Chapter 311 Liu Zhijun asked for help

Back at the Prince's Mansion, before he stepped into the threshold, Prime Minister Du Rangping rushed out of the door and nodded at Li Cunhuan. This Du Rangping is the brother of the former prime minister Du Rangneng. However, he is a very poor prime minister, and in terms of political affairs, Li Cunhuan appointed Zhang Chengye as the fourth supervisor of the army, the eldest grandson Chengliang as the left servant of Shangshu, and Feng Dao as the left servant of Zhongshu Province.

Among them, Zhang Chengye is in charge of the four towns of Lulong, Yichang, Andong, and Xiongjin, although the position is slightly low, it is only the third grade, but the power is not ordinarily large, because these four towns are the earliest feudal towns under Li Cunhuan, and they are also the feudal towns with the strongest control power of Li Cunhuan, and they belong to Li Cunhuan's money bag.

And the eldest grandson Chengliang's Shangshu Zuo Servant Shot, the power is also very great, although there is no name of the prime minister, but there is the power of the prime minister. Moreover, Shangshu Zuo Servant has always been one of the specific positions that those who have to seal the prime minister must concurrently serve, but there is no seal of the same Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi, which is not one of the prime ministers. At the same time, there was an official position at the top, but because Li Shimin, Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, had served as it, no one has held it since then, and it has always been shelved. There are left and right servants to shoot, all from the second grade, but it is one of the three provinces of the Tang Dynasty Shangshu Province of the big boss, in charge of the six officials (ministry), for the second order, the order of the Que is always provincial, impeachment of the imperial history correction of the improper. The power is not ordinarily large, and the Ministry of Officials, the Ministry of Households, the Ministry of Officials, the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Crime, and the Ministry of Industry are all under its jurisdiction. With Li Cunhuan's support, the right servant shot in front of the eldest grandson Chengliang is just a response insect that is more docile than a sheep.

Feng Dao is the left servant of Zhongshu Province, and the main responsibility of Zhongshu Province is to write edicts. Originally, this power had been transferred to the Hanlin Bachelor since the Tang Dynasty, but Li Cunhuan once again took back the power and handed it over to Menxia Province. And to strengthen the power of the province of Menxia, without the issuance of the province of Zhongshu, even the edict written by the emperor himself has no prestige. On the one hand, it is the seizure of power in Zhongshu Province, and on the other hand, it is Li Cunhuan to prevent Li Qi from making small moves behind his back.

And the monk book province and the middle book province are the menxia province. To put it simply, Menxia Province is the emperor's think tank, from helping the emperor 'read the book of the province', participating in political discussions, and recording the emperor's diet and daily life, and taking care of the emperor's diet and daily life. A group of people are emperors and intimate lackeys. This was naturally suppressed and purged by Li Cunhuan.

On the grounds that the country has suffered a lot, taxes and benefits have been reduced, military spending is heavy, and redundant personnel should be reduced, the regular establishment of nearly 100 people in Menxia Province turned out to be only eight people, but Li Cunhuan still gave Li Qi a little face, and the highest official position was not completely cut down, it was originally a two-person establishment, but only one was cut. Because Zhongshu Ling is the big boss of Menxia Province, he is naturally one of the positions that the prime minister usually holds concurrently. And this Du Rangping is the official Zhongshu Order, and the Tongzhongshu Sect Pingzhang Affairs. It is precisely because Menxia Province is already in name only, Du Rangping is too cowardly, and he has the name of the prime minister but no power of the prime minister.

Li Cunhuan glanced at Du Rangping, waved his hand, asked the guards who were about to come up to retreat, and asked, "Why does Du Xiangye have time to find this king?" ”

Du Rangping looked flattered, and he didn't know if it was true or fake, but Li Cunhuan was still quite useful. Du Rangping hurriedly said: "Your Highness's words are terrifying, Your Highness called the word of the lower official, Ziping is fine!" The lower officials are here to play one thing! ”

"Oh? What is it? Li Cunhuan asked with some interest on his face, but then frowned, and asked the new secretary on the side, Park Jinghui, "When is the next time you go to the morning court?" ”

Park Jinghui groaned for a while, and said: "If you go back to Your Highness, tomorrow will be the son of the Morning Dynasty!" ”

(Note: There is an early pilgrimage once every three days, not every day.) Unless there is something important, under normal circumstances, civil and military officials will not be summoned except in the early dynasty. ）

Li Cunhuan nodded, and said to Du Rangping, who was dumbfounded: "Ziping, did you hear it too?" Tomorrow is the early dynasty, if there is anything, let's discuss it early! ”

Under normal circumstances, Li Cunhuan likes to discuss matters in the early dynasty and does not want to break the rules. Of course, more importantly, he wants to see what Du Rangping is looking for him, otherwise Li Cunhuan will not have time to be polite to Du Rangping, don't look at Li Cunhuan just called Du Rangping Du Xiangye, it was just a matter of etiquette.

When Du Rangping heard this, he hurriedly said: "Your Highness, the matter is very important at this time, and the lower official still thinks that it is better to talk to His Highness." After all, ......" Speaking of this, Du Rangping gritted his teeth and said: "Your Majesty is probably quite mediocre in this matter, Your Highness, you can advise at that time!" ”

When Li Cunhuan heard this, he couldn't help but be slightly stunned, the potential meaning of Du Rangping's words was to say, big brother! I want to take refuge in you! For this, he did not hesitate to slander the emperor. You must know that Du Rangping was picked up by the emperor, and his eldest brother Du Rangneng was a famous and loyal minister. At the beginning, Tang Zhaozong decided to attack Li Maozhen, but Du Rangneng could not persuade him, and after losing the battle, in order to protect Tang Zhaozong from being admonished by the soldiers, he jumped out to talk about the black pot on his back, and calmly took justice.

Li Cunhuan couldn't imagine that the difference between his younger brother and his elder brother was so big, one was loyal, and the other couldn't wait to jump out to show his loyalty before he became the prime minister for a month. For this reason, he did not hesitate to slander his master.

Although Li Cunhuan is quite disdainful of Du Rangping's actions in his heart, he also knows that there are only a few diehard people in this world after all, besides, if everyone is loyal to the Tang Dynasty, I am afraid that he is just a small people now!

Li Cunhuan groaned slightly, nodded and said, "Well, since Ziping is free, let's go inside and talk!" ”

Li Cunhuan did not invite Du Rangping to the study to talk, the study not only has books, but also some confidential documents. In order to prevent others from spying, Li Cunhuan usually has at least eight soldiers stationed in the study, and he said that even if it is Yang Shihou, Yelu Abaoji and other henchmen, without Li Cunhuan in it or Li Cunhuan's orders, at most he will rest in the small living room next door to the study, and wait for Li Cunhuan to come back.

Li Cunhuan brought Du Rangping to the living room and ordered the servant to bring fragrant tea.

Du Rangping looked at the servants in Li Cunhuan's mansion with some surprise, hesitated, and felt that it was nothing, so he asked: "Why is there no pure white (eunuch) waiting in His Highness's mansion, I think these subordinates are ordinary men." ”

Li Cunhuan is a prince, and the mansion is allowed to recruit eunuchs, and generally speaking, those in power like to use eunuchs. As soon as the eunuchs didn't have that thing, in addition to being greedy for money, they were naturally loyal to their masters. Second, the wives and concubines and maids in the mansion have always been as beautiful as flowers, and if they have an affair with that servant, wouldn't it be very faceless? In ancient times, the handmaid was the object of the master's blessing, although it was a handmaiden, but it was also the master's woman, how could the servant be contaminated.

When Li Cunhuan heard this, he also knew what Du Rangping meant, shrugged his shoulders, and said with a smile: "This king is not used to using eunuchs, and his parents grant his body, and if he mutilates himself because of the emperor's will, this will be a disaster from heaven." Qin had Zhao Gao, and as a result, Qin died. Recently, since Emperor Daizong, the eunuchs have been heavy, which has led to the current disaster of the collapse of the world. Therefore, this king is here are some honest people, if the two sides like each other, this king will also give a dowry. ”

When Du Rangping heard this, he was slightly stunned, and said with a dry smile that was a little disapproving: "Your Highness is benevolent." ”

Li Cunhuan smiled, not caring about Du Rangping's words. opened his mouth and asked, "Didn't Ziping just say that there is something important to find this king?" Don't know what's going on? ”

When Du Rangping heard this, he remembered what happened here this time, muttered for a while, organized his language, and said: "Since the Huangchao Rebellion, the imperial examination in the world has stopped. Xia Guan believes that now that the north is stable, the imperial examination should be reopened, so that His Royal Highness can collect the hearts of the world's scholars and make the best of the world's talents! ”

Speaking of the back, Du Rangping is very flattering. It's not that the court or Your Majesty, but that 'Your Highness' has the hearts of the world's poor scholars. Seeing him like that, he couldn't wait for the knife to peel open his chest, and take out his heart to show Li Cunhuan his loyalty to Li Cunhuan.

When Li Cunhuan heard this, he couldn't help but fall into deep thought, although Du Rangping's ability is not good, he has to say that his proposal is indeed good. Not to mention anything else, it is too exaggerated to collect the hearts of the world's scholars, but it is almost the same to collect the hearts of the world's poor scholars. Since ancient times, the family lineage and the portal have been important, and even in modern times, this concept is still very common.

In ancient times, it was difficult to become a high-ranking official without a good background. For example, Du Rangping, he was born in the Jingzhao Du family in Guanzhong, Du Rangping is the seventh grandson of Du Ruhui in the early Tang Dynasty, and his father Du Xianquan is also an important minister of the Tang Dynasty. His brother Du Rangneng was the prime minister of the Tang Zhaozong period. It is precisely because of this that Du Rangping became the Zhongshu Order of the second grade from a small Zhongshu Sheren on the fifth grade.

If he is a son of a poor family, even if he is appreciated by the emperor, even if Li Cunhuan does not object, he will definitely not be able to rise to the position of prime minister. Even the eldest grandson Chengliang, Feng Dao and others have served for several years as a background, and in the end, Li Cunhuan supported him to take the position, which is speculation. Ordinary poor children rely on the right path, generally speaking, at most, it is only to the best product. If you want to get to the top, you can only rely on the imperial examination. Li Cunhuan also had the heart to open the imperial examination, but he did not agree immediately.

Li Cunhuan's heart moved, and he pretended not to know and asked: "I'm afraid that Zhu Wen and Yang Xingmi will not let people go north to participate in the imperial examination!" How can you win the hearts of the world's soldiers? ”

When Du Rangping heard this, he said with a smile: "Zhu Wen and Yang Xingmi are still Tang courtiers, they have the guts, and His Royal Highness can issue an order to reprimand." And the two of them have offended the world's scholars in this way! ”

When Li Cunhuan heard this, he nodded and said, "Okay!" You're right. It is indeed good to reopen the imperial examination, but this king believes that this imperial examination will no longer be examined in the category of Ming Jing, that is, the two subjects of governing the world and military preparation. In the process of governing the world, an appropriate amount of assessment of the scriptures and meanings is added. If you get the champion, the king promises to be directly released to the six departments, for Langzhong! ”

When Du Rangping heard this, he couldn't help but be slightly surprised, it can be seen from here that Li Cunhuan wants to break the convention of the imperial examination in the past dynasties. Directly open new subjects, let the world's scholars take the test to govern the world and prepare for the army, and once the imperial examination is successful, they will directly enter the court as an official, although they are adjutants. However, in the past, they were sent to the Hanlin Academy for three years before they were released, which obviously broke the convention. But now Li Cunhuan can be said to cover the sky with one hand, Du Rangping saw that Li Cunhuan made a decision, would he still be unable to persuade without interest? He nodded flatteringly, followed by flattery.

The next morning, Du Rangping came to propose the imperial examination, and after discussion, Li Cunhuan finally made a decision, informing the scholars of the world to reopen the imperial examination, and the official imperial examination in October next year, and no longer to be recommended by the county to participate. There are three levels of examinations, including the hospital examination, the township examination, and the general examination, and finally the palace examination, but the palace examination is similar to the general examination, and they are all going through the motions.

In addition, Li Cunhuan knew that most of the imperial examinations had the friendship of fellow villagers, the same family and the like, and it was easy to cause the formation of a party for personal gain, and the scourge of party strife made Li Cunhuan have to scruple, you must know that the Tang Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty, and the Qing Dynasty all suffered from the harm of party strife, and the reason for the demise of the Ming Dynasty was because of the party strife.

Li Cunhuan ordered Feng Dao, Changsun Chengliang, and Du Rangping to be in charge of the imperial examination. This year's examination personnel will be divided into three parts, so that even if there is a year and the first year, it will be divided into three parties, and the cohesion will obviously be much weaker, and even if there is a party dispute, the harm will be controlled within an acceptable range. In addition, because of the quality of next year's examination, the third-level examination has not yet been established, Li Cunhuan decided that everyone will be accepted for the examination, but the participants of the next imperial examination must have the identity of the lifter.

For military preparation, it is martial arts, Li Cunhuan personally catches the knife, and Yelu Abaoji and Yang Shihou are the deputy examiners. Because of his martial arts background, Li Cunhuan attaches great importance to martial arts and makes it clear that martial arts can only be participated in by martial arts students. At the same time, the construction of martial arts halls in various localities was intensified, and Li Cunhuan demanded that the household department allocate two pieces of silver, the Ministry of Industry should be responsible for the construction, and the military department would arrange for teaching, and all prefectures under Li Cunhuan's rule must have at least one lecture hall within two years.

In order to improve the status of the students of the martial arts hall, Li Cunhuan specially asked the Zhongshu province to issue an edict, and the students of the martial arts hall did not need to kneel when they saw the officials. And this treatment is only available among literati who are above Xiucai.

Li Cunhuan has not finished the affairs of the imperial examination. The next day, Yanjing Mansion Mansion Yin cried to Li Cunhuan. Because Li Cunhuan has strengthened the construction of Yanjing Mansion in recent years, every time he wins the war, he will pull a group of wealthy soldiers from the local area to move to Yanjing Mansion, resulting in the population of Yanjing Mansion rising, and now the population of Yanjing City has reached 400,000, the population of towns and villages outside Yanjing City has reached 1.2 million, and the population of the entire Yanjing Mansion has reached 480,000 households and 2 million people.

The governor of Yanjing Prefecture requested that the city wall be expanded and an outer city should be built in the outer city. In addition, the price of food has also risen as the population of Yanjing Province has increased. Fortunately, Yanjing Prefecture was deliberately guided by Li Cunhuan as a handicraft city early on, with the textile industry, ceramics industry, and sea salt as the three pillars to reduce the population's dependence on land.

Among them, the textile industry produces 140,000 pieces of cloth every year because of the use of new textile machines, and most of them are exported to Guanwai, Yueben, Pinglu and other places.

The ceramic industry is also mainly exported outside the customs, and the annual tariff has been 400,000.

However, the heaviest is sea salt, and the Lutai salt farm is the largest production base of sea salt in the north, earning Li Cunhuan one million yuan a year. Because of the developed handicraft industry, it accommodated a lot of workers, after all, it is difficult for one Yanjing Mansion to accommodate two million people.

Li Cunhuan did not agree to Fu Yin's request in the end, first came to Yanjing City There are already four cities, the outer city, the inner city, the tooth city, and the imperial city, of which the tooth city is Li Cunhuan's mansion, but the place is very large, equivalent to a small city.

If another ring of walls were to be built, the scale would be too large, and Li Cunhuan asked the household department the next day to relocate the displaced people and some poor people from Yanjing Prefecture to Andong, Zhenwu and other Guanwai feudal towns. In the future, the population of Yanjing Province was controlled at about 1.8 million.

In October, maybe God saw that Zhu Wen was too miserable and sympathized with Zhu Wen. Luoyang, Xuanwu and other places had bumper harvests, and at the same time, Guanzhong did not fall, so Liu Zhijun added a lot of grain, it is estimated that this is the only place where Zhu Wen is dissatisfied with this harvest. However, with the grain, Zhu Wen did not pay too much attention to this dissatisfaction, and the autumn grain was harvested. Zhu Wen ambitiously mobilized troops and horses to attack Guanzhong. Zhu Wen's soldiers were divided into two routes, one was led by Zhu Wen's son Zhu Youyu, and went straight to Tongguan. On the other hand, Zhu Wen personally commanded the Yellow River from Heyang Bridge and went straight to Puzhou in the river.

Zhu Wen's intention is obvious, that is, a two-way attack. There is Pujin Bridge in Puzhou, which is also a bridge across the Yellow River, there was it during the Qin Dynasty, and it was transformed into an iron chain bridge during the Xuanzong period of the Tang Dynasty, and it was used to cast this bridge with four-fifths of the iron in the country a year at that time. There are four iron oxen on the left and right banks, stretching the iron cables. It was a bridge, but an army of 100,000 could cross it in a moment. The Gamazu Bridge is not an ordinary width.

Liu Zhijun also knew that it was powerful, and hurriedly mobilized troops and horses. Because Zhu Wen was going to pass through the jurisdiction of Wang Heng, Wang Heng also put his strength into the air, gritting his teeth and squeezing out 20,000 soldiers and horses, together with Liu Zhijun's soldiers and horses, a total of 40,000 people were stationed in Jiangzhou to prevent Zhu Wen from advancing westward.

At the same time, Liu Zhijun did not forget to send someone to Li Cunhuan to send a letter asking for help, not to mention anything else, at least Li Cunhuan said that he sent someone to scold Zhu Wen, I am afraid that Zhu Wen would not dare to be so arrogant.

Li Cunhuan put down the letter, gently tapped the armrest with his finger joints, and said with a smile: "Liu Zhijun, this guy also knows to bow his head to this king!" Even if this king funded him to rebel against Zhu Wen, he didn't lower his profile so much! ”

Zhou Yanpet, who is now an official to the right attendant of the Ministry of Officials, does not have the consciousness that he should be an official at all, and he still looks like that, wearing a somewhat tattered robe, waving the dust in his hand that will not be collected even if he takes it to the pawnshop, and said with a smile: "Doesn't this mean that Zhu Wen has a lot of troops this time?" Otherwise, how could Liu Zhijun be like this. ”

When Li Cunhuan heard this, he asked Feng Baodu on the side: "How many troops does Zhu Wen have this time?" ”

"I didn't go to investigate this carefully, but Zhu Wen went out this time, claiming to be an army of 300,000. It is estimated that there are still seventy or eighty thousand. Feng Baodu replied respectfully.

When Li Cunhuan heard this, he touched a few short beards that were a little prickly in his chin, and said: "Then Liu Zhijun's letter said that Zhu Wen brought 80,000 soldiers and horses this time, and it is estimated that it can't be wrong. More is not much, less is not much. What about Juwen's son? ”

"It is said that it is claimed to be 20,000 people, but the Jinyi guard in Luoyang said that it is a little strange, there are definitely more than 20,000 people, but the detailed number has not been explored, and the guards are quite strict, because it is not a soldier against Lu Long, and the Jinyi guard has not carefully investigated." Feng Baodu responded.

When Li Cunhuan heard this, he frowned and said: "Zhu Wen's hand is good, but if it is false, it is real, and if it is real, it is false." Park Jinghui, you write to Liu Zhijun and tell him this information! However, I estimate that Zhu Youyu will not have too many soldiers and horses, after all, Zhu Wen has so many soldiers and horses, and there are 80,000 people on his side. Zhu Youyu's side is no more than 50,000 people at most. ”

"Yes!" Park Jinghui, who was sitting on the bookcase on the side, answered, and immediately took out a piece of rice paper from the side and wrote with a pen.

Zhou Yanpet hesitated and said, "Your Highness, in fact, I don't think we should send troops to support Liu Zhijun this time. We should send troops to Jizhou and Shenzhou, pull out the nail of Liu Rengong, and then attack Xingzhou, Zhaozhou, and Cizhou, and then go south to Weibo to occupy the Hebei region in one fell swoop, especially Xuanwu, the old nest that can threaten Zhu Wen. ”

When Li Cunhuan heard this, he frowned and said: "It's good to do it like this, but I'm afraid that Zhu Wen will order his subordinates to hold on, and he will fight to lose the power of Hebei and capture Guanzhong." After all, Guanzhong is too important, with Guanzhong, Zhu Wen can trade war horses with Li Maozhen to the west, and he can trade war horses with Li Sijian to the north. And with the eight hundred Qinchuan in Guanzhong, Zhu Wen has another granary. If you want to beat him in the future, I'm afraid it won't be so easy! Liu Rengong and Luo Hongxin are not worried. ”

When Zhou Yanpet heard this, he immediately objected, and retorted: "But Jizhou Liu Rengong, Xingzhou Dinghui, and Wei Boluo Hongxin are all inconspicuous knives, although the knives are small, they can also be fatal!" Especially Luo Hongxin and Liu Rengong. Although Liu Rengong is weak, his jurisdiction borders Shenzhou and Yingzhou, and after capturing Yingzhou, he can send a partial division to attack Youzhou...... Ahem! Now it is called Yanjing Mansion, Yanjing Mansion is densely populated, wealth is gathered, and the slightest damage is a loss of thousands of guan. Luo Hongxin borders Texas. If Luo Hongxin raided Dezhou and Dizhou, then he could divide Lulong and Lu and Yanhai by land. Coupled with the Zhuwen raid, it is not impossible to occupy these two towns. ”

Speaking of this, Zhou Yanzhong paused and continued: "In the past, these problems may not be there, because Zhu Wen has Li Hanzhi and Liu Zhijun to contain him, and now Li Hanzhi has been ordered to be killed by His Royal Highness. Only Liu Zhijun is left. If His Royal Highness doesn't take such a good opportunity, I'm afraid that Zhu Wen will catch the opportunity and bite back. Now I have to guard against this! ”

Li Cunhuan frowned and said: "Now there is a lot of waste to be revived, I was originally going to use troops against Zhu Wen when I was ploughing next year, because of the lack of green and yellow at this time, Zhu Wen will definitely not be able to survive this king, but unfortunately God helped Zhu Wen this year, so that Luoyang and Xuanwu will have a bumper harvest." If Zhu Wen is allowed to occupy Guanzhong, and he gets the grain, soldiers and horses of this year's bumper harvest in Guanzhong, I am afraid that Zhu Wen will be even more south in the future. This king still thinks it's better to save Liu Zhijun directly! ”

(To be continued)