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Chapter Fifty-Seven: Picking Up His Ancestral Grave!

Yang Yi's character may be the gentlest emperor in the history of the Great Sui Dynasty, but this does not mean that he is a cowardly person. In fact, the rarest thing in the 100 years since the founding of the Great Sui was that there was no cowardly emperor. Perhaps this has something to do with the fact that the Great Sui did not have the habit of passing on the eldest son, and the emperor would always choose the most aggressive person among all his sons to inherit the throne.

Although how to determine which offspring is more aggressive...... Some cruel.

Perhaps this is also the fundamental reason why the Great Sui has not degenerated for more than 100 years, although it is undeniable that whether it is the local government or the imperial capital, there are such things as corruption and bribery and even bending the law, but at least the Great Sui is still strong in national strength, especially by force. What the Great Sui Emperor was most proud of, and hoped to remain proud of, was the undefeated Great Sui army.

Perhaps the Great Sui Emperors have not forgotten the history of the decline of the previous dynasty, so they have always attached relative importance to the military. It is important to know that before the former dynasty of Lu Dao was destroyed by Yang Jian, the founding emperor of the Great Sui, it was also known as the first big country in the Central Plains. It's just that the country, which also established the country by force, after a hundred years of peace, the emperors gradually forgot the truth that the knife in their hands should be sharpened from time to time.

They are accustomed to writing splendid and prosperous verses with the pen in one hand, but they forget that this hand should also hold a cold, sharp knife.

In order to prevent the rebellion of the military people, the former emperor who only reused civilian officials was unable to find a decent general to lead the troops to fight when facing the rebels led by Yang Jian. The tiger and wolf division in Yang Jian's hands fought against the army of the previous dynasty, and every battle was won like boiling soup and pouring snow.

On the wall of the imperial study of Taiji Palace, there has been a calligraphy, which is a calligraphy left by Yang Jian, the founding emperor of the Great Sui Dynasty.

It is as fast as the wind, as slow as a forest, as aggressive as fire, as immobile as a mountain, as difficult as a cloud, and as moving as a thunderstorm.

This is a passage written on rice paper by Yang Jian when he led the army to defeat the last army of the previous dynasty, using the blood of the emperor of the previous dynasty. To this day, the handwriting that had been framed on the wall is still bright red. If you read it carefully, this is a description of how to use soldiers. But Yang Jian's descendants all think that this is Emperor Taizu telling his descendants how to be a good emperor.

Yang Yi stood under this bloody letter, looked at Yu Donglai, the secretary of the military department who was kneeling on the ground and didn't dare to raise his head, and snorted coldly and said: "If it weren't for the careful investigation of the people of the Qing Dynasty, this matter would have been deceived by a request from the Ministry of War. The most chilling thing about me is not that Li Xiaozong, whom I valued at the beginning, has failed my hopes, but that there are so many people in the court who help him tell a lie and help him blindfold me! ”

Yu Donglai felt a little aggrieved because he really didn't accept the benefits of Li Xiaozong. If it weren't for the request for merit reported by Li Yuanshan, the general of the Right Xiaowei, he would have even forgotten the young general of the Li family who was transferred to the border city as a general. But he did know about Fan Gu. He confiscated the silver, which does not mean that Li Yuanshan, the general of the Right Hou Wei, has not sent the silver. There were two gifts sent to the Ministry of War, one was his, and the other was given by the squire of the Ministry of War.

And the matter of Fan Gu's great victory was handled by Hou Junci.

So he didn't know how to defend himself, although he was a little wronged, but he was really derelict in his duty.

Seeing that Yu Donglai didn't speak, the emperor's face softened a little: "Hou Wenji, you come to tell our Lord Shangshu of the Ministry of War, what happened to Fan Gu." I can't talk about it for a long time, and he doesn't know what he did wrong! ”

Hou Wenji, the envoy of the Qing Ya Town, leaned over and said, "The minister obeys the order." ”

He walked to Yu Donglai's side not far away and whispered: "In February of the eleventh year of Tianyou, the Mengyuan thieves knocked on the pass, and the Fan Gu defenders were defeated by Li Xiaozong, which led to the destruction of the city of Fan Gu, and the border army of 800 people and 2,000 people in the city were all slaughtered by the Mengyuan thieves. Li Xiaozong fled in fear of crime and sought refuge in the Right Xiao Guard. Li Yuanshan, the general of the right Xiaowei, heard the news and led the army to kill the border pass, and after a night of fighting, he recaptured the city of Fangu and killed thousands of thieves. However, in order to cover up Li Xiaozong's crime of defeat and dereliction of duty, Li Yuanshan concealed the fact that the people of Fangucheng and the border army were all killed in battle in the letter to the imperial court. ”

"Huh?"

Hearing this, Yu Donglai couldn't help but let out a very light exclamation in surprise. Hou Wenji told this story, why is there a world of differences between the truth of what he knows? What happened to Fan Gucheng, he knew everything clearly. So when I saw the words written on the fold that the military department knew but didn't notice, I was so frightened that I didn't dare to continue reading, but what Hou Wenji said, why didn't he know anything about it?

So he subconsciously raised his head and glanced at Hou Wenji, wanting to find any hints from Hou Wenji's face. But Hou Wenji just continued with a cold face and a flat tone: "On the day of the destruction of Fangu City, it happened that the day before yesterday, when he went to the imperial court of Fangu to inspect the Qin Cha and his party, they were also surrounded by thieves, and after fighting for half the night, they were finally outnumbered and martyred. After the war, Li Yuanshan, the general of the Right Xiaowei, cherished Li Xiaozong's talents, bribed the officials of the Ministry of War and the Qianhu Gao Tianbao, who was in charge of investigating the matter, and changed the defeat of Li Xiaozong into a great victory. ”

There are a few keywords in this, Li Yuanshan cherishes Li Xiaozong's talent and protects it, not because Li Xiaozong is also from the Li family in Longyou. Plain words that don't sound like anything often hide intriguing information.

Hou Wenji looked at Yu Dong expressionlessly and said, "This is the truth, Lord Yu understands?" ”

Yu Donglai is not a fool, nor is he an idiot, otherwise how could he be in the position of the secretary of the military department? After experiencing the ups and downs of officialdom over the years, he has long had a very accurate grasp of the affairs of the imperial court. Listening to Hou Wenji's words, you can understand and ask, and he knows what he should do.

"Sinner, understood."

He bowed his head again and said to the emperor: "The criminal minister is greedy for merit, and he knows that there is something strange in this matter and does not investigate, it is for dereliction of duty, please ask Your Majesty to punish him, and the minister does not dare to quibble." ”

"I ask you ......"

Emperor Yang Yi sat back cross-legged on the earthen kang again, looked at Yu Donglai and asked, "How much silver did you collect?" ”

……

……

"The minister pleaded guilty, but the minister really didn't have the benefit of receiving a copper coin."

Yu Donglai lowered his head and said in a sincere tone: "The minister is guilty of neglecting his duties, but the minister really does not dare to accept bribes and bend the law." In the matter of Fan Gu Li Xiaozong, the minister failed to discover the hidden secret, and he was ashamed of His Majesty's trust in the minister. Correct...... Although the courtier's family is not very rich, there is no shortage of silver...... The minister will definitely not dare to deceive His Majesty because of some yellow and white things. ”

Yang Yi took a sip of tea, nodded and said; That's a few words of truth...... Your Yu family really doesn't lack that little money, even if it is compared to Wu Yi, the Yu family is not much worse. Then I ask you, how many people in the Yamen of the Ministry of War have received Li Yuanshan's benefits, do you know the way? ”

"I don't know...... In the past two months, the minister has been busy secretly mobilizing grain and grass to recruit the people, and other matters in the military department are all under the care of the waiter. ”

The emperor snorted and turned his head to look at Hou Wenji: "I didn't expect that there would be people in the love office who would betray me." ”

He used the word betrayal.

Hou Wenji took off his robe and knelt down, took off the beam crown on his head with both hands, and bowed to the ground: "The minister has disappointed the master, and the minister is not qualified to continue to command the court." ”

"Take off your official hat at every turn, aren't you afraid that I will think you are threatening me?"

The emperor asked coldly.

Hou Wenji raised his head and said, "The minister doesn't dare, the minister feels guilty." ”

He spoke very simply, not saying a word to defend himself.

The emperor snorted and said, "If the people below make a mistake, I take off the official hat of one of the people in charge, then the scholars and servants of the various ministries of the Great Sui will not sit so peacefully." If your subordinates make mistakes, you can't escape the blame, but the Qing Ya calms down and makes this errand not good for others, so you have to continue to do it. After three years, you will be demoted to one level, and you will write a letter asking for sin. ”

"Your Majesty."

Hou Wenji kowtowed.

"That thousand households...... Since he is so willing to accept the money, he will bury him alive at the door of the household treasury, so that he can see countless pieces of silver all day long, but he can't catch a penny. The male members of the family are sent to the frontier as slaves, and the female dependents are ...... Sent to the Weaving Division as slave labor. Each person was paid a monthly salary of one copper coin, and when they had saved enough of the silver they had received, they could go to slavery. ”

Everyone's hearts were terrified, and the punishment at the door of the corpse vault was to let the thousand households be trampled under their feet all the time. And with a salary of one copper coin a month, how can it be possible to save enough money in this life? Don't talk about a lifetime, I'm afraid it will be difficult to turn over from generation to generation.

The emperor leaned back against the wall, rubbed his somewhat frowning brow and continued: "Li Yuanshan, the general of the Right Hou Wei, bent the law for favoritism and bullied the king, this crime is unforgivable, but remembering the military exploits of these years is light. Demoted to a five-grade general, left in the army for later use, reduced by 300 households, and fined for three years. ”

"Fan Guya's general Li Xiaozong, although he did not retreat, abandoned the city and fled after defeat, and tried to conceal his defeat and bribed the officials of the military department...... I don't blame him for his defeat, can I still blame a general who has fought to the extreme? When you take Li Xiaozong, you ask him for me...... Have the courage to face an enemy twenty times your size, why don't you have the courage to face me?! ”

"When Li Xiaozong was in the Martial Arts Academy, I paid special attention to it."

The emperor opened the thick Chu Cai Lu on the table, opened it to find one of the pages, took a red pen and crossed out Li Xiaozong's name: "It's a pity...... I have lost a promising general. ”

"Leave it to the Criminal Department and Dali Temple to ask for the crime, and you can convict whatever crime you should convict."

The emperor put down the pen and said lightly, then looked at Yu Dong and said, "You go back and check for yourself first, how many people in the military department have taken Li Yuanshan's silver." Not only this time, but also not just Li Yuanshan's bribe, since the people in the military department dared to take Li Yuanshan's silver this time, didn't they dare to take someone else's before? This is not the first time, and I don't have the stomach and patience that I don't have to blame before. After checking and drawing up a list, some people have been sitting in official positions for too long and have forgotten the reverence they should have...... In that case, why should I be stingy with butcher knives? ”

"Obey."

Yu Donglai hurriedly responded.

"Wait, I'm not done yet!"

The emperor's gaze stayed on Chu Cailu, and while flipping through the names written down by himself, he said: "Yu Donglai, dismissed from the post of secretary of the military department, demoted to the head of the military department, and acted as the minister of the military department. After I went back, I wanted to reflect on it for a day, and I wanted to see what I could come up with. Other than that...... He was also fined three years. Li Yuanshan took out a count of the bribes received by the officials of the Ministry of War, and told me the number after the count. ”

"I want him to take out another copy of the total, plus the share he bribed the officials, and the money that you have fined, and send someone to send it to Fangu, I will build a cemetery in Fangu for those border soldiers and people who died in battle, and the rest of the money will be sent to the relatives of those border soldiers as bereavement."

"They are all the most loyal and brave soldiers of the Great Sui, and they used their lives to tell me about their loyalty to me and their feelings for the Great Sui. Speaking of which, I am ashamed of them, and I blame myself in my heart. After Hou Wenji reported this incident, I specially checked how much money the soldiers of the border army could get every month, and it was so low that it was distressing! When they were alive, they only took that little bit of silver to serve the country, how could they not be buried in a grand ceremony after they died? ”

"Also...... Yu Donglai, after you return to the military department, send someone to count the number of all the border armies of the Great Sui, what I want is the real number, and there must be empty salaries, but don't let me know the way. After the statistics are out, I will discuss with the people in the household department to see if we can double the salary of the border army. They are defending the borders of the country, and I can't let them be left without food and clothing. ”

"To tell the truth, it's the money of the border army!"

When he said this, the emperor raised his head and his eyes glazed: "If I let anyone dare to hack this silver, I will slaughter his nine clans." If the living are not enough to make up the number of the nine clans, I will pick up his ancestral grave! ”