Just when the Sijing meeting was in full swing, two major events occurred:

In Jiangxi, Yang He broke through the encirclement of the official army and entered Hunan, but encountered the extremely fierce Miao Han regiment to practice encirclement and suppression, and as a result, Yang He, who was not killed by the elite officers and soldiers, was actually killed by an arrow in a small-scale sneak attack, and became the trophy of Li Shou, the Miao patrol envoy.

Hearing the news, the desperate Lou Shiyong finally agreed to accept Zhao'an.

He dismissed most of the remnants of the army, accepted the reorganization with a scale of 1,700 people, and was appointed as the garrison guerrilla in Huining, responsible for garrisoning Huining and Anyuan counties in southeastern Jiangxi, and guarding against turmoil in the villages of Miao Yao in the mountains.

There was news from the grassland that the Huila and Seyan tribes of Egu frequently appeared by the Great Wall, and the Luyan tribes also showed signs of entering Liaodong.

The emperor urgently summoned the beggar Khan to the palace, and after detailed questioning, he learned that there had been less rain on the steppe for two years, and the herdsmen were worried that the absence of a white storm (blizzard) would mean a more severe drought, so they took refuge in the south.

"What about the Ullah, and what do they usually do with the Korkas and Bria?" Zhao Tuo immediately realized that he had something to say, and there might be a huge danger hidden in it.

"His Majesty the Emperor can think of this, which means that your benevolence has begun to spread across the grasslands!" Beggar Khan actually said something like a sycophant, and Zhao Tuo blushed slightly while being happy.

"Bria is fine, they're used to domesticating moose farther north, they're cold and dry-tolerant, and they don't have many cattle and horses, so they won't be affected too much.

If you really can't do it, you can go to the Urals, the steppe over there is very vast!

My Ula is okay, it's a big deal to go west, go to the Tianshan Mountains to fight two battles with Yeerqiang, and stay up until the snow starts to fall and no one can move, they have no choice but to endure it, anyway, they know that I won't rely on it and not leave.

The most troublesome thing is the Korkata, if he goes south, he will squeeze Huila, Luyan, and even the territory of Seyan, and these three are not his opponents, so he will either join forces to fight the enemy, or he will have to take refuge in ......the Great Wall."

Hearing him say this, Zhao Tuo suddenly thought that there was a reason why Ulla came to pay tribute at this time and put on a very low posture. This old fox, he had foreseen that the Karkor would go south after the disaster, so it was a trick he planned to come to Shangjing.

No, it may also be the idea given to him by Taishi Tobigu. "So, what does Yiqing think of now?" Zhao Tuo asked with a smile.

Sure enough, the beggar Khan patted his chest and said that as long as he went back and united the three tribes to fight against the Korkis and fight off the evil wolves on the steppe, everything would return to peace.

Of course, he is alone, and he needs some funding from the emperor's side, so the odds of winning can be greater.

Zhao Tuo didn't agree immediately, he asked the beggar Khan to go back first and let himself think about it. I wanted to send Liu Xi to consult Li Dan, but I remembered that he was still in the examination room, so I had to give up.

He walked over to the bookcase and found the reply letter he had written to himself when he excitedly told Li Dan Ula that he was coming to pay tribute. Zhao Tuo sat down and read the letter twice, and a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

beckoned Eunuch Liu over: "Find someone to be edicted, I want to draft a decree." Eunuch Liu looked at him with a little surprise, turned around and went out, and brought someone back from the duty room at the gate of the palace after a while.

"Minister Li, I have seen the Holy Driver, I wish Your Majesty good health!"

"Hey, why are you?" When the emperor saw Li Shu, he was overjoyed, and after giving him the seat, he asked him, "Why did you wish me peace and well-being?"

Li Zhu was surprised: "Your Majesty forgot? Today is the vernal equinox."

"Oh!" The emperor patted his forehead: "My heart is full of these folds, and I have confused the solar terms!" He smiled self-deprecatingly, then jokingly asked, "My brother is in the examination room, Qing is on my side, do you guess he is nervous, or are you nervous?"

Li Zhu replied with a hehehe, "Your Majesty, don't spoil this kid too much, he is a monkey, and when he is happy, his tail will go to the sky, and he must beat it with a mallet at any time!"

Zhao Tuo was stunned for a moment, and laughed: "It's really a brother, you two are a family when you speak!" Come, I have a question here, and I can't find him, and I'll ask for my opinion."

Li Zhu was startled, and hurriedly got up and said, "Your Majesty, the duty of a minister is that he should not interfere in political affairs.

」

"Eh, I'm just listening to and learning, and I don't mean to ask you to interfere in politics." After that, Zhao Tuo talked about the situation on the grassland and the possibility of a serious drought this summer, and asked:

"The Khan of the Beggars now asks the Celestial Empire for money and food, and he has promised to unite the tribes against the Korca. Do I think I should agree to his request?"

"Your Majesty, Tangor has seen people from the Egu tributary mission hunting outside the city, and he has said to his ministers about this:

One day it would be a great pleasure to be able to set up a county on the grassland. At the time, he said that he took it for granted, and he said that it was not difficult to do."

"Oh?" Zhao Tuo became interested, and immediately sat forward: "Can he explain in detail what can be done?"

"Yes." Li Zhu nodded: "Brother Dan said that setting up counties on the grassland is not a day's work, nor can it be done in a moment or three, it must be done step by step, and it will not cost decades of effort.

However, as long as one or half of the Ergu people are included in the Chinese family, then neither the Korkor nor the Bria will be able to make a big wave."

Zhao Tuo nodded, and quickly found a pencil and paper, and recorded on them: "I remember myself, Qing continues!"

"He didn't mean to divide the grasslands into counties all at once, but to start with the closest place to the Great Wall and gradually expand northward, which is also different from the state system in the interior.

The minister asked him at that time, was this county different from the county of Qin and Han? He replied that it was different.

Outside the Great Wall, there are many Ergu people, and the Han people are few or even none, so the meaning of Dan Geer is actually a county system of autonomy of the Ergu people.

For example, places such as Qingcheng, Jingzhou, and Shajing can be cultivated by Han people within a few miles around the city, while outside this range, it is forbidden to burn, cut down, and cultivate in pastoral areas, which is also conducive to maintaining the water and soil features.

The administrative affairs of the area were handled by the administrative officials appointed by the imperial court, and the administrative affairs of the pastoral areas were handled by the administrative officials elected by the Ergu people, and both of them were responsible to the county order.

The county order is selected by the Ministry of Officials to serve as the children of the Ergu people who have completed their studies in the Guozijian and have participated in the imperial examination, and at least one person in the county or main book should be a Han Chinese.

In this way, Sinology can not only be popularized in the grassland, but also subtly influence it, and it can also meet the needs of the Erantian people for self-governance.

In terms of finance and taxation, he suggested that in the first ten years, the fiscal taxes of the newly established counties outside the Great Wall should be reduced by half, and livestock should be allowed to offset them.

It doesn't even have to be too precise, as long as it is stipulated that Ao Bao must pay a sheep every year, and if you have the strength, you can also pay it alone, such as paying a calf or pony born last year for four years of taxes.

There is also a commercial tax, to encourage merchants on both sides of the exchange, the imperial court can propose to halve the commercial tax and customs duties within ten years, so that the number of caravans entering and leaving the customs will be greatly increased, and the tax will be more than now!

In short, the grassland is vast and sparsely populated, and the herdsmen are impatient and bold, so any laws and regulations should be concise, clear, and fast!

He was very much in favor of His Majesty's practice of canonizing princes, county kings, dukes, and marquises, and proposed that they could follow the Han Shi Tui'en Decree, except that the lowest was assigned to the marquis, so that they would not worry about their descendants losing their titles, and it would be easier for them to accept them."

"Well, that's important!" Zhao Tuo felt that this was his finishing touch, and Li Dan agreed that he had a sense of accomplishment, and after writing it down, he asked, "Is there anything else?"

"Then there's the issue of the spread of religion. Dan Geer said that the previous dynasty allowed many religions to spread in the steppe, so Bria believed in Yah, Karkat believed in Yellow Religion, Yeerqiang believed in Muslimism, Huila and Luyan believed in Taoism and shamanism, and Ula and Seyan believed in Buddhism.

Taoism and Buddhism are within His Majesty's grasp, and we must be wary of Yeerqiang and Bria, who are dedicated to preaching.

At the same time, we will severely crack down on the Kelco, who are also close to Tubo and Zhuqiang, and if the Yellow Sect is allowed to grow in the south and north, and Ula and Seyan lose their pastures, then there will be no day of peace in the Central Plains!"

The Emperor slowly raised his head in surprise, "I didn't expect that religion would have such a powerful power?"

"Your Majesty, the minister thinks that Dan Ge'er is reasonable. Throughout history, in fact, many things are fueled by religion, such as the Zhangjiao Rebellion, Huangchao, Fang La to Han Lin'er in the last years of the previous dynasty, these are all

Inside.

The Tibetan War against the Tang Dynasty, Dali and Western Xia are all related to religion, and Your Majesty cannot be cautious!" Li replied with his hand.

"Hiss......!" Zhao Tuo's brows furrowed.

"It's one thing to allow religion to develop and encourage a hundred schools of thought to contend, but it's another thing to control it so that it doesn't sway public opinion and endanger the rule. When the minister thought about it, it was true.

For example, he said that Taiwu of the Northern Wei Dynasty, Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, Wuzong of the Tang Dynasty, and Shizong of the Later Zhou Dynasty destroyed the Buddha four times, probably because the monasteries concentrated wealth after the Tantric Buddhism came to the east, won the hearts of the people, and endangered the stability of the regime, so the people in power had to ruthlessly prohibit it.

The minister listened to a friend from the Siyi Pavilion of the Hanlin Academy, and all the branches of the Kaer were headed by the Yellow Monks, and the ruling decisions should be carried out only after the nodding of the monks at all levels, the masters, the outer masters (gurus), and the Vajra, which is no longer an ordinary religion.

In Dan Ge'er's words, it belongs to the unity of church and state. If this situation spreads to the tribes of Ulla, Seyan, Huila, and Luyan, what does Your Majesty think?"

Zhao Tuo's whole person was not good when he heard this, and he felt that the hairs on his back stood up. A few verbose Confucian scholars can't stand it themselves, and if they want him to listen to the mercy of the monks, it is better to simply change someone to sit on this one!

"Politics, economics, and religion have all been discussed, so what to do with the military power on the grassland?"

"The power of the big soldiers belongs to the governor's office of the five armies, and the power of the small soldiers belongs to the nobles." Li Shu continued, "Brother Chen once mentioned that he wanted to give you a suggestion that you could consider using it in conjunction with the topic of separation.

The division of the various departments of the grassland was formed on the basis of the original system of marching 10,000 households, that is to say, these seven major departments are actually the remaining seven 10,000 households from the previous dynasty, but their strength has long exceeded 10,000 households, which is a bit misnomerical and unreasonable."

Li Zhu smiled: "So the original intention of the subordinate brother is to help them justify their name on the surface, but in fact it restricts the use of their military power.

His idea was to divide these seven princes and county kings into a number of banners, such as Ula can be divided into front, rear, left, right, and middle flags, and if it is not enough, it can also be divided into wings and guards.

Each banner can have its own duke, the court can transfer princes and dukes, princes and county kings can transfer marquises, and the transfer of dukes should be approved by the Governor's Office of the Five Armies in advance.

However, he also said that these ideas should not be stabbed at once, but should be gradual and gradual. He was very much in favor of His Majesty's approach, first enlisting the first and second departments to set an example, and then gradually promoting it.

For example, those ministries that are not willing to implement the county system can also be sealed and managed by themselves.

However, if the descendants are not allowed to enter the country, they cannot be officials or guards, and if the imperial court does not send him officials, of course they will not encourage the Han people to go to him to farm, and the commercial tax will not be reduced."

"Ha, so calculating!" The emperor laughed loudly, and he basically understood Li Dan's idea of "seducing with profit". "So, when Qing said all this, does it mean that I should agree to the beggar's request?" He asked.

"As long as the beggar Khan swallows His Majesty's bait, it will be fine. Compared with the small cost of grain and grass, it is the most beneficial and long-term way to include large areas of grassland and herders in the territory of the empire!" Li replied deeply.

The emperor smiled and nodded, "Well said!"

"What is Your Majesty's purpose in summoning your ministers?" Li reminded him.

"Not yet." Zhao Tuo waved his hand: "I originally wanted to take this opportunity to let Complement prepare some money and food, and then see if the beggar could fight with Kerr. Now it seems that I have made it easier!

Forget it, it's the solar term today, so I'd better go and see how the concubines fly kites and erect eggs, and then go to Sihaiju to taste fried toon sprouts and pumpkin tips

。 Well, I have to listen to the Taichang Temple's report on the sacrifice at the Temple of the Sun. Let this matter go, I will think about it carefully before making up my mind."

"Your Majesty!"

However, it was not enough for the emperor to make a careful arrangement.

Soon, the military department received an urgent report that Liaodong had already had a serious conflict with the herdsmen of the Luyan tribe who had gone south, and the officers and soldiers who were actively gaining military merit had ambushed and killed more than 300 men, and captured more women and children.

Zhao Tuo was furious and scolded the military department Shangshu Gulin and the left waiter Yang Shi'an

Let loose a stream of abuse against. But these two are also wronged, how can they know the emperor's thoughts, let alone predict what will happen thousands of miles away.

Gu Lin resolutely resisted the emperor's insistence on investigating and prosecuting all officials below the governor of Liaodong and the general of Jinzhou. How does this work? After all, people are still the last emperor, loyal to the court, and it is not wrong to be active.

The depressed emperor returned to Lifu Palace and sat still, and Concubine Lian was afraid that he would anger others and drive all the palace maids and chamberlains far away. Zhao Tuo had nowhere to vent, so he suddenly slapped the table and called Eunuch Liu: "Go, bring Liu Xi to me!"

On this day, Li Dan finished the second exam, and now that he has experience, he can even save the basket, only carry a satchel and walk out, and see Liu Xi is in a hurry outside the dragon gate, like a restless cat in the snow.

Li Dan smiled slightly, walked over and asked, "Are you waiting for me?"

"Oh, my master, you're coming out!" Liu Xi said and grabbed him: "Quick, find a secluded place, the emperor is dying, and the slaves and maids are about to be driven crazy by him!"

Li Dan was surprised and didn't know what was going on, so he hurriedly took him to the carriage, closed the door and asked, "What's the matter?"

Liu Xi didn't speak, and took out a bag of banners: "You look at this fold first."

Li Dan took out the fold inside and looked at it, and Liu Xi chirped and said why the emperor was annoyed. After saying that, the other party didn't feel anything. "My lord, aren't you angry and anxious?" He asked.

"Why are you angry and anxious?"

"Look at these gangs, the literati and the old men are all about it, and the generals only know how to earn military merits, and the emperor is the most troublesome when they work together, isn't this annoying?" Liu Xi looked indignant.

Li Dan smiled and quickly explained: "I'm not laughing at you or the emperor, I'm laughing at these generals who are quite good at unintentionally inserting willows."

"Huh? What do you mean by that?"

"You see, the emperor wants Lu Yan and the other tribes to pay tribute, so that they can recognize the status of the great chiefs of the Ula tribe, and accept the beggar Khan to supervise them in place of the emperor.

The beggar Khan took the opportunity to ask the emperor for money, food, swords, guns and armor, and he was not satisfied with what we gave less, and it was not suitable for us to give more.

How good it is now, Lu Yan was beaten, and he must be thinking of finding a place to sue for injustice.

If he is larger than him, he will not dare to provoke him, it is an adversary; Beggar's Khan, he's in Beijing. So what to do?

The best thing is to also go to Beijing to make a trip, express determination, complain about grievances, and get some benefits, it is still okay if the prince can't get the prince of the county.

The emperor gave some compensation, some money, food, and weapons, and let him contain the Kyorka in the east.

Then the emperor was telling the beggar Khan: Look, Lu Yan has come by himself, if you don't hurry up, Huila and Seyan will also take the initiative to come by themselves, and then your credit will not be so much, and I will not be able to give you too much reward.

Hmph, do you think that beggar Khan can still hunt in the suburbs?"

Liu Xi understood: "Eh, let Gongzi say this, these guys in Liaodong have really done a good thing, huh?"

"Fart, they didn't do good things, they muddied the waters, let's help the emperor find a way to fish in troubled waters, and if they do bad things well, it's not their credit." Li Dan sighed:

"To put it more carefully, the emperor is now going to implement a new policy towards the Ergu people, treating them as subjects of the court on an equal footing with the Han Chinese. Therefore, the Egu people who surrender in the future cannot be killed like this, otherwise it will be no different from killing the good and risking the merits."

"This ...... I'm afraid the border generals won't be willing."

"Of course, of course, they are not happy that they have no chance to gain military merits, but the most vicious enemies in this world are not only the Egu people, and there are always the Egu people who do not submit!"

"I see, then do you want to give the emperor a replies to the music?" Liu Xi asked.

Li Dan took out a pencil and paper from a drawer and wrote: "Turn the disadvantage into an advantage, lead Lu Yan to peace talks and encourage him to come to the court, and use Lu Yan to pressure Ula to restrain his insatiable greed." Think about it and add:

"Not all the side generals have a view of the overall situation, but those who only have their own merits and enterprising hearts are partial to the side of the town. You can reward your hard work, and the five armies will supervise the mansion

Transferred to the interior of the capital to command the use of the embassy. Is that good? Please refer to it." I read it again and wrote:

"In addition, in ancient times, military merit was counted by the first rank, and this method had drawbacks, often leading to killing good people and taking merit. The ministers ordered the people to hurry up and send the "Measures for the Audit and Reward of Military Merit" and the "Measures for the Verification, Adjustment and Calculation of Military Ranks" compiled by the Huanzhou Regiment Training Institute, and submit them to the Imperial Court as soon as possible."

Liu Xi saw that he finished writing, and accepted it happily, and said with a sigh of relief: "Now the emperor should rest assured, the slaves and maids can also be steady, and even Concubine Lian can sleep well!"