"Good news, good news, good news from Tongtian River, the army of the Northwest Road has arrived at the source of the Yangtze River in Tongtian River."
On the Chang'an Zhuque Street, a Qianniu Guard held a victory medal in his arms and ran quickly on the gallop, shouting loudly at the same time.
The people on the streets on both sides, the merchants in the restaurants, and the soldiers on patrol all heard the sound of victory and were in an uproar.
The sound of celebration spread throughout Chang'an in a very short time.
The sound of firecrackers, gongs and drums suddenly resounded in all directions, and there was cheering.
Since the news of Dafeichuan's victory came a month ago, the people of Chang'an have celebrated once, and now it is the second time.
The people of Chang'an, all dressed in auspicious clothes, walked on the streets, with their chests held high and their heads held high, in high spirits.
The eyes of the people from other countries in the city were full of envy, and their expressions became more and more respectful.
…
In the Hanyuan Hall, Li Zhi sat high on the imperial couch, leaning slightly forward and looking excited.
The beaded curtain behind her was gently swinging, and the Queen's mood was relaxed.
The prince was dressed in a python robe and looked solemn.
Countless ministers stood under it, standing respectfully.
From Tongtianhe, we ran day and night to the Qianniu Guards in Chang'an. We ran into the main hall covered with dust, then knelt down in the hall and said in a deep voice: "Li Lang, the captain of the Qianniu Guards, was ordered to perform a victory in the northwest. On the tenth day of September in the second year of Yifeng, Wang Xiaojie's troops arrived at the north bank of Tongtian River.
The commander-in-chief of the Northwest Road March, Liu Shenli, Duke of Pengcheng County, wrote this report, "Long live my emperor!" "
"Pingshen." Li Zhi nodded with satisfaction and said, "Passing the decree, the school captain Li Lang was promoted to two ranks and was appointed Zuo Qianniu Guard General. Wang Xiaojie was promoted one level to be Zuo Guard General."
"Here!" Attendant Zhao Renben immediately stepped forward and answered the call.
Zhongshu ordered Hao Chujun to step forward and cup his hands: "The victory in the northwest is celebrated with great joy. I sincerely wish your majesty a prosperous military fortune and long life. Long live your majesty!"
"I sincerely wish your majesty a prosperous military career, long life, and long live your majesty!" The ministers held their hands in celebration at the same time, looking excited.
"Everyone who loves me, I am here." Li Zhi raised his head slightly and said, "I am sending an order to the King of Nanchang to go to Baihai and connect the Tianhe River to offer sacrifices to the gods of the mountains and rivers."
"Here!" Zong Zhengqing Pei Guangxiao stepped forward to answer the order.
"It is decreed that in three days, I and the prince will go to Zhaoling to dedicate the mausoleum to worship the ancestors. After five days, I will sacrifice to heaven and earth in the southern and northern suburbs."
"Here!" The officials of Taichang Temple, Guanglu Siqing, Shaofu Supervisor, and Internal Attendant Supervisor all moved forward at the same time.
Li Zhi nodded with satisfaction.
This time he hit the north bank of the Tongtian River directly. Compared with the Zhenguan period, Li Jing had to hit Bohai one step further.
In this battle in the northwest, Li Zhi finally surpassed his father, Li Shimin, over the open territory.
Li Zhi took a deep breath, looked at the ministers in the palace, and said in a deep voice: "Although this battle lasted two years, everyone knows that the DPRK began preparations after the defeat of Dafeichuan. It took several years , Only then can we achieve today’s achievements.
Starting from today, the Ministry of Officials will count the officials who have made meritorious service over the years, and reward them collectively during the official meeting. "
"I accept the order." Dou Xuande, the Minister of Civil Affairs, stepped forward and cupped his hands, solemnly accepting the order.
Empress Wu behind Li Zhi, the prince beside him, Liu Rengui, Hao Chujun and others could not help but breathe a sigh of relief.
Although it is a good thing that the army has won, there is also a big trouble to deal with.
That is the reward from the armies.
From the Zhongshu Ling Li Jingxuan who did not participate in many wars, to the Ministry of Industry Minister Liu Shenli who presided over the war, there are also Xue Rengui, Li Jinxing, Wang Xiaojie, Hei Te Changzhi, Li Duozuo, and even Li Xuan, up and down, tens of thousands Everyone must be rewarded, even to every soldier.
The amount of money required is definitely not a small amount.
Especially now, with two consecutive years of drought and many years of war in the Tang Dynasty, it has been very difficult to support and win the war. How can we expect them to immediately come up with large sums of money to reward them.
Even if all the efforts of the government and the public are used to reward the officers and soldiers, next year will not be over.
…
Previously, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Public Affairs, the Ministry of Menxia, the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Household Affairs, and the Ministry of Personnel discussed and discussed before finally coming up with a more appropriate reward plan.
Those who can be granted official titles and titles should try their best to be granted titles and titles. As for money, these people need to consider the court and wait a moment.
Although these people are far less than eleven of the remaining officers and soldiers, the money rewarded by these people is almost equal to that of the remaining soldiers.
As for those soldiers who don't have enough official titles, money is indispensable.
What needs to be sent must be sent.
However, if a person is willing to give up money, the court can also reward officials at its discretion.
This is a disguised form of buying an official position with money.
As for those who can't even afford the official money, I'm afraid they don't add up to much, so they can just be rewarded directly.
These methods are equivalent to turning the money that needs to be taken out now into future official salary, which will be paid out in the long term.
But although the trouble at hand has been solved now, there will still be a lot of trouble to solve in the future.
Where did these official positions come from to place meritorious officials and good generals? How to solve the redundant officials accumulated over a long period of time?
The Shangshu Province gave a strategy, and officials could be placed in the newly designated Panzhou, Changzhou, as well as the newly captured counties such as Maduo and Chengduo.
As for redundancy in the future, when the time comes, the DPRK will just send out a selfless censor.
This person is, first of all, Di Renjie.
This will at least gradually solve the problem, but ultimately, it still depends on how the newly incorporated lands are governed.
…
Li Zhi withdrew his expression, then looked at the ministers and said, "Now that the vanguard has arrived at Tongtian River, does Shangshu Province have any suggestions for the governance of the various lands?"
"Your Majesty." Liu Rengui stepped forward slowly, cupped his hands and said, "Shang Shu Sheng, Zhongshu Sheng, Menxia Sheng, the Ministry of Personnel, and the Ministry of War have agreed on three strategies."
"speak!"
"First, imitating the old events of Zhenguan, we established Mazhou, Dazhou, Quzhou, Laozhou, Fengzhou, Yanzhou, Yuanzhou, Yizhou, Chaozhou and other Jisi prefectures, and used Songzhou and Changzhou as the governor's offices to govern them from afar. ." Liu Rengui held his hands in awe.
"Inappropriate." Li Zhi thought for a while, waved his hand and said: "Songzhou and Changzhou are too far away. If something happens, it is beyond our reach. After the defeat of Dafeichuan, the separation of states is a precedent."
"Yes!" Liu Rengui said again with his hand raised: "Use Ma Duo as the base, establish Ma Prefecture as the Protectorate, control Da Prefecture, Qu Prefecture, Lao Prefecture, Feng Prefecture and other Jisi prefectures, and send officials to strengthen management;
With Songzhou as the governor's office, Panzhou was directly under the jurisdiction of Zhangyanzhou, Yuanzhou, Yizhou, Chaozhou and other Jisuzhou prefectures, and officials were dispatched to strengthen management. "
This strategy not only strengthened management, but also placed many previous officials in place.
It seems very appropriate.
Li Zhi nodded and asked directly: "Who is the protector?"
"Xue Rengui, acting governor of the state." Liu Rengui bowed seriously.
"Your Majesty, I think it's inappropriate." Hao Chujun stood up and said with cupped hands: "Mazhou is thousands of miles from the north bank of Tongtian River to Wuhai. It is located on a plateau with many snow peaks. The land is vast and sparsely populated, and the products are not abundant. The food and grass are transported. The difficulty is that even the officers and soldiers cannot stay long. Wang Xiaojie's troops on the front line have been on the plateau for two years, and then it is time for rotation. At that time, new soldiers need to be trained to replace them, and it is difficult to guarantee such military strength."
After Hao Chujun said a word, Li Zhi's face immediately darkened.
The Tongtian River was too far away, and the Tang Dynasty did not have many troops to garrison it. Moreover, it had to face the Tibetan counterattack at Qinling, and all the food, grass and baggage had to be dispatched from Chang'an, which was very costly.
The key is that Mazhou, Dazhou, Quzhou, Laozhou, Fengzhou, Yanzhou, Yuanzhou, Yizhou, and Chazhou have no special production. Even if they can resist the Tibetan counterattack, it will still be expensive to station troops for a long time. great.
If we had gritted our teeth before, it would have been over, but now, Datang has been suffering from drought for years, and support for the front line has reached its last moment.
"So, we are going to withdraw the troops, right?" Li Zhi looked at Hao Chujun with a gloomy expression.
Hao Chujun cupped his hands and said: "The right garrison guard, the left and right valiant guards, the right leading army guard, the left prestige guard, and the right prestige guard all need to withdraw."
"Who will be in charge of the front line?" Li Zhi asked directly.
"General Wang Xiaojie on the left and General Li Xuan on the right."
Li Zhi took a deep breath and said, "If Mr. Hao has anything to say, you might as well say it directly."
"Here!" Hao Chujun handed over his hand again and said: "Jiannan Road, with Songzhou as the governor's office, directly under the jurisdiction of Panzhou, Zhangyanzhou, Yuanzhou, Yizhou, Cuozhou and other jisuzhous, dispatched the pacification envoy Chang Shi to strengthen the manage;
On the northwest road, Zhongduo was called the prefecture. Maduo entered Changzhou, and Changzhou was the subordinate governor's office. The prefecture was directly under the jurisdiction of the governor. He was in charge of Dazhou, Quzhou, Laozhou, Fengzhou and other Jisuzhou, and dispatched the pacification envoy Chang Shi to serve. Strengthen management. "
"I think it's inappropriate." Liu Rengui stood up immediately, cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, the King of Nanchang is only twenty, so he is too young. To be appointed as the governor, the power is too heavy."
The next governor, from the third rank.
The governor of Changzhou, the fourth rank.
"Then let Xue Rengui be the governor of the Changzhou Governor's Office, and the King of Nanchang be the governor of the Changzhou Governor's Office." Hao Chujun said immediately.
Li Zhi suddenly laughed, waved his hand and said, "This is the third strategy of the two beloved ladies."
"Yes!" Liu Rengui and Hao Chujun handed over their hands at the same time.
Even now, they have not formed a unified attitude.
Liu Rengui prefers the second strategy, and Hao Chujun prefers the third strategy. The core competition here lies in the transportation of grain and grass to the front.
If there are many left guards, there must be 5,000 left guards to guard them. But after the 5,000 left guards, where is the support from Changzhou? This is the key point of the debate.
If Maduo is included in Changzhou, then Changzhou can reach Bohai directly.
In this way, Li Xuan would have to take over the responsibility of transporting grain and grass directly to the Bayan Har Pass.
Even Changzhou state soldiers can directly garrison Maduo.
Support is close.
If Mazhou is used as the Protectorate, then Mazhou will have to transport grain directly from Dafeichuan to Tongtian River, which is thousands of miles away.
Even from Wuhai, it is still six hundred miles away.
Support goes a long way.
The former is reasonable, but the problem is that Li Xuan is too young, and the position of the governor of the Lower Dudu Mansion, which has already taken real power at the age of twenty, is too important.
Li Zhi lowered his eyes slightly, turned to look at Liu Rengui, and asked: "Prime Minister Zuo, with the ability of the King of Nanchang, can he govern the states?"
Age is not important, the key is ability.
This is the emperor's attitude.
Liu Rengui cupped his hands and said seriously: "I think there is no problem in governing Changzhou, but I think there is still a lack of military merit in Jisuzhou."
"Hao Xiang." Li Zhi turned to look at Hao Chujun.
Hao Chujun cupped his hands and said: "Your Majesty, why don't you ask the King of Nanchang about this matter? I think that the King of Nanchang is no stranger to this matter of people's hearts, especially in Changzhou. In one year, tens of thousands of Tuyuhun tribesmen have sincerely appeased them. As for the For all the Dangxiang tribes, the King of Nanchang should have some strategies."
Li Zhi nodded slightly and said: "In this way, Songzhou will be used to rule Panzhou, Yanzhou, Yuanzhou, Yizhou, and Zaozhou. We will send appeasement envoys and long history to serve. The affairs of the Northwest Road will be temporarily put aside. At the end of the year, At that time, the King of Nanchang was ordered to take the party leaders back to Beijing and get along with each other along the way. I would like to hear what the many party leaders said at that time."
"Here!" Hao Chujun and Liu Rengui handed over their hands at the same time.
"The other thing is the withdrawal of troops and the sacrifice of prisoners. The Zhongshu ordered Li Jingxuan to train troops in Dafeichuan, and at the same time transfer grain and grass, and coordinate the gradual withdrawal of troops. On December 23, the army will sacrifice prisoners to the Ancestral Temple." Li Zhi waved his hand directly, with an expression on his face. with distinction.
The ministers immediately raised their hands and said: "The Tang Dynasty is here to help, and heaven will benefit all nations! Long live your majesty."
(End of chapter)
