Since listening to Ji Fang's remarks, Liu Xuan has been in a good mood, and in the court, he is still working against Li De as usual.

Prime Minister Li De's power, among the six departments, except for the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Households, the other four are under Li De's control.

The Ministry of Rites is in charge of state classics, writing, etiquette, and miscellaneous matters such as imperial examinations and receiving foreign guests, and basically has no real power, and rarely participates in political affairs.

The household department is in charge of finance, land, these are the core departments of the state, and the internal is very chaotic, even if Li De participates in it, he is not so blatant, so as not to fall into the handle, and the treasury has been empty recently, and he is even more lazy to participate.

Above the court, in addition to Li De, who accounted for most of the forces, there was also a small semi-neutral force, that is, the former emperor elders who stood on the emperor's side.

For example, Chen Guang, the commander-in-chief of the military attachés, Wu Anping's boss; There is also Li Moshang, the commander of the Praetorian Guard, although he has dealings with Prime Minister Li De, he has always maintained a neutral attitude.

And the only ones in the court who can really compete with the prime minister are these military attachés.

"Your Majesty, the annual princes will come to the court soon, and the princes from all walks of life are now coming to Jiudu, according to the time, they will come to the court at the end of the month." In the Taihe Palace, Zhang Xuejin, an old minister of the Ministry of Rites, bowed and replied.

"Well, this is a grand event of the Nine Shadows, I hope that all Aiqing will prepare well, and the Ministry of Rites must be well entertained, and must not be neglected." On the throne, Liu Xuan said calmly, paused, and asked, "I don't know how many of the great princes came?" ”

In previous years, when the princes came to the court, they would bring troops to come, and the emperor also acquiesced, and the princes generally brought very few troops, only one percent of the total army, and the strength of the army of the princes from all walks of life can probably be seen from here.

Li De pondered for a moment, and said, "Beizhou should wait for Zhang Shun to come to the court with 10,000 mercenaries, and Xizhou Jianwei will wait for Song Xue to lead 8,000 troops; Dongzhou Pingxiang Marquis Moyang led 20,000 troops; and Liu Yuan, the prince of Qiaozhou, came to the court with 30,000 mercenaries; Liaozhou, Hengshan King Wu Shen led 10,000 troops"

Li Deqing clearly read the number of troops led by the princes of the Nine Shadows, and everyone below immediately began to discuss.

Liu Xuan also frowned, it was obvious that the number of troops brought by these princes was too much.

In the past, the princes of all walks of life generally did not bring more than 5,000 soldiers, but now it seems that since the death of the first emperor, each of them has brought tens of thousands of soldiers.

This can only show one point, if calculated according to the previous calculation of 1 percent of the total army, the army in their hands is in the millions.

But as far as he knew, Jiuyou was sparsely populated, and the total number of troops was only more than four million.

Recently, the treasury has been empty, and the former emperor has also greatly reduced the army, if according to Li De, the number of troops added up by these princes, aside from the deliberate bluff, adds up to more than 8 million troops.

It was more than ten times the strength of the Nine Shadows Dynasty.

"The above is the number of reports from the princes from all walks of life." After Li De finished talking about all the princes, he bowed and said.

Liu Xuan came back to his senses and nodded, his expression was slightly gloomy: the first emperor died, and the princes from all walks of life were already ready to move, and this time the princes came to the court, clearly to give him a dismount, so blatantly showing military strength, it was also a demonstration to other princes.

His eyes swept over the calm Li De, and saw that he looked indifferent, and he didn't seem to care, among the princes, the most wanted to win over is estimated to be Prime Minister Li De, he is in charge of hundreds of officials, and important military and political affairs across the country will pass through his hands, the nine capital guards, the palace guards, and nearly 300,000 military horses in Wei Qing in the west.

These add up, Li De's real strength is as many as seven or eight hundred thousand, and they are all elite troops left by the emperor.

"Do you Aiqing have anything to say?" Liu Xuan said.

The ministers exchanged their heads and discussed in a low voice, and at this time, a burly man wearing military armor stood up, "Your Majesty, the princes have come to the court and brought so many soldiers, which is enough to show that they must have a plan. ”

"General Chen's words are serious, they brought troops here, and there are a lot of them, which is enough to show the strength of their army, as long as it does not exceed the number of the Imperial Capital Praetorian Guard, there is no need to worry." Li De laughed and replied calmly, "If we are so cautious, they think that we are weak-hearted, and the whole world is not the king's land, they just brought a small part of the army, this is just a temptation." ”

As soon as they heard Li De's words, all the officials nodded one after another, if the princes from all walks of life really had ideas, they would not only bring so many soldiers, in the final analysis, there were only two reasons.

The first is that the first emperor died, and the little emperor was weak and incompetent, so they didn't have to hide it, and brought some troops over according to the percentage of military strength.

The second reason is that the demonstration to the princes from all walks of life is also a demonstration to the emperor to show the strength of the princes.

Chen Guang glared at Li De hatefully and didn't speak.

Liu Xuan nodded and said, "Since the princes are coming to the court, no matter what the purpose is, all the ceremonies will be held as usual, and I hope that you will be more courteous and disperse." ”

"Long live the emperor, long live, long live!" Baiguan bowed and shouted.

When the emperor was alive, Xizhou Jianwei waited for Song Ze, and only about 1,000 troops came to the court every year, and it was also the weakest one among the four princes.

Now it seems that although he only brought 8,000 this year, he is much more high-profile than in the past.

It can also be seen from the side that his actual military strength is as much as seven or eight hundred thousand, this old fox really has a hand.

To Liu Xuan's surprise, Liu Yuan, the prince of Qiaozhou, led the most troops among the princes from all walks of life, with more than 30,000 troops.

I have to say that the person who wants to get the imperial power the most should be his uncle, 30,000 horses, a total army of 3 million, such a big formation.

In my impression, Liu Xuan has never seen this foreign prince, I heard that he is a high-profile person, a wild and reckless man, a brave and unscrupulous person, after the death of the first emperor, he recruited troops and horses, and did not shy away from it, when he came to the court in the past, he brought at most five or six thousand people, and now he brought more than 30,000 at once, for fear that others would not know that his army was strong.

Dongzhou Pingxiang Marquis Moyang, bordering Dongfang Dahua, so the army is the most sufficient, no more, no less, more than 20,000, except for the foreign prince, among all the princes, the Mo family is the most powerful.

And the Mo family has many heirs and talents, a talented man like Mo Shu is also a concubine in the Mo family, and his status is extremely low, but Liu Xuan understands in his heart that Mo Shu's ambition is also not weak.

As for Zhang Shun in Beizhou, because of the border with the northern Dayin, he is the most wealthy among the princes, and he is also very low-key, in his impression, Zhang Shun is the most comfortable person, never takes the initiative to interact with other princes, and always maintains a neutral attitude.

But his ambitions cannot be ruled out either