Chapter 695: Discussions among the Ministers in the Political Affairs Hall

Su Mingzhe was busy for a long time, from noon to night, without any rest.

On this day, dozens of prominent families and dozens of important officials in the Tang Dynasty were also busy.

The emperor took out a panacea that could prolong life and ordered everyone to attack Korea, the Western Regions, and the plateau.

To fight or not to fight?

Fight, how to fight.

If we don't fight, how else can we get Peiyuan Dan and its recipe?

Everyone is weighing the pros and cons.

The weather in July is very hot, which makes people feel irritable.

Now, the emperor has given such a big problem, and everyone is even more annoyed.

Many people did not sleep well that night.

However, Su Mingzhe hugged the Wang sisters and felt particularly satisfied.

It was the next day in a blink of an eye.

Su Mingzhe got up with the help of Yuan Meiren, the lady-in-charge of the bedroom, and changed into his daily clothes with the help of several palace maids. Then he took a carriage to Hanyuan Hall to prepare for a day's work.

Zhang Ananda had already prepared ice cubes to cool off.

Seeing the emperor coming, Zhang Ananda hurried over and asked:
"Your Majesty, are you going to have a light breakfast today?"

"It's so hot, just some vegetarian food will do."

Su Mingzhe is not like Wu Meiniang who cannot live without meat for every meal. His meals are very much in line with the seasonal patterns.

After a while, Zhang Ananda brought people to bring the food over.

Su Mingzhe had breakfast and began to deal with memorials and government affairs.

There was a storm in the Jiangnan area, and there were many victims.

The local government helped the people in the city to relocate, which cost a lot of money and they applied for reimbursement.

As for the people outside the city, in the eyes of the government, they are not people.

In the eyes of the government, people are divided into different classes, and the only ones who can be called common people are the "scholars" among the "scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans."

The remaining 'agriculture, industry and commerce' are called 'Qian Shou'.

"The Chronicles of Qin Shi Huang" records:

"The whole country was divided into 36 counties, each with a governor, lieutenant, and supervisor. The people were renamed 'Qian Shou'."

"Burn the words of a hundred schools of thought to fool the people."

In the eyes of the government, the people are the foundation of the court, and the "Qian Shou" are just tools.

Now if Su Mingzhe wants to fight against the aristocratic families, he can only rely on these "common people".

Swish swish!
Su Mingzhe quickly approved the memorials reporting disasters in Jiangnan and other places.

Soon, these memorials followed the procedure and arrived at the Menxia Province, which was responsible for approving memorials.

The head of the Menxia Province was the Shizhong.

Two years ago, Wei Zheng was the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, but now it is Yang Shidao.

Although Yang Shidao was born into the Hongnong Yang family and was a prominent family, he was a kind person and was rigorous and fair in his work.

When he saw the memorial sent from Hanyuan Hall, his eyes lit up.

Su Mingzhe gave a total of five solutions, namely: "work-for-relief", "recruiting soldiers", "building factories", "epidemic prevention", and "opening salt fields".

Behind each method, there are detailed strategies and various things to pay attention to.

After Yang Shidao read through it, he felt that after all his years as an official, he could only come up with less than half of the strategies and methods listed above.

Thinking of this, Yang Shidao couldn't help feeling ashamed.

However, since the emperor had already thought of everything, Yang Shidao simply sent it to be made into an imperial edict, and then sent it to the Council of State for stamping and issuance.

The Zhengshi Hall was where the three highest officials of the Tang Dynasty regularly discussed state affairs, and its office was located in the Menxia Province.

As the head of Menxia Province, it was very convenient for Yang Shidao to go to the Zhengshi Hall to stamp a seal.

The prime minister on duty in the Council of State today is Zhangsun Wuji.

After receiving the memorial, Changsun Wuji read it through and felt the same as Yang Shidao. He then stamped it and asked the eunuch to distribute it.

After dealing with the memorial, Changsun Wuji saw Yang Shidao was about to leave and hurriedly stopped him:
"Jingyou, don't leave. Xuanling and the others will come over later. Let's have a small meeting."

These important ministers made an appointment yesterday to come to the Council of State today to discuss whether or not to obey the emperor's wishes and attack Korea, the Western Regions, and the plateau.

As important officials appeared one after another, a lot of people came. Not only the six ministers came, but even Li Jing, who had been staying at home for three years claiming to be ill, came.

Li Jing is already sixty-eight years old this year.

Life is rare in the past seventy years.

Li Jing didn't know how many years he could live. Three years ago, he was falsely accused of treason, and he was so scared that he wanted to hide at home and enjoy his old age.

However, two months ago, several ministers passed away in the court. After some job changes in the court, Su Mingzhe drafted Li Jing into the army and appointed him as the Minister of War.

Since the Council of State is discussing the deployment of troops in the three regions today, it would be difficult for Li Jing, the Minister of War, not to show up.

When Li Jing appeared, all the important officials present bowed to him in greeting.

Although Li Yuan and Li Shimin often said that the person who made the greatest military achievements when the Li Tang Dynasty unified the world was Qin Qiong.

However, everyone present knew that Li Jing's military achievements were the greatest.

The first battle after Li Jing joined the Li Tang was the attack on Wang Shichong, which made him begin to emerge.

In the later battles such as the suppression of Southern Liang, the pacification of Lingnan, and the suppression of Fu Gongju, Li Jing made great contributions.

What's more, Li Jing later destroyed DTZ and marched westward to conquer Tuyuhun.

If Li Jing had not been falsely accused of treason three years ago, he would still be the commander-in-chief of the Tang Dynasty's Western Sea Route Army.

Everyone sat down.

Fang Xuanling, as the head of the Shangshu Province and the first prime minister in name only, was the first to speak: "Yesterday, the Lu, Kong, Yan, Wang, Tang, and Xiao families all came to me and expressed their willingness to support Your Majesty and send the army to war."

Fang Xuanling came from Shandong Group, and his wife was the daughter of Fanyang Lu. What he said basically meant that Shandong Group was willing to support Su Mingzhe.

Li Daozong, the newly reinstated prince of the royal family, stroked his long beard and spoke:

"The Eight Clans of Guanlong held a meeting yesterday and expressed their willingness to support Your Majesty."

The Eight Surnames of Guanlong are the eight great nobles of Guanlong and also the largest military group in the Tang Dynasty.

Minister of Rites Wang Gui finally spoke:

"The Five Clans and Seven Families of the Central Plains are also willing to support Your Majesty."

The Fufeng Wang family, to which Wang Gui belonged, was a branch of the Taiyuan Wang family, which was one of the Five Surnames and Seven Aristocrats.

When he said this, he represented many aristocratic families in the Central Plains.

Now the three largest powerful aristocratic groups in the Tang Dynasty have expressed their support for the emperor's actions.

Then sending troops to attack Goryeo, the Western Regions, and the plateau is a foregone conclusion.

The problem is that as a dynasty in the Central Plains, there must be a reason to attack the barbarians.

Everyone turned their heads and looked at Fang Xuanling.

'Fang's plan and Du's decision'.

Fang Xuanling was well-known for his strategy and wisdom, so he would definitely be the one to come up with ideas for the military campaign.

Fang Xuanling said helplessly under the gaze of everyone:
"The Western Regions are in chaos, obstructing our Tang Dynasty's trade routes..."

"King Yeongryu of Goguryeo once sent an envoy to ask the Tang Dynasty to help him eliminate the powerful minister Yeon Gaesomun. Baekje and Silla also sent people to the Tang Dynasty to open up trade routes and pay tribute..."

"Four years ago, the Tibetan king asked Your Majesty to marry the princess, but Your Majesty refused. Afterwards, Tibetans continued to invade our borders..."

As Fang Xuanling finished speaking, everyone's faces suddenly lit up with joy.

Now that we have a reason to send troops, we only need to discuss which troops to send first.

"We need to put off sending troops to Tibet for the time being."

Li Jing said:

"The air on the plateau is thin. After we Central Plains people climb up to the plateau, we have difficulty breathing and our physical strength is weakened. Therefore, if we want to attack Tubo, we need to train our troops first."

"There's no rush in the Western Regions either."

Hou Junji said, "The terrain there is complex and there are many tribes. We can definitely find someone to buy the Tianshan Snow Lotus."

"That means we have to attack Goryeo first."

Li Ji, who had remained silent, finally spoke:

"As long as the imperial court gives me 50,000 soldiers and horses, I can wipe out Goryeo!"

In Li Ji's opinion, Emperor Yang of Sui launched three expeditions to the east, recruiting a total of five to six million soldiers and civilians, but in the end there was endless rebellion at home and he failed to conquer Goguryeo.

If he could pacify Goguryeo with 50,000 men, his reputation would surely become the highest among the Tang Dynasty's military generals.

Unfortunately, Li Ji's idea was seen through by everyone.

Li Dao Zong snorted coldly:
"Your Majesty has already issued an order. If we go to war, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince will be the chief commander of the army. We will divide the army into two routes, land and sea, to attack Goguryeo. The candidate for the chief commander of the sea route has also been decided. It's that scoundrel Zhang Liang!"

When Li Ji heard that the commander-in-chief of the navy was Zhang Liang, he immediately thought it was bad luck.

Zhang Liang was also a member of the Wagang Army and a general under Li Ji.

But Zhang Liang is a scoundrel. On the surface, he is on good terms with everyone and they often drink and play together.

However, once someone drank and complained about state affairs, that bastard Zhang Liang would immediately report it to the emperor.

The several generals who came from Wagangzhai together were all heroes who were willing to go through fire and water for their brothers.

As a result, a guy named Zhang Liang appeared around me.

As a result, everyone gradually stopped associating with him.

However, although Zhang Liang was incompatible with other generals, he was deeply loved by the emperor.

On the eve of the Xuanwu Gate Incident, Li Shimin sent Zhang Liang to Luoyang and other places to win over and contact heroes from all sides.

Li Yuanji captured Zhang Liang and tortured him to extract a confession from him, hoping to get Li Shimin's plan from him. However, Zhang Liang gritted his teeth and refused to yield even at death.

Finally, Zhang Liang was rescued, and Li Shimin made him his trusted and beloved general, giving him the same treatment as another trusted general, Zhou Shaofan.

Now, Your Majesty is going to march east to Goguryeo. You first appointed the Crown Prince as the commander-in-chief of the army, and then appointed Zhang Liang as the commander-in-chief of the water routes. The only position left is the commander-in-chief of the land routes.

Among the important ministers present, only Li Ji, Li Jing, Hou Junji and Li Daozon were qualified to be the chief steward of the land routes.

Li Daozon first said that he was not feeling well and might need to rest for a while.

Hou Junji was eager to try, but he was still busy with an assignment in the Western Regions, so it was difficult for him to ask for it and continue to serve as the commander of the Eastern Expedition Army.

Li Ji and Li Jing looked at each other, and this task would fall on both of them.

"I'd better go."

It was rare for Li Jing to volunteer.

Some time ago, his first wife Zhang Chuchen became insane, and it was Su Mingzhe who sent a piece of magic jade, which suppressed her illness.

Li Jing took the initiative this time in order to help the prince build his career in order to repay the emperor's kindness.

Of course, if Your Majesty could have sympathy for my small contribution and give me two pills after refining the Peiyuan Pill, I would be even more grateful.

Hearing Li Jing volunteering, Li Ji breathed a sigh of relief.

If he were asked to lead the eastern expedition to Goguryeo as the commander-in-chief, it would be a bit challenging for him.

But accompanying the prince to fight and serving as his bodyguard was a bit useless to Li Ji.

If something unexpected happened to the prince, or if he wanted to win him over to rebel, Li Ji didn't know what choice he should make.

Therefore, now that Li Jing has volunteered, Li Ji no longer has to struggle internally.

(End of this chapter)