Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 194 Shannan Fengao
"Kill...kill...kill..."

At the end of April, there were constant shouts and cries of killing from the military camp outside Huining City. Hundreds of elite cavalry and more than 2,000 armored soldiers lined up and shouted and killed, and the battle formation opened and closed, which was very imposing.

On the school platform, Suo Xun, wearing a scarlet robe, paced back and forth as he watched the army prepare for battle.

At this moment, a group of cavalry suddenly galloped towards the school platform outside the camp. After a while, they reined in their horses and stopped. The cavalry dismounted and trotted onto the school platform, bowing to Suo Xun.

"Governor, there is news from Wulan in the north that the tooth merchant Chen Ying from Longxi is heading south with thousands of people and herds of livestock, and is now crossing the Yellow River."

"Hmm?" Suo Xun glanced at the light cavalry, and the captain behind him stepped forward and bowed:

"Governor, there are thousands of civilians and livestock. Should we…"

The captain rubbed his fingers, obviously asking whether he wanted to exploit him. Suo Xun looked hesitant when he heard this.

When he was about to take action, he thought of Liu Jilong, who was currently in the limelight.

Liu Jilong's attitude towards the court made him dare not manipulate Liu Jilong at will, so he could only snort coldly: "Don't pay attention to it, continue training!"

"Yes..." The captain retreated helplessly, but Suo Xun said, "Wait."

"Governor!" The captain stood still quickly, and Suo Xun continued:

"Are there any changes in Liangzhou?"

"No." The captain shook his head and continued:

"Before autumn, the Umu and the Uighurs robbed a lot of herds. Zhang Huaishen must be having a headache."

"However, Zhang Zhifang of the Chishui Army has repeatedly reported Zhang Huaishen's dominance, but the court has never responded."

"Yes!" Suo Xun agreed and ordered: "Keep a close eye on Liangzhou. If there is any change in Liangzhou, it will be time for us to take control of Liangzhou."

"also……"

Suo Xun paused for a moment, then looked at the soldiers on the parade ground and continued, "Recruit another 500 soldiers, and the money and food needed will be allocated from the government office."

"This..." The captain hesitated and dared not respond. Suo Xun looked at him coldly. He could not help but bite the bullet and responded:
"Governor, although we have received many hungry people, there are only 27,000 soldiers and civilians in the city, and only 6,000 men. 3,500 men have already joined the army."

"If we can raise another 500, then..."

"Just do it when I tell you to!" Suo Xun glared at him in dissatisfaction, and the captain had no choice but to agree.

Not long after he agreed, there was another wave of conscription in the city.

At the same time, Suo Xun also sent news of recruiting soldiers to Chang'an, trying to let Chang'an know his strength so that he could be rewarded like Liu Jilong.

While he was trying to let Chang'an know his strength, Liu Jilian in Longxi was recruiting soldiers and promoting literacy on a large scale.

Agricultural production in the four states did not recover so quickly. Liu Jilian often traveled to the four states on horseback and sent people to inquire about the situation in the three western states.

On April 28, Liu Jilian rode a horse into Fujin County, the seat of Wuzhou. Li Ji and Wang Sifeng hurried out of the government office to greet him.

"Come on!"

The two men led the Wuzhou officials to bow to Liu Jilong. Liu Jilong walked into the yamen with the gait of a dragon and a tiger, and soon took the main seat.

Li Ji, Wang Sifeng and other officials stood on both sides of the main hall. Liu Jilong also nodded and said:
"I have seen your governance and military training in Jiangli and Fujin, and there is no problem."

"After discussing matters with the dental merchants, I still have to go to Huaidao in Dangzhou, so I won't go to Pandi."

"Just tell me about the current situation in Wuzhou and the progress of the construction of the ferry at Pandi."

After he finished speaking, Li Ji did not step forward, but signaled Wang Sifeng to step forward with his eyes.

Wang Sifeng knew that this was the time for him to show off, so he stepped forward and bowed, saying, "Reporting to the commander..."

"In recent days, the officials of the prefecture government have been going to various villages to check the population, and found 254 Han people and 317 Fan people."

"Wuzhou Town combines Wuzhou and Dangzhou. There are three armies in the town: Wuzhou Army, Dangzhou Army, and Wudang Army, with a total of 1,800 soldiers."

"The Pandi Ferry has been repaired. There are people in the state who build small boats. The boats can carry twelve soldiers or two thousand kilograms of cargo."

After Wang Sifeng finished speaking, Liu Jilian began to think.

Although the middle reaches of the Qiang River are navigable, due to the large water depth and altitude difference, it is not suitable for large ships and can only be navigated by small boats.

In addition, it is an indisputable fact that Longxi lacks good shipbuilders.

If I want to march into the south in the future, I will have to have a good navy.

Thinking of this, Liu Jilong decided to use Pandi Ferry as the starting point to hone the boatmen's shipbuilding skills and the sailors' naval combat capabilities.

"How many boatmen are there at Pandi Ferry, and how many soldiers are stationed there?"

Liu Jilong asked Wang Sifeng, and Wang Sifeng quickly replied: "There are twelve boatmen and a brigade of one hundred soldiers stationed there. They are all newly recruited soldiers and are good at swimming."

Upon hearing this, Liu Jilong made a judgment: "We need to recruit more boatmen. I will discuss this with those merchants and hire boatmen from both sides of the Yangtze River to teach them how to build large boats."

"There are too few soldiers at Pandi Ferry. There is only one regiment of 200 soldiers stationed there. They are organized outside the three towns and are directly under the command of the Protectorate. They are called Wuzhou Navy."

Liu Jilong gave the order and Li Ji took Wang Sifeng to respond.

After they agreed, Liu Jilong continued, "Have all the goods from Min and Dang states been transported to Fujin?"

"Report to the commander." Li Ji came out and bowed:
"Two hundred dragon-beard mats, ten pairs of golden pheasants, two pairs of parrots, eight thousand kilograms of fried tea, and one thousand two hundred kilograms of peppercorns have all been transported here."

"In addition, Chengzhou transported 800 dan of well salt, which was exclusively supplied to the Sanchuan merchants, while Wuzhou produced 20,000 candles, 500 jin of pepper, and 2,600 jin of fried tea."

As soon as Li Ji finished speaking, Wang Sifeng took a small box from the captain behind him and placed it on the table.

Liu Jilong picked it up and opened it, revealing several thumb-sized gold bars inside.

"General, this is 262 taels of bran gold collected in Wuzhou."

As Li Ji introduced the details, Liu Jilong weighed the bran gold and put it aside. He then asked Li Ji, "When will the dental dealers arrive?"

"We can arrive on the third day of the Lunar New Year." Li Ji replied, and then asked:
"General Jie, the governance and military training of Wu and Dang provinces are almost complete. Should I go back to Minzhou?"

"Yes!" Liu Jilong nodded and explained:

"You do need to go to Minzhou, but not to govern Minzhou. Instead, you need to prepare to conquer and recover the three states."

"Recover the three states of Tao, Die and Song?" Li Ji's eyes lit up.

Seeing that he was in high spirits, Liu Jilong chuckled and said, "When we sent out the troops last year, you still needed me to stay in charge, but this year is different."

"This year, Shang Duoluo will be the commander-in-chief, you will be the left vanguard, and Hu Siguang will be the right vanguard."

"This time, Wuzhou Town will not send troops. Lanzhou, Hezhou, Linzhou, and Minzhou Towns will send 5,000 troops, and you three will lead them."

With only 5,000 soldiers and horses, Liu Jilong recovered three states with a population of about 30,000. It must be said that this was a big move by Liu Jilong.

After this recovery, the entire Longxi, except for the two states of Shankuo, will all be under the rule of Liu Jilong, and his title of Longyou Surveillance Commissioner will be more worthy of the title.

However, when facing the two states of Shankuo, Liu Jilian's pace would not be so fast.

Shang Bibi has been keeping a low profile in the two states for several years and cannot be compared with the fragmented Longnan.

"The last general takes command!"

Upon learning that he would serve as the left vanguard this time, Li Ji immediately bowed, and Liu Jilong also stood up and said:

"Have a good rest. After discussing matters with the dental merchants on the third day of the first lunar month, we will set off for Minzhou."

"Yes!"

After the explanation, Liu Jilian moved into the west hall of the yamen, while Cao Mao was arranged by Liu Jilian to familiarize himself with Wuzhou.

This time, Liu Jilian took him to various states in order to let him work well under Cui Shu.

Longxi is not short of generals now, but only short of political talents.

Thirty to five days passed quickly, and as time came to the third day of May, Longxi merchants from all over the country gathered in the Fujin County Government Office.

More than a dozen merchants sat at the banquet table in the main hall. Liu Jilian changed into a purple silk robe and sat in the main seat.

The government office was under martial law. When more than a dozen merchants saw him take his seat, they stood up one after another to flatter him:
"General Jie, I have used the kitchen you lent me to open four wine shops in Langzhou and Pengzhou in Shannan West Road. This is the profit from the first half of the year. Please accept it."

"General, this is the profit I made from opening two wine shops in Bazhou. Please accept it."

"Jie Shuai..."

Yu Conghui, Wang Tao, Ren Ze and others successively handed over the profits from the wine shops they opened.

The money was not much, with a dozen people having only more than 900 strings of cash in total, but they opened 35 taverns, spread across three regions: Jiannan, Shannan, East and West.

"Okay, sit down first. I didn't call you here for these hundreds of coins."

Liu Jilong comforted everyone and asked them to sit down, then he spoke:

"I have heard that many officials in Jiannan, Shannan and other places have exploited the people, causing many people to become bandits. Is this true or false?"

"Become a bandit?" Yu Conghui and the others looked at each other, then responded:

"There were quite a few who became bandits, but most of them had their land and houses taken away and were left wandering in the countryside."

"If these people died of hunger and cold, no one would collect their bodies." "But if they were to be self-sufficient in the mountains and reclaim wasteland, the government would send people to follow them, and when the wasteland became cultivated land, they would confiscate their property on the charge of illegally cultivating farmland."

"That's why the hungry people in Sanchuan are constantly being besieged."

After Yu Conghui finished speaking, the others started talking one after another.

Under the current circumstances, even though there is a serious shortage of troops in various places, no one dares to cut back on the army. Even in the three towns of Heshuo, if anyone dares to be harsh on the guards, he will inevitably be expelled or killed.

During the heyday of the Kaiyuan period, Jiannan Road and Shannan Road only had 70,000 to 80,000 soldiers to maintain, which was already a heavy burden. But now there are no less than 100,000.

In order to feed these troops, the Jiedushi could only find ways to make money, and raising taxes was undoubtedly the easiest way.

The government took the lead in lending money, forcing the people to borrow money, and collecting the loans in advance before the repayment deadline.

With the interest compounding, the common people could not afford to pay the taxes and levies, and the government had to take away their property and houses.

At this time, those with talents choose to join the army, while those who are mediocre can only wander in the countryside.

In order to survive, they had no choice but to go up the mountain and become bandits.

Gradually, the local army became more and more bloated, and the number of bandits increased.

Encircling and suppressing bandits is only a temporary solution and the fundamental solution should be to solve the problem of redundant soldiers and vacancies in the army.

There were millions of Tang soldiers in the world, but when something really happened, the Tang court could not even gather 100,000 elite troops.

Liu Jilong was naturally aware of all these things.

The reason why he asked Yu Conghui and others was mainly to see what the situation was like in Jiannan, Shannan and other places.

If the situation were stable, his plan to buy and sell Han people and fill the population of Longxi would undoubtedly fail.

Fortunately, Jiannan and Shannan, like other places in the Tang Dynasty, were places where corrupt officials were rampant.

"If I want to bring these hungry people to Longxi, do you have any ideas?"

Liu Jilong suddenly asked everyone, and the originally lively scene came to an abrupt end.

Everyone's eyes were still on Liu Jilong. After a while, Yu Conghui said:

"It's not difficult. It depends on how many hungry people the commander needs."

"If there are hundreds of people, it won't be difficult for us to bribe officials in various states privately, recruit some hungry people as slaves, and bring them to Longxi under the pretext of trade."

"If there are thousands or even tens of thousands of people, it might alert the officials in the province, and that would be a bad outcome."

As Yu Conghui said this, the others followed suit.

"I can make three or four trips a year and bring one or two thousand people to the commander-in-chief."

"It's mainly because the court is afraid of the military commander, and Bai Minzhong is strictly guarding the border, otherwise the number could double."

"That's right..."

Seeing everyone say this, Liu Jilong frowned slightly.

He had inquired about Bai Minzhong. After all, he had been the prime minister before, and now he was the governor of Xichuan, so he would naturally target him.

It seems that it is impossible to rely on Jiannan Dao.

Liu Jilong thought so, and then said:

"No problem, a few hundred people is fine. In the future, I will use the income from the wine shop to buy Hankou for me and expand Longxi."

"Please rest assured, I have a clear distinction between gratitude and resentment. If you help me to expand Xichuan, I will naturally protect you and make you rich and prosperous for the rest of your life!"

After Liu Jilong expressed his position, everyone toasted him and Liu Jilong drank it all in one gulp.

As the wine flowed into his stomach, Liu Jilong took a breath of cold air and continued:
"Most of what Longxi lacks are craftsmen, followed by Han people, and as for the Liao people and barbarians, forget about it."

"I came to Wuzhou this time and brought with me such goods as golden pheasants, parrots, dragon beard mats, fried tea, well salt, and peppercorns. You can take a look at them."

As soon as he finished speaking, the soldiers around the main hall took out a book and handed it to the dozen or so ivory dealers.

The dentists kept flipping through the documents with bright eyes.

The document not only lists the goods from Longxi, but also includes their prices.

Seeing them flipping through the documents, Liu Jilong also stood up and said, "Let Governor Li and Governor Wang discuss the business matters with you. I am drunk, so I will take my leave first."

"Marshal Jie, please go slowly..."

Upon hearing this, the merchants stood up one after another to see them off, except Yu Conghui who walked out of his seat and followed Liu Jilong and Cao Mao into the inner hall.

Soon, when they passed through the corridor, Liu Jilong stopped and turned to look at Yu Conghui.

"Yu Yaya, what is this..."

"General Jie, I came here uninvited. Please don't blame me, General Jie."

Yu Conghui bowed quickly and explained, "I learned that the commander-in-chief needed people, and I have something to discuss with him."

"You can say whatever you want." Liu Jilong narrowed his eyes, and Yu Conghui also said quickly:

"Around the New Year's Day, Yang Zhiwen, a military officer from the Shannan West Road Office, approached me and wanted me to accompany him and introduce him to the commander-in-chief."

"I wanted to tell the commander about this matter after the banquet, but he left the room, so I had to catch up with him. Please forgive me, commander."

Yu Conghui was frank and told him what happened when Yang Zhiwen came to see him.

After hearing this, Liu Jilong frowned and thought about who this Yang Zhiwen was, but he had no impression of him at all.

"Let's go into the inner hall and talk."

"Yes!"

Seeing that he could enter the inner hall, Yu Conghui happily followed suit, and soon he followed Liu Jilong into the inner hall and sat down.

"What is Yang Zhiwen's background?"

After taking his seat, Liu Jilong asked about Yang Zhiwen's identity, and Yu Conghui quickly explained:

"This Yang Zhiwen was born into the Hongnong Yang family of Guozhou. He became a Jinshi in the fourth year of Huichang in the previous dynasty."

"It's a pity that he had just passed the imperial examination when he returned to his hometown to observe three years of mourning because his mother passed away."

"After the mourning period ended and the late emperor passed away, the Supreme Emperor ascended the throne and was not happy with the late emperor's retaining his ministers, so Yang Zhiwen became a disciple of Feng Ao, the Minister of Rites."

"Feng Ao was not favored by the Supreme Lord, so he was appointed as the governor of Shannan West Road, and Yang Zhiwen entered the Shannan West Road government office as a military officer."

"That Feng Ao was old and worried that the commander would lead his troops to attack Shannan West Road, so he specifically ordered Yang Zhiwen to contact the commander, and that's how he found me."

Yu Conghui briefly explained the relationship between Feng Ao and Yang Zhiwen, and Liu Jilong asked, "Where is Yang Zhiwen?"

"He is waiting for news from someone in Xingzhou." Yu Conghui replied quickly.

Hearing this, Liu Jilong was silent for a moment, and then he said after a while:
"In your opinion, if I meet with Yang Zhiwen, will he allow me to relocate the hungry people to Longxi?"

"This..." Yu Conghui swallowed his saliva. As a businessman, how dare he discuss such things.

But he thought about his identity. As a dental merchant in Longxi, he naturally had to work for Liu Jilong.

Only if Liu Jilian is strong can he continue to do business. If Liu Jilian falls, he will also be liquidated by the court.

Thinking of this, Yu Conghui said, "Feng Ao Laomai, if Yang Zhiwen can help us speak up, even if we can't relocate the hungry people directly, we can still use other methods to bring them to Longxi."

"Another way?" Liu Jilong looked at him curiously, and Yu Conghui quickly explained:
"It's nothing more than turning the hungry people into slaves of the Liao barbarians, and then taking them to Longxi in large numbers."

"As long as Feng Ao and Yang Zhiwen turn a blind eye, and I take care of the states along the way, there probably won't be any problems."

"But this bribe is inevitable, and each person may have to pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars."

Yu Conghui explained the matter clearly, and Liu Jilong's eyes lit up after hearing it.

In his opinion, even if he exchanged one person for two strings of cash, he would still make a profit, let alone hundreds of coins.

There were tens of thousands of starving people in Sanchuan. If Liu Jilian could bring back 20% or 30% of them, it would be enough for him to assimilate the foreigners.

Thinking of this, Liu Jilong turned his gaze back to Yu Conghui: "I need you to send someone to ask Yang Zhiwen to come to Fujin to meet me."

"General, rest assured. I will send someone to bring Yang Zhiwen to Fujin!" Yu Conghui saluted hurriedly.

Seeing this, Liu Jilong continued, "If you are willing, you can take your family to Didao, Linzhou, and I will have someone settle them."

"After I meet with Yang Zhiwen, the ivory merchants in Longxi will be under your control."

"I will definitely live up to your mission!" Yu Conghui was excited when he heard that. He quickly stood up and made a gesture to kowtow.

Fortunately, Cao Mao stepped forward to support him, and Liu Jilong also said: "It is not customary for my subordinates to kowtow, so just bow."

After saying that, he stood up and walked out with Cao Mao.

"I will stay in Fujin for ten days. I hope Yu Ya Ya can bring me good news."

(End of this chapter)