The two generals of Nanya were both from the first rank, and they were awarded the title of earl, and the rank was that of the upper protector, which was the same as that of the metropolitan governor of the border army.

Now there is naturally a gap, and Li Tianrun and Xiao Wangzhi are obviously beyond them.

Li Jingda was jealous of this but did not dare to squeak, he commanded the three armies of the Southern Ya did not make much contribution in the war in northern Xinjiang, and the other point is that the Dingwei army commanded Xu Wen to collaborate with the enemy and commit treason, and after verification, he was raided and exterminated.

Although he was not affected, his majesty's lax responsibilities could not escape, so he was very honest during this time.

If we analyze the court pattern of the Southern Qi Dynasty from a macro perspective, it can be roughly divided into the Heavenly Family, the Nandu magnates, the Jiangnan clan, the new civil servants and the military forces.

The context of the army is relatively simple, mainly the two main forces of the northern border army under the command of Xiao and Li, and the Beijing army under the command of the Privy Council.

The core of the military is the privy envoy, the general, and the two generals.

Now that Guo Congyi is clearly opposing the strengthening of the border army, and the general Wang Yan is silent as usual, Li Jingda feels that the Son of Heaven should not force it.

When Liu Shouguang's voice sounded beside him, he even thought that there was something wrong with his ears, and turned his head in disbelief, only to see Liu Shouguang looking at the Son of Heaven without squinting, his expression was calm and resolute.

Li Daoyan glanced at the Son of Heaven above lightly, and his mood was not heavy, but he breathed a sigh of relief.

Now it seems that Liu Shouguang should be His Majesty's secret hand, and he will come forward to support his resolution at a critical moment.

The old man's mind quickly appeared Liu Shouguang's family background and life, and he quickly judged that the general had no personal relationship with the governor of the border army, and thought that the Son of Heaven gave him some kind of promise, such as promoting him to be a privy envoy in the future, and only such a temptation could make Liu Shouguang express his position so resolutely.

The old man never looked down on the Son of Heaven, on the contrary, he knew very well that this king's city government and forbearance, and in the past ten years, the hidden dragon Yu Yuan has accumulated strength, and he will not still be alone.

Instead of secretly speculating on the methods of the Son of Heaven all the time, it is naturally better to show the carriage and horses like this now.

He didn't immediately stand up to refute Liu Shouguang, and stood calmly in place, not saying a word.

What Li Daoyan can figure out, Guo Congyi can naturally know it, he quietly turned his head to look at Liu Shouguang, and said indifferently: "I would like to hear the general Gao Zhi." ”

"In front of the privy council, how dare the last general judge judge it with a high opinion."

Liu Shouguang lowered his head slightly, and his tone sounded very respectful, but the words that came out later were a little sharp: "What the privy council and the left minister said just now are reasonable, the difficulties of the imperial court are indeed true, and it is difficult to support the border army to continue to carry out large-scale expeditions." However, after repeated consideration, the last general still felt that passive defense was not a long-term solution, and Pseudo Yan and Jing Dynasty would inevitably make a comeback. ”

He paused for a moment, and his expression was solemn: "Ladies and gentlemen, the enemy on the north bank of the Hengjiang River will not give up the attempt to go south, and it is just wishful thinking to seek peace by dividing the river. ”

For his straightforward and earnest statement, the ministers in the palace looked pensive, and most of them did not think so.

Whether it is the puppet Yan or the Jing Dynasty, various examples in the past 12 years have proved that they cannot capture Huaizhou and Jingzhou.

Since Jiangnan can maintain the years of peace, why is it necessary to make a big move on the Northern Expedition?

If the Qi army has a crushing advantage in the face of the enemy, they don't mind waving their flags and shouting to become a famous minister in the prosperous world, maybe they will be able to leave a name in history. However, people must know how to recognize their own strength, can Daqi exhaust the strength of the whole country and fight under Heluo City?

If the Qi army was really so powerful, and if the Jing Dynasty iron cavalry was really vulnerable, how could the war in the north be so aggrieved.

Guo Congyi was keenly aware of the atmosphere in the hall, so he did not immediately refute Liu Shouguang's opinion.

At this time, a Wenchen stood up and said: "General Liu, the lower officials don't know where the four words of dividing the river and ruling come from?" His Majesty mentioned the Northern Expedition, but no one in the DPRK and China has ever objected, but it is necessary to take into account the actual situation. This time, more than 120,000 soldiers need to be compensated and rewarded for the victory in Jiangbei, and the lower officials roughly estimate that at least three million taels of silver are needed. ”

Liu Shouguang raised his eyes and saw that it was Li Shizhi, the waiter of the Criminal Department, and the eldest son of Li Daoyan, the left minister.

It is not uncommon for fathers and sons to be officials in the same dynasty, but it is relatively rare for both fathers and sons to hold high positions like the Li family.

Liu Shouguang said calmly: "Li Shilang is reasonable, but there is always a priority in the various expenses of the imperial court. In the general's view, the most important thing at the moment is to strengthen the strength of the border army, and other aspects can be temporarily suppressed. ”

There was a commotion among the ministers.

Qu Fenghua, the waiter of the Ministry of Works, immediately sneered and said: "General Liu, there are regulations on all the uses of the imperial court, and now every yamen is tightening their belts to live. Take the Ministry of Industry as an example, the official road from the capital to Chengzhou has not yet been completed, just because the silver is not abundant. Now the general thinks that the imperial court should squeeze it again and take out the silver to enhance the strength of the border army, why don't you first reduce the use of the six armies of the southern government under the general, and set an example for everyone? ”

Liu Shouguang's proposal seemed to poke a hornet's nest, and after Qu Fenghua made a clear statement, senior officials from other ministries also spoke out against it.

Of course, the silver of the imperial court is not arranged at random, and there is a certain plan every year, of which the military has to occupy a large part, after all, the supply of hundreds of thousands of troops is very expensive.

Although the victory in Jiangbei is inspiring, the follow-up expenditure is also a headache. In addition, now that it is approaching the end of the year, many yamen are worried about the silver, and they are thinking about whether they can fight for some money from the treasury, but Liu Shouguang wants to take advantage of the fire, how can it not attract public anger?

For a time, this general from the first rank seemed to have become the target of public criticism, and his remarks against and criticism were very loud.

Looking at the turbulent scene in front of him, the anger in Li Bingxue's eyes gradually faded, turning into heavy disappointment and indifference.

This is the court where the soldiers of the border army sacrifice their lives and deaths to serve?

She sneered softly and turned her head to look at Lu Shen, only to find that there was no disappointment on his face, but rather thoughtfulness.

Noticing the gaze next to her, Lu Shen moved closer to her, and tried his best to lower his voice and said, "I know Your Majesty's intentions." ”

Li Bingxue said puzzledly: "What do you mean? ”

Lu Shen said softly: "If I guess correctly, Your Majesty is inviting you into the urn." ”

Li Bingxue's eyes flowed, and he looked forward with a little curiosity, only to see that the general Liu Shouguang was facing the siege of more than ten purple ministers, and Yuan Yue was calm and calm, and he didn't seem to care at all.

The privy envoy Guo Congyi was originally in a leisurely mood, he thought that Liu Shouguang would have amazing ideas when he came forward, but he didn't expect to repeat the same old tune, counting on the various departments of the court to take out silver to support the promotion of the border army, this is simply a fool's dream, and he will naturally be besieged by the ministers.

It stands to reason that this matter should stop here, the Son of Heaven must not go against the ideas of the vast majority of important ministers and stubbornly push forward, but Guo Congyi found that Liu Shouguang was standing extremely calmly, and the Son of Heaven on the dragon chair did not have any resentment, at this moment he couldn't help muttering in his heart, and then turned his head to look at Li Daoyan.

At this time, Li Daoyan looked at him, and the two of them looked at each other, and they could see that there was incomprehension in each other's eyes.

The noise gradually stopped, and in the face of the direct and fierce siege of the ministers, Liu Shouguang spat on his face, and did not have any words of rebuttal from beginning to end.

A calm voice rang out at the right time.

"Qu Shilang, this official should have heard it correctly, just now you said that the official road from the capital to Chengzhou has not been repaired?"

Qu Fenghua's heart tightened for some reason, and when he looked up, he saw that the person who spoke was Xue Nanting, the middle-aged man with a clear face, looking at him indifferently.

Xue Nanting was born in the Xue clan of Qingyuan, and is a very powerful family in the local area, and has always been as famous as the Jinlin Li clan. But the high-ranking officials of the court never thought that Xue Nanting was the representative of the family gate, but classified him into the faction of the newly promoted Wenchen. There are a lot of complicated past events involved, and I won't repeat them here.

Qu Fenghua concentrated and replied cautiously: "Back to Xue Xiang, only about seventy percent of the progress has been completed at present, and the silver deposit of the Ministry of Industry has been exhausted, so we can only wait until next year to continue construction." ”

"Oh."

Xue Nanting replied lightly and did not continue to ask.

Qu Fenghua was puzzled, and he couldn't figure out what the prime minister was trying to do when he suddenly interjected.

However, Xue Nanting's opening was like a signal, and then another civil official stepped forward.

He was about forty years old, looked resolute, and faced the Son of Heaven on the dragon chair and said, "Your Majesty, the minister has this music." ”

Li Duan bowed his head slightly and said, "Come on." ”

After this civil official spoke up, the Duancheng Hall immediately fell silent, and the previous civil servants who besieged Liu Shouguang quietly retreated, obviously not wanting to cause the slightest trouble.

Because this person's name is Xu Zuo, the official residence is in the left imperial history, and he is the second product.

In terms of real power, he is far inferior to the prime minister, the privy councillor and even the six Shangshu, but this Xu Zhongcheng is definitely the most difficult character in the hearts of hundreds of officials.

He is not only outspoken and daring, but also known as a clear name, and has considerable influence among the literati in Daqi.

In the seventh year of Jianwu, if Li Duan hadn't come forward to stop him, Xu Zuo's impeachment of the Ministry of Shangshu almost made the other party isolate himself from the court.

After seeing Xu Zuo come forward, Qu Fenghua suddenly felt a chill in his heart, and looked up at his teacher, Li Daoyan, the left minister, but he could only see the back of the old man.

Under the nervous gaze of the ministers, Xu Zuo said in a cold tone: "Your Majesty, the ministers impeached Qu Fenghua, the squire of the Ministry of Labor, for being corrupt and corrupt, colluding with local businessmen, accepting bribes on a large scale, and embezzling the silver deposited by the Ministry of Industry. From the eighth year of Jianwu to this year, the clansmen of Qu Shilang's hometown invested in 16 businesses, and the Qu family built seven manors in the local area, which were placed in the names of different clansmen, but they were all Qu Shilang's private property. ”

There was a dead silence in the Duancheng Palace.

Qu Fenghua kept swallowing his saliva, and his body trembled involuntarily.

(End of chapter)