The grandfather and grandson praised each other for a while, and the other three people present were almost asleep. If it came to political acting, these three people were not bad at all, but if it came to watching others perform, none of them had much interest.
Seeing that Fang Xuanling was yawning, Li Shimin finally remembered the serious matter.
"The imperial court is planning to reorganize the surrounding areas, so some personnel will need to be replaced. You should ask him to take a look. After all, he conquered these areas, so he has considerable influence in this regard."
Li Shimin asked Fang Xuanling to take out a memorial, which contained a list drawn up by Fang Xuanling. It stated that a group of administrative heads and local officials in various places, including Tuyuhun, Xueyantuo, Goguryeo and Gaochang, needed to be replaced.
Normally, as long as Li Shimin issued an imperial decree, all these things would be fine. Could it be that the people below dared to disobey? Even if those people were Li Xiang's followers, they would not dare to say anything about the Tang court.
Li Xiang had heard about this matter a long time ago, and Li Shimin also asked Fang Xuanling to talk to Li Xiang. Among the newly appointed officials, Li Xiang's subordinates accounted for one-third, which was already a very high proportion. Li Shimin's subordinates accounted for another one-third. As for the remaining one-third, it had to be distributed among the major families. This was also a way to maintain stability.
Before he traveled through time, Li Xiang also thought that the world was full of fairness and that everything depended on examinations. However, after becoming the crown prince, he realized how ridiculous his idea was. The major families were themselves interest groups in various places. Although Li Xiang had brought them a lot of losses after one decision after another, they still had huge power in the local area.
Moreover, there are too few scholars now. If you plan to use the imperial examination to conduct fair competition, the poor will not have much chance. Most people have just solved the problem of food and clothing. Although Li Xiang has set up many free schools across the country, those children are not even ten years old. How can they compete with the children of aristocrats?
According to Li Xiang's plan, the first batch of children of commoners will take the imperial examinations in about five or six years. That will be the time to change the entire officialdom. Now we have to honestly follow the previous rules. At least the people selected are still excellent. Of course, we cannot say that all of them are excellent. Some of them are just there to eat for nothing.
"My grandson has no objection to this, but I think it would be better for Fang Yiai to continue serving as the Governor of Goguryeo."
When Li Xiang said this, Fang Xuanling frowned. Although this guy had other sons, it was obvious that only this son had survived, and he did a good job as the governor of Goguryeo. If he could return to the court, he could serve as the minister of the six ministries and could also enter the cabinet and become a prime minister in the future.
But now Li Xiang was actually blocked. If that was the case, it would take three years for him to serve another term in Goguryeo. Fang Xuanling was hard to say what the situation in the court would be like three years later. Many young people had already emerged.
Because Li Xiang boldly employed young people, Li Shimin also planned to learn from Li Xiang. Take the current Secretariat as an example. Five young officials have entered the province within a year. Although the power they hold is not great, it also makes Fang Xuanling feel tremendous pressure. So while he still has power in his hands, he should arrange everything for his son's future. This is what Fang Xuanling is thinking now.
"Do you have any other plans in Goguryeo?"
Li Shimin knew that Li Xiang and Fang Xuanling had always been good friends, and now was an important time for his son to rise. If there were no other things, Li Xiang would definitely not block Fang Yiai.
"The Goryeo Navy has been fully assembled. Although its combat power is not as strong as the Dengzhou Navy, it is still capable of fighting. My grandson is preparing to cross the sea and directly capture Fuso."
Back in Nanzhao, Li Xiang had already been planning this. What was the real situation of Fusang? Li Xiang knew it all too well. Although they now admired the Tang Dynasty, they still harbored ulterior motives. He felt they were the smartest people in the world, yet they grew up on a marginal island nation. They were always dissatisfied and always wanted to conquer the great Tang Dynasty.
Of course, Li Shimin didn't know about these things. According to Li Shimin's thinking, Fuso often sent envoys to the Tang Dynasty and was very respectful to the Tang Dynasty. It could almost be regarded as a vassal state, so there was no need to occupy them.
However, Nanzhao was also such a country before, and Li Shimin had no intention of occupying it. But now after occupying Nanzhao, Li Shimin felt more at ease. The most important thing was that Li Xiang's war would not bring financial burden to the country. Instead, it often brought some unexpected gains to the country, and the army's casualties were also within an acceptable range.
"How many troops are you going to mobilize?"
Upon hearing what Li Shimin said, Fang Xuanling and Changsun Wuji looked at each other. Everyone knew that our emperor was ambitious. Now that Li Xiang had successfully ignited that little flame, thinking that it would leave another record in history books, Li Shimin would probably approve it again.
If his son continued to stay as the governor of Goguryeo, Fang Xuanling would not be willing to let him waste time there. After all, the country had been pacified and it was impossible for him to achieve new achievements. But if he used Goguryeo as a base to attack Fuso, then Fang Xuanling would be willing to let his son stay there.
"The Goryeo navy has 17,000 men, plus the 20,000 local Goryeo troops, and 3,000 elite Chang'an cavalry are enough..."
Li Xiang thought for a while and said, he also knew what Li Shimin was thinking. If a large-scale military campaign was launched from Chang'an City, Li Shimin might not be happy, but if you mobilize the local Goguryeo army, then you can use as many as you want, and we won't even care. Anyway, the expenses of those people do not belong to the Tang Dynasty court, and the money is raised by the local governor's offices themselves.
"Who do you want to appoint as general?"
When Li Shimin said this, everyone present pricked up their ears. Li Xiang had never lost a foreign war in recent years. If he could let his successor follow him, it would be like collecting merits. Who wouldn't want their descendants to have military merits to look back on? Even if he made any mistakes in the future, Li Shimin would definitely forgive him for his merits on the battlefield.
