A few days later, the Privy Council and the Ministry of War in Chang'an City received a battle report from Jianghuai and a letter for help written by Xu Shiji himself almost simultaneously.

Chen Qi, the deputy envoy of the Privy Council, and Qu Tutong, the secretary of the military department, immediately entered the palace at dusk and reported to His Majesty that the front line was urgent and the military situation could not be delayed.

When Luo Zhaoyun learned of the situation, he immediately sent someone to pass on the people from the political affairs hall to enter the palace to discuss this important military matter together.

Chen Qi looked disappointed and sighed: "Xu Shiji really lost, he was trapped in Zhongli County, and he is currently stationed in Dingyuan City, with 100,000 troops, because the Huai River is full of Du Fuwei's sailors, cutting off the grain route, making it difficult to get grain and grass on the front line, and the situation is critical!" ”

"This Xu Shiji is still too young, and he didn't notice Du Fuwei's movements at all."

"Although Cui Jun disobeyed the military order in front and went deep alone, resulting in a great loss of power, Xu Shiji led the troops to the south this time, and as the commander, he also has a certain responsibility."

The people in the political hall and the Privy Council made a verbal crusade against Xu Shiji's mistake in using troops.

If it weren't for Xu Shiji's own ability, I'm afraid that a king would have to deal with the commander of the front line after listening to the criticism of these ministers.

Luo Zhaoyun was unmoved, did not make a statement on the employment of personnel, but was concerned about the battle situation, and asked about the current difficulties: "How long will their grain and grass be enough to support?" ”

Qu Tutong, the secretary of the military department, had the responsibility of preparing the army's grain and grass, and he had a good idea of the food and salary at the front line, and replied: "It is only half a month, if you save money, the daily ration will be reduced by one-third, and the grain and grass will be raised locally, which will last for a month at most." ”

Luo Zhaoyun nodded, the current situation is clear, that is, it is necessary to send troops to support, otherwise this group of people is likely to be trapped and killed in Huainan.

"Within a month, the reinforcements must carry grain and grass, cross the Huai River, and join Xu Shiji's soldiers and horses."

Chen Qi analyzed: "Your Majesty, is it appropriate to send someone to lead the troops over?" At present, the soldiers and horses who went north have not returned, Pei Renji and his son, Qin Qiong, Luo Shixin, Cheng Zhijie and other generals are outside Shuofang Pass, using troops against the Turks. Li Jing led a large army to deal with the Xiao Milling court in Jiangling in the southwest, and there were not many men and generals who could be mobilized. ”

Qu Tutong continued: "Moreover, the capital also needs to be defended, and it cannot be less than 50,000 forbidden troops, otherwise once something happens, the defense of the capital will be empty, and it will be easy to cause chaos." ”

After pondering, Luo Zhaoyun said: "I have long had the idea of leading troops south, but the time has not been ripe, now General Xu Shiji is facing problems on the front line, Du Fuwei has gathered the troops of all the princes in the south of the Yangtze River to camp troops in Qingliu City, ready to besiege Zhongli County, I just sent troops to clean up these big fish and shrimp in the south of the Yangtze River, and pacify Jiangdong, and the imperial court can double the taxes, which is of great significance to us." ”

"The Imperial Expedition!" These four words came to the minds of all the ministers.

According to common sense, it is a taboo for the king of a country to drive in person! Once lost, it is likely that the emperor will be captured and killed, and the court will be in great trouble, or even directly lose the country and change the dynasty.

For example, Song Taizong's Northern Expedition to the Khitan failed, and he returned defeated, losing hundreds of thousands of troops; Ming Yingzong Zhu Qizhen's northern expedition to Wara was defeated, and he was captured and so on.

However, these emperors were not the founding emperors, and they lacked the strength to fight the world with horses, such as Zhao Kuangyin of the Song Dynasty and Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty, all of whom won the world on horseback, so their military command talents were very strong, far from being comparable to those emperors who were longer than the palace.

Luo Zhaoyun has been fighting everywhere in the past ten years, and his military talent has long been praised by the people and worshiped by the military generals.

Wei Zheng, as a minister, must stand up and put forward different opinions at this time, and pour cold water at all times, so that the monarch can stay calm.

"Your Majesty, the royal expedition is not trivial, one is on the battlefield, the sword has no eyes, the cold arrow is difficult to defend, and it is very dangerous. Second, His Majesty's identity today is different from the past, he is no longer a general, but the king of a country, and the whole body is affected by a hair, and the entire court, and even the world, are tied to His Majesty. Third, at present, the imperial court is implementing a new policy, and the immortal gate lords and nobles have existed since the Western Wei Dynasty and the Northern Zhou Dynasty, and they have a lot of complaints about the new policy. Wei Zheng put forward three points, all of which are the most important and need to be paid close attention to.

Gao Shilian also nodded and said: "Yes, Your Majesty is the Ninth Five-Year Honor, and his status is extremely noble, and it is really inappropriate to still go to the battlefield, and the risk is too great." ”

"The imperial court has just been established for a year, and it is the beginning of the change, if Your Majesty is not in the capital, it is indeed prone to change." The eldest grandson Shunde also put forward his opinion, he was born in the eldest grandson valve, so he naturally knew that the power of the gate valve still existed, and once they united, resisted the imperial decree, or started the idea of a new monarch, it was very dangerous.

Since the Eastern Han Dynasty, China's political power has been in the hands of a group of people called the gate lord aristocracy, whether it is the Han scholars or the Hu people's Hao chieftains, they can be counted as part of this ranks. These people not only have strength, but also culture, and knowledge.

The foundation of the previous Sui court was such a group of military aristocratic groups based on Guanzhong, and Yang Jian, Emperor Wen of Sui, who was the founding emperor of the Sui Dynasty, was once one of them. Yang Jian adhered to the style of "usurpation and chaos" in the Northern and Southern Dynasties era, and ascended to the throne as a powerful minister, and later it was very difficult to get rid of the elbow system.

Although in ancient times, there was a saying that "those who win the hearts of the people win the world", and this "people" will be regarded as ordinary people and ordinary people according to our understanding in later generations, but in fact, in ancient times, this people often represented the gate valve, landlords, heroes and scholars.

Because the landlord Haoqiang represents the powerful faction in various places, and the reader is a propaganda channel, who is orthodox and who is rebellious, who is a good person and who is a bad guy are all decided by them, and in ancient times, the vast majority of those who could read were the landlord class, so the identity of the scholar and the landlord Haoqiang had a certain unity. Therefore, if the peasant uprisings in the past dynasties did not rely on the scholars and landlords to become one of them, but persisted in the revolution to the end, the final outcome would have been failure.

Luo Zhaoyun has read history books and is silent about these views, Emperor Yang of Sui is a lesson from the past, he offended both the people and the nobles, and was abandoned by both classes, and the end was destined to be miserable.

At present, in the middle of the court, the eight major lords of the previous dynasty have been weakened, and the central political leaders are all rookies promoted by him, selected from the declining small nobles, and resisted the power of the gate valve, but there are still several uneasy factors, especially Li Valve, Li Yuan is still alive, Li Valve is intricately rooted, and there are some subordinates, if he is away from the capital for a year, it is easy to have chaos.

However, at present, we cannot take drastic measures, and we cannot wantonly kill these gate lords and nobles, otherwise it will cause a big counterattack and break the net, which is also not conducive to stability.