Late Tang Dynasty: I

Chapter 76 A New Beginning
Years of wars have reduced the number of Hu merchants in Datang, but there are still Hu people who came to Chang'an from thousands of miles away to sell their wares.

There are glass balls, sabers, thick wool carpets in the style of the Western Regions, and beautifully made furs.

However, His Majesty the Emperor was attracted by a mass of white filaments.

This is cotton.

His Majesty the Emperor didn't like the colorful glass balls or the saber inlaid with precious stones, but he liked the smelly bedding made by Hu merchants, which was still torn open.

This made Jing Xiang, who was accompanying His Majesty the emperor to visit the West Market, look stupid.

The emperor's white fish and dragon clothes naturally don't care about etiquette, Li Ye pointed to the bedding and Zhao Xi, the servant at the side, took out a large bunch of copper coins.

Back in the palace, Li Ye ordered the quilt to be disassembled into eight pieces, holding white stuffing in his hand, which can be concluded to be cotton.

"Jingxiang, what do you think this is?"

Jing Xiang has never seen cotton before, but this does not prevent him from seeing the value of this thing. After pulling it with both hands a few times, the fiber of cotton is very delicate and tough, which is much better than hemp.

"Your Majesty, if this thing is spun into thread and woven into silk, it may be comparable to silk."

The barbarian's flower tying skills are still quite poor. There are still many seeds left in the cotton. Li Ye pulled the cotton wool and squeezed out a few seeds.

"It grows from the soil. If the whole Tang Dynasty is planted, Jing Xiang, guess what will happen?"

"There will be no people in the world who can't wear clothes!"

Li Ye nodded, he was worrying that Guanzhong had nothing economical, this cotton was undoubtedly a great gift from God.

"If we can get corn and potatoes from America, at least we can keep the Tang Dynasty peaceful for 300 years."

Li Ye sighed secretly.

This cotton is a good thing for the current Tang Dynasty. It is very suitable for planting in the north, and it is also drought-resistant.

The quality of planting in the south is quite poor. Li Ye planted it when he was a child. For cotton, breeding seeds is relatively cumbersome. It needs to be covered with film to keep the temperature. After the seedlings grow, they are moved to the field.

Li Ye asked someone to peel off the seeds first. Peeling the seeds by hand was indeed much more cumbersome.

It took the three servants half an hour to peel off all the seeds. Eight or nine catties of cotton were peeled off more than two catties of seeds.

As for the stripped cotton, it is of course also useful. There are special female spinners in the inner court to see if they can weave cloth.

After all, there is still a difference between cotton and silk.

"Zhao Xi, bring that barbarian here."

"promise!"

After a while, the barbarian was brought up.

"What's your name?"

"Nugulihan, pay homage to His Majesty the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty."

What Gulihan said in Tang Dynasty is good, but Gulihan is still wondering, just to sell something, how can His Majesty the Emperor of Tang bring him into the palace.

Li Ye pointed to cotton and asked, "Where did you get this thing?"

"Your Majesty, I bought this in Tuluhun. It is said that it is from the Buddha's country. I feel that it is light and warm, and I only need ten yuan to buy it to keep out the cold."

The country of the Buddha is probably Indian cotton.

Li Ye smiled and said, "Gulihan, I have a big business, are you willing to do it?"

Gu Lihan was overjoyed. Being able to do business with the emperor is naturally an opportunity to make a lot of money. He hurriedly said, "His Majesty the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty, what kind of business is it?"

Li Ye said: "I asked you to go back to the Western Regions and buy the seeds you saw that Tang Dynasty did not have, such as this kapok. As long as you send the seeds to Chang'an, I will give you a mansion, a hundred acres of fertile land, and millions of dollars."

"This……"

"How, to do or not to do?"

"Do it, of course, it's just that I still have a lot of goods in my hands..."

"I will buy it at a high price. You should rest assured, and the journey is far away and dangerous. I will also give you a hundred guards to escort you along the way. What do you think?"

Li Ye didn't just think about the seeds, he would definitely inquire about the situation in the Western Regions, especially the Hexi Corridor, these places were originally under the rule of the Tang Dynasty.

"This is my honor!"

As soon as Gulihan resigned, Li Ye received Du Rangneng's reply to Zhaoyi's military situation.

The Eight Capitals of the Youlongwu Army actually repelled a cavalry team of about 3000 soldiers from Li Kerang's Ya'er Army, which gave Li Ye a new understanding of the combat power of the Forbidden Army.

Moreover, the Youlongwu Army has controlled the entire territory of Luzhou, and has sent people to handle each pass, and there is a map of Luzhou's defense in it.

As for recruiting soldiers, Du Rangneng proposed to go to Xingzhou to recruit Mengqian, saying that it was Anjushou, the general of the Luzhou Yamen, who proposed it.

Li Ye forwarded the battle report to Jing Xiang, and listened to his opinion.

According to His Majesty's idea, the Zhaoyi army was directly dispersed and mixed with the Youlongwu army, and all the senior officers in the Zhaoyi army were brought to Chang'an for reorganization.

It's just that Zhaoyi is somewhat similar to Wei Bo. Zhaoyi's tooth soldiers are very powerful. Although there are only more than a thousand tooth soldiers in Zhaoyi, they have their own food towns. They have been intermarried throughout the ages, and they have long formed an inseparable group.

There are soldiers under these tooth soldiers, pulling up the skeleton of an army of tens of thousands of people.

Even Meng Guangli, the Jiedu envoy at that time, was free to ignore him, but Meng Guangli didn't dare to have any thoughts about this tooth soldier.

If it is punished, it may cause a lot of trouble, and I am afraid that a mutiny will break out on the spot.

Because of this incident, Meng Guangli was so frightened that he committed suicide that night.

In Li Ye's view, Zhaoyi's problem is not Meng Qian, but Zhaoyi Yabing.

In the original history, when Zhu Wen pacified Wei Bo, four thousand soldiers of Wei Bo were slaughtered, and tens of thousands of soldiers were slaughtered together with their family members.

"What is Jing Xiang's countermeasure?"

Jing Xiang said: "The guest army is weak, but the main army is strong. There are [-] soldiers in Zhaoyi's five prefectures, and the imperial army is only over [-]. If they cannot be controlled, they must be controlled."

Li Ye nodded and said, "I am also worried about this."

If 4 people are reorganized into 1 people, the problem is not too big. If 1 people are reorganized into 4 people, the Youlongwu Army must have indigestion.

The main reason is that the Imperial Guard’s Imperial Army is so famous that even the Zhaoyi Army would look down on the Imperial Army. If it is forced to reorganize, even if the generals in the Zhaoyi Army are removed, ordinary soldiers will not accept the Imperial Army’s soldiers.

"Your Majesty, the Zhaoyi Army does not need to be disbanded, the imperial court can draw more than ten thousand young and strong soldiers from it to supplement the Forbidden Army.

The rest of Zhaoyi's armies were assigned to garrison in Xing, Ming, and Ci prefectures. Most of Zhaoyi's family members were in Luzhou, and the remaining general family members were moved to Luzhou in the name of protecting security.

As long as the imperial army controls the tens of thousands of Yabing family members, the Zhaoyi army will not dare to act rashly. "

Li Ye nodded and said, "I'm afraid that Zhaoyi's army will bring disaster to the people of Xing, Ming and Ci."

Jing Xiang said: "In the army, you can be a security guard. If one person makes trouble, hundreds of households will be buried with him. There is no way to suppress it unless there is law."

"According to Aiqing's policy, I will select talented people to serve as the governors of Xing, Ming, and Ci states, and grant the right to deploy troops. Commanding troops cannot privately transfer troops. What does Aiqing think?"

"Good, the commanding army of a state cannot be paid to one person, but the left and right armies can be set up, as a hindrance!"

(End of this chapter)