Liu An glanced at Wang Liping, who was standing in the center, and asked lightly, "Does Wang Aiqing have a high opinion?"

Wang Liping turned to Shang Peng and hugged his fist, and then said to Liu An: "Back to the emperor, the Northern Army is the force used by my Dacheng border to deter Zhenyuan Kingdom, and it should not be rash, and the horse thieves who ravaged Dongming City are only a few hundred, so why do you need to mobilize the Northern Army, according to the minister, Dongming City is fully capable of exterminating the horse thieves on its own, the reason why this horse thief has been a disaster for Dongming City, is actually the responsibility of Yin Liaocheng of Dongming City, is that he does not dare to lead the army out of the city to defend against the enemy, and has been allowing horse thieves to run rampant, and there is a suspicion of appeasement and adultery. ”

After listening to what Wang Liping said, Liu An did not rush to speak, but picked up the express report sent by Dongmingcheng on the dragon case and read it carefully.

After a long time, Liu An asked Wang Liping: "Wang Aiqing, how many garrisons are there in Dongming City, and who are the leading generals?"

Wang Liping obviously came prepared, and when he heard Liu An's inquiry, he hurriedly replied: "The general of the defenders of Dongming City is named Lu Meng, and originally there were 1,200 soldiers defending the city in Dongming City, but after the appearance of horse thieves, Yin Liao Cheng of the joint government of Lu Meng reported to the Ministry of Troops for approval, and expanded the number of soldiers defending the city to 2,000. ”

Liu An muttered, "Two thousand?"

At this time, Wu Kuo, the head of the household department, came out of the ranks, hugged his fists and said loudly: "Enlighten the emperor, the ministers have something to do." ”

Liu An looked at the white-haired Wu Kuo and said softly, "What's the matter with Wu Aiqing?"

Wu Kuo took out a piece of music from his sleeve, then presented it with both hands and handed it to Xiao Yuanzi who came down the steps.

After Liu An took over the recital, Wu Kuo said loudly: "Your Majesty, after the approval of the 2,000-person garrison from Dongming City, the household department was also approved to supply according to the wartime grain and salary, and now that nine months have passed, the household department has spent a total of 15,000 taels of silver and 4,000 stones of grain and grass. ”

Liu An put down the concerto, looked at Wang Liping and Wu Kuo in the audience, and said: "According to the two Aiqing, Dongming City should be full of sergeants, sufficient food and grass, and it is more than enough to deal with the horse thieves?"

Wang Liping and Wu Kuo bowed down at the same time and said, "What the emperor said is extremely true. ”

Liu An turned his head to look at Shang Peng and asked, "Shang Aiqing, do you know about this?"

Shang Peng replied: "Your Majesty, the minister knows, but Dongming City is the largest city in the Northern Regions, and two thousand soldiers are naturally impregnable for defending the city, but if you want to go out of the city to fight with the horse thieves, it seems that you can't do it." ”

Liu An picked up the tea bowl on the dragon case and asked, "What did Aiqing say about this?"

Shang Peng smiled slightly, turned his head to look at Wang Liping, and then said to Liu An: "The emperor doesn't know, the two thousand soldiers in Dongming City are all foot guards in the city, and there are only two hundred war horses in the city, so although the strength of the city is several times that of the horse thief, there is nothing to do about the horse thief." ”

Liu An took a sip of tea, then looked at Wang Liping and asked, "Is this serious?"

Wang Liping didn't dare to hide it, and said respectfully: "Back to the emperor, it is indeed as Lord Shang said, but even if there are only two hundred cavalry, they are well-equipped, and they are not powerless in the face of hundreds of horse thieves." ”

Liu An put down the teacup and said slowly: "Okay, I know, you can go back first." ”

Since Liu An didn't want to ask again, Wang Liping and Wu Kuo retreated one after another, and only Shang Peng was still standing in the center.

Liu An thought for a while, and then said to Shang Peng: "The horse thieves are raging, and they must be eliminated, since there are not enough horses in Dongming City, then according to Shang Xiang's words, the northern army will be sent back to help exterminate the horse thieves, but the border of the country must not be guarded, and the number of thieves in the northern army must not exceed two thousand, and this matter will be handed over to Shang Xiang." ”

Shang Peng hurriedly clenched his fists and shouted, "Obey the order!"

Liu An waved his hand, motioned for Shang Peng to return to the column, and then spoke: " The matter of Dongming City has given me a wake-up call, hundreds of horse thieves can affect the hearts of the people in a place, once the people's hearts are lost, it is difficult to recover, so I decided to add a standing army, specially used to inspect various places, one is used to exterminate horse thieves and rogues, and the other is used to inspect the local officials, where there is corruption and oppression of the people, the standing army has the right to supervise, once the officials are clear, the people of my Dacheng will slowly become rich, and the horse thieves and rogues will naturally decrease, I put forward this bill today, and all Aiqing can express their opinions and discuss the feasibility of this case。 ”

After Liu An finished speaking, there was an uproar in the Qiming Hall again, and the ministers exchanged their heads and whispered, which was much louder than the previous time.

"Silence~" Xiao Yuanzi's voice sounded, but this time it didn't have a good effect, although the noise in the hall was a little quieter, but there were still many people whispering, obviously Liu An's sudden proposal was not known to many people in advance.

Shang Peng, who had just returned to the ranks, once again came out of the ranks and shouted loudly: "Your Majesty, this is a virtuous and virtuous act, and Your Majesty's exploits will surely go down in history and be remembered for centuries." ”

Zhang Rui, the secretary of the ministry, also came out at the same time and said loudly: "The emperor Shengming, as Shang Xiang said, the emperor's move is for the benefit of the country and the people, and it will be sung through the ages." ”

Qi Yuanhou, the vice deacon of the Senate, and the Asian Minister Li Linqian looked at everything that happened in the Qiming Palace, his brows furrowed deeply, and his mind was running rapidly, thinking about how to deal with it.

Regarding the issue of Liao Cheng in Dongming City, it has been discussed for a while, but Liu An has not made a conclusion, it just so happened that he received an urgent report yesterday that horse thieves in Dongming City were rampant, and it was also expected by Li Linqian to discuss the issue of Dongming City today, in fact, he was also happy to see it happen, after all, Shang Peng pulled Liao Cheng off the horse, and the cheap ones were also the people under his Li Linqian.

Because all this has long been agreed in private, Shang Peng's own nephew is still detained in the yamen of Dongming City, just waiting for Shang Peng's side to exert his strength to save his nephew from prison.

Although Shang Peng played the trick of stealing openly, but since Liao Cheng had already been handed over to him, it was only a matter of time before Liao Cheng stepped down.

However, who knew that Liu An suddenly proposed to set up a standing army to inspect various places, and Li Linqian did not receive the news in advance, but it caught him a little off guard, and he did not understand Liu An's intention for a while, could it be that all this was discussed by the emperor and Shang Peng?

Li Linqian couldn't let the emperor and his family have such terrible power, so he stepped out of the ranks, came to the center, and saluted Liu An with a fist: "Your Majesty, the ministers have some different opinions, and I hope that the emperor will forgive the sins." ”

Just after Li Linqian came out, the voice of discussion in the hall finally stopped, and everyone wanted to hear what kind of views Li Linqian would put forward, because the issue that Liu An just raised involved the interests of the vast majority of people in the palace, whether it was the emperor's family or the queen mother's party, if their own interests were greatly damaged, then it was not impossible for them to change the court.

Liu An moved his body for a moment and said to Li Linqian: "Li Aiqing, but it doesn't hurt to say it, I said it before, today is just a proposal, and all Aiqing can boldly say whatever they think." ”

Li Lin said respectfully: "Thank you to the emperor, the minister thinks that it is inappropriate to build a new standing army to inspect various places, one is to add an expense, which increases the burden on the treasury, and the other is that the standing army supervises officials in various places, but it will make the officials in various places panic, thinking that the emperor does not trust them, so they dare not act, and will only eat in the corpse, which will affect the healthy development of various places." ”

Liu An stared at Li Linqian, who was standing bent down, for a moment, and did not speak for a long time, but Shang Peng, who was standing next to him, was furious, and flicked his sleeve robe and reprimanded Li Linqian loudly: "Bold Li Linqian, are you threatening the emperor?"

After Li Linqian heard this, he hurriedly knelt on the ground, and said to Liu An in a loud voice: "Your Majesty, what the minister just said is from the bottom of his heart, and he will never dare to be disloyal. ”

Liu An smiled slightly, raised his hand at Li Linqian and said: "Li Aiqing, get up, Aiqing's heart understands in my heart, what Aiqing said is also quite reasonable, and pointed out the shortcomings of this case, very good, very good." ”