A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 1284: Diverting trouble to the east
Phi Island.

Located to the east of the Yalu River estuary, it forms a three-legged tripod with Ludao and Zhangzidao at the Yalu River estuary, echoing each other from afar and serving as each other's support.

Pi Island is not big, about 20 miles long from north to south and about 30 miles wide from east to west, covering an area of ​​nearly 30,000 acres.

This was originally a small, mountainous island with only a few fishing villages. Later, it was attacked by pirates and became deserted.

But ten years ago, many ships came here.

Many sea merchants came here and built docks and villages. This unknown deserted island gradually became a prosperous smuggling trade island.

Various materials were shipped from the Tang Dynasty and sold to Goguryeo merchants, and Goguryeo merchants also transported various local products and slaves from their country to the island to sell.

Pi Island is very close to the land, but its back is to Denglai.

Especially, Pi Island has many small harbors, and the strait between it and Tan Island in the southeast is conducive to sheltering from the wind.
Although this island is all sand and rock, with no land suitable for farming,

However, it was booming thanks to the smuggling trade. The Goguryeo court had known about this smuggling island for a long time. However, the people involved in the smuggling trade on Pi Island were all Goguryeo princes and nobles, so the smuggling trade on Pi Island became increasingly bigger.

Nowadays, not only the three islands at the mouth of the Yalu River, namely Pi Island, Zhangzi Island and Luniao, have become a place for smuggling commercial goods, but even Tieshan, opposite Pi Island, has a smuggling wharf.

The smuggling trade in Pidao and other three islands was actually led by the Wu family.

These three islands are equivalent to the Wu family's overseas smuggling colonies. There are not only harbors, docks and castles on the three islands, but also many warehouses and workshops, and even many hired workers and slaves.

Even the emerging town of Tieshan, which seemed to be nominally controlled by a local powerful family, was actually just a puppet of the Wu family, who were the real controllers of Tieshan Village.

Smuggling is always profitable.

Although Pi Island is not suitable for farming as it is mostly mountains and sand, merchant ships are constantly coming and going, and the pirates who were recruited by the Tang Dynasty also come here for transit, supplies, and trade. Even many people along the coast of Goguryeo, who could not bear the heavy burden of Goguryeo, ran to the island to work.

There are docks and workshops here, where you can earn money by working, and the income is not low. Life and safety are guaranteed, and there is not so much oppression and injustice, which makes Pi Island prosperous.

There is a fact that neither the Tang court nor the Goguryeo court fully understood, that is, the three Pidao islands controlled by the Wu family, plus the Iron Mountain Peninsula, have accumulated a population of nearly 100,000 over the past ten years.

This is a staggering number.
There are nearly 50,000 people on the main island of Pi Island alone.

The Goguryeo people had no control over it and no ability to attack it, while the Tang Dynasty did not care about this small island far off the coast of Goguryeo. After all, it was an overseas place.

A place where no one cares.
In just ten years, it has become extremely prosperous.

Now that the war has broken out, the smuggling trade on Pi Island will not only not be affected or reduced, but will become more prosperous. Moreover, once the war starts, more Goguryeo people will flee to the island.

In Chang'an City,

After listening to Pang Yanxin's report on the latest situation in Pi Island, Wu Huaiyu gave instructions to strengthen the defense of Pi Island and other islands, to reinforce the city walls, and to send in more armed forces to increase vigilance.

Don't stop the trade. The more wars there are, the more prosperous this business will be.

As long as we don't sell military supplies such as military equipment and iron materials to the Goguryeo people, there is no need to worry about anything else.

"In fact, we are not afraid of Goguryeo's intentions. Not to mention that Pi Island is on the sea and is easy to defend but difficult to attack, even if the Iron Mountain City we control is on land, Goguryeo will have no chance to attack."

Pang Yanxin is Pang Yanzhang's cousin. He was born in Lingnan barbarian family, but he has been in Chang'an for many years. He has been working for the Wu family all these years and is now in charge of the trade in Pi Island.

His words were not arrogant, but true.

After all, it is an overseas territory with a population of 100,000. There are castles built on the three main islands. Tieshan also has a fortress with many armed guards. Moreover, it has a large population and can mobilize many young and strong people to assist in defense at any time. The equipment is also very good.

Earlier in Tieshan, they actually fought with the Goguryeo people several times, both openly and covertly. There were large-scale bloody conflicts, but they never publicized the incident. The Goguryeo people suffered several heavy losses, and finally had no choice but to give up.

Then they negotiated peace with Pi Island. Pi Island gave some benefits to Goguryeo people every year. In fact, the wool still came from the sheep. Later, Goguryeo people reaped a lot of dividends from the trade with Pi Island, and they never thought of attacking again.

We can't win by fighting, and there are many benefits to cooperation. Only a crazy person would shout for war and killing all day long.

You can make a lot of money by coming here as a middleman, buying the popular goods from Pi Island and then selling them to other merchants in Goguryeo, or taking them back to the mainland to sell them yourself.

Even now, Goguryeo officials still visit the island and give gifts during festivals, for fear of offending these gods of wealth.

In addition to the strong defense of Wujia Pi Island, many pirates along the coast also have close ties with Pi Island and can call for reinforcements at any time.

"The Eastern Expedition is about to begin. We must be prepared. We should never fight a battle without preparation."

"Even if the Goguryeo people are incapable of invading us, should we be satisfied with this? The situation is about to change drastically, and we must take the initiative to attack. After ten years of operation, how can we waste this critical moment?"

Pang Yanxin chuckled a few times, "General, do you think you want to take advantage of the situation?"

"This word is not used properly, but the meaning is this. We have been operating for ten years and have such strong strength. When we encounter this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, we should act now,"

"General, our trade with Goguryeo is going so smoothly now. If we take direct action, will it affect the trade? The profits are quite huge every year." Pang Yanxin was reluctant because those were huge profits.

"Change your thinking. We can fight under another banner, such as a pirate group." Huaiyu enlightened him.

"Oh, I see. Let's continue our business and send people to secretly land and plunder under the pirate flag."

"Hahaha, yes, that's right."

The three islands at the mouth of the Yalu River now have a population of 100,000. Coupled with the huge maritime transit trade, the annual profits generated are very staggering.

Wu Huaiyu has spent ten years running the business and of course he will not give up. He will only invest more and more capital in the future. He has even thought about sending a son to take charge there.

If the Tang Dynasty conquers Liaodong and the Korean Peninsula in the future, the Wu family will establish a new branch there.

"General, can you personally lead the army to Liaodong this time and destroy Goguryeo in one battle?" Wu Huaiyu laughed.

In fact, he had a clear understanding of the Eastern Expedition in his mind. It was impossible to destroy the Liaodong overlord who had been established for 700 years in one battle.

He believed that the emperor must understand this, but the emperor still wanted to lead the army in person. He did not really want to destroy Liao in one battle, but to severely damage Goguryeo in one battle.

To break their backs.
They will just have to waste time slowly in the future; it won’t take them many years.

This battle was to annihilate their elite main force.

The Liaodong Plain is indeed a better main battlefield.

After meeting Pang Yanxin, Wu Huaiyu went to see the emperor.

After the meeting, he reported to the emperor about Pi Island. There were several islands at the mouth of the Yalu River in Goguryeo. Now the Wu family and others occupied the islands for maritime trade and took in some Goguryeo refugees.

When the Eastern Expedition begins, Pi Island can also cooperate with the imperial court and unite with pirates to harass the coast of Goguryeo.

"I remember that when you went to Qingnipu, you wrote me a memorial asking the court to recruit the pirates in Haidong and to issue maritime plundering licenses to the merchants in the Central Plains, so that they could plunder Goguryeo's ships and coastal areas.
I never thought that they have occupied several large islands there and caused such a big commotion."

It is impossible that Li Shimin knew nothing about Pi Island, but even if he knew it, he would not care, because it was overseas, and it was indeed Wu Huaiyu who first requested permission from the court before he followed the rules.

There are tens of thousands of people in Pi Island, and engaging in smuggling trade is nothing. It is all overseas anyway. For the imperial court, it is still beneficial to weaken Goguryeo.

“We can arrange a navy to be stationed in Pi Island and use it as the base camp to launch attacks on the Yalu River area. Pi Island will just need to provide cooperation and support.” said the emperor.

After talking about business,

Wu Huaiyu took the initiative to bring up the matter of his daughter Liu Niang.

I didn't hide it.

"Last time, my wife went to the palace to meet with Concubine Wei and others. When she came back, she said that Concubine Wei wanted to be a matchmaker and marry my daughter Liu Niang to the Prince of Jin."

"Well, this is also what I want, Huaiyu. We have known each other for many years, and we are also in-laws. Liu Niang was also raised by me, and I like this girl very much.

She and Zhinu are childhood sweethearts, so I want to strengthen the relationship and marry another relative."

To have a three-family marriage with the royal family is an unparalleled favor and honor.

In the past, only Fang Xuanling had three marriages with the royal family.

"It is my great honor to be betroth your daughter to the King of Jin."

"Then it's settled. I'll have the historian pick an auspicious day and then choose a matchmaker to go to your house and propose marriage."

"it is good,"

"Your Majesty, I have something to ask you."

"But it doesn't matter."

Wu Huaiyu then talked about Princess Jinyang's little Sizi, and said that he wanted to ask the princess for marriage on behalf of his brother Huaiyi's eldest son.

"The eldest son of Huaiyi's family is called Jizu, right?" Li Shimin stroked his beard.

"Exactly. He is one year younger than my heir. He is sixteen this year. He is already very tall and strong, and is both civil and military."

Li Shimin naturally knew that Wu Jizu, who had just been conferred the title of Baron of Shixing County by him, was now a Qianniu attendant of the Eastern Palace.

He hesitated for a while. In fact, he had previously wanted to marry the divorced Princess Gaoyang back to the Wu family and marry Wu Huaiyu's eighth son, but Wu Huaiyu refused.

This made Li Shimin quite dissatisfied for a while. Later, he selected many noble families and descendants of famous officials for Gao Yang. However, many of them ran away after hearing the news. No one was willing to marry Gao Yang, which made Li Shimin very angry.

Wu Huaiyi's eldest son, Wu Jizu, was also one of the candidates chosen by Li Shimin to be the son-in-law of Gaoyang.

Unexpectedly, Wu Huaiyu now proposed to ask Princess Jinyang for marriage for his eldest nephew.

Princess Jinyang is the emperor's legitimate daughter, but she was basically raised in the Wu family over the years. She recognized Wu Huaiyi and his wife as her godmothers. Jinyang, who had been frail and sickly since childhood, is now exceptionally healthy after Wu Huaiyu's careful care over the years.

Li Shimin opened his mouth.
I originally wanted to marry Gao Yang to Wu Jizu, but thinking of Wu Huaiyu’s direct refusal before, it’s not a good idea to bring it up now.

"Little Sizi is the apple of my eye. Your Wu family wants to monopolize her forever." Li Shimin laughed and scolded a few times, "Wu Jizu's child is quite good. Let me ask Little Sizi. As long as she is willing, I will agree to this marriage."

"If this is accomplished, then our two families will have become relatives of four families."

Li Shimin stroked his beard and laughed.

"Huaiyu, I need your help with something. Gao Yang has not found a suitable family since her divorce from Fang Er. Can you help her find a good husband for her?"

Wu Huaiyu suddenly felt a headache.
Princess Gaoyang is a disaster. Whoever family she is introduced to, it will harm others.

I really can't bear it.

Or introduce her to Changsun Wuji's family or Li Ji's family. These two guys have been very affectionate lately and have been doing a lot of little things. Marrying Gao Yang to their family will disgust them to death.

"Your Majesty, there are many sons of Grand Uncle Changsun, and all of them are talented. There is also the son of Prime Minister Li, Duke of England, who is also very good."

Li Shimin stroked his beard and his eyes lit up. Both families were very good and met the conditions for the emperor to marry into the family.

(End of this chapter)