number of copper coins, all appeared in the eyes of Li Zhi and Empress Wu in an instant. .
Li Zhi couldn't help but take a breath: "Why are there so many?"
"Su Hegui was the Prime Minister of Tuyuhun. He was originally a local wealthy family. Later, when he betrayed the Murong clan, he plundered a large amount of wealth from them." After a slight pause, Empress Wu shook her head and said, "I'm afraid these are the ones they have brought to Tubo." Offer and consume what is left.”
"In other words, these are almost equal to the wealth of the Tuyuhun royal family." Li Zhi immediately understood the meaning of Empress Wu's words, and then he frowned and said: "If this is the case, then these numbers are really not that much. .”
"Your Majesty!" Empress Wu rolled her eyes at Li Zhi angrily, and then said: "You have forgotten that Su Hegui also needs to raise troops. He dare not say that he has 100,000 troops, but he still has 50,000 or 60,000 troops. With so many troops, the annual military expenditure is a terrible figure."
"Yes, yes!" Li Zhi understood instantly. He couldn't help but feel enlightened and said with emotion: "Twenty-seventh Lang is really good. He knows how to think of me and the court all the time. It would be better to be someone else." , I’m afraid this wealth has already been distributed.”
"He also separated." Empress Wu stood beside Li Zhi and said calmly: "But everything was in accordance with the regulations of the imperial court, and most of the things he intercepted were Tuyuhun and Tubo coins hidden by Su Hegui. It’s basically useless to go to court, it’s better to stay there.”
Li Zhi glanced sideways at Empress Wu and whispered: "It seems that he also said it in the memorial."
Empress Wu nodded seriously. Even she couldn't criticize Li Xuan for this.
Li Xuan treated the emperor with all his heart and soul. He would try his best to state everything in his memorials and never lie about anything.
At this point, both Empress Wu and the Emperor had their own chess pieces buried among the Qianniu Guards around Li Xuan.
Almost every move of Li Xuan is under their control.
Of course, almost.
Once Li Xuan doesn't have Qian Niuwei around him, they won't know many things.
However, most of these matters were private matters, and the emperor and Empress Wu did not care.
Of course, Li Xuan also knew this, so he never deceived anything when doing things in the memorial.
"With these things, Mei Niang, can you finally relax about things in the west?" Li Zhi looked at Empress Wu with satisfaction.
Empress Wu shook her head and looked at these boxes and all the wealth in them. She couldn't help but said: "It's just a breath of relief. The army is conquering. Every moment, money is leaking out like running water. These things won’t last more than a few days, let alone when he has to build a city.”
"Hasn't the matter of Qugou New City been decided a long time ago? The advantages outweigh the disadvantages, and the city construction memorial written by Twenty-seventh Lang has also reduced the consumption of city construction to the extreme." Li Zhi said in a low voice, while quietly to comfort Empress Wu.
"Your Majesty, you didn't understand that the King of Nanchang actually spread all the money prepared in the early stage of building the city equally to each month in the future. In the end, the money spent will definitely not be less. "Empress Wu saw Li Xuan's methods very clearly.
The inner square must be built, the outer city must be built, the city wall must be built, and even a moat must be built.
Every bit of it, every drop, is a huge consumption to the extreme.
It's just that Li Xuan changed from the ordinary people's method of building a city from the outside to the inside to moving forward step by step from the inside to the outside. In the end, the consumption here was also extremely terrifying, but it was just inconspicuous for a moment.
"If you can't take Wu Hai, the city will be just a dream and will be destroyed soon. But if you can take Wu Hai and occupy Wu Hai, then everything will be worth it." Li Zhi's expression was complete. Be solemn.
Although he usually did not settle such accounts, he knew in his heart that as long as he could occupy the entire Tuyuhun hometown, the benefits it would bring to Datang would be absolutely terrifying.
Building a city is nothing.
As long as he can achieve his goal, he is willing to build ten or a hundred buildings.
"And then transfer King Nanchang to guard Wuhai?" Empress Wu suddenly looked at Li Zhi with a half-smile.
"Hahaha!" Li Zhi couldn't help laughing and said: "He is so good at building cities and so good at defending cities. It is best to leave such things to him."
Empress Wu shook her head slightly, even she had to admit that if they really captured Wuhai, Li Xuan was a more suitable city defender than anyone else.
It's not that others are less capable, but in comparison, Li Xuan's work is more reassuring.
After all, he really hasn't made any mistakes in this regard.
"That's right." Empress Wu looked at Li Zhi and said, "There are also Su Hegui's heads..."
"Why do I want that thing? I can just let Qian Niuwei find a mass grave and throw it away." Li Zhi waved his hand nonchalantly, not caring about Su Hegui.
"Also, Murong has written a letter complaining that the King of Nanchang was overbearing and forced the Suhe noble family to commit suicide. He also moved more than 30,000 people from the city to Qugou New City. He also hopes that the imperial court can trade Tibetan heads. One hundred thousand cattle and sheep will be returned..." At the end of Empress Wu's words, even she herself was speechless for a while.
How could there be people like Murong in this world? Almost all of them have become a resentful woman.
"Those who betrayed the Tang Dynasty should have been punished the most severely. I am already dissatisfied that Twenty-Seventh Lang did not kill them with a thousand swords. This can be called overbearing."
Li Zhi's face was slightly ugly, and he said rudely: "There is also the matter of relocating the people. If only Murong could move faster, Twenty-seven Lang would not have taken away so many people at once. Who would have thought they were so useless."
The fighting power of the Tuyuhun people really disappointed Li Zhi.
Whether it was Wang Xiaojie's 6,000 men who easily pierced Su Hegui's 20,000 cavalry, or Li Xuan's victory over Fuqi City without a single blow, it all showed how vulnerable the Tuyuhun people were.
Especially in the end, it was just a few trenches and a few bridges. Tuyuhun people actually dragged it out for four days in a row. This was too disappointing.
"He also wants to take back the cattle and sheep. It's really shameless. He wants to take back the things that the soldiers worked hard to defeat with just one sentence. What a daydream." Li Zhi couldn't help but snorted coldly. Since Li Xuan moved, After leaving Tuyuhun's 30,000 people and 6,000 elites, Tuyuhun's role in his heart declined day by day.
"But he can still easily launch a surprise attack on the left guard cavalry from the side." Empress Wu looked solemn.
"Then as the King of Nanchang said, set up castles and checkpoints in the north of Chaka to block their eyes from spying on the left guard." Li Zhi clenched his fists immediately.
If the two families were not still allies now, Li Zhi might really have sent troops to destroy Tuyuhun.
"It doesn't matter anything else. You have to hold the tea card firmly in your hand. We hope to make up for the losses in this war." A trace of cruelty flashed across Empress Wu's expression, and she said softly: "If they really If you dare to cross Chaka at will, let the King of Nanchang destroy them."
"Okay!" Li Zhi nodded directly. This couple actually had the same idea.
At this moment, Wang Fulai came quickly from the front yard, and the two imperial soldiers behind him each held a box in their hands.
It's just that one is a square box and the other is a bar box.
Walking in front of Li Zhi and Empress Wu, Wang Fulai directly handed over a memorial: "Your Majesty, the Queen of Heaven, the King of Nanchang is urgently memorializing."
Empress Wu's expression suddenly became serious, and she took the memorial and started reading it.
Li Zhi walked up to the two boxes and nodded. Wang Fulai immediately opened the boxes himself.
A green jade Buddha and a long sword with a gold handle.
"The long sword was brought by the elite of Lun Qinling's men when they pretended to be Guangjun and went to Fuqi City to release floods. After being ambushed by the King of Nanchang, they left this sword behind. Later it was identified that this sword was used when the first King Tuyuhun was assassinated. The sword was later carried by King Tuyuhun to alert himself." Empress Wu's voice sounded beside Li Zhi.
"Why did this thing appear in Fuqi City? Is someone trying to instigate conflicts between Tang and Tu?" Li Zhi instantly thought of a conspiracy.
Empress Wu nodded and said: "It should be so, but the twenty-seventh Lang couldn't trust Murong, so he sent these things to the court. There was also this Buddha statue, which was a gift from Murong to the Lord of Fuchang County, but The timing was so coincidental that the King of Nanchang did not dare to accept it, so he sent it back to His Majesty."
"He also knows that I am the only one who can control these things." Li Zhi couldn't help but smile and said: "Just keep the sword, the ominous thing, and press it deep into the inner treasury. As for the Jade Buddha, send it back to the Prince of Nanchang." Come on, I won’t rob the junior’s things.”
"Your Majesty is wise." Empress Wu complimented with a smile.
Li Zhi waved his hand and said: "This is nothing, it's just that Twenty-seventh Lang is too timid. If it were replaced by..."
"Your Majesty." A loud shout suddenly sounded in the distance. Immediately, Xue Yuanchao, the doctor who was admonishing the doctor, walked quickly from a distance. Finally, he stopped and bowed, cupped his hands and said: "Your Majesty, there is a censor who participated in the performance of the King of Nanchang, and he has the heart to be a disobedient minister. .”
Li Zhi was stunned, what's going on?
At this moment, Empress Wu suddenly said: "Pass an edict to summon the King of Nanchang back to the capital immediately."
Behind the scenes, Empress Wu put Li Xuan's memorial into Li Zhi's hands, with a few words written at the end: The Western Star Falls.
(End of chapter)
