Is it normal to buy information about Yang Qingyuan's whereabouts? That’s too normal for Prince Zhao’s Mansion!
Not only King Zhao, but with his status reaching Yang Qingyuan's level, I don't know how many forces would care about Yang Qingyuan's whereabouts.
But it would be outrageous if Prince Zhao's Mansion paid three hundred thousand taels of gold to buy the whereabouts of Yang Qingyuan!
In recent years, due to changes in the economic system, the original gold has also been included in the circulating currency. Of course, the gold tickets of Tiandi Bank are still the main ones.
Three million taels of gold, although the market has its ups and downs, can easily be exchanged for three million taels of silver.
For example, the average wealthy county in Jizhou can only collect less than 300,000 taels of tax revenue per year. Only Pingshan County and Yecheng Prefecture, two county-level administrative units, can collect more than 300,000 taels of tax.
This is equivalent to the tax revenue of ten top counties for one year!
Prince Zhao's Mansion is very rich, but he is not a fool.
They exchanged 300,000 taels of gold for a piece of news. This news and its attached value must be worth 300,000 taels of gold.
"Your Majesty, King Zhao's rebellion is just around the corner!" Wu Keming and Wang Hua had already made their judgment.
Under what circumstances can Yang Qingyuan's whereabouts be worth three hundred thousand taels? !
Of course, when King Zhao is about to raise an army to rebel, if it can be confirmed that Yang Qingyuan is not in the Central Plains and will be difficult to return, then King Zhao's army will increase his chances of winning.
This is not an exaggeration, it actually exists.
Nowadays, the only troops and horses that Zhou Ting can mobilize to deal with King Zhao are the Tiance Army and the Yulin Army. Although Cao Xueyang has newly formed the Longwu Army, in the eyes of everyone in the court, it has not yet formed a complete combat capability.
The Longwu Army was established only more than three years ago, and its subordinate troops have expanded to 150,000.
But among these 150,000 people, there were only 5,000 old soldiers who originally stepped into the Bai camp, and the rest were new recruits.
Naturally, there is no need to say much about the combat power of the new recruits. Therefore, the soldiers and horses available to the court are actually the Yulin Army and part of the Tiance Army. The Longwu Army can only be used as a supplement to the defensive force. A frontal battle with the army under the command of King Zhao may be difficult. It collapses at the first touch.
At least that's what everyone in the DPRK thinks at the moment.
Although the leader of the Royal Forest Army is Wu Keming, its real leader is actually Yang Qingyuan.
This Royal Forest Army is a mixture of the 100,000 Tiance Army led by Yang Qingyuan and the original Jinyang garrison.
After experiencing the baptism of the Battle of Jinyang, he also saw Yang Qingyuan's style.
If in the hands of Wu Keming, the Royal Forest Army can exert 80% of its combat power. In the hands of Yang Qingyuan, that is 120% combat power.
Moreover, although Yang Qingyuan, a famous general in the world, was born as a civil servant, he never suffered a single defeat on the battlefield. Whether it was the battle of Cangyunguan, where the Khan was killed in one battle; the battle of the northern border, where thousands of horses set foot on the camp; ; Ambush from all sides, defeated Hou Jin.
Such achievements made even King Zhao fearful.
To rebel, of course, you need to accumulate strength, improve your reputation, and become famous. But the most important thing is to win!
If King Zhao cannot defeat the imperial army, what can he do no matter how strong his accumulation is and how high his reputation is? !
And Yang Qingyuan is someone whom King Zhao may not be able to defeat.
No one present could have imagined this consideration.
Therefore, after confirming the news that Prince Zhao's Mansion spent 300,000 taels of gold from Tianji Tower, Prince Zhao's Mansion only had one purpose left!
Wu Keming also took the initiative to ask, "Master Di, since you have information from the six doors, do you know where Marquis Yang is now?! Can you get back in time?!"
Wu Keming started from a young age and used his troops cautiously. Although he was confident that he would not lose to King Zhao, if he could get Yang Qingyuan's help, he would be more confident of defeating King Zhao.
Di Zhiyuan shook his head, "I am not sure about Yang Hou's whereabouts, but according to Tianji Tower, Yang Hou is currently in southern Xinjiang."
Emperor Linde also spoke, "Teacher had previously sent a letter to Liu Dufeng, the leader of the six sects, and Zhuge Zhengwo of the Shenhou Mansion, inviting them to go south to destroy the demons. This time the enemy is also a big deal! We may not be able to get back in a short time!" "
After receiving the confirmation, everyone's inner playing style began to change.
If Yang Qingyuan is here, there will naturally be a way of playing; if he is not there, there will be a way of playing without.
Emperor Linde has been on the throne for almost four years. The strength of the imperial court is also developing rapidly, the treasury is abundant, and everyone is united, so they will not be afraid of the rebellion of a mere vassal king.
"This is the food circulation in Yanzhao and the purchase list of Prince Zhao's Palace provided by Jin Yiwei and Hulong Villa. Judging from the books, Prince Zhao's Palace has at most 300,000 shi more than we expected."
Li Chengguang, who had been silent all this time, spoke up. After Yu Yanyi's death, he temporarily took over the post of Minister of War.
In the second year of Linde's reign, Li Chengguang was officially promoted to Shangshu of the Ministry of War of the Great Zhou Dynasty and became a bachelor of Wuyingdian.
Because of Yang Qingyuan's design, the powers of the Ministry of War of the Great Zhou Dynasty and the Governor's Office of the Sixth Army were separated, and powers that were not directly related to the war, such as armament, logistics, recruitment, and merit examination, were vested in the Ministry of War.
Functions related to military operations belong to the Sixth Army Governor's Office.
"According to the daily standards of my soldiers in the Great Zhou Dynasty, an ordinary sergeant can get two liters of rice grain per day, which is six buckets of rice grain per month. The horses have three liters of fine feed per day, and a bunch of hay is about one liter, which is nine buckets of grain and three stones of grass per month. Ten thousand soldiers and horses, including war horses and pack horses, consume about 30,000 shi of food per month. If logistics consumption is included, it is more than 60,000 shi. With the number of soldiers and horses under King Zhao, it is impossible for the food and grass in his hands to support it. His army fought for a long time."
War intelligence, which is an important part of the Great Zhou intelligence department, was proposed by Yang Qingyuan, and Jinyiwei, Hulong Villa and others worked hard to build it.
Its purpose was to serve the war of the Great Zhou Dynasty. Originally, the enemies of the Great Zhou Dynasty were Hou Jin and Beigan.
After the Jin Dynasty was destroyed and Beiqian was restrained, the focus of the war intelligence department of the Great Zhou Dynasty shifted to King Zhao.
Regarding the grain circulation in Yanzhao, the Ministry of War has recorded it.
Li Chengguang calculated carefully and found that things were not simple.
Wang Hua immediately raised objections, "Since King Zhao decided to raise troops, he would not act hastily. He must have bought food through other channels."
"But food doesn't appear out of thin air. Fortunately, King Zhao can obtain fodder from the northern border. However, food is a strategic material, and all grain dealers, big and small, have registered with our Ministry of War. There can be no surplus food." Li Chengguang denied, "Furthermore, I have discussed this issue with Yang Hou before, and Yang Hou’s opinions are consistent with mine.”
Data can only be forged, not deceived.
But there is no problem with the data itself, and there will naturally be no problem with the results derived from the data.
Yang Qingyuan has always thought so!
Although Yang Qingyuan was not present at this meeting, his presence was very high.
"Li Shangshu, can you confirm?!" Wang Hua also lightly twirled his beard upon hearing this.
"This is natural!" Li Chengguang is very confident in his professional level.
The Minister of Hubu also agreed, "What Li Shangshu said is true. The Ministry of Hubu has detailed records of the grain output in recent years. King Zhao may be able to make money, but the grain cannot be grown."
Wu Keming hesitated for a moment, "Could it be that King Zhao spent huge sums of money to purchase from Beigan?!"
Li Chengguang shook his head and denied, "Beiqian is not a big grain-producing country, and the past two years have not been very good. Only by purchasing grain from me, Dazhou, can we guarantee the price of domestic grain. It is impossible to sacrifice the good and the weak to sell precious things for a small profit." of food.”
Food is something that cannot be seen at ordinary times. Only when it is scarce can you feel its preciousness.
Relying on the grain trade of the Great Zhou Dynasty, Beigan could stabilize the situation.
Otherwise, once there is a shortage of food, it will be considered a civil uprising.
No matter how much money there is, it will be a cloud in the face of national stability. Beigan will never sell rice.
Emperor Linde suggested, "Why don't you let the Metropolitan Procuratorate check the granaries again to see if anyone is selling grain secretly..."
Suddenly, Thirteen was stunned!
Yes, although there have been no incidents of granary thefts in recent years, at the end of the 19th year of Yong'an, a shocking case broke out in Dazhou.
Except for Yongji Granary, the other four granaries in Gyeonggi Province all caught fire overnight, and all the grain in them was burned.
This is the largest case in 19 years and the first case handled by Yang Qingyuan.
The case started with Li Bailiang, the largest private ship merchant with a huge private shipping fleet, and spread to Zhao Dehan, the person in charge of the official warehouse in the Gyeonggi region, Qian Liangping, the censor of water transportation, porters and migrant workers in the canal gang, and finally to the capital at that time. The first assistant is Anyunshan.
Anyunshan was the largest silver merchant and grain merchant in the capital at that time.
At this moment, thanks to Yang Qingyuan, he was able to recover part of the food.
But there were still nearly three million stones of food, which eventually disappeared from the court's sight.
This case is related to Gong Ziyu. When Yang Qingyuan and the Anliu Department were tracking down the Qinglong Society, they once wanted to find out the whereabouts of this batch of food, but there was no trace.
With the death of Zhao Yu, the Qinglong Society was destroyed, and the food seemed to disappear.
"Your Majesty!?" Wang Hua and others also noticed something strange about Emperor Linde.
"My lords, do you still remember what happened at the end of the 19th year of Yong'an?" Emperor Linde came back to his senses and asked with a complicated expression.
"That was the biggest case in our Dazhou Granary. Four granaries were burned down, thanks to Qingyuan..." Wang Hua paused when he spoke.
Everyone present reacted.
Grain, at least three million shi of grain disappeared in the granary case in Yong'an 19th year.
"That's not right!" Wu Keming shook his head, "The shelf life of my grain storage in Dazhou is three years. It can't be any more! The batch of grain that disappeared in the 19th year of Yong'an is probably no longer edible! "
But Wang Hua shook his head with a complicated expression, "The Governor Wu is not in charge of food and grass. Maybe he doesn't know, but have you ever heard about the former Marquis of Huaiyin who was appointed as the governor of Sudu?!"
With the separation of military and political affairs, the generals leading the troops cannot interfere with the granary, and naturally they will not know the operation of the granary.
But the deeds of Marquis Huaiyin are familiar to any general.
"The governor naturally knows that the Marquis of Huaiyin is appointed as the governor of millet. The warehouses are full of rice and grain, which will decay over time. The old and new are produced for the benefit of the people, both public and private..."
At this point, Wu Keming couldn't continue talking, and everyone present also understood.
If King Zhao obtained this batch of grain in the 20th year of Yongan, he could consume this batch of grain in the 20th year of Yongan.
The grain originally produced and purchased in the 20th year of Yongan can be preserved until the 21st year of Yongan.
Introduce the old and bring forth the new, over and over again.
That batch of grain for the 19th year of Yong'an, in the cycle of circulation, came to the third year of Linde and became King Zhao's military rations.
Three million stones of grain, even if there is no other grain in the King Zhao's treasury, is enough to support King Zhao's war for a year.
What's more, there is also a lot of grain stored in the treasury of Yanzhao.
King Zhao will never worry about food in a short period of time.
"It seems that we can only have a head-on confrontation! Your Majesty, please issue an order to quell the rebellion!" Qian Muqian, the insignificant chief minister of the cabinet, was the first to bow and salute.
"Your Majesty, please issue an order!"
All the ministers asked for orders together.
"Wang Hua, draft a decree! Promote Wu Keming, the former Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Forest Army, to be the Jiedushi Envoy of Jizhou, and appoint 200,000 Yulin Army troops to march eastward to Jizhou to fight against the rebels of King Zhao. Promote Cao Xueyang, the Commander-in-Chief of the Longwu Army, to be the Jiedushi Envoy of Bingzhou. Beware of King Zhao's surprise attack on Bingzhou. Promote Li Cheng'en, the Commander-in-Chief of the Tiance Army, as the Military Envoy of Liangzhou and the Chief of the March Army. He will command all the troops of the Tiance Army and the Yunzhong Protectorate. Once King Zhao makes any changes, he will march directly to Youzhou. ! The Sixth Army Governor's Office immediately set up a staff department to fight against King Zhao, went to the front line, analyzed the battle situation, and provided support for the three armies. The imperial edict was drafted by the cabinet and issued immediately."
As Emperor Linde's sonorous and resolute voice echoed in the palace, his biggest challenge after ascending the throne was about to begin.
…
——
Before March, in the northern border, Beigan, in the Golden Tent Palace.
The emperor of Beigan, the Great Khan of the Four Khanates, was receiving a masked guest in black robes.
"Dear Khan, I don't know when you plan to take action against Prince Liang's Mansion."
There was a smile on the corner of Beigan Khan's mouth. Different from the early stage of cooperation, the current Beigan Emperor believed that he had taken the initiative in the cooperation.
"If I do this, it will be of great benefit to Prince Zhao's Mansion, but I don't seem to get anything!? Shouldn't Prince Zhao's Mansion express this?!"
"The Great Khan is joking. The Zhao Palace has given the Great Khan a chance to truly become the Great Khan. Isn't that enough?!" The masked man in black didn't seem to care about the lofty status of the Beigan Great Khan at all. Instead, he sneered.
Sure enough, when Dahan, the young man from Beigan, heard these words, his expression changed drastically on the spot.
"Great Khan, as a king, you must not show your joy or anger. You look like this..."
The masked man in black robe did not restrain himself at all because of the anger of Beigan Khan, but instead became more and more aggressive.
"Presumptuous!" Beigan sweated profusely, slapped the dragon chair and shouted, "It's not your turn to teach me how to be an emperor!"
"Go and tell Zhu Kai to marry his little daughter to my palace, otherwise he will be a vassal king for the rest of his life!"
"I don't know whether King Zhao will be a vassal king for the rest of his life, but I know that if your Majesty takes this opportunity, he will only be a puppet for the rest of his life, or he will be under the haze of Yelu Chucai and King Liang. !”
This sentence has ignited the anger of the young Khan from Beigan. What he hates most is the person who calls him a puppet.
"Please take action, Mr. Xiang, and teach this man a lesson. Break his front teeth and let him know that some words cannot be spoken!"
As Beigan Khan's words fell, a man in his forties with a strange appearance fell from the roof. (End of chapter)
