The morning in Youjing is filled with brisk autumn wind.
Even the rising sun that occasionally pokes its head out of the stratus clouds can't bring much warmth to people.
I think it will be even colder in the evening.
On this cold autumn day, there was a rare lively atmosphere in the court hall.
The matters discussed in the court meeting this morning mainly revolved around two major events in the north and south.
The major event in the north is naturally the war between Xing'an and Oara.
Although the Waladong Ting Army broke through Shanmen City with lightning speed and invaded Xing'an Territory, there was heavy thunder and light rain for ten days, and they were unable to break through the blockade of the Zhongzhou Army and fail to spread the war southward.
As a result, the princes in the court were not interested in the war in Xing'an, which could not bring much tension, and most of their attention was focused on the recent major events in the south.
The major events in the south cover the Great Fire of Southern Shaolin, the demonic massacre of Wan Fang, the rebellion of the Red Sect, the battle of Jiulian Mountain, etc.
These things can be regarded as one thing, that is, the Red Clothes Sect, secretly run by Dongying Xisaku, is trying to trap and kill the people of Zhongzhou through the Southern Shaolin Fire in order to bring disaster to Zhongzhou.
It has been seven days since the Battle of Southern Shaolin.
While the local government thoroughly investigated the reported Southern Shaolin fire, it also distributed money and food to appease the people.
The officers and soldiers temporarily ordered to blockade Putian County withdrew 70%, leaving 30% to help the local government clean up the mess, help local people repair their homes, and restore production order.
All political forces that have evacuated Putian County have either returned to their respective bases or are on their way back to their bases.
As for the Jianghu knight who slaughtered Wanfang's head with his own hands, he is heading north on a post road specially equipped with carriages and horses. He will arrive in Beijing in about three days to collect the reward of ten thousand taels of gold.
When the first warrior of Wala was mysteriously resurrected, turned into a demon, and then executed with great difficulty, all the princes in the court applauded and applauded, but they all angrily reprimanded the Red Sect for cultivating this beast.
Many ministers also expressed that the first righteous man who was about to enter Beijing not only deserved a heavy reward, but also deserved to be recruited by the court.
However, the fifth general who was temporarily in charge of the Imperial Guards on behalf of the young emperor said that this person was a poor person from Kunlun. After coming to Beijing to receive a reward, he would probably not accept an official position, but would rush back home to benefit his hometown with a lot of money.
Those ministers heard the words and came to advise them. Talented people are rare. The court can allocate money to the righteous people's hometown and then grant them official positions to serve the court.
At this time, other ministers spoke up, not to mention that this move was inconsistent with the system and difficult to convince the public, but that there was a war in the north now, and there was a lot of property for the Red Sect to be dealt with. Even if the court was not short of money, it could be justified
When spending money, ten thousand taels of gold is already a great reward. Other money should not be spent randomly at this time. It should be spent on places where money is urgently needed.
Obviously what the latter said was more reasonable, so the topic turned to the Red Sect.
At the court meeting five days ago, the Pinghai County turmoil case jointly investigated by the East and West factories came to a conclusion, which confirmed the Japanese background of the Red Sect. The three secret caves accumulated money and food in order to cooperate with the Japanese invasion.
Regarding this wolf in sheep's clothing, all the ministers were filled with hatred, but they had such a headache that they didn't know where to start.
Just because the foundation of the Red Clothes Sect has basically been devoted to the battle of Southern Shaolin, the remaining fur that has no use value is the people of Zhongzhou.
Although it has been confirmed that the Red Sect has been eradicated, the remaining mess affects nearly half of the people's livelihood and economic foundation in Zhongzhou.
The princes in the court could not help but engage in verbal arguments in order to shirk responsibility or compete for benefits.
Finally, the focus of the discussion came to the various Jianghu forces in Zhongzhou.
In view of the prosperous martial arts environment in Zhongzhou for decades, the imperial court often had to bow its head in front of the Jianghu and turned a blind eye to the use of force to violate the prohibition. Jianghu has always been a thorn in the court's heart.
It was not until the last foreign barbarian rebellion that the imperial court and the Jianghu were severely damaged. After nearly twenty years of cultivating their health and keeping a low profile, the imperial court finally caught up with the Jianghu and showed a tougher side in the past two years.
, directly contending with Jianghu.
The incident of the Red Clothes Sect can be said to have brought disaster to the Jianghu, and Zhongzhou Jianghu also paid a heavy price for it.
It is pure self-deception for the imperial court to say that it did not take advantage of the situation to suppress the Jianghu forces in order to consolidate its imperial power.
But in the first step, he called on all the righteous heroes and heroes from all walks of life to go to Fujian to kill the devil. In the second step, the birds were all hidden, and the rabbits died and the dogs were cooked. This is not something that these self-proclaimed gentlemen can do shamelessly.
At least these things cannot be stated openly.
Therefore, the focus of the debate among the gentlemen is how to reward the heroes and righteous heroes from all walks of life who participated in the suppression of the Red Clothes Sect's rebels and eradicated the demons.
While the eunuchs at the front were basically just playing for the occasion, the armed party actually held their own opinions on this issue, tit for tat, and never gave in.
Both parties agreed that what Jianghu gangs did this time was to save the people from danger and protect the peace of the country, and the court should express its gratitude no matter what.
They just disagree on the size and form of the reward.
The Wu Party, headed by the Fifth Marquis, believed that Jianghu had made great efforts this time but also suffered a big loss. Its attitude towards the imperial court was at its most disgusting and resentful, and any reward at this time would only lead to abuse and abuse.
If you look at someone with a bad face, there is even the possibility of refusing to be rewarded.
The imperial court needed to find another way to express its praise to the heroes and righteous heroes.
An announcement was made to the world, expressing gratitude to the various Jianghu gangs for their righteous deeds on behalf of the people as the Emperor.
The second is to refer to the pension system for wounded and wounded soldiers, and order local governments to take care of the wounded and fallen martyrs of various gangs, especially to the deceased, provide full burial subsidies, reduce and reduce the burden of tax and service on their families, etc.
The eunuchs who follow Tamar's lead do not fully agree with these two commendations.
They believe that the contradiction between the Jianghu and the imperial court is a natural chasm, and the reward method proposed by the Wu Party is actually boiling a frog in warm water. It is intended to slowly reduce the hostile attitude of the Jianghu people and influence the other party. This method may be able to reconcile the tense relationship between the two parties, but
I'm afraid it won't be effective in ten or eight years. Besides, most of the world will have recovered by then, so why should we be polite to the court?
Ever since the Hundred Flowers Conference was held in high spirits, the imperial court had been toughening up again and again, and it was absolutely inappropriate to relax at this time.
In this world, as long as there is hard power, it is the truth. Even if we have to adopt both soft and hard policies, it should also be reflected in other places.
He should be rewarded generously, he should be given a notice of thanks, and he should be compensated with reference to the compensation for the wounded and wounded soldiers.
It is rare to be rewarded for killing enemies and eliminating bandits, so that the emperor's grace can be reflected.
Although the Red Sect no longer exists, there are still many fish that have slipped through the net and are hiding in hiding XZ.
There is a deep blood feud between Jianghu Zhengdao and the Red Clothes Sect, so they can issue an edict to reward those who kill the key remnants, so that they can gain benefits in addition to their hard work.
Since there are Japanese bandits lurking in Fujian, we might as well set up heavy rewards to encourage the righteous warriors to go and eliminate them.
Previously, when the armed party talked about the war in Xing'an Territory, it was suggested to dispatch strong troops for reinforcements and expel the Oara Army from the territory in one go to avoid long nights and nightmares.
It is better to recruit Jianghu people to form an army, so as not to mobilize other garrison troops, but also to strengthen the combat power of the Zhongzhou Army, killing two birds with one stone.
After hearing this, the Fifth Marquis felt that it was ridiculous.
He originally thought that Emperor Yan would just listen as usual.
Whatever decision he had to make, he and Yu Tian would discuss it privately and then go through the motions in the court.
Unexpectedly, Emperor Yan changed his usual behavior today and actually adopted the eunuch's suggestion. He planned to reward people from all walks of life and issued some policies that had the slightest hint of recruiting peace. He even received the support of more than half of the nine major families.
If the Fifth Marquis had not argued his case in court, emphasizing that recruiting Jianghu people to the battlefield at this time might have touched the opponent's bottom line and led to rebellions. At present, the imperial court has no problem in dealing with these rebellions, but it is afraid that they will be used by people with ulterior motives to create a war between nations.
Only then did Emperor Yan agree to temporarily waive the last clause.
After retreating from the court, the Fifth Marquis finally came to his senses in the sedan chair.
This game this morning seemed to be for myself.
He had always thought that the young emperor had his own opinions and would seek a balance between him, the Fifth Marquis, and the Nine Families.
Now that I think about it carefully, whether the little emperor nods or not is all what that old eunuch Yu Tian meant.
Not only that, some people among the nine families have already made their preferred choices.