It was already midsummer, and Li Po didn't want to go out anymore, so he only handled government affairs in the Tai Chi Hall.
At this time, he was carefully reading the battle reports coming back from the front.
Yuchi Gong led the main force of the army into Nanyang County. As expected, Nanyang and Zhou Faming fell into a stalemate, which lasted for five or six days.
The battle report was simple, saying only that the army was attacking Nanyang, but Li Po had led the army for many years, and when he thought about it, he knew that the battle ahead would be very cruel.
This kind of battle to compete for a city and a place can easily enter the rhythm of a war of attrition. The time is still short. If the time drags on for too long, the Tang army will face an increasingly unfavorable situation.
Now Li Po could only hope that the Tang army's combat effectiveness would capture Nanyang as soon as possible, or that the generals at the front would be clear-headed enough to find other ways to win, and not to confront Zhou Faming in Nanyang for too long.
What would he do now if he personally led the troops? Return to Henan or think of other ways?
It’s hard to imagine. To lead an army in battle, you must first formulate a general strategy, and then make tactical arrangements according to the established strategy. However, the enemy will not act according to your script, so the leader must make decisions on the fly.
To judge whether a general is competent, it depends on his strategy and whether his subordinates obey him. To judge whether a general can be called a famous general, it depends on his flexibility when facing the enemy.
Therefore, it was not easy for Li Po to give orders to the generals at the front and tell them what to do. Countless examples have proven that such blind instructions are extremely undesirable.
Moreover, it is a long way from Chang'an to Nanyang. If you want to take over the baton from Chang'an... don't dream about it.
The three generals in Shu were more worry-free. They led more than 40,000 troops out of Yizhou, arrived at Hezhou first, and then divided their troops. Yuwen Huo led 5,000 troops towards Tongchuan.
Li Jing and Zhang Lun led their troops southward along the Han River to attack Shijing and capture Ba County... After the fall of Yizhou, although these places had not yet surrendered, they were no longer able to resist the invasion of the army.
Chai Shao, the general manager of Xinzhou, and Zhang Zhenzhou had no time to take care of them, so as soon as the army arrived, the officials and defenders in the county surrendered one after another.
That is to say, the terrain in central Sichuan is changeable and the roads are difficult. Otherwise, these places would have been conquered long ago, and there is no need to wait until now.
In fact, what everyone is looking at is just whether the Tang army arrived first or the Liang army came first.
The army passed Fuling along the river, and Fengdu entered Badong County.
When they arrived here, they finally encountered relatively strong resistance because they were already within easy reach of Kuizhou.
The army attacked Linjiang and fought for two days before defeating them. They killed more than a thousand enemies but captured few.
The latest battle report is that the two men have been stationed in Yun'an, facing Kuizhou from a distance.
Li Jing and Zhang Lun marched quickly. By the time Yuwen Huo came to join them, they had already marched into Kuizhou and started the battle for Kuizhou.
Kuizhou is the gateway to the middle of Shu, and whoever occupies it will have the privilege of entering and exiting Bashu freely. In order to compete for Kuizhou, Li Yuan and Xiao Xian have been entangled here for several years, and Kuizhou has even changed hands.
Now that Chai Shao has voted for Xiao Mian, Kuizhou has changed hands again. Li Jing and Zhang Lun are facing an army of nearly 80,000 from Chai Shao and Zhang Zhenzhou. The battle situation looks quite dangerous.
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It can be said that the battlefields on both sides have entered a stalemate stage. It seems that there should be no winner in a short time. Li Po browses the battle reports in the Tai Chi Hall, constantly telling himself to be patient, don't be angry, don't get angry, it is not good for the body.
good.
It happened that someone cut in the queue and came up to let him vent his anger.
In fact, the war ahead was stalemate, and at this critical moment, Li Po didn't want to get into trouble... Especially since the Gao family was a big boss in Chang'an, and as the saying goes that a single move can affect the whole body, now was not a good time to argue with them.
But once the Gao family and Dugu team up, the problem will become more serious. If the Gao family can still be said to be a remnant of the Northern Qi Dynasty and has only been in Guanxi for a few years, then Dugu will be an authentic Kanxi local tiger.
After hearing that Gao Shen and Dugu Xiude had been plotting together for a long time, and that there were also children of the Xiao family involved, Li Po became murderous. If they were given time to arrange things calmly, it would probably not be a matter of going to the north to do some business.
Already.
Especially since the Gao family has been operating in the household department for many years... once they become half-hearted, what will they do? Will they imitate Dugu Huaien and starve the army ahead of them of food?
It can be said that Gao Shen has already stepped off the cliff with one foot, and Li Po doesn't mind giving him another kick from behind.
Precisely because this is not a good time to deal with the Gao family, as the emperor, he still needs to make some arrangements. Otherwise, how powerful would it be to get the evidence and cut off Gao Shen's head directly?
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Li Po had some tea soup brought to him. While drinking tea, he was thinking about things. He glanced unconsciously in the hall and happened to see Wei Zheng, the doctor of Jianyi, standing there. His eyes had no focus and he didn't know what beauty he was thinking about.
What's going on.
As the Jianyi doctor of the Menxia Province, Wei Zheng often appeared in the Taiji Palace. Because they met so often, Li Po almost forgot that this guy would later have the reputation of being the boss. Many famous ministers and generals could not compare with him.
But as the old saying goes, heroes are ordinary people too... In Li Po's view, Wei Zheng did not show anything special that would match his future reputation. Instead, he felt that this guy was a bit lazy, and he looked like he was content with being ordinary.
The guy from Yuen Long is so compatible, I can't blame these two for hooking up together.
Li Po waved, Wei Zheng didn't move, Li Po coughed, but the guy didn't move yet... Daily Note Xue Yuanjing blinked his eyes and looked at Wei Zheng in a daze, feeling that this guy was going to be unlucky, should he?
What about reminding him?
Yang Xu, who was still on duty, followed Li Po for a long time. He was more courageous. He stood up and pulled Wei Zheng's sleeves, muttering a few words in a low voice. Wei Zheng then woke up as if from a dream. In panic, he moved closer to the emperor.
All around me, I apologized one after another.
Li Po gritted his teeth. Everyone around him knew that he was in a bad mood these days. This guy dared to leave his post while on duty. It was really shameful.
A smile appeared on Li Po's face, which gradually became brighter. Yang Xu and Xue Yuanjing quickly lowered their heads and mourned for Wei Xuancheng in silence.
Wei Zheng naturally knew the emperor's "bad habits" and was immediately taken aback...
Just listen to Li Po say: "You have been admonishing Yiyi for more than half a year, do you remember how many times you admonished me?"
Wei Zheng was sweating from behind. He knew that if he didn't satisfy the emperor with his correct answers today, he would probably be punished. The emperor was in a bad mood these days, and he would definitely be punished severely... This was so unlucky, and he was just...
After thinking about it, Fang Xuanling returned to Beijing to report on his work and invited him to meet him tonight. I wonder what he would say then?
He was just thinking about dragging Fang Xuanling to the land of fireworks to see if this guy was as fearful as the rumors, but what he didn't expect was that he would be in trouble first.
Wei Zheng, who was thinking in his mind, replied: "The Supreme Being has always been wise and mighty, but the ministers have few talents and little knowledge. I don't know what to advise. The Emperor is a saint, so you cannot blame the ministers for this."
Li Po thought about it carefully and realized that this was someone admonishing him. He was saying, you can't blame us for not admonishing you more just because you have few faults, right?
While admonishing, he also flattered a little... which made Li Po feel more and more that he couldn't fully trust the history books. When literati compiled history, they sometimes told stories, and there were many things they imagined.
The guy in front of me has been able to survive many times despite being in different households. His slickness is evident... He even dares to take a nap in front of the emperor...
The smile on the face gradually fades, indicating that anger comes and goes quickly, so the art of speaking this language can sometimes save lives.
"You would actually say, if I blame you, wouldn't I be less wise?"
Wei Zheng breathed a sigh of relief and said quickly: "I don't dare."
Li Po no longer competes with him, he loses his etiquette in front of the emperor, speaks cleverly, and Wei Zheng and Wei Xuancheng look like treacherous ministers... What does this mean? Does it mean that he is not as good as Li Shimin?
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but feel a little depressed, and after a long time he said quietly: "Use copper as a mirror, you can straighten your clothes, use ancient times as a mirror, you can know the ups and downs, use people as a mirror, you can know the gains and losses, I still hope you can stand in front of me
Speak freely, even if your words are inappropriate, I won't blame you.
The emperor is favored by all, and respected by the people, but the emperor is also a human being, and he will make mistakes. If no one is around to advise him, what should he do? Over time, he will inevitably go his own way, be arrogant and self-absorbed, and then the emperor will have a bad reputation.
Now, can my ministers have a good reputation?"
As soon as these words came out, Wei Zheng was surprised. He quickly raised his head and glanced at the emperor. He was probably wondering, where did the emperor... hear such words from?
It was an instinctive reaction, nothing else. If Li Po knew what he was thinking, he would have to settle the accounts with him.
Then Wei Zheng lowered his head, and the heart-breaking words were enough to make him panic. As a Jianyi official in the province, he often accompanied the emperor, but he had never been able to fulfill his duties. He was really ashamed.
The other two people in the hall couldn't sit still anymore. They all stood up and bowed to listen to the lecture. At the same time, they scolded Wei Zheng and Wei Xuancheng bloody. According to the rules, it was inevitable to write a letter to apologize later.
Li Po looked at them, his mood improved a little, and he was even a little proud... he waved his hands and started to deal with government affairs again.
Wei Zheng wilted and went back to serve, thinking that the emperor was indeed very generous and he had never spoken harshly to his ministers like them, but his thoughts were unpredictable. So should he say more words in the future?
But does the emperor really not blame others when he hears those unpleasant things? Only a ghost can believe it. Li Yuan and his son have always been said to be generous and able to accept people's words, and the cute words are actually good things.
Alas, there are so many bones under the Mingjun...
As he was thinking about it, he became distracted again.
When the eldest grandson Shunde came in, the palace was peaceful. Wei Zheng held his breath and condensed his voice, and the palace people hid in the corner and shrank, all hinting at the emperor's unhappy mood.