When Li Siye asked these words, Zhang Xiancheng felt that his blood was about to freeze, he couldn't refute such words, but he couldn't give up. Now that he has stabbed in front of God, he retreated a little, and the lives of him and the Cui brothers will be reimbursed here.

"The lowly is aware, so the lowly is willing to protect Cui Ning's life without worry, even if the lord does not allow it, the lowly duty has no complaints, and is willing to die."

Li Siye frowned slightly and asked him, "What position did you hold before?" ”

"Jiannan Jiedu envoys the unity battalion under his command marching Sima."

He sat back on the Hu bed, put his hands on his knees and said, "Cui Ning, Cui Mi committed a rebellion, intending to seize Shuzhong's self-reliance, and Lone should have beheaded you." But Zhang Xiancheng sacrificed his life to intercede for you, and he couldn't bear to touch his intentions, but the great crime of rebellion should not be forgiven, and all the official titles of the two of you were stripped away, and exiled to the Beiting Broken Leaf River Mengchi Metropolitan Protectorate with your family. ”

The two brothers secretly complained in their hearts, but they finally picked up a life, so they had to kowtow and thank them.

Li Siye said to Zhang Xiancheng again: "You intercede for the sinner, although it is out of love and commitment, but you interfere with the national law, punish you with a cane and punish you for thirty years, lead the military envoy of the Baishan Army in Guanguan, and lead the troops to Xiangyang to exchange defenses with Wang's rare Hengsai army, I hope you can make meritorious service with the crime." ”

The Cui brothers who knelt next to him were amazed, where is this punishment, this is clearly a reward.

Zhang Xiancheng was overjoyed, stepped forward and said: "The last general will fight to the death to repay the kindness of the lord." ”

"Alright, let's all go down."

After a few people retreated, Li Siye walked out of the main hall, ordered someone to bring a few war horses, and went to the capital with his entourage to guard the left and right Longxiang army and the left and right imperial forest army parallax.

At the helm of these two armies are Li Siye's own son Li Xu and his henchman Yan Xiaosi. At the same time, Li Xu served as the Pingzhang of the Zhongshu Sect, and often followed the Zhongshu Ling Xu Bin to learn governance, and actively controlled the various appointments in Chang'an City.

The father and son withdrew all their entourage and ascended to the Xuanwu Gate of the outer city of Daming Palace, and they could see the Linde Hall standing next to the Taiye Pond in the distance. He bowed his head and asked his son: "After two years of governance, what do you know?" ”

"My son thinks that there is nothing more important in the world than the word moderation."

"Oh, how so?"

"Governing the country is like sailing on the sea, although it is against the wind, it is necessary to adjust the direction of the sail force, the ship will stop when the wind is weak, and the mast will break if the wind is strong. Another example is the law, the strict national law will cause the people to complain, and the national law will be lenient, so that the weak people will suffer, and the traitors will go unpunished. ”

After listening, Li Siye gave his highest evaluation: "Very good, he can be regarded as a qualified feudal ruler." ”

Li Xu couldn't feel the taste, and vaguely felt that these five words were not good words, how could there be a reason to use such derogatory words on himself.

"My son has a question that has not been answered, and I hope that my father will answer it."

"Say."

"To the west of the Hexi Corridor, such as Beiting and Anxi, the land is vast and sparsely populated, the desert is crisscrossed, and the environment is harsh, and not only has it been impossible to create taxes for the imperial court for several years, but it is also necessary to send about a thousand good families to them every year. Now that the Central Plains is withering, the national strength and people's strength are far less than before, and it is inevitably a little difficult to control these two barren lands. ”

The smile on Li Siye's face froze slightly, Li Xu felt that he had said the wrong thing, and hurriedly crossed his hands and said, "My son is talking nonsense, and I also ask my father to punish him." ”

Li Siye smiled and said: "If you can ask this question, it means that you have also thought carefully, and it is a good thing to be able to ask questions to solve doubts." ”

"Since the Han Dynasty, all the strong and prosperous people have the intention to run the Western Regions, but it is only a long time when the Central Plains is in turmoil, and the rulers are powerless. As the king of a big country, if he only thinks about shrinking to protect himself and be comfortable, he will inevitably be surrounded by strong people, and the people will be devastated by the war for many years. The reason why the Han and Tang dynasties are strong is precisely because the monarchs and ministers of the past dynasties have a strong heart, and they must have the domineering and ambition of the country in the center of the country, you have to stand on the pavilion of the Hanyuan Hall in the future, and the energy of the empire should radiate all over the world with Chang'an as the center, and the regime encountered can only have two choices, or be a vassal, or be crushed by the iron hoof artillery, even if you can't do it now, you must always have such ambitions, when you successfully step on this peak one day, you will find that the empire under your feet is truly indestructible. “

Li Xu's eyes looked into the distance enthusiastically, the pride in his chest suddenly appeared, and the ambition he pressed in his heart sprouted, as if ignited by his father's encouragement, he said loudly: "If the son is in charge of the world in the future, he will continue the majesty of the Han and Tang Dynasties, and create a prosperous era again, so that Enwei will spread all over the world." ”

Li Siye nodded with satisfaction and said: "The real Western Regions are not barren, but rich in ointment, and the spices and gold they produce are all scarce in the Central Plains. When Lone was in charge of the Western Regions in the past, he once founded the world-famous Western Regions Chamber of Commerce, when you were still young, I don't know the mystery of this, your father I have served in Longyou for many years, and I have never occupied a penny of rent and even took out money from the Western Regions Chamber of Commerce to subsidize the place, despite this, there are more than 2 million yuan of income every year, you must know that the annual rent of Datang is only 16 million yuan, and the income of a trade route in my district is already equivalent to the annual income of a road. Moreover, the strategic location of the land of Anxi in Beiting was crucial, as it could prevent the Tibetans from attacking from the east and north, and also prevent the Hui from entering the west, preventing them from forming a great force that could compete with us. ”

Li Xu suddenly had an epiphany: "What my father means is that whether they monopolize the Tibetan plateau or the Hui who occupy Mobei, they will not be able to pose a threat to us alone, but if they cross the Hexi Corridor, enter the north to occupy the northwest court of Anbei, and unify the north and south of the desert to the west, their strength is enough to form a balanced confrontation between the north and the south with us." “

Li Siye smiled with satisfaction: "This is exactly what my father wants to tell you, as long as the Anxi Courtyard of the Hexi Corridor is in your hands, the general trend of the world will be controlled in your hands. You can raise strong troops to destroy them, or you can leave them to fend for themselves. It's just a sentence that you have to keep in mind that there will never be a vacuum in power, if you don't grasp it or neglect to control it, someone will naturally control it for you. The same is true of the Tibetans and the Hui, if you destroy them and you can't find a good way to manage the land they left behind, someone else will inevitably replace them and establish the country. ”

Li Xu crossed his hand to thank his father: "Today's father's words have benefited his son a lot, and today's son has read through the past history books to know that the road to governing the country is difficult and dangerous, and he needs to be cautious." ”

Li Siye didn't say anything, Li Xu's performance today was already within his expectations, and he probably didn't have to worry about the performance of his successor.

After so many years of fighting in the south and the north, his health is not as good as before, he needs someone to support him every time he gets on the horse, some people say that if you want to be a winner in life, you still need to do one thing, that is, your life is long enough, if you really want to die at the end of your life, he can't fight people like Guo Ziyi.

Time will become his greatest enemy, and Li Siye naturally thinks in his heart that he must conquer Jiangdong while his arms and legs can still move, and complete the actual military unification.