Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 310 Liu Lang's Literary Talent
“Aye! Aye!!”

At the same time that Zhang Huaishen's letter was sent to Linzhou, the voice of Princess Tongchang Li Meiling was heard from the Xianning Palace in Chang'an.

She walked into the Xianning Palace, but was surprised to see that there were no musicians or actors singing in the palace, which made her curious.

"Princess, why are you here?"

The eunuch Tian Yun, who was standing at the entrance of the side hall, hurried over and bowed to Li Meiling, saying:
"Your Majesty is discussing state affairs with several ministers. Would you like to wait?"

"Wait a minute." Li Meiling was not ignorant of the ways of the world. She naturally knew that state affairs were more important.

At the same time, Li Yi in the side hall said with an unpleasant expression:
"How did Liu Jilong store so much food? Wasn't Longyou in ruins?"

Pei Xiu, Jiang Shen, and Bi Zhen, who were standing in the hall, looked at each other. Finally, Pei Xiu took the initiative to speak:

"Longxi has been a granary since the Western Han Dynasty, and even more so during the reign of Emperor Taizong."

"In the past, when people talked about the fear of heat and cholera in Helong, the name of Longxi granary was not worthy of its name."

"However, Liu Jilong has always been known for his talent in governance. In the past, he managed Shandan as the granary of Hexi. Now that he has occupied Longyou for many years, he must have already restored the people's livelihood in Longyou."

"In addition, refugees are pouring into Longyou. There are probably no less than 500,000 people in Longyou right now, so there will naturally be surplus grain to sell."

Pei Xiu first explained why there was so much grain in Longyou, and then continued:
"Your Majesty, this may not be a bad thing."

"Guanzhong has been exhausted for many years. Now it can only rely on Shannan East Road and Jiangnan to transport grain to maintain the food supply of millions of people in the capital."

"If Longyou becomes a granary now, the imperial court may be able to use money to buy cheaper grain and protect the livelihoods of millions of people in Guanzhong."

Pei Xiu was optimistic, but Li Yi was not.

He originally wanted to recover Longyou, but the court officials did not allow him to do so. He also happened to learn that Liu Jilian had made Longyou prosperous and was selling hundreds of thousands of dan of grain to the three towns of Fengxiang.

You should know that the grain transport could only transport 1.2 million shi into Guanzhong every year, but Liu Jilian could transport hundreds of thousands of shi in return.

If the grain sold to Guannei Road and Jiannan Road were added, Li Yi couldn't even imagine what Liu Jilian had done with Longyou.

Thinking of this, Li Yi said in a cold voice: "Longyou is so rich and has a favorable geographical location."

"If we continue to indulge ourselves, I really don't know how many troops and how much money and food the court will need to mobilize to pacify Longyou!"

Li Yi's words made Pei Xiu and others very helpless. After all, anyone with a discerning eye could see that the Tang Dynasty was already crumbling.

If no one stood up to reform, the Tang Dynasty would probably only last a few decades.

Under such circumstances, what is needed is to stop the fighting, solve the problem of redundant soldiers, and clarify the administration of officials, so that the country can continue.

Pei Xiu and his companions were powerless and could only barely maintain the current situation.

It just so happened that in this situation, he encountered an arrogant emperor like Li Yi.

I am not afraid that the emperor is greedy for pleasure, but I am afraid that he wants to prove himself.

The current Tang Dynasty no longer has the energy to suppress a vassal state of the level of Longyou.

The right way is to maintain this stalemate and preserve the country's prosperity for a few decades.

Of course, they could only say such things in their hearts and naturally dared not say them out loud.

In Li Yi's eyes, the reputation of the imperial court had declined due to the rebellion of Wang Shouwen, Qiu Fu and others.

The current plan is to kill the chicken to scare the monkey, restore the reputation of the court, and then solve the problem of redundant soldiers, so as to achieve a balance between expenditures and prolong the country's prosperity.

There was nothing wrong with his thinking, the problem was that he did not understand the strength of the Tang army.

On the surface, there are more than 300,000 troops in Guanzhong, which can easily defeat Long Youyou, who has tens of thousands of soldiers and horses.

The reality is that half of the 300,000-strong army is empty, and the rest are mostly good-for-nothings, so there are only tens of thousands of soldiers who can fight.

Any official who was familiar with the situation of the Shence Army and the eight towns northwest of Beijing would not agree with the emperor declaring war on Longyou.

Thinking of this, Bi Zhen could not help but stand up and said to Li Yi: "If your majesty wants to pacify Longyou, you might as well gather tens of thousands of troops in Beijing to Mount Li to see the real situation first."

Bi Zhen said what Pei Xiu and Jiang Shen dared not say, but Li Yi frowned and said:

"Why bother with this? I have seen the situation of the Shen Ce Army and the Shen Wu Army in the past when I killed the treacherous ministers with my own hands. Why..."

Li Yi felt something was wrong halfway through his speech, so he stopped.

He had indeed seen the Shen Ce Army and the Shen Wu Army. That was the day when he was enthroned as emperor.

That day, there were nearly ten thousand Shen Ce troops in the palace, and another five hundred Shen Wu troops guarding the emperor.

In Li Yi's view, these tens of thousands of soldiers were all elite, so he thought that both the Shen Ce Army and the Shen Wu Army were of the same type, and he did not think about other issues.

Now that Bi Zhen had reminded him overtly and covertly, he realized that something was wrong, so he frowned and asked, "What do you mean?"

Pei Xiu and Jiang Shen did not want to offend the eunuchs of the Northern Division, but Bi Zhen said regardless:
"Your Majesty, the eight garrisons in the northwest of Beijing and the Shen Ce Army are unusable. If we really want to mobilize the troops, I'm afraid..."

"Your Majesty, Princess Tongchang requests an audience!!"

Suddenly, Tian Yun's voice sounded in the side hall. Li Yi looked towards the door and saw Tian Yun standing outside the door respectfully.

"Your Majesty, since the princess is here, we will withdraw first."

Pei Xiu suddenly ended the court meeting, which was very rare, and Jiang Shen also stood by and echoed him. Only Bi Zhen had a sullen face and was hesitant to speak.

"Go down first."

Although Li Yi noticed something was wrong, seeing his daughter was the most important thing to him, so he waved his hand to signal them to leave.

"I will take my leave now. May you live for tens of millions of years..."

The three of them bowed and left the side hall. At the same time, Bi Zhen glanced at Tian Yun and snorted coldly.

Tian Yun didn't care. He just smiled and turned to look at Li Meiling: "Princess, please come in."

"Um……"

Li Meiling was a little confused. It was clearly Tian Yun who asked her to wait outside, but halfway through the wait, he suddenly started singing.

While thinking, Li Meiling walked into the side hall and walked towards Li Yi with a smile on her face.

"Aye, what political affairs did you discuss today? Why did you talk for so long?"

She knew her father very well. Usually, three quarters of an hour of court meetings was considered long, but today they chatted for a full four quarters of an hour.

Faced with his daughter's curiosity, Li Yi didn't want to answer, but still sighed and said, "It's still Liu Jilong from Longyou."

"This guy is getting bigger and bigger, and he's adjacent to Guanzhong."

"If I can't cut it off, I won't be able to rest in peace..."

This was the first time Li Yi mentioned Liu Jilong in front of Li Meiling, but Li Meiling asked curiously, "Liu Jilong from Longyou, the one with the courtesy name Muzhi?"

"You know him?" Li Yi was also surprised that his daughter actually knew this person, but Li Meiling smiled and said:
"His dealers opened bookstores in various places and often wrote novels to sell. I often read his Dream of the Red Chamber, and several of my uncles also often read his Journey to the West. It was very interesting."

"He has such literary talent?" Li Yi was confused, but Li Meiling joked:
"The actors under your command once selected stories from Journey to the West to perform for you. How come they don't know this?"

"He wrote Journey to the West?" Li Yi couldn't help but be surprised. You know, when he listened to this song, he liked it very much.

Now that he knew that his favorite song was written by the person he wanted to get rid of, he couldn't help feeling a little embarrassed.

After a moment of embarrassment, he came to his senses and said, "Send someone to get the Journey to the West. I'll take a look at it later."

As he finished speaking, he whispered, "Send Tian Yun to get it."

"Yes!" Li Meiling responded in a low voice. Although she didn't understand, she still ordered, "Uncle Tian Si, please go to the palace and get all the books on my bookshelf."

"This slave takes orders..."

Tian Yun responded respectfully and turned to walk out. Seeing Tian Yun leaving, Li Yi immediately lowered his voice and asked, "Did you ask Tian Yun to pass the message just now?"

"No..." Li Meiling shook her head and then explained clearly what had just happened.

Li Yi frowned after hearing this, and then said to comfort him: "Don't tell anyone about this. Aye has his own way to deal with him."

At this moment, he already had a rough idea of what was going on. Tian Yun was probably a person planted by Wang Zongshi and others beside him.

That being said, the Shence Army was indeed not as he saw it, and it was very likely to be of no use as Bi Zhen said.

Thinking of this, Li Yi's eyes flickered and he felt that he was so stupid.

The officials repeatedly advised him not to use military force against Liu Jilong. He thought it was a problem of money, or a problem of the southern barbarians, but he never thought it was a problem of the Shen Ce Army.

As he thought about it, he finally understood why his father, although the situation was relatively peaceful when he was in power, did not dare to use military force against Liu Jilong.

If there is a problem with the Shen Ce Army and the eight towns in the northwest of Beijing, then everything can be explained.

Thinking of this, Li Yi looked at his daughter and said, "Dannan, is there any girl in your palace who has a clean background and has just entered the palace?"

"Of course there are." Li Meiling nodded without hesitation. Li Yi nodded and whispered, "Tell them to find someone to find out the true strength of the Shen Ce Army. Aye wants to see if the Shen Ce Army is as strong as those eunuchs say."

"By the way, there is also the Shenwu Army..." Li Yi thought of the Shenwu Army that protected him, and was worried that there was also a problem with Zhang Huaiding.

"Yes, don't worry, Aye!" Li Meiling also vaguely sensed that something was wrong and agreed immediately.

"Your Majesty, the script is here!"

Shortly after the father and daughter finished their conversation, Tian Yun brought people to move a box of storybooks to the door of the side hall.

"Move in, let me see the literary talent of Liu Jilong!"

Li Yi opened his mouth and gestured, feeling very curious.

The printing technology of the Tang Dynasty was certainly more advanced than that of other countries in the world, but it was not so advanced that books were not taken seriously.

Although many people began to write vernacular novels in the late Tang Dynasty, the books were very expensive due to printing difficulties.

Li Yi looked at the box of books that was moved in front of him and couldn't help but frowned and asked, "Are these all written by Liu Jilong?"

"Not entirely. About 30% are scripts written by other people." Li Meiling responded with a smile, and at the same time personally found the novel written by Liu Jilong.

There are twenty-three volumes in total, but they only belong to three books, namely "Journey to the West", "Dream of Red Mansions" and "Romance of the Three Kingdoms".

"Of these three books, Journey to the West has thirteen volumes, and the other two have five volumes each."

"It's not finished yet. It is said that Journey to the West has thirty volumes, Dream of the Red Chamber has thirty-six volumes, and Romance of the Three Kingdoms has forty volumes."

"These three books are published in June and December every year. They are always interrupted at the most exciting part, which makes people feel very uncomfortable when reading them."

Talking about the storybooks, Li Meiling was quite excited, especially when she took out the storybook of Journey to the West and handed it to Li Yi, saying, "This is the first volume."

Li Yi took it and opened it, frowning and saying, "Why is it written in such vulgar language?"

After being accustomed to seeing the flowery and colorful memorials, Li Yi was very disdainful of novels written in vernacular.

"It is said that these novels were written by Liu Jilong for his illiterate generals to help them learn."

"Primary education?" Listening to his daughter's explanation, Li Yi patiently read on and unknowingly immersed himself in the story.

Before he knew it, he had flipped through five volumes, and Li Meiling was also reading the fifth volume, A Dream of Red Mansions.

One has to be patient to read Dream of the Red Chamber, so she read it very slowly.

"Your Majesty, shall we serve the meal?"

As the sky was getting dark, Tian Yun had no choice but to walk into the hall, bow and ask about Li Yi.

Li Yi was interrupted and was a little annoyed, but after reacting, he said, "My daughter and I are having dinner here."

"Yes, I'll take my leave..."

Tian Yun withdrew, while Li Yi looked at Li Meiling: "This Liu Jilong is quite talented in writing. He can write about the world of immortals so brilliantly that I can't help but doubt whether there are immortals in this world."

After he finished speaking, without waiting for Li Meiling to speak, he continued to teach:
"But this official is too bold. He actually wrote something outrageous in the book, such as 'The Emperor of Heaven takes turns to rule, and this year it's my turn.'"

Li Meiling smiled brightly, her eyes as bright as crescent moons: "It's just a novel, why are you so angry, Aye?"

"Humph!" Li Yi snorted coldly, and then said to Li Meiling:
"Please keep all the books you have read. I will look carefully. Liu Jilong may have made rebellious remarks in other books."

"When I find it, I will circle it in red and use it in my manifesto to defeat it!"

"Yes..." Li Meiling was a little helpless. After all, she was still counting on the script written by Liu Jilong.

Seeing her like that, Li Yi couldn't help but soften his heart and said, "Don't worry, if we catch him then, we will definitely let him finish writing the storybook in prison. It won't be too late to kill him after he finishes it."

"Thank you, Aye..."

Li Meiling stood up and saluted him with a smile, which made Li Yi very happy.

At the same time, plates of food were brought into the side hall of Xianning Palace.

Helong's iron pots and stir-fried dishes have long been the first choice of many aristocratic families and commoners in the Tang Dynasty.

When the father and daughter had almost finished eating, Li Yi reminded them, "Don't forget what Aye told you. Remember to bring the new storybook when the time comes."

Li Meiling was stunned for a moment, but soon realized that her father was hinting at something, so she quickly agreed: "Don't worry, father, Nannan will remember it."

"go Go……"

Li Yi waved his hand, then watched Li Meiling disappear.

"Liu Jilong..."

Looking at his daughter's disappearing back into the distance, Li Yi whispered Liu Jilong's name softly.

After a few breaths, he returned to his seat. After sitting down, he did not deal with government affairs, but continued to read the storybook.

His behavior surprised Tian Yun who was standing at the palace gate. After all, he knew very well how much the emperor favored those actors and musicians.

At this time of day, the emperor would have already started listening to music, but now he was so obsessed with those storybooks.

Thinking of this, Tian Yun felt that he still didn't know the emperor well enough.

As the time passed from the hour of Xu to the hour of Hai, Tian Yun had no choice but to walk into the palace and bow to Li Yi: "Your Majesty, it's time to rest."

"Well, I will not summon the concubines to sleep with me today. I will take a rest after watching for a while."

Li Yi responded without even looking up, and then said, "You can go down and rest first, and leave the rest of the work to others."

"Yes..." Tian Yun responded respectfully, then left the side hall, explained the matter of Xianning Palace to others, and then left Daming Palace.

However, after he left the Daming Palace, he did not return to his own residence, but went to Wang Zongshi's mansion.

Half an hour later, when he told Wang Zongshi what Bi Zhen said in Xianning Palace today, Wang Zongshi, who was wearing a middle-aged suit, snorted coldly:
"Could it be that these officials of the Southern Court think that I am too old to deal with them?"

The reason why Wang Zongshi chose to support Li Yi was not only because he was the eldest son, but also because he was easy to control.

What he didn't expect was that Li Yi, who had been timid in the past, would be so anxious to show himself after ascending the throne.

"Deal with Liu Jilong?"

Thinking of this, Wang Zongshi couldn't help feeling a little guilty.

Ever since he witnessed the consequences of the rebellion led by Wang Shouwen and Wu Wei, Wang Zongshi has been wary of the generals coming out of Helong.

Although Gao Pian has won victory after victory in Rongzhou, Wang Zongshi has not forgotten that he tried to block Liu Jilian but returned empty-handed in the past.

If Gao Pian fought with Liu Jilian, Liu Jilian would probably have the upper hand.

"Secretary, I think Longyou must be guarded against."

Tian Yun spoke cautiously, and Wang Zongshi glanced at him but did not scold him.

Seeing this, Tian Yun continued: “If Liu Jilong becomes too powerful, it is inevitable that he will mobilize troops in the future.”

"Longyou controls the official road into Shu. If there is a rebellion in the future, Guanzhong and Shuzhong will become particularly dangerous. The court will probably have no choice but to go to the Eastern Capital and the Northern Capital."

"Besides..."

"How dare you!" Wang Zongshi interrupted Tian Yun's speech without any hesitation, and waved his hand and said, "Go down."

"Yes……"

Tian Yun did not dare to show any dissatisfaction and cautiously left the main hall.

After he left, Qi Yuanjian and Wang Zonghui walked out from behind the screen.

"Brother, we do need to be wary of Liu Jilong." Wang Zonghui spoke quickly after he walked out.

Wang Zongshi did not respond to him, but looked at Qi Yuanjian: "What do you think?"

Qi Yuanjian bowed slowly and said, "I think Liu Jilong must be guarded against, but we don't know much about him, so why not ask Gao Qianli for advice?"

"Well... that's a good idea." Wang Zongshi nodded in agreement.

After all, Gao Pian had fought against Liu Jilong before, so he naturally knew how powerful Liu Jilong was.

Although Wang Zongshi was also a military officer of the Northern Secretariat, at best he led the Shence Army to engage in political struggles and palace coups.

He knew himself well. If he were really asked to command a large army to fight in the battlefield, he would not only be better than Gao Pian, but he would probably not even be as good as Pei Xiu and Cui Xuan.

Thinking of this, he looked at Wang Zonghui:
"You should go to Dongchuan in person to see the situation in Shuzhong, and also ask Gao Pian how to curb Liu Jilong."

"Yes……"

Wang Zonghui didn't expect that he would have to make the trip himself, but facing the order from his elder brother, he didn't dare to get angry. He could only accept it, leave the mansion, and send someone to arrange the trip south.

(End of this chapter)