Chapter 219 Three fires when a new official takes office
Gao Wei returned to Jinyang and was about to start a court after two days of rest. At the same time, the war was officially concluded. The ministers naturally had the voice of greeting and singing praises. Even Dazai Duan Shao could not help but say a few more words:
"When I heard that Your Majesty was about to meet with Tubo, the old minister thought that the Turkic jackals were not trustworthy. Your Majesty ignored his safety and was really suspected of underestimating the enemy...
"" I will not hide it from Your Majesty, and I am really worried. Unexpectedly, Your Majesty is confident and only brings some armored soldiers to guard. He persuades Tuobo to withdraw his troops in a few words, forcing him to fight to form an alliance, and defeat the soldiers without fighting...
"I will realize now that Your Majesty is really smarter than us. I wonder how Your Majesty predicted that Tuobo Khan would make peace with Your Majesty?"
Although Gao Wei did not have the chance to do a small job and personally command it, at the last moment, he had the final result, and even had a strong sense of turning the tide. With this, it was worthy of a special book by the historian. Naturally, he was in a decisive mood at this moment.
Of course the emperor was in a good mood. He sat upright on the dragon couch and said with a smile:
"Tuo Bo's will is not firm enough, he is guilty! After suffering heavy blows in both the east and west lines, he will begin to doubt his own strength and amplify the strength of our army. Besides, he launched a large-scale invasion of the south, with only three purposes. First, seeing that I am becoming more and more powerful, I want to unite with the Northern Zhou Dynasty and suppress our dynasty. Second, it is nothing more than trying to get more benefits. Third, he wants to establish his authority!
"But the final result is still to be based on the situation of the war. If you continue to fight, neither side will be able to get it. I understand this, and Tuo Bo understands even more, especially Tuo Bo, who has just succeeded to the throne and has come with the general trend. He seems to be strong, but his prestige is not enough to be compared with his brother Mu Gan Khan. He suffered heavy losses, which will not be a blow to his prestige? Aren't he afraid that the people below will overthrow him, the Khan? In the case of hesitation, peace talks are inevitable trends.
"Tuobo's last appointment may have some evil intentions. He can start a war again at any time, but my light cavalry came out alone to show contempt, strengthen our army's power, and express his confidence in fighting. This was beyond Tuobo's expectations, and he would be even more timid. In this way, the initiative will be firmly in my hands. Besides, my 100,000 iron brigade is close to me. Even if he wants to do something, does he have the courage?"
Duan Shaoqing stroked his beard and smiled, "Your Majesty is really smart and decisive, quite like Emperor Gao back then!" In fact, to be fair, even Gao Huan may not be able to do better than today. When the Western Wei Dynasty conquered the Turks and the Eastern Wei Dynasty conquered Ru Ru, Gao Huan was forced to suffer by Princess Ru Ru Ru, and even his first wife Lou Zhaojun asked to leave the court. Although he had to do it in order to win over allies, there was still a humiliation in it!
Especially after the Turks unified the northern and southern deserts, they became more arrogant and arrogant, and their arbitrary actions were far better than Ru Ru in those days. Moreover, the Turks have been in alliance with the Northern Zhou Dynasty for many years, and there may be a disaster under the attack on both sides! Therefore, when the Turks came, the general trend of public opinion in the court still tends to take the initiative to ask for peace, which means spending money to eliminate disasters. This lack of confidence in facing the Turks has its roots!
When the Turkic soldiers were at its peak, they even led 100,000 troops to the city of Jinyang! As the commander who led the troops to fight, Duan Shao certainly couldn't stand it, but what could he do? The strength of the country cannot be saved by just one or two wars, and it does not mean that if they beat them once or twice, Northern Qi would be stronger than the Turks. This is a matter of national strength!
If the strength is not enough, no matter how strong the commander is, it is not enough to restore the decline. In the end, he can only hold on to the Northern Qi and Northern Zhou. The Turks' attitude towards Northern Qi and Northern Zhou was caused by this long-term tolerance of the two countries' lack of strength! The Turks really regarded both Northern Qi and Northern Zhou as their subordinates and could ask for it! Although this war ended with a discussion, its significance was completely different!
Others threaten you to talk to you and coerce others to talk to you. These are two completely different concepts! This battle has created the confidence of the dynasty, the depression accumulated in everyone's hearts, and a new atmosphere! Let everyone in the world see clearly that Northern Qi has not declined, but has surpassed those in the past! This is the great power of the emperor, unstoppable!
Although Gao Wei disagreed, he was very modest: "I can compare with Emperor Gao, but I just think that although there are many Turks but not neat, it is not enough to worry. If I immediately ordered the entire army to attack, I will definitely defeat the Turks!
"The reason why the world is not upheld, and our dynasty should accumulate strength to conquer the Puppet Zhou, and it is not advisable to make too many enemies. If a war starts, it will be damaged too much and cannot be destroyed in one way. Instead, there will be endless troubles. Compared with the two, I would rather keep him first. Let him bite him and consume the strength of both sides, which will benefit me.
"This is the reason why it is more resourceful and more gained."
All the court officials bowed and praised: "Your Majesty can compassionate with the people and defeat the enemy invisibly. This is really a blessing for the Great Qi!"
[The blessing of the world..., is my existence really a blessing for the people of the world?]
Gao Wei thought of the Zhou Kingdom, who was about to fall into dire straits, and he couldn't help but start to ponder. The ministers were not moved to congratulate him on the congratulations. Seeing His Majesty's depressed look in a blink of an eye, the ministers curled their expressions. After a while, Gao Wei said kindly:
"I know that it is not a king at once, and the war is not my strength. I am also more clear that it is impossible to govern the world well by fighting and killing. I have been worried a lot over the past few days. Now that the threat from the Turks has been temporarily eliminated, everyone must do their best to govern state affairs. As for how to govern the law, although I already have a general constitution in my mind, I still have to listen to everyone's opinions."
After Gao Wei took power, he focused on developing people's livelihood, accumulating national strength, and was often tolerant of the people and demanded strictness of the ministers. Whenever he met with the ministers, he was very arrogant and was afraid that a misunderstanding would cause the emperor's thunder and anger. Therefore, even if he submitted a memorial to discuss state affairs, he was often at a loss and had many concerns.
But I don’t know why, since the emperor’s eldest son came to life, the emperor seemed to understand that his majesty did not need to be paved with the fear of the ministers. He understood that he would be kind and no longer be confronted with seriousness and became more and more harmonious. At the same time, his cunning became deeper and deeper. However, this was a good thing for the ministers and officials. What he dared not say or talked about in the past was gradually let go.
Zu Yi became the right prime minister as he wished. Of course, he had to express his opinion: "Your Majesty is wise, after the war, he naturally puts rest and rest first! I think that now, our dynasty still has two major disadvantages.
"First, we have emphasized the issue of administration many times. Although the court and local officials have undergone many rectifications, the administration of administration has not been raised.
"Secondly, the issue of people's livelihood. Although Your Majesty's national policy is good, in the past few years, great wars were frequent and the country's focus was always on the situation of war, which led to the incomplete promotion of this policy and not specific!"
"Your Majesty!" Zu Yi's voice suddenly became loud: "Although Your Majesty has strengthened the supervision and assessment, the corruption of the administration is still repeated. Local officials, either colluded with wealthy families, or colluded with dignitaries, indulged in a random way, causing political and criminal violations and official slackness. All officials of all sizes tried to make money and extorted the people. This was clearly the legacy of the previous dynasty!
"Their actions will ruin the efforts of our court and the people must be curbed! Yesterday, I heard that when the left prime minister was fighting, he found that someone reselled military funds, but he did not deal with it in the end. I was really worried when I heard this! I think this matter must be investigated strictly to the end!
"I think that to solve such a problem, one must strengthen supervision and assessment, and the other must lay off some mediocre officials. The capable ones are at the top and the weak ones are at the bottom. Not only does it have to raise so many officials to increase the burden on the people, but I don't know how many more things will be done. Although the ants are small, the river embankment can be dug. I think that if it is to be sacked, it still has to be sacked and cannot be tolerated!"
The ministers' expressions became a little bad. On weekdays, they were just this blind man who was doing trouble everywhere. They pinched their noses and endured it. Who knew that he had become more arrogant after becoming the right prime minister! As soon as he came to the stage, he had to stir up the flames in front of His Majesty and make big moves! He immediately looked displeased.
What the ministers hated was what Gao Wei admired. After Zu Yi became the right prime minister, he was less cunning and more righteous. However, Gao Wei always felt that something was wrong, and he always felt that this old guy was going to make trouble. When he was alert, he narrowed his eyes slightly and said with a kind attitude: "Well, what I said makes sense, you can continue to say it first."
Zu Qi observed the emperor's smile, but a dangerous cold light flashed in his eyes. I wonder if he lowered his head because of guilt. Gao Wei's feeling was getting worse and worse. It was impossible to stop him now, but he slowly said:
"You should not act too quickly in governing the country, you must do it slowly. In fact, I have another advice, I don't know whether to say it or not. Although Your Majesty has said that you should rest with the people and has repeatedly emphasized that you should implement it, Your Majesty has not done this. After Your Majesty took office, there were three major wars and countless small battles. No matter how you look at it, it doesn't seem like a peaceful and prosperous era where you can rest with the people..."
Zu Qi said: "I clearly remember every time the war was damaged. In the Fenzhou battle, our army killed more than 16,400 people, and requisitioned no less than 100,000 people and countless money and grain. In the Nanyang battle, the Xiangyang battle, and the Jiangling battle, the war was damaged by nearly 10,000 people. The more than 70,000 people were mobilized, the money was spent. Especially after Your Majesty personally fought, although the war was damaged slightly, the money spent was even more than enough, and the national treasury was almost empty."
As soon as Zu Yi said this, he was in an uproar. What did this old guy want to do? Could he be crazy?! What he is doing now is to... impeach Your Majesty?!
The emperor's eyes were as bright as a knife! He suppressed his anger, and he was afraid that he would order someone to drag Zu Yi out to chop him in the next second! But he didn't, he just stood high on the throne, waiting to see Zu Yi's tricks.
Zu Yi seemed to have not noticed his situation, or he noticed it, but he still gritted his teeth and reported: "... There are some losses in the side, so I won't list them one by one. Although the war has brought me great harvests, the losses are also amazing. Your Majesty can tell that almost every household in Jinzhou, Bingzhou and Hebei is wearing mourning clothes? In this way, human resources are used, and there are many casualties, and the population has already declined..."
Gao Wei stared at Zu Yi with expressionless expression and said, "These battles must be fought. I know, and you also know. All I have done is to unify the country in the future! If you remember these, can't I remember it? Is it too exaggerated that every household is wearing mourning clothes? Are you saying that I am a powerful, cruel and tyrannical king of Jie and Zhou?"
Zu Qi quickly bowed, sweat dripped from his forehead and said, "I don't mean this. I just want to say that the people have experienced many years of war and people are calm. Your Majesty should implement the national policy of pacifying the people and calming them. I can't think of three years to achieve great governance and increase the national strength. As for how to govern, if Your Majesty detains martial arts and cultivates culture and educates the people, he will achieve twice the result with half the effort. In these three or two years, it is not advisable to make a big move!"
Naturally, the political enemies cannot miss this good opportunity to take advantage of the situation. They all said sarcastically: "Three years of great governance? The right prime minister is probably too much of a joke. These three years are just the preparation time for a war. The right prime minister will not understand that it is difficult to manage a political country than to fight. Various factors must be considered. And our great Qi still has strong enemies on his side. How many opportunities will he miss in three years?"
They took it seriously. Zu Yi was afraid that his Majesty had annoyed. Although the new official took office for three reasons, and the prime minister who had just come to power was going to establish his authority, it was certainly understandable, but Zu Yi's fire actually dared to burn on His Majesty's head. Isn't this seeking death? So they came out to take advantage of the situation.
The ministers whispered to each other, and the audience looked, and most of them did not agree with Zu Yi. Zu Yi was not afraid of their attacks at all, and said:
"Don't you do it? Your Majesty is concerned about people's livelihood. In the past, he fought frequently and had no time to take care of it. Now it is just the time to rest and recuperate. If you always use the word "difficult" to talk about everything, what else can be done well in the world? This is an unpositive attitude, and it is a corpse-position and a simple meal!"
"Don't you know that the time to sharpen your axe will not delay the logging? Isn't this short-sightedness by simply emphasizing expansion instead of seeking development? Our dynasty's money is about to run out, and we will not be able to take out the money and food immediately, so we have to pay taxes. The great situation we finally got is about to collapse again in a blink of an eye. In this way, what is the difference between our dynasty and the pseudo-Zhou that is doing the opposite? "
"Yes, the right prime minister is right. Now Your Majesty is dedicated to silence and comforting the people. If you want to achieve great governance, you must use strict and resolute means to restrain the bureaucrats and teach the people in a moderate way... Your Majesty's wise wisdom has long laid the foundation for great governance. As long as we follow Your Majesty's decree, is it really that difficult for the world to be governed?" The person standing on Zu Yi's side also stood up and spoke.
Zu Yi is one of the most important representatives of Han ministers. Even if they are not popular, they have to come out to help. When they said this, Gao Weixiang Zu Yi, who was standing in the front row, glanced. Zu Yi bowed humbly, and his heart beat like a drum. The emperor did not move at all. After a while, he smiled and said, "Three years of great governance? Zu Qing is so bold, so I will wait and see."
The last four words were deliberately extended, but the sound was not loud, but there was a sound of fighting with gold and iron. The bloody aura came with fangs and claws! The emperor stood up, turned his head and went down the imperial stairs, "As long as you make a speech, scatter."
Chapter completed!