Returning to the Prince Shou Mansion after a long absence, the first thing Li Yunze met was Yang Guozhong, who had been waiting for a long time.
Not seen for more than a year, Yang Guozhong was obviously much darker, and his face was full of dust.
Seeing Li Yunze, Yang Guozhong was obviously very excited, "Your Majesty, you are finally back~~~"
He was ordered to go to the Western Regions to recruit men, and the journey was indeed extremely difficult.
It's just that he has gold in his hands, and he is willing to spend it. The food, clothing, housing and transportation are all of the highest level, and he is not as miserable as he appears.
Doing this is just a small way to make things miserable in front of Li Yunze.
Li Yunze knew all this, but he kept placating him on his face, praising him for his reliability and that he would definitely use Yun Yun again in the future.
Anyway, you don’t have to pay for nice words, just open your mouth and come.
After a lot of back-and-forth drama, their acting skills completely overwhelmed the so-called traffic stars.
When the drama was over, Li Yunze finally turned to the main topic, "Guozhong, how did you go about the matter you told me about?"
"My lord, I'm glad you lived up to your command!"
Yang Guozhong, with a smile on his face, immediately told Li Yunze of his merits, "Your Majesty, I have selected a hundred and thirty-five men from the border army. They are all loyal and brave men with unparalleled strength."
What Li Yunze is most concerned about is "Where is Li Siye?"
Although I don't understand why King Shou knows about a little Xiao Zhaowu captain in the distant town of Anxi, I don't even understand why he goes out of his way to recruit this little captain.
But for Yang Guozhong, who is good at maneuvering, conscientiously completing the work assigned by Li Yunze is his only chance to achieve success.
After seeing the prosperity and wealth of Chang'an City, Yang Guozhong no longer wanted to go back and be a county captain.
He immediately invited Li Yunze to a separate courtyard in Prince Shou's Mansion, where more than a hundred men were devouring lunch.
When everyone saw Yang Guozhong, who had recruited them, walking in accompanied by a young man wearing a gold silk python robe, they immediately understood that this was the real owner.
They quickly put down their bowls and stood up to salute Li Yunze.
"Meet the king~~~"
Although the Tang army during Li Sanlang's period could still stand out by relying on military merit, there were too many noble children from aristocratic families, which invisibly occupied a large number of opportunities to gain military exploits, making it more difficult for ordinary soldiers to stand out.
At this time, a prince took the initiative to recruit, which was a good opportunity for these frontier troops.
Li Yunze's eyes swept across the crowd, and finally landed on the tall and majestic Mengshi standing in the front row, who was over seven feet tall.
"The Qing family is Li Siye?"
Of course, Li Yunze didn't ask casually. After all, if he admitted the wrong person, it would be very embarrassing. The reason why this person was confirmed to be Li Siye was because he was the only one here wearing the uniform of a school captain.
Li Siye saluted again with a calm expression, "Li Siye, Zhaowu Colonel of the Anxi Protectorate, pays homage to your Majesty."
Judging from his expression, he didn't seem that happy, and there was even a hint of dissatisfaction.
Li Yunze frowned slightly and glanced sideways at Yang Guozhong.
Yang Guozhong smiled sarcastically.
When he found Li Siye in Anxi before, he directly stated that Prince Shou wanted to recruit him, but he never expected that Li Siye refused and was unwilling to be the prince's guard, but wanted to stay in Anxi and make contributions.
As a result, Yang Guozhong's main purpose of traveling thousands of miles was completely ruined.
Yang Guozhong, who didn't want his first mission for Prince Shou to end in failure, found the way to the deputy governor of Anxi, Lai Yao, who directly ordered Li Siye's military status to be transferred to the Prince's House in Prince Shou's Mansion.
In order to find this way, Yang Guozhong not only spent a huge sum of more than five hundred taels of gold, but also caused a lot of trouble at the Anxi Protector's Mansion by pulling Li Yunze's tiger skin.
The detailed story can probably be written in a book "Yang Zhao's Journey to the West", so I won't go into details here.
After looking at Yang Guozhong's expression, Li Yunze roughly understood what method this guy used.
But it doesn’t matter, as long as we can bring Li Siye over.
Turning back to look at the famous Mo Dao General in front of him, Li Yunze took two steps forward and simply held his hand, "I have heard for a long time that Captain Li is so brave that he is the Dinghai Shenzhen of the Anxi Protectorate. If you can win Captain Li, It is my great fortune to have the captain help me~~~"
Li Siye is the most typical battlefield general, and he is also straightforward in character.
Although he was dissatisfied with the fact that he was sent to the peaceful city of Chang'an to serve as the prince's bodyguard, Li Yunze's sincere attitude and flattery were very to his liking.
At this time, he finally showed a smile, "I am appreciated by the king, and I am willing to serve the king~~~"
"Hahahaha~~~"
Li Yunze, who was laughing, looked at everyone's rice bowls and immediately frowned, "You warriors have come all the way to serve this king, why do you only eat this clear soup and little water?"
He turned his head and yelled outside, "Gao Jinzhong!"
Gao Jinzhong, who was staying at Prince Shou's Mansion, hurried in and said, "Your Majesty..."
"How dare you neglect the warriors invited by my king?" Li Yunze scolded with a dark face, "Why is there no meat? Why is there no wine? Could it be that you have deducted it?"
Gao Jinzhong replied with a bitter look on his face, "Your Majesty, I am serving food according to the rules, and I have no guts to skimp on it. One meal of meat every three days and one meal of wine on the tenth are the rules set by the imperial court..."
The Tang Dynasty was naturally powerful, and the prosperous age of Kaiyuan was also a prosperous age that left its name in history.
But at this time, Datang's production capacity was considered good in the agricultural era, but it could not be compared with that in the industrial era.
Being able to have a meal of meat every three days and a bottle of wine every ten days is already a high standard.
"That's unreasonable!"
Li Yunze, whose acting skills are on the line, continued to scold, "How can I arrange my warriors according to common sense? Stop talking nonsense, go to the kitchen immediately and let them cook, serve meat and hard dishes! There is also wine, one jar per person! I, the king Let’s drink with all the warriors!”
The frowning Gao Jinzhong exited the yard, but he was anxiously circling in circles like an ant on a hot pot.
Seeing this scene, Yang Guozhong came over and asked, "What's the matter?"
"Hey, your Majesty wants wine and meat. The meat is pretty good, and some of it is still alive in the kitchen. But the wine... Where are there more than a hundred jars of wine?"
"What's so difficult about this?" Yang Guozhong, who was very good at doing things, smiled and took out a gold bar from his sleeve. "If you don't have it in the house, just go outside and buy it."
"This, this, this..." Gao Jinzhong, whose eyes were shining, said quickly, "How can I ask my uncle to pay for it?"
"It doesn't matter."
Yang Guozhong smiled and put the gold bar into Gao Jinzhong's hand, "I'll lend it to you for the time being. I'll just go to the accounting office to report the account later."
"Thank you, uncle."
The food and wine were brought over, and the frontier troops in the courtyard burst into cheers.
For these frontier soldiers who have been fighting fiercely with foreign races all year round, eating meat and drinking alcohol is their biggest pursuit.
King Shou's generosity naturally made them very satisfied.
"Go and invite them to come over."
Following Li Yunze's instructions, Gao Jinzhong hurriedly invited Li Bai, Du Fu and others who were settling in their respective places to play the role of the atmosphere team to activate the atmosphere.
As long as there is wine to drink, Li Bai will always accept everyone who comes.
The Tang Dynasty valued military merit, and whether it was Du Fu, Wang Zhihuan or Meng Haoran, naturally they would not pretend to do so.
Especially Cen Shen, who was almost excited. He kept pestering Li Siye and others about the war in the Western Regions. Kang looked so excited that he seemed to want to pick up the sword and go to war now.
Gao Shi, on the other hand, expressed his dissatisfaction with Li Yunze for breaking the rules and changing the original supply to one meal of meat a day and one pot every three days.
This will be a huge cost pressure for Prince Shou's Mansion.
As a big farmer in Prince Shou's Mansion, Gao Shi is still very responsible.
The food and drinks and the subsequent payment of entry and resettlement allowances quickly made the border soldiers have a favorable impression of Li Yunze.
The warriors of this era are actually very pure. If you support me, I will work hard for you.
Just like during the Anshi Rebellion, most of An Lushan's rebels were Han'er.
Li Yunze had in-depth discussions with these more than a hundred border soldiers one by one. Not only did he give them money and gifts, but he also assured them that even though they were just ordinary pro-soldiers of Prince Shou's Mansion now, he would surely make them prosperous in the future.
During the conversation, what Li Yunze didn't expect was that there would be an unexpected gain!
"Your name is Feng Changqing?"
Looking at the middle-aged man in front of him who was thin, squinted, and had bad legs and feet, his tone was slightly shocked, "It's called Feng Changqing, right?"
"Report to the king."
Feng Changqing saluted simply, "The younger one is indeed named Feng Changqing."
Li Yunze simply turned to look at Yang Guozhong.
"Your Majesty." Yang Guozhong said with some embarrassment, "Although Mr. Feng has some physical problems, his perseverance and determination are admirable..."
Through Yang Guozhong's narration, Li Yunze finally understood how this famous general came to Prince Shou's Mansion.
Yang Guozhong's recruitment of soldiers for Prince Shou's Mansion in Anxi made a big fuss. Many people wanted to leave the difficult Western Regions and return to Chang'an City to follow the prince.
Except for Li Siye, who was named by Li Yunze, everyone else was carefully selected by Yang Guozhong.
Feng Changqing also went to find Yang Guozhong, but he was not interested because of his health.
Unexpectedly, Feng Changqing was very determined and would look for Yang Guozhong every day. Even if Yang Guozhong went elsewhere, Feng Changqing would always follow him.
Even when Yang Guozhong made it clear that he had recruited enough people and started to return to Chang'an City, Feng Changqing followed him all the way across mountains and rivers without giving up.
This firm perseverance is even more precious when contrasted with his slightly lame and thin body.
Li Siye and others were moved by his firm perseverance and took the initiative to help him plead for mercy. Only then did Yang Guozhong have to give him a place and bring him back to Chang'an City.
At this time, Yang Guozhong was feeling a little uneasy, worried that Li Yunze would scold him for finding a cripple to come to the lake.
Unexpectedly, Li Yunze stretched out his hands to hold his shoulders, and said with a sincere expression, "Guozhong, you have made great contributions to this king! No matter how big a crime you commit in the future, as long as you do not rebel, I will I’ll spare you the chance of death!”
"Ah?" Yang Guozhong was stunned and didn't understand what was going on.
Naturally, Li Yunze would not explain anything to him. He turned around, held Feng Changqing's hand and said, "From now on, you will follow me. I will never treat you badly! Let alone let the eunuchs humiliate you!"
Feng Changqing, who had been ridiculed and ridiculed all year round because of his health, was deeply moved and immediately bowed his head.
The news that Li Yunze had recruited more than a hundred border troops was reported to Li Sanlang by Gao Lishi.
Li Sanlang, who was busy practicing Taoism and seeking immortality, didn't care at all.
"A mere hundred people, how much do they count?"
For Li Sanlang, his thoughts at this time were focused on the prince Li Ying, who was gradually getting ready to take action because of the pressure.
