The Emperor ordered Zhao Tang

Chapter 89 If
The sycamore trees in the courtyard rustled and the lotus leaves swayed. It was still dark, but Wang Congxun got up early as usual. He went to bed at 10:00 p.m. and got up at 1:00 p.m. He had been used to that for fifteen years. There were no surprises, it was basically at this time.

When Chu heard the noise, she also sat up: "I'll go cook."

"Madam, you are pregnant, so please don't worry about anything. I will just eat two vinegar cakes." Wang Congxun touched his wife's face and let her sleep for a while.

"Go to the kitchen after three days, wash your hands and make soup, and sit down for a while." Chu gathered her hair and dressed and combed her hair quickly.

"Yes." Wang Congxun responded.

He picked up the Taibai Yinjing on the table and leaned against the window, enjoying the fresh morning breeze and reading by the oil lamp. Now his position has risen, he is a coach of a division and a fifth-rank Ningyuan general. He is no longer like before, hanging out with a group of soldiers all day and fighting over a few pieces of rags. The people he meets are becoming more and more diverse, and the affairs he handles are becoming more and more complicated. Xiao Wang has to learn from others' wisdom from books.

This book Taibai Yinjing was recommended to him by his well-educated and well-mannered wife, Mrs. Chu.

"In ancient times, good rulers did not reward benevolence. If they rewarded benevolence, people would compete to give and the country would be in chaos."

"If wisdom is not appreciated, then there will be competition for plans and political disorder."

"If loyalty is not rewarded, then people will compete to be upright, and the ruler will be in chaos."

“If you don’t reward ability, people will compete for achievement, and things will be in chaos.”

"Don't reward bravery. If you reward bravery, you will fight for the first place, and the battle will be in chaos..."

Bang! Seeing this, Xiao Wang was furious and slapped the windowsill with one hand. What a bullshit military book, it is totally useless! If you don't reward bravery, how can the soldiers fight? If you don't reward ability, who is willing to die? If the guy who wrote the book was his boss, he would have hacked him to death.

"Why is Wang Lang so angry?" Chu asked softly from the kitchen.

"There are mosquitoes." Wang Congxun stopped cursing and continued watching patiently.

"He who governs the people should be kind, seeks power with wisdom, serves the lord with loyalty, controls things with ability, and faces the enemy with courage. These five are the norm for scholars. If rewards are given for what they are, it will lead to contention, and contention will lead to political disorder. If there are more punishments and fewer rewards, there will be no punishments. If there are more rewards and fewer punishments, there will be no rewards. Use punishments to prohibit, and rewards to encourage, seek faults instead of seeking goodness, and people will become good by themselves. Rewards are civil. Punishments are military. Civil and military are the law of the army and the handle of the state..."

This is a good point. Xiao Wang nodded slightly and circled a sentence that touched his heart - use punishment to prohibit, use reward to persuade, look for mistakes instead of good deeds, and people will become good on their own.

After a stick of incense, the table was filled with hot breakfast. Two bowls of meatballs, a pot of mutton soup, a stack of cakes, and a plate of pickled vegetables. Chu carefully opened a wooden box and carefully took out a pinch of pepper from it.

"Eat."

"Thank you Madam, you can eat too."

"I plan to bring my parents and my two younger brothers and their families to—"

Before Chu finished speaking, Wang Lang said, "Your Majesty is my father, and my mother is mine. Madam, you are the one who makes the decision. The Sage is in need of men, and if my two brothers-in-law are willing to join the army and serve the Sage, they can serve as infantry lieutenants here."

"My second brother's martial arts skills are decent, but his temperament is extremely naughty..." Chu said worriedly.

"Madam, don't worry. I will discipline him myself." Wang Congxun was not surprised at all. He wanted to see how naughty his brother-in-law was.

Chu just smiled and said nothing. After a pause, she continued, "I heard that Wang Lang will be the martial arts teacher of King De. He needs to control his temper and teach patiently."

She had been the personal maid of the Concubine Shu for seven years. She had watched the King of De grow up and had also helped to take care of the King of De and Princess Pingyuan. She was half a foster mother. Now her husband was the King of De's martial arts teacher... As long as Wang Lang did not rebel and the imperial court did not collapse, the Wang and Chu families would be rich and prosperous for a hundred years.

"I'm saving my mind." After breakfast, Wang Congxun wiped his mouth and said, "Change your clothes and follow me into the palace. The emperor will hold a drill in the Jinwuzhangyuan and have a grand feast."

……

The military drill, also known as the military parade, is a military exercise that involves marching in step, practicing martial arts, and showing off one's military bearing. In a nutshell, it is to enhance the prestige of the ruler in the face of actual war. After all, the emperor will not fight on the front line, so if you want to control the hearts of the army, you have to do more drills, give more rewards and punishments, and show up more often so that the warriors can get to know you.

Xuanzong, Suzong and Daizong are the three saints who performed the most drills.

Xuanzong was extremely strict in military discipline. If someone was not satisfied with the military parade, he would kill them. Once, he got so angry that he executed the assistant minister of the Ministry of War.

Suzong's situation was even worse than the current emperor's. At that time, he was completely dependent on the Shuofang Army. During the military parade, the warriors pointed at Suzong and criticized him, or chatted with his back to him. Daizong was also very annoyed. Mutinies were frequent, and people would rebel at any time. The military supervisor of Tonghua said something wrong, which angered the Jiedushi Zhou Zhiguang, and he was immediately killed. Zhiguang threatened: I am rebelling for you!

However, the two saints Su and Dai had been in front of the army for a long time, and many of the soldiers knew their names, so it was difficult for the warriors to cause a big disturbance. Often, they were tied up by the soldiers before they even started.

Emperor Xizong, the champion of Cuju, also reviewed the troops twice, which had some effect. When Huang Chao entered the pass, the military leaders surrendered or fled. However, the Shen Ce Army still had more than 10,000 soldiers who responded to the call and marched westward to meet the enemy with ten days of dry food.

In this era of rebellion, these 10,000 people did not desert or rebel, but fought against hundreds of thousands of bandits. Even novels don't dare to write about this. Well, it's a bit like Zhou Yuji defending Ningwu Pass.

The emperor, under pressure from the situation, has a very tight grip on military power, and the frequency of drills is also exaggerated. Every three to five days, he summons hundreds of soldiers from a certain department, a certain wing, or a certain city to conduct surprise military exercises. While checking the appearance of the soldiers, he constantly strengthens the emperor's influence among the grassroots warriors.

No matter how useful it is, at least it's useful every time you do it.

If we can hold out for three to five years, and as long as we don't suffer a major defeat and the existing 50,000 troops don't suffer a devastating blow, we won't have to worry every day about rebellion by the big soldiers.

"Boom, boom, boom." Inside the Jinwuzhang courtyard, the drum beats non-stop.

On the bluestone-paved parade ground, 900 knights of the cavalry Si Tian Xingdu were neatly arranged in two cone formations, the left wing in the west and the right wing in the east, facing each other across the open space in the middle.

The war horses were snorting, covered in armor, and neighing from time to time. The knights held their lances upright, and looked over in rows, shining silver in the sunlight. There was also a mass of white banners, fluttering in the wind.

"Boom, boom, boom!" Two drums.

The left wing began to move. They looked at each other, kept their distance and pace, and moved slowly. After a hundred steps, the four hundred cavalrymen on the left wing organized their ranks and formed a crescent-shaped arc formation. The horses also became faster, with pairs of horses' legs moving in unison, clattering forward, with only the knights giving the order to charge.

"Kill!" The knights in the first row roared, stabbing the air with their spears in both hands three times in a row. Then they squeezed their horses' bellies and quickly dispersed from left to right to make room.

The second row came out again and became the new first row. The original first row returned to the last row to rest, rest their horses, and replenish their energy. This cycle of row after row alternating to attack was called a charge.

"Dangdang!" The sound of gold suddenly rang out, and the flag officer waved a small flag.

"Herod——" The knights on the left wing grabbed the reins, raised their lances, stopped where they were, and quickly adjusted the distance between them. Then they dismounted, placed their lances close to their bodies and forward at their feet, and knelt down.

"Boom, boom, boom." The drums sounded again, and it was time for the right wing to show their training level.

"They charged in a staggered manner, without any disorder or noise. Can the people of Bian do as well as my warriors?" On the top of the Red Gate Tower, the saint glanced at the generals and asked.

"I, Li Situ, have fought with Youzhou, Yunzhong, Chao thieves, and Bian people." Zhazhu shook his head and sneered, "The Chao thieves are mostly cavalrymen who were originally infantrymen. They can't even sit still when they charge. In the battle of Shayuan to suppress Huangye, tens of thousands of them were chased and killed by our hundreds of cavalry. Their dog meat is not good enough to be served on the table! The people of Bian are similar. They can't keep their men and horses in order, and they are not good at cavalry."

"Have you ever fought against their infantry?"

"I've fought them, they are really good. They use strong bows, powerful crossbows, iron spears and short guns, and they are hard to resist." Zhazhu seemed to have a shadow. In the battle of Taihang Mountain, Li Cunxiao led more than 10,000 elite cavalry to fight against Ding Hui's infantry, and suffered a heavy loss: "The only strong cavalry are Xiasui, Hedong, Youzhou, Chengde, Weizhou, Zibo and Qingzhou. They have horse farms, and most of the cavalry have been cavalry for generations."

The reason why these cavalrymen of the saints are excellent is that they have good sources of soldiers. The original 7000 knights of the Longjie Army were all recruited from Xia, Yin, Ling and other states. After a little training, they can form a very good combat effectiveness. After winning two more battles, they will be even stronger. In the battle of Meibize, as the main force of the frontal charge, the Longjie Army has proved their level.

Half an hour later, the 900 cavalrymen of Tianxingdu completed their drill.

The performances of both the left and right wings were excellent!

These days, the saint has taken all 14 cavalry units under the Cavalry Department out for a walk. Except for the four new units that were expanded with nearly war horses seized from the destruction of Qi, their riding skills, archery skills, and lance skills are still a little lacking, but everything else is pretty much the same.

If there were no pastures near Chang'an, and setting up pastures would occupy arable land, the saint would want to expand the cavalry to 2400. Forgot, there are more than Feilong soldiers in Feilongyuan, all of them are cavalrymen - the legacy of the eunuchs, and currently Zhang Chengye is leading them.

After the drill, the emperor and Tianxing held a feast. This means the emperor and his subjects sit on the ground and eat together. If an imperial decree is issued, it means that the people are allowed to gather together for entertainment and drinking. At this time, the atmosphere is relaxed and open, and it is not uncommon for the emperor and the people to sit at the same table to eat. When Xuanzong was living in Xingqing Palace, he often invited passers-by to the palace to eat. The previous emperor entertained the soldiers more than once, but this phenomenon did not occur later.

The palace servants were busy preparing tableware and meals. The food was simple, just daily meatballs, steamed cakes, coarse cakes, seasonal fruits, eggplants, broad beans, barbecue, rice, honey water and the like. Compared with formal banquets, it was very relaxed, without rules and restrictions, and the atmosphere was casual. Of course, for the soldiers, the best thing was to be full and take as much as they wanted. "Your Majesty!" Wang Congxun came with his wife Chu, and ran over to greet him from a distance.

The saint flew a cushion over and pointed to the empty seat next to him: "Sit."

Well, there must be more than 900 soldiers in the capital, there are also generals from various departments of the two divisions, accompanying ministers, concubines, heirs, etc. This time, I brought Dalang Yu, Princess Pingyuan, Sanlang Yu, Silang Qi, and their mothers. Come over and show your face so that everyone can get to know you.

It's not just acquaintances. The civil officials and military officers present brought their families with them. Everyone gathered together to eat and drink, the men talked about men's military affairs, and the women talked about women's topics. In short, it increased the cohesion of the small group, promoted feelings, and spread the influence of the royal family. If anyone had any difficult and complicated problems, or if there was a disagreement between the monarch and his subjects, they could communicate.

The saint actually doesn't like such noisy occasions, but this is the emperor's job. Taizong is doing it, so why shouldn't you do it?

"Han Yu, the envoy of the Imperial Academy, is well-versed in ancient and modern knowledge and is familiar with all schools of thought. I cannot leave him for even a moment." The sage pulled Li Yu from behind He Yuqing and let him meet his confidants. It doesn't matter if the child can't tell them apart, as long as the adults know him.

"Bow to your master."

Being stared at by dozens of people, little Li Yu was a little scared, but when he heard the word "salute" and saw He Yuqing winking at him, he immediately bowed to Han Yu. He was quite smart, but he didn't know what to call Han Yu.

"Call me Master." The saint sighed.

"Master."

"Your Highness was born a god. It is a blessing for the country to have such a son." Han Wei accepted the salute, returned the salute, and then held little Li Yu in his arms.

The sage originally wanted Han Wei to concurrently serve as the deputy envoy of the Yanzi Treasury and judge of the Three Departments, as the successor of the Grand Commandant, and to replace Du Rangneng as the prime minister after the Grand Commandant passed away. But no matter what he said, Han Wei just laughed it off, saying that he was not worthy of the position. The sage still had to do ideological work slowly.

……

"This is the Imperial City Envoy, Suzaku Chunming Street Envoy and Infantry Commander, Jiandu Military Commander He——"

"Uncle!" Little Li Yu called out before the saint had finished speaking.

Everyone laughed when they heard this.

……

"Ningyuan General, Infantry Division Chief Instructor Wang Congxun, in charge of the Infantry Division's 700 instructors, teaching tens of thousands of soldiers martial arts, my hand." When he arrived in front of Wang Congxun, the sage emphasized: "If a person loses his hands, he is a disabled person who is bullied."

The little king went behind the scenes to train troops and his contributions were not visible to others, but that did not mean that the saint had forgotten him.

"From now on, General Wang will be your martial arts master."

This time, Li Yu bowed and called him "master". He looked so serious and cute.

"Everything can be abandoned, but martial arts cannot. Since Your Highness is the eldest son, you should be self-reliant, get up at the sound of the cock-crow, and hone your military skills. In the future, you should gallop in the arena and build meritorious services, so that you can win the hearts of both Chinese and foreigners and avoid being spied on." The little prince looked at little Li Yu with the eyes he would use to look at the crown prince, and his words contained a hidden warning.

"Old Wang, feel free to be ruthless and teach him well." He Chuyu said with a smile.

"It should be so." Xiao Wang raised his eyebrows and glared at Xiao Li Yu, giving him a preliminary impression as a martial artist - stern.

……

"Grand Marshal, Duke Du." The saint brought his son to Du Rangneng again and said with a stern face, "There are more than ten thousand officials in the Southern Court and the Northern Court. My father and I, tens of thousands of soldiers, and the people of the three prefectures all rely on the wealth managed by the Grand Marshal to support us. The court is the southern sky, and the Grand Marshal is a pillar. Without the pillar, the sky will collapse."

The sage explained it as simply and directly as possible so that children could understand it.

Little Li Yu knew this old man. It was because he had seen him too many times. A few years ago, when the saint was still the Prince of Shou, he fled with his wife and the late emperor in Fengxiang, and the Taiwei even hugged him.

"General!" Li Yu shouted loudly and bowed respectfully.

"Your Highness, please stand up." Du Rangneng stroked his beard, looked at the crowd and said with a smile: "I, the officials and the soldiers, will ensure that our descendants will be rich and prosperous!"

This loud and unobtrusive flattery made He Yuqing, who was watching silently, very happy.

The sage was not so optimistic. The quality of the heir was directly related to the rise and fall of the dynasty and the life and death of meritorious officials. If the eldest son performed too poorly and his words and deeds caused concern to the inside and outside when he grew up, Li would also consider other sons.

At this moment, the so-called resurgence is equivalent to starting a business to conquer the world. Everyone present here today is a shareholder. To ensure dominance, we have to consider the interests of everyone.

After strolling around leisurely, everyone continued to eat and drink, and the saint took He Yuqing and Li Yu to talk for a while.

"Da Lang, the people you are asked to meet today are all elders who are worthy of your trust in life and death. If..." The saint lowered his voice and was a little sad: "If one day, your father is suddenly killed, or poisoned, or drowned, or defeated in the chaos of the army. Then you and your mother will be orphans and widows, and you will have to rely on these people until you grow up."

It’s hard to say for sure, but there’s nothing we can do except believe it.

This is probably how things are in the world. Everything that is carefully protected may be destroyed in an instant if a rogue loses money in gambling. He is like a lonely traveler in the desert, or a small boat in the waves, with too little to rely on. The fate of a family and the ideal of saving ordinary people from suffering are too ethereal.

"Ye Ye is the emperor, how could he be killed? What is a rebellious army?" asked little Li Yu.

"People are fickle. They will kill you whenever they are unhappy. Just like me, I will hit you if I want to, because you can't beat me. A chaotic army... after a defeat, the army will be in chaos. When there is chaos, anyone could die."

"Can we not go to war?"

"No."

"Then can't you escape in advance when you are defeated? Even when my aunt hit me, I knew to run away."

This……

Alas, the child was still young and didn't get angry: "Also, you have to remember - a man without integrity cannot stand, a promise is worth a thousand gold, you can't just give him an official position or make a promise without thinking. Finally, you can't punish people casually, you must not do that."

"why?"

"The emperor's punishment is like a poisonous snake in the dark, you never know when it will spring out, so others will be afraid. But if you release the snake at every turn, others will understand your pattern and come up with countermeasures. It is the same as holding a sword but not firing it, or a donkey in Guizhou but not braying. Remember what I said."

Li Yu shook his head.

"Don't shake your head. Speak, otherwise people will think you are a fool." The saint's face darkened.

"Why should the emperor be angry? Dalang is still a boy." He Yuqing advised.

"This boy is not like me." The sage sighed. He always shook his head and kept silent. In the future, when the ministers report things, they don't know what to do, will they also shake their heads? This bad habit must be changed.

"Everyone!" Deputy Privy Councilor Yang Kezhen came hurriedly, holding two memorials and waving from a distance.

"Come and talk."

"Urgent report from Youfufeng Guo County." Yang Kezheng looked at He Yuqing, whose eyes were red, and handed over the memorial, saying, "The army in Fengzhou was in chaos. The soldiers who stayed behind, thinking that Man Cun had been in the expedition to Shu for a long time and had not returned, supported General Zhou Zongliang as their leader. Zongliang claimed to be the Defense Commissioner of Xingzhou and Fengzhou, and the rear guard of the Ganyi Army. The shogunate advised against it and killed two military governors and judges."

"In addition, Luoyang reported to the inspection office that the tribute from the southeast provinces of Zhejiang, Guangzhou, Fujian, etc., was blocked in Bianzhou. The people of Bianzhou made things difficult for them, and bribes were useless. The tribute from various provinces is now stopped in Xuanwu, with a value of about five million coins..."

The saint took a deep breath and nodded gently: "I understand. The matter of Quanzhong closing the canal transport should be kept secret for the time being except for the prime minister to avoid shocking people."

(End of this chapter)