A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 1288 His Majesty the King
An Lushan came to visit.

I haven't seen this guy for more than a year, and he already weighs 400 pounds.

He stepped down from the specially ordered carriage like a mountain of flesh.

A tall Jie warrior came to the door and respectfully handed a visiting card to the hunchback.

"Lushan, the Grand Commander of the State of Anxi, the Prince of Anxi, and the Governor of Anxi, is here to pay his respects to the Grand Commandant!"

The hunchback looked at the fat Lushan, rubbed his eyes, and looked down upon the fierce Zhejie warriors. These warriors were the most elite mercenaries, active on the Silk Road. Most of them were from the Nine Surnames of Zhaowu, especially the nomadic Sogdians from Kangguo.

They received special training as Zhejie warriors from a young age and became the elite selected from a hundred miles away. They were not only employed in large numbers by the Nine Zhaowu States to become the personal guards of the kings, but were also hired by the Sogdian merchant groups to guard commercial goods, and were even once employed by the Eastern and Western Turkic Khans, such as Jijin.

There have been many Zhejie warriors in Chang'an in recent years. With the arrival of Sogdian merchants and Turkic nobles, many Zhejie have begun to be employed by Tang nobles and merchants. This is not uncommon, but they are indeed very famous in the hiring circle, and are known for their bravery, fighting ability, and loyalty.

"Anzhu'er, you've become as fat as a pig. You've become an Anlu ball, or an Anlu meat mountain. I almost didn't recognize you."

The hunchback smiled at An Lushan.

As soon as these words came out,
A group of Zhejie warriors glared at him, and some of them put their hands on the hilts of their swords.

"How dare you be disrespectful to His Majesty the King!" shouted the tall captain of the guards.

An Lushan smiled and said, "You guys step back, this is my adoptive father's home, this is my adoptive father's old family member."

"Uncle Tuo, you are still so healthy."

"Well, your back is more hunched," the hunchback smiled and walked forward.

An Lushan waved his hand, and his men immediately brought a box, which was a gift for the camel, containing precious stones and other things.

"Uncle Tuo accepted it. I won't be polite to you." The hunchback accepted it with a smile. "Your guards are tall and mighty, but their eyesight is not very good. They dared to act wildly in front of the Taiwei Mansion. They probably don't know that there are 300 imperial guards and 100 cavalry stationed in our mansion."

"Uncle Tuo, please forgive me. We are from the remote and wild place in the Western Regions and don't know the rules." Lushan explained with a smile. These Zhejie warriors were his personal soldiers, known as Yeluohe, which means brave warriors.

The An Lushan of today is no longer the mixed Hu shepherd boy who first came to the Wu family. He has now become the King of Anguo.

In the Western Regions, he conquered Qiuci, broke into the royal palace, slept with the queen, and allowed his soldiers to plunder. He was impeached by the censor, but Wu Huaiyu tried his best to protect him. In the end, he was arranged to be a training envoy in Anguo, and he also became sworn brothers with the vice king of Anguo.

This guy also knew how to seize opportunities. When he arrived at Anguo, he immediately helped hire Zhejie warriors, paid them a large sum of money, and then recruited many Sogdians to unite with Parthia.

Later, the Turkic king of Anguo, Zhaowusha, took the initiative and lured the deputy king into the palace in the name of entertaining him. However, Fatty An immediately raised an army to defend the king and defeated the Turkic king. He first established a small king and became the regent of Anguo.
Not only did the young king die of illness, but he also naturally gained the support of the Tang court and became the King of Anguo. The Tang Dynasty also conferred the title of Prince of Parthia on him.

Fatty An achieved a brilliant comeback in life.

After becoming king, he invested heavily in building his own guards. The 8,000 Yeluhe were all selected and raised by him as his adopted sons. Most of the officers and instructors were veterans recruited from the Tang Dynasty.

Relying on this 8,000-strong elite guard, Fatty An's position in the State of An is now very stable. After cleaning out a group of nobles from the former Turkic king's lineage and supporters of the former Sogdian vice king, now everyone in the State of An has been won over by him, or they are afraid of his strength and the Tang Dynasty behind him.

This time, An Lushan brought 3,000 Yeluhe soldiers to Chang'an because he received an imperial edict from the Heavenly Khan to follow him on the eastern expedition and go to Liaodong to watch the battle.

Not only King An, but all the vassal states of the Tang Dynasty received the emperor's edict this time.

One was to ask them to declare war on Goguryeo, and the other was for the king or prince to come to Liaodong to accompany the emperor and watch the battle.

The Tang Dynasty has no shortage of soldiers from its vassal states.
The main purpose was to take the opportunity to show them the power of the Tang Dynasty and at the same time put some pressure on the Goguryeo people.

An Lushan was very proactive. After receiving the imperial edict, he immediately brought 3,000 soldiers and rushed to Chang'an from thousands of miles away.

His visit to Chang'an this time, in addition to accompanying the emperor and watching the war in Liaodong, also had one more thing to do, which was to marry the princess who was granted marriage by the Tang Dynasty after the war, and then bring her back to Anguo.

Like Shi Shouxin, he relied on his status as the King of Hezhong to obtain a princess in marriage from the Tang Dynasty. Of course, this princess was not the emperor's daughter, but a daughter of the royal family who was canonized as a princess and then married.

But for Fatty An, this is also a great honor.

After all, it was too much of a legend for a shepherd boy to become a king. But he still had some inferiority complex in his bones, so when he invaded Qiuci, he took in the queens and princesses of several generations of Qiuci, became the king of Anguo, and inherited the wives and concubines of the former Turkic king and the vice king of Sogdia, saying, "I will take care of your wives and concubines."

"When did you arrive in Chang'an?"

"I just entered Chang'an City, and I came to see Aye immediately."

"You are a filial son, An Zhu'er. A Lang is at home. Go ahead. You and your men will stay outside."

An Lushan didn't care at all that the hunchback called him that. He and the hunchback had known each other for many years. When he first followed Wu Huaiyu, the hunchback had been very caring towards young men like them. He also knew that although the hunchback had always been a doorman in the Wu family and had once been a slave of the Wu family, his adoptive father had treated the hunchback very well and always treated him as a family member.

Moreover, the hunchback's son, a Jinshi, is now the county magistrate.

However, those elite Zhejie warriors who were dragged into the river were looking at this scene in amazement. In the rivers of the Western Regions, His Majesty King An, whose reputation was known to the nine Zhaowu clans and even the Tocharians and Persians had heard of his fame, was so polite and respectful to an old gatekeeper in Chang'an?
Don't be fooled by the fat man's smile now, but in Hezhong, he was able to grab a throne in just one or two years.
Is that a simple person?
That requires decisiveness and ruthlessness.

Fatty An's throne was paved with countless corpses of countless people who had died.

Normally, he is intimidating without getting angry.
But I didn't expect that in Chang'an, even the gatekeeper of the Taiwei's house had to be so polite.

This Wu Taiwei is indeed a legendary figure who can stop children from crying in the Western Regions. An Lushan entered the Taiwei Mansion alone.

The men stayed outside the mansion obediently and carried down the jewels, gold and other gifts they had brought.

In the palace, there is a martial arts arena.

Wu Huaiyu was reviewing his entourage.

Before accompanying the emperor on this eastern expedition, Wu Huaiyu, the Shangzhuguo, Shangshu You Pushe, and Tongzhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi, did not command the troops but was only an advisor to the emperor. However, when he was in Chang'an, the emperor always specially gave him three hundred imperial guards and a hundred cavalry guards as protection.

Not to mention going to the Liaodong front, the emperor gave him an additional 300 guards, and he now had 600 imperial guards.

As for a minister of his level, the emperor also allowed him to bring some children and followers, and gave him 400 quotas.

These four hundred young men and soldiers also enjoyed the treatment of food and fodder supplies from the court. They were equivalent to volunteer auxiliary soldiers and would be rewarded for their merits in fighting.

Six hundred imperial guards, one hundred cavalrymen, four hundred young men and women, these one thousand people were Wu Huaiyu's personal guards.

Wu Huaiyu didn't have to worry about the 600 people allocated by the emperor, as there were generals of the imperial guards in charge of them.

Wu Huaiyu will need to arrange the other four hundred people himself.

There were too many people who wanted to join the expedition to Liaodong, including those from the close branches of his own Wu family as well as those from relatives and friends. He could only select a group from them.

The quota of 400 people has recently been crowded with people coming to the Wu family's doorstep.

After careful copying and selection, I finally selected it.

There are 50 men in a team, eight teams in total. Two teams make a brigade, two brigades make a regiment, and two regiments make a battalion.

In fact, it was divided into two battalions, left and right, with two regiments and 200 people in each battalion.

Xue Rengui, Wang Fangyi and Zhao Chiman, three young men, were fighting in the martial arts arena at this time.

Wu Huaiyu set up a ring in the martial arts arena.

The officers above the rank of deputy captain were selected through on-the-spot competitions, which were divided into civil and military competitions. The civil competition was naturally an interview, testing some military tactics and battle formations, while the military competition was a competition of horse riding, archery, cross-army, horse lance, foot combat, etc.

It must be said that these three people are worthy of being the heroes who left their names in history.
Soon he stood out from these four hundred young warriors,

Challengers, one after another, were defeated by them.

"Teacher, you have really picked up some treasures." Next to Huaiyu was Pei Xingjian, who had just been promoted to the position of Chang'an Magistrate. He was both Wu Huaiyu's student and his relative.

Pei Xingjian was also Qin Qiong's adopted son, and was considered a sworn brother of Wu Huaiyu. However, he later became Wu Huaiyu's student and learned literature, and later also learned military tactics from Su Dingfang.

Wu Huaiyu's 20th son, Chenglu, was engaged to Pei Xingjian's daughter.

The relationship between the two can be said to be very special. Pei Xingjian was born in the Zhongjuan House, one of the five houses of the Hedong Pei family. His father was Pei Renji, a great general at the end of the Sui Dynasty and Qin Qiong's old boss. However, Pei was a posthumous child. At the beginning of the Wude period, Qin Qiong and Cheng Yaojin found him and took him to Chang'an to raise and take care of him.

With such a good family background and such a good backer, Pei Xingjian's life was like a cheat. He took Qin Qiong as his adoptive father, Wu Huaiyu as his teacher, and studied with the prince in Chongxian Hall. He passed the imperial examination and became a Jinshi at a young age. He was released from prison and served as a military officer in Zuotunwei. He took General Su Dingfang as his teacher.

Later, he followed Su Dingfang to Yaozhou Military Governor's Office for training, and accumulated a lot of military merit in that remote and wild place.

After that, he went to the Western Regions to train under Wu Huaiyu for a period of time and was promoted to the Chief of the Western Regions.

Now, at the age of 24, he has been promoted to the fifth rank magistrate of Chang'an County.

Although Wu Huaiyu's eldest son Chengsi became the magistrate of Luoyang County at the age of seventeen, Wu Chengsi was the emperor's son-in-law after all, while Su Dingfang basically rose to the top step by step based on his own real abilities.

"Well, these three are indeed good materials. If they are polished, they will become useful."

"Will the teacher accept them as students or adopted sons?"

"I won't take any more adopted sons, but I can consider taking them as students." Wu Huaiyu said with a smile. He didn't dare to take any more adopted sons now. It would be a taboo to take too many. Zhang Liang was impeached for one crime before, which was to privately raise 500 adopted sons.

"Alang, Anzhuer is here to see you." The housekeeper came to report.

Huaiyu smiled and said, "Don't call him Zhu'er, Luqiu or anything like that anymore. He is now the Prince of Anxi and the King of An. We have to be respectful and polite to him."

The housekeeper also smiled and said, "Even if An Zhuer becomes king, he is still Alang's adopted son. Without Alang, he would probably still be herding sheep for the landlord in Lingzhou, having no food to eat and not even being able to find a wife. I still remember when he first came to the mansion, he was so skinny..."

"Please invite the people over quickly," Wu Huaiyu waved his hand.

Pei Xingjian also laughed and said, "Of course the path that the teacher pointed out to him is really a golden road. In such a short time, he has become a king."

"So, you want to be a king somewhere? It's a pity that among the nine surnames of Zhaowu, there is no country with the surname Pei." Huaiyu laughed.

(End of this chapter)