"Kill?" Wang Wenzuo was shocked: "Why? If you refuse, just refuse. Why kill someone?"
"If you don't keep it secret, you will lose your ministers. If you don't keep it secret, your ministers will lose their virginity. If you don't keep it secret, you will suffer harm!" Cao Wenzong said solemnly: "Since they know but don't come, and they are quite famous among the evil boys, I will be afraid in the future. It will spoil your important matter, so I'd better kill them cleanly. Besides, when they were learning from me, they also made an oath. When the master is called for something, they must come, otherwise they will die. Now that they have broken the oath, there is no way to kill them. Hurt! Even if Xiao Yi doesn’t take action, I will take action to take their lives!”
"But if you kill so many people, will it attract Jing Zhaoyin's attention? Will it implicate Xiao Yi?" Wang Wenzuo asked.
"Young Master, you don't need to worry too much!" Cao Wenzong said with a smile: "It is normal for evil boys to draw swords against each other if they disagree with each other. Will there be more nameless corpses on the streets of Chang'an one night? What about the twenty? Many people are not good people, and there are countless enemies. The government has no way of investigating the person who was killed! As for Xiao Yi? How many lives do you have on hand now? Xiao Yi? "
"Who knows this?" Wu Xiaoyi scratched the back of his head: "I guess there are two to three hundred at least! I don't know. Who would remember the thing about drawing a sword and swinging it?"
"This guy's appearance is so deceiving!" Wang Wenzuo took another look at Wu Xiaoyi's slightly childish and elegant appearance. For a moment, he couldn't connect it with an assassin who had hundreds of lives at hand. No wonder Liu Weili chose him in the first place. As a candidate to assassinate the Wu family, this person had really bad luck and collapsed before he could take action: "So, Xiao Yi, what are your plans next? I remember you can stay in Chang'an!"
"Since the teachers and junior brothers and sisters have gone to Baekje with you, there is no point in me staying in Chang'an!" Wu Xiaoyi said: "I can only kill people anyway. It doesn't matter where I am, maybe I am here in Baekje." A knife would be more useful!"
"That's for sure!" Wang Wenzuo said with a smile: "The land of Haidong really needs people like Xiao Yi to get rid of some troublesome people for me!"
"Ren Zhan? Ren Zhan Xiao Yi! Not bad!" Wu Xiao Yi's eyes lit up: "I like this nickname. From now on, you can call me Ren Zhan Xiao Yi!"
"You're killing people, and you're still fighting with your sword!" Wang Wenzuo cursed. He turned to Cao Wenzong and said, "In this case, General Cao will seize the time to recruit people. As long as they are brave in martial arts, I will take them. The more the better. Copy a roster for me. , the documents from the court should be issued soon, and then I will distribute the settlement allowance according to the roster!"
"Settle-in allowance?" Cao Wenzong's eyes lit up: "That's great. As far as I know, in the past, the imperial court did not have this for conscripts!"
"They are soldiers from the government. They have land at home, so of course they don't have any. This time we are recruiting soldiers, so of course we need to give them some money and food to go on the road!"
"That's strange. It seems that in the past few times, there were no recruitments from Chang'an to Anxi and Beiting!" Cao Wenzong's expression became strange: "I dare to ask, where did you get the accommodation expenses from? The Ministry of War or the Ministry of War? "
"Ahem, let's not talk about this in detail now, let's talk about it then!" Wang Wenzuo quickly put the topic away. He couldn't say that he planned to pay the soldiers' settlement allowance from his own pocket, right? Using private wealth to support the country's soldiers is a fatal thing if word spreads about it! Even if he really wants to do it, it won’t be too late to do it after he gets Baekje.
When Cao Wenzong saw this, he didn't dare to ask any more questions. After saying a few words, he took Xiao Yi and the others to leave. After seeing them off, Wang Wenzuo breathed a sigh of relief. He considered what he had gained in Chang'an and couldn't help but become excited again.
The first is the upper-class relationship. Regardless of ancient and modern times, at home and abroad, as long as you get along in society, the most important thing is your antenna and thighs. You work hard, bleed and sweat at the grassroots level, but in the end the achievements are all other people's and the faults are all your own. In the final analysis, the bosses don't know who you are at all, and there are no leaders in the middle who are willing to speak for you, so naturally there are no benefits. , nothing bad can happen, Wang Wenzuo has seen this kind of thing too much before traveling through time. And this time when he came to Chang'an, whether it was playing polo or putting down the rebellion, Wang Wenzuo had a place in the hearts of the emperor, queen, and prince. This was much more important than official promotion. As long as he had this, a little effort could Become a great success, make mistakes, and have a chance to make a comeback. There are people in the court who are easy to be officials!
The second is official positions. After all, in bureaucratic organizations, power is always linked to certain official positions. Wang Wenzuo is now the fifth-grade General Dingyuan.
The ambassador to the country and the marching commander of the Ungjin Governor's Office. This means that Wang Wenzuo also has the dual power of disposing troops and horses in the Unongjin Governor's Office, advising on military matters, and dealing with Japanese diplomacy and military affairs. Considering the latter, he only needs to be responsible to the court. , In fact, his scope of power is very large. Even Liu Renyuan, his boss, has no right to interfere with the latter. It can be said that he is a sole official.
The third is manpower. After Wang Wenzuo became the ambassador to comfort the Japanese, he theoretically had the power to open a government to recruit staff and establish a team of staff subordinate to him. As the marching commander of the Xiongjin Dudufu, he also had certain military power. He planned to use the former to house the Japanese envoys, Baekje people, and fellow township party members who originally followed him. But the latter is more troublesome. Due to the military system, the original Baekje Tang army will definitely not be stationed there for a long time and must be rotated regularly. For the Tang Empire, Baekje was already a very secondary battlefield. The limited troops must be supplemented in more important directions. However, Baekje was a country far away from the mainland, so it is not difficult to imagine that it was What kind of crooked melons and cracked dates will be sent to Baekje? It was very difficult to defend Baekje with this pitiful force, let alone support Wang Wenzuo's military operations against Japan. Wang Wenzuo originally planned to obtain the manpower needed to form the army from the Baekje people who had a relationship with him, such as Sangqiu, Wang Peng, and Heiji Changzhi; and the Japanese descendants, such as Monobu Renxiong and others. But the foundation is still a bit weak. If one or two thousand people can be recruited from Chang'an this time to go to Baekje and use them as the old camp after training, then this shortcoming will be made up and things will be much easier.
The fourth is money and food. To put it bluntly, war is about fighting for money and food. After three years of counter-insurgency war, Baekje’s people have already been exhausted. No matter who sits in that position, everyone must take corvee and pay little tax and rest with the people. Let the common people eat the chaff and then consider other things. Therefore, after Wang Wenzuo went to Baekje, it was impossible to scrape the oil and water from the Baekje people - anyway, he couldn't scrape it out. All that is left to do is dry salt, fish, trade, build temples and get money for incense, etc., and these things require capital. Originally, Wang Wenzuo was thinking about whether he could borrow another sum of money from someone, but now it seems that it is completely unnecessary. With half of Liu Weili's family property, plus the blackmail from the Zoroastrian Temple, Wang Wenzuo's net worth has almost caught up with those in Chengdu and Major counties such as Yangzhou, Yuezhou, Xuzhou and Anyang have been governors for more than ten years. The eunuch's purse is full and he can make great achievements.
"Although I was frightened every day and had constant changes during my stay in Chang'an, I still gained a lot!" Wang Wenzuo said with a smile, and couldn't help but feel proud in his heart. If he hadn't come to Chang'an this time, no matter how hard he went in Baekje, he wouldn't have been able to do anything. After establishing high-level connections, recruiting soldiers, and making so much money, his official position would not be so high. So don’t be afraid of trouble in everything. You see, Liu Rengui dared to cross the sea in white at his age, but now he doesn’t stand up? If he hadn’t come to Baekje, he would have been killed by Li Yifu long ago.
"By the way, what are the arrangements for the two Your Highnesses? It is not appropriate to stay in Chang'an anywhere. Once they are discovered, there will be endless troubles. I can't let them go to Baekje with me, right?"
Wang Wenzuo was feeling complacent when he suddenly thought of Li Xiayu's sisters and felt a slight stomach ache. This happened to him whenever he encountered an unsolvable problem. He recalled that night when he met Li Xiayu for the first time. Although the girl had unkempt hair and face, she was indeed a rare beauty with starry eyes, delicate skin, beautiful nose and red lips, not to mention her noble status. However, Wang Wenzuo did not imagine that there would be any special relationship between himself and the other party - the cruelty of the internal fighting among the upper class during the period of Gaozong and Wuzhou was unparalleled in China's five thousand years of history. It was easy to hide from open guns, but hard to guard against hidden arrows!
"Forget it, a good man will do his best. Anyway, this time I go to Baekje, I have to go back to my hometown. Then I will leave some money to Liu Wulang's widow. Just say that she is a distant relative of my family and place her in his house!"
Wang Wenzuo made up his mind and stopped thinking about it. Liu Wu had taken good care of him in the army, and he would definitely go see his widow when he returned. It was just right for the widow to take care of two single women.
In the blink of an eye, less than half a month later, the documents from the Ministry of War finally came out, asking Wang Wenzuo to recruit two thousand sergeants in the name of the marching commander of the Xiongjin Governor's Mansion. After Wang Wenzuo received the documents, he put up a front. Within a few days, he had recruited two thousand soldiers. They were all strong and young, and their speed was staggering.
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Jin Renwen
Mansion.
"Mr. Liu!" Wang Wenzuo quickly walked down the steps and bowed to Liu Rengui: "If you are coming, why don't you send someone to tell me earlier so that I can go out to greet you!"
"Haha!" Liu Rengui said with a smile, "Sanlang, you and I are old acquaintances of Baekje, why are you so formal?"
"Please, please!" Wang Wenzuo took Liu Rengui's right arm and stretched out his hand to invite him: "Mr. Liu, I heard that the imperial court has appointed you as the imperial censor this time. This is a great news!"
"Haha, Sanlang, don't you also serve as Japan's comfort ambassador? We are mutually supportive! Let's skip all this false courtesy!" Liu Rengui said with a smile.
"Mr. Liu is joking. Others don't know it, and you don't know it. This villain is just doing some personal things for the queen. How can he compare with the imperial censor?" Wang Wenzuo asked Liu Rengui to come to the hall while he was talking, and the two separated. The host and guest sat down. Liu Rengui looked around and said in a deep voice: "Sanlang, you and I are not outsiders. I won't say more lies. Japan and Baekje face each other across the sea. It is not easy for Baekje to be in the situation it is today. You must not act like this. Damn it, it’s ruined the overall situation!”
"I have remembered what Liu Gong said!" Wang Wenzuo said solemnly: "But I thought that Baekje was isolated overseas, neighboring Goguryeo and Silla to the north and south. Goguryeo need not be mentioned. After the rebellion of Baekje's restoration subsided, Silla and I were inseparable. We are already enemies, and we cannot defend this situation!"
"It is indeed difficult to defend! But is it easy to attack?" Liu Rengui asked: "Compared to Baekje and Japan, it is much larger, and they are separated from each other across the sea——"
"There are great advantages to being big, but there are also disadvantages!" Wang Wenzuo cut off Liu Rengui's words: "Japan had a lot of internal troubles, and they tried to expand outward to solve the internal troubles. However, they were defeated at Baijiangkou in the external war. The old king died and the new king If we are not allowed to succeed to the throne, each of our noble relatives will have different intentions. This is a good opportunity!"
Liu Rengui was cut off by Wang Wenzuo, but he was not annoyed. He shook his head and smiled: "Sanlang, you are still like this, but it seems that you have made up your mind about the Japanese country, so I won't say more. But I would like to ask Sanlang to remember something. When the water is full, it will be full, and when the moon is full, it will be weak. It is better not to overdo things in this world!"
Hearing this, Wang Wenzuo also knew that Liu Rengui had good intentions and said with a smile: "I will remember what Mr. Ming said!"
"That's good!" Liu Rengui nodded: "There's one more thing. I'd like to give you a heads up. Liu Renyuan may be transferred from Baekje soon!"
"Ah?" Wang Wenzuo had already had a premonition, but he pretended to be surprised: "Why is this? Is Mr. Liu not in good health?"
"No, I don't know the specific reason!" Liu Rengui said with a smile, "But the emperor asked me two days ago who is the best successor, and I recommended you to the emperor!"
"Me?" Wang Wenzuo was shocked. He never expected that Liu Rengui would recommend himself to the emperor as Liu Renyuan's replacement: "This, isn't this inappropriate?"
"Yes, in terms of qualifications and age, it is not suitable. Sanlang, you are too young!" Liu Rengui said with a smile: "But the situation in Baekje is special. Unlike the domestic states and counties, if you choose the wrong person, you will suffer. The people of the county are suffering. If you choose the wrong person there, all your efforts will be wasted and ten years of hard work will be ruined. When you put down the chaos in Baekje, you took the greatest credit, whether it was to appease the heroes of Baekje internally or to deal with Silla. , Goguryeo, and Japanese, you have a strategy in mind, and you are not limited to just one moment. Guarding the Xiongjin Governor's Mansion is yours!"
Looking into Liu Rengui's earnest eyes, Wang Wenzuo didn't know what to say for a moment. After a while, he managed to squeeze out a sentence: "Mr. Liu, I really don't know what to say for a moment!"
"Then there's no need to say anything!" Liu Rengui smiled and held Wang Wenzuo's arm: "The most important thing for our country's scholar-bureaucrats is a public heart. We must consider the emperor and the country more in everything. Of course, I It’s not that you don’t have a public spirit. If that were the case, I wouldn’t recommend you this time. It’s just that you are young and successful after all. People like this always think less sometimes!”
The door of Jin Mansion.
Looking at Liu Rengui's leaving figure, Wang Wenzuo had mixed feelings in his heart. In fact, among Liu Renyuan and Liu Rengui, his relationship with Liu Renyuan was much closer. In a sense, deep down in his heart, he regarded Liu Renyuan somewhat. Treat him as his own father. And his perception of Liu Rengui was much more complicated. Although the two of them were sitting on the same boat, there was always a special sense of estrangement, especially between them.
It was because of his petition that Liu Renyuan became the victim of the prophecy, and Wang Wenzuo's impression of him became even worse.
