He didn't look well. He had a minor illness in the winter. He was getting older, so winter and spring were difficult. Coupled with the heavy government affairs, his energy was not as good as before.
Li Po exchanged greetings as usual, but he was thinking in his heart that it seemed that he would have to think about the candidate for the minister as soon as possible.
Feng Deyi is in his fifties this year. He can be regarded as a figure of the same era as Su Wei, Pei Ju, He Chou and others. However, those few are all long-lived people and few can compare with him.
People in this world are incomparable to those in later times. If you are over sixty years old, you can be called a long life.
Life has been rare since ancient times. People who can live to the age of seventy are very rare these days. Most people are in their fifties, and those in their sixties die of illness.
This reminded Li Po of Sun Simiao again. That guy traveled around the mountains and rivers, euphemistically claiming to save the world and save people. It is said that he lived for more than a hundred years and died without any illness in the end. He was indeed quite amazing.
Xiao Yu and Wen Yanbo arrived one after another. Both of them were in their prime, and they had reached the golden period in both their lives and careers.
Feng Deyi looked at them with envy, and secretly sighed that it would have been better if he had been born a few years later.
In fact, what is more enviable is the emperor Li Po. He is the youngest in the Taiji Palace, but naturally his ministers will not use the emperor as a reference.
All three prime ministers have arrived. This situation is rare, and it looks like they have something important to discuss.
Li Po chatted a few words with a few people, and the prime ministers would also greet each other. The atmosphere was relatively relaxed. The prime minister and the emperor could actually be said to be a family. When they got together, even if they discussed important matters, everyone would not
So serious.
It is very rare to see tensions at war, which means that the situation in the court is in violent turmoil. Even the emperor and the prime minister cannot talk properly, and the situation in the court can be imagined.
After the tea time, Li Po ordered the memorial table of Fan Wenjin, the general manager of Liangzhou, to be handed over to the three of them for circulation.
Needless to say, Feng Deyi would definitely send the memorial to Menxiasheng. He had already read it, made some preparations and passed it on to Wen Yanbo.
The first person to arrive at the table was Shangshu Province. Wen Yanbo also knew about it. Only Xiao Yu took the table and looked at it for a long time.
Li Po waited patiently and then said, "What do you think?"
The question was very general, which meant that a few people could speak freely.
Although Xiao Yu was the last one to read the tableau and was not prepared beforehand, he always did his part and always liked to be the one who offered advice.
He only looked at the other two people, and the first one said: "Since the Turks were divided into the East and the West, no matter whether it is the Turkic royal court or the Western Turkic royal tent, every change of khan's position must be reported to me.
The Western Turks have always been more submissive...
Now that Tong Yehu Khan has newly inherited the throne, sending envoys to perform Hajj is the proper meaning in the title. We can treat the envoys well, and then send envoys back to congratulate Tong Yehu on his accession to the throne, as a sign of friendship."
Li Po nodded slowly, and he could understand both the inner and outer meanings of Xiao Yu's words.
Whether the people from the Western Turks come or not will not have much impact on the Tang Dynasty. It can be dealt with once and it is over. There is no need to take it too seriously.
Just express your attitude, there won't be any substantive measures.
Wen Yanbo was prepared and agreed with Xiao Yu's point of view.
At this time, he agreed: "I agree with what Xiao Zhongshu said. The Sui Dynasty was not long after the fall, the wars stopped, the people were in poverty, and the national strength was exhausted. At this time, it was unable to manage the Western Regions, and the priority should be to recuperate and recuperate.
Western Turks... Shekui Khan was defeated and died, and Tongye protected the new successor to the throne. With his strength greatly reduced, it was the time of peace and tranquility, and there should be no time for other things. The reason why he sent envoys to the court now was probably because he was afraid of the Turkic royal court's westward expedition.
I want Datang to restrain it when the time comes.
This is a common tactic of the Western Turks, and there is no need to pay attention to it."
It is a cliché that since the Turks split into two parts, the East and the West, they and the Sui Dynasty have been playing the game of Three Kingdoms for hegemony. This year you are good to me, and tomorrow I am good to him. This has been going on for more than ten or twenty years.
In the end, the Sui Dynasty gained the upper hand by virtue of its national strength and made both the Eastern and Western Turks surrender. However, privately, no one was willing to submit to the other, and the struggle continued.
Yang Guang's three expeditions to Goguryeo broke this tacit understanding and balance, causing a chain reaction and dragging both the Eastern and Western Turks into the war. In the end, it was a mess, and no one got better.
If there is a word "world war" here, then the past ten years can actually be called a scaled-down version of world war.
Because the major empires throughout Asia fell into hostilities and wars, tens of millions of people died, all participating parties suffered heavy losses, and an empire collapsed.
This kind of fierce collision between several powerful countries is almost unique in the era of cold weapons.
……………………
What both of them said was reasonable, but Li Po always felt that there was something wrong with it. If he came to such a conclusion, it would be a bit redundant to call the three prime ministers over.
What he wants to hear is a proposal that makes people's eyes brighter, rather than a decision that is forced by reality and full of helplessness.
He looked at Feng Deyi, who had been silent.
There was a little bit of expectation in my heart.
Feng Deyi was an old minister of the Sui Dynasty, and he had some of the styles of his ministers at that time. Although he was not worthy of praise as a person, he performed very well in terms of the overall situation.
For example, when he first came to see him, he said that the war would end in a short time, and suggested using Luoyang as bait to lure Dou Jiande and Xiao Xian to Henan for a decisive battle.
Roughly speaking, it's remarkable, but tactically it's a complete mess.
When he finally defeated Xiao Mian and defeated Dou Jiande, he only used some of his strategies, but the script was completely different. He was not even the slightest bit different from the counselors in the novel.
The generals in front of the battle are the protagonists who do their duty. For someone like Feng Deyi who comes up with ideas, it would be a slap in the face if he really wants to be serious.
The faults of the counselors are particularly concrete here. The idea is too beautiful, but in fact everyone is not stupid.
But having said that, Feng Deyi's judgment of the overall situation was correct. Xiao Xian and Dou Jiande were almost defeated in one battle.
Even Li Po thought that the war would last for another two or three years, but it ended in just over a year.
Another example is that Feng Deyi defined his responsibilities very clearly for the provinces under his command, including serving as the emperor's attendant, consulting with left and right officials, sealing and refuting correspondence, memorials, and even imperial edicts, drafting documents, and occasionally recommending talents by the way, etc.
He was the emperor's secretary and rarely interfered with foreign affairs, such as the establishment of Tang canons, revision of Sui history, imperial examinations, etc. As long as the emperor did not speak, he rarely expressed his opinions.
Therefore, Li Po used him to take charge of all affairs of the Menxia Province, and he was very easy to use. If you try Changsun Shunde instead, maybe you will already have a fierce fight with Zhongshu and Shangshu.
The manifestation of these abilities is a matter of overall perspective.
Feng Deyi indeed lived up to Li Po's expectations. After listening to the other two people, he pondered for a moment and then said with a sly smile: "Now that the envoys from both Turkic tribes have come to Chang'an, it is really lively. Before the founding of the Tang Dynasty, I
After a long time, foreign countries can be attracted to come to meet me, which I think is a rare good thing."
At this point, he stroked his beard and continued confidently: "It's better to sit down and talk about anything than to use a knife or a gun...
Just as Wen Gebu said, the situation in the Tang Dynasty was not good, but on the other hand, even so, they did not take the initiative to send envoys to the Turks to discuss the alliance. Instead, outsiders came one after another to express their goodwill.
Why haven't you two thought about this?"
This was obviously trying to show off, and the other two people were a little unhappy. Xiao Yu secretly cursed the old fox, and immediately said: "Shizhong Feng just wants to say that the Turkic country is not stable, but what can it do?
?”
Feng Deyi smiled and said to himself that Xiao Shiwen was always so impulsive and had suffered losses many times but still lacked a long memory. If Feng Lun were like Pei Ji or Li Jiancheng, they would probably be able to drive him out of the capital soon.
"Yeah, so what can we do?"
He repeated, and Xiao Yu's beard trembled in anger, while Wen Yanbo's face remained motionless, but there was a smile in his eyes.
Li Po smiled, waved his hand and said, "If you have anything to say, just say it directly. As a prime minister, you'd better be more solemn and don't show off your cleverness."
It's not a day or two since these two didn't deal with each other. In the past, if they didn't say a few bad words about each other in front of Li Po, they would probably feel that something was missing.
Later, when they saw that Li Po was not willing to listen to this, the two of them talked less. However, whenever they met, they still had to fight secretly. Most of the time, Xiao Yu suffered the loss, but he was defeated repeatedly and never got discouraged.
Feng Deyi immediately cupped his hands and expressed his "apology."
Then he said: "The former Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty took advantage of the power of the First World War to divide the Turks into eastern and western parts. His envoys rushed around to take great credit. Now is a rare opportunity. Even if he is unable to compete with us, he must use means to prevent them from having time to fight with me.
To defeat the enemy, weaken its strength, trim its wings, and make preparations for the future, why do you only think of making an alliance with it and living in peace?
You two must not forget that the Turks do not practice etiquette and are not trustworthy. The more generous they are, the more they feel that others are weak and can be bullied. In such a country of tigers and wolves, it is too late to be on guard at all times, so how can we trust that they come with good intentions?
"
Li Po loved hearing this. He felt that something was missing before, but Feng Deyi made up for it now. He immediately had some ideas in his mind, but they were not clear yet and he had to think about it carefully.
I couldn't help but sigh in my heart. The old people of the Sui Dynasty had a lot of dealings with the Turks, so they should be more familiar with it. Moreover, it seems that a pattern has been formed. Things that cannot be solved by war can be solved by diplomatic means.
This aspect is indeed rare... and it is also something that the ministers of the Tang Dynasty need to learn from.
"In your opinion, how should we receive the envoy?"
Feng Deyi had obviously thought it through completely, and immediately replied: "I thought that the previous Sui Dynasty's strategy of dividing and conquering the country and using the Western Turks to contain the Turkic royal court had already gone by and there was no need to follow it.
The territory of the Turkic royal court is vast, and the Jieli Khan and the Turkic Khan are divided into east and west. This is a precursor to the division of the Turks. They can be separated from the western Turkic Khan's tent, and the Turks will be fine...
Therefore, I think that we can do the opposite now and help the Turkic royal court return to the Western Regions. Given the situation of the Turks, if Jieli Khan takes advantage of it and leads his troops to the west, regardless of success or failure, the Turks will undoubtedly be in chaos..."