Datang: Just been appointed as the crown prince, the counterattack system is here

Chapter 166: A great victory in Shuofang! Shocked the whole dynasty for a whole year! [Seeking monthly votes]

Taiji Palace, inside the Taiji Hall.

All the civil and military officials looked at each other.

Although Li Shimin had convened such temporary court meetings since he ascended the throne, there were always some signs every time such meetings were held.

But there was no sign of this impromptu court meeting today.

This made many ministers who did not know the details feel very uneasy.

In particular, the old officials of Wude, led by Pei Ji, moved closer to Pei Ji and asked him questions carefully, as if disaster was about to happen.

"Pei Sikong, His Majesty suddenly called a court meeting. Is it aimed at us?"

"Yes Pei Sikong, we haven't made any mistakes recently, Your Majesty shouldn't be targeting us like this!"

Pei Sikong

"All right!"

Upon hearing this, Pei Ji interrupted everyone impatiently and said in a low voice, "I haven't made any mistakes, so what are you worried about? Everyone, go back and sit down!"

"But."

"Don't say but, I'm here, what are you afraid of!?"

"Yes, yes, we all rely on you, Pei Sikong."

"Yes, Pei Sikong is our backbone. If Pei Sikong is not afraid, then neither are we!"

Chatting and laughing, the old ministers of Wude returned to their seats one after another.

At the same time, Pei Ji's gaze fell on the officials of the Five Surnames and Seven Families opposite him.

They were all chatting and laughing, as if this matter had nothing to do with them. Some officials even smiled and nodded politely when looking at Pei Ji.

Such a scene made Pei Ji full of doubts, and he wondered if they really didn't attack Li Chengqian?
You know, some time ago, they expressed their intention to suppress Li Chengqian in front of Pei Ji.

Now, Li Shimin suddenly convened a court meeting, and the first thing Pei Ji thought of was that something had happened to Li Chengqian.

But judging from the appearance of the officials of the Five Surnames and Seven Families, it seems not to be the case.

This made Pei Ji feel a little uneasy.

Since it wasn't one of their own people who made the mistake, nor was it someone from the Five Surnames and Seven Families who was seeking death, then there must be some other reason.

But no matter what the reason is, as long as it doesn't involve you, there is no need to worry.

Thinking of this, Pei Ji immediately straightened his body, looked at his nose with his eyes, and his heart with his nose, and remained as steady as a mountain.

On the other hand, officials from the Qin Palace and the Tian Ce Palace would occasionally look at Sun Fujia's position and comment on him.

"What happened today scared me so much that I broke out in a sweat!" Hou Junji couldn't help but sigh.

Du Ruhui, who was standing next to him, glanced at him and sneered, "Oh, he's lucky today!"

"However, this also made His Majesty remember him thoroughly!"

Fang Xuanling said with a hint of amusement, "Remember last time? When His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was causing a disturbance at court, Sun Fujia also stood up. Now that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is away, he has improved even more!"

"Oh? What do you mean?" Chu Liang couldn't help but ask curiously.

Fang Xuanling glanced at him, then smiled and said to the others, "Look, although he was speaking frankly today, isn't there a hint of flattery hidden in his words? Did you hear it?"

"Of course we heard it!"

Duan Zhixuan said this with his head held high, then suddenly changed the subject: "But, Your Majesty, did you hear it?"

"What a man your Majesty is!"

Fang Xuanling smiled and said, "How could he not hear it?"

"If that's the case, why does Your Majesty still want to use such an opportunistic villain?" Chu Liang asked again curiously.

Du Ruhui glanced at him coldly and said in a deep voice, "How can we possibly fathom your Majesty's thoughts?"

"This"

Chu Liang was speechless and could not help but step aside awkwardly.

Although they are both officials of the Qin Palace and the Tian Ce Palace, their status is still very different.

For example, an official like Chu Liang, who came from the Hongwenguan, was clearly marginalized by core officials like Du Ruhui.

This scene happened to be seen by Chu Suiliang who was in the corner.

He couldn't help but clench the pen in his hand, feeling very angry about what happened to his father.

However, he was just a small attendant and could do nothing.

But after seeing this scene, a seed of desire to make progress was deeply buried in his heart.

"Having Wei Zheng was enough, but now here comes Sun Fujia, who's even more powerful than Wei Zheng. He's really not caring about his life!"

Hou Junji sighed again.

Fang Xuanling smiled and patted his tablet, saying quietly, "Whatever the emperor likes, someone will come out to do it. But our majesty likes to hear the opposite of what he says, so naturally people like Wei Zheng and Sun Fujia come out to speak the opposite of what he says!"

"Too."

Everyone nodded in agreement and were about to continue the discussion.

At this moment, a sharp voice suddenly came from outside the palace: "Your Majesty has arrived!"

"I will see you, Your Majesty!"

All the ministers returned to their seats and saluted Li Shimin.

Li Shimin strode towards the emperor's throne, sat down without saying a word, and then looked at Wushe who was standing beside him.

But then Wushe shouted loudly: "Summon the envoy of the Gur Khanate to see you—!"

Ghur Khanate?

What country is this?
How come I haven’t heard of it?
When the ministers heard this, they were all puzzled.

Soon, the envoy of the Gur Khanate walked in from outside the door.

When the ministers saw the envoy, they were all surprised.

Because they were too familiar with this messenger.

The envoy then bowed and said in a loud voice, "The envoy of the Gur Khanate, Zhishisili, pays homage to His Majesty the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty!"

"Zhi Shi Si Li, we meet again!"

Li Shimin stared calmly at Zhishisili, his expression unremarkable, and said, "If I remember correctly, the last time you came to see me, you were representing Jie Li Khan, right?"

"hehe."

Zhishishili smiled faintly and nodded immediately, saying, "Your Majesty has a very good memory. Yes, the last time I came to see Your Majesty, I was indeed here on behalf of Jie Li Khan!"

"but."

Then he changed the subject and said seriously, "I come to see Your Majesty on behalf of the Gur Khanate, Tuli Khan!"

what! ?

The Great Khan of the Gur Khanate was Tuli?!

What's going on? !
Isn’t he Jie Li’s subordinate?
How dare they establish their own Khanate?!

Just as the ministers were in a state of confusion, Li Shimin calmly asked, "Can you tell me why Tuli sent you here?"

"Your Majesty, Tuli Khan sent me here for two purposes. One is to express his gratitude to Your Majesty for your help on his behalf. His alliance and friendship with Your Majesty will last forever. The second is to hope that Your Majesty will cooperate with him to jointly attack Jie Li Khan!" Zhishisili saluted respectfully.

Li Shimin's heart was moved, but he quickly suppressed his emotions and asked calmly, "Jie Li and I have just signed an alliance. What reason do I have to attack him?"

"Besides, has your so-called Gur Khanate been recognized by Jie Li? If I remember correctly, he is the Great Khan of your grassland!"

Upon hearing this, Zhishisili righteously declared, "Jie Li's tyrannical levies on the grasslands have long made the tribes suffer. Many tribes, including the Xueyantuo, Uighur, and Khitan, have already broken away from their alliance with Jie Li. Furthermore, our Tuli Khan's tribe was attacked without cause by Jie Li, and we lost our homeland!"

"That's why we, Tuli Khan, have contacted the various tribes and established a new alliance to jointly defeat Jie Li's cruelty!"

"And now, there are already twelve tribes that have joined our alliance, and I believe there will be more in the future."

"From this, it can be seen that Jie Li is no longer popular on the grasslands."

"Don't you have an old saying in the Central Plains? He who wins the hearts of the people wins the world! Now the world should belong to our great Tuli Khan!"

"This"

Upon hearing this, the ministers looked at each other and began to look at Zhishi Sili with some admiration.

Even Li Shimin couldn't help but take a closer look at Zhishisili and said, "Zhishisili, you've improved since last time."

"Thank you for your praise, Your Majesty. I will never forget your teachings!" Zhishisili said with a smile.

Li Shimin smiled coldly, then said calmly and indifferently: "I still need to discuss the cooperation with the ministers. You can go down first!"

"Yes!"

Zhishisi Li responded respectfully and retreated.

Only after he had left Taiji Hall did Li Shimin look around at his ministers and ask, "What do you think, my dear ministers?"

"This"

The ministers once again exchanged bewildered glances. Du Ruhui was the first to speak, "Your Majesty, in my opinion, we can cooperate with Tuli. Regardless of his Gurkhaan empire, as long as there are more than a dozen tribes rebelling against Jieli, and with the addition of the Tang Dynasty, our chances of victory are more than 80%!"

"That's right! With such a high chance of winning, it would be a waste not to fight!" Yuchi Gong echoed.

The other ministers also expressed their opinions.

Some are in favor of fighting, while others are not.

But the majority are in favor after all.

However, faced with an unprecedented majority of approval, Li Shimin seemed a little hesitant.

Although he also wanted to fight the Turks, he always felt something was wrong.

At this moment, Pei Ji, who had been silent all this time, suddenly spoke up: "Your Majesty, in my opinion, it is better not to fight!"

"Ok?"

Li Shimin frowned, then raised his hand to signal Pei Ji: "Pei Sikong, tell me your reasons!"

"Your Majesty, I have three reasons. First, the war between Tuli and Jieli is an internal struggle within the grassland, and there is no reason for our Tang Dynasty to participate. Second, the drought in various parts of our Tang Dynasty is becoming increasingly serious, and our national strength should be used to deal with the disaster. Third, our Tang Dynasty is fighting against Liang Shidu, and Liang Shidu has not been wiped out yet, which is not conducive to opening up a new battlefield!" Pei Ji said seriously.

Upon hearing this, the ministers looked at each other and nodded.

Especially those veteran officials of Wude, who stood up one by one and echoed: "Your Majesty, we second the motion!"

"Your Majesty! I dare not agree with Pei Sikong's opinion!"

Just as the old ministers of Wude echoed his words, Sun Fujia suddenly stood up.

Wow!
The whole place was in an uproar!

All the officials of the Qin Palace and Tian Ce Palace, including Fang Xuanling, were filled with surprise.

Why doesn't Sun Fujia play by the rules?
Shouldn't he sing a different tune from His Majesty and gain the reputation of being loyal?
Why did you start to obey His Majesty's wishes?

Just when they were puzzled, Li Shimin smiled slightly and said to Sun Fujia: "Tell me your reasons too!"

"Your Majesty, I believe that if the Gur Khanate cooperates with the Tang Dynasty, it will be a great opportunity. As for the three reasons Pei Sikong mentioned, I don't think they are reasons at all."

Sun Fujia said sternly, "First, Jie Li's arbitrary breaking of the alliance and marching south to the Wei River is inherently unjust. Furthermore, Jie Li's wanton oppression of the allied tribes is truly inhumane. As the orthodox power in the Central Plains, our Tang Dynasty has formed an alliance with the grassland tribes, sharing both happiness and hardship. Now, Jie Li is being unkind and unjust, so our Tang Dynasty naturally has reason to punish him!"

"Secondly, in terms of national strength, I believe that with the Gur Khanate as an ally, our campaign against Jie Li won't consume much of our national strength. As for the drought, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has already stated that he will pray for rain. Shouldn't we trust His Royal Highness the Crown Prince?"

"Thirdly, by the same token, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has already assisted Duke Qi in subduing Liang Shidu in Shuofang. I believe that with His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's abilities, it won't be difficult for him to subdue Liang Shidu!"

Having said this, he paused, then looked around at the ministers and asked solemnly, "Don't you believe in His Royal Highness the Crown Prince?"

"This"

Upon hearing this, the ministers looked at each other again.

Is this Sun Fujia crazy?!
In order to please His Majesty, you actually use His Royal Highness the Crown Prince as a pawn?
Doesn't he know that if he says this, he will become the target of public criticism if His Royal Highness the Crown Prince fails?
"absurd!"

Before Li Shimin could even speak, officials from the Li family, representing the five surnames and seven clans, stepped forward and rebuked him, "This is a matter of state, not a private matter! You're confusing personal worship with state affairs. It's simply ridiculous!"

"That's right! According to what Lord Sun said, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is almost like a god! We believe in everything he says! What's the difference between that and believing in God!" The official of the Wang family also said with a sneer.

Soon, officials from the other five surnames and seven clans also began to criticize Sun Fujia.

"That's right! Lord Sun's so-called reasons are completely baseless and are pure personality cult! In my opinion, Lord Sun should just quit being an official and become a Buddhist and Taoist!"

"He's the top scholar! I think he's read too much!"

"Hahaha!"

The ministers burst into laughter.

Li Shimin's expression changed again and again, and he seemed a little unhappy.

Originally, he thought that Sun Fujia had some profound ideas, but he didn't expect that every word he said was praising that rebellious son, almost deifying him!
Now he really regretted promoting Sun Fujia.

However, even though he had many complaints about Sun Fujia, he did not express them immediately. He simply treated him as a joke and ignored him. He then asked Fang Xuanling, "Lord Fang, do you have any objections?"

"minister"

Upon hearing this, Fang Xuanling glanced at the clown-like Sun Fujia with a complicated expression, sighed inwardly, and then held up his sceptre and said, "Your Majesty, I also do not agree with the attack on Jie Li!"

"What is your reason?" Li Shimin asked.

Fang Xuanling thought for a moment and said succinctly: "To resist foreign aggression, we must first stabilize the country!"

"Ok?"

Li Shimin was slightly stunned, then nodded in agreement and said: "Mr. Fang is right. To resist foreign aggression, we must first stabilize the country. The current domestic situation is not optimistic. Let's solve the domestic disaster first."

"His Majesty!"

"Okay, it's decided!"

Sun Fujia was about to say a few more words, but was interrupted by Li Shimin without question.

However, just as Li Shimin finished speaking, a loud announcement came from outside the palace: "Your Majesty! Great victory in Shuofang! Great victory in Shuofang!!"

"boom!"

As soon as this statement came out, the whole audience was shocked.

Everyone couldn't help but look sideways and looked outside the hall.

A waiter, his face brimming with excitement, held high the victory report. He walked briskly into the hall, knelt on one knee, and declared, "Your Majesty! A great victory in Shuofang! Our army has crushed the 40,000 Turkic reinforcements, annihilated the Liang Shidu rebels, and recaptured the pseudo-Liang Kingdom in one fell swoop!"

Wow!
The whole place was in an uproar!

It was chaos, chaos, the whole place was in such a mess that the situation was almost out of control.

Some people raised their arms and shouted, jumping for joy.

Some people turned pale and stood there at a loss as to what to do.

Some people looked incredulous and hesitated to speak.

It was not until Li Shimin recovered from his shock and turned to look at Wushe that he heard Wushe's sharp cry: "Silence!"

Wow!
Countless voices receded like the tide.

The entire hall can be heard.

Li Shimin took a deep breath and slowly stood up from the throne. He looked at the waiter with a glare of lightning and said condescendingly, "Say what you said again! Tell me in detail!"

"Your Majesty, the details are in the victory report. I dare not open it without permission!"

The waiter replied quickly.

Li Shimin frowned and then looked at Fang Xuanling.

Fang Xuanling walked directly towards the waiter without saying a word, and in front of all the ministers, he skillfully opened the victory report and slowly unfolded it.

The moment he saw the news, he was so shocked that he was speechless.

"Minister of the Central Secretariat! Please read it quickly! I'm so anxious!"

Seeing Fang Xuanling hesitate to read, Yuchi Gong hurriedly urged him: "Could it be that you can't read?"

"Yes, Minister of the Chancellery, we all want to know how those 40,000 Turkic cavalry were defeated! Was it done by Duke Huo?!" Cheng Yaojin also echoed impatiently.

But as soon as he finished speaking, he was refuted by the other generals: "Do you think 40,000 Turkic cavalry are a mob? They can be defeated so easily!"

"That's right! It's not that I don't believe in Duke Huo's ability, but that's 40,000 Turkic cavalry! And they have Liang Shidu as their support! Apart from Your Majesty and General Li Jing, I really don't believe anyone can defeat them so easily!"

"But the victory report said it was a defeat!"

"Who defeated him then?! Hey Mr. Fang! Hurry up and read it!"

"enough!"

When Li Shimin heard that his generals were becoming more and more dishonest, he immediately shouted loudly.

Immediately afterwards, all the generals were as quiet as quails in the autumn wind, and sat back in their original positions obediently.

But then Li Shimin said calmly and majestically: "Xuanling, read it!"

"Yes!"

Fang Xuanling wiped the sweat from his forehead, responded respectfully, and then read out the following passage word for word: "On April 15th, the second year of the Zhenguan reign, the Grand Marshal Changsun Wuji ordered an attack on Liang Shidu, destroying six cities of the pseudo-Liang Kingdom! On April 20th, Jie Li Khan personally led the Turkic cavalry to aid Liang Shidu, deceiving us with a force of 10,000, but actually claiming 50,000. Our army was surrounded!"

"That day, the Crown Prince ordered one of the six Eastern Palace troops, the Iron Buddha, to lead a rescue operation. With only 500 men, they bravely faced 40,000 Turkic cavalrymen. They joined forces with our army and killed 20,000 of them. However, they were outnumbered and trapped in the Urt Valley!"

"On April 23rd, Liang Shidu bypassed our defenses and led 30,000 troops to besiege our main camp. Our army was isolated and helpless. The Crown Prince summoned 5,000 surrendered soldiers and vowed to fight the Liang army to the death!"

"That day, one of the six Black Armored Guards of the Eastern Palace came to protect the emperor, and together with 5,000 surrendered soldiers, they defeated Liang Shidu's 30,000-man army!"

"On April 24th, the Black Armor Guards and the Iron Buddhas joined forces and once again defeated the Turkic cavalry, killing 20,000 enemies and capturing Jie Li's son Na Yan alive!"

"On April 25th, the Pseudo-Liang State opened its city walls and surrendered, and the Pseudo-Liang State was destroyed."

Boom!

After hearing the good news read by Fang Xuanling, the ministers' jaws almost dropped to the ground.

Especially the military generals in the court, their eyes were wide open.

Damn it!
The prince's strength has shocked us all year long!!
Not to mention that the ministers were extremely shocked, even Li Shimin was so shocked that he stood there in a daze.

How can this be! ?
　[Thanks to Luanshi Yingxiong for the 300-word reward. Also, please give me a monthly pass, please give me a monthly pass, please give me more. I updated over 1000 words today!]

　　
　
(End of this chapter)