The film and television world begins with the battle for the throne in Kowloon

Chapter 1121: The Optimism of the Ministers

Li Yan showed full respect to Xiao Yu, an old minister with high prestige, great influence and integrity. He not only often stayed in the palace for meals, but also humbly asked him for advice on some matters concerning Yang Guang in the name of learning lessons.

Xiao Yu was naturally very satisfied with the courteous and studious young emperor, and he talked about the affairs of the previous dynasty like the back of his hand. Hun didn't know that Li Yan didn't want to draw any lessons at all, but was only interested in those historical figures who were famous in later generations and the gossip about Yang Guang.

In this way, all the ministers in the court knew that the emperor was close to Xiao Yu, and as the saying goes, "Birds of a feather flock together," their impression of the emperor improved a lot.

Xiao Yu was born into a royal family and had experienced two dynasties and four generations of monarchs. He had served as the Zuo Pushe several times and had seen more bridges than others had walked. After many ups and downs, he no longer cared about the level of his official position in the entire court.

Except for a few old bones who are waiting to die at home, almost all of them are young people. He just wants to do more for the court while he is still able to do so, otherwise he would have retired long ago.

Now in the new dynasty, Xiao Yu was treated as an emperor by a younger generation like Li Yan, who respected him all the time and asked for advice on everything, which greatly satisfied Xiao Yu's desire to assist him.

He even believed that he had met a wise and holy ruler, and felt that serving under Li Yan was more comfortable than serving under Yang Guang, Li Yuan, and Li Shimin. He was full of energy and vowed to assist Li Yan in becoming a holy ruler and contribute to the continuation of the Tang Dynasty.

Not only did he praise Li Yan generously in private regardless of the occasion, but he also protected him wholeheartedly in the court.

Li Yan regarded Xiao Yu as a big tree that could block the wind and rain. With this door god, some ministers who had their own thoughts were timid and restrained. Some people made some small moves, and before the emperor said anything, Xiao Yu rushed forward regardless.

He really took the blame for Li Yan and saved him a lot of trouble.

In the core organization headed by Li Yan, Changsun Wuji has the most power, but Xiao Yu is the one with the highest seniority. As long as Xiao Yu is there, Changsun Wuji can only be ranked second and has to consider the opinion of this old senior in everything.

The emperor only added the word "old" before "sir" when addressing Xiao Yu, which made it clear to everyone that they were different from Xiao Yu. "Old sir" represented the emperor's respect for Xiao Yu.

This is an honor that no other minister has ever received except Xiao Yu.

This undisguised favoritism made Changsun Wuji, who was in charge of the Secretariat and served as both the left and right prime ministers, always suppressed by Xiao Yu and was far less powerful than Fang Xuanling, who was the left prime minister in the past.

When Zhangsun Wuji complained to the Empress Dowager about this, Zhangsun Wugui not only did not blame him, but was full of praise. She said that with Xiao Yu around, there would never be powerful officials and treacherous officials in the court, and the Zhangsun family would be much safer.

She was relieved and even bestowed numerous rewards on Xiao Yu to reward him for his contribution in assisting the government.

He also reprimanded Zhangsun Wuji, telling him to stay in his place, assist the emperor well, and not always go against Xiao Yu. Xiao Yu was an upright person, not against people, and he was in the center, able to intimidate and supervise the officials. As long as everyone was loyal to their duties, the world would naturally be peaceful.

Changsun Wuji was very unhappy as he saw that there was no hope of seizing power and was branded as power-hungry.

He just wanted to use this incident to get rid of the position of Right Prime Minister and avoid those gossips. Hearing the emperor's question, Zhangsun Wuji hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, at that time, the emperor had just ascended the throne and Prime Minister Fang had retired."

"I was given this task in a time of crisis and have assumed two positions at the same time."

"Now that the government is back on track, if I continue to do this, I am afraid I will be suspected of being power-hungry. The Secretariat has a heavy workload, and I am unable to maintain it alone. Therefore, I ask the emperor to remove me from this position and appoint someone else."

"This will help me share some of the burden and prevent me from making mistakes in state affairs."

Chang Sun Wuji's words were somewhat heartfelt. On the one hand, the affairs of the Shangshu Province were all on him. The emperor dealt with memorials until the evening, and he was busy until late at night. In order to maintain his relationship with his eldest nephew, he had to appear in front of the emperor.

Faced with the emperor's occasional sudden whims and occasional verbal tests, Changsun Wuji spent the rest of his meal time receiving ministers and his sleep time thinking about his family. He felt that if he continued like this, he would collapse from fear.

If he hadn't been so busy all day and his mind was a mess, how could he have ignored such an important matter as Shi Luodie, causing others to attack him at his doorstep.

Changsun Wuji was determined to set aside some time to consider the overall situation.

In fact, Changsun Wuji's current official position is still Shangshu You Pushe and concurrently Zuo Pushe. The real Zuo Pushe is still Fang Xuanling.

Now we have to remove one of them. Logically, we must remove the part-time job and invite Fang Xuanling back to serve as Zuo Pushe. However, Zhangsun Wuji is already the Prime Minister in name only, and if Fang Xuanling is brought back, the two will conflict.

One is the former prime minister, and the other is the current prime minister. It would be strange if they didn’t fight.
It would be unfair to bring up Changsun Wuji like this. After all, he did not do anything wrong. He was relieved of his duties just because of health reasons and took a rest. It was not reasonable. Li Yan was in a dilemma and looked at Xiao Yu.

He was ready to push this hot potato to old man Xiao. During this period, Li Yan did the same thing every time he encountered a difficult decision.

Regardless of whether the decision made by Xiao Yu was in line with Li Yan's wishes, it was at least very fair. It eliminated Li Yan's selfishness and also blocked the plans of others.

Sure enough, Xiao Yu took a deep breath and stroked his beard. It was obvious that he had thought of this as well. He frowned and thought for a while before saying, "Your Majesty, what Lord Changsun said makes sense. It is indeed not appropriate for one person to occupy the positions of Left and Right Prime Ministers for a long time." "Well, after the court is dismissed, I will go to Fang's mansion."

"If Lord Fang is in good health, let him return to the court as soon as possible; if he is not in good health or has the intention to retire, then promote Lord Changsun to the position of Zuo Pushe, and appoint You Pushe to assist Lord Changsun."

"Hmm? That makes sense."

Li Yan nodded immediately and said, "Mr. Xiao is right. In this case, I will leave this matter to you. Please go and visit Mr. Fang on my behalf to see how he is doing."

"Yes, I respect your order."

Although Xiao Yu said this, everyone in the imperial study, including Xiao Yu himself, knew that Fang Xuanling would definitely not come back.

Unless the emperor was dissatisfied with Zhangsun Wuji, he would not have invited Fang Xuanling back. If the emperor really wanted Fang Xuanling to come back, he would have gone there in person instead of asking Xiao Yu to do it for him. The important officials present were all shrewd people and naturally understood this truth.

Changsun Wuji also breathed a sigh of relief. The emperor said this only out of respect for Fang Xuanling and was just going through the motions.

If he came back, Changsun Wuji would have nowhere to go. Besides, Fang Xuanling was already 66 years old this year and his health was not very good. Asthma and fainting were commonplace. Who knew how long a person who lived today but not tomorrow could last?

Such a physical condition was simply not capable of handling the heavy duties of the Zuo Pushe, especially at the critical juncture of the Turkic invasion, when the court was about to take full action and there were even more affairs to deal with.

Fang Xuanling was a man of great human experience and wisdom, so as soon as Xiao Yu left, he would naturally submit a formal letter of retirement.

In fact, Li Yan didn't want Fang Xuanling to come back. First of all, Fang Xuanling had never lived past seventy in history, so he only had three or four years left to live. If he took good care of himself at home and was in a good mood, he might be able to live a few more years.

Secondly, Fang Xuanling stayed out of the matter, so he would not be swayed by the fame and fortune in the court, and could really help him make suggestions from his own perspective. Li Yan would come to ask about some things from time to time, and he would get a satisfactory answer.

Third, the court cannot rely on only one group of people for talent, using them until they are old and die, and then start thinking about the future. Instead, a group of people should retire, a group of people should be appointed, a group of people should be reserved, and a group of people should be trained, so that a good and healthy echelon can be formed.

There is a constant supply of talent available.

Everyone started to get slightly excited. If Zhangsun Wuji became the Zuo Pushe, the You Pushe position would be vacant.

Xiao Yu was naturally not interested. Ren Shizhong only had a position, which legitimately controlled the power of sealing and rejecting, and checked the court. He was the Zuo Pushe 20 years ago, and it was even more impossible for him to be Zhangsun Wuji's deputy now.

Then, Liu Bo, Cen Benwen, Ma Zhou, and Chu Suiliang all have opportunities. Even if you don't go, you can still recommend someone close to you.

For a moment, the ministers became active.

However, now is not the time to consider these things. Changsun Wuji also stood up, and everyone began to discuss the invasion of Shiluodie.

Changsun Wuji believed that if Shi Luodie went south, he would mainly attack the peninsula area for three reasons. First, the Liaodong Peninsula controlled the sea route to Japan and had a huge amount of silver imported. If he took over this place, Shi Luodie would take over the financial resources of the entire Turkic people.

Secondly, the northern part of Hebei Road is protected by the entire Yanshan Mountains, which have been a natural barrier for the Central Plains to defend against the grasslands since ancient times. Even if the Turks had an army of 300,000, it would be difficult to break through.

The most important thing is that now that the Liaodong Peninsula is in hand, if the Turks attack Hebei, the Liaodong army will attack from behind and cooperate with the Hebei army from both ends. Shi Luodie will inevitably be caught in a situation where he will be attacked from both sides. Once he is frustrated, he will surely return in defeat.

Third, Shi Luodie had personally led troops to destroy the three kingdoms on the peninsula in the ninth year of Zhenguan, killing countless people and having a huge influence here. Now that he is heading south again, Shi Luodie has both experience and deterrence in attacking the peninsula, and it is easy for him to achieve success again.

Finally, Zhangsun Wuji said: "Your Majesty, all the gentlemen, the Liaohe Plain is not easy to defend, and it is normal to make mistakes. Hebei Road and Liaobei Road have formed a horn-shaped situation. If the Turks attack Liaobei, Hebei Road can send troops to attack them from behind."

"If we attack Hebei, we can attack Liaobei from behind. Therefore, I think that Shiluodi can at most occupy some cities on the Liaohe Plain, plunder for a while, and then retreat. The north is bitterly cold in winter, covered with heavy snow, and it is not easy to send troops."

"As long as we order both sides to fortify their defenses and clear the fields, they won't be able to move out."

"When the spring comes and the ice and snow melt, the Turks will retreat automatically. Otherwise, they will be surrounded and suppressed by the armies on both sides."

After Changsun Wuji finished speaking, other ministers also agreed with him, including Cen Wenben, who believed that Shi Luodie's capture of the Liaohe Plain was already the biggest gain. Even if they wanted to go further, they would inevitably attack Liaobei. After all, one has to pick the weak ones.

In everyone's mind, Liaodong was still too far away, and the war thousands of miles away had no impact on their daily lives at all.

(End of this chapter)