Chapter 132: Discussion between the Korean and the Central Government

It was just dawn and it was not time for Chang'an to open the door, but a team of cavalry came from a distance at lightning. The cavalry rushed to Hanguang's gate and shouted: "Longyou emergency military information, open the door!"

After a moment, the city gate rumbled open. Only the emergency military information of the Battle of Longyou could make the city gate open especially. A team of cavalry rushed into Chang'an City and rushed towards Xingqing Palace.

In the lotus tent, Yang Yuhuan's hair was like a light cloud coming out of the mountains, her hair was sprinkled with clouds, her breasts were half-covered, revealing a pair of white jade-like breasts. At this time, she was suddenly awakened by a low cry.

"Your Majesty! Your Majesty!"

Yang Yuhuan opened her eyes in a daze and said unhappily: "Your Majesty is still sleeping! Didn't you say you won't be on duty early?"

"Empress, there is an emergency military situation in Longyou."

"I understand, go outside and prepare to serve!"

Yang Yuhuan stretched out his snow-rooted jade arm and gently pushed Li Longji beside him, "Sanlang, wake up!"

Li Longji turned over and hugged her, and said in a daze: "What's the matter?"

"It seems that there is an emergency military situation in Longyou."

"What!" Li Longji sat up suddenly, suddenly pressed his waist, and shouted out 'Ouch!'.

"Sanlang, what's wrong?"

Li Longji waved his hand and smiled, "It's okay, it's just getting up too fast and he's scurvy."

"Look at you!" Yang Yuhuan said coquettishly: "I told you to have a good rest these few nights, but you didn't listen. Now, I'm so glancing."

"I am very strong! I will never be able to be in love with my wife for twenty years."

Li Longji smiled and pinched Yang Yuhuan's jade cheeks, stood up and left the tent, "Get me changing clothes, I want to go to Datong Palace immediately."

Half an hour later, Li Longji came to Datong Palace in a regular suit and a black hat. At this time, Li Linfu, Chen Xilie and other five prime ministers rushed to Datong Palace, and Geshuhan's emergency military information also reached them. Soon, Prince Li Heng rushed to the scene after hearing the news.

"See Your Majesty!"

Li Longji nodded and said to everyone: "Several Prime Ministers, please sit down!"

He sat down and opened the emergency military information he had just delivered from the golden plate next to him. This was written by Geshuhan. Li Longji gradually frowned. Two months ago, he heard that Shenwei City had successfully built a city, and Li Qing'an burned Tubo military rations in Haixi. He felt very happy. But today's emergency military information told him that Shenwei City was taken away by the Tubo people again, and the heavy troops stationed in Xihai County were probably unable to go up the mountain from the north of Chiling.

This news made Li Longji feel bad. He just put down the memorial. Li Linfu, who is good at observing words and expressions, immediately said: "Your Majesty, there is good news later."

"Oh?" Li Longji opened the memorial again and looked down. When he saw Li Qing'an defeating the 20,000 Tubo army with two thousand troops under Yinglong City and killing 5,000 enemies, he was so excited that he could no longer suppress himself. He slapped the dragon case heavily and praised loudly: "Okay! OK! Fight well!"

He was in a good mood and smiled at Li Linfu: "I didn't expect that Li Qilang is really a talented person. I want to reward him well. What do the Prime Minister think?"

Li Linfu glanced at Li Heng from the corner of his eyes. Seeing that he wanted to speak but stopped, he smiled faintly and said, "Your Majesty, when the two armies were in a stalemate, the loss of Shenwei City can be said to have affected the morale of the army, but Yinglong City won this decay again. Li Qing'an should indeed be rewarded, but I think the war has not ended yet, and there is still a big battle in the Battle of Hehuang. If you are eager to reward at this time, you may be a little too hasty."

"The Prime Minister is surprised by this!"

Li Heng stood up and bowed first to Li Longji, "My son has something to say, please let the father know!"

"Heng'er, just say it if you have something to do!"

"Thank you, Father!"

Li Heng slowly walked to Li Linfu and said, "Li, I have heard of the way of being a general for a long time. You should clearly distinguish between rewards and punishments. If you have merits but not rewards, you will not punish them. If you have mistakes but not punishes, you will not be defeated. Li Qing'an won a great victory last time in Haixi. The prime minister said that the merits were difficult to confirm. This time, Li Qing'an defeated the Tubo army at Yinglongbao. The prime minister said that it was impossible to hurry up on merits. Then I don't understand. What kind of wonderful achievements should Li Qing'an make? Only then do the prime minister think that he could give such a little reward?"

"Heng'er!" Li Longji's face sank and said unhappily: "Don't be rude to the prime minister."

"I don't dare!" Li Heng glared at Li Linfu fiercely and retreated to his seat.

Li Linfu quickly stood up and said to Li Heng with some fear: "Your Highness, I am not saying that I cannot reward Li Qing'an, nor have I denied his merits. What I mean is that I should record his merits first and reward them after the Battle of Longyou ends. At that time, a high-ranking official can be convinced."

At this time, Chen Xilie also stood up and smiled and said, "I support Li Xiangguo's idea. Soldiers have military strategies and general rules. Li Qing'an's military merits should be proposed by the head coach Shu Han. If we cross Geshuhan and directly reward Li Qing'an, one is disrespect for Geshuhan, and the other is that we miss the rewards to other meritorious soldiers, which will lead to uneven rewards and punishments, which will affect morale. Therefore, I mean that Your Majesty can first praise you verbally, and then seriously hurt me one by one after the war."

Li Longji nodded and said to several other prime ministers: "How many dear ministers can object?"

Yang Shenjin and Zhang Yun said together: "I have no objection!"

Seeing that Pei Kuan didn't say anything, Li Longji smiled and said, "Do Pei Aiqing think it's inappropriate?"

Although Pei Kuan felt that it would be unfair to Li Qing'an if he did not give him a reward for the time being, he also recognized what Chen Xilie said, and he could not bypass Geshuhan. If he wanted to give him a reward, he also asked Geshuhan to make a formal request. He nodded and said, "Your Majesty, I agree with the words of Prime Minister Chen, but I really cannot bypass Geshuhan."

"Okay, since all my dear friends agree, I will accept it and you can verbally praise it first."

Speaking of this, Li Longji said worriedly: "It is gradually the end of the year, but the Hehuang Battle has not made any progress. I am very worried that after this battle, the Tang Dynasty's treasury will be consumed. Li Gaoguo, I heard that Chang'an rice price is 120 cents, but is it true?"

Li Linfu sighed and said, "One hundred and twenty cents are just the average rice price. The best Huzhou rice has reached one hundred and forty cents. If the court is unfair to make the rice price, it will probably exceed 200 cents by the New Year. At that time, there is a very likely trend of snatching rice."

Two hundred citations of rice, which Li Longji dared not even think about. In the early years of Tianbao, the rice was only ten citations, and it was only two hundred citations in just a few years. He pondered for a moment and asked Zhang Yun, "Shangshu Zhang, how much rice does Taicang have in stock?"

Zhang Yun took out a fold from his sleeve and said, "Your Majesty, there are still 800,000 stones of rice stored in Taicang. Yesterday, I went to check it out. Among them, 300,000 stones were moldy and rotten, and it was inefficient. In fact, only 500,000 stones were left. Your Majesty, only 500,000 stones are not enough for the three months of the Longyou Battle. Yesterday, the Ministry of War issued a letter asking to transfer another 800,000 stones of rice to Longyou. How could I have any food to transport?"

"What about the rice stored in Shanzhou? Can some be transferred?"

"Your Majesty, Hedong and Henan are in great disasters, and the rice stored in Shaanxi has been transferred to the second place."

Li Longji's brows were twisted into an inverted horoscope. How could he be so embarrassed? At this time, Pei Kuan stood up and said, "Your Majesty, I have a way to get a million stones of rice immediately."

Li Longji was overjoyed and said anxiously: "Pei Aiqing, please tell me."

"Your Majesty, Guanzhong rice is not a lot. The key is that it exists in the private warehouses of major wealthy families in Chang'an. If Your Majesty can issue an order to limit rice to limit the wealthy families' rice, and then the court will purchase rice at a fair price, then why worry about the lack of rice in the capital?"

After Pei Kuan finished speaking, the Datong Palace was silent, which made Chang'an's wealthy gate limit rice. What is the difference between this and the land limit order in previous years? Who would buy it? The atmosphere in the Datong Palace became a little awkward. Li Linfu laughed dryly and said, "Although Pei Shangshu's method is good, it is not very realistic, and I'm afraid it won't work?"

"How could it not work?" Pei Kuan said coldly: "The wealthy private warehouses are everywhere in Guanzhong, and there are 250 in Xianyang County alone. Which one is not a thousand stone of rice? Whose private warehouses belong to? Li Xiangguo should know better than me. When the Longyou Battle is at a critical moment, you can't be defeated because of insufficient military rations, right? There is also the New Year coming, and rumors of rice prices in Chang'an City rising soaring. The day before yesterday, the Zhangjia rice shop in the West Market had been robbed by hungry people in Hedong. Yesterday afternoon, the price of brown rice in the West Market had exceeded 140 cents. By the New Year, will the 200 cents be stopped? Isn't Li Xiangguo more clear than me?"

When Li Linfu heard Pei Kuan expose his whitewashing words, his face turned red and said, "I'm not saying that you can't buy rice from wealthy families. But buying rice requires money. Now Zuozang saves only 500,000 yuan. He has to pay his salary at the end of the year, and he will have a New Year's Festival next month. All of them are costing money. Where can I still have the remaining money to buy grain?"

"Buying grain is just a saying. If you don't have enough money, you can temporarily owe it. The battle in Longyou affects the safety of Guanzhong. If your lips die, your teeth will be cold. Do the wealthy families don't even understand this principle?"

"Okay!" Li Longji interrupted their argument unhappily. How could it be possible to collect rice from the wealthy families? He stretched his face and said to Li Linfu: "The military rations in Longyou must be guaranteed, and the rice price in Chang'an has also dropped. No matter what method you use, the rice price in Chang'an cannot exceed 200 cents during the New Year, otherwise I will only ask."

Li Linfu had no choice but to say with a bitter face: "I obey the order!"

After pausing, Li Longji said again: "Transfer my order to Longyou and tell Geshuhan that I don't want to delay it anymore. Within three months, you must take down Shibao City, otherwise Wang Zhongsi will be his fate!"

Although Chang'an's rice price is high, it will not be linked to the Longyou Battle. Not only Chang'an, but also the entire Tang Dynasty is paying attention to the largest battle since Tianbao. The decades of competition for Shibao City and the three changes of hands will all come to a conclusion in this Tang-Tibet War.

The latest battle reports brought by the Tang army in Longyou at dawn quickly spread throughout Chang'an City in just half a day, and the streets and alleys, and the wineries and teahouses, all about the latest progress of the Tang-Tibet War.

At noon, the Taibai Restaurant was very lively. At a table on the second floor, more than a dozen scholars who were preparing to participate in the imperial examination in the eighth year of Tianbao were gathered together and talking loudly about the Qinghai War.

"That Anxi Li Qing'an heard that he made another extraordinary contribution. He defeated the Tubo army on Longju Island in Qinghai, killing 5,000 enemies, but he actually only slightly injured more than a dozen people. It was incredible."

"Brother Yao, I don't believe it. Killing three thousand enemies will hurt yourself by 800! How could it be that it is not a soldier? This must be a rumor."

"This is not a rumor, it is true, I have the latest news."

A scholar walked over with a smile. Everyone hurriedly pulled him down and asked in a slight manner: "Brother Wang, what's going on?"

The scholar named Wang drank a glass of wine and ate another dish, and said with a smile: "Your news is too simple. My uncle is working in the Ministry of War. This time, Longyou sent two war reports, one for the briefing to the emperor and the other for the detailed reports copied to the Ministry of War. I met my uncle just now."

"What did your uncle say?"

"Uncle said that Li Qing'an made two great achievements in Longyou this time, leading a thousand people to break through Fuqi City, killing 3,000 enemies, and killing Tubo general Shang Xidezan, burning 300,000 stones of military rations in the Tubo army, and then setting up a fire thunder formation on Longju Island, burning the Tubo army, and raising his hands, annihilated more than 5,000 people in one fell swoop. They themselves only slightly injured fifteen people."

All the scholars showed their look at each other. After a while, a scholar sighed leisurely: "Oh! But let the flying general in Longcheng be there, and not ask Hu Ma to cross Yinshan. This is what a man does."

Just as the scholars were talking about Li Qing'an, two handsome young young people sat at the small table beside the window. Although they were dressed as men, a discerning person could see at a glance that these were two girls dressed in men's clothes and women.

"Girl, have you heard that? Many people are talking about Li Qing'an!"

"Just eat! Don't keep your ears so long."

"But, Li Qing'an has something to do with the girl!"

These two women are Wu Yi and her maid Yu Nu. Since the Li family relaxed their control over Wu Yi, she has often gone out to play and no longer stayed in the mansion. Today they went out to practice the piano and happened to hear the drinker's discussion about Li Qing'an. Wu Yi saw that Yu Nu became more and more explicit, and said unhappy: "What does he have to do with me? You are becoming more and more strange. Okay, stop talking. Let's get the piano back after dinner."

Yu Nu didn't dare to say anything, but after a moment, she couldn't help but whisper: "But girl, before he returned to Anxi, he gave his six-stringed zither to the girl. Isn't this his show of kindness to the girl? War broke out in Longyou and he had to go back. Why blame the girl for him?"

Wuyi was silent. She turned her head and looked out the window. A trace of unconcealed melancholy flashed in her eyes. After a long time, she whispered: "Yu Nu, stop talking, don't mention this matter in the future."

Yu Nu sighed in her heart. When Li Qing'an went to Anxi, she would not know when she would be back. The distance between thousands of miles and the endless time was enough to extinguish the glimmer of hope that the girl had just risen. Thinking of this, she felt sad. Wu Yi saw it and she smiled faintly and said, "Yu Nu, what would Aunt Du look like when you say I promised to come back on La Day?"
Chapter completed!