In the West Thousand Steps Corridor, Li Yuntian came out of the palace, holding an official document in his hand, and hurriedly went to find Yang Shiqi, Hu Ying and others.

"Lord Wang!" Seeing this, the civil officials who gathered outside the corridor to talk and laugh bowed to Li Yuntian one after another, and their awe was overflowing.

In the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty, Li Yuntian can be described as an out-and-out alternative, and at the same time he holds two important positions in the military and government, not only the military attache is respectful when he sees him, but the civil servants are also in awe of him.

In the final analysis, Li Yuntian's prestige has been accumulated bit by bit over the past 10 years or so, and he has not only made outstanding military achievements but also has outstanding administrative affairs, and the key is that he is fair in handling affairs and acting gently, so that all civil and military officials admire him as a person.

Li Yuntian smiled and nodded to the civil officials along the way, if it was a normal stay, he would stop and chat with the officials he knew well, but today's situation was special, he didn't mean to stay, but walked straight away, and entered the corridor where Yang Shiqi and Hu Ying and other auxiliary ministers and ministry officials were located.

"King Zhongwu is in a hurry, something big has happened!" Seeing that Li Yuntian was in a hurry, a fourth-grade civil official couldn't help but say curiously to the officials around him.

"The biggest thing in the court now is whether to send troops to the Western Regions, and King Zhongwu went to Lord Yang this time, and they are most likely here for this matter." When an official heard this, he immediately said in a deep voice, "I don't know whether King Zhongmu supports sending troops or not." ”

"Of course, I support sending troops, King Zhongwu has always been the main battle and invincible, and he will definitely use troops against the Western Regions." As soon as he finished speaking, another official spoke.

"You are wrong, the reason why King Zhongwu is fighting is because my Ming Dynasty has been invaded by foreign enemies and has to send troops to pacify it." However, this official was quickly refuted, and an official with a mustache said proudly, "The Western Regions are remote, so why bother me to send troops to the battle between two small barbarian countries!" ”

"Now those martial artists want to take this opportunity to turn over, they are determined to fight a battle in the Western Regions, and Lord Yang and Lord Hu want to stop this war that costs people and money, and has all kinds of harm but no benefit to the Ming Dynasty, it seems that King Zhongwu is going to be caught in the middle, and it is difficult to ride a tiger." Soon, another voice rang out, analyzing the current shape shì.

Obviously, "those gang of martial artists" refers to the nobles of the Ming Dynasty, because the nobles of the Ming Dynasty were all born in the army, and they were able to enter the knighthood by virtue of their military exploits, so some people don't even know a few big characters, so they naturally have to be despised by the civil officials who study hard in the cold window of the Ming Dynasty.

After all, the officials who can mix in the capital are not stupid, and the civil officials are clear about the reason why the Xungui group insists on sending troops, knowing that the Xungui want to use the battle in the Western Regions to fight a turnaround, otherwise the Weisuo army will not be able to raise its head in front of the Xiaowu army.

It is precisely because of this selfishness of the nobles that the civil officials are strongly dissatisfied, and they secretly despise this practice of the Xungui group, and naturally they will not let the nobles' thoughts of working hard and hurting money come true.

In fact, if Li Yuntian led the army to the Western Regions, there would be no resistance from the court.

The reason is very simple, if Li Yuntian sends troops, he will naturally use the funds of the Lecture Martial Arts Hall, and will not account for the money of the treasury of the user department.

Moreover, according to Li Yuntian's character, he will definitely call the troops of the Guanxi Xiaowu Army and the Guanxi Qiwei nearby, and only bring firearms troops from the capital to the Western Regions, so that there will be no labor and loss of money.

In addition, Li Yuntian's two list of jinshi background, at this time will play a great role, civil officials hope that Li Yuntian will win more battles, which is enough to prove that literati are superior to military generals.

Obviously, civil officials can be knighted by virtue of their military merits, and it is difficult for military generals to become officials of major ministries and academies by virtue of their literary talents.

Besides, if Li Yuntian wants to send troops to the Western Regions, then there must be a good reason, and the officials of the imperial court believe that Li Yuntian is acting steadily and will definitely not start a war for no reason.

Therefore, today's court discussion is said to be a contest between the civilian clique and the Xungui clique, but in fact it is to see what attitude Li Yuntian adopts on this matter.

Let's not say that Li Yuntian has a huge influence on the empress dowager, and whether to send troops must be decided by the empress dowager in the end.

Therefore, once Li Yuntian makes a decision in the court, it will have a heavy impact on today's court parliament, but now no one knows what Li Yuntian thinks in his heart, and it is not good for the official group or the Xungui group to take the initiative to ask Li Yuntian, after all, Li Yuntian is now a prince, how can he let him express his position on this matter?

West Thousand Steps Corridor, a spacious corridor room.

Yang Shiqi and Hu Ying and other cabinet members and officials of the six ministries gathered together for the final discussion before the court meeting, and as members of the imperial court, it was naturally impossible for them to sit idly by and watch the Xungui group deliberately provoke a war for their own selfish interests, but if the Xungui group persuaded the empress dowager, then things would be bad.

In the final analysis, the Empress Dowager is a woman who has lived in the deep palace for a long time, and she may be able to balance the relationship between the various factions in the court, but she has no opinions on national affairs such as foreign wars, and is easily influenced by the courtiers.

In terms of the relationship between Dao and the Empress Dowager, it is obvious that the Xungui group is one step closer than the Wenchen group, and the families of the nobles are often summoned to the palace by the Empress Dowager to accompany them, while the families of high-ranking officials and magnates of the Wenchen group rarely enjoy such preferential treatment.

It can be said that in domestic affairs, the Empress Dowager is biased towards the Wenchen group, but in the face of foreign affairs, the Empress Dowager trusts the Xungui group more, forming a situation in which the Wenchen is in charge and the nobles are outside.

Therefore, if the civilian clique could not convince the Empress Dowager that the war in the Western Regions had nothing to do with the Ming Dynasty, and the use of troops in the Western Regions would cost the people and money, so that the prosperous scenery of the Ming Dynasty would be destroyed, then under the "instigation" of the Xungui clique, the Empress Dowager would agree to send troops to the Western Regions.

"King Chungwu!" When Li Yuntian pushed open the door and walked in, the people in the room were taken aback, Li Yuntian had been in the East Thousand Step Corridor since he entered the Imperial Court, and he had never been to the West Thousand Step Corridor Room.

After all, the prince is too noble, and there is no one comparable to the civil service of the Ming Dynasty, so Li Yuntian naturally wants to stay with those nobles when he goes to court.

"Ladies and gentlemen." Li Yuntian arched his hand to everyone at the scene, then handed the official document in his hand to Yang Shiqi, and said in a deep voice, "Elder Ge, this is the latest information on the strength of the Western Chagatai Khanate to attack the Eastern Chagatai Khanate this time from the Guanxi Battalion of the Xiaowu Army, as well as some movements in the Western Chagatai Khanate. ”

"Oh?" Yang Shiqi was a little surprised when he heard this, and realized that the information from the Guanxi camp of the Xiaowu Army must be extraordinary, otherwise Li Yuntian would not have hurried over, so he opened the official document and flipped through it.

"What?" After only reading a few lines of the official document, Yang Shiqi looked at Li Yuntian in great surprise, "West Chagatai has mobilized 500,000 soldiers and horses for this attack on East Chagatai!" ”

"Five hundred thousand!" Hearing this, everyone at the scene was stunned, no one thought that Xichagatai would have such a powerful military force, and many people even thought that it was just a small country in the Western Regions.

"This number should not be wrong, it was sent by a spy sent by this king to the Western Chagatai Khanate." Li Yuntian nodded solemnly, "According to the intelligence, these 500,000 people are divided into two groups, the first batch of 200,000 people will take the lead in attacking the Eastern Chagatai Khanate, and the remaining 300,000 will wait for the Eastern Chagatai to be captured and then go to join it." ”

"King Zhongwu, how can the little West Chagatai have so many troops?" At this time, a thin civil official of the third rank looked at Li Yuntian with some disbelief, even if the Ming Dynasty wanted to mobilize 500,000 troops at once, it would not be easy, let alone a small country in the Western Regions.

"Lord Liu, Xichagatai is not small, maybe bigger than our Daming." Li Yuntian glanced at the emaciated civil official, and said with a solemn expression, "If Xi Chagatai goes all out, it will be enough to organize an army of a million!" ”

"An army of millions!" At this moment, the people present couldn't help but be even more shocked, they really couldn't imagine that in addition to the Ming Dynasty, there was a country with a million troops.

"King Zhongwu, do you mean that the motive for West Chagatai to attack East Chagatai this time is not simple?" After reading the official document, Yang Shiqi casually handed it to Yang Rong on the side, and looked at Li Yuntian in surprise.

Obviously, if Western Chagatai only annexed Eastern Chagatai, 200,000 troops would be sufficient, and there was no need to prepare 300,000 reinforcements.

"It is more appropriate to call the Timurid Empire the current Western Chagatai, the founding Khan of the Timurid Empire during the Hongwu period, Timur, who killed the Great Khan of the Western Chagatai who was in love with him, and established himself as the Great Khan, and after years of war, he has built an empire with a vast territory."

Li Yuntian nodded to Yang Shiqi, and then said in a deep voice, "When Emperor Taizong ascended the throne, Timur, who regarded himself as a descendant of Genghis Khan, wanted to take advantage of the initial decision of the Ming Dynasty to launch a million-strong army to conquer the Ming Dynasty, but unfortunately when he arrived in the Western Regions, he died of illness, and then his son competed for the throne so that the million-dollar Eastern Expeditionary Army had to return, and the Ming Dynasty avoided a war. ”

"How is this possible?"

"The small Western Regions Domain dares to offend my great tomorrow!"

"Didn't the Western Chagatai Khanate always be a vassal to the Ming Dynasty? Their messengers said that Emperor Hongwu had given an edict to their Timurid Khan. ”

"Their envoy came this time, but he presented a letter of state to the imperial court to proclaim himself a minister to the Ming Dynasty, is it just to hide people's eyes?"

"It's unbelievable, they want to attack Daming!"

……

Boom, the room suddenly commotioned, the cabinet elders and the officials of various ministries and courts were stunned to discuss the matter of Timur's Eastern Expedition, in their impression that since the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, it has always been the Ming Dynasty to send troops to teach others, and no country has ever dared to fight the idea of the Ming Dynasty.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the time has come." At this moment, a man wearing a seventh-grade official robe walked into the room and spoke to all the adults in the room.

"This king will take the first step, and the hall will explain to you." Hearing this, Li Yuntian took back the official document from Yang Rong's hand, arched his hand at everyone, and then left quickly, rushing to line up in the noble queue of the East Thousand Step Corridor.

"How do we do that?" After Li Yuntian left, Hu Ying couldn't help but ask Yang Shiqi, who was tightly locked, it was obvious that Li Yuntian's appearance had disrupted their previous matter in the court to prevent the Ming Dynasty from sending troops to the Western Regions, if the information Li Yuntian got was true, then the consequences would be unimaginable.

"Wait and see!" Under the concerned gaze of everyone at the scene, Yang Shiqi pondered for a while and said expressionlessly, Li Yuntian's arrival can be said to have caused him a problem, making him not know for a while whether he should stop the Ming Dynasty from sending troops to the Western Regions, so he decided to take a look at Li Yuntian's watch in the court before making a decision.