If you want the emperor to agree with your opinion, you must let him see whether this matter is beneficial to you, and the old thief Yan Song knows this well.
This Li Rui and his dead father Li Xuanji have exactly the same character. They are both hedonistic kings who are greedy for pleasure.
Li Rui had previously wanted to build a Yaochi filled with fine wine, so that he could have a banquet with his ministers, but the Ministry of Finance had always refused to build a Yaochi for wine banquets on the grounds that the treasury was empty.
Now Zhou Yi's Northern Expedition to the Huns, Yan Song, the treacherous Prime Minister, actually used this as a game. He would rather let Li Rui use the silver from the treasury to build a banquet Yaochi than use it for national defense.
When Li Rui, who was sitting on the throne, heard about matters involving his own vital interests, he became extremely shrewd. He immediately understood that as long as he did not agree with Zhou Yi's Northern Expedition, Yan Song would probably support him in building a banquet Yaochi.
"Yan Aiqing is right. The Northern Expedition to the Xiongnu requires a long-term plan. I am mainly afraid that General Tiance will be attacked from both sides. If the Khitan and Xiongnu tribes unite again, and our General Tiance is defeated, wouldn't he be a member of our great Chen Kingdom? Big loss!”
Li Rui's words were very beautiful, and then he stared directly at the old thief Yan Song, expecting him to respond in the same way.
Yan Song bowed again and praised: "Your Majesty is wise!"
Li Rui originally thought that Yan Song would mention his establishment of a banquet Yaochi later, but he did not expect that Yan Song would stop abruptly after one sentence of praise.
Naturally, it is impossible for Yan Song to mention the construction of Yaochi for banquets now. Now Zhou Yi took the initiative to ask Ying to attack the Xiongnu. Not only did he not agree, but he also used the money to build Yaochi for the emperor. Then he might not be able to do it when he seeks to usurp the throne in the future. It’s hard to convince the public!
Even if he promised to help the emperor build a banquet Yaochi, it would not be an inopportune time like today.
However, young Li Rui is impatient and wants to get everything done in one go.
Seeing that Yan Song didn't respond, he immediately turned around and said, "Since the national treasury is empty and Admiral Tiance wants to conquer the Huns in the north, stabilize the border and enhance our country's prestige, let him collect money and food from the three northern states on his own! "
"Yan Aiqing, you see, now that General Tiance's military supply matters have been settled, what about my construction of Yaochi..."
Yan Song knew that Li Rui was knocking him, so he quickly responded: "Your Majesty has great foresight! He is full of confidence in General Tiance. He must have thought that General Tiance would win this battle, so he wanted to build Yaochi. After the army returns home in triumph, there will be a banquet for all the ministers. Your Majesty is doing this with good intentions!"
After hearing Yan Song's compliment, the ministers and officials behind Yan Song, including Wei Zhongxian and others, also loudly praised Li Rui's wisdom and martial arts.
Soon, the memorial of Emperor Chen's consent to Zhou Yi's Northern Expedition to the Huns was rushed 800 miles back to Zhou Yi.
However, Zhou Yi didn't care whether ministers and emperors Li Ruitatong agreed with his Northern Expedition to the Huns. Anyway, now that he had money, food, and soldiers, if he didn't strike first, he might have waited for the Huns to recover and thrive before attacking him.
To put it bluntly, Zhou Yi's memorial was just to inform Emperor Li Rui that even if the court disagreed in the end, Zhou Yi would still attack the Huns in the north.
Before that, Yang Xiu was asked to do a lot of publicity.
He asked Yang Xiu to print his preparations for the Northern Expedition to the Huns on A4 paper and walk around the streets and alleys in various states across the country.
Among the people, the people were all encouraged when they heard that General Tiance Zhou Yi was preparing for the Northern Expedition against the Huns.
On this day, Shi Wentai and his long-time friend Chi Jingde picked up a "People's Daily" issued by a state-owned enterprise in Xuanwei City.
Chi Jingde, who was illiterate, asked curiously: "Wen Tai, what is written on this?"
Shi Wentai quickly scanned the content on the paper, and when he saw those two sentences, his pupils instantly dilated.
Friend Chi Jingde saw that Shi Wentai looked wrong and quickly asked: "Wentai, what happened?"
Shi Wentai excitedly pointed to the A4 paper in his hand and said: "Jingde, it says that General Yongzhou Tiance is preparing to lead an army to the north to attack the Huns at the beginning of spring to show the prestige of our country."
"General Tiance? Is he the Yongzhou prefect Zhou Yi who you mentioned before, who twice repelled the Huns and the Khitan invaders? I didn't expect that he was so courageous that he dared to lead his army to attack the Huns in the north!"
Shi Wentai nodded and said: "You must know that Tiance General Zhou Yi is not a military general. He was originally our Tanhualang of Dachen, and was later framed by treacherous ministers and demoted to Yongzhou. But I didn't expect that such a virtuous minister would have such meritorious service, and the last step In one step, he reached the official position of General Tiance."
Chi Jingde also said excitedly: "I have always admired Wen Tai and you smart scholars. I heard you tell me about General Tiance before, and I also admire General Tiance very much!"
Shi Wentai then pointed to a piece of text on the A4 paper and said: "This sentence was written by General Tiance. Now the offensive and defensive positions of Chen and the Huns are different. If the invaders can go, I can go too!"
Kou can go, I can go too. These words made Chi Jingde's heart stir up waves, and he could not calm down for a long time.
At this moment, Chi Jingde seemed to hear that besides these words in his mind, he could only hear his heart beating continuously.
The next moment, he heard Shi Wentai say something that shocked him even more.
"General Zhou also said: Wherever the rivers go and the sun and the moon shine, they are all old earth. How domineering and mighty!"
After Chi Jingde heard these words, he felt that his scalp stood up all of a sudden.
Wherever the rivers reach and where the sun and moon shine are all old earth!
What kind of courage does this person dare to say such words?
Chi Jingde now finally understood why his friend Shi Wentai's pupils suddenly changed drastically when he read something on the A4 paper.
Chi Jingde knew that his current appearance was probably the same as that of Shi Wentai just now!
"Jingde, I am going to go north to Yongzhou, join General Zhou, make great achievements, and serve my family and country!"
"I don't know. Are you willing to go together?"
Shi Wentai's request immediately brought Chi Jingde's fantasy about Zhou Yi back to reality.
"Wen Tai, you also know that I have an old mother at home. Unlike you, I don't have a beautiful daughter-in-law who helps take care of her. If I leave, my family may not even be able to pay taxes..." Chi Jingde said more and more. The voice gets quieter and quieter.
In fact, when Shi Wentai said that he wanted to go north to Yongzhou to join the army, Chi Jingde also yearned for it, but the reality of life had to make him bow his head.
When parents are not far away from home, they must travel well.
Shi Wentai has a wife who can help take care of the elderly at home. And he, Chi Jingde, was a bachelor and had no way of leaving his old mother behind.
For this reason, Shi Wentai could only set foot on the road northward alone with a skinny horse after settling down the family.
Chi Jingde could only watch his friend Shi Wentai leave with envious eyes, and secretly blessed his friend in his heart.
