Traveling through Du He, Li Chengqian's rebellion begins

Even Fang Xuanling, who seldom expressed his personal opinions after being removed from his post as Shangshu Zuo Pushe, stood up and advised against it.

"Your Majesty, the court's provision of pensions to the soldiers is already a great favor, not to mention the permanent exemption of taxes for the people."

"If we set the pension too high now, it will definitely become a burden to the court in the future. Your Majesty, please think twice!"

The pensions provided by the imperial court to the soldiers were not just for those who died on the battlefield. For example, if the soldiers died in the daily suppression of bandits and rebellions, the imperial court also needed to issue pensions according to this standard.

We can do this now because the treasury is sufficient. But if we encounter a prodigal emperor in a hundred years, he will not be able to pay high pensions, which will cause unnecessary unrest.

Immediately afterwards, Gao Shilian, Liu Li, Xiao Yu, Cen Wenben and others stood up and persuaded Li Shimin to lower the standards further.

"Your Majesty loves his soldiers like his own sons, but you should also consider the country's destiny and not be reckless!"

"I think it is a good thing for Your Majesty to increase the pension, but it is not necessary to increase it so much. It should be reduced by another 70%."

"Your Majesty, please take back your order!"

While a group of civil officials were persuading Li Shimin, Li Jing, Hou Junji and Li Ji, who had been leading troops to fight, did not speak out to stop them.

From the perspective of their military generals, the more pensions the court issues to the soldiers who died in battle, the better.

Moreover, many soldiers were the few main laborers in their families. Now that they died fighting for the court, their families would have a very difficult time in the future.

Even when these people's families have lost their breadwinners, their wives, children and the elderly will be bullied by local thugs and village bullies.

These high-ranking civil officials were used to a life of luxury. How could they know how difficult it was for the families of ordinary soldiers?

After several important ministers gradually calmed down, Li Shimin slowly spoke.

"It was the idea of the Crown Prince and Du He to suggest to me that more compensation be given to the soldiers."

"The prince said that these soldiers fought to the death and not only conquered a large area of territory for the Tang Dynasty, but also seized millions of strings of gold and silver."

"The court has only given 50 strings of cash as compensation and reward to the soldiers. Do you really think it's too much?"

The money in the imperial treasury was different from the money in Li Shimin's inner treasury. Even he, the emperor, could not touch the money in the imperial treasury lightly. It could only be used for the operation of the imperial court and various expenditures.

Although Li Shimin could not use the money in the national treasury for his own purposes, he had the right to decide how the money was used.

As a military emperor, Li Shimin had a deep bond with his soldiers, so when Li Chengqian proposed to him to increase the pension, he agreed without hesitation.

As Li Shimin finished speaking, the hall instantly became quiet.

They didn't expect that the suggestion to provide such a generous pension came from the prince and Du Heti.

"Du He, this guy, really doesn't know how expensive firewood and rice are if he doesn't manage the household!"

"You really act recklessly, even tempting His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to come up with such a ridiculous suggestion!"

"If he attends the meeting today, I will definitely question him!"

Upon learning that the lawless Du He was also involved, it was not difficult for these intelligent ministers to guess that this bad idea must have been instigated by Du He to come up with His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

Otherwise, judging from the Crown Prince's style of doing things, he values money more than Your Majesty, so it is impossible for him to be so generous.

Hearing the murmurs of several ministers behind him, Hou Junji's mouth twitched slightly.

This brat Du He is really good at stirring up trouble. On the surface, he seems to be law-abiding, but I didn't expect that he did such a big thing in private and now he has aroused public anger.

Thinking of this, Hou Junji no longer remained silent. He immediately stood up and spoke.

"Your Majesty, I agree to give more pensions to the seriously injured and dead soldiers!"

"When the treasury was empty before, we had no choice but to give less pensions. Now that the treasury is full, we cannot mistreat the soldiers who risked their lives in the battle!"

When they saw Hou Junji, the Shangshu You Pushe, express his opinion, the expressions of Zhangsun Wuji, Tang Jian and others changed slightly.

Because Hou Junji is in charge of the Ministry of War, his attitude can represent the attitude of the Ministry of War.

Then, Li Jing and Li Ji looked at each other, and they stood up and spoke together.

"I agree."

As generals who lead troops all year round, if they do not agree with the proposal to increase pensions, their reputation will surely plummet once the news reaches the ears of the soldiers.

Moreover, they themselves treated their soldiers well, so they supported Li Shimin's decision in their hearts.

When Li Shimin saw that the military group supported his proposal, he immediately patted the armrest of the Hu chair and gave orders with a serious face.

"The pension issue has been decided!"

"Tang Jian, you will revise the memorial later and submit it to me for my imperial decree to issue!"

Seeing that His Majesty did not continue to seek the opinions of their civil officials, but made the decision directly, Tang Jian was slightly stunned.

He secretly glanced at Changsun Wuji, seeking his advice with his eyes.

"Hey~"

Changsun Wuji sighed secretly, then nodded to Tang Jian.

Although he did not agree with this proposal in his heart, the emperor's attitude was very firm, and it involved the crown prince, so he could only nod in agreement helplessly.

After receiving instructions from Shangguan Zhangsun Wuji, Tang Jian no longer hesitated. He quickly stood up and saluted.

"I accept the decree!"

Seeing that the proposal was passed, Li Shimin's stern face finally showed a faint smile.

He waved his hand and said, "Now that we have discussed the matter, let's go back to work. I also need to review the memorials."

A group of ministers stood up and bowed to Li Shimin.

"I'm waiting to retire."

Li Shimin kept his eyes on the backs of these important ministers until their figures disappeared around the corner, then he stood up and gave orders.

"Go to the Ganlu Palace."

The Liangyi Hall was mainly used to summon the prime minister to discuss matters, while the Ganlu Hall was where he reviewed memorials and rested on a daily basis.

Normally, concubines were summoned to sleep with the emperor in the Ganlu Palace.

Therefore, the Ganlu Hall was equipped with luxurious Hu beds and screens, making it a place for both work and rest.

As for the newly built Daming Palace, Li Shimin currently only used it as a summer resort and did not move there to work or live.

Shortly after Li Shimin finished reviewing the memorials, someone from the Ministry of Internal Affairs walked in lightly from outside the hall, holding four letters.

"Your Majesty, the four scholars Yu Zhining, Kong Yingda, Li Baiyao and Zhang Xuansu from the Prince of Wei's Palace have submitted a memorial."

When Li Shimin heard that these four trusted ministers had submitted a memorial together, a look of surprise appeared on his face.

Because Qingque was sent by him to be a fiefdom, in order to prevent Qingque from being unhappy, he specially asked these four ministers to go to Xiangzhou with him to assist.

Not long after this, the four ministers suddenly submitted a memorial to the emperor, which must have meant that something good had happened.

"Could it be that Qingque has made another great contribution?"