A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Starting from the Village Chief

Chapter 290: Yishi Eight Schools of the Nine Gates General Administration
They captured Yizhou, Yizhou, Yuci and Pingyao.

Jiexiu was besieged, Taiyuan was besieged, Guzhou was besieged, Xijizhou was besieged,

The prince's excessive hunting in Yuanzhou caused more than half of his soldiers to desert.

Exhausted,

The emperor did not sleep well that night and attended court the next morning with dark circles under his eyes.

After the morning court session, the prime minister and important ministers were summoned for a court meeting.

The emperor's eyes were bloodshot, and he leaned listlessly on the dragon-patterned stool, looking at the purple-robed ministers in black gauze and black hats gathered at the steps of the Danchi.

He opened the gilded ice container, took out a piece of ice, and put it in his mouth.

The slight coolness finally made him feel a little more energetic.

"Your Majesty, I would like to borrow 30,000 elite soldiers to crush Wu Zhou and stabilize Hedong."

As soon as the court meeting began, Li Shimin could not wait to step forward and request to lead the expedition to Hedong.

Pei Ji, the Shangshu You Pushe, raised his eyes and stepped out holding an ivory tablet.

"Your Majesty, yesterday the King of Qin entered the palace with a sword, disturbing your presence. I request that the officials consider his punishment. A prince who has broken the law should be punished just like any commoner. The captain on duty at the gate yesterday was beheaded at the palace gate, and the King of Qin should also be held accountable. The King of Qin claims that he brought the sword in by mistake. If the eight proposals are followed to reduce his sentence, he should be sentenced to three years in prison, but can atone for his sin with copper, or be fined twenty catties of copper."

Li Yuan chewed ice cubes, making a crunching sound.

"Where is Sun Fujia, the Shaoqing of Dali?" the emperor called out his name.

Dali Qing Lang Chuzhi was absent from the court to pacify Shandong, so he appointed this Shaoqing.

A fine of twenty kilograms of copper was a trivial matter for the King of Qin, but if he was convicted for this, it would be far more than just twenty kilograms of copper.

Sun Fujia stepped out.

Faced with this difficult situation, he said bluntly: "If Your Majesty considers the King of Qin's achievements and his status as a prince, then the court will not punish him according to the law.

According to the law, there is no article in the Tang Dynasty Code that specifically talks about the ban on accidentally bringing weapons into the palace. We can only cite the articles on the mistakes made by the emperor in the official system law to compare and determine the punishment. If the imperial medicine is prepared and the original one is not as good as the original one, or if there is an error in the seal, the medical officer will be strangled; if the imperial meal is prepared and the food ban is violated by mistake, the chef will be strangled; if the imperial boats are not stable by mistake, the craftsmen will be strangled.

According to the law, the above mistakes are all considered as disrespect among the ten evils, and the eight proposals cannot reduce the sentence.

However, there is no specific law regarding bringing a sword into the palace, and it is not listed in the Ten Evils. It is just analogous to the above-mentioned mistakes made by the emperor, so the Eight Discussions can still be carried out."

Sun Fujia is also smart.

He pointed out that there was no clear legal provision on what crime should be charged, and the matter needed to be discussed in court by the ministers, who could reduce the sentence according to eight opinions.

The sweet potato was passed out again.

Li Yuan and Pei Ji did not really want to kill Li Shimin, they just wanted to use this incident to warn him.

After some discussion in the court, it was concluded that the King of Qin did not intentionally bring a knife into the palace to meet the emperor, and his crimes were not among the ten evil deeds, so he could be spared from death.

Even considering the King of Qin's status as a prince and his merits, he was only fined 20 kilograms of copper.

Li Shimin knelt there with a dark face, listening to the ministers discussing his crimes.

When the final result was a fine of 20 kilograms of copper, his face became even darker. They deliberately wanted to embarrass him and suppress his prestige.

Li Yuan chewed an ice cube and took in his son's expression.

But when he thought of the prince in Yuanzhou, who had hunted too much and caused more than half of his soldiers to flee, he chewed the ice even harder.

After chewing a piece of ice, Li Yuan slowly spoke.

"I hope the King of Qin will take this as a warning and refrain from violating the law. Remember to hand over the twenty pounds of copper later."

"I obey your order," Li Shimin gritted his teeth and stepped out to bow.

After accepting this humiliation, he continued to request to lead the troops.

The emperor handed a bright yellow scroll in front of him to Lu Kuan to read.

"The capital is prosperous, with strict secrets, strict police patrols, and heavy responsibilities. However, the Yumen Pass is far away, and the defense is in vain. The Jincheng Pass is a strategic point, and the Wei Hou is under the jurisdiction of the Wei Hou. Xuan Feng is the governor, and he is close to the wise. He is the Taiwei Shangshu Ling, the governor of Yongzhou, the governor of Shaanxi East Road, the Daxingtai, the right Wu Hou, the general, and the senior pillar state, the Qin Wang Shimin. The land is a vassal state, and the power is only for the heart and the body. He participated in three events, and his achievements were recorded in the two southern regions..."
He should be in charge of the Nine Gates and the Eight Schools. He should be in charge of the right side of the Yellow River and be considered a capable official. He can be sent to Liang, Gan, Zhao, Shansu, and Lanhe to command the military affairs of the Nine Provinces and to be the general manager of Liang Province. His titles of Grand Marshal, Minister of the Secretariat, Governor of Yongzhou, and Governor of the Eastern Shaanxi Road, Right Military Marquis, and Grand General, as well as Senior Pillar of the State, should remain unchanged.

Li Shimin was stunned for a moment.

When he had just won a great victory in his campaign against Xue Ju and was about to sweep across Longyou and Hexi, the emperor issued an imperial decree to transfer him to be the Minister of the Grand Secretariat of the Shaanxi East Circuit.

Now he requested to lead troops to attack Liu Wuzhou of Hedong, and only wanted 30,000 soldiers. As a result, the emperor issued another decree to appoint him as the governor of Liangzhou, in charge of the military affairs of the nine provinces.

The Nine Provinces, namely Liang, Gan, Gua, Shan, Su, Hui, Lan, He and Kuo, were the nine provinces established after Li Gui in Hexi was pacified.

"Your Majesty, Hexi has been pacified, and Yang Rengong has pacified Hexi. So which minister is needed to be in charge of Liangzhou?" Li Shimin asked.

"Yang Gongren, the Imperial Court Minister, is the Inspector General of Liangzhou," Li Yuan said.

"I am still the Grand Chancellor of the Eastern Shaanxi Province, and I am unable to handle everything else."

"You will temporarily lead Liangzhou!"

When he heard the word "remote leadership", Li Shimin knew that the emperor was just giving him an empty title, such as Governor of Liangzhou or Governor of Jiuzhou, which was nothing.

It seems that the emperor wants to use this to discourage him from volunteering to take command.

The emperor gave Lu Kuan several more imperial edicts.

The brothers An Xinggui and An Xiuren, who pacified Hexi, were both granted the title of Duke and appointed General.

Li Zhongwen, the Junior Secretary of the Ministry of Rites, along with Wang Xingmin, Liu Shirang and six other generals, underestimated the enemy and suffered a great defeat, resulting in the loss of troops and humiliation of the country. They were all dismissed from their posts and became civilians. They were allowed to serve in the army in plain clothes to atone for their sins.

Li Yi, the deputy general manager of the army, was not only innocent but also meritorious. He was awarded 1,000 pieces of silk, promoted to Jinzi Guanglu Dafu, and granted the title of Duke of Anding County.
Granted the title of Chief of the Lingshi Road Army,

He was appointed as the envoy with special powers, in charge of the military affairs of Lu, Jie and Hao states, and the inspector-general of Lu state.

The emperor once again made an exception and reused this young man who was able to win battles and stabilize the situation.

"The news from Bingzhou is that Li Yi surrounded Liu Wuzhou's general Huang Ziying with thousands of elite troops in Queshu Valley. Jiexiu City resisted and repelled the enemy general Xun Xiang.

Qi Wang Yuanji also led the Bingzhou soldiers to resist and repel Song Jingang's 20,000 troops.

The emperor, biting on an ice cube, issued an order to reinstate Prince Yuanji of Qi as governor of Bingzhou, ordering Yuwen Xin, Liu Dewei, Liu Zhenghui, Dou Dan, and others to assist the prince in defending Bingzhou. "Your Majesty, Yuanji is young and inexperienced in military affairs. With such a formidable enemy at hand, how can we leave Taiyuan to him? I request that troops be dispatched north to Hedong immediately to exterminate Wu Zhou. Otherwise, if we miss the opportunity, it will be difficult to remedy the situation later," Li Shimin lamented.

At this time, Yuanji's position as Bingzhou governor is restored. Isn't this a joke on Hedong?
You Pushe Pei Ji stepped out.

"Your Majesty, I am willing to share your worries and lead the army to Hedong."

"Okay," Li Yuan agreed immediately, "Appoint Pei Ji, the Right Servant, as the Chief of the Jinzhou Road Army, and Jiang Baoyi, the Left Guard General, as the Deputy Chief of the Army.

Tang Jian, the Minister of Internal Affairs, was appointed as the Chief of Staff, Xiaoji, the Prince of Yong'an, the Governor of Shanzhou, was appointed as the Military Secretary, and Liu Hongji, the General of the Right Guard and the Duke of Hejian, was appointed as the Chief of Staff.

In addition, Li Zhongwen, Liu Shirang and other generals were under the control of You Pushe.

"I also grant the Right Servant the privilege of acting at his own discretion."

"Li Yi, the commander-in-chief of the Lingshi Dao army, is under his control."

The emperor dispatched 40,000 troops to his old friend Pei Ji, including Li Yi in Lingshi. He also dispatched Li Xiaoji and Liu Hongji, two generals, from Shanzhou and Huaizhou, each with over 10,000 men.

More than 10,000 people were drawn from Guanzhong.

There were a total of 40,000 combat soldiers and 20,000 auxiliary soldiers. Li Yuan also mobilized all the resources he could. Only the newly formed Guanzhong Twelve Armies with 30,000 soldiers were left in Guanzhong, most of whom were newly selected government soldiers.

Li Yuan still trusted Pei Ji very much.

After all, he also sent Jiang Baoyi, the general of the Left Guard, and Liu Hongji, the general of the Right Guard, to join him in the expedition.

Tang Jian, the Minister of Internal Affairs, served as the Chief Secretary. He was also a meritorious official of Yuanmou and very capable. Li Xiaoji, the Prince of Yong'an, also served in Shanzhou for more than half a year.

Lingshi also has a lucky general named Li Yi.

Since Liu Wuzhou invaded Hedong, his performance has been only average.

In two months, they only captured the two county towns of Yuci and Pingyao. Li Zhongwen underestimated the enemy and fell into an ambush. They couldn't even take Jiexiu City, let alone Taiyuan.

Li Yuan felt that Shimin had been a bit too alarmist.
Even if Liu Wuzhou led 10,000 Turkic troops to invade, he only had more than 30,000 troops in total, so Taiyuan City could be fully defended.
With so many generals and elite soldiers, Pei Ji will certainly be able to quickly change the situation on the battlefield and wipe out Liu Wuzhou's army that dares to penetrate into Bingzhou. He may even be able to take advantage of the situation to recover the various states in northern Dai.

As long as Pei Ji doesn't make the same mistake as Li Zhongwen, it will be fine.

Even if Pei Ji's troops reached Lingshi, Huang Ziying's thousands of troops in Queshu Valley would be doomed to be annihilated.

Pei Ji is in charge of the troops of Jiang Baoyi, Liu Hongji, Li Xiaoji, and Li Yi, the four marching generals. Within three months, he should be able to defeat the invading Liu Wuzhou army.

Hexi has been pacified.
If we can stabilize Hedong again,

Then the Tang Dynasty will be able to free up its hands and concentrate on dealing with Wang Shichong of Luoyang, destroying the Zheng Emperor, taking Luoyang, and realizing my strategic plan of controlling the two capitals and the world.

Li Yuan believed that as long as the Tang Dynasty captured the two capitals, the overall situation in the world would become clear, and those small separatist forces and local powerful people would surely submit to the Tang Dynasty.

Unlike today,

Many aristocratic families were sitting on the fence, watching and betting on all sides, while some small powerful and aristocratic families simply retired to their hometowns and refused to take up official positions.

The Tang Dynasty is currently facing a serious shortage of officials, both in the central court and in local prefectures and counties. Many people are still waiting and watching, waiting for the situation to become clearer.

The court meeting is over,

Li Shimin angrily turned away, he really couldn't believe that his father would rather let Pei Ji take command than him. Could Pei Ji fight?
What else can he do besides being good at eating, drinking and having fun? In Li Shimin's view, Pei Ji's ability was far inferior to Liu Wenjing's, and he was not qualified to be the prime minister at all.

Not to mention asking him to lead the army now.

Jiezhou in Hedong, thousands of miles away.

On the tenth day of June, Dingwei, it was hot and windless.

On the top of Jiexiu City, the Tang Dynasty flags drooped low in the heat wave.

The commander licked his cracked lips and looked at the continuous Han army camps outside the city. Next to it was a Turkic felt tent with a white flag with a wolf painted on it.

"General, when will the reinforcements arrive? We have been holding out for two months. We have been besieging the city for two months and have run out of food and grass. What should we do?"

The guard's throat was dry and smoking. He took the water bag from his personal soldier, opened it and drank it quickly. However, even after drinking a belly full of water, he still couldn't quench his thirst, let alone his hunger.

The defenders of Jiexiu City have been out of food for three days.
Even wheat bran and chaff are now a hot commodity, fetching a higher price than grain in the past.

During the Grain in Ear season, the wheat outside the city was ripe, but they could not go out of the city to harvest it, let alone collect grain. Jiexiu had limited military forces, and they could barely defend the city. If they went out of the city, they were no match for the Mayi Han army under Xun Xiang, let alone the Turkic light cavalry.

The teams sent out to collect grain several times never came back, and the defending general had no choice but to stop sending people out of the city.

"If there's really no other way, then we can borrow grain from the wealthy families in the city."

"General, we've borrowed food several times, but we can't borrow any more."

The general looked back at the city.

There is a tall white tower in the north of the city, which he can see clearly from the city wall. The white tower is the nine-story pagoda of the famous Longquan Temple in the city.

"Longquan Temple, borrow grain from Longquan Temple. Everyone knows that Longquan Temple in Jiexiu City is the richest. The monk Daocheng's robes are made of purple gold, and there are many gold threads woven into the purple robes."

Longquan Temple owned many temple fields and workshops. It also lent money from the kitchen and used the Changsheng Treasury as collateral for pawning.

The wealthy families in the city have run out of food, but Longquan Temple must still have food, and definitely a lot of it.

The defending general had never looked for Longquan Temple before. These monks were not easy to mess with, especially the abbot Daocheng, who was given a purple gold cassock by the emperor and had always had a good relationship with the King of Qi in Bingzhou.

It is not easy to borrow his food, but he can't care about it now.

"Take your men to Longquan Temple and borrow grain from Daocheng. Borrow 3,000 shi first. You must return it after the battle and pay him interest according to the temple's lending rules."

"General, it's not easy to borrow grain from Longquan Temple. We went there before to borrow some, but we were kicked out before we even entered the temple. They have guardian monks."

"Would you rather starve to death or have a full meal? Warrior monks? Are their monk staffs more powerful than your bows and crossbows?"

"Do you really want to borrow it?"

"People are really starving and will eat each other. Why should we be afraid of a few bald donkeys? If they dare to stop us again, I will kill them without mercy. I will just raid his temple and confiscate all the grain." The general cursed with gritted teeth.

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(End of this chapter)