Man Tang Huacai

Chapter 513 Kill three birds with one stone

In Shu County, beautiful singing was heard in the newly built palace.

Li Longji did not change his past habit of feasting and drinking. After he went to Shu, he still enjoyed music and dancing every day, and many state affairs were discussed at banquets.

The officials who attended the imperial banquet sat behind the desks, looking a little reserved. Most of them were promoted after the emperor went to Sichuan, and they were less bold and more cautious than the officials in Chang'an before. This may be the difference in mentality between people in prosperous times and people in troubled times.

At the banquet, it was inevitable that Yan Wu and Gao Shi led troops to the north of Shu County to seek an audience with the sage. Everyone knew that they were sent by Xue Bai to ask the emperor to return. The situation was very embarrassing. Even Emperor Li Heng surrendered, and Li Longji, the "emperor", was placed in an even more embarrassing situation.

Sitting close to Li Longji were several important ministers, such as Wei Jiansu, Zhang Yi, Cui Yuan, and Lu Qi. They were also the ones who understood Li Longji's thoughts best and knew that the person the retired emperor hated the most was Xue Bai.

"I can abdicate, but I will never be usurped."

When he heard about returning to Chang'an, Li Longji immediately resisted. He held the wine glass, looked deep, and talked about the things that bothered him. He said: "Xue Bai is similar to An Lushan, with wolfish ambitions and betrayed my trust. I want to raise an army to fight this thief, who is willing to lead the army?"

He had been good at employing people all his life, but the two traitors he met in his later years seemed to have crushed his pride and confidence in this aspect at once. Now he trusted no one and was vaguely suspicious when employing people. Therefore, he did not choose veteran generals who were familiar with military affairs, but asked the close ministers around him.

Wei Jiansu and Zhang Yi were both silent, unwilling to serve as the commander-in-chief to attack Chang'an, because this would leave a bad reputation among the people of Guanzhong, and would also cause a fallout with Li Cong, and no one knew what would happen in the future.

In fact, the more suitable time to attack Xue Ni was when Li Heng sent troops to attack Chang'an. Unfortunately, Li Longji's foundation in Shu County was not solid at that time. He was busy rewarding his ministers and cultivating his confidants. When he turned around, Li Heng was destroyed.

Seeing that no one answered, Li Longji's eyes fell on Cui Yuan and asked, "Mr. Cui?"

"Your Majesty, I think it is not necessary to use military force against the rebellious Xue at the moment." Cui Yuan had no choice but to stand up and said, "I heard that Shi Siming has rebelled again and led his troops south. If these two rebellious people fight, one of them will be injured. Why not wait for time? The rebellion will be eliminated by itself."

Wei Jiansu also advised: "Now the Tubo is bullying the internal strife of the Tang Dynasty and is raising troops to invade. The military strength of Jiannan is not enough to defend against the Tubo, so it is not appropriate to mobilize troops against Chang'an."

"Then conscription."

Li Longji's face darkened, and he displayed the momentum that had dominated the world for more than forty years, and issued an order in a concise and forceful manner.

Although he was old, he was not confused. How could he not know the little calculations in the hearts of these ministers? He deliberately asked this question because he knew that they would refuse to raise troops to attack Guanzhong and even refuse to recruit soldiers.

Sure enough, Wei Jiansu, Cui Yuan and others were speechless.

Wei Jiansu stood there for a long time without sitting down, listening to the ethereal music at the banquet, with a look of sorrow on his face.

Ever since the retired emperor came to Sichuan, the officials in Sichuan have done their utmost to serve him so that he could continue to live a luxurious life, as if Sichuan was still in the prosperity of the Kaiyuan Period, and it was truly the paradise of the Tang Dynasty. But what was the reality?

Over the years, the imperial court had imposed heavy taxes and levies, and the government was corrupt, so the people of Sichuan actually had no food reserves. In addition, Tubo had repeatedly invaded the east, and Nanzhao had rebelled, resulting in many casualties among the military and civilians. It was only fortunate that Wang Zhongsi had won a great victory in his southern expedition, otherwise the vitality of Sichuan and even the entire Tang Dynasty would have been greatly damaged. In addition, as more and more nobles, officials, and imperial guards rushed to Sichuan to follow the emperor, they often invaded and plundered the local people... In short, the southwest is now exhausted.

At this time, the retired emperor was still determined to recruit soldiers and strong men to quell the internal strife within the royal family. In Wei Jiansu's view, this was already a case of warmongering. He then looked at Zhang Yi, hoping that the emperor's beloved son-in-law could speak up to persuade him, but Zhang Yi seemed not to hear him and was immersed in the music.

"The Emperor." Wei Jiansu had no choice but to speak up and advise, "We have just built a temporary palace, and the people feel burdened. If we recruit soldiers at this time, I am afraid it will cause people to be uneasy and complain."

Before he finished speaking, Lu Qi stood up and said, "The court recruited soldiers and gave generous rewards, so how could it cause resentment among the people? Could it be that Prime Minister Wei is unwilling to guard against Tubo and pacify Guanzhong?"

This was a very serious accusation, so Wei Jiansu said seriously, "Of course not."

Lu Qi's expression became even more passionate, and he said politely: "Your Majesty, please let me take on the responsibility of recruiting warriors and protecting the country! I will do my best and will not be negligent."

His loyalty and diligence immediately outshined everyone else. The other important officials looked at each other in bewilderment and could not say anything.

Li Longji was very happy and gave Lu Qi a glass of wine and drank with him.

~~
After Lu Qi left the palace, he had a very proud look on his face, thinking that sooner or later he would defeat Wei Jiansu, Zhang Yi, Cui Yuan and others and become the sole prime minister.

Although the country is in turmoil and wars are raging, it is not the time for internal strife. But since he was valued by the Grand Emperor, he felt that the Grand Emperor was wise and generous, and could give him power. On the contrary, several prime ministers hindered and divided power in everything. How could he fight against the rebels when working with such mediocre people? He must take charge of the power in order to achieve something.

In addition, Lu Qi was a very narrow-minded person. When he was in the Imperial College, he often fought with his classmates, and developed the ability to form a clique to attack dissidents. To attack dissidents, you need to wait for the right opportunity, but to form a clique, you have to do it as early as possible. Now he already has many cliques under his command.

After returning to the government office, Lu Qi quickly gathered his staff and told them that he wanted to increase the number of troops for the retired emperor.

One of them, Wei Dubin, could not help but worry: "I'm afraid that Lu Xianggong is just boasting. The treasury is already empty-handed. How can we recruit soldiers?"

"I have my own plan."

Lu Qi was confident and said, "The saint is recruiting soldiers and the pay is quite generous. There must be many people willing to enlist. Do you believe it?"

Wei Dubin said: "Even so, where can we get the money to pay these soldiers?"

"Haha."

Lu Qi waved his sleeves in a casual manner and said with a smile: "I have a plan that can raise tens of thousands of soldiers without spending any money or food. You can go and post a notice and tell those wealthy and idle Shu County children that this time the emperor is recruiting soldiers for the Northern Yamen Guards. In the past, the Northern Yamen Guards were not for ordinary people. They all came from military families and were skilled in archery and horse riding. Now that the road is open, it is a good time to make achievements and establish a career."

Upon hearing this, Wei Dubin clapped his hands and said, "Mr. Lu, this is a great idea. If this is the case, wouldn't it be better to let these rich kids pay to buy a place in the Imperial Guard?"

Lu Qi agreed and nodded, saying, "That's right. There are many runaways, knights-errant, and merchants in Sichuan. To avoid paying taxes and duties, there must be many merchants who want to register in the army. The price must be very high."

"I know," Wei Dubin replied, but soon he became suspicious again and asked, "But what should we do when the emperor wants to use this army?"

"When those rich kids join the army, won't they obey our orders? Let them take out money and food from their families and send out servants, so there will be no need to worry about a lack of able-bodied men." Lu Qi said, "Now Shi Siming and Xue Bai are fighting, and when they are both defeated, we can take out money and food to bribe their subordinates, and then we can achieve the great feat of pacifying the world. This is what we call food and fodder before the troops move."

"After listening to what Prime Minister Lu said today, I finally understood what a stunning talent is. It is precisely in this kind of dilemma that others are helpless that Prime Minister Lu's skills are revealed."

In Lu Qi's view, this is a solution that kills three birds with one stone. It can not only solve the shortage of money and food, but also use the money and food to recruit soldiers from the poor. In addition, this plan has another effect.

Sichuan and Shu were too easy to establish their own country. Since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, they were very wary of the power of the powerful families in Sichuan and Shu, and basically did not allow people from Shu to serve as officials in their hometowns. Officials above the level of prefecture in Jiannan were often outsiders.

Lu Qi believed that what he did was to suppress the nobles in Shu for the imperial court, and to use the emperor's trip to the south to make Sichuan truly the paradise of the Tang Dynasty. It was also an attempt to suppress annexation and weaken the nobles.

~~
In Yizhou City, in a large house not far from Jinli, someone was playing dominoes.

Since its rise, dominoes have been very popular among the people of Shu. Perhaps because Lady Guo was from Shu, they felt particularly close to dominoes; perhaps because Shu was rich in resources and had rugged roads, which made the people of Shu not like to go out; perhaps there was no special reason at all.

"Have you heard? The emperor is recruiting soldiers again."

The speaker was the gate guard officer of Yizhou City, named Guo Qianren. He was born in a wealthy family in Shu, but not a prominent family. Over the years, he gave Xianyu Zhongtong some gifts and was able to stay in his hometown to work, but he was not a high-ranking official.

Since those playing dominoes were all old friends who had close contact with each other, they did not have too many reservations when speaking and just said whatever came to their mind.

"There is no peace. Ever since the Emperor retired to Shu, he first built a temporary palace and then stationed the imperial guards, causing chaos. With the conscription, life will probably be even more difficult."

"The purpose of recruiting soldiers is naturally to defeat Xue Bai."

"It won't affect our playing dominoes if we get Xue Bai." Guo Qianren put a card on the table and said, "As far as I know, the emperor is so angry because of Yang Guifei, right?"

"Isn't it?" Several poker friends said mysteriously, "Xue Bai was plotting to usurp the throne because of Yang Guifei."

Now that Shu County has closed down private newspapers, people are still talking about it. Instead, after the official news disappeared, there were more anecdotes based on hearsay.

"A few years ago, Xue Bai had an affair with Yang Guifei. Xue Bai also injured Yang Guifei in a vital part of her body. Her skin was as white as snow, but two scratches were left. What should he do? He suddenly had an idea and made a set of costumes to wrap Yang Guifei tightly. He also wrote "The Romance of the West Chamber" based on this costume."

"I see, that's it. Hu."

The four of them were shuffling dominoes, discussing these romantic affairs with great excitement, and laughing at the fact that the retired emperor had raised troops out of jealousy. Afterwards, the topic returned to the current recruitment of soldiers.

“Remember Jia Xiu?”

"I remember." Guo Qianren said, "He served under me as a soldier in Jiannan for a few years. Later, he moved to Huayang County, right?"

"Yes, just last month, one of Jia Xiu's sisters was kidnapped by the imperial guards. The imperial guards said they wanted to settle down in Shu and even beat Jia Xiu's brother-in-law to death."

Guo Qianren said: "I have also met his brother-in-law twice. He is a good person."

"Who says it's not true? Brother Guo, why don't you take advantage of this recruitment opportunity to send Erlang to the Imperial Army for training?"

"Ha." Guo Qianren snorted coldly and said, "Although my son is useless, he doesn't rely on his power to bully others."

"You don't have to take advantage of your power to bully others, but you should also think about not being bullied. Lu Qi tried every way to make money for the emperor, even more than Li Linfu and Yang Guozhong. I heard that he is planning to introduce a tax."

Guo Qianren shouted, "Another tax increase? How are they collecting this?"

"Take your house for example. The space between the two pillars in the front and back counts as one room, and the six pillars in the main hall count as two rooms. The annual tax for a top-class room is 2,000 coins, for a medium-class room is 1,000 coins, and for a low-class room is 500 coins."

"Shit!"

Guo Qianren slammed the table and shouted angrily: "Although the house I live in is big, my family assets have long been emptied. When the family was divided, my brothers did not want the ancestral house, took the money and went to Yangzhou to do business. What can I say about that?!"

"That's all I can say, why are you smashing the cards? I'm about to win..."

After a while of noise, the card game ended. Guo Qianren sat alone under the frame of his house and thought for a long time, then ordered his servants, "Go and call Erlang."

He thought that letting his son join the Imperial Guard was the best way to protect this little wealth. ~~
North of Yizhou, Yan Wu’s camp.

Jiang Hai had recently been considering a violent attack on Shu County, but going to war was no small matter, so he had to send someone to ask Xue Bai, saying that the retired emperor was more stubborn than expected, and that he might not be able to be brought back without military action.

On this day, the messenger had just returned from the north, and in the south, the envoy sent by Li Longji to announce the imperial edict to Yan Wu also arrived. The two groups arrived almost at the same time, which made Yan Wu a little flustered, so he asked Jiang Hai to receive Xue Bai's letter, and he went to receive the imperial edict in person.

Yan Wu met with the envoy sent by Li Longji. The content of the decree was that Tubo had invaded Zhezhou, and he was ordered to go to resist the enemy. The emperor also promised that he would have his own supply of food and fodder once he arrived in Zhezhou.

"I have received your order. Now that Tubo is invading from the east, Yizhou is in danger. I again ask the retired emperor to return to the capital." Yan Wu still did not forget to urge Li Longji to return to the capital.

However, the Chinese envoy waved his hands and retreated, fearing that he would be killed by Yan Wu, so he said goodbye and left in a hurry.

After receiving the order, Yan Wu first discussed it with Gao Shi.

"The emperor is determined not to return north. We are stationed here and our food and grass are running out." Gao Shi said, "If we obey the order, we will resist the enemy for the sake of the country. If we don't obey the order, we will attack Yizhou and hold the emperor hostage. Not to mention how people will view us in the future, we may not win."

Yan Wu didn't say anything, but what he was thinking was that if Jiang Hai got the information that he could hold the emperor hostage, he would take action.

Afterwards, they went to the tent at the back to see Jiang Hai, only to see that Jiang Hai had just put Xue Bai's secret letter on the fire and was looking down at the flames on his fingers, crushing the ashes.

"Hide it from me?"

Yan Wu snorted with a stern face, threw the imperial edict in his hand to Jiang Hai, and said, "I have nothing to hide from you, just read it yourself."

Jiang Hai took the decree and read it, but just grinned. He often made this nonchalant expression, which made his face a little crooked, and he looked very fierce and difficult. But this time, his words were righteous and awe-inspiring.

"Since the country is in trouble and Tubo has invaded the border, please ask General Yan to guard against Tubo."

"Are you speaking in a sarcastic way?" Yan Wu asked.

"No." Jiang Hai said proudly: "I am a soldier from Longyou. Of course I will not let Tubo invade our Tang Dynasty!"

Although Yan Wu was somewhat hesitant about whether to mobilize the army, he wanted to bet on the Chang'an court and make a great contribution to welcoming back the emperor, so he asked: "What did Prince Yong say? Will you appoint someone else?"

"Prince Yong said that the purpose of welcoming back the emperor was to maintain the reputation of righteousness. At this time when Tubo is raising troops, how can we abandon the reality of righteousness and only pursue the reputation? General Yan should prepare for the autumn defense first. There is no rush."

"Ok."

Yan Wu turned to look at Gao Shi and asked him to arrange the camp. After Gao Shi left, he said to Jiang Hai, "Although Gao Sanshiwu is an old acquaintance of King Yong, he has an old-fashioned personality and the pedantry of a scholar. If there is anything that is inconvenient for General Jiang to tell him, you can tell me about it."

Jiang Hai chuckled and whispered into Yan Wu's ear.

"Prince Yong has sent a letter to inform Wang Tianyun, Li Feiyuanli and others. The Saint has also conferred them higher titles and ordered them to guard against Tubo. With your ability, if you cooperate with them, you will soon defeat Tubo, which will be much faster than the emperor expected."

Yan Wu raised his eyebrows. In the Nanzhao War, he was just an aide to Wang Zhongsi, while Wang Tianyun and Li Feiyuanli were both generals. They had fought side by side, but now he didn't really want them to share his credit.

"By the way, I heard that Tubo once again coerced Nanzhao into rebellion?" Yan Wu asked, "Why don't General Wang and General Lifei go south to guard Wenchuan, Fangwei, Qionglai and other places?"

"Prince Yong has already written to Zheng Hui and Cui Guangyuan to inquire about this matter, but the emperor is blocked in Shu County, and the court cannot intervene in Nanzhao. Let's solve the current issue first." Jiang Hai said.

"What's going on right now?"

Jiang Hai whispered, "You can fight side by side to defeat Tubo, but you and I are the only ones who can kidnap the emperor afterwards."

"Okay." Yan Wu is indeed a ruthless man. He remained calm despite such a big event.

"When you defeat the Tibetans, leave some of their armor and flags, and send a few trusted men to attack the palace. When the time comes, the retired emperor will think that the Tibetans are coming to kill him and will flee."

"While he's on the run, we'll protect him and bring him back to Chang'an."

"That's right." Jiang Hai said, "In this way, we have accomplished the important task of autumn defense against Tubo, and we have avoided the stigma of holding the emperor hostage. We have also established the merit of protecting the emperor. Isn't this killing three birds with one stone?"

Yan Wu nodded, thinking that no one else would dare to kidnap the emperor, so he was the only one who could accomplish this great feat.

~~
Soon, Yan Wu led his troops west to Zhezhou to defend against Tubo, while Jiang Hai led dozens of elite confidants quietly to Yizhou to explore the terrain, bribe officers and soldiers, and prepare to escort the emperor back north.

After arriving in Yizhou, he collected intelligence every day, and what he heard most was the people cursing Lu Qi.

Lu Qi was only in his thirties that year. Because of the reputation left by his father Lu Yi who died for his loyalty and his great contribution in saving the emperor, he was appointed as the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel and the co-prime minister of the Ministry of Personnel, and thus became a prime minister. He also served as the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, the Minister of Revenue, and the Salt and Iron Transport Commissioner. He was in a high position and had great power like Li Linfu and Yang Guozhong, but he was younger than they were when they were in power.

Jiang Hai seemed to have returned to Chang'an during the Tianbao period. The city of Yizhou seemed prosperous with singing and dancing, but in fact, corrupt officials were rampant.

Every day, merchants and civilians were arrested on the streets of Yizhou, and their property was confiscated. The imperial guards were rampant in collecting taxes, often breaking into the houses of ordinary people. Since many people could not pay the tax, they would arrest people with shackles and axe.

Jiang Hai entered the city disguised as a merchant. For some reason, he was searched by the imperial guards after only seven days. He thought his identity had been exposed. But they came to collect his tax. He didn't know what it was, but they counted the goods he brought and took away 20% of the money.

Later, Jiang Hai found out that he was reported by other merchants. In addition to paying the tax, he also had to pay the 1,000 yuan reward for the person who reported him.

"unlucky."

In short, Lu Qi used these rich means to show in front of the emperor that he was as capable of amassing wealth as Yang Shenjin, Wang Yu, Li Linfu, Yang Guozhong and others. This made Jiang Hai very worried that he would not be able to gain a foothold in Yizhou before Yan Wu returned.

Things in the world often happen in an unexpected way, catching everyone off guard.

After some time, just when Jiang Hai was counting the days until Yan Wu would return, a rebellion suddenly broke out in Yizhou, disrupting his plans.

It was the day before the Mid-Autumn Festival. It was a sunny day in Yizhou with cool and crisp autumn weather.

However, a murder occurred on Jinli West Street. It was caused by a conflict between a team of imperial guards while collecting taxes. One of the young soldiers failed to complete the military order and was ordered by the captain to produce 20 pieces of silk as an apology.

"Can't I just not wear this dog skin?!"

"How dare you speak so arrogantly and criticize the emperor?!"

"I won't fall for your tricks, you generals from Guanzhong. Since I was summoned, I haven't received a penny of salary, but I have paid you so much money for the relocation..."

"Snapped!"

The whip came down fiercely, and the captain of the imperial guards was furious. He ordered: "Teach him a lesson!"

So the nearby imperial guards stepped forward to take action, and finally an accident happened.

"General, it's bad, he... is dead."

"what?"

"Someone was beaten to death!"

As the news spread, chaos soon broke out among the imperial guards.

"Damn it, they recruited us just to drain our family property. Now that Guo Er is dead, can we just sit there and wait for death?!"

"How to do?"

"I have a solution!"

As a result, the young men of Shu County who had been conscripted as soldiers by Lu Qi not long ago became furious... and ran back home to complain.

~~
"what?"

Guo Qianren was playing dominoes when he heard the news of his son's death.

He hadn't even put down the cards in his hand yet, but he was already stunned.

He had originally wanted to let his son join the imperial guards to protect the family property, but over the past few days, he had paid a lot of taxes and also put in a lot of money for his son's promotion. Unexpectedly, it all came to nothing in the end.

"Snapped!"

Suddenly there was a noise, and the man sitting opposite Guo Qianren stood up and slammed the table. This man was none other than his old subordinate Jia Xiu. Jia Xiu had long been dissatisfied with his family being captured, and he immediately said something shocking.

"With such a court, why not rebel against it?!"

Guo Qianren shuddered, thinking that he was still an officer and soldier in Yizhou today, but would be implicated because of his son's death tomorrow. Those imperial guards would not care whether he was a victim or not.

He gritted his teeth and said immediately: "Rebellion!"

The former garrison commander of Yizhou City was originally just an insignificant little character. He never dared to think that he could gather a few people by just shouting and hurt the emperor in the slightest.

(End of this chapter)