In April of the early year of Zhenyuan, Zhu Zhu once again set off the Central Plains War, Zhu Zhu's army occupied Xiangyang, blocked the logistics supply line of the Central Plains Tang Army, resulting in 30,000 Central Plains Tang Army had to withdraw to the southeast.

This is a war that is destined to have no winner, although the Tang army finally won a tragic victory and defeated the ** Lie army, but paid the price of most of the casualties, less than 10,000 of the 30,000 army remained, Li Baozhen was seriously wounded and died.

Ma Sui was also seriously wounded, and Liu Qia led 8,000 remnants of the army to break through to the east and go to Chuzhou to cross the Huai River to the south.

**Lie's losses were even heavier, with only more than 20,000 people left in the 80,000-strong army, and Lie had to lead the army to retreat to Huaixi.

It was Zhu Zhu and Li Na who had the last laugh, Zhu Zhu's army took the opportunity to occupy Bozhou and Yingzhou, and Li Na's army occupied Sizhou and Haizhou.

Although Xiangyang was lost and a major war broke out in the Central Plains, the situation in Chengdu was very calm, and most of the courtiers knew that the territory of the Central Plains would be lost sooner or later surrounded by wolves, so the defeat of the Tang army in the Central Plains to the southeast did not cause much shock, but it caused a debate in the court, and then it was over.

As the saying goes, 'less into Sichuan, no old out of Shu', the wealth of the Bashu Plain and the sense of security brought by the surrounding mountains gradually made many court officials forget the original intention of recovering Chang'an, and began to enjoy the peaceful and comfortable life in Shu, even including the Son of Heaven Li Shi, he renamed Chang'an Palace Yong'an Palace is the best proof.

Not only that, but in the imperial examination held in March, Li Shi personally wrote the questions, canceling the current affairs policy and examining literature and Confucianism, a change that was criticized by many people of insight as a sign of forgetting shame.

But it has also been supported by many people, the imperial examination was originally a place for literature examinations, and young scholars did not experience the world, so how meaningful could it be for them to write about current affairs?

However, the loss of Xiangyang made the imperial court a little nervous, and Li Shi also knew very well what the loss of Xiangyang meant, once Zhu Zhu's army continued to move south and cut off the Yangtze River transportation, how could the taxes from the southeast be transported to Bashu?

Li Shi was unusual, convened important ministers in Yong'an Palace to discuss countermeasures, the side hall was very quiet, more than a dozen important ministers sat on the right, and five eunuchs sat on the left, this is already a custom, but whenever the Son of Heaven held a court meeting, five lieutenant officials must attend and participate in listening to the government.

At first, the ministers were fiercely opposed, but after the opposition was ineffective over time, the ministers had to slowly accept the reality.

"Emperor, I want to know, how many more troops do we have?" Li Shi first asked the crown prince Li Yidao.

Li Yi still served as the supervisor of the state and presided over daily government affairs, Li Shi was obsessed with literature, basically did not care about the government and politics, and lost it to the crown prince Li Yi.

Li Yi stood up and said: "Father Qiqi, our army has a total of 100,000 people, of which 20,000 are in Huainan and Liangzhe, 10,000 troops are in Lingnan, 10,000 troops are in Jingnan, Xiazhou has 10,000 troops, Hanzhong has 20,000 troops, and then Chengdu has 30,000 troops, including 20,000 Shence troops and 10,000 defenders, as well as 5,000 guards, which are not counted in the army. ”

Li Shi frowned, "I still remember that there are quite a few militia groups, right?" ”

"There are 60,000 militia groups, distributed in various prefectures and counties of Bashu."

Li Shi nodded, and said, "Let's talk about it!" How to deal with the situation in Xiangyang? ”

There was still silence in the hall, and at this time, Han Yun, the secretary of the ministry, got up and said, "Your Majesty, let Weichen say a few words!" ”

"Han Sang-kook, please speak."

Han Rong saluted and said unhurriedly: "The loss of Xiangyang, the biggest threat to us is not the safety of Bashu, but the Yangtze River shipping, which must be very clear to everyone, if the Yangtze River channel is cut off by the thief army, we will lose half of the tax ......"

At this time, Lu Qi said impatiently: "Han Shangshu, everyone knows this, Your Majesty can't sit for a long time, so you should hurry up and say the conclusion!" ”

Li Shi glanced at Lu Qi approvingly, although Lu Qi was criticized a lot, but in terms of caring for himself and being loyal to himself, other ministers were far from catching up, only he thought that he couldn't sit for a long time, but others couldn't think of it.

Li Shi said to Han Yun: "Han Shangshu continues to say the conclusion!" ”

Han Yun had no choice but to continue: "Weichen has two suggestions, one is to recapture Xiangyang as soon as possible, and the second is to train the navy to defend the Yangtze River waterway, and humbly recommend the general Li Sheng as the envoy of Shannan Dongdao to take on the important task of recovering Xiangyang, and then recommend the general Hun Ying as the chief general of the navy, so that he can prepare to build a navy. ”

These two plans are feasible, Li Shi nodded, and turned to the eunuch's side, "What suggestions does the Zhongguan have?" ”

Song Chaofeng said unhurriedly: "It takes money to recruit troops to recover Xiangyang, but it also needs money to build a naval army, we want to ask Lu Xiangguo, how much money does the court have?" ”

Song Chaofeng raised this issue with a hint of dissatisfaction, the inter-shelf tax they drafted last year could not be implemented after only three months of introduction, and finally could only be implemented in Bashu.

All states and counties outside Bashu have resisted, the reason is that the rich will move to Guanzhong and the north to avoid the shelf tax, which is of course a pretext, the main reason is that the shelf tax infringes on the interests of the local wealthy families, and the authority of the imperial court has been reduced, all states and counties have resisted, and the court has no choice but to announce the suspension of the shelf tax outside Bashu.

This made the eunuchs very dissatisfied, thinking that the execution ability of the imperial court was too poor, so today Song Chaofeng took the opportunity to make trouble.

Lu Qi coughed dryly and said: "Building a naval army is not a matter of one or two days, and the money does not need to be allocated all at once, it is also in batches, and there are also some warships in Jiangning and Fuzhou, which can be transferred to Jiangling."

As for recruiting troops to recover Xiangyang, it doesn't cost much, you can take advantage of the determination of the local people to expel the Zhu thief! We calculated that it was about 100,000 yuan at the beginning, and the court could still get 100,000 yuan. ”

Song Chaofeng sneered, "Without the shelf tax, can the imperial court still get the money?" ”

The crown prince Li Yi couldn't hold back the anger in his heart a little, and got up and said to Li Shi, the son of heaven: "Father, the situation is very critical now, since the imperial court has come up with a plan to solve the crisis, it needs to be implemented immediately, once Zhu Jun's army goes south to cut off the Yangtze River waterway, it will be troublesome, and the son suggests that there is no need to discuss it anymore, and immediately order Li Sheng and Hun Ying to start recruiting troops, father, time is running out!" ”

Li Shi is not stupid, he knows that the situation is critical, so he convened today's emergency meeting, he waved his hand to the eunuchs, signaling them not to make trouble anymore, he immediately said: "Han Shangshu's plan can be implemented, I am approved!" ”

Li Yu immediately issued an order, and the general Li Sheng was appointed as the envoy of Shannan Dongdao, and ordered him to recruit troops to recover Xiangyang, and at the same time, the general Hun Ying was appointed as the governor of the navy, and he was ordered to prepare for the establishment of the Yangtze River naval army in Jiangling.

........

Li Sheng has been sitting on the cold bench for a year, and since his army was taken away by the Son of Heaven, renamed the Shence Army, and controlled by eunuchs, he has nothing to do, although his status is high, but he has no real power.

He wrote to the imperial court several times to ask for the Northern Expedition, but never received a response from the imperial court, just when he was a little disheartened, the turn of fate finally came, the Son of Heaven appointed him as the Shannan Dongdao Jiedu envoy, and ordered him to recruit 30,000 troops to recover Xiangyang.

This news made Li Sheng overjoyed, and he hurried to the East Palace to meet the crown prince.

Li Yi was very serious to Li Sheng, he smiled and asked Li Sheng to sit down and said: "This time I persuaded the Holy Lord, don't appoint a prison army, there is no constraint of the prison army, I hope you can recover Xiangyang as soon as possible." ”

Li Sheng was overjoyed, without supervising the army, his task would be half successful, and he hurriedly bowed and said: "Thank you for the trust of His Royal Highness the Prince, I will definitely recover Xiangyang as soon as possible." ”

Li Yi said again: "The Holy Lord asked you to recover Xiangyang before the end of the year, can you do it?" ”

"Do your best."

Li Yi shook his head, "It's not about doing your best, it's about doing it." ”

Li Sheng had no choice but to agree, and he asked again: "Money and grain are needed to recruit the army, I don't know how much food the imperial court can come up with?" ”

"Before the end of the year, I will give you a total of 200,000 yuan and 100,000 stone of grain, which will be given to you in two installments, and 100,000 yuan of money and 50,000 stone of grain will be given to you when recruiting, and the other half will be given to you in October.

The degree branch is accounting, that is to say, the financial power is not in the hands of Li Sheng, but in the hands of the imperial court, which is not only a check and balance for Li Sheng, but also a kind of protection for him, at least no one will impeach him for embezzling military assets.

"Alright! Tomorrow, I will start recruiting a part of the army, hoping that the money and food of the imperial court can keep up! ”

........