On the fifth day of November, Xinjing.

After Zhao Ziliang finished handling the official documents, he walked out of the Qinzheng Hall to breathe, and not long after he arrived in the garden, Wang Can came over.

"My Majesty, there's urgent news from Constantinople!"

Zhao Ziliang stopped when he heard this, turned around and asked, "What news?" ”

Wang Can said: "Bulgar Khan King Tylilig commanded many barbarian soldiers led by the Bolgars under the city of Constantinople, attacked for more than a month but failed to break through Constantinople, Tylirig sent people into the city to negotiate with the Byzantines, asking Leo IV to pay an annual tribute of 800 pounds of gold, ceding the land north of the Wabitsa Pass to the Bolgars, Leo IV learned of the conditions proposed by the Bolgars, he was so angry that he overturned the table on the spot, killed the Bolgar envoys, refused to pay tribute and cede land, and ordered to defend it strictly, and fight to the end with the Bolgars! ”

Zhao Ziliang was surprised: "Oh? How could this Leo IV have such courage and courage? ”

"Young people, it's inevitable!" Wang Can smiled and said: "According to the information we have obtained, the Bolgars suffered heavy losses and low morale after more than 20 days of siege, and Tririg and others planned to withdraw their troops, but they decided to extort a bamboo bar from Byzantium before withdrawing the army, but I didn't expect Leo IV to buy it at all, and he was determined to defend it and not let the Bolgars succeed, and Tririg was also difficult to ride a tiger, so he had to send people to transport supplies to the steppe on the one hand, and continue to attack Constantinople on the other."

Zhao Ziliang walked forward with his hands behind his back, and Wang Can followed behind the right.

"Did the people from Dongchang play a role in this matter?"

Wang Can said: "Yes! The longer Constantinople is besieged, the more likely it is that Leo IV will be able to draw troops from Syria and Canaan back to Constantinople, and thus weaken their forces on the Eastern Front! As it turned out, this was the right move, and news had already arrived from our Constantinople that Leo IV, under pressure, had ordered a secret transfer of 50,000 troops from Syria and Canaan back to Constantinople! Now that there are less than 50,000 defenders in Syria and Canaan, this should be an opportunity for us to launch an offensive and capture Syria and Canaan! On the one hand, the Eastern Roman Empire has lost this land for more than 100 years, and now it has just been occupied, and its control is not strong, on the other hand, 50,000 troops stationed here is not much for us, and more importantly, it is easy to attack and difficult to defend, and it is not difficult for us to attack! Another point is that the remnants of the Abbasids who fled to North Africa are still unstable, they are unable to counterattack, and they are still suppressing the resistance, if we capture this area, we will not only get fertile land, but also do not need to worry about the Eastern Roman Empire counterattack in a short time! ”

Zhao Ziliang stopped, he didn't know what he was thinking, and after a few minutes, he turned around and ordered the eunuch next to him: "Go and summon all the ministers to the palace to meet you!" ”

"Yes!"

After receiving the summons, the ministers gathered at the gate of the palace, and came to the Qinzheng Hall together under the leadership of Tai Fake, and when Zhao Ziliang and Wang Can returned to the Qinzheng Palace, they had already arrived.

"Wait for the king!" All the ministers visited the shrine together.

"Let's get flat!" Zhao Ziliang raised his hand and said: "Just now General Wang brought the latest news of Constantinople, the Bulgars are still besieging Constantinople, Leo IV is ready to defend to the end, and he has ordered to secretly transfer 50,000 people from Syria and Canaan to return to Constantinople to participate in the war, that is to say, the defenders of Syria and Canaan are less than 50,000, this king is thinking, is this a good opportunity for us in Western Qin?" Ladies and gentlemen, the king has summoned you here today to discuss the matter. ”

Wang Wenzhao, the right attendant of the Ministry of Rites, stood up and arched his hand, and said righteously: "Great King, if I attack the Eastern Roman Empire at this time in Western Qin, then is there a suspicion of taking advantage of the fire to rob?" This seems to be unreasonable, and it is not good for the reputation of my Xiqin, please think twice! ”

Zhao Ziliang felt a little harsh when he heard this, his face became ugly, and he said coldly: "Who are you?" ”

Wang Wenzhao said: "Wang Wenzhao, the right waiter of the Ministry of Rites! ”

"In the face of national interests, do you reason with this king? This king has told you a long time ago that there is no one to uphold justice between countries, and whoever has the biggest fist will be justified! This is a world of the jungle, and if we don't eat others today, tomorrow we will definitely eat us! How did you get into the position of the right attendant of the Ministry of Rites? Above the court, you are full of benevolence, righteousness and morality to the enemy country, do you have benevolence and righteousness and morality towards this king and the people of Western Qin in the world? You go out to this king! Get out," Zhao Ziliang pointed to the outside of the hall and scolded angrily.

Wang Wenzhao was trained to blush, and retreated in embarrassment, all the ministers knew that this guy was only afraid of the end, and even the basic external attitude was not correct, how could he still be qualified to stand on this court?

Deputy Prime Minister Liu Shan stood up and said: "Great King, we have just occupied Persia, the Two Rivers Valley and the Great Food Peninsula, and we haven't had time to digest it yet, isn't it too hasty to attack Syria and Canaan now?" ”

Dugu Jun of the Judicial Temple stood up and said: "Although Lord Liu's words are reasonable, but the minister thinks that the opportunity is rare, the remnants of the Abbasid Dynasty have fled to North Africa, and they have not yet fully gained a foothold, and they are quelling the rebellion in various places, they are now unable to take care of us, and the Eastern Roman Empire is besieged by the Bolgar Khanate and other barbarian tribes in the capital, and the east and west cannot be taken into account at the same time, this is the best time for us to capture Syria and Canaan, if we lose this opportunity, wait for the Eastern Roman Empire to ease the situation in the north, If we want to capture Syria and Canaan, we are afraid that it will not be so easy, even if we can take it, the losses will be very large, like now, they only have less than 50,000 people left to garrison Syria and Canaan, and the forces are relatively scattered, we don't need to take much effort to attack, and the minister agrees to send troops! ”

Zhao Ziliang looked at Dugu and asked, "Prime Minister, what is your opinion?" ”

Dugu asked the vulgar with a bitter face and said: "King, you know that every time the minister's life is the saddest at this time, the money of the treasury is moving out, but everywhere has to spend money, everyone goes to the minister's yamen every day to see the minister's first sentence is to ask for money, one by one to die for money, the minister is to take the pants and not enough to meet everyone's needs!" Wechen is not against foreign conquest at a favorable time, but I also ask the king to understand the difficulties of the housekeeper! ”

Zhao Ziliang and the ministers were all amused by Dugu's expression, and they all laughed from ear to ear.

"Ahem!" Zhao Ziliang stopped laughing and asked, "Then how much money can you come up with this time?" ”

Dugu Wenqing thought about it and stretched out two fingers.

"Two million?" Zhao Ziliang frowned, "It's too little, how about five million?" ”

Dugu Wenshu made a bitter face again and shook his head, "Three million at most, not a little more!" ”

Zhao Ziliang also had a bitter face, "Three million is really not enough, forget it, three million is three million!" ”

There are too many cavalry in the Western Qin army, this is a gold-swallowing beast, and the cost of a cavalry can raise three to five infantry, which is also one of the reasons why the military expenditure of Western Qin has remained high for a long time.

Agreed on the issue of military spending, Zhao Ziliang said: "In view of the limited military spending, in line with the principle of quick victory, this king decided to drive the expedition in person, without any concubines, palace people and maids, cut all unnecessary expenses, this king and the soldiers eat and live together, the king's guards only bring five hundred dragon guards, this expenditure is the responsibility of the royal family itself, the soldiers and horses on the expedition will be drawn from Persia, the two river valleys and the Great Food Peninsula, there is no need to resist the transfer of troops from other countries!" ”

"In addition, before this king left Beijing, he ordered the prince Zhao Lei to return to Xinjing to supervise the country!"

Zhao Ziliang's decision made all the ministers and generals a little surprised, why did they suddenly transfer Zhao Lei back to Xinjing Prison State? Could it be that he is not at ease after he leaves? Or is there another reason?

Zhao Ziliang's next words answered the doubts of the ministers and generals: "This king is already in his fifties, and he will abdicate in a few years, and Wang Zilei should also learn to deal with court affairs!" ”

Everyone looked at Zhao Ziliang again, and found that Zhao Ziliang was actually not old, he was in his fifties, and he looked less than thirty years old, and he seemed to be younger than the two eldest princes, Zhao Lei and Zhao Ting, but if they really looked closely, they couldn't see the real age, giving people a sense of unfathomability.

The matter was decided in this way, Wang Ting sent an edict to Baghdad as quickly as possible to transfer Zhao Lei back, but Zhao Ziliang did not plan to wait for him in Xinjing, he wanted to test Zhao Lei's ability to deal with political affairs, and Zhao Lei is already in his thirties, and he has not really come into contact with the country's military and political affairs, let him deal with it alone first, and see his ability.

Zhao Ziliang didn't stay in Xinjing for long, since the third day of the edict sent back to Zhao Lei, he was ready to set off, accompanied only by five hundred dragon guards, this time he didn't even bring guards or guards.

The five hundred dragon guards were ready, Zhao Ziliang put on a heavy drape under Wang Zhiyun's service, she tied him with a belt, and wiped the armor with silk cloth to make it shiny.

Wang Zhiyun said while wiping: "Otherwise, the concubine will go with you, there is no one to serve around, how do you live this day, I am afraid that in a few days, the whole body will become stinky!" ”

Zhao Ziliang shook his head and said: "That's not good, I have already told the courtiers not to bring anyone in the palace, and besides, I have my own hands and feet, and it is not that I can't take care of myself, besides, there are soldiers of the Dragon Guard, they will arrange for the soldiers to be responsible for my life, so don't worry." Syria and the land of Canaan are all endless deserts, and there is hardly any green to be seen, and a woman like you with fine skin and tender flesh used to be afraid that she would be tanned and thin in a few days! ”

"Huh? Then I'm still not going, it's hard for me to raise white when I'm tanned! ”

Zhao Ziliang smiled, but secretly breathed a sigh of relief.