Seeing Zhao Zhen pondering silently, Li Zhang also guessed what he was thinking, and said with some amusement: "Your Majesty misunderstood my meaning. I am not asking Your Majesty to dismiss Lu Xiang. In fact, in my opinion, there is probably no one who is more suitable for the Prime Minister than Lu Xiang."

"But Lu Xiang was promoted by the Empress Dowager after all, and he was always a little criticized by the court. I was wondering if I wanted to temporarily demote him and then re-activate it. This would block others' mouths and make Lu Xiang feel my kindness?" Zhao Zhen also told the truth in his heart.

"Your Majesty must not!" Li Zhang shook his head quickly when he heard this. If he remembered correctly, Zhao Zhen in history treated Lu Yijian like this. Historical books recorded that it was because Empress Guo said bad things about Lu Yijian, but in fact, Zhao Zhen himself wanted to demote Lu Yijian from the capital.

"Why?" Zhao Zhen asked in confusion.

"Although some people in the court have some criticisms about Lu Xiang, they are only a few people and their voices are not loud. No one even publicly mentioned it. If Your Majesty demoted Lu Xiang first and then used it, with Lu Xiang's experience of rolling in the court for so many years, he would definitely guess Your Majesty's intention. If Your Majesty was Lu Xiang, would you still feel grateful to Your Majesty at this time?"

"This..." Zhao Zhen also showed a thoughtful expression when he heard this, and he didn't know how to answer for a moment.

Li Zhang sighed again when he saw this, and then said: "Actually, it is a good thing for someone to criticize Lu Xiang now. If Your Majesty can still use Lu Xiang at this time, you will be grateful to Lu Xiang. Your Majesty has also seen it during this period. Lu Rong also has his full support, otherwise Your Majesty would not have become familiar with government affairs so quickly."

Hearing Li Zhang’s words, Zhao Zhen finally nodded and said, “Cousin, what you said makes sense. Lu Xiang has indeed done his best to me during this period. When the eldest lady was in power, it was thanks to his many ways to protect him. From this point of view, he still cares about me. If he demoted him now, he would be disappointed to his heart.”

"Your Majesty is wise. Actually, I think Lu Xiang is talented, capable, and has a decisive personality. As long as Your Majesty is willing to trust him, he will be a great help from You in the future. But now I have a question to ask Your Majesty, where are you going to bring the Song Dynasty?" Li Zhang said at the end, and his face also showed a serious look. In the past, Zhao Zhen was almost a puppet, so Li Zhang tried his best to avoid talking about these things with him. But now that Zhao Zhen has taken power, he must set a clear goal.

"Then I still have to ask, I naturally hope that the stronger the Song Dynasty, the better, and it is best to recover Yan Yun, completely eliminate the threat from the Liao Kingdom, quell the rebellion from all directions, so that the people of the Song Dynasty can live and work in peace and prosperity, and build a peaceful and prosperous era for future generations!" Zhao Zhen said without hesitation at this time, and he was full of confidence when he spoke. After all, he was still full of passion and his ambitions for so many years were waiting for him to display.

"Your Majesty's wish is very great, but I want to ask another question, how do you want to realize it?" Li Zhang looked at Zhao Zhen with a smile and asked again.

"This..." Zhao Zhen was stunned again when he heard this. Although he had full ambitions, he did not think about how to realize him. In fact, Zhao Zhen was not much different from ordinary people in later generations. He had countless beautiful wishes when he was young, but when he was really facing reality, he was often defeated by reality. In the end, only a very small number of people who could truly realize his wish when he was young.

Seeing Zhao Zhen’s speechless look, Li Zhang couldn’t help but smile again and said, “Your Majesty’s wish is indeed very good, but he has no real plan. Since that’s the case, what will Your Majesty use to convince ministers such as Lu Xiang to assist His Majesty with all his strength?”

"This..." Zhao Zhen showed a speechless look again. If it were someone else, he might have been so angry that he was angry. After all, he was speechless when asked twice in a row, which really made him feel ashamed.

"Your Majesty doesn't have to worry. When ordinary people are adults, they should think about what they should do in their lives. This is not something that they will think of for a while. What's more, Your Majesty has set a long-term goal to expand externally to eliminate external threats, cultivate benevolent government internally, and let the people live and work in peace and contentment. These two goals complement each other, and now we only need to set a practical plan for this goal." Li Zhang spoke again and guided.

"Yes, it's better for you, my cousin, and I'm not alone. Cousin, you can help me plan the future direction of the Song Dynasty!" Zhao Zhen immediately shouted in surprise when he heard Li Zhang's summary. He was confused by Li Zhang's question just now.

"Actually, Your Majesty is already doing this. For example, Xingzhou, which attacked Dangxiang before, is now driven away, and Xingzhou is also under our control. With the movement of the Xiang army into the military farm, Xingzhou will become stronger and stronger. Xingzhou also has a very important role. Your Majesty can let someone take the map and see it!" Li Zhang continued at this time.

"Get the map!" Zhao Zhen immediately ordered when he heard Li Zhang's words. In a short while, two eunuchs carried a screen to the nearest front. The screen was a map of the Song Dynasty, marked with some important cities, mountains, rivers, rivers, etc. Although it was very different from the maps of later generations, at least there were many important markers.

Zhao Zhen quickly found the location of Xingzhou from the map. At first, he only saw that Xingzhou was located on the bank of the Yellow River. There seemed to be nothing special, but soon he found that another long line that was not inferior to the Yellow River also passed through Xingzhou, which made him blurt out and shout, "I know, it's the Great Wall!"

"Your Majesty is wise. Xingzhou was originally one of the passes of the Great Wall. Starting from the pre-Qin period, the Spring and Autumn Period, the Warring States Period, the Qin, Han and Sui were built. Only the former Tang Dynasty was extremely strong and had lenient policies on the nomadic peoples, so the Great Wall was not needed. But for our Song Dynasty, the role of the Great Wall was still very important. Emperor Taizu wanted to take back the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, but in fact he wanted to use the Great Wall to resist the Khitan cavalry..."

Li Zhang explained the origin and importance of the Great Wall in detail. Although Zhao Zhen must have known it very clearly, he still wanted to say that the Song Dynasty was really frustrated. It would be fine if he could not get back the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun and could not take back the Great Wall in the eastern section, but even the Great Wall in the western section had long been lost. The scope of activities of the Dangxiang people was inside and outside the Great Wall. The natural dangers that had resisted nomadic peoples in the past became the place for nomadic peoples, which was very ironic to say it.

_

..m.
Chapter completed!