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

Chapter 564: The cold winter reveals the pine and cypress, and the national crisis reveals the loyal ministers

Yang Ji explained, "I have investigated this matter with Lord Changsun on the way. It turned out that a patrol team of soldiers found more than ten carts of unattended food and grass by a stream ten miles south of the camp when they were returning to the camp. They were greedy and thought someone had abandoned it, so they dragged it back to the camp."

"Who would have thought that not long after, General Cheng led 5,000 cavalrymen and attacked the camp in the name of the Yan and Liao armies stealing his food and grass. I was not aware of this beforehand, and my subordinates did not report it to the higher authorities, so this conflict occurred."

"Dozens of unattended carts of food and fodder?"

Li Minmin frowned obviously when he heard this, and doubts began to arise in his heart. Feng Deyi, Xiao Yu, Chen Shuda and other ministers also showed puzzled expressions when they heard this, while Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui had solemn expressions and looked as if they were thinking about something.

Food and fodder are so important, how could anyone abandon dozens of carts of food and fodder ten miles away from the Yan Liao army camp? Cheng Yaojin's camp was in Feiyunling area, twenty kilometers southwest of Luo Yi's camp. Even if the food and fodder were to be transported, they had to be transported from the south bank of the Jingshui River.

How did he get to the north bank and be picked up by a patrolling group of Jingzhou Army soldiers?
Suddenly, as if he had thought of something, an idea came to his mind. Li Shimin's face suddenly became extremely ugly, gloomy as water, and he asked seriously: "Yang Ji, are you sure it wasn't your people who robbed it?"

"Your Majesty, I can confirm that all the fifty soldiers on patrol that day are still alive and well, and no one is injured. They are still in the camp on the north bank of the Wei River. Your Majesty can send someone to investigate. If I lie, I will be charged with deceiving you."

"In the conflict yesterday morning, who initiated the attack?"

"Your Majesty, I am sure that it was General Cheng's cavalry that attacked our camp first. The conflict occurred at the southern gate of the camp. The conflict was very sudden. Otherwise, the cavalry of the camp would not have had time to open the gate when it happened. The soldiers guarding the gate in the front camp can testify to this."

Well.
Li Shimin's face suddenly became gloomy and he unconsciously turned his head to look at his chief strategist Fang Xuanling.

Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui also frowned at this time. They stammered for a while, and finally sighed slightly without saying anything.

As for Changsun Wuji, there was a slight smile on his face. After he caught up with Yang Ji's army, he asked about this matter and found out the details. In particular, he saw Cheng Huailiang next to Cheng Yaojin outside Anding City. At that time, he was puzzled as to why this guy didn't stay in Chang'an but ran to the army in such a chaotic situation.
The situation was urgent at the time and he didn't think much about it. Later, after catching up with Yang Ji and asking him, he immediately guessed the subtlety here, so he hinted to Yang Ji that he could report the matter to the emperor and ask the emperor to make a decision and give Feng Deyi and the Prince of Changsha a good lesson.

In that case, Li Chengqian's position as crown prince would be a sure thing.

He did not tell Yang Ji all of Cheng Yaojin's intentions, for fear that Yang Ji would not dare to get involved in the fight among the princes.

But Chang Sun Wuji had no idea that Yang Ji had long been entrusted by Li Yan to sue Cheng Yaojin.

When Changsun Wuji saw that Li Shimin and Fang Moudu Duan had both thought of the subtleties here, he kept his mouth shut, said nothing, and stayed out of the matter, only glancing briefly at an old man diagonally opposite him.

Feng Deyi, who was sitting over there, was a little restless. How could he not know what the conflict between Cheng Yaojin and the Jingzhou army was? But now that the matter was exposed, he saw Li Shimin's angry face.

Feng Deyi's face was a little stiff. He could only pretend to be unaware, hoping that the emperor would not notice him.

At this time, Li Shimin had some guesses that Cheng Yaojin's strange behavior might have something to do with the dispute among the princes in the court. Although he could not think of the details so clearly at the moment, a nameless anger had already risen in his heart. He could also understand that his second son wanted to compete with his eldest son for the position of crown prince.

In fact, Li Shimin called his two sons together with the intention of checking and balancing each other.

But Li Shimin could not accept the fact that his second son was taking advantage of the situation and risking forcing Luo Yi to rebel at this critical juncture.

Being in the center of power, it is inevitable to fight for power and profit. Even if you have to cut off your own brothers, you have no choice. Li Shimin also went through this. Although he was angry, he was not too surprised. But what time is it now? When the Turkic army is approaching and the court is in danger, he will destroy the overall situation at all costs just to achieve his own small interests.

Li Shimin found this extremely difficult to accept.

If the skin does not exist, how can the hair be attached?
He, the king of a mighty empire, risked his life to go to Bianqiao and stabilize Jie Li, but his own son was desperately provoking enemies for him, fearing that he could handle it?
When he thought of this, Li Shimin became so angry that he could no longer sit still. He stood up and walked back and forth in front of everyone.

But thinking of the critical situation, Li Shimin had to swallow his anger. At this juncture, if he provoked the fight between the princes, it would only create unnecessary trouble and would be detrimental to the overall situation.

He had no choice but to put the matter aside for the time being, and stepped forward to help Yang Ji up, and comforted him gently: "I already know about this matter. Luo Yi was not dead at that time, and it was I who asked General Cheng to pay attention to the movements of the army, in order to cooperate with the general."

"I'm afraid the general might have made some mistakes. I guess General Cheng is trying to find out what's going on."

"This incident has nothing to do with the general. On the contrary, it was the general's decisiveness that nipped a possible rebellion in the bud. In this sense, the general has done a great deed!"

Yang Ji realized that his goal had been achieved, so he did not continue to dwell on the matter, but instead talked about the third reason. "Your Majesty, the two reasons just mentioned are not the most important. The last thing I want to say is that the tens of thousands of troops in Jingzhou have been under the leadership of Luo Yi for a long time and have been gradually separated from the court. This time Luo Yi rebelled, and the Jingzhou army followed him, which is a clue."

Yang Ji said sincerely: "Your Majesty, I am just an average person, not as experienced as Li Jing, Li Ji, Yuchi Gong, Hou Junji and other brave generals in the court. I was originally just a deputy general of the Jingzhou Army, and at most I led more than 10,000 soldiers and horses under the command of the main general, which was already very strenuous."

"This time, Luo Yi promoted me to deputy commander in order to fight against the imperial court and win over me."

"Lord Changsun came to announce the decree before. In order to stabilize the army, I had no choice but to accept the emperor's appointment and official position. Now I have brought this lost 80,000-man army to Chang'an and handed it over to the emperor. Then I can rest assured. Please, the emperor, please revoke your order and fulfill my wish!"

After saying that, Yang Ji bowed again!

call.
Everyone in the Hongwen Hall was shocked again. At this time, no matter it was Li Shimin, Fang Xuanling, Zhangsun Wuji, Feng Deyi and other old ministers were all moved. They originally thought that this man was just a villain who took advantage of the troubled times. Later, they guessed that he was an ambitious warlord in troubled times. Unexpectedly, everyone was wrong in the end.

People in official circles all regard the pursuit of higher official positions and greater power as their mission. However, people like Yang Ji, who gave up fame, wealth and power and had a sincere heart to serve the country, are rare, if not non-existent.

At this moment, everyone looked at the general kneeling in the middle in armor, and they all felt a sense of admiration from the bottom of their hearts.

Li Shimin was even more moved. He stepped forward and grabbed Yang Ji's hand, pulling Yang Ji up without any explanation, and said excitedly: "The general is truly a national hero!"

"Your Majesty, I am actually self-aware."

Yang Ji was so admired by Li Shimin that he not only admired Li Yan in his heart, but also said with a little emotion: "The emperor trusts me and entrusts me with important tasks, so he handed over these 80,000 troops to me."

"But I know my own limitations. If I accept this mission without knowing my own limitations, it will not only harm myself and the court, but also these tens of thousands of soldiers."

"So, Your Majesty, at this time of national crisis, Your Majesty should hand over these battle-hardened soldiers to generals like Li Jing, Yuchi Gong, Hou Junji, and Zhang Gongjin, so that they can play their roles to the greatest extent possible."

"Your Majesty, please do not disregard the safety of the world for the sake of my personal gain or loss. Please help me, Your Majesty."

Yang Ji's statement at this time not only moved Li Shimin deeply, but also made all the important officials in the hall admire him very much. No one looked down on the lucky general standing in the hall anymore, but instead felt a little ashamed of themselves.

Fang Xuanling's face turned red, feeling that he had relied on some archival records from the History Department to carefully judge the heart of such a loyal and righteous general without any contact with him, and that he had almost misled the emperor just now. He felt extremely guilty.

“When winter comes, the pine and cypress are known; when a country is in trouble, its loyal ministers are revealed.”

Li Shimin patted Yang Ji on the shoulder with emotion, then turned around and said, "In this case, I will accept the general's advice."

"Yang Ji, listen to my orders!"

Yang Ji knelt down immediately and said, "I accept your order!"

Li Shimin said decisively: "Yang Ji has made great contributions in saving the emperor. I will immediately appoint you as the General of the Left Thousand Bull Guards, the General of the Zhen Army, and confer the title of Duke of Jing."

"And grant him a Duke's residence in Chongrenfang, east of the Imperial City, as a reward!"

Everyone was stunned and looked astonished. Among them, the General of Qianniu Guard was an official official, one of the sixteen generals of the third rank. The General of Zhenjun was a military official of the second rank, and the Duke of Jing was a first rank title.

Among them, the General of Qianniu Guard has the lowest rank but the highest gold content!
The Tang Dynasty succeeded the Sui system and implemented the fubing system in military management. This was a system of combining soldiers with farmers and integrating soldiers with farmers based on the equal-field system.

Several military offices were set up in various parts of the country. Soldiers were selected by the military offices from farmers in the prefectures and counties where they were located. They were required to serve at the age of 20 and exempted at the age of 60. They worked at home during normal times and trained during the slack season. In addition, soldiers were required to serve in the capital, that is, to take turns to guard the capital area, in order to strengthen their sense of identity with the capital.

However, the military office only managed the household registration and daily training of the soldiers, and could not command the soldiers on duty, let alone the power of wartime command. The soldiers on duty were temporarily commanded by the Sixteen Guards Generals; the power of wartime mobilization and command was in the hands of the marching marshals selected by the emperor.

(End of this chapter)