Chapter 700: Satisfied

The good news of the restoration of Hebei swept across the Tang Dynasty. Every state and every county celebrated victory. People spontaneously went out to the streets to beat drums and sang and dance. At night, every household lit lanterns that were only used on the Lantern Festival. The lights were bright, making the Tang Dynasty rivers with spectacular nights like day.

The capital Chang'an was also boiling, and millions of people celebrated victory in their way. Firecrackers were heard one after another. Hundreds of thousands of men, women, young and old sang together. The streets were beating gongs and drums, lion dances were churning, and teams of music dance girls appeared on the streets, singing and laughing, and the whole Chang'an was immersed in the joy of victory.

But there was also a hint of sadness in this joy. The news of Li Siye's death shocked the court and the court, and the court had to rest for three days to express mourning. The Empress Dowager immediately issued an order to enthrone Li Siye as the prince of Wuwei and allow his son to inherit the title.

The Tang Dynasty court also announced the formal construction of the Zhonglie Tomb to commemorate the soldiers who died in the Anshi rebellion for the Tang Dynasty.

The Daming Palace became deserted because of the recession of court, but the meeting of the Political Affairs Hall was still being held. It had been a whole morning. After the meeting, a carriage drove out of the Daming Palace and rushed towards Li Qing'an's Zhao Palace.

Li Qing'an's inner study was very quiet. A bronze incense burner at the corner of the room was curling with blue smoke. The room was filled with a faint sandalwood, and the light was also very dim. The curtains were pulled, and only a slight light came out from the corner of the room, making the situation in the room vaguely visible.

At this time, the door of the study opened gently, and Li Qing'an's concubine Rushi walked in with a bowl of ginseng tea. On the wide soft chair in the study, Li Qing'an was still sleeping. He did not sleep all night last night, but only fell asleep in the early morning. A document from Anxi had already slipped to the ground, and there was also the blanket covered by his body.

Rushi quickly put down the tea bowl, squatted down and picked up the blanket, and gently covered him, but Li Qingan suddenly woke up, "Oh! When is it now?"

Li Qingan felt a split headache. He struggled to sit up. Rushi hurriedly held him down and said softly: "It's just dawn, let's sleep for a while!"

In fact, it was already noon now. Seeing that Li Qing'an was very tired and couldn't bear it, Rushi didn't tell him the truth. She touched Li Qing'an's forehead with her hand, and the hands were hot. She was startled, "Dalang, are you sick?"

"It seems to be a little bit!"

Li Qingan also felt that not only had a headache, but his muscles were also hurting severely. This seemed to be a symptom of a cold, and it seemed that he had caught a cold while sleeping.

"It's all my fault. You shouldn't have let you sleep in the study!"

Rushi hurriedly wrapped the blanket for Li Qing'an, while complaining, "I'll go and ask you a doctor!"

She hurriedly wanted to go out, but Li Qing'an called her, "Don't ask the doctor, go and make a bowl of ginger soup. It's better to have a stronger one, I'll take a rest."

Seeing that Rushi was a little hesitant, he emphasized again: "I don't want to hire a doctor, anything else can be done."

"I understand. Let the kitchen make you a bowl of ginger tea first!"

Rushi walked out quickly, and Li Qing'an moved to make himself lying comfortably as much as possible. He picked up the memorial again. This was the monthly report sent to him by Anxi Chief Secretary Zhang Hao. He only saw half of it last night, but the light was very dark and he couldn't see it clearly.

He had to struggle to get up, slowly walked to the window, opened the curtains, a bright white light shot into it, illuminating the whole room. He opened the window again, and a fresh spring breeze blew over his face, making his chaotic mind suddenly wake up. He greedily took a breath of fresh air with the sweet fragrance of flowers, and gradually relaxed his body and mind. The symptoms of muscle pain just now disappeared.

"Da Lang!" Mingyue hurried in, her face full of worry, "Listen Rushi said, are you sick?"

Rushi followed her, carrying a bowl of ginger soup slowly in. This was originally a ginger soup made for her sister Ruhua, but now she brought it to Li Qing'an first.

"Maybe the air circulation is not smooth. I just opened the window to ventilate, and I suddenly felt much better."

As soon as he finished speaking, a cold wind blew, and he suddenly shivered and couldn't help but sneeze heavily. Mingyue hurriedly stepped forward and closed the window, complaining to him, "I'm not sick, but I still open the window to blow the air. This will bring wind evil into my body. Why are such a big person still like a child?"

A wife is different from a concubine. The concubine depends on the face of the master. The master wants to do or does not want to do something, and the concubine generally dares not disobey, but the wife is different. She has some powers that the concubine does not have. Mingyue pulled Li Qing'an down on the soft chair, pulled the curtains up, found a bedding, covered it for him, and ordered Ru Shi: "Hurry up and find someone to invite Doctor Wang. He is not prone to illness, but it will be terrible if he gets sick. Let's not delay!"

With the support of Mingyue, Rushi didn't care that Li Qing'an was trying hard to wink her. She agreed and turned around and left.

Li Qingan sighed and said, "Mingyue, I'm going to go to war the day after tomorrow. Your trouble will delay major events!"

"Who said I delayed major events? It was because you refused to see a doctor that would delay major events!"

Perhaps because her husband was about to go to war, Mingyue was filled with worry, and her tone naturally became a little harsh, "You seem to be able to move now, but what about the day after tomorrow? What if you can't afford to get sick? Have you forgotten? That year, when you came back from the Huoxun Kingdom, you fell into an arrow injury and fell into a coma for two days and nights, scaring everyone. Not to mention that we were almost scared to death, even dozens of civil servants and generals in Anxi were so scared that they were guarding your door all night. Have you forgotten all these?"

Li Qingan smiled helplessly, "That's hurt, not sick, it's different."

“It’s the same for me!”

Mingyue felt a little excited in her tone, "I just say that you are my husband, and I have to make the decision on your body. Don't argue with me!"

Seeing that his wife was feeling a little emotional, he knew that it was because she was going to go to war. She was sad after going there for at least half a year. She couldn't sleep well for several days. When she was sick today, her anxiety and worries broke out. Li Qing'an felt full of guilt. He held his wife's hand and said softly: "I promise you that this is my last time going to war. I will always be with you and your children from now on."

Mingyue was stunned. It turned out that her husband knew what she felt. She bit her lips gently, and her nose felt sore and her eyes were a little wet. Li Qingan reached out to wipe away the tears from the corners of her eyes and smiled and said, "Why are you still crying!"

"Dalang, can you not go out to the battle in person?"

Mingyue could no longer help it, and leaned in Li Qing'an's arms and sobbed in a low voice, "Do you know? I was worried that I couldn't sleep well for several days. Even if I had a dream by chance, I dreamed that you were shot by the poisonous arrows of the Uighurs... I woke me up from my dream, but I dare not say that because it was unlucky, Dalang, you are the pillars of the family and the pillars of the Tang Dynasty, so you must not go?"

Li Siye's death made Mingyue extremely scared. Only then did she realize that the commander would also be killed in war. She had heard more than once that in order to inspire the morale of the army, Li Qingan would sometimes personally take the battle and charge forward, and she was even more scared.

The day after tomorrow, Li Qing'an was about to go to war. The fear and worries in her heart made her breathless, but she was the princess and could not express it in front of others. She could only be accumulated in her heart. At this moment, she could no longer hold it back.

Li Qingan gently stroked his wife's hair. He could feel his wife's love and care for him deep in her heart. After so many years of marriage, although they sometimes make trouble, he had to admit that everything his wife did was for his own good, and Mingyue was his best virtuous support.

At this time, footsteps came from outside the door. Mingyue quickly wiped away her tears and stood up. She heard someone at the door report: "Prince, Zhang Xiangguo is asking for a meeting!"

Mingyue frowned, and she looked at Li Qing'an. Her husband is sick now. Can you see him? Li Qing'an smiled and said, "It's okay, I happen to have something to come to him, so please invite him in!"

Mingyue sighed. She also knew that although Li Qingan was sick, there was no problem when he met the prime minister. She was afraid that after the meeting, a lot of things would come one after another.

Helplessly, she had to say, "Please wait in the foreign study."

Except for Mingyue and Rushi, no one is allowed to come in in Li Qing'an's inner study. Of course, there are accidents. For example, Mingzhu once sneaked into his inner study and took away a gold medal as a defense.

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Zhang Yun was invited to the outer study room. While drinking tea, he was thinking about his thoughts. The situation in front of him was getting clearer and clearer. It was only a matter of time before Li Qing'an ascended the throne, but the clearer the situation, the more uneasy Zhang Yun felt. The reason why he was able to be the right prime minister was because he was a powerful doctrine of the mean. He could put the court in a calm situation. So Li Qing'an took a fancy to him. What about the future?

It is obvious that Li Qing'an wants to reuse his son Zhang Zhijie as compensation for him, but his son is still very young and it will take at least twenty years to become the mainstay of the Tang Dynasty. Will their Zhang family be in a blank period of power in these twenty years? And it is the most critical twenty years.

More importantly, whether Li Qing'an's promise will have a validity period of twenty years.

So this worry made Zhang Yun feel restless day and night. Seeing that Li Qing'an was about to go to war, he could no longer help, so he used the excuse of discussing war preparations to test Li Qing'an's tone.

At this time, the study door opened and Li Qingan walked in from outside. He had already changed into loose clothes. Although he was sick, he could barely meet one or two ministers. If there were too many people, he would definitely not be able to support him.

"I'm going to see Your Highness!"

Zhang Yun stood up and bowed to Li Qing'an. He claimed that he was only used by a few ministers, but recently, more and more ministers have claimed that he is like this, including Zhang Yun, which has almost become a common name.

"Let Zhang Xiangguo wait for a long time!"

Li Qing'an agreed in a muffled voice, and Zhang Yun said in surprise: "Is Your Highness sick?"

"Well! I fell asleep in the study last night and felt a little sick."

"It is a sin that the empress will disturb His Highness's rest."

"It's okay!" Li Qingan waved his hand and smiled, "I'm used to being busy. If I really want me to rest, I will suffer!"

Seeing that Li Qing'an was in good spirits, Zhang Yun sat down. Li Qing'an smiled and asked first: "How is the morning political affairs meeting?"

The content of the meeting of the Political Affairs Hall in the morning was to ask the people to borrow food. Although the grain in the official warehouse can still support the battle against the Uighurs, there has been a severe drought in Henan this year, and it has not rained for two hundred days. The poor harvest of summer grain is a foregone conclusion, and famine will spread. In addition, Hebei also needs a large amount of food to recover. In this way, the 2 million stones in the official warehouse can only give out at most 500,000 grain to support the battle of the Uighurs.

However, during this Uighur Battle, Li Qing'an mobilized nearly 300,000 troops, which took half a year. Considering transportation losses, it would require at least two million stones of grain, with a large gap. The tax grain from the Jianghuai River will not be transported until autumn, so Li Qing'an proposed to borrow grain from the people and repay it with the cattle and sheep of the Uighurs in the future.

In fact, Li Qing'an has made some efforts in this matter. The army had transported another two million stones of grain from Xinde and Tianzhu. The fleet had arrived in Guangzhou. At most one month, the fleet would enter the Yellow River and arrive directly in Luoyang. Food was not a problem.

However, Li Qing'an considered to let more people support the Northern Expedition and participate in this Uighur Battle, so he thought of borrowing food and directly tied the interests of the people to this battle. In this way, his Northern Expedition was to conform to public opinion and be more legitimized.

Zhang Yun nodded, "The Political Affairs Hall has unanimously passed a resolution and will officially begin tomorrow. Pei Shangshu is fully responsible for this matter. He will borrow grain from five other roads including Jingji, Jiangnan, Guannei and Hedong."

“No one objected?”

Li Qingan asked again, would these prime ministers support this way of disturbing the people?

Zhang Yun smiled and shook his head, "The key is that Your Highness agreed to repay. If it is free support, Weichen will probably not be able to pass it, but it will be different if there is a repayment. Moreover, the items repaid are very clear, just use seized cattle, sheep and other spoils. In this way, no one has any objections."

Speaking of this, Zhang Yun felt a little moved, "Today, Shangshu Pei said that during the Wu Dynasty, the imperial court also borrowed grain and horses from the people to attack the Huns. Moreover, every household was forced to shovel grain and plant grass to raise the Han army's war horses. Only four acres of land could raise a horse. The whole country was exhausted and the people were injured. The country's wealth was seven or eight. However, after fighting the Huns, a large number of cattle, sheep, war horses were seized, but Emperor Wu refused to repay the people, all of which were his own spoils. As a result, the care was not good. In one winter, most of the spoils of cattle, sheep died, which made the people resentful. From then on, no one was willing to support the fight against the Huns. Therefore, this time, His Highness must learn from Emperor Wu of Han's food."

Li Qing'an nodded with praise. If Pei Min or Yan Zhenqing said this, he was not surprised at all, but this statement was actually said from the old politician Zhang Yun, who has always focused on self-interest. This is of great significance. What does it mean? It means that the court's atmosphere is moving towards a virtuous cycle, with famous and prime ministers in charge of government and influenced each other, causing the good part of Zhang Yun's bones to slowly appear, while the ugly part gradually disappears. This is a gratifying sign!

"Zhang Xiangguo, I will set out for the north to march the day after tomorrow. I hope the government affairs hall will take more responsibility for the affairs of the court."

"Your Highness, please feel free to go north. All the prime ministers of the Political Affairs Hall wish you a triumphant return soon!"

After the two had finished their main talk, Zhang Yun's topic gradually turned to the real purpose of his coming today. He asked tentatively: "I want to wait until Your Highness comes back and officially propose to the Political Affairs Hall to resign from the position of prime minister. I wonder what Your Highness thinks?"

"Why did a good job, why did you quit?" Li Qingan asked with a smile.

Zhang Yun's heart pounded. He felt that Li Qing'an's tone seemed to have the intention of trying to keep him. He was extremely nervous, but he restrained his tension and said slowly: "Weichen feels that he is old and his spirit is no better than before. Weichen thinks that he should give up his position and give a more aggressive young minister to help His Highness realize the revival of the Tang Dynasty. This is the reason."

Li Qingan smiled, as if he heard Zhang Yun say something very naive. Of course he understood what Zhang Yun meant. When he first saw Zhang Yun as the right prime minister, he told him that he was just a transition and would not always use him because he was too mediocre and too steady, and did not have the sharpness he needed to revive the Tang Dynasty.

A year has passed, and I didn't expect that he still remembered what he said at that time. His idea was correct. He decided this way. Zhang Yunwei could be stable, but he didn't have enough sharpness.

But time will change everything, and a year is enough to give him a comprehensive understanding of this old politician.

Li Qing'an looked out the window with his hands behind his back. His wife did not give him fresh air, so he could breathe freely here.

After a long time, he slowly turned around and said slowly: "A delicious dish never only has one seasoning. Whether it is Yan Zhenqing, Cui Ning, Liu Yan, Wang Jin, or Pei Min, they all have similar qualities. They are a seasoning, but I also need salt or sugar, a person who is mature and steady, a person who can keep the situation at critical moments. I always think it is you, but I can't be sure. It was not until you just mentioned the mistakes of Emperor Wu of Han that I officially confirmed that this person is you."

Li Qingan smiled, "Please keep doing it with peace of mind, you are a qualified prime minister."

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To be continued...