Three million strings of money, one million catties of grain, and ten thousand livestock were the price the Turks had to pay for their retreat. Li Bing helplessly listened to Li Yuan grumble as he went home and drank alone. He also knew the whole story, and couldn't help but sigh at the weakening of the Great Sui. As the founding generals grew older, Emperor Wen of the Sui was naturally suspicious and didn't trust those young generals who hadn't fought with him. In addition, the former Minister of War, Yuwen Huaji, had planted his trusted aides wantonly. As a result, the Great Sui's battle prowess was declining day by day, and the 60,000 Turkic cavalry had scattered the 150,000 strong Sui army.
This year, the Great Sui was suffering from a severe drought. The tax revenue had dropped sharply, and the grain production had decreased. It was not easy to gather enough money, grain, and livestock. It must be known that last year, the annual income of the Great Sui was only a measly 20,000 million. This year, it was already very difficult because of the drought. Now, with the addition of the Turkic incident, it was truly a rainy day. In Li Bing's view, the current Great Sui had already begun to decline. First, there was discord between the princes, open strife and secret strife. The hearts of the officials in the court were not united. The Goguryeons were really looking at them with hostility, both internally and externally.
Li Bing was only worried about herself. At this time, Yang Jian was also worried. Great Sui really couldn't afford to take out so much money and grain at once. However, they couldn't think of any way to get money, so they had no choice but to announce a court meeting.
In the morning court, Yang Jian brought up this matter. He wanted to hear what good suggestions the ministers had, or what good methods they had to get so much money and food. However, when these ministers asked them to govern a place and fight for power and power, they were fine. When they encountered such a method to accumulate wealth in a short period of time, they all seemed to have wilted. Li Yuan didn't have any good ideas, so he stood there with his head lowered and didn't say anything.
The atmosphere was a bit heavy. Everyone lowered their heads and thought about their own thoughts. They didn't even dare to breathe loudly, afraid that Yang Jian would ask them to speak. The hall was so quiet that everyone could hear Yang Jian's breathing clearly. At this moment, time seemed to have frozen.
" Your Majesty, I thought that Great Sui would be facing a disaster this year. With the current situation of Great Sui, it would be difficult to support it. It would be better to look outside..." A voice sounded.
In the quiet environment, everyone suddenly heard a voice. They could not help but secretly heave a sigh of relief. Their eyes turned to the source of the voice. It was the new Minister of War, the Great General of Shangzhu Kingdom, Duke of Song, He Ruobi.
He Ruobi was also a famous general of the Sui Dynasty. He had made great contributions in the war against the Chen Dynasty. He had defeated the main force of the South Chen Dynasty with 8,000 soldiers and captured Xiao Moke alive.
Everyone was stunned. Yang Jian looked at He Ruobi strangely and said,""Minister He, when you said that you would look outside, you mean..."
He Ruobi saw that everyone in the hall was looking at him, but he didn't panic. He cleared his throat and said in a deep voice,""This year, the Great Sui is suffering from a drought, and the people are in dire straits. Moreover, the Great Sui has just gone through a great war, so it's not appropriate to increase the burden on the people. However, don't forget that there's a small country in Jiangling. Although that country is small, it occupies Jingzhou. Jingzhou is connected to Yizhou in the west and can directly attack Hanzhong. It is connected to Yuzhou in the north and can threaten Xuchang and Luoyang. In history, Jing Xiang had always been a battleground for military strategists. Moreover, after our dynasty unified the north and south, we didn't take the opportunity to merge Xiliang into our Great Sui territory. We've been minding our own business for more than ten years, and Xiliang has made considerable progress. Although its strength is a drop in the ocean compared to Great Sui, it's enough to fulfill our agreement with the Turks. Moreover, our dynasty has been unified for a long time, so we shouldn't let this country continue to occupy such an important position.”
As soon as He Ruobi said this, it was like a drop of concentrated sulfuric acid in calm water. The hall suddenly boiled. Everyone ignored the lack of etiquette in front of the monarch and loudly expressed their thoughts. Some thought that it was useless to send troops to Xiliang easily, which would damage the demeanor of a big country. Some thought that Xiliang was very important in strategy, so how could such a strategic place not be in their hands? Some thought it was inappropriate to destroy neighboring countries so easily, while others said that Great Sui had unified the north and south for a long time. In the past, this country had existed for so long for various reasons. It was time to destroy it.
Thus, the officials in Chang 'an Palace were divided into two factions. The faction that advocated war was represented by He Ruobi, Yang Su, and Yu Wenshu. They believed that after unifying the north and south, they could not let Xiliang continue to occupy Jingzhou. Moreover, after destroying Xiliang, they could pay the agreement with the Turks without hurting the recuperation of the Great Sui, which was beneficial to the recovery of the Great Sui's national strength. Li Yuan, Gao Wei, and Su Wei were the representatives of the peace faction. They believed that the Sui Dynasty had just experienced a war with the Turks, and what the country urgently needed was not a new war, but to recuperate. Moreover, although Xiliang had submitted to the Sui Dynasty, it had existed for fifty years. It was not in line with the style of the Sui Dynasty and would not benefit the reputation of the Suzerain State.
Yang Jian looked at the ministers below him who were arguing one after another. He was not in a hurry to say anything. He just listened carefully to the reasons of the ministers. Later, when the ministers saw that Yang Jian had not said anything, they remembered that they were in Chang 'an Palace Hall and it was the morning court session, so they all quieted down.
Yang Jian saw that it was quiet, so he cleared his throat and said in a deep voice,"I'll go back and consider this matter before making a decision. Do you have anything else to report?”Seeing that none of the officials spoke, Yang Jian glanced at the eunuch beside him. The eunuch immediately understood and shouted in a sharp voice," Retreat!" The officials knelt down to see Yang Jian off.
After returning to the residence, Li Yuan hurriedly summoned Xiao Shiyun and told her about what happened in the imperial court today. He thought that she would desperately beg Li Yuan to think of a way, but he did not expect Xiao Shiyun to only lightly say,"Since Shiyun has already made a marriage agreement with Young Master and has come to your residence, she is now a member of your residence. Shiyun's past has nothing to do with Shiyun. Moreover, Shiyun knows that a man who is innocent will be punished for holding a treasure. How could others be allowed to sleep soundly beside the bed? This was probably the reason. Moreover, my Daliang was originally a vassal state of Great Sui. Now that it has merged into Great Sui's territory, it will be left with other people's covetous eyes!”
Li Yuan did not expect Xiao Shiyun to behave in such a manner. It was because he was once in-laws with Xiao Kui that he was strongly opposed to it in the court today. He did not expect that this princess would think so after staying in his family for three years. However, Li Yuan still let out a long sigh. Even so, he and Xiao Kui were in-laws after all. He did not want to see Xiao Kui's family fall. Although it was a good thing for Great Sui, the timing was not right. It was time for Great Sui to rest. It's not appropriate to use troops lightly.
He said to Xiao Shiyun," Although there's nothing wrong with you thinking this way, you are still the princess of Xiliang. Immediately send someone to Xiliang to inform them that the Great Sui might make a move against Xiliang. Tell your father to be careful."”Xiao Shiyun responded, and Li Yuan motioned for her to return to her room. After Xiao Shiyun returned to her room, she called Hu Sheng over and told him about what had happened today. She told him to return to Xiliang and not tell her father about it. After some thought, she decided to let Hu Sheng tell Xiao Kui her thoughts.
In the morning court three days later, Yang Jian issued an edict," Recently, Xiliang had been killing many merchants from Great Sui and had been disrespectful to Great Sui. They had detained Great Sui's envoys without permission. As the ruler of Xiliang was not virtuous, Great Sui would send troops to Xiliang to save the people from the fire and water.
Yu Wenshu, the general of Shangzhu State, was appointed as the marshal of the southern expedition, He Ruobi as the deputy marshal, Gao Wei as the general manager of the southern expedition, Yu Wencheng, the commander of the imperial army led by the general of Shangzhu State, as the vanguard officer of the southern expedition, Xue Wanren, Qu Tutong and Niu Hong as generals, leading 100,000 troops to send troops to Jingzhou in two ways.
Li Yuan thought helplessly,"In the end, it's still like this. I'm afraid that Xiao Kui's fate isn't too good." However, he still believed that Great Sui should not send troops now, so he resolutely continued to report to Emperor Wen that it was not appropriate to use weapons.
Emperor Wen was furious. He believed that Li Yuan had put aside the interests of the Great Sui Dynasty because of his marriage relationship with Xiao Kui and tried his best to speak up for Xiao Kui. He was suspected of colluding with the enemy, so he issued an edict to remove Li Yuan from all his official positions, leaving only the title of Duke of Tang and staying in the capital.
Xiao Kui received the news from Li Yuan that Great Sui had sent troops. He also learned that Li Yuan had been dismissed from office because he had dissuaded Yang Jian from sending troops. He was both touched and guilty. He felt that he had found a good in-law for Xiao Shiyun. Li Yuan had helped him so desperately that he would definitely treat Xiao Shiyun well in the future. However, he was not willing to be destroyed like this. He immediately gathered 50,000 troops and stationed them at the border, which was lower than the Sui army.
However, there were few soldiers in Xiliang. The Sui army was unstoppable, and they could not fight back. After half a month of fierce fighting, the Sui army occupied most of Xiliang's territory. In addition, Yuwen Huaji led the front army to bypass the west and enter the capital of Xiliang, Jiangling. After three days of fighting to the death, Yuwen Cheng broke through the city gates and entered Jiangling. Due to Li Bing's transmigration, Xiliang, which had changed history, finally perished after 20 years. The Great Sui finally completed the unification of the north and south.
Xiao Kui, the ruler of Xiliang, and his concubines were worshiping heaven in Jiangling Palace. His posthumous title was Emperor Xiaoming…
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。