"This... Your Majesty's wise and strategic ministers admire you! In this matter, we will follow your Majesty's words.
When the time comes, if there are those who lead the opposition, we will definitely be ruthless and kill one to serve as a warning to others! "
"Very good! This matter is only in the planning stage now, and any action should be done as secretly as possible."
As he spoke, Li Shimin picked up an animal skin map from the case and called Wei Yan and others to come closer and take a look.
Wei Yan and others hurriedly left the table and walked quickly to His Majesty.
"This picture is a simplified topographic map of Wenshan County. I will use this picture as an example to tell you about the second thing."
Li Shimin pointed to several barbarian territories marked on the map and said:
“Wenshan County is in the northwest of Chengdu and should fall within the defense zone of General Wenchang.
The place I marked is the gathering place of barbarians.
After the Yuan Dynasty sacrifices, I will set up the Wenshan Governor's Office at the intersection of these places during the first court meeting.
In name, it was for the governor's office to supervise and protect the barbarian territory, so as to facilitate the management of the county governor.
But there is another meaning in it, which I have not made clear. "
Seeing that Wei Yan and others were listening attentively and had no intention of asking questions, Li Shimin continued:
“What we lack most in Shu now is land and registered households.
To solve this problem, one has to either occupy new territory or forcibly divide the land occupied by local families.
I would like to order you to cooperate with the local governor's secret investigation to see if there is public or private land occupied by Yizhou or even Dongzhou in the barbarian territory.
Not only are you investigating the barbarian territory, you must also secretly investigate the amount of land actually controlled by all the local families in the territory without alerting the county government.
If conditions permit, it would be best to count the households that have concealed their reports.
At the same time, I will send people from the palace to investigate this matter. Whenever these people encounter difficulties or obstacles, I hope you will help me secretly.
Finally, all the investigation results are summarized and then secretly handed over to me. "
When Jiang Wei heard this, he suddenly became excited and said excitedly:
"I have heard your Majesty and people who are close to the court talking about the 'New Deal'. Could it be that your Majesty's move is preparation for the New Deal?"
Li Shimin looked at Jiang Wei and nodded, smiling:
"Boyo is still very smart. This move is just preparation for the New Deal!"
After confirming Jiang Wei's conjecture, Li Shimin looked at Chen Dao and Wei Yan.
"All the princes are my confidants, my most trusted officials in the border areas.
I will definitely not hide the New Deal from you.
However, due to the current situation, the New Deal cannot be implemented hastily.
I order you to secretly investigate the idle wasteland, concealed land, hidden population, etc. in order to understand the details of the Yizhou gentry.
Once the time is right, I will use this information to borrow land and population from various noble families as appropriate, and then implement the new policy in the acquired land.
However, it takes a relatively slow time for this matter to take shape, so you can just investigate carefully. "
Chen Dao stroked his beard and asked:
"The local powerful are all cunning and deceitful. If they really conceal it, I'm afraid it will be extremely difficult for us to find out all the truth.
I wonder if your Majesty has any solution to this problem? "
"Don't worry about this. The people I send will investigate the dark corners that are difficult for you to touch.
The reason why you secretly protect and support them is because of this.
Moreover, the Yizhou gentry are no longer as invulnerable as iron barrels.
Xiaoyao Gong, Wang Ping, He Zong and others had already attached themselves to the imperial court.
With them here, I believe the difficulty of the investigation will be greatly reduced.
Of course, I will also promise benefits in advance and promise some irresistible benefits in exchange for the clues they have.
In this way, it is only a matter of time to find out all the land, population and obtain evidence. "
When Wei Yan heard the words "time problem", he immediately became uneasy.
"Your Majesty, don't blame me for being verbose. It's just that the world is now divided into three parts. Wei and Wu are both secretly gathering strength and eyeing our big man.
You are always cautious and act slowly. If things fail to happen, Wei and Wu will attack first.
Then wouldn’t we fall into passivity again?
What's more, now that our veteran generals are all approaching their sixtieth year, if your Majesty follows the example of the Prime Minister, advance and then retreat, and govern Shu while fighting.
The ministers and others may have the opportunity to serve on the battlefield and harass Wei and Wu for Your Majesty to gain opportunities for the development of Shu.
If your Majesty only defends but does not attack, and allows the Three Kingdoms to develop and move on for a long time, we will all wither away.
If there is a war at that time, His Majesty will have only a few soldiers and generals, and the New Deal in Sichuan has not been fully implemented. How will we win at that time? "
When Chen Dao heard this, his brows tightened and he began to worry.
Jiang Wei was okay, after all, he was only in his thirties, and as long as the great man was still around, he would have plenty of opportunities to serve the country.
Li Shimin put away the animal skin map and motioned for several people to return to their positions.
Seeing a few people sitting down at the table, Li Shimin consoled him:
"You don't have to worry about this section, not to mention that there are also barbarian rebellions in Wei and Wu.
Even if he is above the imperial court, he may not be any better than my big man.
This can be seen from Xue Zong's visit a few days ago.
Moreover, I have ordered Mi Wei and Deng Zhi to lead the Honglu Guards and lurk within the borders of the two countries.
If there is any change between the two countries, I will definitely receive the news in advance.
At that time, only General Wenchang will guard Hanzhong and General Shuzhi will guard Yong'an, taking advantage of the geographical advantages to block the enemy's army.
Bo Yue mobilized the Han and Yi troops under the jurisdiction of the governor of Nijiang to go north or east to reinforce the two places at any time, which could turn the danger into a disaster.
If the three kingdoms are in peace, I will vigorously develop Shuzhong.
Once the new policy is implemented, we will naturally have strong soldiers and horses in Sichuan. If we follow my father's example then, the effect will be even better!
If I'm lucky and encounter civil strife in the enemy's territory, I will definitely lead my troops to attack without hesitation and take advantage of the situation to capture the city! "
Although Wei Yan felt that what His Majesty said made sense, he still had some concerns about not being able to carry out the Northern Expedition as soon as possible.
It's just that His Majesty now values me as highly as the late Emperor did in the past, and I don't want to question His Majesty one after another.
Thinking of this, Wei Yan gritted his teeth and said:
"Since Your Majesty has thought carefully about it, all I can do is follow the instructions!
I only hope that your majesty can make sufficient preparations as soon as possible so that the old minister can fulfill his wish to revive the Han Dynasty for the late emperor..."
Chen Dao and Jiang Wei couldn't help but feel the same when they saw that Wei Yan was still thinking about "the legacy of the late emperor".
"What General Wei Yan said is absolutely true. I agree with you!"
Li Shimin first praised and encouraged the three people, and then raised the third matter.
"You can just carry out the above two items secretly. The third thing is a bit urgent."
"Eager? Now that the barbarians are convinced, the Yizhou gentry has ceased its activities.
I can't think of anything urgent. Could it be that Hongluowei has sent back bad news? "
“This matter has nothing to do with foreign enemies.
You still remember yesterday that I wanted to divide the resources in the barbarian territory, right? "
Seeing several people nodding, Li Shimin continued:
“Although the barbarians have no objection to this matter, it is still related to the interests of all ethnic groups.
I cannot leave the palace for a long time and personally go to various places to select and divide the resources within the territory of each ethnic group.
Therefore, I leave this matter to you. "
"What's so difficult about this? It's just that every county has its own governor and magistrate. Why doesn't Your Majesty just hand over this matter to them?"
"I don't completely trust them, and I can't replace all the county guards and magistrates with confidants at the same time.
Moreover, many talented people from the younger generation still need to study in Xiaoyaogong before they can be promoted and appointed.
Therefore, this matter can only fall on a few governors. "
"In this case, your Majesty, just arrange it and we will do it."
"You only need to control the overall situation in the defense zone. I will arrange for Huang Chong and others to take charge of the subtleties.
When we were fighting the rebellion a few days ago, in addition to promoting Guan Tong, Ma Cheng and others, I also added Huang Chong, Fa Miao and other loyal descendants to join us in fighting the rebellion.
Now that they are well-known among the military and barbarians, they should be able to handle this matter. "
With that said, Li Shimin asked Zhang Yan for a list he had compiled before.
“On this list is the personnel transfer plan I envisioned.
Fa Miao, Pang Hong, Huang Chong, Dong Jue, Lai Zhong and Li Qiu were all on the list.
In cooperation with Wang Ping, Zhang Yi and other generals, I organized these people into a group, one civil and one military, and placed them in the governor's mansions where the barbarians gathered.
In addition, many civil and military ministers in the court who were interested in the imperial court were sent to Wenshan County, Yueyong County, Hanjia County, and other places to establish governor's offices.
During the court meeting, I will issue an edict to arrange and distribute them in detail, and at the same time, I will also ask the barbarians to participate.
If there is no war, they can rest assured to develop and govern the place in the Governor's Mansion. If there is a war, I will dispatch some people to fight with the army as appropriate.
You, the governors, are mainly responsible for supervising their daily words and deeds, and beware of people with evil intentions among them.
When they are doing things for the court, you will give them a lot of support so that they can do things with peace of mind. "
After everything was arranged, Li Shimin personally sent Wei Yan and others out of the Gold and Silver Palace.
It was also agreed that several people would attend the first court meeting of the New Year before returning to their base.
After a few people left, Zhang Yan suddenly asked:
"Brother Adou, is there anything else important today?"
"Several major things have been settled. I can't think of anything else for a while."
"Since there is nothing to do and my little sister is a little bored, why don't we go visit Ma Qi in the secret room?
Today is New Year's Day. Ma Qi has disappeared in the secret room. Brother Adou can't help but care about it, right? "
When Li Shimin heard this, he pretended to be angry and said:
"How come my little sister has become so vain in her behavior now? Didn't you hate Ma Qi the most before?
Why did you kindly allow me to visit him today? What's your intention? Tell me quickly! "
