Chang'an, Daxing Palace!

Daxing Palace City in Guanlong Group under the vigorous funding, just a few months, has risen from a piece of white land, compared to the Sui Wen Emperor built majestic, solemn, the newly repaired Daxing Palace in the tall majestic, majestic, luxurious shining.

For this new palace, Li Yuan was very satisfied. At this time, he was discussing the military and political affairs of the New Year with more than a dozen civil and military ministers in the Liangyi Hall of Muxiang. In order to deal with this behemoth, Li Yuan's eloquent people worked hard to lobby the princes' families, although they have not yet achieved specific results, but the progress is gratifying.

The south opened up the situation, and the same is true for the north, about a year ago, Pei Lian, who was in charge of Turkic affairs, sent many envoys to the Turks, and reached a series of consensus with the Turks, but the premise was that Li Tang wanted to hold back the pace of the Great Sui, and gave Jieli Khan time to rectify the interior and clean up the portal.

In fact, Li Tang led by Li Yuan hopes to continue the contract, but this kind of problem is not up to them, so they plan to send someone to Yecheng to test the possibility first, if the peace talks come down, then Li Tang can calm down, let Li Shimin climb the 'Xue Liang Coalition Army', and let Li Xiaoxue develop to Jingzhou, the Central Plains and other southern regions.

But Li Yuan also knew that it was difficult, because the Great Sui now had no internal worries and no external troubles, and it was impossible for the Great Sui to follow his routine, even if it was a Danone agreement, then Li Tang would pay a huge price.

Before it is reached, it cannot be hoped that the Great Sui will coexist peacefully, and if the Great Sui comes to fight, Li Tang can only continue to the south and Xiao Milling, and go all out to the west. And if it develops to the west, it is also necessary for the Great Sui not to support the 'Xue Liang Coalition Army'.

"Ladies and gentlemen, do you think you can convince Yang Tong to give up his support for the 'Xue Liang' coalition? I would like to hear your opinions. ”

Xiao Yu said: "Holy Lord, the minister has something to say. ”

Li Yuan said happily: "Xiao Aiqing, please speak!" ”

"I heard' Under the rule of Xue Liang's coalition army, a large number of Han people fled east to the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and their land was abandoned, and the meager taxes were not enough to support tens of thousands of troops, in this case, they must further ask for help from the Tuyuhun and Qiang people, they now have nothing but the army, and in this desperate situation, there are only three ways to choose: one is to surrender to the Sui Dynasty, but they have now become one with Tuyuhun, and it is unlikely that the Sui Dynasty will accept it; the second way is to unite with Li Rail and open up the road to the Western Regions, but the Xue clan was defeated because of Li Rail's blow in the back, and the hatred between them is deep, and the possibility of reconciliation is not great; the third way is very likely, and they have nothing, it is likely that the two counties of Xihai and Heyuan will be ceded to Tuyuhun and restored to the previous territory. Yang Tong should also understand this, so after the land was changed, he gave up his support for Liang Shidu and let my Tang attack it, the purpose of which was nothing more than to make my Tang Dynasty destroy Liang Shidu as soon as possible, so as to prevent Xihai County and Heyuan County from falling into the hands of Tuyuhun again. That was the territory that Yang Guang had beaten down, and as the orthodoxy of the Sui Dynasty, he didn't want the two counties to fall into the hands of foreigners. ”

Li Yuan said: "In this way, Tuyuhun will become a disaster in the western part of my Tang Dynasty." Pin down most of our forces. Presumably this is also what Yang Tong thinks. ”

"Indeed!" Xiao Yu nodded and said, "But the Holy Lord actually doesn't have to take Tuyuhun to heart. After Tuyuhun was severely attacked by the Sui Dynasty, he has not recovered his vitality so far, and their strength to support the 'Xue Liang' coalition army is already their extreme, as long as we annihilate in the Hehuang area, and then communicate with them with a tough attitude, and then give them certain appeasement, and allow them to graze and live in the two counties of Xihai and Heyuan, then we can quickly stabilize Tuyuhun. Then the trade with it, and the horse source that troubled my Datang was also solved."

Xiao Yu's strategy of both soft and hard made Li Yuan very appreciative, Tuyuhun can indeed decide like this, but all this must be based on the non-interference of the Great Sui, and he asked again: "Yang Tong gave up his support for Liang Shidu, hoping that my Tang Dynasty and Xue Liang's coalition army would be defeated and wounded, and then use Tuyuhun to consume my Tang national strength, is this what it means?" ”

Xiao Yu nodded and said, "That's right!" The Sui Dynasty has always held high the banner of national righteousness, and the 'Xue Liang' coalition army is a national thief who led foreign races to invade the homeland. Everyone in the world is looking sideways, even if the Sui Dynasty will not cooperate with my Datang, but it will not stab me in the back when my Datang eliminates the national thief, otherwise, he will lose his righteousness. ”

Li Yuan laughed, Xiao Yu's suggestion reached his heart, pondered for a while, and then asked, "What if Yang Tong really sent troops?" ”

Xiao Yu said: "If Yang Tong sends troops, it will only send troops to Xiping County, and Xiping County is the main force of the Xue brothers, in addition to their brothers, there are tens of thousands of Tuyuhun soldiers, they are full of tenacity, not so easy to fight." If it is urgent, it is very likely to lead Li Rail to fight again! The strength of the Quartet Coalition is more than 100,000, which is not so easy to deal with, and it is extremely cost-effective to drag the Sui army in Hexi, where materials are extremely scarce. And my Datang only needs to lay down the source of the river to get the war horse next to Tugu. In addition, there is another advantage, if you confront the Sui Dynasty in Hexi, you can reduce the pressure on Guanzhong. ”

Li Yuan laughed and said, "What do you Aiqing think?" ”

"Holy Lord, the minister has something to say." Li Yuan's attention to Xiao Yu made Pei Lin very unhappy, because of him, Li Tang lost the entire state, in order to explain to the people, Li Yuan imprisoned him for several days, and let him live a quiet life, and when he re-entered the office, he found that Xiao Yu and Chen Shuda had taken his place, and the unwillingness in his heart was naturally not very.

Especially many things that were originally discussed with him Pei Lian, Li Yuan now discussed with Xiao Yu instead, which made Pei Lian even more annoyed in his heart, and he always wanted to find an opportunity to reverse this situation.

Li Yuan said: "Pei Aiqing, please speak!" ”

Pei Lin arched his hand and said: "Holy Lord, Hexi has few people and barren land, is it worth throwing into the army one after another?" The war horses that I need in Datang can be traded through Lintao Tuguhun. The minister thought that there was no need to expand westward, the land of Xiyang and Nanyang occupied by Zhu Cang was fertile, and if we killed Zhu Cang, a man-eating maniac, we would be able to settle a large number of poor people. Moreover, Zhu Cang is unpopular, and it is much easier to deal with than the Xue Liang coalition army. ”

"Xiyang and Nanyang, which Zhu Cang occupies, are fat in Wang Shichong's eyes, and we need to unite the princes of the Central Plains to deal with the Sui Dynasty. If we move Wang Shichong's taboo, how can we talk about unity? At present, the primary enemy of my Tang Dynasty is the Sui Dynasty, not the little Zhu Cang. Liu Wenjing sneered and said: "Whether the Xue Liang coalition army is pointing at the Great Earthquake Pass or the Scattered Pass, it will cause turmoil in the Guanzhong. And we have been stalemate for too long, if we don't extinguish it, what do people in the world think of me Datang? ”

"That's it!" Li Yuan stopped what Pei Lianzheng was about to say, and said, "The Xue Liang coalition is the heart of my Datang's henchmen, and it must be eliminated this year. The second question, I have been thinking about it, why can you open a branch in the Sui Dynasty, but my Datang has not moved, I think that my Datang should also hold a imperial examination, and sincerely recruit talents from all over the world for my Datang. ”

Li Yuan also had a deeper thought, although the impact of Yang Tong's burning of the palace in Chang'an gradually subsided, but that incident dealt a heavy blow to Li Yuan's prestige, he was eager to save his image, and the imperial examination was the best way to win people's hearts.

Pei Lin said: "Shengshang, just after the New Year, the ice and snow closed the road, and the imperial examination is held at this time, I am afraid that the southern scholars will not be able to travel. ”

As soon as Pei Lian's words fell, Liu Wenjing stood up and said, "Holy Lord, the minister also wants to say a few words." ”

Li Yuan has long been familiar with the battle between Pei Lin and Liu Wenjing, and as an emperor, the contradiction between two important ministers is something he likes to see. Pei Lin and his second son Li Shimin are now very close, and Liu Wenjing is vaguely moving closer to the crown prince Li Jiancheng, and the contradiction between the two of them also vaguely represents the contradiction between Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin.

Since Xiao Yu proposed to condone the dispute between his sons-in-law, which led to the courtiers deviating from morality, attacking each other, and being unstable internally and unable to do it externally, and suggesting that Li Shimin be deprived of military power, the contradiction between Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin gradually became clear, and this contradiction may not be a dispute over the succession, but a difference in political opinions. Li Yuan did not interfere with the contradictions between their brothers, he needed Li Jiancheng to focus on government affairs under the crisis, and he also needed Li Shimin to fight for Li Tang under the crisis, and the contradictions between them were conducive to Li Yuan's control of the throne, which was also what he needed. So in a sense, Li Yuan can't wait for the two sons to fight, and the more fierce the fight, the more he gets.

Li Yuan smiled: "Liu Qing, please speak!" ”

Liu Wenjing said: "The imperial examination is the source of the contradiction between the Sui Dynasty and the family, Yang Jian and Yang Guang's original intention to promote the imperial examination system is to a certain extent conducive to fairness and justice, break through the monopoly of political resources by the family, curb the development of the family's power, the most significant role is to expand the source of officials, consolidate the imperial power...... But in fact it did not roll out successfully. Why? It is because in every imperial examination, seven or eight out of ten of those who pass the examination are the children of the big families, and the purpose of recruiting talents from all over the world for the Sui Dynasty has not been achieved! Because the group of people who meet the selection requirements of the imperial court officials are always the young handsome people of the family. These young people live in a privileged environment, and receive advanced education without worrying about food and clothing since childhood, and are superior in knowledge, vision, and ability. And it is very difficult for Han Shi to compete with the children of the family in all aspects. In view of this, the main body of the imperial examination is still the children of the family, which is a fact that no one can change, even Yang Guang, who is thinking of holding up the Han Shi, has to accept it. During his reign, the imperial examination was not only strongly resisted by the family of gate lords, but also could not get people from poor families, so the imperial examination was not completed later, so as to vigorously promote culture and education. ”

Speaking of this, Liu Wenjing said to Li Yuan: "The reason why Yang Tong has successfully promoted it is because he abandoned the family and picked up the tall one from the short one, so he is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. But it is impossible for my Tang Dynasty to abandon the family, the Hanshi can't compete for the talents of the family, rather than make the family dissatisfied, the Hanshi thinks it's unfair, it's better not to do it. Holy Lord, you must not listen to Pei Shangshu's words of misleading the country. ”

Pei Lin was furious: "I didn't say that I would open a department now, but that I would improve the system and come up with a plan that could be accepted by both the family and the Hanshi." ”

Liu Wenjing glanced at him and sneered: "The plan that both sides can accept is actually very simple, the children of the family and the Hanshi have their own exams, but the first place of the Hanshi may not even be as good as the top 100 of the children of the family, how will you arrange the position at that time?" ”

Pei Lin was dumbfounded.

Liu Wenjing sneered: "The reason why Yang Tong succeeded in opening the imperial examination is because the candidates are at the same level, and the people and scholars under his rule have no different meanings. And my Datang has a different national situation, and if it is not handled well, it will arouse public anger at best, and at worst it will destroy the country! Pei Shangshu, you lost the entire annexation of the state, why are you still so superficial? ”

"Enough!"

Li Yuan's face turned blue as soon as he patted the dragon case, although Liu Wenjing was ridiculing Pei Lian, but Li Yuan felt that he was ridiculing himself, because the person who proposed to hold the imperial examination was him Li Yuan, not Pei Lian, Liu Wenjing clearly said that he Li Yuan was superficial, didn't he?

At this moment, Yu Wenxin, the young eunuch in the hall, strode into the main hall, bowed down and saluted: "Holy Lord, there is urgent information sent from Luoyang. ”

Li Yuan glanced at Liu Wenjing dissatisfiedly, and forcibly suppressed the anger in his heart and said, "Present it!" ”

vertex