Chang'an City.
The carrier pigeon brought back news from the front line, and Li Xiang immediately ordered the armory to send over the new chain crossbow. This thing was actually developed two years ago, and a batch of new crossbow arrows were also produced.
But the problem is that there is no one on the battlefield who can fight. Are we supposed to replace all the ones that are still useful? You know, there are a lot of serial slaves in the entire army. Even if we want to replace the troops now, we will only replace those attacking the Byzantine Empire.
Take the armies in other directions for example. Their opponents don't have heavy armor, let alone some light armor. The chain crossbows they have now are basically enough. If you want to replace them all, firstly, there are not so many in the warehouse, and secondly, it costs money to replace this thing.
After returning to the capital, Li Xiang felt even more that being the head of the household was incredibly difficult. Everyone wanted to be in this position, but the question was, did you have the ability? Most people needed food or drink, and if you didn't have the ability, you'd probably be finished with the household in just two months.
If an ordinary family went bankrupt, they might be able to start over by moving to another place, but if the imperial court went bankrupt, do you know how serious the situation would be? Especially as the head of the imperial court, you might even lose your head.
Li Chengqian was ill and was very tired in the capital. In addition to the fact that he had ruined his body earlier, the most important thing was that the work in the capital was too tiring. Li Xiang thought that his life in the army was hard enough, but after staying in the capital for more than half a month, he realized that compared with the hard work in the capital, the army was like a vacation.
Anyway, our army's combat effectiveness is strong enough, and the enemy does not have our ability. At most, they can only think of some combat strategies. Three cobblers are better than one Zhuge Liang. Li Xiang has so many smart people under his command, and this cannot stop him.
But it's different in the major government offices in the capital. These people have nothing else to do every day and all they do is use their brains. If the people under Li Xiang are a little lax, they may be trapped by these bastards. Moreover, these people are also keeping a close eye on the cost of the war. Of course, this is also what Li Xiang asked for. If there is a little more money to spend, these people will jump out immediately.
So under such circumstances, Li Xiang really felt extremely tired and really wanted to return to the front line again. Unfortunately, there would be no such opportunity. The imperial physician had just finished consulting with Li Chengqian. Although he had recovered well during this period, he should try not to use his brain too much.
"You look so exhausted. If you were really tired, you wouldn't have to come here every day to pay your respects. There's no need for so many empty words between us father and son. I know you don't care about this either. Every time you come to my place, you come and go in a hurry."
Li Xiang could hear that there was some dissatisfaction in Li Chengqian's words, but there was nothing he could do about it. Now that Li Chengqian was ill, Li Shimin was just like before, enjoying himself and eating his own food every day. As for the major matters in the court, he either handed them over to the Secretariat or the General's Mansion of Tiance.
According to Li Shimin himself, after a lifetime of hard work fighting, he finally had a chance to enjoy himself, so why did he have to take care of so many things? If he took on all the responsibilities himself, what would he need you for?
No one dared to refute Li Shimin's words. After all, you can't make the monarch too tired. Didn't you come to the court to serve as an official to share the monarch's worries? Before, when others held power, you might have been idle. Now that they have put power in your hands, if you say you feel tired again, Li Shimin will have to replace you.
Nowadays, there are many people who want power and are not afraid of hard work. Not to mention the entire Tang Empire, even in the small city of Chang'an, they can find thousands of people for you in minutes, and they can do your job. Don't think that you are so important. If you have the opportunity, giving others a platform may not be worse than what you do. So even if Li Xiang is so tired, he cannot complain.
"Father, you're joking. Grandfather, rule the world with benevolence and filial piety. You're ill now. If I don't come sooner or later, the censors in the court will probably scold me to death. I'm just not used to it yet. Once I get used to this working state, it should be fine. I've already submitted a petition to reorganize the Secretariat."
Li Xiang took out a memorial as he spoke. Although Li Chengqian did not take care of too many things, he still had to come and report on some major issues. After all, Li Chengqian had his own unique insights on many things. If there were many loopholes in the things you were doing, Li Chengqian would be able to see them to you on the spot, which would save you a lot of effort.
Li Xiang wanted to reorganize the Secretariat, which was very simple. He just needed to add a place similar to the General Staff Office. Nowadays, many memorials were long and boring. If he wanted to read all of them by himself, it would take him a long time.
So Li Xiang planned to conduct an examination among the people. In addition to the imperial examination, this examination did not occupy any ranks. Instead, he specifically looked for some people with good literary literacy, asked them to read the memorials carefully, and then summarize them in a few short sentences. In this way, the speed of reviewing the memorials would be dozens of times faster than before.
"Your idea is a good one, especially the new position of Zhongshu Sheng Xing. They don't have a formal official position, but they can still receive a salary. The children of aristocratic families probably don't like it because they want a fixed official position, not a temporary job. But for the children of poor families, they will be interested in this job."
Li Chengqian smiled and nodded. When he was in charge of the Secretariat, he had thought about similar things, but he did not think of such things as a system. At that time, there were only some buds, and he did not connect them together. His son had accomplished this thing.
Of course, there are some disadvantages to doing this. The Secretariat is the national secretariat. Li Xiang wants to recruit so many people, and confidentiality is also a very important aspect.
