At the end of the solstice, the ministers outside the small hall on the top of the green tile hall all knew that there were two ministers, three political participants, three envoys and deputy envoys, plus two Hanlin and one Taiwei, ten of the eleven important ministers were dressed in purple robes, and one of the two Hanlin scholars had already been added to the Wendian University and was also wearing purple robes.

When Deng Mingzhi arrived, Han Zhong had been laughing and talking with Zhang Guangen and the others for a long time, and when they saw the old lady being summoned, both of them stopped talking and nodded to the old martial artist in front of them.

"You have worked hard in power." Deng Ming's eyebrows were white, but his back was straight, and his eyes were still as sharp as before, and he smiled at Han Zhong: "Xiangguo has worked hard, and I will have to order the Lang guards to come over with a pole in a while and stick away those noisy cicadas." ”

Han Zhong smiled: "Old man, I understand your words, no noise outside the hall, I won't speak anymore." ”

Deng Ming smiled peacefully and said: "When the last general was the commander of Xiangdu and the captain of Jinwu, Xiangguo served as the imperial servant in the palace and was responsible for correcting the ceremony. ”

Deng Ming said a word, then pressed the sword and walked inward, Zhang Guangen looked at his back, and said with a smile: "The official family put Li Jian in the Northern Expedition army to go through training, and it is a wise move to keep this old goods." ”

The civil and military qualifications are not the same, but Deng Ming's qualifications are too old, similar to Xu Xiashang's qualifications in Wenchen.

Han Zhong and the others kept laughing outside the inner east gate, how could an ordinary lieutenant of the guard dare to come over and say something, that is, Deng Ming relied on his old qualifications and dared to rap a few words.

Han Zhong's face was as usual, but those who knew him well could clearly see the coldness in the depths of his eyes.

……

Deng Ming strode forward, a group of Lang Wei had to trot to keep up, this veteran general was in the army during the Wuzong period, Wenzong was already the commander of the Xiangdu, and the Chengzong was the Wei Wei, the general, and the Jiedu envoy, which was originally left to the next Tai Lieutenant, but now more than ten years after taking the throne, I remembered to appoint this veteran as a Tai Lieutenant, which is really too slow.

Fortunately, Deng Ming doesn't mind, he has served several generations of monarchs, and he is a general, in terms of loyalty, I am afraid that those civil officials are far from being able to catch up.

When walking, Deng Ming did not forget to say to the people around him: "No gatherings outside the inner east gate, no noise, no private meetings among the ministers, the current ministers, really don't talk about the rules of the early years." ”

These words will definitely reach Han Zhong's ears, which is exactly what Deng Ming means, as a captain, what if he hates the prime minister? Although the prime minister of this dynasty is respected and the privy envoy is in charge of the expedition, the Taiwei is always the head of the warriors, and Han Zhong is really to Deng Ming, and the generals in the north are afraid that they will be the first to jump out and not agree.

It's just that the old lady is not afraid, but those generals in Lang Weizhong dare not respond to peace, Han Zhong is unhappy, and asks them to go to Leizhou to be the commander of the Xiang army, that is, they can't cry.

"I've seen the official."

The emperor sat alone in the hall, and Deng Ming was allowed to enter with a sword, and after entering the hall, he bowed deeply.

The Son of Heaven already knew about the things outside the palace, but at this time, he had no intention of saying this, and he did not order the throne, and the Son of Heaven with black eyes said to Deng Ming directly: "Nan'an Hou punished more than 23,000 pirates, and the matter of Gong Chengjingguan, Taiwei knows?" ”

"The minister already knows."

"Tai Lieutenant, you are an old general, do you know if there is any falsehood in this matter?"

Deng Ming was stunned for a while, and then he realized that the Son of Heaven had called him over, but it turned out to be to ask about it.

After thinking about it for a while, Deng Ming said: "In ancient times, the battle of winning more with less is not known. If His Majesty asks the minister, Nan'anhou's record is true or false, and the minister is not in Fujian, so he dare not say anything. If there are any wars in which thousands of people have lost tens of thousands, then Your Majesty has read the history books and knows that there are not only such things, but too many. ”

The Son of Heaven was silent for a while, and after a long time, Fang said: "Taiwei is the general of the Great Wei, if you give Taiwei the forbidden army of three armies, may you be against tens of thousands of pirates?" ”

Deng Ming said angrily: "If you are in the land of Yan Zhao, you should be able to defeat the enemy if you lead thousands of elite forbidden troops. But on Fujian Road, and it is a desert island, the northern army is not good at water warfare, first, the northerners are not accustomed to the climate of the south, and second. The Northern Army is not familiar with geography and human feelings, which is inconvenient for geographical advantages, and this is the third. With these three disadvantages, he hurriedly went south, and the minister did not dare to guarantee that he would win. ”

The true meaning of the Son of Heaven is because King Zhao has several forbidden armies, but he closed the city gates, ordered martial law, and regarded the soldiers and civilians outside the city as nothing.

This is what was written in the urgent delivery of victory, of course, Lin Douyao is inconvenient to impeach King Zhao after the victory, but his dissatisfaction with the Dadu Governor's Mansion and his distrust of King Zhao's ability are on paper.

If Deng Ming exonerated King Zhao as the captain of the forbidden army, he would be quite powerful, but how could Deng Ming be that kind of person?

This old lady with white eyebrows is loyal to the Great Wei and the Great Wei Sheji, but not to the current emperor, and the Son of Heaven also knows this.

"I see." The Son of Heaven could not hide his disappointment, and said to Deng Ming: "Captain and wait outside the palace, the deacons should come in." ”

"The minister will retire first."

Deng Ming sighed secretly, but he had to press the sword out, and then look outside the palace gate, wearing a purple robe, a belt of gold nails and leather belts, and hanging goldfish bags, the Zaizhi and the Hanlin scholars were already waiting outside the hall.

Two ministers, three political ministers, three envoys and deputy envoys, plus two Hanlin and one lieutenant, ten of the eleven important ministers are wearing purple robes, and one of the two Hanlin has been added to the University of Wendian and is also wearing a purple robe.

After the ministers gathered, there were chamberlains who stepped forward to lead the way, and after the ministers all entered the palace, some chamberlains said: "Please ask the Son of Heaven to stand up for the prime minister." ”

The Son of Heaven stood up on the golden platform, nodded slightly, and the ministers all bowed down with their fists folded.

"The prime minister and the ministers meet the Son of Heaven."

Chongde Tianzi said: "The deacons are hard, all the kings are hard, give them to sit." ”

Many attendants have already prepared, more than ten people holding chairs placed on the left and right sides of the golden platform, and after the ministers thanked them, they sat down calmly.

When Han Zhong sat down, he glanced at the cardinal envoy Zhang Guangen, and both of them showed a slight smile at the corner of their mouths.

The face of the Son of Heaven was as expected, and he looked tired without sleep at all.

"Yongping, close the door, what's new?"

The Son of Heaven asked knowingly, Yongping to the Beijing division is less than 400 miles, more than 400 miles from the gate, every day there will be an urgent envoy from Jizhou, Yongping, the gate to report the latest military information, the two governments and the inner court have a copy, army scheduling, people, logistics, expenses, all the ministers are well aware.

Han Zhong bowed and replied: "Yesterday was still a sentinel cavalry battle, but the scale of the Donghu cavalry is getting bigger and bigger, Yue Zhi's recital said that the Donghu cavalry mostly gathered in the area of the Great and Small Ling River, and the generals and soldiers judged that if their main force gathered in the area from the old Jinzhou to the Daling River, if so, it should be the place where the main force will fight." ”

Everyone here is an important minister, and they are quite clear about the details of the entire Northern Expedition.

From the northwest, Hedong, as well as the Central Plains, Shandong, and even Jiangling, as well as the Beijing division to Jizhou, there are more than 150 forbidden armies, commanded by nearly 30 Xiangdu, and the army's flag is swaying all the way to the east from Guanmen to Yunzhou.

At present, the main force of the forbidden army has basically arrived inside and outside the gate, and large warehouses have been set up in Jizhou, Yongping, Guanmen and other places, and multi-channel transfer envoys have been set up to be responsible for transporting grain and grass and other military equipment.

More than 10,000 large vehicles and tens of thousands of small vehicles were mobilized, and the people went from Yanzhou to Yunzhou to Jizhou, from Dengzhou to Laizhou to Zhending and Jingshi, and then arrived at Guanmen.

Now the accumulated grain is more than one million stones, and there are people who keep transporting materials every day, and the materials consumed by hundreds of thousands of troops every day are quite amazing, and many states and counties are complaining that the transportation pressure is too great, and the materials consumed by the people themselves are also astronomical...... The copper coins accumulated by the Son of Heaven are only copper coins, grain, weapons, armor, vehicles, medicinal materials, cotton cloth, these corresponding materials are not prepared in advance, but hastily mobilize the strong men of various states and counties to transport, to the summer is the busy season of farming, there have been many people fleeing, have to order the Xiang army in various places in the official road to hunt down the fugitive people, there have been murder and rebellion of the rogue, and if it continues, this kind of thing will definitely be more and more.

Roads and bridges are in disrepair, which is a sign that the dynasty has turned from prosperity to decline, and even the post station that has been in operation for a long time is also seriously short of horses and straw, and lacks the necessary manpower, resulting in the beginning of the recruitment of troops and horses is extremely unsmooth, it takes a long time, and the consumption of resources is also doubled.

The Son of Heaven and Zuo Xiang and several other important ministers have already discussed that the grain and grass of the soldiers and horses are generally in place, and they can only collect more grain and grass, horses, mules, donkeys, and carts, and keep transporting supplies to the front.

The lack of money should be in the spectrum of 20 or 30 million, and there is no other way but to apportionment it to all walks of life and urgently levy it among the people.

The Son of Heaven nodded and said, "When the edict ordered Li Guorui and the others, hurry up to enter the gate, in case the captives suddenly arrive, rush to the city building site first, and seize the opportunity." ”

The north of Jinzhou is mountainous, the west is pine, tower, apricot and other mountains, as well as the big and small Ling River, the terrain is quite precipitous, if the Wei army preemptively builds a city in the area of the Da Ling River and Jinzhou, it is extremely difficult for the captives to carry out the main force between the mountains and rivers, and the results of the battle can be known without asking.

If the Wei army delays any longer, the main force does not dare to come out lightly, and the captives and cavalry cross the Daling River and the old Jinzhou old land, and the plains of the Pingchuan River are all in front of the gate, with mountains and dense forests in the east and the Bohai Sea in the west.

A sickly flush appeared on the Son of Heaven's face, and his heart was obviously very excited.

After the Son of Heaven finished speaking, he glanced at Han Zhong again, and the meaning in his eyes was quite obvious.

The matter of apportionment is inevitable, and such a troublesome thing, of course, the Son of Heaven hopes that Han Zhong will take care of it.

The officials from the south must have been greatly dissatisfied, and the DPRK and China would attack in groups, but Han Zhong did not care too much about this matter. Apportionment is the idea of the Son of Heaven

Judging from the reactions of officials in Hebei, Henan, Hedong, and Qinfeng, of course, they will not vigorously support the apportionment, but they always show an attitude of understanding and cooperation.

After all, the entire army and the people of the North are mobilizing!

In Gangneung, the scholars and doctors are still living a comfortable life of drunkenness, chasing joy and laughter, and the war in the north seems to have nothing to do with the south.

What about those officials who urged the department, and replaced them with the iron horses of the Hu people?

Fools are not compassionate to the people!

It's the southern court officials, and someone needs to suppress it......

Han Zhong turned his gaze to the Son of Heaven and arched his hand: "The minister wants to congratulate Your Majesty, a while ago, a group of thieves from the southeast flocked to it, and Your Majesty was uneasy, for fear that the group of thieves would poison the Fujian Road place." This morning, the minister saw the urgent delivery of the military report in the political affairs hall, and the pirates have been pacified! ”

Han Zhong took the lead in standing up, and all the ministers around him also got up, and everyone said, "Congratulations to Your Majesty." ”

The Son of Heaven smiled reluctantly and nodded: "It is indeed a happy event, and the court no longer needs to worry about the southeast." ”

Cardinal envoy Zhang Guangen said: "Previously, there were quite a few ministers from the southeast who suggested to the cardinal government that they should transfer the forbidden army of three or five armies to Fujian Road, and the minister replied that he was powerless, and now the dispatch of an army in the imperial court is cautious and cautious, and the Northern Expedition is related to the country, and the southeast is really difficult to allocate troops and horses." Moreover, the sea is not quiet, the army can only set out from land, Jiangling and other places also have to guard against the attack of bandits, so they can only be transferred from the area around the Beijing Division, and when the forbidden army arrives in Fujian, it will take at least three months. ”

Zhang Guangen's tone was a little desolate, and he finally said: "I hope that the Northern Expedition can be successful, and the imperial court can free up its hands to pay attention to the southeast and Guangzhou, and the bandits are rampant. ”

Han Zhong took advantage of the situation and said: "The southeast has this victory, when the southern army is encouraged by the morale of the people, it also has the meaning of encouragement for the soldiers of the Northern Expedition." ”

Han Zhong continued: "There is Nan'an Hou to guard the Eastern Domain, and this great victory will be rewarded by the imperial court." The ministers and other suitable talent meeting, the Marquis of Nan'an can be crowned the prince, grant him the opening of the Fujian Road, give Huang Yue a special expedition, with this prince sitting in the southeast, the court has no hidden worries, as for its management of Ma Zheng has been quite effective, may wish to control the whole road of Fujian, so as to facilitate its functions. In addition, the defense of the Eastern Domain, as well as the chief of the Nanyang Naval Division, should also be justified. The money and silk are rewarded, and the court is overstretched, and it is really difficult to prepare, so it can only be supplemented by the actual closure of the household. ”

Before Han Zhong entered the palace, he had already consulted with Zhang Guangen and others, and everyone was not surprised, only Xu Xiashang originally had a smile on his face, but after hearing such a reward, he also showed surprise on his face, and his white eyebrows were slightly furrowed.

The Son of Heaven didn't expect Han Zhong to offer such a reward, and he instantly understood the intention of this Great Wei Zuoxiang, which was to transfer the contradiction to the Son of Heaven, King Zhao, and Xu Zixian, and use the general trend of the southeast to break the previous layout of the Son of Heaven and King Zhao!

Most of the ministers present had already understood Han Zhong's intentions, and several senior counselors and privy secretaries were all silent.

Only the two Hanlin looked at each other, watching the originally yellow-faced Tianzi turn red, holding the armrests of the imperial chair tightly with both hands, and his body seemed to tremble.

Li Han, a scholar of the Guanwen Palace, a scholar of the Duanming Palace and a bachelor of Hanlin, got up, hugged his fists and said: "Han Xiang, Nan'an Hou has made great contributions, but the opening of the mansion, the promotion of the prince, and the gift of Huang Yue are all a bit overstepping, and the reward is too much, and it is not the blessing of his subordinates, I don't know if Han Xiang thinks so?" ”

Han Zhong glanced at Xu Xiashang and said with a smile: "When the bachelor talks about politics, he also has to look at the overall situation, the imperial court is focused on the military affairs of the north, and he is unable to take advantage of the southeast, this is a decades of accumulation, does the bachelor think so?" ”

Li Han hesitated again and again, and replied: "That's true, but the reward is still too much. ”

Han Zhong shook his head and said: "Nan'an Hou is very human, the clan is close to the blood relatives, with the way of kissing and making great contributions, how can Prince Feng be too good?" Did the bachelor think that the Marquis of Nan'an had done something wrong to train his army and solve the hidden worries of the southeast for the imperial court by defending against foreign insults? ”

Most of the scholars of Hanlin are the private individuals of the Son of Heaven, and they are regarded as the prime ministers by the outer dynasties, and they are natural opponents of the bachelors and the two mansions. It's just that at this moment, people with a heart can see that the situation is unstable, the Son of Heaven recruited many ministers last year, and as a result, many people insisted on not resigning, Li Han was born in the Hejian Mansion clan, known for his kindness, and the science he studied was based on Zhongjun as the first, so the edict of the Son of Heaven arrived, and Li Han took office after resigning.

Han Zhongping didn't want to embarrass this honest man, but now it is very different, and he also forced Li Han into a corner, forcing this famous Confucian minister to his face.

Zhang Guangen also understood Han Zhong's deeper intention at this time, pondered for a long time, and finally made up his mind, and said to Xu Xiashang: "What does Lao Xiangguo think?" ”

Xu Xiashang faintly understood at this time that Han Zhong's intention to propose such an excessive reward was of course not just to embarrass the Son of Heaven...... As we all know, Xu Zixian's rise to the top, in addition to the vigorous support of King Qi, Xu Xiashang's contribution is not small.

After Xu Zixian arrived in Beijing, Xu Xiashang met with the juniors of this clan many times, and encouraged him a lot, and the support of Xu Zixian was also regarded as one of the arrangements for the old Xiangguo to retire in Fujian.

In this way, even if Xu Xiashang and Xu Zi had some suspicions, and Lao Xiangguo even used some dishonorable means, the alliance between the two was still quite strong.

In charge of Ma Zheng and other matters, the government hall passed and implemented without hindrance, and the old Xiangguo certainly played a big role in it.

Han Zhong and Xu Zixian cooperated for a short time, but they did not have such a deep relationship between Lao Xiangguo and Xu Zixian.

This matter is a great thing for Xu Xiashang, but if you are courteous to others, you must ask for something, the Son of Heaven and Han Zhong must ask for something, Xu Xiashang has to weigh the pros and cons, and see if he will pick this big fruit in front of him first, or take a look.

Xu Xiashang naturally also has his own sources, and Han Zhong thought that the matter was hidden deeply, but in fact, it had already been spread.

It is nothing more than an apportionment, and Xu Xiashang knows this.

There have been some officials from Fujian Road and the south who have secretly gone to the mansion of the right prime minister, and asked the old minister to come forward to fight for this matter.

Of course, the most important thing is that the army comes to defend against foreign insults, and the taxes that have been collected are the promise of the court to the people, and they should not go back on their word.

The tax burden of this dynasty has been extremely heavy, the rent of the Tang Dynasty is a heavy tax, this dynasty is in addition to the rent, and the tax is increased, all kinds of tax laws are like a cow's hair, I am afraid that the three envoys are not thorough, and now it has suddenly increased by 30 million this year, and if the fire is added, many officials are not only worried that the people will complain, the gentry and landlord class, that is, the scholar class, I am afraid that they will not be able to stand such a heavy tax.

In addition, there is the hidden worry of the people's rebellion, the interior is empty, there is no one to control the rogues, coupled with heavy taxes, official coercion and civil rebellion are no longer worries, and it is very likely to evolve into reality.

But after weighing it again, what is more important than consolidating the relationship with Xu Zixian and making Xu Zixian develop and grow in Fujian?

Xu Xiashang finally said: "There is some truth in what Master Li said and his concerns, and the reward is too much. The Huangyue Fake Festival and the opening of the Mansion are by no means feasible. ”

This means that in addition to opening the mansion and giving Huang Yue, the prince is crowned, and the rest of the rewards, Xu Xiashang feels that it is feasible.

Li Han nodded slightly, and said no more, he was already quite embarrassed.

This time the ball was kicked at the feet of the Son of Heaven.

Is it to give up his biological father King Zhao's territory and many years of business in Fujian, hand over the southeast to the capable clan of Xin's past, and focus on the overall situation, or continue to suppress Xu Zixian, and tilt resources to King Zhao as much as possible?