Just after Li Longji killed his three sons in one day, and when Fang Chongyong was innocently imprisoned to "experience life", another major event happened in the DPRK and China.

Last year (the 24th year of the Kaiyuan Dynasty), Tibet's ambitions swelled and actually attacked Bolu (Ladakh region in eastern Kashmir) in a vain attempt to cut off the Silk Road.

It is one of the key nodes of the Silk Road, which connects the Indian subcontinent, Central Asia and the western and northwestern regions of the Tibetan Plateau.

The Bolu region itself is a lofty mountain, and its products are not worth fighting for by the Tang Dynasty and Tubo, but it is a key road on the Silk Road. If Bolu is completely controlled by the Tibetans, the four towns of Anxi will be exposed to the Tibetan army!

was beaten, and Bolu naturally wanted to send an envoy to Datang to ask for help.

Datang had to come forward to solve this problem, because if Tubo was allowed to mess around, the next step would be to fight with Tubo for the four towns of Anxi. The complete severance of the Silk Road is an intolerable and unacceptable thing for Datang!

In view of the fact that peace has been maintained with Tibet for many years, the two sides are at peace. So Li Longji only sent an envoy to Tibet to order him to withdraw his troops.

However, the political environment in Tibet has changed, and it has also changed its foreign policy, turning from conservative to offensive, and it has not obeyed the edict at all, and has brazenly attacked the state of Bolu.

Li Longji was extremely angry, but in view of the domestic situation, he held back for the time being.

It is worth mentioning that although Tibet is a strong country, its foreign policy and foreign exploration model is very stupid and clumsy, and it often does the kind of thing that costs 100 yuan but only benefits 10 yuan.

It is very good at undermining the interests of other countries, but it is not very concerned about maximizing its own interests. Often switch between the brainless beating and the brainless being beaten.

To put it simply, Tubo's own strong strength has not been effectively transformed into a channel for strengthening itself. The level of application of its foreign policy was much inferior to that of the Turks.

Recently, Hexi Jiedu made Cui Xiyi's attendant Sun Zhi into the court, reported that Cui Xiyi and the Tubo border general Qili Xu made peace, and beheaded Baiju as an alliance, so that the Tang State and Tubo in the border area of Hexi removed the garrison fort, forming a situation of demilitarization of the border area.

Therefore, Sun Zhi offered advice to the imperial court, and he could take this opportunity to send troops from Hexi (Liangzhou) to attack Tubo, and he was ashamed!

Although this could not directly recapture Bolu, it could greatly contain the military strength of Tubo and reduce the military pressure on the four towns of Anxi.

This matter had just been brought to the court for discussion, and then the courtiers from all walks of life quarreled again. Represented by the opinions of Zhang Jiuling, the right minister, and Li Linfu, the left minister, the courtiers were also divided into two distinct factions.

Zhang Jiuling believes that the expenditure of the imperial court has reached a very terrifying level, especially the scale of bureaucrats and officials in Chang'an, which is unprecedented!

Two years ago (that is, in the twenty-first year of Kaiyuan), the imperial court at that time, under the auspices of Li Linfu, made relevant statistics on this aspect:

The number of officials in Chang'an reached 17,686, and the number of other subordinate officials was as high as 57,416. And because of the door shade and the selection of the imperial examination, there are many people who have official qualifications, but have not yet been conferred official qualifications.

These people, together with the royal family, the children of officials, and all kinds of servants and supporters, formed a large group that was detached from agricultural production and needed to be supported.

According to conservative estimates, at least more than 200,000 people!

Now four years have passed, and the number of officials is only a little more!

With so many people, a large amount of central finance is consumed every year, and a large amount of grain, grass and materials are transported to Chang'an, which has almost brought the central finance to the brink of collapse.

At this time, someone actually proposed to fight Tibet, what did they think?

What about money? Who's coming out?

Whoever insists on sending troops to fight Tibet now, first stand up and fight the old man for 500 rounds!

Li Linfu's opinion is more direct: if you don't fight Tibet, the road from the Tang Dynasty to the Western Regions will be broken. This road is broken, and the imperial court can't even collect the commercial taxes and tariffs of Hu Shang, so the loss is more than trillions?

The caravans in Chang'an City to and from the Western Regions, the dazzling goods from the Western Regions in the West Market, and the related taxes with huge amounts and minimal losses, all of them will disappear!

No one can afford to lose that.

Anyway, the current situation of the people's livelihood in Chang'an, the situation of the imperial court raising officials and raising soldiers is the same thing, there has been no chaos after so many years, and it is impossible to change anything for a while.

War is not going to wait for you to get everything ready for it to happen again!

Instead of thinking about "throttling", it is better to think of ways to "open source".

The Tibetan border general Qili Xu swore a superstitious contract oath, isn't this the time to attack him unprepared? If you don't send troops at this time, when will you wait?

As for honesty and trustworthiness, it should also be viewed on a case-by-case basis. A savage like Tubo is no different from livestock in the eyes of my Tang Dynasty.

People can talk about honesty and trustworthiness among people, but what morality can be talked about between people and livestock?

To sum up: just rush, you can win, and you can say anything if you win.

Li Linfu's proposal was widely supported by the government and the opposition, but there were very few people who supported Zhang Jiuling, only a few officials from Zhongshu Province who were born in the imperial examination.

In fact, if you think about it, you can understand what is going on.

Because whether there is a war or not, according to Zhang Jiuling's thinking, the establishment of Beijing officials will definitely be cut, and at the same time, salaries and benefits will also be cut, and those hidden benefits will also be cut a lot.

Parents don't let their children eat enough, and children will still complain, not to mention those Beijing officials who are already pampered in Chang'an?

Sure enough, Li Longji followed Sun Xu's suggestion and sent a eunuch named Zhao Huicong as a supervisor, and returned to Liangzhou with him, urging Cui Xiyi to use troops against Tubo.

Be sure to be taken by surprise and don't leak the news!

As for things like killing three sons in one day, Li Longji has long been left behind. The war machine was about to be opened, and there was also an undercurrent inside and outside the court, and letters frequently traveled between Hexi and Chang'an.

The clouds of war loomed over the border between the Tang Dynasty and Tibet, and the situation began to tense again, as it had been ten years ago.

……

"Didn't you say you could go out in just one day? It's been three days, why are you still here? ”

Yan Zhuang looked at Fang Chongyong with a mocking face and asked.

"People stumble, horses stumble, and there are always accidents in life.

The people I waited for haven't come yet, Dali Temple has a good environment, I want to stay here for a few more days......"

Fang Chongyong sneered.

How beautiful he was in front of Yan Zhuang before, but now he is so miserable that he is slapped in the face.

What's wrong?

Fang Chongyong always felt that the progress of killing three sons in one day should not be like it is now, and if you want to close people, you don't always close Dali Temple!

Dali Temple is an institution that reviews cases across the country, but it is also a place where key prisoners are temporarily held.

Temporary, to be criminalized, these two are key words!

That is to say, many politically problematic officials, their first stop may be to go to Dali Temple to live for a few days, maybe after the emperor changes his mind, he can directly take them out of Dali Temple, and the official will be reinstated!

If the sentence is given, then it will be transferred from Dali Temple, and those who should be given will be distributed, and those who should be given death will be given death.

Moreover, the conditions of Dali Temple Prison were relatively good in the Tang Dynasty prison, and the guards were relatively strict and regular, and there was less interference from outside, so that a person who was imprisoned would not be poisoned by the jailer casually.

And I won't let the prisoners die of illness in prison!

What went wrong?

Fang Chongyong fell into deep thought, and he didn't care that he was also bad now, and it didn't look much better than Yan Zhuang.

At this moment, the door of the prison was opened, and Gao Lishi, who was wearing a yellow palace uniform, walked in with his hands behind his back, looking at Fang Chongyong with deep meaning.

"Let's go, the saint is invited."

Colliers said softly, his tone calm and indifferent.

Those who served by the emperor's side like this had developed a professional habit of being moody and angry. Sometimes a cold tone doesn't mean a cold mood, it's just a habit of getting used to it.

"The elder is a little late."

Fang Chongyong stood up, moved his muscles and smiled: "I thought I would be able to go out in one day." ”

"No matter how much you talk, I'm afraid that I'm going to be locked up for a year, and you won't leave?"

Colliers scolded with a smile.

"Let's go, let's go."

Fang Chongyong followed behind Gao Lishi, and then slowly walked out of the prison of Dali Temple Prison in Yan Zhuang's stunned eyes.

"Why is there such a big difference between people?"

Yan Zhuang looked at Fang Chongyong's departing back and couldn't help but sigh.

Fang Chongyong couldn't hear the helplessness and sourness in Yan Zhuang's heart at this moment, he followed Gao Lishi to the ox cart, and then came to the Xingqing Palace, where the two beautiful young ladies gave him a bath for an hour, and then changed into a comfortable brocade robe.

The garment was cut and sewn from white silk, and its material came from the Wen silk paid tribute by the Henan Prefecture (Zhi Luoyang, present-day Luoyang, Henan), and the price was very high.

The clothes are embroidered with a pattern called "Hunting Bunjin".

Among them, there are riding figures, galloping beasts, flying birds, and trees and flowers dotted in between, all concentrated in round clusters of flowers.

The outside of the group flowers is dotted with bead-shaped patterns, which are layered and compact.

This type of pattern, collectively known as the "Lianzhu Tuan Pattern", was a popular decorative pattern among the nobility at this time.

After learning this information from these two young ladies, Fang Chongyong didn't dare to ask how much this dress cost and how much labor it would cost.

All in all, the affairs of the aristocracy cannot be measured by money many times, and forcing is their pursuit!

What shocked Fang Chongyong even more was that he didn't need to dress himself, there were two beautiful young ladies to help him wear them! When he was bored, he asked these two beautiful young ladies how many people like them were in the palace?

The answer was, "Or more than 10,000."

So Fang Chongyong thought, a collection of thousands of favors, maybe this sentence is not an exaggerated rhetorical device, but a true description of the extravagance of the court.

Under the guidance of these two beautiful young ladies, Fang Chongyong walked into the main building of Xingqing Palace, and saw a middle-aged man wearing a dark blue round-necked robe, chatting with Gao Lishi, and the two of them were talking and laughing.

Needless to say, this is Li Longji.

Fang Chongyong couldn't help but sigh in his heart, Li Longji, the emperor, the controversy is too big, it is already so big that it is difficult to explain.

"I've seen a saint."

Fang Chongyong bowed to Li Longji and said.

"How do you know that I am the Son of Heaven?"

Li Longji put down the score in his hand, looked at Fang Chongyong and asked.

"If you can chat with General Gao here, if you are not a saint, can there be someone else?"

Fang Chongyong said cautiously.

"Don't be restrained, if you want to cut off your head, it will be cut off a long time ago. Let's talk about it, why did you bury Li Ying and them. Or do you not know who your father is? ”

Li Longji asked resentfully.

"Back to the saints, I just think that the dead should be buried in peace. The prince who was deposed and given to death is also the face of the royal family. The royal face is the face of a saint. ”

Fang Chongyong continued to salute and said.

"Forget it, I remember that you are young and ignorant, this matter will be stopped, and I will no longer pursue it. However, the few scholars who are messing around with you for the examination, I have already decided to let them fail in the imperial examination this year, no matter how talented they are, they will not be hired this year! ”

Li Longji waved his hand and said.

That's what he really thinks. Fang Chongyong is a half-grown child, and he is the son of a cronie of the Qiandi, and if he makes a mistake, if it does not cause a bad impact, it can be forgiven

And Zhang Xun and the others, who are already adults, are still scholars who participated in the scientific examination, and they actually participated in the mess. Children are not sensible, are you not sensible?

Just erasing these people from the list of the imperial examinations as a punishment is already for the sake of Fang Youde's face.

"Thank you for the grace of the saints."

Fang Chongyong continued to bow and salute, with a very humble attitude.

"In a few days, you can go to the country to study. I'm bored all day long, and it's easy to get into trouble. ”

Li Longji said indifferently.

Huh?

"Guozijian?"

Fang Chongyong was stunned for a moment, he hadn't figured out what this place was all about, but it felt familiar.

"At your age, if you don't study, what else do you want to do, what can you do?"

Li Longji looked at Fang Chongyong with a puzzled expression and asked.

Not every official in the Tang Dynasty could be taught by a famous teacher by his family. However, it is rare for Fang Youde to directly ignore his son, and most of the children of ordinary officials and eunuchs also have to mix up their qualifications in the Guozi Prison.

There is food and shelter, and school uniforms are also issued!

Guozijian is located in the west of Wubenfang in Chang'an, this square reaches the imperial city in the north, and is adjacent to Xingdaofang in the west, which is 350 steps wide from north to south, and 450 steps long from east to west (one step is about 1.65 meters).

Guozijian covers an area of half a square area, in addition to Guozijian, there are also Jinjuanyuan, Fang Xuanling's house reform of the innate view and many official residences.

In addition to the central office of the palace, this place is the place where the officials in Chang'an City gather the most.

I wanted to ask, "Can I not go", but out of the corner of his eye, he saw Gao Lishi nodding slightly at him quietly, Fang Chongyong had no choice but to fold his hands and salute: "Thank you for the grace of the saint." But there is one thing, please ask the saint to be gracious. ”

"You just say it."

Li Longji is in a good mood, and publicizing this matter will be of great benefit to make up for his broken character.

"On the way back to Chang'an, I met a small official named Yan Zhuang in Youzhou and was sent to Lingnan. He said he had been wronged by my father. Now that the imperial court is employing people, it is better to assign them to the town west of the river as a subordinate official, which can be regarded as making the best use of people.

If you are assigned to Lingnan, you are afraid of your life, why bother? ”

Fang Chongyong didn't forget Yan Zhuang and tried to intercede for him.

"Lux, you can help deal with this little thing. Take him home and walk through the back door of Xingqing Palace. ”

Li Longji looked relaxed, pointed at Fang Chongyong and said to Gao Lishi.

As for whether the whole thing was legal from beginning to end, he didn't care about it at all.

In Datang, no matter how big the law is, it can't be as big as a saint, so why bother talking all that nonsense?