Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 154: Changes in Strength
"What kind of filthy bastard is Jiujuyan? How dare he govern my Huizhou?!"

"How dare a mere servant ride on his master's head and act so presumptuously!"

Soon after Suo Xun stepped into the Huizhou government office, sounds of smashing and roaring were heard from inside the government office.

Suo Xun's longed-for post of governor and defense commander of Huizhou became the governor of Huining Army, but the governor of Huizhou actually gave the post to the servant Jiu Juyan.

Separation of the military and the government, equal status...

Suo Xun trembled with anger when he thought that he was on an equal footing with Jiu Juyan, a family slave.

"Don't be angry, Governor..."

The captain sent by Gu Zang bowed to Suo Xun and said, "This reward is the court's move to divide Hexi."

"The court not only appointed Jiu Zhechong as the governor of Huizhou, but also appointed you as the inspector of Lanzhou."

"What?!" Suo Xun looked at the captain in surprise.

Suo Xun will never forget who is in Lanzhou.

If Lanzhou was under the control of Li Yizhong, he would not be surprised even if Suo Xun served as the Surveillance Commissioner of Lanzhou.

But the problem is that although Lanzhou was nominally under the control of Li Yizhong, the actual seat of Lanzhou was controlled by Liu Jilong.

The imperial court appointed him as the inspector of Lanzhou. The word "inspector" was simply a reminder to himself to deal with the unreasonable things in Lanzhou.

The thing that is not in line with common sense in Lanzhou is that Liu Jilong stayed in Wuquan...

"These filthy fellows!"

After realizing what was happening, Suo Xun cursed inwardly and became wary of Tang Ting. He then suppressed his temper and told the captain of Guzang:

"Go back and report to the governor, and tell him that I already know about this matter. Please rest assured."

"In addition, please ask the governor to write to Liu Jilong in his own hand so that he will not misunderstand."

Although Suo Xun often wanted to surpass Liu Jilong in private, he was still a little scared when it came to confronting Liu Jilong head-on.

If Liu Jilong misunderstood that I was targeting him, it would really be a disaster for nothing.

"Don't worry, Governor. The Jiedushi has already sent a handwritten letter to Wuquan."

"That's good..."

After the captain said this, Suo Xun breathed a sigh of relief, then looked at the Huining County Magistrate: "Take this brother down to have a good rest, don't treat him harshly."

"Yes..." The county magistrate heaved a sigh of relief when he saw that his governor had calmed down. He also hurriedly took the captain of Guzang to rest.

After they left, Suo Xun secretly cursed those bastards in Chang'an City.

While he was cursing, Li Yizhong, who received the news, also hurried to Wuquan.

When he arrived in Wuquan, it was already early December.

Since the temperature in the Tang Dynasty was slightly higher than in later generations, the Yellow River in Lanzhou rarely froze in winter, and only rafts could be arranged to cross the river.

Crossing the Yellow River in this season will undoubtedly make people's limbs stiff and numb, and be very uncomfortable.

However, in order to explain clearly, Li Yizhong still rushed to Wuquan with Zhang Huaishen's letter.

"How come Governor Li has time to come to my place?"

When Liu Jilong's voice came from the corridor, Li Yizhong, whose hands were numb from the cold, could only move his hands away from the brazier and quickly stood up and bowed.

"I am here to deliver a message."

Li Yizhong bowed and explained, and his eyes also caught sight of Liu Jilong, whom he had not seen for more than four months.

After not seeing him for more than four months, Liu Jilong seemed to have grown taller and looked more mature and handsome. Even Li Yizhong couldn't help but take a few more glances at him.

Liu Jilong walked up to him, helped him up and said, "You can pass on the news in the spring. I'm sorry to have worked so hard in this weather."

"No, no..." Li Yizhong explained hurriedly, then glanced around the yamen.

Seeing this, Liu Jilong also realized something and looked at Zhang Chang: "Everyone below the rank of Guoyi Duwei should get out."

"Yes!" Upon hearing this, Zhang Chang, Ma Cheng and others hurriedly began to disperse the soldiers in the yamen, and at the same time took the initiative to guard the surroundings of the main hall.

Seeing this, Li Yizhong took out Zhang Huaishen's handwritten letter from his arms and said, "You'll have to read the details yourself."

Seeing Li Yizhong take out Zhang Huaishen's handwriting, Liu Jilong seemed to have a premonition.

Sure enough, when he opened the letter, Zhang Huaishen told him the contents of the imperial edict sent from Chang'an.

In order to appease him, Zhang Huaishen agreed to lend him 10,000 shi of grain after the spring, hoping that he would not get angry and provoke Suo Xun and embarrass Li Yizhong.

If it were someone who didn't understand the court, Suo Xun and Li Yizhong might really be embarrassed because of the court's instigation.

However, Liu Jilian already knew what the current Tang Dynasty was like. He did not feel that there was anything worth getting angry about these methods used by the Tang Dynasty.

"Ha ha……"

Liu Jilong chuckled and said, "If you want to drive me away, then let them send their own troops!"

"Be careful with your words, Governor!"

Liu Jilong's words shocked Li Yizhong. Although they were all dissatisfied with the court's arrangement, no one dared to say it as blatantly as Liu Jilong.

"They have done everything, and they are still afraid of what others will say?"

Liu Jilong looked at Zhang Chang, Ma Cheng, Shang Duoluo, Zheng Chu and others with contempt: "Zhang Chang, Ma Cheng, Shang Duo..."

Seeing Liu Jilong calling them, everyone turned around and looked at him.

Although they didn't know what was written in the letter, from the conversation between Liu Jilian and Li Yizhong, it seemed that someone wanted to drive away their own governor.

"The imperial court wants to sow discord between us and the Jiedushi, and wants us to mistakenly believe that the Jiedushi wants to drive us out of Wuquan."

Liu Jilong blatantly told the story. Zhang Chang and others were confused at first, but when they realized what was happening, they immediately cursed, "Damn it!"

"This court of pigs and dogs, I didn't believe it when I heard from Master Wuzhen last time. Now it seems that they are really a bunch of birds!"

"Cut off his mother's head. If they have the guts, send the soldiers themselves!"

"Damn it! I think this imperial court is not far from destruction!"

"The Bai Ru guys, if they don't recover Longxi, they will be plotting against us every day. We really should kill them!"

As soon as Liu Jilian opened his mouth, insults against the imperial court immediately rang out in the hall, leaving Li Yizhong stunned.

They were so angry that they started cursing, but Liu Jilong just watched the scene happily.

In the past few months, Liu Jilian has been exposing the shortcomings of the imperial court, especially predicting that the imperial court would target the Guiyi Army.

At first, Zhang Chang and the others didn't believe it, but when Zhang Huaishen's letter arrived, they immediately started cursing.

Seeing that his work in dispelling the evil spirits of the Tang Dynasty had taken effect, Liu Jilong raised his hand to stop their abuse and looked at Li Yizhong provocatively: "Don't worry, I'm fine here."

"Um...I...you...this..."

Li Yizhong hesitated for a long time, not knowing how to start, but Liu Jilong smiled and patted his shoulder:
"How about this? Send me two thousand sheep, and the matter will be settled."

There is not enough food in Wuquan. Although Zhang Huaishen agreed to lend it, Liu Jilong will not complain about having too much food.

He could take the opportunity to blackmail Li Yizhong and make him feel at ease about himself.

"If the governor needs it, I will send three thousand sheep in the spring."

Li Yizhong quickly said that he just wanted Liu Jilong to see clearly that he had nothing to do with this matter.

"Okay, okay..." Liu Jilong looked at Zhang Chang with a smile:

"Zhang Chang, go to the south of the city and catch a castrated pig to eat!"

"Hey!!" Everyone's eyes lit up when they heard that they could eat castrated pigs.

There are also domestic pigs in Wuquan City, but there are only a few dozen of them, and only seven or eight can be castrated.

After Liu Jilong arrived in Wuquan, he had the seven or eight piglets castrated and then raised them for another five months.

Although I am not an adult yet, I can still try it for the sake of satisfying my hunger.

After all, they hadn't eaten pork for a long time since they came out of Shandan.

Not only Zhang Chang and his men were greedy, but even Liu Jilong had been greedy for a long time.

Under Liu Jilong's arrangement, Zhang Chang and his team quickly rushed to the pig farm in the south of the city and found an eight-browed pig that looked the fattest.

Even so, it only weighs over 70 kilograms. After processing, including the water, flesh and bones, only about 50 kilograms are edible.

Therefore, when the pork was served, Liu Jilong called all the officials above the rank of brigade commander in the city, as well as all the officials in the city. More than 200 people shared a pig weighing more than 50 kilograms, which looked a bit shabby.

At least in Li Yizhong's opinion, this was extremely shabby.

He had just visited Wuquan City. He had to say that Wuquan City was well governed by Liu Jilian. The speed of resuming production was much faster than that of Liangzhou, Huizhou, and Li Yizhong's Guangwu.

Liu Jilong invested all resources into the people as much as possible and put the restoration of production first, so that they could not enjoy everything they once enjoyed in Shandan.

But so what? A year later, Wuquan will become the next Shandan, but Shandan’s glory cannot continue.

Li Yizhong admired Liu Jilong very much. At least in his opinion, no one in the whole Hexi could tighten his belt to invest in the people like Liu Jilong did.

Even Zhang Yichao and Zhang Huaishen had their tables filled with a variety of dishes, but Liu Jilong had none.

There were only fish, pork, and dried vegetables soaked in water and fried on more than twenty tables.

Even a captain under Li Yizhong ate more sumptuous meals than them.

Even so, they could still eat happily, which was something Li Yizhong could not understand.

He finished his meal in a hurry and asked to go downstairs to rest.

After he left, seeing that everyone had almost finished eating, Li Ji, Ma Cheng, and Shang Duoluo looked at each other, then stood up and started shouting:
"Alright, alright, let's go after we're full. There's no alcohol to drink here!"

"Go away! Go away!"

The three men stood up and shouted, but the captains and brigade commanders in the army were reluctant to leave.

"The governor hasn't even let us go back yet..." some generals said aggrievedly.

Seeing their aggrieved look, Shang Duo Luo cursed: "Damn it, you insisted on telling me that I have something to discuss with the governor!"

"You should have told me earlier..." Seeing that they had something to discuss, the generals reluctantly stood up, bowed to Liu Jilong and left.

Seeing them leave, Cuoben, Zheng Chu, Hu Siguang and Geng Ming began to keep watch, while Shang Duoluo, Ma Cheng, Zhang Chang, Li Ji and Chen Jingchong gathered around Liu Jilong.

"Governor, this damned imperial court treats us like this, why don't we join forces with Xiao Zhang Jiedushi to take down Longxi!"

"Yes, Jiedushi Xiao Zhang must be holding his breath as well."

"Conquer Longxi and let the imperial court know how powerful we are!"

The frustration they felt during the day was still vivid in their minds, and several people started to encourage Liu Jilong.

It was just that Liu Jilong had thought about what they said two years ago, so he said helplessly:
"We are willing, but Jiedushi Xiao Zhang and Jiedushi Zhang will not be willing..."

After he said this, Zhang Chang and the others were surprised and asked, "How could it be?"

"Damn it, I've been bullied to my core!"

"In my opinion, if the imperial court continues to make trouble like this, something bad will happen in Hexi sooner or later..."

Chen Jingchong didn't say anything, but Shang Duoluo said with a click of his tongue: "The governor is right. Although we are all brothers, I still have to say..."

He glanced at everyone, then set his sights on Chen Jingchong: "Han scholars like to talk about loyalty to the emperor and patriotism the most. Old Chen must know the personalities of the two Jiedushi."

"Pah!" Zhang Chang spat, "Who isn't a scholar?"

"You are a worthless scholar, you are just a farmer!" Shang Duo Luo argued with him:
"You haven't studied the Four Books and Five Classics, and you can't even recognize all the characters. According to the governor, you are at best half-illiterate."

Although Shang Duoluo is older than everyone else, he learns very quickly. In addition, he has read a lot of books about Shanzhou, so he is much more eloquent than Zhang Chang.

"That's much better than others!" Zhang Chang couldn't refute and could only find an excuse to save face.

Shang Duoluo did not pursue them relentlessly, but continued: "In my opinion, we should first recover the three states of Helinwei, and then recover the seven states of Longnan."

"With these seven states in hand, Shannan West Road, Jiannan Road, Guannei Road, and Longyou Road are all under our military attack."

"To be honest, the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty is a tough guy who only responds to tough situations. When the Zamp was still alive, if we encountered something that was difficult to discuss, we could mobilize the troops from Longxi and Hexi, and the Tang Dynasty would sit down and discuss things with us."

"I heard that the vassal states in Shandong (east of Mount Xiao) are arrogant and often expel the governors and provincial governors sent by the imperial court. However, as long as they do not rebel, the imperial court will agree to any request they make."

"In my opinion, the imperial court is using this matter to test our reaction. If we agree, the imperial court will know that we are weak and can be bullied, and will think of ways to deal with us in the future!"

Shang Duoluo was now thirty-six years old, and was born into a noble family of the Meilu family. As early as the Kaicheng period, he joined the army and became a member of the imperial guards of Lhasa City. Later, he was transferred to Shanzhou as a minor official, and then he gradually rose to the position of Protector General.

He knew more about the Tang court than anyone else present, but he had not dared to speak out because he was worried that everyone would lean towards the Tang Dynasty.

Today, seeing Liu Jilong questioning and everyone angrily denouncing the Tang court, he finally spoke out what was hidden in his heart.

Sure enough, after he said these words, no one was angry at all, but some people agreed with him.

"Shang Duo Luo is right. If we don't show the court our fists, they will think we are made of mud!"

"Humph! If you ask me, the imperial army must be no match for this. Otherwise, why haven't they sent troops to retake Hexi in all these years?"

"That's right! It's only been four years since Jiedushi Zhang led us in the uprising, and we have already recovered the eight prefectures of Longyou Road. If we give it another two or three years, maybe the entire Longyou Road will be recovered."

"The imperial court doesn't dare to fight, which means they think they can't win!"

After Shang Duoluo's explanation, Zhang Chang and his men became more and more daring and even ignored the imperial court.

Of course, this is a misunderstanding caused by their lack of understanding of the current situation in the Tang Dynasty.

The current Tang Dynasty is indeed on the verge of collapse, but a lean camel is still bigger than a horse. At least for now, the Tang Dynasty still has the strength to deal with powerful enemies.

Before the Tang court intervened, Liu Jilong had no intention of being the first to take action.

But just like he said during the day, if Tang Tingqiang caused some trouble in Wuquan and prevented him from recovering the three states of He, Lin and Wei, he would never tolerate Tang Ting.

He was humble in Hexi because Zhang Yichao and Zhang Huaishen had helped him, but now that he has left Hexi, he will not indulge anyone.

As long as he did not rebel and simply expelled some officials sent by the Tang court, the Tang court would not use military force against him. After all, the Tang court's finances were not in good condition.

Li Chen was a man of some ability, but unfortunately he didn't live long. I was only nineteen years old, so there was no need to fight him to the death.

At his age, it would not be a problem for him to outlive Li Chen. Once he died, the Tang Dynasty would be truly shaky.

"Governor, please say something!"

Zhang Chang became anxious and couldn't help but urge Liu Jilong.

In response, Liu Jilong glanced at them and said coldly: "As long as the matter does not come to us, we don't need to care about them."

"But if the matter comes to us..." Liu Jilong narrowed his eyes:
"You have heard what Shang Duo Luo said just now. As long as you don't raise the flag of rebellion, you can do whatever you want!"

"Okay!" After getting Liu Jilong's approval, Zhang Chang and the others instantly became excited.

At the same time, Chen Jingchong couldn't help but say, "Governor, given the court's attitude towards us, I'm afraid we can't delay the recovery of the three states of He, Lin, and Wei."

"In my opinion, we should bring forward the autumn harvest by half a month next year, and then immediately march to take Hezhou."

"Even if we can't take Hezhou, we must take Fenglin Pass and then plunder the food in Baohan City."

"As long as Fenglin Pass is in our hands, we can easily take down Baohan and Fenglin counties with the help of catapults."

"That's right!" Shang Duoluo also echoed: "As long as we take over Hezhou, it will be much easier to take over Linzhou and Weizhou."

Seeing everyone looking at him, Liu Jilong nodded and said, "I think so too."

"After we take over the three states, our army will be adjacent to Qinzhou. We can then use gold, silver and copper to buy food."

Hearing this, Ma Cheng frowned and asked, "What if they don't sell it?"

"Not selling?" Liu Jilong snorted coldly: "Then I will find a way to force him to sell it!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he also stood up and said, "During this period of time, you should concentrate on training and teaching, and don't worry about other things!"

"Yes!" All the generals bowed in response, and then at Liu Jilian's signal, they left the yamen one after another.

But as expected, Chen Jingchong in the crowd stayed, and Liu Jilong also knew what he wanted to say.

"Governor..." Chen Jingchong looked embarrassed: "If the court really targets Jiedushi Xiao Zhang..."

"Nothing will happen to him, don't worry." Liu Jilong interrupted him and said, "Just focus on recovering the three states of Helin and Wei."

"Only if we are strong enough can we cope with the changes in Hexi."

"If we have trouble protecting ourselves, we won't be able to help even if we want to."

"Yes..." Chen Jingchong nodded in agreement, then raised his hand and bowed: "I will take my leave."

He took a few steps back, turned around and left the yamen.

Watching him walk away, Liu Jilong looked up at the sky, and after a while returned to the inner hall to rest.

(End of this chapter)