According to Ouyang Xuan's plan, after Yu Zhu led his army to Ezhou, no matter whether the war went smoothly or not, they would not return to western Sichuan, but would go down the river in the name of escorting the purchase of goods caravans. They no longer went to Lin'an, but went straight to Zhoushan Island. After joining Li Kaipeng, they went to Liuqiu Keelung Port to open up. In fact, the safest way to get to the island recently is to go to Penghu via Fujian Road from Quanzhou, and then from Penghu to Liuqiu. Fujian has many mountains and few lands. People often venture to Liu to seek a living, but most of them die from cannibalism. Penghu is currently under the jurisdiction of Jinjiang County, Quanzhou. The government prevents population loss and pirates from hiding on the island to cause trouble. More than a hundred soldiers are stationed here.
The Liuqiu Company obviously could not lead its troops to the island from Penghu. On the one hand, it was afraid of exposing the Pili Army's strategy, and on the other hand, the government would not agree at all. Even if Li Kaipeng spent a lot of money on the operation, the court allowed it, and Quanzhou's Pu Gengshou and other maritime merchants Wouldn't agree either. The sea areas around Quanzhou and Liuqiu have long been regarded as forbidden areas by them, and they cannot be tolerated at all. Not to mention their formidable and powerful force at sea, even their influence in the DPRK is far beyond that of the Perak Army. More importantly, if you land on the island from Penghu, you have to start from scratch. Keelung has been built by pirates for many years. It not only has a port, but also houses and living facilities. There is even a large area of farmland around the village. As long as the pirates are eliminated, all this can be used by Liuqiu Company.
After the joint meeting decided, Liuqiu Company will be led by President Yu Zhu in the next step. Under Yu Zhu, Li Kaipeng is in charge of government affairs, Liao Nilu is in charge of military affairs, Boss Qian is in charge of commerce, and Xia Dagen serves as Yu Zhu's assistant. According to Ouyang Xuan's plan, after Liuqiu Company occupied Keelung, on the one hand, it strengthened city defense and port construction, and on the other hand, it recruited refugees to come to the island. Whether it is mining and ironmaking, building factories, logging and shipbuilding, or establishing settlements, a large amount of labor is required. On the basis of operating the route from Lin'an to Quanzhou, Boss Qian's caravan will open up routes to Xiaoliuqiu, Japan and Goryeo to provide funds for the development strategy. Of course, plans can never keep up with changes, and the joint meeting authorized Yu Zhu and others to act expeditiously based on actual conditions.
Lu Wende used an official document to ask the Pili Army to send troops to the Ezhou front line, which in Yu Xing's opinion would put Ouyang Xuan in a dilemma. Send troops, even if there are no casualties, the food and money will definitely be consumed, which will inevitably weaken the strength of the Perak Army. Moreover, Lu Wende also had a common problem among Song generals, that is, he liked to send non-lineage troops as cannon fodder during wars. Presumably, he would also send the Perak Army to the front. If he refuses to send troops, Ouyang Xuan will be charged with disobeying military orders. Even if he is not jailed, his career will be terminated. However, Yu Xing really underestimated Ouyang Xuan and solved this problem by taking advantage of the situation. In fact, Ouyang Xuan knew that by the time Yu Zhu was ready to set sail, it would be early September. It will be late September or even later when they arrive in Ezhou. At this time, Kublai Khan no longer besieged Ezhou, but was preparing to withdraw his troops and return north to the grasslands to compete with Abrigo for the throne.
Everyone became excited again thinking about Yu Xing's depressed look. However, Ouyang Xuan's new proposal cooled down the atmosphere again. He proposed to give Lu Wende 5,000 acres of land deeds, and even gave Yu Xing 5,000 acres of land deeds. Although Lu Wende was greedy, he was helpful to the Pili Army. Although his objection to the reassignment of officials to Chongqing Prefecture and Qiongzhou and the establishment of tax supervisors in the letter seemed to be seeking credit, it was indeed his responsibility. And Yu Xing is not only greedy, but also a villain with low moral character. Not only does he want to extort property, but he also makes things difficult and makes things difficult for him secretly. "It's tolerable, but what can't be tolerated?"
The top brass of the Perak Army are all farmers and have a deep affection for the land. In fact, until the industrial age, land was the most important means of production, and all human activities revolved around land. In the view of the top brass of the Perak Army, although these lands are currently barren, they are extremely precious, because they were all obtained by the soldiers of the Perak Army with their lives and blood. Some time ago, the Perak Army introduced a land system. Even the land obtained through military merit was not allowed to exceed one thousand acres per household. This move is not only five thousand acres, it will not only chill the hero's heart, but also slap him in the face - the top brass of the Perak Army took the lead in disobeying the law.
When Ouyang Xuan saw the turbulent mood, he was not only not annoyed but also laughed. He explained that we were giving the title deed to two people, not the land. Could it be that someone could move the land away? After the Perak Army occupied Pengshan City, they discovered a large sealed clay pot when cleaning up the flood siltation, which contained the land deed for tens of thousands of acres of fertile land. However, the owner of the land and his whole family had died in the rebellion. For these ownerless lands, settlement points have been established near the city and distributed to the refugees for farming. However, there are still more than 10,000 acres of land at the junction with Meizhou that no one is cultivating, turning it into a barren land. At present, the population in western Sichuan is seriously underpopulated, and there are a lot of idle fields even in the fertile plains, let alone the Pengshan hilly areas. Moreover, this area of more than 10,000 acres is in a remote location.
He continued to explain with a smile that these high-ranking officials had countless fertile lands and mansions, and even their slaves had no shortage of food and drink, but they still tried their best to exploit the people. Why? In fact, they don't need land, they need things like land deeds to satisfy their greed! They would not send anyone to farm the land they got for free, or even take a look at it. Even if they send people to manage and farm, that would be better, at least the food they grow will prevent more people from starving to death. As for the land deed they obtained, it was an official document from Meizhou and Pengshan County, not an official document from the Perak Army. If Yu Xing and his followers continue to aggressively force the Perak Army, those land deeds will become pieces of waste paper.
When everyone heard Ouyang Xuan's explanation, they all let out a sigh of relief. It turns out that Brother Xuan is drawing a big cake! It turns out that Brother Xuan, who has thick eyebrows, big eyes and a righteous face, is also so evil! It is said that Ouyang Xuan has a good outlook on life, but he is not a pedantic person. He always remembered the teacher's words: "Be as warm as spring to your friends, and be as cruel as winter to your enemies." Yu Xing and others were not enemies, but genuine bad guys. They not only fought to the death with the Mongols, but also treated the common people. Knocking on the bones and sucking out the marrow, playing a role that is neither white nor black. For such people, we can only deal with hypocrisy, deception and other means.
Now that everyone had reached an agreement, they went their separate ways. Ouyang Xuan immediately ordered someone to write an official document and deliver it to Lu Wende's messenger. In the letter, he told Lu Wende that the Perak Army would send 1,500 elite troops to Ezhou and would go as soon as preparations were made. It's just that the Perak Army is currently in financial distress, and Lu Wende is asked to help with food and military supplies. After the war is over, the Perak Army will go to Yangzhou, Lin'an and other places to purchase items and transport them back to Shu for sale to make up for the shortfall. The five thousand land deeds were also handed over to the messenger along with this letter. This land deed is no better than gold, silver and jewels, and there is no need to worry about the messenger being greedy. Of course, the Pili Army also gave the messenger a lot of money, which was enough to make up for the trouble and fatigue of this trip.
Yu Xing's land deed was also sent over. In fact, at the military and political meeting, Ouyang Xuan had another reason why he wanted to retaliate against Yu Xing with kindness, and that was that in his memory, Yu Xing seemed to have also served as the Sichuan envoy, but he could not remember the specific circumstances. When contacted, two people from Liuqiu Company said that they had seen envoys from Jiading Prefecture coming in and out of the residences of important officials many times, and he estimated that they were not far away. After all, Lu Wende was regarded as the mainstay of Lin'an, and his appointment as Sichuan envoy was only a temporary emergency measure. Once Lu Wende leaves Sichuan, it will be Yu Xing's opportunity.
