Chen Tuizhi saw that Gao Jun seemed a little helpless, so he asked: "Since you don't want to fight with us, why do you still want to be the general? Wouldn't it be unclean to refuse?"
Gao Yun said earnestly: "It's good that I'm leading the troops this time. I'm afraid that people like Xun Mou and the others will lead troops. Then more people will die."
"Then what are your plans to lead the troops this time? Maybe you can lead one hundred thousand troops to surrender."
"Persuade to surrender!"
Chen Tuizhi laughed loudly and said sarcastically: "Marshal Gao, do you think we are cowards who are greedy for life and afraid of death? Also, do you think that surrender will bring good results? Even if you win this time, you will return to the court. As soon as Liu Yan’s throne as emperor is secured, you will be the first to abandon it like worn out shoes!"
Gao Yun sat on the commander's seat, slowly lowered his head, and did not speak for a long time.
In the early morning of the next day, Gao Jun led several of his confidants to the mountains east of Lanzhou City to see what was going on. After looking at it, it turned out that Lanzhou City was not as good as before. Under the attack, the city wall has been reinforced and raised a lot. If you want to attack hard, you may not be strong enough. Now you can only outwit it.
Gao Jun's general Zheng Huaide pointed to the Lanzhou City Road in the distance: "Marshal, in my opinion, we will have our men prepare siege equipment today and attack the city early tomorrow morning. I understand that these rabble will be difficult to resist."
Gao Yun looked into the distance and shook his head, with a solemn expression, "No, I know Lanzhou City very well. Now I see that they have strengthened the city defense. If they attack by force, it will be in vain."
"What does Marshal Yi mean?"
"Leading the snake out of its hole..."
The Xuanzheng Hall is still majestic. The difference is that now the hall has been repainted and gilded. The morning court originally had a break of five days, but now it has been changed to a court every day. It has been more than a month since Liu Yan ascended the throne. All the officials never rested. So the officials in the Xuanzheng Palace today all looked listless and yawning. Suddenly someone coughed twice in the palace, and the officials of His Highness quickly cheered up and knelt down to worship Shan Hu...
Liu Yan has been worried a lot recently. When he saw His Highness's officials looking listless, he frowned impatiently. After Liu Yan sat down on the throne, before asking any questions, an old official reported that the lower reaches of the Yellow River were flooding again, and people in three places had already rebelled.
After Liu Yan heard this, he became furious instantly. He threw the memorial in his hand on Danqi and said angrily: "The Western Expedition Army has been sending troops for more than half a month and has not yet attacked the city. How come there are rebels again? As for the Ministry of Industry, last time Didn’t people repair the river embankments and distribute disaster relief money and food to the people due to flooding? Why are there still ordinary people rebelling? Who is in charge? "
No one in the main hall dared to answer the question. Xun Mou looked around and then went out and said: "After the previous minister of the Ministry of Industry took office, Shang Lu, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, will now take charge temporarily."
"Why don't Phytolacca come to the morning court?"
"Call in sick."
"What? What's wrong with you?"
Xun Mou said bluntly: "I have been sick in bed for several days because I have been infected with wind and cold in the morning."
As soon as Xun Mou said this, there was a heated discussion in the hall. Some people accused him of taking leave due to minor illness, but some people disagreed.
"Absurd!" Liu Yan slammed the table and said angrily, "The soldiers on the front line were fighting hard and never asked Feng Han to take leave, but a dignified minister from the Ministry of Industry took leave because of a minor illness. Someone, go and bring me Phytophthora."
Liu Yan stopped drinking, leaving everyone in the hall silent.
Lu Renxiang did not dare to speak at first, but he still had to go out to report, "Your Majesty, Marshal Gao went on an expedition last month, and it has been half a month since he has yet to attack the city. If this situation continues, the Western Expeditionary Army may not be able to pay their salaries next month. ”
"Trash?" Liu Yan was furious, "How come the treasury is already exhausted before we even attack the city? Where's the money? Where's the money?"
Lu Renxiang lowered his head and said, "In the past few years, there have been continuous wars, and the national treasury has actually been exhausted. In the past two years, it could still be maintained. But recently, wars have started again in various places, and the flow of treasury money has increased. The army of the Western Expedition has the largest number of people. Feeding horses is the most expensive expense in half a month."
Liu Yan's face was as dark as water, and he suddenly remembered some of the words of the emperor's grandfather. It turned out that it was really not easy to hold a firm position in the country. In just one month since he ascended the throne, the country he had captured was already riddled with holes. He thought about it. After these things, Liu Yan asked helplessly: "Didn't the late emperor say that all the debts owed by the officials to the treasury must be recovered one by one? How should we do it now?"
"This..." Lu Renxiang looked at Xun Mou in embarrassment, and when he nodded, he continued to answer, "Xia Jingying originally got back the arrears of three million taels of silver under the urging of Xia Jingying, and now Wei Chen is also trying his best to collect them. Five million taels were returned, and the rest of the officials who had not yet paid were removed from their posts and inspected in accordance with regulations. In addition, more than eight million taels of silver were confiscated from Prince Ning's mansion, half of which was given to the Western Expeditionary Army. Only... "
"explain……"
"Only Mr. Xu, the Minister of War, still has 350,000 to repay!"
Liu Yan's heart moved, and then he remembered that Xia Jingying had told him about this. His father-in-law owed 900,000 taels, and he had paid back 550,000 taels. The remaining money was left to Xia Jingying to find a way to erase. Later, when the person died, he forgot to write off the account. Now that Lu Renxiang brought it up again, his face was dull for a while, but he shouted: "Xu Aiqing!"
Tong Bingde, who had been trembling with fear for a long time, knelt on the ground in panic and kowtowed repeatedly, "It is not that the guilty minister will not repay the debt. I hope that your majesty can grant you a few days of grace, and I will definitely make up for it."
"You have three days to make up for it. If you can't make it up, you will be dismissed and investigated!"
"I... obey the order!" Chu Bingde breathed a sigh of relief, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and carefully returned to the courtroom.
At this time, Shangwei had been carried by the Golden Melon Warrior to the Highness. Shanglu hurriedly saluted.
"Shanglu, the last time the Yellow River overflowed, the late emperor had already allocated money and food for disaster relief, and also sent people to repair the river embankments. How come the embankments burst again and the people revolted?"
Shang Lu replied calmly: "Wei Chen sent people to secretly investigate the matter of repairing the river embankment. This time the embankment broke because of heavy rain for days. The new dam was not stable, the old embankment collapsed again, and there were wealthy households in nearby counties." The grain harvesting was unusual, the price of grain remained high, and the local officials left things alone and colluded with each other, which made it difficult for the people to live a sustainable life and led to this change."
All the officials in the palace never thought that Shanglu at this age would dare to speak like this, so they were speechless and waited to see the emperor's attitude before making a decision.
Liu Yan also fell into thinking. There have been many changes in the past two months, and local officials in various places have taken the opportunity to make money. It just so happened that he took this opportunity to scare the monkeys, so that local officials should also be wary. Now he sees that merchants are so loyal. He said, so he also wanted to promote him, "In accordance with my decree, Zhuo ordered Shang Lu to take over the post of Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry and deal with the collapse of the Yellow River embankment. As for the bandits in the lower reaches of the Yellow River, let..." Liu Yan hesitated for a moment and looked around the hall. , I don’t know who is more suitable to appoint.
