The Emperor ordered Zhao Tang

Chapter 182 Jingzhou Road (I)

On the fifth day of the fourth month of the first year of Qianning, in Yancen City.

Cheng Li took off his shoes and checked his clothes and hat. After confirming that there was no joke about the combination of Jinxian and round collar, he and Li Ting, Lu Yanrang and others lowered their heads and hurried into the hall. After Zhonglang Jiang Pei Yan, Cui Wuci and Zhong Changshi Liu Zipi touched his body and pinched his bones again, the interpreter Zheng Yuangui who was standing by said expressionlessly: "The inspector general, Kebeidi Taishou Cheng Li, wants to see you."

"Yes, yes." Cheng Li immediately stepped forward and followed Zheng Yuangui into the pavilion.

The sage did not wear a complicated crown, but only a tight-sleeved, wide-body white gauze with green patterns painted on it, covering the silver-black skirt armor that reflects light and absorbs heat. The hem of the dress fell to the thigh, and then was tied at the waist with a belt, outlining the curves of his plump body. Part of his hair was tied in a bun with a popular lotus crown, and the rest was scattered on his shoulders. He carried a jade sword across his body; he held a spear in his hand, stabbing the straw man in front of him. His appearance was ordinary but elegant, which was very in line with the aesthetics of the Tang people and was also the unique style of the Li Emperor.

The emperors of the Ming Dynasty were mostly interested in riding and shooting, lance fighting, sword fighting, kicking balls, polo, sumo, and music. Jingzong could kill a fox dozens of steps away in the dark, and he was also a master of free fighting. So much so that Liu Keming and others led more than ten military officials and imperial guards to kill him in a secret room. Not to mention Xizong, all 359 lines were top-ranked.

"What are you looking at?" Nangong Chongyan asked with a displeased look on his face and raised his eyebrows.

"I was so frightened by the majesty of heaven that I lost my mind." Cheng Li did not dare to peek again. He found an excuse to get away with it, and prostrated himself with his forehead almost touching the ground, saying in a trembling manner: "Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you. I wish you eternal happiness for generations to come."

She started dancing again, twirling gracefully in front of everyone, clapping her hands and stepping, her face showing an intoxicated and delighted look.

Nangong Chongyan suddenly felt nauseous and wanted to vomit, and a layer of fine bumps appeared on his neck. He was arrogant at first and then respectful. If the government declined, wouldn't it be even more embarrassing to lick Zhu Wen's feet? Thinking that there would be more and more of these people, Chongyan couldn't help but feel heartbroken and anxious. Fortunately, under the persuasion of himself and his father, his brother had decided to lead his children to serve in the court.

This is the embodiment and result of the restoration of the court's authority.

Before the change, she would never dare to ask people to die, and Nangong was not a fool to throw herself into a desperate situation. Judging from the leopard, the number of people coming to the court from all over the country will probably increase day by day in the future.

This was also due to the careful management of the saint. Since he found out that his concubine's family was quite prestigious in Jizhou, and that she had two brothers who served as military commanders under Wang Rong, he made love with her almost every night, and the bed was almost shaking, which made Chongyan indulge in it and couldn't stop, and she agreed to everything he said.

"Stop it." When Cheng Li's cheeks turned red and sweat covered his forehead, he had almost finished dancing, then he called for a stop with a sneer in his heart.

The saint was still hitting his spear over there, and several straw men had been stabbed to pieces. After a quick glance, Cheng Li sat down awkwardly and did not take the initiative to bring up the topic. Not long after sitting down, there was a dense sound of rattling outside the door, as if dozens of armors were shaking at the same time. Cheng Li's face suddenly changed, and he almost thought that someone was making trouble. He subconsciously wanted to get up and run. He glanced at the emperor, and seeing that he was unmoved, he pressed his hands on his knees to force himself to calm down.

Soon, the sound of chaotic footsteps and noisy conversations could be clearly heard. Dozens of people entered the palace under the guidance of the usher. There were civil officials and military officials. There were also foreigners. They were all dressed in Chinese clothes, but most of them still had obvious Sogdian features. They had deep eyes and high noses, and their pupils, hair color, skin, and lips were abnormal. In a word, they did not look Chinese.

Li Ting swallowed. Chen Xiaonu's calf twitched twice. Lu Yanrang sat still, tacitly avoiding eye contact with the other party, and poked Cheng Li with his right elbow with a barely perceptible force. Cheng Li suppressed his restless body, squeezed his buttocks to suppress the budding urge to urinate, put his hands on his abdomen and crossed them, and straightened his back.

"Zhongsan Dafu, the commander of the Tiance Army, Wu Lu, sent a minister of the founding dynasty of Yunzhong County to pay a visit to the emperor."

"I invite you, the minister of the court, the founding minister of Wuyuan County, to pay my respects to the Supreme."

"Yin Shouzhi, the deputy lieutenant of the Imperial Guards, the deputy chief of the infantry division, and the envoy of the evil, pays homage to the saint."

"General Yu Guerrilla, the Commander-in-Chief of the Central Army, the Lieutenant of the Imperial Guard, the Commander-in-Chief of the Nine Historians, and the Duke of Yu pay homage to His Majesty."

"Kuang Ning, the governor of Xiangyang, Tang, Deng and Sui and other states, and the envoy of the three departments of water and land transportation, pays homage to Your Majesty."

"General of the Cavalry and the Imperial Guard Cavalry Commander Zhang Jide pay their respects to Your Majesty."

"Zhengshilang, the commander of the cavalry, Fu Cunshen, pays respect to Your Majesty."

"Crown Prince Xian Ma Moli's envoy Cunxiao pays homage to His Majesty."

"...My beloved...

"...Minister Quan Zheng..."

"...Chen Ling Zhong..."

".Chen Luoxue..."

"… Your Excellency Chang Ming…"

"...Chen Cong..."

……

One by one, they walked behind the emperor. In order to compete for order, they pushed and shoved each other, and even glared at each other. After the ceremony, the military officials either bowed and found their seats under the guidance of the eunuchs and sat down quietly, such as Fu Cunshen. Or they whispered something intimately in the saint's ear, such as Zhazhu and Qiqi. Or they were beaming with joy and chattering.

"Feng the thief was driven away? So quickly!"

"As for Jingnan, whether to ask for it or not, just kill Cheng Li."

"Yes, rob...recover his mother's property. Everyone knows that Jiangling is rich."

"How about fighting Zhao Kuangning? Destroying the Cai thief. Ah? Lord Zhao's sister was conferred the title of Lady of Yingchuan County? This is really, haha, I was in Chang'an and I didn't realize it. The madman's crazy talk deserves a slap in the face."

Zhao Kuang was stunned. Fortunately, he did not bring his subordinates with him. There was a rare complex expression in his eyes. Heaven would not destroy the Tang Dynasty. The Li family did have a destiny. The two generations of father and son were right to firmly support the royal family. Ruo Zhao married the right person. As long as the Zhao family did not lose their minds in the future, at least five generations of dukes and marquises would not have to worry about it. To fight Zhu Wen, he had to go all out.

Cheng Li lowered his head, as if he had seen a quail, his natural enemy, and felt noisy. He raised his eyelids and quietly searched for Zhao Kuangning who was sitting opposite him, wanting to see how this old rival felt. Zhao Kuangning had noticed him a long time ago, and he glanced at Cheng Li with contempt and closed his eyes to rest. No matter what the reason, Zhao Kuangning was unwilling to have any contact with Cheng Li. In public, Cheng Li had secretly communicated with the Bian thieves, and the amount of money and goods he paid to the court as tribute had been very small for a long time. Since his brother-in-law ascended the throne, this man has never congratulated him once on his six birthdays. The Bian thieves knocked on the gate twice, but he did not send a single soldier to defend the king. In Zhao Kuangning's eyes, he was already subject to the five punishments; in private, the border guards of the two families had repeatedly clashed in the past few years. In terms of family background, Zhao Kuangning was a general from Huaixi, and his ancestors had been the yamen of Caizhou since the Three Wu era. Cheng Li had been a ranger, a monk, a thief, and everything else. As a person, Cheng Li was scheming, cunning, uneducated, and looked down upon by Zhao Kuangning.

Although my eldest brother-in-law is a thief, he is very knowledgeable. He has nearly 10,000 books in his house and hundreds of guests. His younger brother is not much behind. After the fall of the Zhao family, Zhao Kuangming fled to Chengdu and was recruited by the Former Shu as one of the Nine Ministers. If you don't have anything, how can you, a stingy person like a cow thief, be a Nine Minister?

Temple servants and waiters were running around, setting up the banquet and serving dishes and wine. At this time, the sage finally made a move, threw his spear into the arms of the General of the Central Army Cui Wuci, took the bowl of water handed over by Wenren Chuchu, drank it all, and shouted, "Cheng Gong."

"I, I am here." Cheng Li stood up immediately, his voice a little paused. Perhaps because he was singled out, surrounded by dozens of eyes that were either watching a good show, gloating, or observing, his heartbeat quickly accelerated and he became uneasy.

"come over!"

Hahaha, someone almost laughed out loud, and quickly held his stomach. Seeing Cheng Li, who was being talked about by everyone as a clown, running over with small and quick steps, Wenren Chuchu, who was wringing a wet towel to wipe the sweat off the saint, felt a little pitiful, and leaned over to the saint's shoulder and whispered: "You can be a little gentle. Although it's unbearable, after all, you have made contributions to curing Jing and keeping the area peaceful."

"Your Majesty." Cheng Li stopped five steps away.

"Swish." The saint wiped the sweat off his face and drew out the jade sword with his backhand.

Cheng Li's mouth trembled, his mind raced, but he couldn't think of anything to say, so he subconsciously flattered, "Good sword, good sword."

The saint was in high spirits, holding the sword horizontally in front of his nose, his eyes fixed on the sword blade held between his thumb and index finger, slashing from left to right. He treated him as his opponent again, and tried several sword strikes, frightening Cheng Li so much that he stepped back, smiling apologetically: "Your Majesty is good at swordsmanship, great swordsmanship."

"I heard someone say that you wrote a letter to Zhu Wen offering the nine states of Jingkui?"

Cheng Li shook his head like a rattle and said: "This is a great thief who defies the heavens. I hate him to the core and I am too late to punish him. Because the threat from Lei Man has not been resolved, I dare not leave easily. This is absolutely not the case!"

"The deadline is ten days, why did you arrive only on the ninth day?"

"My family is slow in packing."

"How many family members are there?"

"One wife, twenty-nine concubines..." Cheng Li didn't dare to fool around, but he didn't feel ashamed, so he just blurted out everything: "I currently have eight sons and ten daughters..."

He has more wives than a saint. Li Sheng had only 29 concubines, including He, Zhu Xie, Zhao Ruxin, Yuwen Rou, Yang Kexi, Yang Kezheng, Sanwu, Chuchu, Chongyan, Chenchen, Luo Fu, Wei Yi, Zhao Ruozhao, and Li Jianrong. But think about the powerful people in later generations who treated all the female employees of the bank as their harem... Cheng Li's concubines in the late Tang Dynasty, when morality was almost completely corrupt, didn't seem to be many.

The sage put away his sword and said without hiding anything: "All those who are twelve years old and above will be sent to the Imperial College to study."

"Yes, yes." Cheng Li didn't bother to explain to his wives and concubines, and just agreed without hesitation.

"Among the concubines, are there any wives you have abducted?" The sage asked again with his active mind. He had no other intention, just recalling an old incident - two years ago, Cheng Li fought with Han Chuyan of Kuizhou, threatening to dismember the men and kill the women after the city was broken. Han's wife Li heard the news and persuaded Han to surrender, but Han refused. So Li - "pulled her sword to cut off his head, killed his three sons and then committed suicide." She directly fought with her husband and slaughtered her entire family.

He wanted to know what kind of bad reputation could scare people to this extent.

"This..." Cheng Li looked down at his toes blankly, not knowing what the dog emperor was selling. There was indeed one, and more than one. He had conquered many cities and territories for many years, and he had gained a lot, but was there a problem? Everyone was doing this. Cheng Li didn't think there was anything wrong.

"say."

"nine."

"I will give them money tomorrow and send them all back home." The saint said calmly. Taking the flattening of enemy countries and conquering opponents as a pleasure, everyone is full of aggression, which is one of the causes of chaos. Raping and even eating the wives, concubines and children of the losers is not shameful but proud. It is not a matter of personal morality, but the bottom line of civilization.

This is how the world works. The sage understood it from the beginning. But since he became an emperor, he had to try to challenge the enemy. In the late Tang Dynasty, people were self-admiring and wanted justice for women. It was ridiculous to say that, but the sage decided to put a stop to this trend. He also took advantage of the presence of the generals to make his attitude clear through this incident: Don't do this kind of work under him.

He didn't give face to Cheng Li, and the other officers and soldiers would do so even less.

Why did Fujianese still keep the tradition of repairing Wang Chao's mausoleum in the middle of the Qing Dynasty? There is no other reason. In the late Tang Dynasty, Wang Chao was the only family that truly practiced not disturbing the people, just like the People's Liberation Army did not enter the houses when entering Shanghai. When Qin Zongquan led his troops to flee south, they passed by Quanzhou. The local people saw that Wang Chao's troops were different, and they knelt on the road and begged him to stay and become their governor.

“Your Majesty…” Cheng Li suddenly felt as if he had lost his parents, his heart was broken, and he still wanted to pull.

“Get lost!” Nangong Chong glared at him.

"Let's go, go to Lingwu City to raise horses, go to the north to cultivate land, educate the barbarians, and you can be promoted in three years." The saint patted Cheng Li's shoulder and said finally. He led eight states and one prefecture to the court, which made him not make things difficult for Cheng Li and settle old accounts. But that was all. Entering the court under the threat of force was worth this price - no questions asked about the past, and the wealth remained the same.

As for the future, you have to prove that you have the value and talent to match it.

"Yes." Cheng Li nodded dejectedly, turned around and staggered away. The female imperial concubines who were lazing behind the pillars looked at each other and laughed. This man didn't even get to attend a banquet.

"Your Majesty." Seeing the saint take his seat, everyone stood up straight.

"Last time I received a report, the princes of the four towns of Qi, Yan, Yun, and Wei sent out more than 100,000 troops to fight Zhu Wen in Huazhou, Yanggu, Jizhou, and Rencheng, but the result was unfavorable. The Jiedushi of Guide Army Yuan Qingji and his deputy Liu Hai fought fiercely with the bandits in Songzhou. The Jiedushi of Hedong Li Keyong defeated Tuyuhun and has returned to Taiyuan. He sent the Qidan Zhi, Tuqi Du, Huangjia Army, and Congma Zhi from Luzhou to the south to attack Henei." The saint waved his hand and said straight to the point: "I want to build camps in Jingzhou, Xiangyang, and Shangluo to attack Shaanxi, Ru, Cai, and Shen."

To put it bluntly, the three towns of Jing, Jin and Xiang were digested through war.

(End of this chapter)