Recreating the prosperous Tang begins with summoning players

Chapter 243 The Discussion of Abandoning Long
Liangzhou, Wuwei City.

Hexi Jiedu Envoy's Mansion, Hexi Jiedu Envoy Fang Guan, who had just returned home from the poetry meeting, smelled of alcohol.

This Shazhou burn is really strong, but after drinking half a pot, the brain becomes like a paste, but Fang Guan likes this feeling of drunkenness very much.

It feels so good not to have to think about the future, not to worry about the present.

With the help of the steward, he took off his clothes, and Xinna's concubine came up to wipe Fang Guan's face. At this moment, a staff member suddenly begged to see Fang Guan outside the door.

Chu Zhuang, this is Fang Guan's staff recruited in the capital. Since King Jianning captured Zhangye City, most of Fang Guan's retainers have fled.

Even the conspirators like Dou Shen ran away, and the other strategists of course knew that Fang Guan, the Hexi governor, would soon fall.

Instead of waiting for Fang Guan to fall and get implicated, it is better to leave early and find another way out.

Chu Zhuang almost ran away from other staff members, and he still stayed with Fang Guan, which also made Fang Guan think highly of him.

This Chu Zhuang was a child of Jingzhao's small family with a wicked face. Because of his ugly appearance, he cut off his way to study. When he saw Fang Guan recruiting staff, he immediately defected to Fang Guan and followed him to Hexi.

In addition to talent and learning, appearance is also a very important link in the Tang Dynasty to obtain a scholar. For a person like Chu Zhuang, he is not even qualified to take the Jinshi examination.

Chu Zhuang is still very grateful for Fang Guan, the mastermind. He is unwilling to leave Fang Guan. On the one hand, Fang Guan is really good to him, and on the other hand, it is difficult for him to find another job with his appearance.

Chu Zhuang begged to see him at this time, and Fang Guan was a little displeased.

But now that the staff under him are almost gone, Fang Guan has to act like a corporal.

He wiped his face with the towel in his concubine's hand, and ordered the steward to call Chu Zhuang in.

As soon as he saw Fang Guan, Chu Zhuang said, "Jie Shuai, Zhuang has something important to discuss!"

Fang Guan became more sober from his drunkenness. At this time, Chu Zhuang wanted to talk to him alone, so Fang Guan waved his hand and dismissed the concubine and the personal steward, leaving only Chu Zhuang alone.

After everyone withdrew, Chu Zhuang suddenly said in a low voice: "Jie Shuai, you have to worry about your life!"

Fang Guan was startled suddenly, and most of the drunkenness on his body dissipated. He looked at Chu Zhuang's solemn expression, and said seriously: "Please teach me, Chu Jun, where the worries come from!"

After all, Fang Guan was also a prime minister, and Chu Zhuang was very satisfied with this "respectful corporal" attitude, and he said slowly: "The worry comes from the Chishui army under the account of the Hexi Jiedu envoy."

Hearing the words Chishuijun, Fang Guan's face also showed a trace of panic, obviously Chu Zhuang didn't intend to scare Fang Guan.

The largest army is like Chishui, with an area of ​​180 miles. It is far from Tubo in the front and Turkic in the north. It is the strongest army in Hexi.

The Chishui Army was originally stationed in the west of Liangzhou. During the Emperor's reign, the Chishui Army defeated the Tubo invaders at that time, but the Emperor was unwilling to reward the Chishui Army with money and silk from the treasury.

At that time, the prime minister, Yang Guozhong, made a policy to take back the fields occupied by the Chishui Army to the imperial court, and then turned them into Yongye fields to reward the meritorious generals of the Chishui Army.

Regarding this method, the emperor was overjoyed when he heard the words. According to Yang Guozhong's method, he rewarded the generals of the Chishui Army with the land that originally belonged to the Chishui Army.

The generals of the Chishui Army were naturally overjoyed at this result, and the soldiers accepted the reward from the court in satisfaction.

However, the Chishui Army lost its farmland, and the farmland became the private property of the generals, and the task of supporting the army fell on the Hexi Jiedushi's mansion.

Now Fang Guan, the Hexi Jiedushi, has only one state left in the four Hexi towns under his jurisdiction. It is a bit difficult to rely on the grain harvested from Liangzhou and one state to support the Chishui Army.

There was really no way for those who were forced to do so. A few days ago, Fang Guan sent an inspection envoy to count the number of soldiers in the Chishui Army and check the number of soldiers who were not paid.

This kind of thing is also a common thing in border towns. Many soldiers will use fictional soldiers to eat the empty salary of the court, and check and clear the number of soldiers who are paid empty salary. This is also something that many Jiedu envoys will do when they take office.

But Fang Guan's problem is that his subordinates don't have talents who understand military affairs, so the inspectors can only be appointed by people from the Chishui Army.

As a result, some soldiers who were originally on the register were dismissed as empty pay.

Those school lieutenants and brigade marshals continued to receive the imperial court's military salary instead.

And those military leaders in the Chishui Army, in turn, used Fang Guan to send checkpoints to clean up the soldiers to provoke the soldiers, saying that the imperial court was unwilling to pay the soldiers' salaries.

Fang Guan also knew that the Chishui army was in turmoil now, and after hearing Chu Zhuang's report, cold sweat broke out all at once.

"Sir, teach me!" Fang Guan didn't care about Jiedushi's arrogance anymore, he immediately said to Chu Zhuang.

Seeing that his purpose of asking to see Fang Guan had been fulfilled, Chu Zhuang said: "Jie Shuai, the Chishui Army's matter is all because of insufficient money and silk rewards. As long as the money and silk are in place, the Chishui Army will be stable immediately."

Fang Guan said with a sad face: "But the treasury has no money, so what can I do?"

Changing the horse into a mulberry was not successful, and Fang Guan still owed a whole lot of debts. If he really couldn't afford the money, Fang Guan would only deduct the salary of the Chishui Army if he was crazy.

Chu Zhuang suddenly lowered his voice and said: "Jie Shuai, someone is willing to give money."

Seeing Chu Zhuang's expression, Fang Guan suddenly felt a little scared.

But Chu Zhuang approached him and said: "Yesterday, a merchant from Tubo came to me and wanted to do business with Jieshuai!"

Fang Guan's face paled in fright, the relationship between Tubo and Datang is delicate now, if the Tubo people came to the door, wouldn't that be seeking skin from a tiger?

But Chu Zhuang didn't give Fang Guan a chance, he said directly: "The Tubo people want the Chishui army to withdraw from the fortress west of Liangzhou!"

Now Zi Fangguan was so frightened that he almost cried out.

Chu Zhuang immediately said: "Tubo is not planning to seek Liangzhou, but to attack Zhangye!"

Fang Guan calmed down a little, and he said: "No! Zhangye is also under the jurisdiction of the Hexi Jiedu Mansion. If Zhangye is lost, the imperial court will definitely hold me accountable!"

But Chu Zhuang said: "Jie Shuai! Now that King Jianning is occupying Zhangye, your memorial has been sent to the imperial court! The court asked King Jianning to be in charge of Longyou. If Zhangye made mistakes, it is King Jianning's responsibility!"

Fang Guan calmed down a little, yes, he and King Jianning had a pen and ink lawsuit, but it caused quite a storm in Fengxiang Mansion. The court clearly knew that Zhang Ye was controlled by King Jianning, so if it was occupied by the Tubo people, they couldn’t Hold yourself accountable.

Chu Zhuang said again: "And Jieshuai also knows that the imperial court has long proposed to abandon Longzhou. As long as Jieshuai can guard Liangzhou, the imperial court can only report your achievements, and it is impossible to catch up with your faults. Instead, they want to praise you for guarding Liangzhou." The state deserves credit!"

Fang Guan and Chu Zhuang didn't know that their plan had been heard from beginning to end.

(End of this chapter)