Chinese New Year

Chapter 1489 Joint Office
The famous Hall of State Affairs is not a large place. It is located inside the Imperial City but outside the Palace City, consisting of only a dozen or so buildings.

The four prime ministers worked together in this office, but only brought some of their subordinates with them. They also had their own separate offices.

For example, Liang Fen was the Minister of the Imperial Secretariat, whose territory was in the Imperial Secretariat. Officials from the Six Ministries were all under his control, and he usually served in the Imperial Secretariat.

For example, Wang Feng's Secretariat, Wen Qiao's Chancellery, and Wang Que'er's Privy Council—Chen Yougen, the former Privy Councilor, resigned from this position and became General of the Guards and Junior Tutor to the Crown Prince.

Everyone has their own things to do and no time to argue in the political arena; most of the time, it's "friendly negotiation."

However, there are exceptions, such as the case of Duke Murong Ren of Xuantu.

Wang Que'er's attitude was clear: "These traitors harbor evil intentions and have committed many acts of disloyalty. Why not punish them?"

Liang Fen sat by the window with a cup of hot tea, gazing absently at the flowers and trees outside, as if nothing could disturb him.

Wen Qiao glanced at him, then looked at Wang Feng, only to find that Wang Feng was also looking at him. He chuckled and said, "Prime Minister Wang wishes to attack them, but does he know from which troops to send?"

Wang Que'er had already made up her mind. Upon hearing this, she said, "Li Chong from Jicheng has reported that we can send 3,000 soldiers from Liaodong, 3,000 from Murong Han's troops under Fuyu Commander, 5,000 from the two towns of Tuhe and Wulu, plus 10,000 from the three Yuwen tribes, 5,000 from Goguryeo, 3,000 from the Yanshan Protectorate, and 10,000 from the hereditary troops of You and Ping prefectures, for a total of nearly 40,000 men to jointly suppress the enemy."

“The soldiers are of mixed origin and their morale is low. If one unit fails, all the other units will retreat, which will only boost the enemy’s morale.” Wen Qiao shook his head and said, “It would be better to put it aside for now and make a plan later.”

He didn't say anything like, "We're going to launch a southern expedition against the Kingdom of Lin-yi this autumn; we can't fight on two fronts," which is rather illogical.

If the territory of the Great Liang Dynasty was limited to Henan at this time, then launching military campaigns in both the north and south, such as attacking Huainan and Yecheng simultaneously, would be considered a two-front war, which was not advisable, because no matter what, it would involve drawing on the troops, provisions, weapons, laborers, and vehicles of Henan.

However, the southern attack on Linyi utilized resources from the Yangtze River region, which had been stable for many years, while the northern attack on Murong Ren drew upon resources from You and Ping prefectures. At most, some additional support would be received from Ji prefecture. This could hardly be considered a two-front war. Normally, the taxes from these places would not be entirely transported to the capital; most of them would remain locally. The weapons were also mostly taken from the two major armories of Jianye and Jicheng, which were known as the two major armories of the north and south of the country.

Therefore, Wen Qiao refuted this from another angle, namely that the source of troops was too diverse, and many units did not want to fight at all, and would be thinking about preserving their strength. In practice, this meant that they hesitated to advance, watched others start the war first, and waited to reap the benefits.

But if Murong Ren were more ruthless and concentrated his forces to defeat one of them first, then there would be a good show to watch.

To put it bluntly, at this time, a strong person is needed to oversee the overall situation and prevent any department from shirking its responsibilities.

Previously, the emperor held this role, but who will take his place now? Li Zhong? He might be able to command the troops of You and Ping prefectures, but the Yuwen Xianbei and Goguryeo will definitely outwardly comply while inwardly resisting, and the situation in Liaodong is also uncertain.

This is a very real problem. After Wen Qiao raised it, Wang Que'er frowned and said, "Li Chong has been in charge of Youping for many years and his prestige is well-established. You need not worry about him."

What Wang Que'er said wasn't entirely untrue.

Li Chong still held considerable prestige in the region and could command a significant number of Hu and Han soldiers, making them feel at ease with him. This is actually an important aspect of selecting and employing people throughout history. If the wrong people are selected and they lack prestige, relying solely on the court system will not be enough to manage the complex situation on the frontier, and the results will be different.

Seeing Wang Que'er's insistence, Wen Qiao then looked at Wang Feng.

Wang Feng smiled and said, "Murong Ren can be defeated—"

Wang Que'er and Wen Qiao both looked at him.

Wang Feng paused for a moment, then said, "We don't have to fight."

Wang and Wen both frowned at the same time.

Liang Fen gently put down her teacup, looked at Wen Qiao, and said, "Tai Zhen, I heard you intend to attack the Tuyuhun Xianbei?"

“Exactly.” Wen Qiao did not hide his intentions and said directly: “There are not many Tuyuhun Xianbei people, and the tribes are somewhat loosely connected, so we can attack them. If we do not attack now and give them a few decades to integrate the tribes, it will be difficult to attack them.”

“I think it’s not advisable,” Liang Fen said. “When we were conquering the Western Regions, the Tuyuhun and Xianbei were very submissive and provided us with supplies, horses, and laborers. We would have no legitimate reason to attack them. Furthermore, the reserves of the Guanzhong Plain have been depleted and we haven’t had time to recover them. If we force the issue, we will have to levy more troops, which would be inappropriate. Let’s put this matter aside for now.”

After Liang Fen spoke, Wen Qiao stopped insisting on his own opinion and said instead, "What you say makes sense, sir. This matter can indeed be put aside for now."

Regarding the matter of Murong Ren—” Liang Fen continued, “His evil deeds are not yet apparent. We can send someone to reprimand him again and order him to send his son to the capital to apologize. If he is unwilling, we can strip him of his current and concurrent posts, abolish his title, and order his followers to take his head and take over his post.

Wang Que'er was still somewhat unwilling, but after seeing Wen Qiao and Liang Fen object and Wang Feng remain silent, he gave up and sighed, "We've given you chance after chance, how many more? Back when I was in charge of Pingcheng, anyone who disobeyed was executed on the spot. But now you are all soft-hearted and lenient, and this will surely lead to great trouble in the long run."

Liang Fen smiled and said, "Important matters are more important; these things can be put aside for now."

Wang Que'er stopped speaking and began to look through other memorials.

******
In the afternoon, another batch of memorials was delivered to the Hall of State Affairs. The officials quickly scanned them, then categorized them and placed them in various locations for the four prime ministers to read.

"After the abolition of the feudal system and the establishment of prefectures in the Later Cheshi Kingdom, there has been some unrest. What is the best way to deal with this?" Wen Qiao handed the memorial in his hand to Liang Fen and asked.

"I have read it." Liang Fen instructed Xiao Shi to pass the memorial to Wang Feng and Wang Que'er, saying, "Just order the garrison to be on high alert; there is no need for a major offensive."

"Lord Liang's suggestion is excellent," Wang Feng praised. "With several battalions of elite cavalry suppressing the situation, there will surely be no major incident. However, it would be advisable to have the Kingdom of Gaochang send someone to take over as soon as possible, the sooner the better."

“Those who collude with the Xiongnu must be punished according to the law,” Wang Que’er added.

Everyone agreed on this point, and a resolution was quickly reached. The Imperial Secretary drafted the edict on the spot and took it to the Secretariat for approval.

"The Longxiang Prefecture of Jinan was established last October, and its personnel are now complete. It seems that the Right Divine Martial Guard can be organized into a unit." Perhaps to increase his own presence, Wang Feng waved a memorial and said.

Liang Fen, Wang Que'er, and Wen Qiao all had no objections and quickly approved the plan to organize eight prefectures—Muling, Baisha, and Lanxi of Yiyang Prefecture, Yuxi of Anfeng Prefecture, Huoshan of Lujiang Prefecture, Huangcheng and Hengwei of Jiangxia Prefecture, and Jinan of Nan Prefecture—into the Right Divine Martial Guard.

It is evident that the 9,600 guards of the Left and Right Divine Martial Guards are mostly located within the counties north of the Yangtze River in Jingzhou, and their main task is to suppress the Jingzhou region.

Last year, the imperial court also established Jicheng in Donghai County, Jiangdu in Guangling County, and Laishan in Donglai County, totaling three scattered Longxiang Prefectures.

By this point, the total number of military units nationwide had reached 142,800, and three to four more military prefectures would be established this year.

In this matter, the prime ministers of the State Affairs Hall would not hesitate at all. As long as there were enough farmland and troops, they would approve it, and then allocate money, grain, seeds, farm tools, and oxen, measure the land, and handle everything properly.

The reason is simple: this is something the Emperor attaches great importance to. Don't go against him on this matter, or you'll suffer the consequences.

Furthermore, the Crown Prince seems to have a better impression of the imperial guards. Both the Shao father and son are pushing for this; why are you trying to stop them?
"We lost two boats when we returned from Piaoyujin last year. We request that Hengyu Shipyard allocate new boats." Wang Feng continued, "I heard that the boats from Hengyu Shipyard will all be transferred to Shitoucheng. Is there any surplus to support Piaoyujin?"

“Yes,” Liang Fen said softly. “Just agree to this. Also, we need to transfer 300,000 hu of grain and beans from Boling and other counties, along with the exiled prisoners, and send them all to Lelang and Daifang counties. Get it done as soon as possible, don’t hesitate.”

The other three felt a chill run down their spines.

Don't be foolish and do something pointless when the emperor gives things to his eldest son.

The King of Qi was also a man of misfortune, having been exiled to a very remote place. Everyone had a good idea of ​​what the emperor was thinking, so let's not delay and get it done as soon as possible.

"Jiangnan suffered a disaster last year, and five prefectures including Danyang requested a reduction in taxes and levies. But this year there is going to be war again. How should we deal with this?" Wen Qiao took out a memorial and had the clerk pass it around for everyone to read.

After reading it, Wang Que'er simply said, "If you want to exempt people from taxes, then exempt them. The most important thing is to stabilize the people's hearts. Just set aside the money and provisions needed for the southern expedition to Linyi in advance."

The taxes to be exempted were from last year's, while the southern expedition would utilize stored grain from previous years; there was no necessary connection between the two, and it could still be carried out. After a brief discussion, the four prime ministers jointly determined the specific scope of the tax and grain exemptions to minimize the impact.

After reaching a consensus, an imperial edict was drafted on the spot and sent to the officials.

Then there were a few other things, all of which were dealt with quickly.

It wasn't until dusk, when the three prime ministers of the Council of State Affairs—Liang Fen had already gone home—that they packed their belongings and left the government office.

Wang Feng and Wen Qiao had only been in the Politics Hall for a short time and were still in a period of novelty and excitement, especially Wang Feng.

He used to dislike overly complicated administrative affairs, but recently he has been in a state of high excitement and full of energy—administrative affairs are also divided into different levels, and administrative affairs that concern the whole world are very exciting, so Wang Feng is working very hard.

In addition, he also secured disaster relief grain for Wuyuan Kingdom, Dingxiang County, Liangcheng Kingdom, and Shuofang County, because the heavy snow last winter caused many livestock to freeze to death in these tribes, and they urgently needed relief.

Wen Qiao secured a three-year tax exemption for prisoners exiled to Weixu Kingdom, and even transferred a batch of farm tools and seeds from Gaochang and Kucha, thus bringing benefits to the military and civilians of the Western Regions.

Besides these routine matters, there were also several appointments and removals of officials. The four prime ministers didn't argue much about this; as if by tacit agreement, they quickly finalized the decision.

While doing Wang Feng a favor, he was also observing quietly.

He also has a lot of people to manage, and he needs to cultivate his own power base; otherwise, he won't be able to get things done properly. Perhaps, next time he encounters a similar situation, he can confidently express his opinions.

This is the Hall of State Affairs, the central authority that holds power over the world. If one doesn't properly carry out one's will, wouldn't one be a prime minister in vain?

(End of this chapter)