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Chapter 418

Chapter 418

"My lord, it doesn't really matter who inherits the title, they are all the heirs of my lord anyway. The most important thing is the court's attitude." Shen Xueyi said.

"The court's attitude?" Feng An looked at Shen Xueyi with some puzzlement.

Although inheriting the title requires reporting to the court, it is only a report, and the court will not intervene.

Shen Xueyi said: "Master, do you think His Majesty will allow the future Geng Guogong to be like you?"

Feng An was called the King of Lingnan, but it was not just a name.

In Lingnan, Feng An not only has high prestige, but more importantly, he has military power in his hands.

The reason why Li Shimin didn't do anything to Feng An was that apart from Feng An's great loyalty, another reason was that he didn't want to cause turmoil.

But the imperial court certainly cannot tolerate the existence of this kind of state within a state.

"What do you think the gentleman should do?" Feng An asked.

"That depends on what the master thinks." Shen Xueyi said.

Feng An was silent for a while, and said: "The old man has no intention of rebelling, and only wants to continue the inheritance of the Feng family."

Shen Xueyi breathed a sigh of relief when he heard the words. If Feng An thought that the Feng family had always controlled Lingnan, or had the intention of rebelling, he would have to find another way out.

It wasn't that he was unfaithful to Feng An, in his opinion, these two choices were courting death, and he didn't want to be implicated.

"Since Master thinks so, Erlang is the best candidate to inherit the title." Shen Xueyi said.

"I would like to hear the details!" What Feng An valued was the family inheritance.

"First of all, what the imperial court is most concerned about is the reputation of the master in Lingnan. Even if the reputation of the Feng family in Lingnan has weakened after a hundred years, the court will still not be at ease. Erlang has always been a hostage in Chang'an. If there is no accident, the short-term It is impossible to return to Lingnan. In this way, Erlang has been away from Lingnan for many years and has no roots in Lingnan. In the eyes of the court, it is the best choice." Shen Xueyi said.

Feng An didn't have much military power, and what really made the imperial court scruples was prestige.

There are many ethnic minorities in Lingnan, and these ethnic minorities do not have a strong sense of belonging to the Tang Dynasty at all. If Feng An is a little confused and pulls up an army of 10,000+ people, there will be no problem at all.

And Feng Zhichen, as the eldest son, has lived in Lingnan for decades. If he said that he didn't make friends with those ethnic minorities, who would believe it?

However, Feng Daizhi has been away from Lingnan for many years and has no prestige in Lingnan. Only when he inherits the title can the court be assured.

Seeing Feng An pondering, Shen Xueyi continued: "In addition, Erlang is talented and intelligent, and is fully capable of passing on the Feng family."

"I understand." Although Feng An didn't express his opinion, he already had a decision in his heart.

……

palace, manna hall

"This is an urgent report from the border, please take a look." Li Shimin said with a gloomy face.

Originally, because Empress Changsun recovered from her illness, and with the medicine, there will be no danger in the future.In addition, nothing major has happened in the past few days, so Li Shimin is still in a good mood.

But when he saw the urgent report sent by the border, Li Shimin's good mood disappeared instantly.

Li Mu first handed the urgent report to Fang Xuanling.

After reading it, Fang Xuanling passed it on with a blank expression on his face.

Every minister who read the emergency report was either pensive or angry, but did not speak.

When Cheng Yaojin finished reading it, he said angrily: "Those bastards from West Turkic and Xue Yantuo are looking for death. Your Majesty, I would like to lead the army and deal with them."

Others who didn't read the urgent report already understood Cheng Yaojin's words.

Li Shimin ignored Cheng Yaojin, looked at Fang Xuanling, and said, "What do you think of Xuanling?"

"Your Majesty, they plundered the people of the Tang Dynasty, what else is there to discuss, they must send troops to let them know how powerful the Tang Dynasty is." Cheng Yaojin said loudly.

Li Shimin gave Cheng Yaojin a hard look.

Cheng Yaojin shrank his neck and said nothing.

Although he is usually careless in front of Li Shimin, it doesn't mean he doesn't know how to behave.

"Your Majesty, it's not surprising that such things happen every year, but it's not suitable to send troops now," Fang Xuanling said.

Nomads have plundered the Central Plains dynasty since ancient times.

In the past few years, because the Tang Dynasty has become stronger and stronger, although the nomads have not been able to break through the city of the Tang Dynasty, the people outside the city will continue to be plundered.

In previous years, when winter came, the imperial court would increase a certain amount of troops to the border, and at the same time move the people to the city to fortify the walls and clear the fields.

This year, due to the tense situation in the grassland, they should not go to Datang to plunder, and to eliminate their scruples, they did not do so.

"What does Fang Xiang mean, just to watch the common people being harmed by aliens?" Yu Chigong said dissatisfied.

The value of generals can only be reflected on the battlefield. Not long after the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, the generals in the court and China were veterans in the battlefield, and they were not afraid of war at all.

The pride of the country and the people is nothing more than that.

"It's absolutely impossible to let it go. We should move all the people on the border to the city now. Judging from the urgent report, the Western Turks and Xue Yantuo are small groups of invaders and have no intention of attacking the city." Fang Xuanling said.

"What's the use of doing this now, the common people have been robbed." Cheng Yaojin muttered.

The nomads plundered not only money and food, but also people.They would kill the older ones and take the rest back as slaves.

For nomads, there is no difference between slaves and cattle and sheep. Not only can they help them graze, but they can even be used as food when there is a shortage of food.

Although Cheng Yaojin was muttering, but with his voice, basically everyone could hear him clearly.

Fang Xuanling naturally heard it too, but was not angry.

He was just talking about the matter, and he was also very angry when the people were looted.But a country is not two ordinary people fighting, you punch me, I punch you.

Li Shimin looked at Changsun Wuji and said, "Auxiliary machine, what do you think?"

Although Changsun Wuji is not in power, he will participate in the discussions. He heard the words and said: "Your Majesty, now it is not a question of whether to fight, but a question of whether you have the ability to fight."

"Why don't you have the ability to fight? Except for the use of troops against Gaochang this year, the Tang Dynasty has not fought for several years. The soldiers have been trained for many years and have been waiting to go to the battlefield." Cheng Yaojin said.

"There is no problem with the soldiers, so what about the food and grass? How can we fight without food and grass?" Changsun Wuji asked rhetorically.

"This..." Cheng Yaojin didn't know what to say.

In normal wars, the Ministry of Households is concerned about food and grass, so he doesn't care about it.

Only then did he recall that the imperial court exchanged food from Western Turks and Xue Yantuo for a large number of war horses, and now there is no food at all.

Many people may not understand that if there is no war, will the soldiers of the army not eat food?

The Tang Dynasty was a military system, that is, fighting in wartime and farming in leisure time.

Therefore, if there is no war, those soldiers really don't need to be supported by the court.

Once the war is different, in order for the soldiers to maintain sufficient physical strength, they need to be provided with three meals, but also to ensure that they can eat enough.

In addition, fighting a war requires recruiting civilians to transport food, and it also needs to consume a lot of food.

Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty conquered Goguryeo three times, conscripting more than 100 million people to transport food and military equipment. The food that these 100 million people ate was all provided by the imperial court.

Of course, Datang is short of food now, not to say that there is no food.

But those grains are for emergency.

Many people may think that the Tang Dynasty was so strong during the Zhenguan period, and now that they are being bullied, they dare not fight.

In fact, things are not that simple. The Western Turks and Xue Yantuo sent small groups of troops to the Tang Dynasty to plunder.

So what if we send troops now?

Could it be possible to fight to the grassland?

(End of this chapter)