Qinzheng Hall in Chang'an City.
“Hahahahahaha…”
At the morning court today, as soon as all the gentlemen stood up in order, they immediately heard Li Shimin's laughter. Ever since the war with Tuyuhun broke out, Li Shimin had been depressed, but now he could finally breathe a sigh of relief. All the civil and military officials in the court had smiles on their faces.
"Congratulations, Your Majesty! Victory has arrived from the southwestern border. Our army has crushed the Tuyuhun Ronggong tribe, annihilating over 40,000 enemy troops. This is truly a blessing for the Tang Dynasty."
Minister of War Li Jing received an urgent report from the border early on and sent someone to deliver a copy to Li Shimin. However, he still had to report it at the morning court today. After all, some ministers still didn't know about this matter. After hearing Li Jing's words, everyone present breathed a sigh of relief.
This war was fought rather hastily, unlike the war to destroy the Turks. That time, the entire Tang Dynasty had prepared for many years and was almost fully prepared. But this time, the army was launched in a hurry, and the money, food, and determination were probably not even one-tenth of what they had back then.
"My dear ministers, please rise! This is the result of the dedicated efforts of all the civil and military officials in the court. The soldiers on the front lines fought bravely, which has led to today's victory. I hereby commend all officers and soldiers on the front lines and promote all personnel by one rank."
Li Shimin was very pleased, and the people below him also benefited from it, especially those who were fighting on the front line. They also knew that there would definitely be risks this time, but they did not expect that everyone would be promoted by one level.
"Long live the emperor!"
Although these people in the court did not receive promotions, they still had to cheer for the emperor in this situation.
Li Shimin looked up and saw Crown Prince Li Chengqian standing in the front. If it were in the past, he would probably feel uncomfortable. The gap between father and son could not be eliminated in a short time. However, because Li Xiang had won a series of victories on the front line, he had to give Li Xiang some face. If he did not give Li Chengqian face, it would be a slap in Li Xiang's face.
"Regarding the next direction of the Southwest War, what has your Ministry of War come up with?"
Li Shimin is worthy of being a wise ruler throughout history. After experiencing temporary joy, he immediately changed his tone and did not rest on his laurels. Instead, he immediately turned to the next strategy. The court officials were a little bit unbearable. According to their ideas, today should be a grand banquet for all the officials. Why did he start discussing future matters?
Others did not understand Li Shimin's thoughts, but the ministers present knew it very well. The court had almost emptied the treasury by fighting this war. Although Li Xiang contributed part of the money, that part of the money had long been spent. Taking advantage of the current situation of great victory, if this war could be ended decently, it would be extremely beneficial to the entire Tang Dynasty. If the fighting continued, the money and food supplies might not be available, and the outcome would be hard to say.
"Your Majesty, I believe we should seize the opportunity to pursue our victory. The Tuyuhun are currently on the decline, and they have been making things difficult for us regarding trade routes in the past. We should seize this opportunity to eliminate them once and for all. This way, our Great Tang will have no more wars on its southwestern border for the next few decades."
Li Shimin was clearly asking about the Minister of War, but Li Tai jumped out at this time. Li Tai felt uncomfortable as soon as he went to court today. All the matters were related to the southwestern border frontier, which was Li Xiang's world. He could not do anything in Chang'an City, so he had to perform well to prevent the emperor from giving all his favor to that kid.
"Your Majesty, His Royal Highness the Prince of Wei is right. The Tuyuhun have been at odds with us for years, constantly exploiting the Tang Dynasty. We should seize this opportunity now, as they are already doomed to fail. We should urgently order the two generals to lead their troops south to directly eliminate this cancer of Tuyuhun."
The Shaoqing of the Honglu Temple was Li Tai's confidant. After receiving Li Tai's gaze, he immediately stood up and advocated Li Tai's conclusion.
"I also believe that what His Royal Highness the Prince of Wei said is absolutely correct. Every year, the Tang Dynasty spends millions of guan on military expenditures on the southwestern border. If we can defeat the Tuyuhun in one fell swoop, this money can be saved for many other things, and the court's austerity situation can also be alleviated."
Officials from the Ministry of Revenue also stood up. They did not want to help Li Tai, but the court's finances had been extremely tight in recent years. Even if there were problems at the border, it was difficult for the Ministry of Revenue to withdraw money. This was mainly because there had been constant natural disasters in recent years. The court had to collect part of the taxes and also take out part for disaster relief. This was the fundamental reason for the court's financial tension. If they could save millions of strings of silver at the southwestern border, then the Ministry of Revenue could also breathe a sigh of relief.
Hearing his subordinates stand up, Minister of Revenue Tang Jian frowned. These people must have been infiltrated by Li Tai. Even if they are not members of the Prince of Wei's Palace now, they will probably become members of the Prince of Wei's Palace in the future. I, the Minister of Revenue, have not expressed my position yet, but you have expressed your position so easily.
For court ministers, everyone has his own ecological space. They don't care about the fights among the princes, as long as they don't implicate themselves, they can get by. But if you stretch out your hands, they will have their fingernails chopped off.
Listening to the ministers in the court agreeing with his opinions one by one, King Wei Li Tai felt a little elated and was completely unaware of the dissatisfaction of some ministers.
"Xuanling, what do you think?"
When Li Shimin said these words, Li Tai also tensed his nerves. Even if those people had said something fancy, it would probably not be able to influence Li Shimin's thoughts. Li Shimin only asked questions to a few people, and their opinions were crucial and had never changed over the years.
"Although your Highness the Prince of Wei has a good opinion, I cannot agree with it..."
Prince Li Tai of Wei had been happy just now, but now, after hearing Fang Xuanling's words, he felt as if he had fallen into an ice cave. Was there something wrong with his thinking? Didn't the emperor want to solve the Tuyuhun issue in one fell swoop? What was Fang Xuanling doing?
"Your Majesty, I understand the desire of all the civil and military officials to deal with the Tuyuhun, but we must also consider our actual situation. Currently, the court has less than 800,000 strings of silver in its reserves, and we are unable to accommodate the more than 200,000 disaster victims evacuated from the grasslands. If we continue to fight, there may be unexpected events."
Fang Xuanling's words were like a bucket of cold water, pouring on the heads of those ministers who were as excited as if they had been injected with chicken blood, including Wei Wang Li Tai...