Li Shimin said fiercely: "I have long said not to mention any more disputes between the scholars, but you just don't listen!" You don't even open your eyes to see when it is, and you still turn this thing out, I'm really afraid that the world will not be chaotic! ”

The eldest grandson Wuji wanted to argue, but Li Shimin walked up to the eldest grandson Wuji, stared at him deadly, and said in a loud voice: "Why, the enemy is currently present, you are disturbing the situation of the court, is there anything wrong with me reprimanding you!" ”

On the side, Feng Deyi said tepidly: "Your Majesty, the eldest grandson is also a virtuous person for the country!" ”

The eldest grandson Wuji looked at Feng Deyi and then at Li Shimin's eyes, swallowed a mouthful of saliva, and stopped talking. Li Shimin breathed a sigh of relief, turned his face to Feng Deyi and said, "Deyi, but then again, the imperial court urgently needs someone who understands Ashina's cavalry." I look at it like this, so I will give Fan Xin a military department and let him counsel for military affairs, and the big idea is still taken by me, Xuan Ling, Ru Hui and a few of your important ministers, what do you say? ”

Feng Deyi hurriedly came down the steps: "The emperor Shengming, in fact, the minister didn't say that Fan Xin couldn't be used, but it was just that the people should be used in accordance with the rules. ”

An old wooden plate with a set of five-grade court clothes was placed on the desk, and a gauze hat was placed on the court clothes.

The eldest grandson Wuji sat angrily on the chair next to him, and Fan Xin squatted in the corner with a humble face.

The eldest grandson Wuji said angrily: "I said Fan Xin, people say that you are a slave, you can't stand up your backbone to be a person?" Let's take the incident seven years ago as an example, it is clear that Pei Lin didn't listen to the advice, beat you violently, and bit back and said that you beat him, why didn't you defend a word, and I couldn't speak for you after so many years of stubbornly carrying this black cauldron. ”

Fan Xin said in a low voice: "My lord, don't be angry, the lower official used to be just a slave who let go of horses, it was the Emperor Taishang who asked me to raise horses in the army, and the position of not driving was also rewarded by his old man, how dare Fan Xin forget the kindness of the Emperor?" Lord Pei has a deep friendship with Emperor Wude, if this truth is known to everyone in the world, and everyone scolds Lord Pei, the Emperor Taishang will also be very sad. ”

The eldest grandson Wuji stood up angrily: "You are sad about others, are others sad about you?" At present, when the Hu soldiers are pressing, when the court is employing people, you are familiar with nonsense, what happened to the hard time? In the end, doesn't the court still have to come to beg you? I don't mean to encourage you to fight for the soldier for yourself, but I want you to fight for the poor family of the world! As he spoke, he grabbed his gauze hat and threw it out, saying, "The official can be inappropriate, and he can't be angry with these people!" ”

Fan Xin hurriedly stood up: "Oh, my lord, this is a gift from the emperor, I can't help it!" Saying that, he turned around and lowered his head and walked a few steps to pick up the gauze hat, and when he arrived, a pair of feet were already standing next to the gauze hat, Fan Xin slowly raised his head, his face changed, it was Li Shimin standing in front of him, Fan Xin hurriedly knelt down, pointed to the gauze hat and said in fear: "Your Majesty, this--it's all to blame for the minister accidentally dropped this gauze hat on the ground." ”

Li Shimin said in a calm but implicit reproachful tone: "You don't need to lie for him, I have long eyes, I have seen everything!" ”

Li Shimin walked to the eldest grandson Wuji and sat down, put the yarn hat back on the plate, and the eldest grandson Wuji twisted his head to the side. Li Shimin smiled and asked, "What, are you angry with me?" ”

The eldest grandson Wuji turned his head: "Yes, I'm angry with you!" Weren't you also in Luoyang when you fought Wang Shichong back then? Fan Xin's grievances, don't you know? On weekdays, you always say that you have to be the only one, but when it comes to really employing people, how can you become a good dragon? ”

Li Shimin suppressed the smile on his face and said sharply: "Presumptuous! Are you talking to the Son of Heaven? Yes, you are now the official of the Tang Dynasty, why are you still so reckless? Why are you still so open-mouthed? ”

The eldest grandson Wuji was even more unhappy, and shouted: "Okay, isn't it just a Shangshu, I don't want it, this is always okay, right?" As he spoke, he took off the gauze hat from his head, flicked it on the table, and was about to go out.

Fan Xin was shocked and stopped the eldest grandson Wuji: "Lord eldest grandson, what are you doing here!" Then he turned to Li Shimin and kept talking: "Your Majesty, this matter is all because of Weichen, don't do the business of the eldest grandson, if you want to scold you, scold Weichen." After speaking, he tugged on the sleeve of the eldest grandson Wuji again: "Lord Eldest Sun, Lord Eldest Sun, please admit your mistake to the emperor." ”

The eldest grandson Wuji was still struggling hard: "You let me go, let me go-"

Li Shimin said slowly: "Fan Xin, don't stop him, he has grievances in his heart!" What is he wronged, I know in my heart, what about the grievances on your Fan Xin's body, I also know it in my heart. I will solve your grievances, but who can solve my grievances? The defeat of the Sui Dynasty was half due to the brutality of Emperor Yang, and half was due to the decay and decline of the Shandong Shi clan. On the eve of the succession, I personally wrote an edict to drive them all out of the court. However, when I opened the list of officials sent by the ministry, I was scared, why? The power of the Shandong scholars in the imperial court is too great, and they account for seven or eight out of ten among the officials, and they are all driven away, what should the imperial court do? Who will collect taxes and manage the people, and the world will not be in chaos? ”

The eldest grandson Wuji stopped. Li Shimin continued: "More importantly, the Shandong scholars have been in power for three hundred years, and the father and son protégés have inherited and enjoyed all the honor, and the people hate them for being ridiculous, but they are extremely envious in their hearts, and even many of the generals who followed the southern and northern wars are also proud of clinging to them. In the face of such a reality, don't I go backwards? Speaking of this, Li Shimin set his eyes on the eldest grandson Wuji, and the eldest grandson Wuji's face softened slightly, and he turned his face to look at Li Shimin.

Li Shimin continued: "The taste of this retreat is really uncomfortable! It's uncomfortable, what can I do, don't I have to pretend to reprimand you? Who called me the Son of Heaven, and who called your eldest grandson Wuji my own person! ”

The eldest grandson Wuji's heart moved, and the sentence "his own people" made his heart warm, he glanced at his brother-in-law again, and saw that Li Shimin's face was very haggard, and he suddenly felt a little unbearable, and knelt down with a weak leg: "Your Majesty, don't say it again, the minister is short-sighted, please treat the crime of disrespect to the minister!" ”

Li Shimin helped up the eldest grandson Wuji: "Auxiliary, get up quickly, I can understand this piece of hard work, I bear this country on all sides, and I have to bear all the grievances, how I look forward to having a pair of hands stretched out to make up for me." As far as Fan Xin is concerned, Langzhong of the military department has wronged him a little, but does this give him a chance to make meritorious contributions? With his military exploits, I can be rewarded for his merits, and when the time comes, won't it be a matter of course to promote him to be a squire in the military department? ”

The eldest grandson Wuji stood up and picked up the gauze hat: "Fan Xin, put it on quickly." ”

The first formal imperial military meeting after the fall of Jingyang was held that night, and several important ministers of Li Shimin and the main generals of the defending army were summoned to the Chengqing Palace.

There was chaos in the hall, and the ministers were discussing the military situation, Li Shimin had not been on the throne for a long time, and the prestige of the Son of Heaven had not yet penetrated into the hearts of the people, and the generals were still used to seeing him as the former Tiance general, and they were very casual when discussing the military situation. It wasn't until Li Shimin raised his head and glanced at everyone that the big guy stopped talking and quieted down.

Li Shimin asked, "Fan Xin, what about Fan Xin?" ”

Fan Xin responded: "Your Majesty, the minister is here." ”

Li Shimin's eyes searched the crowd for a long time, only to see Fan Xin standing in a corner with his head down, his eyes looking at the ground, showing a look of unease.

Li Shimin said: "How can you hide there and counsel military affairs, come here." ”

Fan Xin hesitated for a moment and walked in front of Li Shimin, and Feng Deyi and the others turned their disdainful eyes on him. Li Shimin pretended not to see it, and asked Fan Xin about the current situation of Jieli Iron Cavalry, he did this not only to really understand the enemy's situation, but also to make a show to the eldest grandson Wuji and save some face for him.

Fan Xin told Li Shimin that Jieli's iron cavalry was already brave, and it had been fighting with Xue Yantuo and Tiele in the north for several years, and finally unified them. If the cavalry of both sides were to face each other head-to-head in formation, our army's 20,000 men would be difficult to defeat the opponent's 10,000 men, let alone the infantry against their cavalry.

Feng Deyi was obviously very disdainful of Fan Xin's words, he sneered and said: "Hmph, it's really a long time for others to destroy their own prestige, Jieli barbarians, offend me for no reason, lose reason first, and go deep alone, can you not be frightened?" Our army is the army of kings, and we have the same hatred for the enemy, how much combat power has our army grown this time, and how much combat power has the enemy lost, have you calculated? ”

Fan Xin only promised: "This--the subordinate only thought about things on the battlefield, and didn't think about things outside the battlefield." ”

Feng Deyi was unforgiving, and said: "The emperor is asking you about your military plan, you are so inconsiderate, don't you want to mislead the country and the people?" ”

Fan Xin couldn't stop nodding: "What the adults teach." ”

The eldest grandson Wuji saw it in his eyes, and finally couldn't help but stand up: "I said Lord Feng, now is the time to tell the truth, not the time to say big things, what kind of high-profile song are you singing here, but the king's division also relies on real swords and real guns to fight, not spitting stars, isn't it?" ”

Feng Deyi couldn't find the words to refute the other party, so he had to say angrily: "You, you, what do you mean by this?" ”

Li Shimin said impatiently: "Okay, don't go far, get to the point!" ”

This military meeting in front of the emperor was held in the middle of the night, and through Fan Xin and others' introduction to the combat characteristics of Ashina's cavalry and the latest reconnaissance of the enemy's strength and deployment provided by Du Ruhui, Li Shimin made a judgment that Chang'an could not be held at all. When he came to this conclusion, the eldest grandson Wuji asked: "If you know that you can't keep it and you have to keep it, is there any way?" ”

Li Shimin pondered for a long time, and he didn't necessarily have any answer to solve the urgent need now, but he suddenly thought about Li Ke handing over his own tips when he was separated from him a few days ago