Chapter 668
In the newly completed greenhouse hall, the Son of Heaven clasped his hands together, raised his head, looked at the newly painted roof, and raised his brows lightly, seemingly happy but not happy.

Dou Ying, who came in a hurry, held the military newspaper and read it again and again. She wanted to speak several times, but she couldn't.The military report is very simple, only a few words: Liang Xiao conquered the Bingling Fortress, King Youxian withdrew from the Ili River Valley, Lie Jiaomi surrendered, and will set off for Chang'an Miansheng after the beginning of spring.

This military report is very hasty, as if it was written in a hurry on the battlefield, whether it is written format or the materials used, it does not conform to the rules, just like Liang Xiao's excitement after winning the victory, he couldn't contain himself, and he just tore up a piece of silk, After writing a few words, it was delivered from afar.There are many important things that are not mentioned, such as casualties on both sides, how the spoils will be distributed, and especially who will control the valley.

Is it because of too much haste, or because of negligence?Or did Liang Xiao deliberately not mention it?

Liang Xiao is not a careless person, the two places are thousands of miles apart, and he won't be in a hurry, so there is only one possibility, this is his intention.So why did he do it, what did he want?
Dou Ying couldn't guess it, so he couldn't explain it to the emperor.

The emperor withdrew his gaze and glanced at Dou Ying. "Has Wei Qihou understood?"

Dou Ying blinked, put down the military newspaper unhurriedly, stroked his beard, and laughed silently. "I'm stupid, I only understand one thing. The most rebellious Lie Jiaomi bowed his head and surrendered. Liang Xiao conquered the Western Regions. The 36 kingdoms in the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains have since become my vassal kingdoms."

"is that true?"

"Whether it's true or not, you can know in a year at most. If Lie Jiao Mi is in Chang'an, what is there to doubt?"

The emperor's brows trembled slightly, his mouth twisted, and he wanted to say something, but gave up again.Dou Ying was obviously speaking on Liang Xiao's side, and there was no tacit understanding between them.At this time, footsteps sounded outside the hall, Cao Shi walked in, followed by Wei Qing, with a respectful expression, like a servant.When the emperor saw him, he frowned slightly, and a look of displeasure flashed through his eyes, then he regained his composure, and stretched out his hand to signal them to sit down.

While Cao Shi was reading the military newspaper, the Prime Minister Han Anguo, the Yushi doctor Li Guang, Da Xingling Wang Hui and others arrived one after another. They were all very happy to learn that Liang Xiao had defeated Lie Jiaomi and pacified the Western Regions. Seeing the emperor's face, he couldn't help but feel dark in his heart, and closed his mouth wisely.

Zhu Fuyan, Yan An and others also arrived one after another and took their seats one by one.

After a while, Tian Fu also arrived.Seeing Tian Fu, Han Anguo and Li Guang were a little surprised.Tian Fu resigned from the position of prime minister due to illness. He has been at home for more than half a year.

The atmosphere in the hall suddenly became strange, and those who originally wanted to express their congratulations also shut their mouths tightly, for fear that a careless word would cause unnecessary trouble.Seeing it, Dou Ying suddenly felt an indescribable depression.These people here are basically younger than him, but looking at them, they all seem to be older than him, without any vitality.

"Great victory in the Western Regions, Wusun bowed his head, Khotan's beautiful jade was guaranteed, and the trade roads were unimpeded from then on. This is a great event." The emperor sat upright and talked eloquently. "The soldiers of the Western Expedition have made outstanding achievements, and they must be rewarded. How to reward, but you need to get a charter. The Western Regions are far away, and it takes several months to come and go. If the delay is too far, it will hurt morale."

The Son of Heaven chuckled: "Pingyanghou, Changpinghou, the champion Hou pacified the Western Regions, and the matter of the Huns has to be handed over to you. Have you ever made preparations?"

Cao Shi hurriedly bowed his body to salute. "Your Majesty, the preparations are progressing smoothly. At present, the relevant maps have been drawn, and the mountains, rivers, waters and soils have been mastered. It's just..."

"Just what?"

"It's just that the matter of contacting North Korea was not smooth. The original news was that the king of Joseon was a descendant of Jizi, a Shang minister, but according to the information we have now, at least 50 years ago, North Korea was conquered by Weiman from Yan. , the current King of Korea is named Wei."

"Weiman from Yan?" The Son of Heaven snorted and shook his head. "Originally, the dynasty changed 50 years ago, but we only know about it now. It seems that we really closed our eyes and listened." He turned to Dou Ying. "Wei Qihou, it seems that you are right. We should indeed encourage young people to go out and read thousands of books. It is better to travel thousands of miles. No matter how good the sage's articles are, without these customs, it will inevitably be empty."

Dou Ying nodded. "What His Majesty said is true."

Tian Fu coughed and interrupted Dou Ying. "Although traveling abroad is helpful to increase knowledge, it should not be too much, otherwise people's thoughts will be moved, and it is not a blessing for the country. Your Majesty, the great man builds the country with agriculture, one man farms and seven people have food. There are too many people who live on food. Seeking the end is not a good strategy."

Dou Ying sneered: "Marquis Wu An's words are specious, and I don't agree with them."

Tian Fu got angry and retorted. "Also ask Wei Qihou for advice."

"Students who travel are not farmers at all. They are floating food people whether they are in Chang'an or not. The only difference is that when they travel, they eat wherever they go. When they stay in Chang'an, they eat rice from Shandong. Not every day. Individuals have tens of thousands of mu of fertile land, and they have rent and tax to eat."

Dou Ying glanced at Tian Fu disdainfully, then turned to the Son of Heaven. "Your Majesty, I think that there are too few people traveling abroad, not too many. There are millions of people around Chang'an, which is far more than Guanzhong can supply. We need to transport 300 million shi from Shandong every year to make up for the shortage in Taicang. If you add merchants to traffic, the number is even more astonishing. With one scholar, one attendant, and an annual food of forty shi, 40 scholars have traveled abroad, not to mention how much they can increase their knowledge. There are [-] stones."

The emperor frowned slightly. "Let's talk about these details later."

"Your Majesty, this is not a trivial matter, but a fundamental matter."

"Essential?" The Son of Heaven looked at the others, and then turned his gaze back to Dou Ying's face. "Then tell me, the number of scholars who travel abroad is the most important thing. Just now you said that the food that 40 scholars can save is only about [-] shi."

"Your Majesty, 40 scholars and attendants can save [-] shi of food just by eating. How about drinking wine, eating meat, wearing clothes and riding horses? So far, as far as I know, most of the people who travel abroad are rich and noble. Family, they usually go to Chang'an, how can there be only one follower, and the cost is not only forty shi per year? Yichen estimated that such a person living in Chang'an for a year would cost no less than [-] shi. Your Majesty may as well ask you Si Nong, how much did Chang'an's population change last year, and how much did the food consumed change?"

The emperor didn't ask the prime minister Han Anguo, nor did he ask Da Sinong Zheng at that time.As soon as Dou Ying said it, he understood.Now the scholars who travel abroad are mainly young people from Chen Dou's family. These people lived in Chang'an with rich clothes and fine food, fat horses and light furs. What is the food that one person consumes five hundred shi a year? Their horses eat it in a year. There are more than that.

The imperial court transported 300 million shi in water a year, but that was only for the imperial court and various government offices. If the grain transshipped by private persons was included, this figure would at least double.The manpower and material resources consumed on this must be a large amount.But the emperor does not want to talk about these issues at the moment.He was about to send Cao Shi and Wei Qing to the grassland to completely eliminate the threat of the Huns. At this time, talking about food consumption was just asking for trouble.

"But, what does this have to do with what we are going to discuss? When the army goes out to the grasslands, they can eat in Hebei instead of being transported to Chang'an."

"Your Majesty doesn't want to control the river?"

The emperor was stunned for a moment, his face was a little ugly.Why did it get involved in Zhihe again?This question cannot be answered. The flood in Shandong has not been completely resolved. The matter of river control is a major issue that concerns millions of people in Shandong. Even if he doesn't care about it in his heart, he has to express his concern.

"Your Majesty, after digging through the classics to understand the situation of the flooding of the river, and comparing it with the hydrology in recent years, although there is no definite evidence yet, I believe that the flooding of the river has a lot to do with the population of Guanzhong. The more population in Guanzhong , more frequent floods in Shandong.”

As soon as this remark came out, everyone looked at each other in blank dismay, no matter how they heard it, they felt that there was something wrong with the remark.According to Dou Ying's statement, the capital city of Chang'an is the root cause of the river's flooding?If the capital was not in Chang'an, why would people rush to Guanzhong?

Countless eyes looked at Dou Ying, including Tian Fu.Tian Fu looked at Dou Ying and was secretly happy.Dou Ying, an old knight errant, is going to make trouble for himself again.

The emperor was sullen. "Does Wei Qihou mean that the capital should be moved?"

Dou Ying smiled slightly, confident.He had such an idea a long time ago, and the reason why he has not announced it is because this matter is difficult and involves too many issues.But now he has to say, the flood has not been resolved, and the emperor wants to send troops to the grassland again, this is simply nonsense.It was true that Liang Xiao conquered the Western Regions, but how many people did Liang Xiao bring?Four hundred.How many soldiers did Cao Shi and Wei Qing need to conquer the grassland?Nothing less, one hundred thousand.

Is this a thing?
Dou Ying stood up and bowed slightly. "Your Majesty, I have the guts to say that if Chang'an stabilizes the capital and the flood is difficult to cure, will His Majesty move the capital or not?"

The emperor was stunned, his face turned red and white.He didn't expect Dou Ying to be so obstinate, he didn't back down, and immediately blocked him in the corner.

If Chang'an, the capital, is the root cause of the floods in Shandong, will you move the capital?Even if there are 1 reasons why he doesn't want to move, the emperor can't say it.There are some things that can be done and cannot be said, and this event is one of them.

Dou Ying looked at the emperor with piercing eyes, not giving the emperor any chance to dodge.The emperor was hesitant to speak several times, but when Tian Fu saw it, he immediately got up to rescue the emperor. "This is just nonsense, do you have evidence?"

Dou Ying squinted at Tian Fu, and snorted softly: "Marquis Wu An wants to hear evidence? Well, later, I will send someone to copy a manuscript and send it to Marquis Wu An's mansion, and ask Marquis Wu An to correct me. However, here , I can roughly talk about it, and see if I am talking nonsense."

Dou Ying talked eloquently and briefly talked about the history of Dahe's changes.Dayu's water control is too far away, so it can only be regarded as a legend, and there is no solid historical fact to support it. However, the events of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States can be roughly explained. No country will ignore such a major event as breaking a river recorded.

The palace has a rich collection of books, not only the history of the Qin Dynasty that can be seen by ordinary readers, but also the history of other countries. Dong Zhongshu spent several months searching through all the historical materials, extracting these records one by one, and sorting them by year. arrangement.Although there are still some details that may need to be discussed, there is no doubt that since the Spring and Autumn and Warring States period, the diversion of the river has become more and more frequent.

And this point, the most obvious connection is the development of Guanzhong by Qin Dynasty and the development of Hexi by Zhao Wei and Qin successively. As a large number of people moved to Shangdang and Hexi, the time interval between the diversion of the big river in Shandong was significantly shortened.The population increase in Guanzhong and Hexi is obviously related to the breach of the great river.

After listening to Dou Ying's argument, everyone shut their mouths.Harnessing the river is a major event related to the reputation of the emperor, and the capital is also the foundation of a country. Who dares to speak lightly?Not only did the ministers dare not speak casually, even the emperor dared not speak casually.After a long time, he forced a smile and said: "So, sending more scholars to travel can not only broaden their knowledge, but also reduce the river disaster?"

"What your Majesty said is very true. The gathering of talents from all over the world in Chang'an is good for His Majesty, but everything is too much. If everyone gathers in Chang'an, it may not be a good thing. Chang'an has gathered a large number of talents. If it’s just talking about the world, fighting cocks and horses, it’s better to let them travel around the world and be the eyes and ears of the court. Your Majesty, isn’t it because of Liang Xiao’s knowledge that he has traveled around the world that the river control strategy can achieve today’s results?”

The emperor frowned and smiled secretly.After going around for a long time, Dou Ying finally talked back.

However, he didn't say anything.When the great river breached, the world was raging. It was Liang Xiao who sent an envoy to Nanyue to pacify Minyue and force Nanyue to surrender.It was he who proposed that the Dahe breach had nothing to do with who the emperor was, and helped him block the clan's attack on him.Now Liang Xiao went out to the Western Regions with 400 people, pacified the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains, and stabilized the source of jade.In front of such great achievements, if he said that Liang Xiao was wrong, it would hurt the hearts of soldiers.If the soldiers are tired of fighting, even if Cao Shi and Wei Qing are loyal to him, they will not be able to fight this battle.

What's more, in order to completely pacify the Western Regions, Liang Xiao had to strangle the way for the Huns to escape westward, unless he sent someone to replace Liang Xiao.Judging from the current situation, let alone finding a suitable candidate, even if there was, he would not be able to issue such an order.

Liang Xiao just deprived him of his military power after he made a meritorious service?What a stupid decision to make.

The Son of Heaven is a smart man, he can deliberately not mention Liang Xiao's achievements and neglect him, but he will not personally say that he will suppress him and give others a blame.

"Since this is the case, why not send some people to the Western Regions. If the Western Regions have been pacified, thousands of miles away, safe and sound. Let these scholars walk this road, and experience for themselves the difficulty of the soldiers of the Western Expedition. Wei Qihou, you What do you think?"

Dou Ying was slightly stunned, and then said with emotion: "Although I am old and weak, I have always wanted to see the newly expanded mountains and rivers. If I can get my wish, I will die."
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(End of this chapter)

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