Emperor Taizong's Growth Plan

Chapter 326

In the Hall of Mental Cultivation, the memorials processed and commented by the cabinet were continuously sent to Xiao Cheng.

Government affairs, front-line military affairs, grain and grass transportation, material allocation... Governing the country requires daily handling of trivial and complicated affairs, which is already a headache and overwhelmed!
Although there are Zhuge Liang, Di Renjie and other talents in the current cabinet to help Xiao Cheng handle government affairs.

However, since most of the current six chief officials are former court officials, although they are barely capable of handling government affairs, they are not really effective, and it still adds a lot of unnecessary workload to Xiao Chengping.

At this moment in the Hall of Mental Cultivation, Xiao Cheng looked at the memorial in his hand and frowned.

Looking up at the minister kneeling in the hall, he suppressed the anger in his heart and snorted coldly:

"Gong Jing, I entrusted the Ministry of War to you, is this how you explained to me?"

The power of the emperor is like the deep and the sea.And because of many things after ascending the throne, Xiao Cheng's prestige became more and more high, and the courtiers in Chinese and Chinese were both respectful and fearful, and even when it was time to play right in front of Xiao Cheng, they became more and more cautious.

At this time, Xiao Cheng only slightly showed a trace of sullenness, and the atmosphere in the whole Hall of Mental Cultivation suddenly became extremely oppressive.The palace people serving on the side subconsciously held their breath, not daring to make a sound.

And Gong Jing, who was kneeling in the palace, was even more cramped at this time.

Hearing Xiao Cheng's accountability, Gong Jing broke out in cold sweat on his forehead, trembled slightly, and stammered:
"Please, Your Majesty, Your Majesty, forgive me!"

Seeing his appearance, Xiao Cheng became even angrier in his heart, slapped Yu An violently, and cursed:
"Look at the Ministry of Households. Even the rewards and salaries have been prepared long ago. As a result, your Ministry of War has the assistance of the Governor's Office of the Five Armies. Today, you have not even completed the statistics of the military exploits of the frontline soldiers, and you are still licking your face." Let me forgive you?"

Now that the battle on the front line has stopped for a while, it is natural to start rewarding meritorious deeds.This matter is related to the morale of the army, so it is naturally the top priority.On the side of Yan Song of the Household Department, the salary, rewards, etc. were all prepared early.

As a result, when he arrived at the Ministry of War, he got stuck instead!

It has been half a month since the frontline battle report was sent back, but the Ministry of War has not finished sorting it out.The matter of reward was directly delayed because of the Ministry of War, which is why today Xiao Cheng summoned Gong Jing, Minister of the Ministry of War, to ask him to be held accountable.

Gong Jing also knew that he was not doing well this time, so he could only cry and plead guilty while defending himself:
"Please calm down, Your Majesty! It's not because I didn't do my best. It's because the situation on the front line has been tense during this period. The allocation of ordnance and the statistics of dead soldiers all need to be handled by the Ministry of War. There is really a shortage of manpower, and the officials are exhausted. Delay."

Looking at Gong Jing who kept apologizing, Xiao Cheng wanted to explode, but he held back.

Because Xiao Cheng knew very well that Gong Jing did not try his best, nor was he not loyal enough.It is because his ability is too general that this happens.

On the Goldfinger panel, his literature, wisdom, and dominance are all around seventy.Such ability is sufficient for the ruling party.But it would be a bit embarrassing for him to be in charge of the military department of Yunguo, and to coordinate the affairs of soldiers, horses, soldiers and weapons in the country!
After all, it's not a game. If a talent comes, he can directly accept an official position like Shangshu Prime Minister.The promotion of officials above the court should have its own rules and regulations, and Xiao Cheng can't confer officials just by looking at the attribute panel of the courtiers!
If it wasn't for the lack of qualifications of the talents who came through the Ceka and the imperial examination, why would Xiao Cheng do this!
Acknowledging Gong Jing as Minister of the Ministry of War was Xiao Cheng's own choice at the beginning, so he should have been mentally prepared.At this time, he naturally didn't want to vent his anger. He immediately took a deep breath and said coldly:

"From the cabinet, I have dispatched several people to your Ministry of War to assist in government affairs. Within three days, the first and last must be dealt with!"

Hearing this, Gong Jing's eyes were red, he kowtowed heavily, and said in a trembling voice:

"My lord, thank you for your understanding!"

With a cold face, Xiao Cheng said to the little eunuch beside him:

"Decree, Zhuge Liang, Zheng Derong, and Xiang Cai, as the cabinet, will be given the title of head of the Ministry of War, and assist in the affairs of the Ministry of War!"

When the little eunuch heard the order, he immediately complied, and left with Gong Jing.

Xiao Cheng sighed softly, and leaned on the dragon chair wearily.

Speaking of which, among the current six departments, it is the Ministry of Households that Yan Song is acting on behalf of, and the Ministry of Punishment that Wen Tiren is in charge of, and the two are the most efficient.

These two people are the best at guessing what they want.Working under Xiao Cheng's subordinates, of course, cannot be measured by the original performance in history.But even if Xiao Cheng knew this very well, every time he wanted to praise the Ministry of Criminal Affairs and the Ministry of Household Affairs for their effective work, when he saw their names, he always felt inexplicably absurd.

Thinking of this, Xiao Cheng shook his head slightly, and said in a deep voice:
"It's still not enough!"

Feng Bao, who was waiting on the side, heard the words, and immediately asked cautiously:

"What is your Majesty saying is not enough?"

Naturally, Xiao Cheng doesn't have enough talents under his command now!
At first, I thought it was almost enough, but now I look at the Six Ministries of the Central Committee, Dali Temple, Yushitai, the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies, and the Yamen of the Third Division of the local government. There is not enough talent!
"Nothing!" Xiao Cheng shook his head and said.

Naturally, Feng Bao wouldn't ask any more questions, seeing Xiao Cheng's unwillingness to answer, he immediately shut up.

Xiao Cheng pondered for a while, then asked again:

"Have you prepared well for Xia Guo's affairs?"

When Feng Bao heard this, he hurriedly said:

"Going back to Your Majesty, everything is ready! This time, Shangyu's backup is the main focus, and my East Factory is the auxiliary. The layout in Yongzhou has been completed!"

Hearing this, Xiao Cheng nodded and warned:
"This time the two of you play together. Although it's just a casual game, it is vaguely related to the future layout of Jinling City. Don't make mistakes, and don't just think about the secret rivalry!"

The functions of the East Factory and the sticky pole slightly overlapped. Before that, one was looking at Xia Guo, and the other was looking at Li Chao. There was not much conflict, so Xiao Cheng naturally wouldn't bother.

But now, the Li Dynasty has completely surrendered, and the East Factory has mobilized capable personnel to work hard in Xiaguo, placing eyeliner, spies, and hidden stakes, and there will inevitably be friction gaps between the sticks.

In order to prevent delays in the future, Xiao Cheng naturally wanted to warn him in advance.

When Feng Bao heard this, he hurriedly said:

"Please don't worry, Your Majesty. Our East Factory and Shangyu Spare Office only know to serve His Majesty. Naturally, we cooperate sincerely and don't think of him!"

Hearing this, Xiao Cheng just nodded casually, then lowered his head to approve the memorial again.

After waiting for a while, the memorial on the imperial case was almost ready, Feng Bao took advantage of Xiao Cheng getting up to relax, and hurriedly said:

"Your Majesty, the lady of Chiang Mai County entered the palace today. Didn't Your Majesty say that she would go to see her before? The maidservant also went to see it just now, and today's memorial has almost been reviewed..."

Having said that, Feng Bao paused, and continued:

"The lady of the county came to Beijing and brought [-] young and strong Ailao people, who are now stationed in Daying, Gyeonggi."

Mrs. Liu, the wife of Chiang Mai County, has been helping Xiao Cheng to stabilize the Ailao clan, and the various policies of the court and China are also very cooperative, which saves Xiao Cheng a lot of worry.This time Xiao Cheng wanted to form Wudang Flying Army, and even recruited so many young and strong from the clan, Xiao Cheng could see his hospitality.

In order to be seen by the ruling and opposition parties, at home and abroad, Xiao Cheng naturally wants to show his grace to this!
Xiao Cheng nodded and said:

"Mrs. Jun is here. I want to see you. I just happened to go and see Shu'er!"

When Feng Bao heard this, he lowered his head and said yes, then said loudly:
"Your Majesty drives to the Changqiu Palace..."
-
Xia Guo, Shaoyang County, Yongzhou.

As the prefecture of Shaoyang County, Yongzhou is close to Tanjiang, guarding the vital points and navigating to the southwest, which is the most important place in Shaoyang County.

But now, with the recasting of the southwest defense line, Yongzhou has become an inaccessible place above the defense line, so it is naturally more valued.

In today's Yongzhou, apart from Murong Fu's men recruiting soldiers and horses to garrison, King Qi has also been mobilizing Xia troops into the city to assist in the defense under the orders of the imperial court and the Southwest Recruitment Division.

Of course, anyone with a discerning eye can see at this time that the increasingly tense situation and atmosphere in the city are not all due to the pressure of the soldiers of the Yun army...

Nightfall, curfew.

Having suffered from the plague before, the population of Yongzhou City has dropped sharply, and it is slightly dead at this time.There are few lights on both sides of the street, and the birds are silent, let alone domestic cats and dogs.The only sound that can be heard is the sound of armor rubbing and orderly steps of soldiers patrolling the city.

There are two groups of soldiers, one side is well-armored, the number is not large, but they are quite elite.On the other side, only a few people wore armor, most of the soldiers only wore cloth armor, there were always many soldiers, but one could tell that there were no elites on the other side.

Obviously, one side was just entering the city to help defend Xia army, and the other side was Murong Fu's troops.

Above the name of the two groups of people, they are colleagues of Pao Ze.But in fact, the soldiers of the two sides are vigilant against each other.At this time, when the night patrol encounters, there is also the potential for a sword to be on the verge of breaking out.

At this time, just outside the city of Yongzhou, a Xia army of several hundred people was quietly lurking outside the city.

The leading general turned out to be Liao Gu, the commander-in-chief of the Southwest Frontier Army who was besieged by Wu Zixu with [-] soldiers and horses before, and lost tens of thousands of troops!

Maybe it was because he felt ashamed because he lost an army of 10,000+ in World War I, or he was worried about what the court would do to him in the future. Anyway, Liao Gu has only worked for a month or two, and he is so emaciated and disfigured.

But other than that, he didn't appear to have any other serious injuries.

In the battle of Rongzhou City, Liao Gu was escorted by his own soldiers and sent out desperately, but he never died in the army.Afterwards, he gathered the defeated soldiers all the way, retreated all the way, and even retreated back to Shaoyang County safe and sound.

The situation in the southwest was tense, and King Qi ignored him for a while, so Liao Gu was arranged to lead thousands of defeated troops to repair near Yongzhou.

As for him at this time, why did he appear here?

Liao Gu looked at the person dressed as a soldier beside him, lowered his voice, and said hastily:

"What are you planning on getting me here?"

The person dressed as a soldier smiled slightly at this time and said:
"General Liao, don't worry, those colleagues in the East Factory have already made arrangements!"

Hearing this, Liao Gu glanced at the man again, opened his mouth to speak, but he didn't speak after all, he just swallowed nervously, holding his heart beating like a drum, holding back his heart and waiting.

He knew the identity of the person in front of him very well!

Yunguo, the guard at the sticky pole...

Just a few days ago, the Yun people suddenly came to the door with the token of King Jin, asking Liao Gu to obey.

Although Liao Gu was a disciple of the King of Jin, he still had a lot of troubles because of the previous defeat in Rongzhou City, so naturally he flatly rejected the solicitation of the people of Yunguo at first.However, the people of Yunguo clearly stated that they could help themselves to perform crimes and meritorious deeds, so as to avoid part of the guilt.

After annihilating 10,000+ troops in World War I, Liao Gu knew that he could not escape being questioned.But ants still steal their lives, let alone a person?

With the King Jin's seal letter and the idea of ​​survival, Liao Gu agreed to the request of the stick, selected hundreds of trustworthy soldiers from the defeated army, followed the guards of the stick, and secretly lurked outside the city of Yongzhou.

The guard at the sticky pole, dressed as a personal soldier, estimated that the time was almost up, so he stood up and looked at the city wall of Yongzhou City.

Liao Gu followed his line of sight, his eyes opened suddenly, showing a look of horror.

Suddenly, on the city wall, there were flames flickering several times, as if sending some message to the people outside the city.

Liao Gu stood up in a panic and said:
"You, you want me to treason and capture Yongzhou City for you?"

The reason why Liao Gu agreed to cooperate with Sticky Rod was just to survive.But in the end, he was still not mentally prepared to treason!
Hearing this, the guard at the sticking rod said,

"General Liao, please don't talk, just wait patiently... I have a cooperative relationship with your highness at the sticky pole, and you are Jin Wang's retainer. Even if you want to pick someone to rebel, it won't be yours!"

After all, if Liao Gu rebelled, the king of Jin could not escape the responsibility if he was investigated afterwards.This is not very agreeable, for the interests of Yunguo!
Liao Gu opened his mouth to speak, but couldn't speak, but waited anxiously in his heart.

After a while, I saw a bonfire ignited outside the city, and the flames soared into the sky, which was extremely conspicuous.

All I could hear was the sound of shouts of killing suddenly sounded in Yongzhou city.Murong Fu's soldiers and horses took advantage of Xia Jun's unpreparedness to make a bold move.

Even though Xia Jun was on guard, the number of Xia Guo soldiers and horses in the city is indeed small, and they are not prepared for Murong Fu's sudden attack.All of a sudden, Xia Jun on the city wall was caught off guard, retreating again and again, and directly lost control of the city gate.

The gate of Yongzhou City burst open.

At the same time, there was a rustling sound in the forest outside the city.I don't know when, a group of soldiers from the Yun Kingdom surged out and rushed towards Yongzhou City.

Seeing this, the guard at the sticky pole immediately clapped his hands, pointed at the cloud army outside Yongzhou City, and said with a smile:

"General Liao, your chance to redeem yourself has come!"

Liao Gu was stunned when he heard this, and said:
"what?"

"Repel the cloud army, help the soldiers and horses in the city to quell Murong Fu's rebellion, and defend Yongzhou City, you can be a sinful meritorious service... Don't worry, it has been arranged, this cloud army will retreat at the touch of a touch!" The guard at the stick stick said in a deep voice.

"You led the defeated army to repair in the camp, but you noticed a change in the cloud army by accident. In your haste, you had to send your own soldiers to warn Yongzhou City. But because Murong Fu intercepted the army report, Yongzhou City was destroyed. No response. In desperation, you had no choice but to lead hundreds of soldiers and horses to follow secretly, and finally fought out in a critical situation and saved Yongzhou City!"

When the guard at the sticking rod said this, he smiled slightly, looked at Liao Gu, and said:

"We have already arranged for you even the military newspaper reporting the movement of the Yun army, and no one will notice anything unusual. What do you think, General Liao?"

When Liao Gu heard this, his eyes widened.

Just, that's why...

As soon as the question came out in his mind, Liao Gu immediately thought of the seal letter of His Royal Highness Prince Jin, and the guard at the sticky pole who claimed to cooperate with the two parties, and he swallowed the question back immediately.

It turns out that the sticky stick in Yunguo was actually planning for the city of Jinling!
Liao Gu tightened his grip on the hilt of his sword, and his heart beat even harder as he watched Yunjun rushing towards Yongzhou City shouting for murder.

Opportunity to commit crimes and make meritorious deeds...

Keeping Yongzhou City, he can always save his life, and then continue to serve in the army.With the help of Yun Guo, if His Royal Highness King Jin can regain momentum, this is his chance!
Thinking of this, Liao Gu's eyes became firmer.

He slowly drew out the long sword at his waist, walked quickly to the hundreds of soldiers he had brought, and said loudly:
"Brothers, here is our chance to commit crimes and make meritorious deeds. Keep Yongzhou City, kill!"

Hundreds of defeated soldiers looked at Yongzhou City, which was resounding with the sound of fighting in the distance, and the Yun Army that was killing towards the city, their eyes were full of anxiety and panic.

Yun Jun is powerful, they have already seen it in Rongzhou City, the shadow is still in their hearts, how dare they rush forward?

Seeing this, Liao Gu gritted his teeth and said:

"I personally lead the army into battle today. I don't want to wait for the court to punish me. Follow me!"

Having said that, Liao Gu immediately rushed towards the Yun army with a few personal soldiers.

A group of defeated soldiers stayed in place, in a dilemma, with hesitation and embarrassment on their faces.

The guard at the sticky stick smacked his lips and said softly:
"Give them a hand!"

The guards at the sticky pole who had been hiding in the army together and disguised themselves as Liao Gu's personal soldiers stood up immediately, with murderous intent in their eyes, drew out their weapons, and roared in unison:
"The general has an order, those who don't stand still, beheaded!"

Under the threat of the shining weapons, among the hesitant soldiers, someone stood up cruelly, and his follower Liao Gu rushed out, shouting with all his might:
"Kill!"

The rest of the defeated soldiers, driven by the threat of the steel knife behind them and the companions around them, stepped forward one after another and killed them in front of them.

"kill!"

Hundreds of soldiers and horses suddenly killed and rushed towards the cloud army.

Liao Gu rushed forward, thinking of the humiliation of Rongzhou City's defeat, his face became more ferocious, obviously looking to vent his grievances.

Hundreds of rout soldiers, under Liao Gu's personal charge, gradually recovered their elite posture.Shouting and rushing forward, he even looked like a mourning soldier was bound to win.

But Yun Jun, who had been ordered a long time ago, faced the Xia Jun who suddenly rushed out, and naturally retreated immediately, regardless of the Yongzhou City that was right in front of him.

On the city wall of Yongzhou City, Murong Fu swung his long sword like a dragon in his hand, struggling to kill Xia Jun. At this moment, he caught a glimpse of the retreating Yun Jun, his long sword trembled, his eyes were about to split, and he roared angrily:
"No! Why is this..."

Before he finished speaking, several Xia Jun's masters came out and attacked Murong Fu together.

The sound of roaring was gradually submerged in the sound of shouting and killing...

(End of this chapter)