After arriving at the living room and sitting down casually, without waiting for Li Hong to speak, Shangguan Yi hurriedly signaled to his son to quickly bring out his granddaughter for His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to see.
Li Hong's purpose of coming here was naturally to see Shangguan Yi's granddaughter, the talented woman Shangguan Wan'er who was famous in history books!
Shangguan Wan'er, who was just two years old, was as delicate as a piece of jade, with a pair of bright and cute big eyes fluttering, and she walked towards Li Hong staggeringly.
Li Hong reached out and held her in his arms, teasing her and saying, "She is only one year older than Taiping, and they both look so cute."
On the other side, when Xia Zhi saw Li Hong picking up the little girl, he took out a piece of candy from his pocket and handed it to the little girl with a smile.
Shangguan Yi, Shangguan Tingzhi, and their wives, were all so happy when they saw the approachable prince holding their granddaughter. What a blessing it was to be favored by the royal family at such a young age.
Li Hong came here naturally with great enthusiasm. After teasing Shangguan Wan'er for a while, he handed it to Shangguan Tingzhi's wife. He did not have much on him to give as a reward, so he felt his body and found nothing.
He immediately set his sights on Xia Zhi and Xiao Xue. He looked at the hairpins on their heads, one on each side, and pulled them off. He then handed them to Shangguan Yi, who hurriedly stood up and took them.
After thinking about it, she still felt a little guilty, so she took off the jade pendant from her waist and handed it to him without waiting for him to hand it over.
...
...
Shangguan Yi had already come to him with Shangguan Wan'er in his arms. There was no way to refuse this royal reward. Shangguan Yi and others could only accept it, no matter what the reward was.
When Shangguan Yi saw His Royal Highness the Crown Prince taking off the jade pendant, he immediately understood. The two hairpins were understandable. Although they were rewards from the Crown Prince, they belonged to Xia Zhi and Xiao Xue after all. No matter how high Xia Zhi and Xiao Xue's status was in the Eastern Palace, they were not members of the royal family.
But if he took off the jade pendant now and didn't let the owner come over to accept it, it would mean that Shangguan Yi had a poor upbringing and didn't know etiquette.
Li Hong looked at Shangguan Wan'er, then he smiled and hung the jade pendant around Shangguan Wan'er's waist: "Haha, take it and play with it."
"We thank His Royal Highness the Crown Prince for his gift." Shangguan Yi and Shangguan Tingzhi hurriedly bowed and said.
"Okay, it's nothing, Mr. Shangguan, please take me out." Li Hong stood up, rubbed Shangguan Wan'er's head, and said with a smile.
Shangguan Tingzhi naturally did not dare to disobey, so she had to stand at the door and watch her father and the Crown Prince walk out.
"Let's bring her to Chongwenguan in two years. What do you think?" Li Hong said as they walked.
"Thank you very much, Your Highness." Shangguan Yi said.
"You are now working in the government. Have you received any letter asking for help from the Goryeo envoy?" Li Hong asked when he and Shangguan Yi arrived at the gate of the mansion.
"I just received it today, but today the Ministry of Personnel, the Secretariat, and the Ministry of Shangshu all regard your disaster relief in Yunzhong as the top priority, not to mention that it was already very late when it was delivered." Shangguan Yi thought for a while and said.
"Well, what do you think about this matter?" Li Hong asked solemnly.
This matter needs to be discussed in the court with the prime ministers. He cannot make the decision alone. Moreover, with Dai Zhide, a key figure, around, he will definitely strongly agree to send troops to Goryeo to help Quan Xiancheng's father, Quan Nansheng, retake the royal city.
Moreover, this is what happened in history. My father sent Qibi Heli and later sent Duke Yingguo Li Ji there to serve as the chief military commander of Liaodong Road. Qibi Heli was appointed as the deputy chief military commander of Liaodong Road and the ambassador of appeasement of Liaodong Road.
Shangguan Yi had followed Li Hong for many years and basically knew what Li Hong was thinking. After thinking for a while, he asked, "Your Highness, do you mean that you are not going to send troops to help them?"
Li Hong looked up at the stars in the night sky, sighed and said, "We have been fighting there since the previous dynasty. In the time of my grandfather, we also fought there. What have we gained from it over the years? I know, you want me to say that I am a realist. Liaodong is a place that my Tang Dynasty must obtain, but what will happen after we obtain it? Over the years, whether it is Goryeo, Baekje's Buyeofeng, or Silla, what is their purpose? It's very simple, that is, to defeat the other two opponents and unify Liaodong. But this place is a remote and poor place. For my Tang Dynasty, it has little significance, whether it is politically, economically, or militarily."
Shangguan Yi stared at Li Hong's face. He knew that the prince was always practical and loved the people like his own children. His speech in the court that year made all the officials speechless. Although the emperor later decided to send troops to Goryeo, Liu Rengui and others used the blood of the soldiers to keep Goryeo temporarily peaceful...
"There are no eternal friends between countries, only eternal interests. Now Goryeo is under attack from Silla and Baekje. I hope you can support me. My Tang Dynasty will not send troops to Goryeo, but can provide Goryeo with enough food and weapons, and even..." Li Hong looked at Shangguan Yi's face and said, "I can even allow Japan to send Tang envoys to study in my Tang Dynasty, but the condition is that they must send troops to attack and contain Silla and Baekje."
Shangguan Yi was silent for a long time. He was unable to figure out what the Crown Prince meant. He hesitated and said, "Your Highness, what exactly is your intention? Can you tell me everything?"
Li Hong waved his hand, signaling Shangguan Yi to stroll with him on the street, followed by a carriage and Xia Zhi and others.
Li Hong said calmly, "It's very simple. Let the Liaodong Road area fall into a continuous war of attrition, and let Goryeo, Silla, and Baekje hold each other back. We will move the focus of our forces westward. Tubo has repeatedly requested my father to raise livestock in the river source of Tuyuhun, but my father rejected it last year. In the final analysis, they just want us to admit that Tuyuhun has been ruled by them, and Tubo has always been thief-minded. Now the country is carrying out matters such as conscription and grain collection in an orderly manner. This is not a phenomenon of being content with the status quo."
"Then... does Your Highness intend to withdraw Liu Renyuan and others who are currently in Liaodong?"
"Don't withdraw. Leave some troops in Goryeo, just for show. Support them spiritually in fighting against Silla and Baekje. Send more people to infiltrate Silla and Baekje to destroy their alliance." Li Hong paused. Under the dim light, Shangguan Yi looked even older.
"I have one last request, Your Highness, please tell me the truth." Shangguan Yi thought for a moment and said solemnly.
"Just ask, sir."
"Your Highness, how did you judge that Tubo would make a big move? They showed full sincerity in the past two years, and Your Majesty did not pursue them any further. Moreover, before Your Majesty left, he just appointed the former Tuyuhun King Murong Nuohebo as king. Will Tubo really risk a war with the Tang Dynasty and ignore Your Majesty's warning?" Shangguan Yi was surprised and puzzled by the Tubo behavior predicted by Li Hong.
In his mind, it should be: Because His Majesty the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty appointed Murong Nuohebo as king, it means that the Tang Dynasty is ready to help Murong Nuohebo restore his country. Tubo should be afraid of the military power of the Tang Dynasty at this moment, and then send envoys to explain their sincerity to His Majesty.
Instead of preparing to confront the Tang Dynasty with force as His Royal Highness the Crown Prince said.
Li Hong lowered his head and smiled helplessly, and said again: "Tuoba is now under the actual control of Tubo, which means that we are now two countries with adjacent territories! The four towns of Anxi have always been unstable in our hands. This is nothing new. Qiuci, Suiye, Yutian, and Shule have always been shrouded in wind and rain. We have established them, and then established them, like a tug of war, and we have never really held them in our hands. Now in Liaodong Road, we still have Goryeo as a buffer zone to prevent Silla and Baekje from bordering our Tang Dynasty, but what about Anxi? Tuoba is in name only. We are now face to face with Tubo. If we don't suppress it, we will lose more than the four towns of Anxi in the future!"
At the end, Li Hong's tone became more and more urgent, and at the same time filled with helplessness and pain, but to Shangguan Yi, all of this was still a little puzzling.
History has never been able to foresee the future. Shangguan Yi would never understand Li Hong's foresight. Tubo has always been ambitious. Relying on the plateau terrain and the fact that Tang soldiers are not suitable for fighting, they have regarded the place as a paradise where they can take whatever they want.
Although nominally under the jurisdiction of the Tang Dynasty, Tubo was more like the master there. Pei Xingjian, Li Jingxuan, Wang Fangyi and Heichi Changzhi did not have a certain deterrent power in the minds of the Tubo people. They were far less intimidating than veteran generals Su Dingfang, Liu Rengui and others.
Now, history has given Li Hong such a good opportunity. His father, Emperor Li Zhi, is not in the court, and he is the regent. Then he has the right and obligation to correct the detour taken in history, rather than following the historical trajectory again. In that case, Li Hong feels that it will be useless for him to reincarnate for nine or ten lifetimes, and it will be ridiculous instead.
Shangguan Yi looked at Li Hong's face which suddenly became somewhat sad and angry. He suddenly felt that he did not know the prince as well as he thought. At least, in his memory, he only knew this side of the prince once in the court that year.
After thinking for a long time, Shangguan Yi sighed deeply and said, "Okay, I support His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."
"Okay! Then Li Hong would like to thank you, sir." After Li Hong saluted Shangguan Yi, he hurriedly got on the carriage.
After waving his hand, Li Hong said calmly after the carriage turned: "Let's go to Yang Sijian's house."
Li Hong had made up his mind that no matter what, he would take down the two third-rank officials of the Secretariat who worked part-time in the Eastern Palace today. This way, he could occupy a powerful position when discussing matters in the court.
He believed that if he used the three ministries of Menxia, Zhongshu and Shangshu properly, he would be able to get the results he wanted!
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