Chapter 331 Palace Discussion
In the Taiji Hall, Li Yuan summoned all the generals of the guards in Chang'an, as well as the prime minister, the secretary, the nine ministers and other senior officials to discuss military and national affairs.

The first was the great defeat of Yecheng.

Although the situation was far from a complete collapse, for the Tang Dynasty, this battle was the first major battle after the founding of the country, but it resulted in a great defeat.

More than 20,000 soldiers and generals were killed and more than ten generals were captured.

Someone must have been blamed for this defeat - Liu Wenhui was directly stripped of his official position and title.

However, the nobles in Guanzhong and Li Yuan's followers felt that it was not enough to punish Liu Wenhui alone. In their eyes, the commander of this battle, King Qi Li Yuanhui, should be punished even more.

But after Li Yuan had Li Yuanhui's memorial, military meeting minutes, and official documents brought over, everyone shut up.

How dare you still have the nerve?
The Guanzhong nobles and the Yuancong clique felt very painful about the defeat in this war, because those who were killed or captured were their relatives, friends, nephews, and old subordinates.

So they must want Li Yuan to punish Li Yuanhui.

But who knew that Li Yuanhui would take out these documents and completely clear himself of all the problems.

Li Yuanhui had said that it was not appropriate to go to war at this time. Even when the two sides had been in a standoff for several months, Li Yuanhui still asked his staff to go to Chang'an to explain his strategy.

But you, the left and right guards, insisted on fighting. The King of Qi had already said so. Later, he went to Luoyang for a few days due to illness. And you just created such a big hole?
The Guanlong nobles and the Yuan Cong clique were naturally silent. Who could they blame? Why did they let his son take the blame in front of the emperor? He drank in the morning?
Want to try whether the emperor's knife is sharp?

Seeing that everyone was silent, Li Er, who had just returned from patrolling the border in Liangzhou, spoke up: "In the battle of Yecheng, our Tang Dynasty suffered heavy casualties. As the commander-in-chief, Your Highness the Prince of Qi cannot shirk responsibility. I think that you should issue an imperial edict to reprimand the Prince of Qi and order him to defend Liyang and the banks of the Yellow River until the opportunity arises."

Li Er's words were echoed by everyone.

Although he said that he would hold Li Si accountable for the defeat, the punishment was "reprimand by imperial edict", which was not a big deal for Li Yuanhui.

At the same time, it also gave some face to the Guanlong nobles and Yuancong old ministers behind these left and right guards.

Li Yuan originally planned to issue an edict to scold the fourth brother, but when Li Er brought it up, he naturally agreed to it.

Originally, those people wanted to push for the removal of Li Si from the position of head coach, whether replacing him with Li Er or Li San.

But Li Si sent so many documents to clear himself of all charges. Apart from the joint liability as the commander-in-chief, there was no problem with his battle plan. Now even Li Er advocated "ordering the King of Qi to stay in the fortress and not go out", doesn't that mean he supports the King of Qi to continue to be the commander-in-chief?

Therefore, the basic response to the defeat was that Li Yuanhui was reprimanded and Liu Wenhui was dismissed from office.

As for changing the commander at the front line, Li Yuan did not mention it, nor did the prime ministers, and neither did the two princes whose words carried weight.

Those who want to mention it naturally don't dare to do so.

What needs to be discussed next is the restructuring.

The army had been reorganized and reorganized previously in order to strengthen control over the army and streamline the administration.

The reform to be discussed this time is to re-plan the administrative areas.

The administrative divisions of the previous dynasty, Dayan, were based on the system of Thirteen Prefectures of the Han Dynasty, and this dynasty had not yet undergone any reforms when it was first established.

In fact, Cao Wei had actually divided the world into 19 states and 190 counties.

After our dynasty came to control the Central Plains, because Emperor Taizu Murong Yi admired the greatness of the Han Dynasty, he established a system to restore the administrative territory of the Han Dynasty.

When the Tang Dynasty came to power, Li Yuan obviously wanted to redivide the world's territory.

First, a state controls too many counties, which can easily lead to a situation where the tail is too big to be removed. Now the military power of each state is controlled by several sons, so he doesn't have to worry too much. But what about the future? This situation cannot be maintained forever.

Even if he is his own son, his power should be reduced. More importantly, it is to strengthen the control over the local area.

As a result, two opinions emerged. One was that the large states should be divided according to the old system of the Cao Wei period.

One is to directly change the county into a state.

The former is to continue the three-level administrative system of states, counties and districts, dividing the overly large states to create a situation of mutual restraint.

From this perspective, it will not cause too much impact on the existing system.

The second is to change the three-tier administrative system that has lasted for hundreds of years directly into a two-tier system of prefectures and counties. This is a major change. Without one level of administrative system, the county becomes a prefecture, so how should the authority of a prefecture governor be defined?

Naturally, a reform of this magnitude could not be accomplished overnight, and Li Yuan was somewhat hesitant, so he only started the discussion.

Anyway, the world has not yet been unified, and we cannot rush to change the existing situation, as this may also have an impact on the war.

After everyone left, Li Yuan invited the second and third sons to have dinner in the palace. They spoke very cordially, and the one who poured wine for Li Yuan during the meal was the young Concubine Zhang.

"Father seems to be in good spirits recently and is still in good health." After dinner, the two brothers walked in the corridor of the palace, and Li Er said meaningfully.

Li San said: "It's just a common thing. Concubine Yin is already pregnant. In a few months, we may have another brother."

The two brothers smiled at the same time.

After laughing, Li San sighed:

"Shiro's tactics this time were superb and ruthless. It's a pity for those soldiers. This defeat could have been avoided. If Aye had let you, my second brother, take command, this wouldn't have happened."

Li Er shook his head and said, "It is useless to say more. The left and right guards do not obey Si Lang, and they think that Si Lang is not coming out because he is afraid or because he has not worked with them for a long time. They are stubborn and think that Liu Xuanji is easy to deal with. They made the big mistake of underestimating the enemy, so they suffered this great defeat. It is not Si Lang's fault. If it were me, those who dared to cause trouble would have been punished by military law long ago."

Li San said: "But after this battle, the remaining people are well disciplined. The blood in Yecheng flowed like a river, but there was not a single drop of blood on Silang's clothes."

Li Er said: "With the fall of Yecheng, the situation in Hebei is not optimistic. Even if Silang can reverse the situation, he can only be in a standoff with Liu Xuanji again. Although our Tang Dynasty has a large population and a vast territory, it is not a solution to continue to waste time like this. However, if Shangdang can be taken, the entire battle situation will be revitalized."

Hebei's terrain is naturally advantageous to the Central Plains.

However, the Hedong area of ​​Bingzhou has formed a dominant position over Guanzhong, Central Plains and Hebei.

Whether it was the Qin army or Han Xin's sweep across the Hebei princes, their marching direction was from Bingzhou out of Taihang.

Cui Hao advised Tuoba Tao to focus on Bingzhou. If there was any trouble in Hebei, he should just ride out lightly. In this way, Hebei would not know the strength of Bingzhou and would not dare to cause trouble.

The core is Bingzhou's special geographical location, with Taihang Mountain in the east, Luliang Mountain in the west, Zhongtiao Mountain and Wangwu Mountain in the south, Yinshan Mountain, Yanshan Mountain, Wutai Mountain and Hengshan Mountain in the north. This is the so-called "mountains and rivers inside and outside".

Li Er also understood Li Si's strategic design. He confronted the Yan army head-on and tied down most of his troops. It didn't matter if he lost one or two battles, as long as he didn't suffer any serious losses.

But the real killer move is in Bingzhou.

Once Shangdang was captured, they could send troops from Fukouxing to attack the Yan army from both sides.

(End of this chapter)