Li Shidao was overjoyed, and ordered to send the secretary Zhang Ye as an envoy to escort ordnance, grain and grass to Caozhou for condolences, before leaving, Zhang Ye asked Li Shidao for advice, Li Shidao said: "Now the court has some misunderstanding about me, saying that I am handsome without authorization, in fact, you should also know that I am also involuntarily and forced to be helpless." If the imperial court accuses me of being disloyal, I can choose to send a virtuous person to lead the twelve prefectures of Ziqing, and I will give it to the virtuous. If you feel that I still have loyalty, please grant me the austerity. I am loyal and dutiful, and dare not to repay the service with death. ”

As soon as Zhang Ye saw Li Mao, he cried and cried for help, Li Mao said: "Why did my brother say this, you are the secretary in charge of the military government, how trusted?" ”

Zhang Ye repeated what Li Shidao said to him before leaving, and cried: "Is this what I said to my confidant, this is obviously treating me as an outsider." A secretary who is spinning in front of him all day long is regarded as an outsider, is this day better? ”

Li Mao smiled: "It's not that he can't believe you, he's testing me to see how hard my backer is in the court." ”

Zhang Ye wiped his tears and thought about it carefully, Li Mao's words also made sense, but Li Shidao's words really didn't treat him as his own, and this thought became sad.

So he said: "He appointed me as the secretary, just to see that I have no foundation, easy to manipulate, I am called the secretary in the house, but in fact I can't even touch the pen and ink, but I am just an errand runner who he calls around." ”

Li Mao said with a smile: "Brother, there is a great wealth right now. ”

Li Shidao's biggest concern at the moment is not that Caozhou was invaded and occupied by Li Mao, Li Mao's troops were outnumbered, Caozhou was narrow and poor, and it was difficult to last, even if he had Wei Bo's support now, it was urgent to take it back, but his occupation of Caozhou could not pose an actual threat to the hinterland of Ziqing.

Wei Bo can use Li Mao's chess piece to contain Ziqing, Xuanwu and even Wuning on the surface, but if he is a little careless in the operation, he is very likely to fall into the attack of the two strong enemies of Ziqing and Xuanwu, this truth Tian Ji'an will soon understand, and when he comes back to his senses and finds that his efforts to Li Mao are not worth the return, his heart will naturally be cold, and when the time comes, he will only need to sit down and smooth out the relationship between the two families, and persuade Wei Bo to withdraw his support for Li Mao and take back Caozhou just around the corner.

In short, the matter in Caozhou is not urgent, and the effect of cooling will be better.

Li Shidao is now worried about his own reputation as a moderation but no moderation, if the name is not right, it is not good, no matter how strong the temperance envoy is, he also needs the pole of the imperial court to order the three armies, recruit talents, and gain the trust of the people under his rule, without that thing, that is, rebellion, that is, he is despised by the family, scholars and scholars, and the soldiers and the people will also abandon him.

This fact has been verified by countless bloody lessons, and Li Shidao does not want to try to challenge.

The imperial court did not give Li Shidao the title, in fact, it was controversial, and officials close to Ziqing cited the old example of Heshuo towns to try to persuade the Son of Heaven to confer the festival as soon as possible, so as to set the hearts of the military and civilians of the twelve states of Ziqing. However, this proposal was firmly opposed by the ruling Wang Shuwen.

The reason for his opposition is that the town of Heshuo is arrogant and domineering, the reason is that the towns are from the Anshi Rebellion, especially the three towns of Hebei were originally the result of the peace between the imperial court and the remnants of Anshi, and its wolf ambition did not die out because of the defeat of the two major evils of Anshi, the second reason is that the imperial court blindly tolerated it, so that the situation that cannot be lost at the end of today, if you continue to let it go, the decline since Zhenyuan is bound to be irretrievable, so how can the new atmosphere of the new dynasty be reflected, and where is the majesty of the imperial court? Where is his exploits as the ruling prime minister who has been busy for more than half a year?

Liu Zongyuan, Liu Yuxi, and others, who also belonged to Wang Shuwen's party, also clamored for a strong reduction of the feudal towns, advocating a heavy crusade against the disobedient feudal towns, taking advantage of the discord between the feudal towns to divide and disintegrate, and break them down.

It was under their constant urging that Wang Shuwen sent someone to Wei Bo to marry Tian Xing's daughter for his son Wang Pu.

There is no contradiction between winning over Wei Bo and encouraging and even cracking down on Ziqing, Heshuo Domain Town is not a monolith, and they often fight each other, pulling one to fight another, isn't it the proud work of the prime minister.

Wang Shuwen's strategy of pulling one by one is still effective, and Wei Botian Ji'an's attitude towards the imperial court has become unprecedentedly deferential, and he received the welcoming delegation sent by Wang Shuwen with extremely high etiquette, a glory that even the ministers of the imperial court could not enjoy before.

Another example of his deference to the imperial court was the great support of Li Mao, who was considered a close confidant of the King of Guangling, to cross the river to the south and occupy Caozhou, which originally belonged to Ziqing.

Wang Shuwen believes that a very important reason why the imperial court has been unable to pacify the arrogant and arrogant feudal towns is the dispersion of the military power of the forbidden army, especially the strategy of giving the military power of the forbidden army to the eunuchs since the Zhenyuan Dynasty.

Eunuchs are people who are left behind in prison, and they are psychologically different from ordinary people, and they are easy to be narrow-minded and go to extremes, and most of the eunuchs who are ranked as lieutenants of the protection army, middle protection army, and war envoys are mostly illiterate, do not know the general trend, do not know the rise and fall, they mostly survive step by step from the lowest palace slaves, and they have suffered enough, and their bodies and minds have been devastated.

The deep palace forbidden is strictly hierarchical, the weather is severe, and after decades of wind and frost, they have long not seen much flash of human nature, and only sleek, sophisticated, ruthless, and spicy hands have precipitated, how can such a person still bear the heavy responsibility of removing the old and clothing the new, and it is safe to disperse the military power in the hands of these people, but it can't do anything big.

Wang Shuwen asked the Son of Heaven to centralize the military power scattered in the hands of the eunuchs since Zhenyuan.

The imperial court has hundreds of thousands of forbidden troops, but because of the government, there are many doors, and the sand is scattered, which is not enough to deter Xirong Beidi externally, and cannot deter local feudal towns internally. Even the elbow and armpit scourge is not exempt, and this bad state should be changed.

Wang Shuwen's rhetoric is very demagogic, at least for now, the Son of Heaven is inclined to concentrate military power. Who was given military power after the centralization, it now seems that Fan Xichao, who was closely related to Wang Shuwen's party, and Fan Xichao, the general of Jin Wuwei, was the most likely.

Van Heedey was a famous general of the dynasty, and Dulwich was strong enough to suppress the three armies, and he himself was inclined to reform. One example is that he accepted Han Tai of Wang Shuwen's party as his protégé, and wanted to follow Du You's example to shelter Wang Shuwen from the wind and rain and escort him.

If the military power is concentrated in the hands of Fan Xichao, the power of Wang Shuwen and his party will cover the financial, political, and military forces, and the real power will be tilted towards the government and the opposition.

Li Mao told Zhang Ye the news and asked him to go back and persuade Li Shidao to ask the court to return Ziqing's right to collect taxes, so that the forces opposing Wang Shuwen in the court would definitely be grateful for Li Shidao's sacrifice, and they would repay Li Shidao and help Li Shidao get the coveted moderation.

Zhang Ye groaned: "I'm afraid that the festival commander may not be willing to agree." ”

Li Mao said: "Ziqing has been flooded and drought for many years, and it is difficult to collect the two taxes, so the government and the people often have conflicts, which is very unfavorable to Yunzhou in the long run. Now the camps, iron horses, salt and overseas trade controlled by the four surnames are all under the control of Yun Shuai, and the income is enough to supply the army, and the two taxes and non-collection have little impact on the overall situation of Ziqing, and Yun Shuai will agree. ”

Zhang Ye was overjoyed, and pointed in the direction of Chang'an without worry, and asked: "Are you really sure over there?" ”

Li Mao said with a smile: "Now only Wang Shuwen's family in the DPRK hopes that the place will be in chaos, and the place will be in chaos, so that he can seize the military power and the place will be peaceful, so he will have no excuse." How many people have he offended since he came to power, and can these people be reconciled with him? ”

Zhang Ye frowned and said: "It is said that the Son of Heaven sincerely trusts him. ”

Li Mao said: "The Son of Heaven is the most sage, but the world is peaceful, and it is not easy for Wang Shuwen to deprive the military power from those loyal people." ”

Zhang Ye was overjoyed, and after handing over all the 5,000 stone and rice grains, 800 sets of weapons and armor he had brought to Li Mao, he immediately set off and rushed back to Yunzhou. When Li Shidao heard Zhang Ye's statement, he was shocked, and asked left and right: "Why does Li Mao know better than I know about the changes in Beijing, and when did he also send Shangdu to enter the Academy?" Our concert hall spends hundreds of thousands of yuan every year, just raising a bunch of idlers who just eat and don't do things? ”

In the face of Li Shidao's anger and dissatisfaction, all the officials looked at each other and did not say a word. Only Li Gon and Yang Qingguo showed joy on their faces. Li Gon was glad that he was just a fictitious manager, and he couldn't manage specific things, and he didn't have responsibility for anything.

Yang Qingguo's qualifications are still shallow, but he is despised and difficult everywhere with the brand of Dutong, and he is almost a puppet now, Li Shidao's fire is obviously not aimed at him.

Li Shidao's evil fire was directed at people like Li Jing and Zhao Jinglai, who were very senior in Tonghutou and were Li Shigu's cronies, and they were very dissatisfied with the inexplicable stepping aside after the change of commander.

In particular, Li Jing, who is in charge of the real power of the Jinju Academy, has high merit and deep qualifications, and is very disrespectful to Li Shidao, and Li Shidao is always half a beat slower than others about the important changes in Beijing.

Li Shidao has always wanted to remove Li Jing, but because of the pivotal position of the governor of Xijing, he couldn't find a suitable candidate for a while, so he could only swallow his anger and consume it first.

Li Shidao complained for a while, and his anger subsided, and everyone retreated, leaving Li Gongdu alone in front of him.

Li Gongdu said with a smile: "It's not the same as the old man's expectations, if we don't move or make trouble, the court will express itself, otherwise, it can't be as desired." ”

After a period of running-in, Li Shidao became more and more trusting of Li Gongdu, so he asked him to repair the book and play the imperial court, and on the condition of paying the two taxes of the twelve states of Ziqing, he exchanged the name of the Jiedu envoy from the imperial court.

After a busy day, Li Shidao returned to the back house lazily, and when he entered the door, he saw a stinky face of his wife Mrs. Wei. Don't be angry, make it up tonight, I'll double it up tonight. ”

Li Shidao went to hug Mrs. Wei's waist with a smile on his face, but he pounced.

Mrs. Wei sat down at the table and said angrily: "Which short-sighted person has to pay two taxes to you, and after this tax is paid, what will we eat in the future?" (Dissertation College)