When everyone heard this number, they gasped. This number was really not a small number. According to Zhangsun Wuji's method, arresting hundreds of people in the entire army at once would cause chaos.
The last time the Five Surnames and Seven Families caused trouble, those people were all Han Chinese, so it was easy to arrest them. After all, they were facing our own army. Moreover, after the evidence of their crimes was made public, the armies from all over the country also expressed their understanding. After all, these people were rebelling against the imperial court. In any era, rebellion is a heinous crime that cannot be forgiven.
But the problem is that the situation is different now. Now you are not arresting Han people, but other ethnic groups belonging to the Tang Dynasty. These people are inherently quite sensitive. If it were when we had just occupied the country, there would be nothing wrong with us arresting them, because at that time there were troublemakers everywhere, and people were being arrested and killed almost every day.
But now we have entered a relatively peaceful period, and local officials have given them many guarantees. The main thing is that as long as you do not violate the law and do not do anything to offend the court, then your life can be guaranteed and will get better and better. Including your descendants, except for the Fuso people and Goguryeo people, everyone can become the citizens of the Tang Dynasty in the future.
This guarantee still exists. If you were to break it, what would the future hold? Would our people everywhere still trust us? Especially those who are working hard in the military, would they still believe that their descendants are citizens of the Great Tang?
These people fought for this belief. Although they did deviate from the people of the Tang Dynasty in their generation, the imperial court once promised that after two or three generations, there would be no deviation from the people of the Tang Dynasty. Now, only a few years later, the imperial court is trampling on this promise and arresting them. Then, the lies they told before can no longer be covered up.
"Let me say this. Although there was a betrayal of the army this time, it's impossible for all of these hundreds of people to be traitors. According to what we're saying now, they just have the potential to betray us. Just because of the word 'possibility', should we start a war against them?"
Cheng Yaojin frowned and said that this guy pays more attention to brotherhood. In his opinion, these people have participated in countless battles. Although they are not Han people, they have fought side by side with us on the battlefield and have made the same efforts. You have denied all their efforts without any evidence. This is not what an upright person should do.
"Old Cheng, you shouldn't say that. You're just like the traitor on the battlefield this time. He was still fighting bravely last night. Can you tell he's a traitor? But he's already had rebellious intentions a long time ago. Just because we can't see it on their faces doesn't mean we're stupid. If we ignore them, more of us will die in the future."
Yuchi Jingde shook his head. He didn't have a proper solution in mind at the moment, but he was unwilling to ignore it and wait for them to reveal their true intentions, because doing so would be tantamount to lazy governance.
Didn't Li Xiang say this before? Lazy governance is perhaps the biggest killer of a country. As lazy governance spreads, the people and the military may lose confidence in you. This is the most serious thing, killing people faster than those real knives, and it is almost impossible for you to recover. If you lose the people's hearts, it will be the greatest sorrow of an empire.
Even though we continue to win victories abroad, and the people have improved their living conditions because of the empire's wars, if we lose confidence in the court, then these wars will not have much effect. Just look at the current Arab Empire, they are quite powerful.
But what good was this? All the wealth was plundered by the upper class, and the working people at the bottom could only eat a little soup. Moreover, when problems arose internally, the common people were immediately kicked out. The nobles across the country did not think about doing their jobs, but only wanted to enjoy their own lives, including their Beidaying. Everything was the business of the common people and ordinary soldiers, which led to their step-by-step defeat.
There are capable people within the Arab Empire, and they also know that the empire will not be able to continue like this. But the problem is that when it becomes rotten to a certain extent, even if you have the power to turn the tide, it will be in vain if no one stands with you.
The current Tang Dynasty cannot sit idly by and watch changes occur. When problems are discovered, they must be dealt with. This is not only about solving our own problems, but also a promise to the people, allowing them to see our attitude towards solving problems. If we just sit idly by and watch changes occur, it will really explode in the future, and the losses will be several times greater than the current ones.
"I didn't say whether we can investigate secretly or not. If someone is plotting a rebellion, they will definitely leave some clues. But we can't investigate openly in the army. They also have certain abilities in the book of merit. If they find out, and some people spread rumors in the army, then our current situation will be uncertain."
Cheng Yaojin has been in the army for his entire life, so he naturally knows how terrible rumors are. When an army is facing difficulties, these rumors are even more terrible. Of course, when the army is facing difficulties, some things are easier to solve.
"How about this? Let's first target some of them, for example, those without families, or those without any merit, or those with lower status in the army. We'll investigate them first, and if we really find an opportunity, we'll use them as a warning."
Fang Xuanling was an experienced man after all. Through his observations just now, he had realized that it was impossible to get rid of all the people. These hundreds of people were involved in too many military affairs, especially in foreign armies.
In order to avoid causing unrest, but at the same time resolve this issue, some sacrifices must be made. Some of those people who are not influential enough must be found out and dealt with first. This will not cause too much unrest, and by proceeding step by step, it will also force the big tigers to show up.
