After the decree was announced, everyone was naturally happy. Li Yuan immediately ordered a banquet to be held, and specially ordered some of the best cooks in Langzhou City to come over to cook and purchase fine wines. All the generals and generals in the army, except those who were on duty, called over to accompany the Angel of Jinling.
During the banquet, Li Yuan and Liu Shaojian sat in the upper seats and toasted frequently. When the brothers were getting promoted and receiving rewards, they were overly excited. This group of military men who drank a lot of alcohol made these Jinling officials very drunk. Some officials even walked around wantonly and talked nonsense. , causing everyone to burst into laughter. After all, the host Li Yuan was present, and Liu Shaojian felt extremely helpless even if he was unhappy.
After such a hurried night, Liu Shaojian and his party set off back to Beijing on the grounds that they were busy with official duties.
At noon the next day, Li Yuan returned to the military camp and immediately ordered his soldiers to summon the generals. At this time, he was waiting for everyone to arrive in the commander's tent.
Taking a sip of the bitter tea, Li Yuan felt a slight tingling in his temples. It was not because he drank too much last night, but because Liu Shaojian and a group of officials had revealed some recent news about Jinling intentionally or unintentionally during the dinner, which made him a little distressed. When he heard about the so-called romantic affair between King Yan and the sisters, he was unmoved. This kind of thing was normal for the powerful class. Then he heard that the sixth prince Li Congjia returned to secular life and was named queen. Li Yuan's His heart surged.
Others may not have thought much about it, but these two seemingly unrelated things happened one after another. Li Yuan immediately realized that Li Hongji must have followed all the advice given to King Yan Li Hongji in Qingliang Temple a month ago. The sisters who died tragically were probably pawns used for testing. The result is also clear. Li Congjia must have seen through this move. He no longer concealed it, but started to fight back. It is self-evident that he wanted to fight for the reserve.
Thousands of miles apart, Li Yuan didn't know the details and felt a little annoyed. Why was Li Hongji so unreliable? The majestic King of Yan, with countless people at his disposal and no shortage of money, unexpectedly found a pair of fireworks women who were involved with him to test his political opponents. In the end, the other party discovered the clues and taught them to Handle, ruined reputation in vain. It is really puzzling that such a reckless move that outweighs the gains and losses, and that such a calm person like King Yan could be so ill-considered.
For a moment, Li Yuan suddenly thought of something and couldn't help but swallow his saliva. Could it be that King Yan believed in himself too much and really selected people based on the criteria of "small feet" and "good at dancing"? Li Yuan didn't know whether to laugh or cry. To put it this way, he really doesn't blame others for this matter...
But what Li Congjia did from beginning to end made Li Yuan wary. Although this man was only fifteen years old, his performance was really amazing! First, he found a flaw in Li Hongji's test, executed the two women, and then made a big fuss about the cause of their death. Then he created public opinion that was unfavorable to King Yan, and then decisively seized the opportunity to pretend to be ill and let the Hanlin Academy scholars give advice based on celestial phenomena. A set of coherent operations is really clever, and the images of the two princes are completely different.
For a person who has been hiding in the mountains for a long time and has no authority, Li Yuan naturally does not believe it if there is no help from others.
Therefore, as Li Yuan had previously deduced, this person had very deep scheming and had long wanted to fight for the throne. However, due to the power of the princeling party and the princeling party in the court, he lived in seclusion in Zhongshan to avoid disaster, but he had already made secret preparations. Cultivate party members. Li Yuan remembers very clearly that Xu Xuan, one of the famous officials of the Southern Tang Dynasty "Han Xu", lived near Zhongshan. He is the well-deserved big brother of the Hanlin Academy today, and in history, this person did eventually become a staunch supporter of Empress Li.
Thinking back on it, it was too much of a coincidence that these two events happened one after another, and there were some far-fetched remarks. For example, in that murder case, even though King Yan had some romantic affairs, the sisters in Qingxifang had so many people moving there. , the rumors happened to involve King Yan alone, and where did these rumors come from? If you think about it carefully, it will be full of flaws. Therefore, Li Yuan did not believe that according to Emperor Li Jing's shrewd temperament, he could really believe those market rumors. There was no clue in these two incidents.
But what is helpless is that Li Jing in history did have a distinctive characteristic, that is, he attached great importance to the royal reputation and doted on his children, and this was precisely exploited by those who wanted to do so. The incident of King Yan damaged the royal family's face, and it needed Li Congjia's "respectful, sincere and filial" positive image to restore it. Rather than saying that Li Jing was greatly moved by Li Congjia, it would be better to say that naming Li Congjia the king and giving him recognition just satisfied Li Congjia. Jing’s political needs.
"The water is too deep!" Li Yuan let out a long sigh. Now, under his blind interference, not only did Li Congjia not suffer any damage, but he entered the political stage early, and his fate ahead was uncertain. The only good thing is that this "Zhongshan Hermit" is no longer hiding in the dark, and Li Hong hopes to be prepared from now on.
But Li Yuan also understood that now that he had achieved his wish, the most important thing to do to establish a festival abroad was to gradually strengthen his own strength. As for the fight between the DPRK and China, unless it hurts himself, there is really no need to get involved too much, not to mention that Yuanshui cannot save him. It’s been so hot, now I just hope Li Hongji can stabilize his mentality...
Not long after, Li Yuan's two brothers, counselor Xu Kuangheng, and generals in the army entered the tent one after another.
Seeing the generals standing on both sides in high spirits, Li Yuan regained the clarity in his heart. After encouraging everyone, he began to announce his plan.
Jiedushi had the power to open the government and select officials, and Li Yuan had already known about everyone's appointments.
First, Li Yuan's two sworn brothers, Liu Jiangsheng and Luo Erhu, were appointed as the chief and deputy military and horse envoys of Wuping respectively. Chai Kewu and Fan Renyu were each appointed as horse and infantry commanders. The other generals, big and small, were also assigned to the government office and were promoted and appointed respectively. Li Yuan's personal soldiers team was also officially expanded to the Yamenei personal and subordinate capital, and Lin Sichang, the former "temporary" personal soldier captain, also officially became Li Yuan's personal and subordinate capital commander.
As the only counselor, Xu Kuangheng deservedly served as the chief historian and the army commander (approximately the second-in-command), entrusting all political affairs in the jurisdiction, as well as the judges, envoys, secretaries in charge, promotion officers, inspectors, Yamen and other civil servants. Officials were discovered by Xu Kuangheng from Langzhou and Lizhou under the jurisdiction of Wuping, in order to select more talented people to serve Li Yuan.
As the saying goes, a rising tide lifts all boats. While everyone was beaming with joy, they had already quietly understood that the majestic young man sitting in the main seat was no longer what he used to be. All the glory came like a dream. From then on, he was really the official of the frontier - Wuping Jiedushi, and Li Yuan truly became the Marshal Li who guarded the Tang Dynasty!
"Commander, these are the Ten Articles for the Administration of the Army and the Peace of the People, together with the relevant regulations on rewards and punishments, which I drafted last night. Please review them, Commander-in-Chief! If there are no problems, I will immediately order someone to inform the entire army and post a proclamation in the city." Xu Kuangheng was unhurried. He stood up slowly and handed several documents to Li Yuan.
Li Yuan took a cursory glance and found that the content was indeed informative and detailed. Xu Kuangheng was still fast and reliable in his work. However, there were almost no dots or punctuation marks on these densely packed words. It could be seen that Xu Kuangheng had revised them many times. , very attentive, but it really gives me a headache after watching too much.
So Li Yuan responded calmly: "Just follow what Mr. Xu said."
Then Xu Kuangheng handed over a few more brochures. Seeing that Li Yuan had no intention of looking through them, he had to give a rough report. They were nothing more than some basic statistics, such as the number of troops, horses and weapons, and the population and household registration land of the prefectures under his jurisdiction. , even the amount of money and grain in stock, etc. were accurate to the nearest millimeter, and they were all stated to Li Yuan.
Almost all of the people present were military generals. They were good at killing enemies on the battlefield and were unambiguous when accepting rewards and money. However, if they really had to deal with these account numbers, they would probably have a headache, so they could only open their mouths and watch Xu Kuangheng. They talked freely there, and I secretly admired him in my heart.
As these figures continued to be narrated from Xu Kuangheng's mouth, Li Yuan listened carefully throughout the process, and gradually felt deeply that it was really not easy to run a ruling machine well. Without the help of capable people under his command, it would be impossible to do this well. Jiedushi is simply a fool's dream.
Now in Li Yuan's hands, in the left wing of the Holy Guard Army, apart from the soldiers and horses taken away by Chen Jue, there were only four armies left, totaling more than 10,000 people. At this time, more than 30,000 Langzhou soldiers who had surrendered and captured were still detained in the city to welcome them. They had not been sent away, and the court had no clear instructions. These Langzhou soldiers are all brave, and almost all of them are trained by Liu Yan and others. How can Li Yuan not be worried?
So he raised it in public and wanted to reorganize the 30,000 Langzhou soldiers into his own account. Naturally, all the generals agreed. After all, everyone knew in their hearts that in this world, if you have more soldiers and generals, you will naturally have a stronger waist. This is more effective than anything else.
Only Xu Kuangheng remained silent. After a while, he stepped forward and said with cupped hands: "Commander, according to our military system, the envoys in various places are all led by the envoys of the forbidden army, and the soldiers of the other states are no more than ten thousand people. Commander, if you want To expand the army, you need to ask the imperial court for orders and explain the reasons. If you do it rashly, even if you recruit thousands of troops, it will be illegal and you may be criticized by others!"
Li Yuanshen agreed, so he nodded and said: "Sir, what you said is absolutely true. But there are many reasons for the expansion of the army. The place where Wuping fought for the fourth time was the barbaric Shu Kingdom in the west, the Jingnan Zhou Kingdom in the north, and now Wei The right wing of the holy army is still in the hands of Li Jinquan, and I am really short of major generals! Since I have been ordered to guard this place for the imperial court, I will not only take the 30,000 Langzhou soldiers under my command, but also continue to recruit new soldiers to expand our strength."
Xu Kuangheng took a deep breath and asked hurriedly: "How much does the commander want to expand his army?"
Li Yuan smiled faintly and said: "Of course, the more, the merrier! There must be 70,000 to 80,000 people anyway. Anything less will not be enough!"
At this moment, Fan Renyu suddenly stood up and said in astonishment: "Commander, this matter may not be easy! Even if there are good reasons for expanding the army, 70,000 to 80,000 soldiers are 70,000 to 80,000 sets of armor and weapons, and they also cost more in food and salary. These things Where do they come from? Each sergeant gets at least three cents of silver per month, and one or two hundred thousand silver a year. Even if we report it to the court, can they give it to us?"
Xu Kuangheng thought for a moment and said proudly: "Everyone, we, Wuping, are one of the three sections of the Chu region. Although the number of prefectures under our jurisdiction is not as good as the other two sections, it has the most abundant population and fertile land. Over the years, there have been many wars in Langzhou. As a young man, Ma Xi'e and Liu Yan were managed well. There were constant merchants coming and going by land and water, and trade was very developed. At this time, not counting the accumulation of state treasury, the inner treasury of King Jiang Ma Xi'e alone had four years' savings in ten years. Five million guan is more than enough to raise 100,000 soldiers!"
"There are so many?!" Not to mention Fan Renyu, the other generals were also dumbfounded. The generals who were responsible for transporting the inner treasury that day, like Luo Erhu, were also dumbfounded at this time. Naturally, they didn't know that the place Zhou Xingfeng led them to was only one of the large and small inner treasuries in Langzhou City. As for the others, after Zhou Xingfeng returned to pay homage to the Holy Spirit, Li Yuan ordered Xu Kuangheng to lead people around. The search, led by a group of surrendered officials in Langzhou, finally found them all.
Li Yuan frowned, and finally raised his hand and said: "Let's do this. In addition to the 30,000 Langzhou soldiers, we will recruit 30,000 new soldiers from Langzhou Qingzhuang, named Wuping Army, and will be affiliated to the commander's office. The current number of soldiers in Wuping Army , according to the imperial military system, you can apply for 10,000 to 20,000, which can be considered as part of the solution. As for the rest, I will personally draft a memorial later. Mr. Xu, please go to Jinling for me! We have seized a lot of weapons and armor this time. We can just ask the imperial court for more than 10,000 sets. As for the money and food expenses, we cannot ask the imperial court for fear of betraying the population. Since your Majesty ordered us to guard here, Of course we can raise the soldiers here ourselves!"
"I obey!" Xu Kuangheng naturally understood in his heart that Li Yuan was eager to expand his army, but if he wanted to accomplish this, he had to be careful. He really had to go back to Jinling to take care of things in person, otherwise there would be endless trouble.
After a moment, Li Yuan spoke again and said: "Liu Jiangsheng!"
Liu Jiangsheng, who was standing at the front, immediately straightened his chest and shouted: "The general is here!"
Li Yuan waved gently, called Liu Jiangsheng to his side, and then whispered: "Jiang Sheng, this time you will also return to the capital with Mr. Xu, and bring all the young and old in Jinling City as well." Coming from Langzhou. Remember to leave all the accompanying soldiers and horses outside the city, don’t make any noise, and set off quickly after receiving the people!"
Seeing Liu Jiangsheng nodding decisively, Li Yuan called Xu Kuangheng forward and told the two of them: "After arriving in Jinling, you go to Zhou Mansion again and tell your father-in-law for me to recruit a few safe merchant ships and bring them back." All the Uighur soldiers and horses in Tianyin Mountain are secretly transported to Langzhou, so be careful! As for the weapons and horses purchased in the future, they will also be sent here."
Xu Kuangheng asked: "Commander, what should we do about your marriage? Why don't you go back to Jinling? This is a big deal!"
Li Yuan sighed softly and said helplessly: "This matter is important, but at this time, the festival has just been established and things are busy, I can't get away from it! Mr. Xu, by the way, please speak to the Zhou family for me, Postpone the wedding in advance, I am sure my father-in-law will understand. After one month, I will return to Jinling in person to marry Emperor E in all splendor!"
"I obey!"
"By the way, Mr. Xu, before you leave, find all the craftsmen from all the battalions in the city for me. I will be of great use!" Li Yuan smiled mysteriously.
