Now that Xiao Sizi has officially started to go to school, Chen Jingke can no longer go to her casually like before. He has to calculate the time every time.
The main thing is to choose a time when she finishes class at noon or is on vacation.
This time it was a coincidence that after talking to Li Shimin, it happened to be almost noon, so I turned a corner to see her.
When he arrived at the Li Zheng Hall, he happened to see the waiter passing the food around. He smiled and said, "Well, it's better to arrive early than to arrive late. There will be food just in time."
Changsun Wugou guessed that he had just met Li Shimin, but at the moment there were so many people talking and she didn't ask any more questions, she just smiled and said:
"I was worried about the lack of taste when eating alone. You came just in time. Come over and sit down to eat with me."
Chen Jingke sat down opposite him politely, and then said to Sun Fucai: "Can you please run over and pick up Xiao Sizi?"
Sun Fucai looked at his eldest grandson Wugou, and when he saw her nodding, he smiled and said: "See what the real person said, it is my blessing to serve you. Just wait, I will go to see Sanniangzi right away."
After saying that, he went towards the school to find someone.
Changsun Wugou pretended to be unhappy and said, "I knew you didn't come to see me. Hey, it's no use that I love you so much."
Chen Jingke smiled apologetically and said, "Looking at what you said, in my heart you are my mother. Have you ever seen a son who talks about how good his father and mother are every day, but he always keeps it in his heart."
Changsun Wugou was overjoyed to be told that, and said with a smile: "You, all these skills are in your mouth, you can just talk."
Chen Jingke spread his hands and said, "It can't be that it has no merit at all, right?"
By this time, the waiter had already laid out the food, including four dishes, one soup, and a bowl of rice. It was enough for three people, so no one asked for more food.
For ordinary people, this meal is very rich, but for dignitaries and even the royal family, it is very frugal.
The lid used to keep the food warm was not opened because we had to wait for the little Sizi to come over and eat together.
Changsun Wugou said to the waiter: "Please step aside first and come back to clean up after you finish eating."
"Here." The waiters filed out.
Not everyone went out, but those who could stay were all Changsun Wugou's confidants, and there was no need to carry many words behind their backs.
"You just came from the Saint?"
"Um."
"But what did you find?"
Chen Jingke recounted what happened to Hui Qing, including his plan to take revenge by Li Shimin.
Changsun Wugou had no other thoughts, but said matter-of-factly: "Isn't this right? If anything happens, come to me and the saint. Don't worry, this saint will definitely avenge you."
Chen Jingke said gratefully: "Thank you, Auntie, I know you love me the most, so I entered the palace as soon as I found out Huiqing's identity."
Changsun Wugou said angrily: "These monks are becoming more and more lawless. Not only are they harboring traitors, but they also dare to assassinate the emperor's relatives. If we don't treat them, it will be impossible."
Instead, Chen Jingke advised: "Just beat them up. A total ban on Buddhism is too costly. As long as 'Buddha is the Tao' can be successfully completed this time, they will not be able to cause any trouble in the future."
Changsun Wugou said kindly: "You are sensible and always consider others. Don't worry. This time we will definitely take the opportunity to complete the plan of Buddha, the Tao, eliminate all hidden dangers, and prepare for the subsequent enfeoffment."
Then she asked with concern: "You just met the saint, how is his health? Did he eat on time?"
Chen Jingke's expression became a little serious and he said: "The saint is in quite bad condition. The circles under his eyes are dark and his spirit is a little low. If things continue like this, I'm afraid that his body will not be able to bear it. Please give him some advice when you have time."
Changsun Wugou said worriedly: "How can I not advise him, but the court is in a troubled time, and he can't rest even if he wants to."
What is going on in the court now?
Let’s talk about the outside first.
The first thing is to expand the borders of the Western Regions. After the Eastern Turks have been destroyed, the Western Turks are still there. The Tang Dynasty's capture of Gaochang means that they will face the Western Turks head-on.
The Western Turks have been operating in the Western Regions for hundreds of years, and have absorbed the remaining forces of the Eastern Turks. They are very powerful. Although they have internal conflicts, the Tang Dynasty is also working on expeditions, so they must be extremely careful.
The strategy of the Tang Dynasty was to plan it slowly, to start farming in Gaochang, and then make next plans after gaining a firm foothold.
Therefore, the Tang Dynasty established the Anxi Protectorate at the beginning of this year, with its headquarters in Gaochang, and Guo Xiaoke, the Duke of Yangdi County, became the first Anxi Protectorate.
The second thing was Tubo. After Chen Jingke's reminder, Li Shimin finally realized the danger of Tubo and the importance of Tuyuhun.
A cavalry force of 5,000 people was dispatched to Tuyuhun. On the one hand, it was to intimidate Tibet, and on the other hand, it was hoped that these people could adapt to the plateau climate and go directly to Gaoyuan to fight Tibet in the future.
At the same time, five thousand families of Han people were also moved to settle in Tuyuhun, hoping that their next generation would grow up and provide a steady stream of fighting power for the Tang Dynasty.
The third thing is to deal with the increasingly powerful Xue Yantuo and prevent him from becoming the second Eastern Turk.
The fourth thing is to expand the border to the southwest. The strength of the southwest barbarians is not as strong as the barbarians in the north, but they have geographical advantages. It is easy for the court to defeat them, but it is difficult to annihilate them all.
Therefore, the method used was to intimidate by force, and then domesticate through culture. Taoism is specialized in doing this in the southwest.
But if you want to assimilate the opponent through soft power, you need to invest more energy. Almost every day, there is intelligence coming from the southwest that needs to be processed.
Then it’s the turn of internal matters.
The first is to control the Yellow River. Previously, Chen Jingke put forward suggestions for repairing the Yellow River. After on-site inspections, numerous hidden dangers were discovered. Maybe one day this violent mother river will get out of control.
In the end, the government and the public unanimously decided to nip the problem before it ignited, and carried out a large-scale river repair operation to restore the Yellow River to its appearance after Wang Jing's control of the Eastern Han Dynasty, ensuring that the world would not suffer from the Yellow River in the next hundreds of years.
Such a large-scale operation requires a huge amount of manpower and material resources, and requires higher organizational capabilities. A little carelessness can lead to disaster.
Although the imperial court had money and food, it was still cautious and invested a lot of management costs.
However, the pros and cons of many things are relative. For example, there was a severe drought in the first half of the year, and I don’t know how many people were affected.
However, this is actually a good thing for the management of the Yellow River. It is more convenient to repair the Yellow River during droughts and floods. Moreover, the imperial court took this opportunity to mobilize hundreds of thousands of civilians to work for relief, speeding up the construction of the river.
But again, there are so many civilians, and even the slightest carelessness in management will lead to disasters. The government and the public are concerned about this.
Every day, dozens of memorials and information about the management of the Yellow River were placed on Li Shimin's desk. Even so, he still had to ask about the matter several times a day.
The second thing is the resettlement and development of the two regions of Hunan, Hunan and Guangxi, which is for the future of the Tang Dynasty. Fortunately, this matter cannot be rushed. The cycle is at least thirty to fifty years and can be carried out slowly.
The third thing is the turn of reform and innovation, so I won’t go into details about this. The academic and political system, the imperial examination system, enfeoffment, etc., are all intricately connected.
The fourth thing is to deal with the gentry. In fact, the current conflict between the court and the gentry stems more from Li Shimin's revenge.
After a series of blows, the tiger skin of the nobles has been pierced, and softer methods can be used to slowly dismember them.
However, the nobles were too arrogant before, and Li Shimin was often offended. Now that he has finally stepped on them, he must take revenge severely.
Of course, it is not all for revenge. The main reason is that the noble clan has a long history and is afraid that they will die without being stiff.
When one of the younger generations fails to live up to expectations in the future, they will be resurrected.
Therefore, his plan was to destroy the main line of the noble clan and dismember its branches, completely cutting off the possibility of the noble clan's resurgence.
But this makes things more complicated and requires more operations.
The fifth thing is also very important, that is to unify our thoughts.
Enfeoffment is a geographical separation, but to maintain ideological convergence, unified thinking becomes very important at this time.
The concept of 'Chinese civilization' that Chen Jingke had been advocating before was naturally accepted by everyone.
The only resistance to "returning everything to China" is Buddhism. This foreign pagan religion is fundamentally a thing of Tianzhu. If there are a few princes and kings who are fanatical believers in Buddhism in the future, it will be troublesome.
For the imperial court, it is natural that it does not want to see this situation occur, and the princes and kings also do not want to see this situation.
The reason is very simple. The surrounding vassal states all believe in Chinese civilization. If your descendants suddenly create a Buddhist state and claim to be from Tianzhu, you don't have to think about the consequences.
Moreover, if you are a good descendant of China, why should you become a damn Tianzhu? Isn’t it a shame?
Therefore, the unification of ideas is actually a direction that everyone agrees with. Chen Jingke really did not deceive Fa Lin on this point.
The only difference is that the princes and kings have different opinions on how to achieve ideological unification.
For example, some people think that it is enough to use Confucianism and Taoism to interpret the meaning of Buddhist scriptures, and there is no need to resort to the transformation of Laozi.
After all, Buddhism has been passed down in China for so many years, and no Buddhists have ever seen themselves claiming to be from Tianzhu.
It's just that Li Shimin has the overall initiative. He wants to turn me into a Hu, and other nobles don't dare to object even if they have opinions.
But correspondingly, many nobles will remain silent on this matter, and he will have much less power to draw on, and he will have to spend more energy.
The sixth thing is that the construction of the army, especially the navy, cannot be delayed without delay.
The Tang Dynasty must build up a navy strong enough in a short period of time to deal with overseas enemies and the upcoming vassal states.
Coupled with other large and small government affairs in the country, it can be said that Datang was like a carriage running at full speed.
Li Shimin was the one who drove the car. He didn't dare to slack off at all, otherwise all his plans would be ruined, or the car would be destroyed and people would be killed.
There are no solutions, for example, you can slow down the car and drive slowly.
But Li Shimin, who already knew how vast the outside world was, didn't want to wait for a moment. He couldn't wait to build this carriage and then become the true master of the world.
Another way is to find an assistant for him to help him look at the ditches and bumps on the road and help him deal with some things, so that he can concentrate on driving without worrying about other things.
But imperial power is unique and the most selfish, and cannot be tolerated by others.
No one dared to suggest to Li Shimin that Prince Li Chengqian should come out to do things. Changsun Wugou did dare to mention it, but she could never do it because of her status.
But there are always exceptions.
Chen Jingke said to his eldest grandson Wugou: "I proposed to His Majesty today that Dalang should come out to help him share some of the government affairs. He seems to be interested. I think there will be results in a few days."
Changsun Wugou said in surprise: "Really? Jing Ke, you are really the messenger sent by God to help me, and you have done me a big favor."
Chen Jingke grinned and said, "Then you are also the patron saint sent by God to protect me."
Then he said seriously: "There are some things that I can't say clearly. Although the saint is very generous and broad-minded, he is more sensitive to certain things because of his own experience."
"So I hope you can supervise and advise Dalang not to touch those sensitive things and not to turn good things into bad things."
Changsun Wugou naturally understood what he meant and said seriously: "Don't worry, I will keep an eye on Cheng Qian and will never let him get involved in the military power. The prince's guard rate will also be reduced to the minimum for him."
Chen Jingke didn't say much. He believed that Changsun Wugou would be able to handle this well.
When Li Shimin led troops to fight, she relied on her to maintain the relationship with Li Yuan and many brothers and sisters at home, and even maintained the relationship network in the Prince of Qin's palace.
After Li Shimin became emperor, she also acted as the lubricant between the emperor and his ministers. She was responsible for comforting Li Shimin when he was angry, and she was required to defend the ministers when they violated taboos according to the situation.
The scheming skills are definitely at the level of an old fox. Although Li Chengqian is very smart, he probably can't even turn out water splashes in her hands.
While he was talking, Xiao Sizi came into the room lightly. When he saw Chen Jingke's big eyes, he narrowed his eyes and said in a soft voice: "Brother."
Chen Jingke was also very happy and said: "Hey, little Sizi, come and sit down, let's eat."
"Yes." Xiao Sizi came to him and sat down obediently.
The eldest grandson Wugou was not angry at being completely ignored. She had long been used to it and she really couldn't afford to be angry.
The waiter next to me took the initiative and took off the lids on the dishes. The food was still steaming.
Chen Jingke first gave his eldest grandson Wujia a piece of food with chopsticks and said, "Auntie, please eat."
Changsun Wugou said happily: "You have some conscience, okay, you two can eat your own food and leave me alone."
Chen Jingke then sat down again, and then deliberately moved his stool closer to Xiao Sizi so that the two of them were almost shoulder to shoulder.
Xiao Sizi's face immediately turned red with embarrassment, but he did not move away. Instead, he took the initiative to move closer to Chen Jingke.
In the past, she would be shy and deliberately keep a distance in front of others. Since the last incident of praying for rain, she has broken through her psychological defense line and no longer shy away from being intimate with Chen Jingke in front of others.
On the contrary, Chen Jingke, although he looked dishonest on the surface, actually kept the distance between the two within a safe range.
This is also the main reason why Changsun Wugou and Li Shimin do not object to their intimacy.
The meal ended with the two of us feeding each other a mouthful, and I feeding you a mouthful, making the little Sizi's belly full and round.
Chen Jingke chatted with her for a while about Tian Xiaoshi, and when he saw that it was almost time, he sent her to school, then left the palace and returned to Zixiao Temple.
