The young nobleman raised his eyebrows, looked at Guo Fushan coldly, and said: "Why, is it possible that this military office is like a dragon's pond and a tiger's den? Those who follow you will prosper, and those who go against you will perish. Can you bite off a piece of my flesh?"
Tian Yunlai and other navy soldiers were all shocked, it was actually King Huo Li Yuangui?
Although he is a pirate, he is also a citizen of the Tang Dynasty. He has heard about His Highness for a long time...
The fourteenth son of the late emperor had a very resounding reputation. He was intelligent and versatile since he was a child, and he was good at both civil and military affairs. Gaozu was very pleased with him. In the early years of Zhenguan, His Majesty Li Er once asked Wei Zheng: "Who among the royal family members can be called virtuous?" Wei Zheng replied: "I am foolish and dark, and I don't fully know what I am capable of. However, the king of Wu said to me a few words, and I am not at fault." At that time, Gaozu was still alive and respected as the Supreme Emperor, and Li Yuangui had just been transferred from the King of Shu to the King of Wu.
His Majesty Li Er then betrothed Wei Zheng's daughter to Li Yuangui as his wife.
In the tenth year of Zhenguan, Li Yuangui was appointed as the governor of Xuzhou. After taking office, he closed his cabinet to study. All state government affairs were entrusted to the chief minister and Sima. He was cautious and self-sufficient, did not disobey things, and was not arrogant.
It was once rumored that Xuzhou hermit Liu Xuanping had a close relationship with King Huo. Someone asked him about King Huo's strengths. Xuanping replied: "Nothing." Everyone was surprised, how could a person not have any strengths? Liu Xuanping said: "My wife has shortcomings, so I can see her strengths. As for King Huo, he is unprepared for everything. How can I call him that?" From this, King Huo's virtuous name was widely spread in Xuzhou.
Among the royal family, he can be regarded as an outstanding talent...
Guo Fushan gave a wry smile. Naturally, he did not dare to provoke this rude royal descendant, so he nodded slightly and said: "Your Highness has a distinguished status, and I don't dare to be rude. It's just that the things your Highness is handling are not within the scope of my authority. Please wait a moment, Your Highness, until the Chamberlain returns from the palace before making a decision."
It is true that he did not want to provoke King Huo Li Yuangui, but as the right minister of the Ministry of War, he was considered a prominent official in the court, so there was no need to debase himself and flatter him. These words may seem calm, but they are actually very angry. You are the prince and we cannot afford to offend you, but there is no need for you to show off to me. You are pointing the finger at Fang Jun. If you have the ability, go and fight with that guy. ah?
Li Yuangui's pale face became more and more ugly. He snorted and said displeasedly: "That Fang Jun has just entered the yamen and turned a blind eye to me. Is this how your Ministry of War yamen does things? It's like you have betrayed the emperor's favor and the corpse is a vegetarian! It's a must. I will go to His Majesty later to submit a copy!"
Guo Fushan was not afraid of this at all. With a warm smile on his face, he nodded and said: "What your Highness taught you is that the subordinates are frightened... The Minister of Fang has important matters to attend to, and he really shouldn't have stayed in the Yamen. However, the Minister of Fang is on his way at the moment." Go to the palace to see His Majesty. Why don't Your Highness go immediately and report to the palace that you intend to mobilize the Xuzhou garrison for disaster relief? Even if you get a copy of the Ministry of War, it will be incidental..."
Li Yuangui said "Hey" and stood up. He even laughed angrily: "Your Ministry of War office is really lawless. Why are you so arrogant? I don't believe it yet. I sent a few soldiers to go out to sea and got something. Honey, can you just leave the yamen to do its business? This year there was a heavy snowfall in Xuzhou, countless houses collapsed, and tens of thousands of people were displaced and homeless. I traveled thousands of miles to Chang'an despite the severe cold, and asked your Ministry of War to write a letter to Xuzhou The garrison participating in disaster relief, such a big thing is not as trivial as him?"
The navy soldiers quit.
Mother!
Even if you are a noble person from Tianhuang, we can't afford to offend you. You can just call us despicable, but you actually look down on our contribution to traveling across the oceans to explore the New World and bringing back high-yielding grain seeds?
We have died so many people, gone through countless hardships and dangers, and have passed death countless times. Are you going to deny it all with such a light sentence?
It is unbearable!
With a "hurrah", all the soldiers in the guard room stood up and glared at Li Yuangui.
Li Yuangui was startled, and then said angrily: "What, you want to rebel?"
Tian Yunlai stretched out his hand to stop the angry soldiers behind him, and said calmly: "The general will not dare."
Countless tests of life and death on the vast sea have already tempered this illiterate old pirate's perseverance. The status gap between the two sides is too big. If he doesn't flinch now, he will have ambition, but he will inevitably have to do it. There is no need to suffer humiliation.
"We just relied on the command of the Marquis and achieved some minor achievements. How dare we show off in front of His Highness?"
Tian Yunlai bowed and saluted with a low tone.
The soldiers behind him were filled with anger, but after crossing the ocean and experiencing countless lives and deaths, they had already sincerely loved and respected Tian Yunlai. Although they were confused at the moment, they did not dare to say anything.
Li Yuangui laughed, glanced at Tian Yunlai contemptuously, and said calmly: "You know what's going on!"
Then he glared at Guo Fushan and said: "Do you think that I dare not go to the imperial court to complain? That Fang Jun is certainly a member of the Holy Family, but I have great righteousness in my hands, so I don't believe that Your Majesty will favor him!"
After saying that, he rolled up his robe sleeves and strode out of the duty room. When he arrived at the entrance of the military department, several personal guards came forward, surrounded by them, mounted their horses, and went straight to Tai Chi Palace.
As the son of Emperor Gaozu and one of the most outstanding figures in the royal family, Li Yuangui has always been proud of himself. Although he has been in Xuzhou and returned to Chang'an very few times over the years, he has long heard about the prosperous Fang Jun. The jealousy and resentment in my heart have long been ingrained. In addition, when I returned to Beijing this time, I first visited my brother Li Yuanjing, King of Jing, and heard Li Yuanjing talk about his situation in recent years with sadness, and how he was almost sent to Silla to become a barbarian king not long ago... Li Yuanguiyu Fa was dissatisfied with Fang Jun.
If you are always arrogant, then that's fine. After all, you are the emperor's consort and you can be considered a member of the Tian family. But you are so domineering when facing the children of the royal family. Do you really think that there is no one in the royal family?
Of course, Fang Jun is a staunch supporter of the prince, which is one of the reasons why Li Yuangui has a bad impression of him...
In the duty room, Guo Fushan looked at Tian Yunlai with a smile, shook his head, and sighed: "What kind of general brings out what kind of soldiers? You look like an honest guy, but you are really not a kind person..." "
Tian Yunlai chuckled. He squinted his eyes, revealing a set of jagged and rotten teeth: "The general will not understand what Minister Guo said..."
Guo Fushan smiled, pointed at him, and said: "Cunning!"
He put his hands behind his back and walked away in a square step.
*****
Dragon Palace.
His Majesty Li Er had just had lunch and was sitting on the couch, drinking tea and listening to Fang Jun's report in front of him.
"Your Majesty, these seeds are high-yielding grains, and can be planted in a very wide area, including Lingnan, Lianghu, Jiangnan, Hebei, Guanzhong, and even Liaodong and Longxi... Your Majesty, as long as the imperial court vigorously promotes these grains, within five years, Datang will Grain production will double. Ten years later, as planting technology becomes more and more sophisticated, the Tang Dynasty will no longer be in danger of food shortages. The population will surely experience explosive growth, and the current prosperous age will surely reach a higher level!"
…
However, no matter how Fang Jun exaggerated the importance of high-yield grain and the wonderful prospects it would create, His Majesty Li Er still drank tea steadily, with a gentle face but doubts in his heart.
It's not that he doesn't believe in Fang Jun. With this kid's current position of power, he has no motive to falsely claim meritorious service. No matter how great the meritorious service is in a short period of time, it will be useless. Is it possible that I can grant you the title of Duke and directly join the cabinet to worship the prime minister?
However, the prospect described by Fang Jun is so beautiful that it makes His Majesty Li Er feel a little unreal and a little unbelievable...
Doubling food production in five years?
That means that hunger in the Tang Dynasty will basically be gone. Even if there is a natural disaster, food can be calmly allocated from elsewhere for disaster relief. With sufficient food, the Tang army could attack whoever it wanted, chase the Turks on the desert grasslands, and attack Tubo against the odds...
What is particularly important is that with the current population base of the Tang Dynasty, once hunger is eliminated and sufficient food is available, the population will increase at an explosive rate in a short period of time, and it will easily double in twenty years.
The Tang Dynasty currently has a registered population of 30 million, plus the hidden slaves and tenants of aristocratic families, the number is 50 million, doubled...
That's ten million.
With a population of ten million, even if one out of a hundred people is recruited, that's still one million people.
With one million troops, there is no shortage of food. Coupled with the excellent ordnance forging of the Tang Dynasty, as well as the increasingly mature firearms technology...
There's nothing wrong with hitting the horizon, right?
The picture was so beautiful that His Majesty Li Er couldn't believe it.
So I only believed half of Fang Jun’s “boast” that was frothing at the mouth...
