Drive the RV back to Datang

Chapter 171 Chapter 177: Emperor's Heart
In the 12th year of Zhenguan in the Tang Dynasty, on the fourth day of September, in Chang'an, Li Shimin received a report from the eldest grandson Wuji, saying that Xue Yantuo was growing stronger and had 20 troops.

Li Shimin had to pay attention to this memorial. The 20 army was no joke, so he summoned all capable ministers to gather in Liangyi Hall to discuss how to solve this problem.

Regarding Xue Yantuo's question, the ministers have different opinions. The military generals headed by Cheng Yaojin and Hou Junji belong to the radical faction. They think it is best to directly send troops to Xue Yantuo. What a big mistake, rashly sending troops, violated the faith, so Li Shimin asked the civil servants what magic method, but they couldn't come up with any good ideas, so this matter fell into an endless loop, for three days in a row, this matter The jury is still out.

On the seventh day of September, Li Hao's housekeeper, Du Hong, came to Ma Zhou's house in disguise to meet Ma Zhou. Ma Zhou happened to be at home holding the two seals that Li Hao had given him. , Immediately received.

After Du Hong entered the living room, he didn't dare to sit down because Li Hao had taken care of him. When he saw Mr. Ma Zhou, he must be very respectful and considerate. He was just a housekeeper, so naturally he didn't dare to sit down in front of Ma Zhou.

Du Hong bowed and handed over a letter, lowered his head, and said: "Master Ma, this is a letter that my master entrusted this old slave to deliver to Master Ma before he left, saying that if His Majesty asks about Xue Yantuo, you will Let the old slave personally deliver this letter to Master Ma."

Ma Zhou took the letter with both hands, opened the envelope, and unfolded the letter paper. There were only three words on it, but when he saw these three words, he was shocked, and saw that the three words were "Tweeting Order" .

Ma Zhou is familiar with history books, so he naturally knows the Tweet order well. It was during the Han Dynasty that in order to consolidate the regime, Emperor Wu of the Han ordered to allow the princes and kings to distribute their fiefs to their children. weaken its power.

Ma Zhou is a smart man, he can develop a lot of ideas as soon as he sees the Tweet Order. Gradually, the way to deal with Xue Yantuo has formed in his mind. He put away the letter paper, looked at Du Hong with a smile, and asked, "Steward Du How did Lord Li know that His Majesty would consult all the ministers about Xue Yantuo's matter six months ago?

Du Hong nodded and said: "My lord, back last year, my master had discovered that Xue Yantuo had been quietly sitting in the palace, and he was afraid that he would become a confidant of the Tang Dynasty. He thought hard for a long time before he came up with this trick. It's a pity that my master is in a humble position. Low, not daring to overstep the previous one, he guessed that His Majesty was wise and wise, and would definitely find out Xue Yantuo's threat to Datang, so he left this letter before leaving, and asked the old slave to present it to Lord Ma at an appropriate time. It’s quite miraculous for adults to play it and listen to it.”

Ma Zhou thought about the words for a long time, raised his eyebrows and asked, "Then if your Majesty asks me about this, where does this idea come from, and how should I answer?"

Du Hong said slowly: "My master's original words are: 'Master Ma can take it as his own credit, or it can be said that he has discussed this matter with Shi Kuang, but please don't mention this letter.'"

Ma Zhou squinted his eyes when he heard the words, nodded and smiled lightly: "Poet Kuang... is really a wonderful person. Don't worry, Steward Du, I won't take credit for Poet Kuang. Presumably... he also wants to use this credit to transfer back to Chang'an." " Ma Zhou was still very clever, and he guessed Li Hao's intentions in no time.

"Thank you, Mr. Ma." Du Hong bowed, and asked, "Master Ma, did Mr. Ma think of the thing that the master asked the old slave to send last time?"

Hearing this, Ma Zhou sighed and shook his head: "I have no clue yet."

Du Hong respectfully said: "Master Ma, why don't you take it to the Scientific Research Temple and ask the craftsmen at the Scientific Research Temple?"

Ma Zhou was taken aback when he heard the words, and then suddenly realized that he thought it was something Li Hao gave him, but it turned out to be related to the Scientific Research Temple, but he really couldn't figure out what to ask the craftsmen of the Scientific Research Temple to study the seal. If you can’t figure it out, don’t think about it, anyway, this is not his specialty, so he nodded and said: “Okay, thank you for reminding me, I will bring those two printed documents to the Scientific Research Temple tomorrow, so that all craftsmen can carefully review them.”

"Master Ma is wise." Du Hong bowed his hands and said, "If Mr. Ma has nothing else to do, this old slave will leave first."

Ma Zhou nodded, and shouted outside the door: "Steward Qin, send Steward Du off." His housekeeper's surname is Qin, and it's a bit too polite to ask his own housekeeper to send someone else's housekeeper off.

Du Hong was flattered and said: "Master Ma has broken the old slave, the old slave can't afford it, the old slave can leave on his own, don't bother to send me off." After finishing speaking, he bowed and left the living room.

In the afternoon of the same day, Ma Zhou wrote a memorial, and in the evening he brought the memorial into the Taiji Palace to ask Li Shimin to see him. All the ministers checked and filled in the gaps, and determined all the details of the Tweet Order to Xue Yantuo.

Until the next morning, when all matters were agreed upon, Li Shimin was so excited that he didn't feel sleepy at all. He left Ma Zhou behind and asked the other officials to step down. Yes, but neither I nor the ministers in the court thought of it, how could you think of it."

Seeing that Li Shimin finally asked, Ma Zhou said respectfully: "Return to Your Majesty, in fact, this is not the idea of ​​this humble official, but Li Shikuang's idea."

"Poetry mad?" Li Shimin was startled when he heard the words, a little dazed, frowned and asked doubtfully, "Didn't poetic madness have already gone to Tingzhou, why did this become his idea again?"

Ma Zhou said: "Your Majesty doesn't know something. Xue Yantuo is getting stronger and stronger. Poet madness has already seen it. Last year, he told my minister that Xue Yantuo might become a serious problem for the Tang Dynasty. At that time, my minister asked him if he had a magic way to deal with it, so he told him The minister said that it is most appropriate to use the Tweet Order, which can disintegrate Xue Yantuo's power without a single soldier, and make him fight endlessly, and what I, Tang Dynasty, has to do is to sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight."

"Is he really a poetry fanatic?" Li Shimin stared at Ma Zhou with wide eyes, seeming a little excited.

Ma Zhou nodded, "I dare not deceive the emperor, I am indeed a poetic madman."

Li Shimin's expression changed several times, and he suddenly raised his head and sighed: "The Poet Maniac is indeed my hero of the Tang Dynasty."

Hearing this, Ma Zhou also echoed, "Your Majesty, I also think that Li Shikuang is indeed a genius who is rare to see in a hundred years."

Li Shimin nodded and said: "You are not bad. If you hadn't offered a clever plan in time this time, I still don't know when I would be able to come up with such a perfect plan. I will record the credit for you this time. You should step down first." Bar."

"Thank you, Your Majesty, I will take my leave." Ma Zhou kowtowed and left the Ganlu Palace.

After dismissing Ma Zhou, Li Shimin walked out of the Ganlu Hall slowly, Xu Lian bowed slightly and followed him leisurely.

At this moment, the sky is about to brighten, the eastern sky has turned red faintly, and the stars in the sky have begun to fade. Li Shimin looked at the red glow in the east, was silent for a long time, and sighed leisurely: "Xu Lian, you say... I am to Li Hao... right? unacceptable."

Xu Lian thought for a while and replied: "Everything your Majesty does is for the country and the country."

"You are right." Li Shimin paced slowly with his hands behind his back, and said as he walked, "Li Hao is a good young man, and I have seen many talents in him that important officials of the court do not possess. To be honest, I admire him very much. ..."

He paused, then shook his head suddenly and sighed: "It's a pity, I can use him, but I dare not leave him to Chengqian. Although Li Hao has a great talent, he has a perverse temperament and is difficult to control. Even I can't figure it out." In his mind, Chengqian had a feud with him again, and I was afraid that after my death, Chengqian would not be able to bring him down."

Xu Lian was very sensible and didn't open his mouth. It was about the crown prince and Li Hao, he couldn't express his opinion, otherwise he was afraid of getting into trouble.

Seeing that Xu Lian didn't express his opinion, Li Shimin also guessed what he was afraid of. He sighed again, leaned on the stone railing, turned to face the northwest direction, and said slowly: "I can only wrong him first, and I hope he won't call me out." I am disappointed."

This afternoon, Li Shimin slept for more than two hours. As soon as he got up, Xu Lian hurried in to worship: "Your Majesty, Yinyuan secret agent has a secret report." He handed over a letter.

"Where did it come from?" Li Shimin asked casually.

Xu Lian replied: "About Li Hao."

Li Shimin was suddenly agitated, and hurried forward to take it. He tore open the envelope and looked at it at a glance. The letter was sent from Xizhou, and it took nearly a month to send it to Chang'an.

It records what Li Hao did along the way. For example, along the way, Li Hao talked about going back to Chang'an every day, and Li Hao was caught by a horse thief at the Longmen Inn. In order to save people, Li Hao led more than 30 people to brave the horse thief The lair in the ancient city of Loulan, and Li Hao slaughtered the horse thieves, obtained a huge amount of gold, silver and jewels, but distributed them to the soldiers, and then Li Hao was robbed and killed by horse thieves twice on the road. The enemy leader admitted that it was the Gaochang army. Kill all captives.

After reading it, Li Shimin felt uneasy for a long time. He was very satisfied with what Li Hao had done all the way, massacring the captives?Hehe, Li Shimin felt that Li Hao had done a good job, and those sluts in Gaochang should be killed!You know he has a bad temper too.

But he can only think about this kind of thing in his heart, and he can't say it out, otherwise the court officials who are full of benevolence and morality will criticize him again.

After Li Shimin closed the letter paper, he paced back and forth in the room, thoughtful. He had just praised Li Hao this morning, and now he suddenly wanted to praise him again, although he had already said that Li Hao was both civil and military, and he was an all-rounder in both civil and military affairs. , but now I still want to say it again, 30 people against five hundred horse thieves, what kind of scene is this?

Li Shimin contemplated for a long time, then suddenly turned around and said: "I will pass on my will, Li Hao, the governor of Tingzhou, has made many achievements in suppressing bandits on the way to his post, restored his baronship and seal of Lantian County, and promoted him to be a fifth-rank guerrilla general. Seventh-rank Martial Cavalry Captain."

This is a promotion for Li Hao. Before, Li Hao was a sixth-rank Lieutenant of Zhaowu, but now he is a guerrilla general from the fifth rank. This official promotion is of little significance. After all, it is a loose rank, and it is still a martial rank. Wei is pretty good.

There are [-] ranks for military officers and honored officers in Tang Dynasty. The first rank is the lowest for Wuqiwei, the highest for rank [-], Shangzhu Kingdom. Wuqiwei regards the seventh rank, and Shangzhu Kingdom regards the second rank. Every turn has to have real credit, and it goes up level by level. Unless there is a very, very big contribution, you can skip the level, and at most you can only jump one level. In fact, in terms of effect, it has no great effect. Military rank is somewhat similar, a symbol of honor.

After Li Shimin finished speaking, he felt that his reward was not enough, thought for a while, and said: "I will pass on my order again, and Zuo Wuwei Zhonglang will lead Chen Bin to lead a thousand Zuo Wuwei, and escort three thousand troops to Tingzhou."

The imperial court has never sent armaments to Xizhou and Tingzhou, but Li Shimin made an exception this time. He has only one purpose, to protect Li Hao, and sending armaments is just a pretext. In fact, he wants to send a thousand left military guards to Tingzhou To protect Li Hao, Tingzhou was too dangerous after all, he was afraid that the five hundred guards would not be able to protect Li Hao comprehensively.

(End of this chapter)