"There is an early recital, no retreat!"

The next morning, with the voice of the great eunuch Wang Ying, the ministers of the court and the central government came out one by one, detailing the national events they had played, and the whole process was extremely boring.

To this day, Xie An finally understands why at the original court meeting, like Liangqiu Gong and Yin Gong, those old ministers of the court closed their eyes and were silent at the court meeting, because there was nothing to say about that, you must know that the courtiers submitted the folds, in fact, as early as the day before, they were submitted to the imperial study and the upper study, and were approved by the Son of Heaven Li Shou and Prime Minister Li Xian, if it was a trivial matter, these two had already made a judgment with a stroke of a pen, and if it was a more important matter, the Son of Heaven Li Shou would summon Prime Minister Li Xian and the various ministries of Shangshu, and temporarily held a small court meeting in the imperial study to discuss, as for the early dynasty, in fact, is just a formality, continuing the centuries-old tradition.

Of course, unless it is a matter of such great importance as revising the national tax, the Son of Heaven Li Shouhui will specially ask the courtier who played the music to narrate the matter in the early court, and listen to the opinions of the rest of the courtiers except for the various Shangshu, in addition, those pieces are just things that have already been dealt with, such as a disaster in a certain place, the distribution of relief food, like this kind of local urgent music, the official who delivered the news can go directly to Tianting within half an hour after entering Beijing, and within half a day, the imperial court will urgently prepare relief food, and send an escort army to the affected place, Or directly issue a holy decree to call for relief in the nearby states and counties, and it will never take more than one day before and after.

Thinking about it, the disaster over there is serious and the people are hungry, how can the Great Zhou court still wait slowly and methodically to mention it in the early dynasty? How many people have to die in the local area due to this delay?

In other words, the so-called early dynasty is actually done for those courtiers who are qualified to go to the palace for ceremonies, but are not the emperor's henchmen, just to make them feel. The Son of Heaven has not forgotten them, but in reality? Just like the previous emperor Li Ji used to summon Duke Yin, Liang Qiugong and others to discuss matters, once he encountered an emergency state matter, Li Shou would only call Xie An, Li Xian, Ji Hong, Wang Dan, Ruan Shaozhou and other closest courtiers.

No, after the morning dynasty ended, Prime Minister Li Xian glanced at Xie An with deep meaning, and coughed lightly, Xie An knew that he would not have a chance to go back to the house and hug Yi Yi to sleep again.

But today seems a little special. Except for Xie An, Li Xian did not signal any of the other ministers to stay.

Without the need for the little eunuch in the palace to lead the way, Li Xian and Xie An came to the imperial study with ease, and saw Li Shou standing in the main hall waiting for the two of them.

"Your Majesty!" Li Xian and Xie An bowed to Li Shou, after all, there were several eunuchs serving tea from the side.

"Two Aiqing are flat!" Raise your right hand and ask Li Xian and Xie An to get up. Li Shou waved his hand and motioned for the eunuchs in the hall to retreat.

When those little eunuchs left, Xie An was no longer polite, picked up Li Shou and prepared a cup of tea for them and blew it, and said angrily, "Nervous, what's the matter?" - I only slept for three hours last night......"

"That's your own fault!" Li Shou pursed his lips. Suddenly, as if he had thought of something, he smiled and said, "Speaking of which." You're over the age of money, aren't you? ”

"What are you going to do?" Taking a step back without missing a trace, Xie An looked at Li Shou with a wary expression.

Seeing Xie An defending himself like a thief, Li Shou glanced at him speechlessly and paused. Said," said the queen yesterday to me. She hasn't seen her future daughter-in-law for a long time, and I would like to ask your lady Ling'er to come to the palace a few times with her daughter in her arms......"

"Future daughter-in-law......" Thinking back to the daughter in his house who couldn't speak yet, Xie An tugged at the corners of his mouth.

In fact, when Jin Ling'er was pregnant, the happiest person was in addition to Xie An, who was a father, and Li Shou, after all, he and Xie An had a lifelong friendship, because of this, Li Shou desperately hoped that their heirs could also continue this deep friendship, so Li Shou unilaterally agreed with Xie An that if Jin Ling'er gave birth to a son, then he would marry Li Shou's son, Li Yu, the prince of the East Palace, as a brother of the opposite sex.

At that time, Xie An was drunk happily and casually responded to the matter, and after the birth of his daughter, Li Shou brought up the matter again, he felt a little wrong, after all, he came from an era of free marriage, and he was actually a little resistant to this kind of thing, but he accidentally agreed to Li Shou, a close friend who can be said to be heart-to-heart, and he didn't regret it.

In this regard, Li Shou is very happy, after all, righteous brothers are always not as close as husband and wife.

"Well...... I think it's a matter of long-term consideration......" When he said this, Xie An was really a little weak-hearted, after all, he still hid this matter from Jin Ling'er, don't look at Jin Ling'er after marrying Xie An, An An divided it, and got rid of a noble lady from a famous family, but you must know that she used to be the eldest sister on the underworld in Jinling, and it was a fierce horse that was more difficult to tame than Liangqiu Wu and the eldest grandson Xiangyu, if this woman learned that her husband had promised her baby daughter to someone else without consulting her, hum, once [Ghost Ji] became angry, The consequences are unimaginable.

"You can't have mentioned it yet, have you?" Li Shou looked at Xie An with a suspicious face, to be honest, the reason why he asked Xie An to tell Jin Ling'er was nothing more than that he was afraid of Jin Ling'er, after all, this woman had almost turned the entire Jijing upside down with the power of one person, and Li Shou didn't want to be blocked by that woman with a knife in a corner of the palace one day.

"Think about it in the long run, didn't I say it, think about it in the long run......"

"It's been three months......" Li Shou looked at Xie An, who was obviously shirking his responsibilities, with distrust.

"Cough," Xie An coughed awkwardly, and suddenly remembered that there was Li Xian next to him, so he quickly changed the topic and said, "Let's not mention this for now, let's get down to business, it's always a state affair, right, Prime Minister?" ”

Only then did I think of Li?

Li Xian glanced at Xie An angrily, sat on the chair and drank tea slowly, and said lightly, "Don't worry, the matter that I want to mention today can not be solved in a day or two, Lord Xie might as well finalize this matter with Your Majesty first......"

In fact, Li Xian also hopes to promote the marriage between Li Shou's son and Xie An's daughter, after all, Xie An's energy in the court is not small, and if he is not completely tied to the chariot called Da Zhou, Li Xian, who is worried about Da Zhou, will not worry about anything.

To put it mildly, although he has gradually gotten rid of the knot with his eldest grandson Xiangyu in the early years. married a wife, but he has not yet had a son and a half daughter, otherwise, he may still compete with Li Shou, after all, the four ladies in Xie An's mansion are first-class beauties, and the mother is a beauty who has captivated the country and the city, will the daughter's appearance be bad?

As for knowledge, don't forget, the eldest grandson Xiangyu is a woman that even he Li Xian admires. With this mother or aunt here, will the daughter of Xie Mansion be a vase? Joke!

"Thank you, Brother Huang, for helping!" Li Shou smiled and arched his hand towards Li Xian, and then looked at Xie An with cold eyes, with a posture of [if you don't give me an explanation today, I won't finish with you].

Facing Li Shou's almost persecutive gaze, Xie An raised his hands. He said angrily, "Okay, okay, I'll go back and talk to Ling'er about it, okay?" ”

"When is it time to turn back? - That's what you said last time, but what happened? I've been waiting for three months, but I haven't heard from me! ”

"Good, good, today. I'll go back to my house today and tell Ling'er about it, okay? - Can you begin to discuss matters of urgency, Your Majesty? ”

"That's pretty much it! - I'll believe you again! If you are perfunctory, I will take the queen and the prince to your mansion tomorrow. Tell me about it personally, don't blame me for not giving you face! He said something to Xie An in an almost warning tone, only to hear Xie An's repeated glances, Li Shou turned his head to look at Li Xian. With a cough, he regained his proper momentum as an emperor. Raised his hand and gestured to Li Xian.

"Brother Huang!"

Li Shou signaled, Li Xian nodded, put down the teacup in his hand, stood up, and said, "Your Majesty has read that piece of music?" ”

Li Shou nodded when he heard this, Xie An next to him was stunned, and said inexplicably, "What movement?" ”

"Xiang Zheng is about to talk about this matter in detail," signaling Xie An with his eyes not to be impatient, Li Xian lowered his voice and said, "Three years ago, Xiang Zeng secretly planted a ...... in Hanzhong, Yanzhou, and Yuzhou."

"Three kings?" A solemn look appeared on Xie An's face.

The [Three Kings] he spoke of refers to Li Shen, King of Qin, Li Xiao, and Li Yan, the prince who was crowned king three years ago.

"Yes, it's the Three Kings!" Li Xian nodded, and said in a deep voice, "According to the detailed reply, after Li Shen arrived in Hanzhong, he worked hard to govern and reorganize the armament, and the [White Water Army] that was organized under the pretext of defending the feudal country at that time has now taken shape, ostensibly with an establishment of 20,000 people, but in fact there are at least 60,000 people, and the ambition of the wolf son is obvious!" As he spoke, he glanced at Li Shou meaningfully, and continued, "According to the news, [King of Qin] Li Shen secretly corresponded with the Xiliangqiang people and traded war horses privately, and it is estimated that there are at least 10,000 cavalry in his territory...... In addition, [King of Han] Li Xiao and [King of Chu] Li Yan have also recruited strong men and strong soldiers over the years, although they are not as good as Hanzhong, but they also have at least 20,000 or 30,000 troops......"

Speaking of this, Li Xian glanced at Li Shou again, after all, when he learned that Li Shou had crowned Li Shen, Li Xiao, and Li Yan as kings, he had advised him in every possible way, and even did not hesitate to quarrel with Li Shou in the court, and now, it has been proved that Li Xian's original inference was correct.

In fact, not only Li Xian, the eldest grandson Xiangyu and the fifth son of the emperor Li Cheng, who was imprisoned at the time, also asserted that letting Li Shen go was tantamount to letting the tiger return to the mountain, but at that time, Li Shou cared about the brotherhood and couldn't bear to harm Li Shen, which made it fall into such a passive situation three years later.

In this regard, Li Shou was speechless and had no way to defend himself.

As if seeing the embarrassment on Li Shou's face, Xie An was thinking of relieving him and asked Li Xiandao, "If this is the case, there is no need to discuss it here, right?" - Didn't I already know? ”

Seeing that Xie An intended to relieve Li Shou, Li Xian didn't care, shook his head, took a letter from his arms and handed it to Xie An, and said in a deep voice, "This is the piece that Li Shen sent to Jijing a few days ago, Lord Xie will take a look at it first." ”

Xie An took the fold, glanced at it, frowned slightly, and muttered, "Take his mother Zhao to Hanzhong?" After thinking about it for a while, Xie An felt that this matter was very orderly.

"Lord Xie guessed well, Li Shen is testing the imperial court," Seeing Xie An's sudden expression, Li Xian nodded approvingly, and said in a deep voice, "Before the death of the first emperor, all the queen mothers moved to Huangliu Temple in the northwest of the city to mourn the first emperor, including Li Shen's mother and the daughter of the Zhao family in the plains. The reason why he played the imperial court ......"

"Fledgling, aren't you?" Picking up Li Xian's words, Xie An sneered and said lightly, "What he means is that you don't need to look at the face of the imperial court anymore, right?" ”

"In a word!" Li Xian praised a little and said in a tight voice, "Hanzhong is a place that is easy to defend and difficult to attack, let alone 60,000 [White Water Army]. Even if it is 20,000 people, as long as there is a block in the passes all over the territory, our imperial court soldiers and horses will not be allowed to advance an inch, and besides, Li Shen, Li Xiao, and Li Yan will be huddled together. The combined army is no less than 100,000 ......" Speaking of this, he took out two copies of the recital from his arms, handed them to Xie An, and said with a sneer, "Although there is a difference in time before and after, the three of them are exactly the same. To say that the three of them have not discussed it in private, hehe, don't believe it! ”

Xie An took the two copies and flipped through them a few times, and sure enough, it was just as Li Xian said. Whether it is [King of Han] Li Xiao or [King of Chu] Li Yan, everything he did was to ask the court to escort his biological mother to the feudal country, and he said that he would do his filial piety, but in fact. Most of them are now fledgling, and they don't want their biological mother to continue to stay in Jijing as a hostage.

"It's not easy to do......" Xie An sighed slightly.

"yes." Li Shou nodded when he heard this, frowned and said, "If you release people, it will be a sign of weakness by the imperial court, which will undoubtedly fuel their ambitions, and even worse, they will have no worries about the future, if they don't let go...... These three people can use this as an excuse to attack the imperial court, and even raise troops again......"

"Exactly! ——The three kings are now full-fledged, and what they lack is nothing more than an excuse to attack the imperial court......" Speaking of this, Li Xian looked at Li Shou and Xie An with inquiring eyes, after all, this matter is too involved, it can be said that it will affect the whole body, and it is very likely to cause the entire country to fall into turmoil.

"What's going on in northern Xinjiang?" Xie An asked suddenly.

Glancing at Xie An with some surprise, Li Xian said in a deep voice, "There is no movement in Northern Xinjiang for the time being, Li Mao has been arresting the Taiping Army in the territory since he returned to Northern Xinjiang, it can be said that Northern Xinjiang is the place where the Taiping Army has the smallest penetration degree at present, oh, by the way, according to the news, Li Shen once sent an envoy to contact Li Mao, but the envoy was beheaded by Li Mao on the spot, and now the relationship between the two is extremely bad...... Oh, that's good news! ”

Seeing Li Xian's wry smile, Xie An also nodded secretly, after all, there are no less than 100,000 troops on the side of the [Three Kings], if Li Shen said that he moved the [Yan King] Li Mao who sat in the northern Xinjiang, it would undoubtedly be worse for the imperial court, after all, Li Mao had 100,000 elites in Northern Xinjiang in his hands three years ago, take a step back and say, putting aside the nearly 200,000 troops after the union of the two sides, in terms of fiefdom alone, if Li Mao joined Li Shen's camp of the three kings, it would undoubtedly make the Jijing court surrounded on the north, west, and southwest. is at an absolute disadvantage geographically.

"Is it the Taiping Army or the Three Kings...... That's what we're going to discuss today, right? ”

After thinking for a while, Xie An turned his head to look at Li Xian and asked.

Li Xian nodded, it's not that the imperial court doesn't have the strength to fight on both sides, the problem is that if it is not necessary, Li Xian still hopes to be able to concentrate his forces and defeat one side of the forces in one go, and then use the victory to turn around against the other side's forces, so that the expenses of the imperial court can be greatly reduced, and the imperial court will not be plunged into a long-term tug-of-war and consume national strength in vain.

"Anyway, what is the situation of those armies in the imperial court?" As if thinking of something, Li Xian asked Xie Andao.

"Hmm," Xie An thought for a while and said, "If you want to talk about the soldiers and horses available to the imperial court, needless to say, the Eastern Army [Shenwu Battalion] has 20,000 people, and they can be put into the battlefield at any time, and if the Southern Army [traps the camp], it lost most of it three years ago, and now although it is full, the training degree is not ideal according to General Lin Zhen, and the Northern Army ...... Not very clear......"

"Not very clear?" Li Xian looked at Xie An with some displeasure.

"Please, I'm the secretary of the Criminal Department, and I'm not the secretary of the Ministry of War, how can I know everything? You just ask my father-in-law if it's not good? ”

After Xie An said this, Li Xian came to his senses, looked at Xie An apologetically, and said with a chuckle, "That's right, you really shouldn't be asked about the army...... What is the situation of the Jizhou soldiers? ”

You don't know what you're saying before and after?

Glancing at Li Xian helplessly, Xie An Zhengse said, "According to what Fei Guo, the commander of the Jizhou Army, said a few days ago, the Jizhou Army has been expanded to 100,000, divided into five armies, which are directly led by the commander Fei Guo, Deputy Marshal Ma Dan, Tang Hao, Zhang Dong and Ou Peng, with 27 generals and 49 deputy generals...... Although they have been training for three years, the sergeants and soldiers of the army have no combat experience, and they still lack training. ”

"That's it......" Li Xian nodded, muttering thoughtfully, "The Jizhou army is 100,000, the four towns are 100,000, and the troops are not ...... lost."

"You're counting the Western Army as well?" Xie An reminded in a strange tone.

Li Xian suddenly nodded when he heard this, nodded and said, "Yes, yes, the Western Army should not be counted, Xixiang Hou Han Yi does have a bit of a problem, as far as I know, this person secretly has correspondence with Li Shen, although I don't know if this news is true, it is better to be cautious......" Speaking of this, he suddenly thought of something, and looked at Xie An with a smile.

Looking at Li Xian's smiling expression, Xie An couldn't help but think of Yin Gong, not out of disrespect, after all, sometimes, Xie An really felt that the old man was shrewd like an old fox, and even the eldest grandson Xiangyu folded it in his hand.

"What do you want to do?" Xie An quietly took a step back and looked at Li Xian with a wary face.

saw Li Xian smile slightly, and said something that made Xie An feel stunned.

"That, Master Xie...... Are you interested in going to Jiangnan for the prime minister? ”