Chapter 5197 1 public case

Chapter 5197 A public case

Tang Jian's gray beard trembled, and he slammed the table and shouted angrily: "Old thief, you fart!"

Li Jing: "..."

He was always calm and composed, but now he couldn't help but look embarrassed.

Everyone present looked at him with a playful look...

Tang Jian was furious and said, "How can the overseas lands be enfeoffed to the descendants of Emperor Taizong? If you want to enfeoff them, you must first incorporate the land into the territory of the Tang Dynasty, and then announce it to the world as the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty, and let the sons of Emperor Taizong govern the four directions and rule the people, so that the people outside the country and the barbarians can also enjoy the emperor's grace and build prosperity together! How can you do it hastily with just a sentence of 'enfeoffment in overseas lands'? Do you want to exile the sons of Emperor Taizong?"

Li Jing looked helpless: "It's just an excuse, how can the essence be different?"

Tang Jian was aggressive: "As the saying goes, if the name is not right, then the words will not flow! The Tang Dynasty is a country of etiquette, and everything it does follows ancient etiquette. It is upright and awe-inspiring, and its national policies and strategies must be upright so that others cannot criticize it! You, an old man, only care about the victory or failure in front of you, and have no strategic intentions. You don't care about what twists and turns will happen in the future and give people something to talk about. You are short-sighted and have no integrity. How can you sit here and discuss state affairs with us?"

"Cough cough..."

Seeing that Li Chengqian looked unhappy, Liu Li quickly coughed twice to interrupt Tang Jian's full output and reminded him: "Although what the Duke of Ju said makes sense, you should also pay attention to your emotions to avoid losing manners in front of the king."

Tang Jian usually had a good temper, but today he was in full rage, not giving anyone face, and immediately retorted: "Why do you call it impoliteness in front of the king? Am I disrespectful to Your Majesty? I am disrespecting those idiots who only care about the victory or defeat at the moment and actually lack overall consideration!"

Liu Li smiled bitterly, at a loss as to what to do.

A founding hero and veteran of three dynasties like Tang Jian has the right to lose his temper as long as he does not point his finger at Your Majesty and curse at others. Besides, everyone present knows that he is targeting Li Jing, and his words are well-founded and reasonable.

Li Jing sighed and said, "I have apologized to you many times over the years. Why should you bear a grudge over these old things? Besides, we used the whole country's strength to conquer the Turks, and we could not allow the slightest mistake. We should put the overall situation first. Whether you were in the Turkic tent or someone else at the time, I had no choice."

Tang Jian was indignant: "But I was in the Turkic tent at that time and you almost put me to death!"

Speaking of which, this is a public case.

In the first month of the fourth year of Zhenguan, Li Jing led 3,000 cavalrymen from Mayi to Eyangling, and attacked Xiangcheng at night. Jie Li Khan did not expect the sudden arrival of the Tang army, and thought that Li Jing dared to advance alone, and there must be a main force following him - "If the whole country is not coming, how dare Jing lead a lone army to this place?", so he hurriedly withdrew his tent to Qikou.

Afterwards, Jie Li Khan sent Zhishishili as an envoy to seek peace with the Tang Dynasty. Although the Turks had just experienced a major defeat at that time, their strength was not diminished. Emperor Taizong then appointed the Minister of Rites Tang Jian and An Xiuren to go to the Turks for peace talks.

At that time, Tang Jian was extremely intelligent and full of vigor. He argued with Jie Li Khan and the peace talks went very smoothly.

From ancient times to the present, peace talks have never been just verbal battles on the negotiation table, but have to be coordinated with corresponding military actions. While Tang Jian's peace talks were going smoothly, the armies of Li Jing and Li Ji successfully joined forces with Bai Dao.

At that time, Li Ji once said: It would be better to take advantage of the fact that the peace talks between Tang Jian and Jie Li are going smoothly and Jie Li has relaxed his vigilance, and directly destroy Jie Li.

Li Jing strongly agreed: This is a good strategy for Han Xin to destroy Tian Heng!
Deputy General Zhang Gongjin was worried that Tang Jian was negotiating with the Turks. If the entire army launched a surprise attack, Tang Jian might be in danger.

Li Jing said: People like Tang Jian, what's the point of pity?
He then led the elite cavalry as the vanguard, and Li Ji led the main force to follow up.

Li Jing braved the snow to reach Yinshan Mountain, where he encountered a camp of more than a thousand Turkic people. He captured all of them and brought them along with him.

At that time, Jie Li Khan saw the Tang envoy coming to comfort him and the two sides were negotiating, so he thought everything was safe and sound and did not take precautions.

Li Jing sent his lieutenant Su Dingfang to lead 200 cavalrymen as the vanguard. They advanced rapidly under the cover of thick fog and were not discovered until they were seven miles away from Jie Li Khan's tent.

Su Dingfang marched straight into the camp of Jie Li Khan of the Turkic region, who fled westward on a thousand-mile horse. Li Jing followed with a large army, and the Turkic army was routed, with more than 10,000 people annihilated and more than 100,000 men and women captured.

Jie Li Khan was furious after the surprise attack. He believed that the Tang army was treacherous, as they sent envoys to negotiate while sending troops to launch a surprise attack. He wanted to capture Tang Jian and An Xiu'ren and kill them to vent his hatred. Fortunately, Tang Jian saw that the opportunity was not good and hid in the soldiers' tent with An Xiu'ren, and escaped in the chaos.

In the history books, there are only six words "Tang Jian escaped and returned home", but what kind of danger did this contain for Tang Jian?

As a result, Tang Jian was extremely angry towards Li Jing.

Li Ji, who had been watching from the sidelines, rarely spoke a fair word for Li Jing: "It is normal for the Duke of Ju to be angry, but the situation was dangerous at the time. Since we had the opportunity to raid Jie Li Khan's tent, how could we easily miss it? The Duke of Ju blamed us for not keeping our word and taking advantage of the peace talks to launch a surprise attack. But we should be trustworthy and timely. As a commander, we should seize the fleeting opportunity and gain the greatest victory at the lowest cost."

At that time, he was looking at the whole world. What he cared about was the safety of the world, the honor of the country, and the well-being of the people. Personal life and death, success or failure, gains and losses, and misfortunes and blessings were actually trivial matters. Even if he had to gamble with Tang Jian's life, he would also have to gamble with Li Jing's own reputation for the rest of his life.

He just wants to win, and he can only win.

Others nodded in approval.

Ma Zhou also said: "At that time, Jie Li Khan was willing to negotiate, but he was just trying to buy time and accumulate strength after the defeat, and plot a comeback. If the Tang Dynasty only cared about loyalty and loyalty at that time, it would be too soft-hearted."

Tang Jian frowned and said nothing more.

In fact, everyone knows that it seems that Li Jing was wrong in this matter, and whenever facing Tang Jian's questioning and scolding over the years, Li Jing just swallowed the spit and never talked back. This was not only due to a "faith struggle" over "integrity", anger at ignoring the lives of Tang Jun, but also some resentment about the gains and losses of merits.

At that time, Jie Li Khan fled westward from Yunzhong in a panic, intending to seek refuge with Tuyuhun King Murong Fuyun or Gaochang King Qu Wentai.

As a result, most of his generals defected on the way, and his son Dieluoshi also got separated from him. Soon, with only a few dozen cavalrymen left, Jie Li Khan ran into Li Daozong's Datong army head-on. After a fierce battle, Tang general Zhang Baoxiang captured Jie Li Khan, and the Eastern Turks were destroyed.

After this battle, Li Jing became famous and his achievements were unparalleled, and he was destined to go down in history.

Tang Jian was in a panic and escaped death.

On the contrary, if Li Jing had not led his army to launch a surprise attack, Tang Jian would have been more likely to have successfully negotiated with Jie Li Khan, and the merit and honor would have belonged to Tang Jian. However, he failed at the last moment and nearly died...

How can I not feel resentment and hatred in my heart?
Li Chengqian waved his hand and said, "Duke Ju is right. Everything must be justified, not to mention such a major event as feudalization. Before feudalization, the navy should be ordered to attack the country and occupy the rich and fertile lands overseas and incorporate them into the territory."

These words sound grand and arrogant, but the Tang Dynasty at that time did have the confidence to do so.

Liu Li first glanced at Li Ji, then looked at him, and then advised: "Since we have incorporated foreign lands into our territory and established feudal empires, why should we be so restrictive to overseas areas? For example, the former lands of Goguryeo, Turkic and other countries, and even the lands of the Western Regions, can all be enfeoffed."

The imperial study suddenly became quiet after Liu Li said this.

Li Ji's mind raced, and he immediately followed up: "Back then, Emperor Taizong established the kings in the ancient lands of China and the Zhou Dynasty, so there were rumors of 'hidden dangers' in the government and the public. But if the kings were established around the Tang Dynasty, it would be like a fence to protect China, and the benefits would outweigh the disadvantages."

If the fiefdom is only placed overseas, the navy will inevitably lead the conquest and destruction of the country, and all the benefits will belong to the navy.

But if the surrounding land is also placed in the vassal state, the Sixteen Guards will naturally go out to conquer the land, and the meritorious officials of the Zhenguan period can directly participate in it without having to look at the face of the navy...

Of course, the nature and degree of threat of fiefdoms placed on land around China and overseas are completely different, and Your Majesty may not agree.

Sure enough, Li Chengqian pondered for a moment and said, "Today's discussion mainly depends on whether you, my dear ministers, agree to the policy of feudalizing the whole country. As for how to feudalize and where to feudalize, we will discuss it later."

Liu Li proposed a solution to the problem of the meritorious officials during the Zhenguan period, and then stopped discussing the topic. He nodded in agreement, "Your Majesty is wise. This is a serious matter, so it is not appropriate to make a hasty decision. We must consult the court and then proceed slowly."

Everyone else understood what the “opinions in the court” meant.

Of course, I have to get Fang Junzhi's approval...

To this day, Fang Jun has the ability to influence the court and national policies in many aspects, including imperial favor, strength, and influence.

Of course, everyone also understood that this matter really needed to be planned slowly and carefully, for example, which prince would be enfeoffed in which place, how to regulate the military, political, financial and taxation affairs within the fiefdom, how to set up officials...

*****
The meeting was over and the ministers left.

After Li Ji returned to his house and washed up, he received an invitation from Liu Li to have a banquet and a few drinks at the "Zou Family Hotel"...

Sitting in the study and drinking tea, Li Ji weighed the pros and cons and felt somewhat tempted.

Obviously, with the military winning consecutive victories and expanding territory, the civil officials have felt tremendous pressure, and head-on confrontation is obviously not feasible. Therefore, Liu Li's advice on "feudalizing China's periphery" in the imperial study today was an attempt to divide the military.

The negotiations between him and Fang Jun at the "Zou Family Hotel" broke down. No matter how the news was blocked, it was bound to leak out. Liu Li's choice of the "Zou Family Hotel" at this moment was meaningful - since you can't reach an agreement with Fang Jun, why don't you try to talk to me?
Should we join forces with Liu Li?
Li Ji pondered for a long time and weighed the pros and cons repeatedly. Finally, he called his servant to change his clothes, took a carriage out of the Duke of Yingguo's Mansion, and rushed to the East Market to keep the appointment at the "Zou Family Hotel".